Ethel Post Parrish: Mediumship in America, by Gerald O'Hara

From the back cover: Ethel Post Parrish led a roller-coaster life, of police raids, undercover journalists, accusations of fraud, court cases over leases, and legacies. Four-times married. Ethel was a perfectionist who expected a high standard, earned respect, and was accepted in the best Spiritualist circles. An enterprising, business-like woman and founder of Camp Silver Belle. The Camp witnessed a Golden Age of American mediumship. Arthur Ford, Frank Decker, Clifford Bias, Maina Tafe, and Lula Taber; Ethel knew and employed them all at Silver Belle.America’s most versatile psychic. Ethel Post Parrish has waited since 1958 for a biography worthy of her stature. America’s leading medium of the 1930/50s. Much admired, envied, and ridiculed in her lifetime, Ethel’s sensational materialization seances featured spirits of different sexes, ages, races, and cultures. With numerous spirits visible in ruby light, Ethel’s famous Indian guide Silver Belle presided over the séances with a “tinkling laugh.” Ethel Post Parrish: Mediumship in America, breaks new ground in 20th Century US Spiritualist studies. The first of a series of books planned in this subject area. American Spiritualism witnessed tremendous expansion between the wars, and this book illustrates and quantifies that growth. The only account of America’s premier influential medium is set in the movement in which lived and shaped. Tough, loving, loyal Ethel had charisma. A uniquely talented medium and above all, a remarkably successful woman.