Tongues in Twentieth-century Spiritualism

One of the most prominent direct-voice mediums of recent years is Mr Leslie Flint, one of whose tape-recordings includes a conversation in unidentified ‘ancient tongues’ between a man and a woman. ‘The sitting terminated abruptly when “Sister Maria” was asked Pariate Italiano, when she explained in voluable broken English that this tongue was much better for the communication’. Perhaps the most realistic comment that can be echoed is the Tongues in Twentieth-century Spiritualism conclusion of D. J. Ellis who, after his two-year study, said that it is ‘premature to claim any of the radio voices as paranormal’. Hearing a voice speaking an unknown tongue, Mr William Dudley Pelley dictated twelve pages of the sounds at longhand speed to a stenographer who marked the vowels so that they could be read phonetically. The voices came sometimes two or three at a time, when Valiantine himself was talking with his neighbours.