Report on recent Chris Howarth seance

Taken from facebook, with permission of the author.

An experienced sitter reports on a Chris Howarth seance - Saturday October 29th 2016

I attended a physical seance at Langport, Somerset by the Portany Circle and their physical medium Chris Howarth. I was invited by Chris whilst watching one of his FB video blogs. I contacted him via messenger for further details and he advised I contact the co-host who gave me a place at a cost of £25.00.

I arrived at approx 4.30pm, later than expected, due to not being able to find the venue - because the Facebook events page showed the wrong photo (of a large building reminiscent of a stately home). The venue turned out to be a youth club that was tucked away on a side street.
When I met the organiser, Lisa, she informed me that it was Chris's idea to use that image in the events page, which she found confusing too!

Before the seance, I introduced myself to Chris, his circle leader and two other sitters from his circle; they were all busy setting up the Seance room. Chris was pleased to see me and we chatted briefly. He was very positive and upbeat promising a great evening and that I would later be able to write positively about his physical mediumship on Facebook. (Chris explained that he had another seance planned for Sunday night in the Bristol area and that he could get me a ticket.)

The venue was single storey and inside there was no ceiling, I could see the inside of the roof panels. There were several roof panels that let in natural light through opaque plastic sheets or glass (not easy to make out but clearly light was coming in). I pointed this out to Chris making the observation that they would be difficult to black out. Chris agreed and stated that the seance will start when it is dark.

The windows and emergency lights were already blacked out and the sound system was set up. Chris had brought his own sound system for the seance and there were speakers around the room to create a surround sound effect. I offered to help put the chairs out as there were thirty-six in total. The chairs were set up in a crude circle around the seance cabinet. I did not examine the cabinet but it looked like a pre-made small tent with no floor to it. The seance chair was already placed in the cabinet.

There was a 'gong bath' prior to the seance in the same room, which I thought was a great opportunity to relax and meditate before the evenings events. The seance time was put back to 7pm in the hope that darkness would assist in the blackout, due to the light panels in the roof.

When the time came, sitters were called into the seance room one by one, by name, to be seated. When my name was called I was surprised that I wasn't searched, as in my other experiences of such events, nor was there a metal detector. I did not see any other sitter being searched either, nor the medium, his team or circle leader. Chris seated everyone by using a 'crystal pendulum' and stated that spirit seat everyone according to their energy.

Chris went through his protocols and described the phenomena that usually occurs in his seances. He advised that sitters may be touched on the elbows, which is a sign that Louis Armstrong wished to dance with them. I was excited by the prospect of being part of a seance where this occurs.

Chris explained that the seance was in two halves: the first being a physical demonstration and, after a short comfort break, the second being a demonstration of transfiguration. Chris was to remain tied by the legs whilst this occurred. He ran through the playlist of songs and explained that the first three are subliminal and were selected to assist the trance state, this would be followed by a selection of various pop songs that were also carefully selected.

The red light was put on and the main lights switched off prior to him being tied in, which I felt was unhelpful. Chris asked me to tie him into the seance chair which I did; he used wrist bands to stop the cable ties from cutting him. He wanted two ties around each wrist, to tie him to the arm of the chair. I assume that he brought his own seance chair, it was wooden and looked sturdy (unlike any of the other chairs in the room which had metal frames). The seance chair was not examined, which I would have liked, nor was any of the equipment.
I tied him in tightly placing two ties around each of his wrists and one for each leg. The ties that went around his legs also went through the chair legs. The leg ties were not particularly tight and were around the calf of his lower legs. I was unsure whether Chris could slip his legs through or not. The wrist ties were tight and would have been difficult to get out of. It was not a easy process to do this, due to the poor light, but I snipped off the ends of the ties and the circle leader placed the cutters on a table next to the cabinet. I asked for the cutters and they remained under my chair for the duration of the seance.

When I returned to my chair I could see white light leakage from doors and windows which had not been properly blacked out, which I felt was inattentive. I could barely make out the cabinet but could find it due to the two luminous trumpets placed in front.

The music was turned on and we waited for the phenomena to start. There were lights that moved across the ceiling and some sitters exclaimed that they were orbs. These lights were the only thing that we observed for at least thirty to forty-five minutes. They were random, but always moved across the same portion of the ceiling and in the same direction. I observed a flashing light from the left side of the room, just before this phenomena occurred and speculated that it was likely to be the lights of cars driving past the building creating the effect we observed. (Car light leaking in through the ceiling panels or through a small gap in the blackout.)

We sat singing along and waiting for something to occur when I presume it was a guide who stated; 'White Eagle say let the braves dance!' I think it was White Eagle, but I'm probably wrong! The voice sounded like someone imitating a Native American badly. I waited for the braves to dance whilst there was a song playing of drum and flute music. Well we waited and nothing happened - no stamping feet or whoops or howls!

We then heard a male voice that was purported to be Louis Armstrong. The voice sounded like a Yorkshireman attempting to speak with a African-American accent from the Southern States. At this point I was so embarrassed that I placed my head in my hands and cringed at what I was listening to!

Sitters were invited to dance with 'ol Satchmo!' One sitter got up and a Louis Armstrong song was played. Because of the distance from the cabinet I could not make out the sitter or whether she was dancing or whether she was dancing with another person. Another sitter danced with Louis using the same song.

A younger sitter stood up to dance with Michael Jackson and a discussion took place with her afterwards. The spirit suggested that she was to nervous, hence why nothing occurred. She denied that she was and a John Lennon song was played and the spirit person suggested that she had danced with him (John Lennon). It would have been nice if John had introduced himself - I am a lifelong Beatles and Lennon fan and would have loved to have heard him in these conditions. Alas that was not to be...I could not see the cabinet or the dancing, so cannot comment on what the sitters experienced during this part.

Following this, my name was called and I was invited to stand facing the cabinet, whilst holding a tambourine at arms length. A song was played whilst I waited patiently for something to happen....well my arm grew tired and I had a sore shoulder! I stood for approx 4 minutes and nothing happened - the circle leader asked me if was experiencing anything - which was nada! A voice from within the cabinet advised that it was a new thing that the team were trying, but it was early days.

I returned to my seat and we were informed that the team were going to create perfumes or the smell of flowers. There were lots of noises from the cabinet, gurgling etc, followed by an exclamation of air and a whooshing sound! We were advised that there was a smell of flowers in the room. I have a poor sense of smell and was seated at the back of the room, so didn't smell anything! This experiment was tried a few more times with the same dramatic buildup and whooshing - whether anyone smelt anything I'm not sure. I may have been having a out of body experience by this time!

I think this concluded the first part and I was invited to cut the ties holding Chris's wrists. They were very tight and left marks on his wrists, plus there was some swelling. Given the lack of any observable phenomena the ties were unnecessary really.
The chairs were then placed in a semi-circle in front of the cabinet, ready for the transfiguration demonstration using a red light. I noticed that some of the sitters left and didn't return for the second half.

The transfiguration demonstration went on for approximately 45 minutes and a few sitters stated that they saw various loved ones - one sitter become emotional from a message that she received. Personally I did not see any changes to Chris's face, only shadows created by movement in the red light.

This concludes my experiences of the evening and my observations of the Portany Circle.

I felt that the image selected for the events page was misleading, which gave me a bad start to the evening. I was disappointed with the poor protocols at the start of the seance and surprised that no one was searched. Chris had pointed out that his life is at risk every time he sits in a public seance, yet every sitter was allowed in without any search taking place or no metal detector. This makes a mockery of the alleged risks, given that someone could have easily smuggled in a camera, torch or voice recorder. There was no examination of the seance chair or any of the equipment - and no routine checks during the seance to establish if the medium remained securely bound.

The blackout, or lack of it, was again inattentive and white light leaked in when the main lights were switched off. I know that Chris did a test seance at the Arthur Findley College some time ago and he complained then about the poor blackout condition - he understand that he used this point to explain why no phenomena occurred at the time. I find it baffling and ironic that he would then place himself in a similar situation, given this previous experience and not cancel the event I have described.

In my opinion there was no evidence of spirit at all in the first part of the demonstration and very little in the second half. I did not feel the heaviness that occurs in a seance or any pulling from the solar plexus, from spirit to use our energy. There were no raps or taps, little evidence of trance or direct/indirect voice - and without meaning to sound disrespectful, the voices all sounded like the medium attempting to sound like someone else. It's my understanding that the individuals who were asked to dance with various celebrities experienced very little, but I hope that they will add their own experiences.

I feel very disappointed by what I saw, especially as there were people present who had never experienced physical before this evening! I imagine that this will be their first and last experience of physical mediumship, which I feel is sad.

I contacted Chris on the Sunday morning after the seance, to share my views on what occurred and to point out my disappointment. Chris replied stating that the 'lame' experience was due to the light panels in the roof and was beyond his control. I challenged this view and pointed out the poor protocols and a lack of phenomena and spirit, within the room. I gave the view that he should reflect on the previous evening's seance and should consider to stop offering public seances until he and the team are proficient in doing so. I also advised him to contact the event organiser about returning monies to sitters or give it to charity, and that I was considering writing a report on the seance.

I have not received a reply from Chris or his circle and to my dismay, I found that he has now blocked me on Facebook. He has not explained why he has taken action or so far given any further updates in relation to the events of Saturday 29th Oct. I have no axe to grind here and my only agenda is to provide a factual report on what occurred. I'm deeply disheartened and upset about the seance and the whole situation. I feel this kind of mediumship should not be taken lightly and is certainly not a form of entertainment. In fact, I believe it is something very special and sacred and should be approached in this way.

"slandery" ?

Don't give up the day job Chris!

Actually Slandery sounds like a bit of flummery to me. Thanks for posting that Slatewriter, it has similarities to another report, of a different seance, that I had heard about.

Hello everyone,

Unfortunately Slatewriter I could have almost predicted this. I am sorry that things did not work out. I am sorry for the medium as well, as I still fail to understand why Chris does not realise he is NOT a physical medium !.

The ultimate 'sorry end' to all this may well be when a major exposure takes place to the detriment of all, and the continuing damage to 'Spiritualism'. One question to always ask yourself..Where was the personal evidence ?.

Still, managed to cheer myself up by listening to N Riley Heagerty on Howard Hughe's 'Unexplained' podcast the other night when he gave an interesting talk on the Bang Sisters. I have also purchased his new book on them, Portraits from the Beyond ( out on Amazon )

Leroy C