The Ghost Hunts of George Albert Smith: Mesmerist & Film Maker

The life and times of George Albert Smith are not particularly well known. Despite working for several years as a stage hypnotist and psychic, the owner of a popular pleasure park and then eventually a pioneering inventor and filmmaker, there are few who could reel off a biography based on nothing more than a name. Perhaps even more obscure, however, was his time spent as a ghost hunter for the Society for Psychical Research, which, whilst a relatively short career in comparison, was no less groundbreaking, when he took tenancy of a haunted house for more than a whole year in order to investigate the reported phenomena.

SOURCES

Gray, Frank (2019) The Brighton School & The Birth of British Film. Palgrave Macmillan, London, UK.

Gray, Frank (1998) Smith the showman: The early years of George Albert Smith. Film History, Vol. 10, No. 1, Cinema Pioneers (1998), pp. 8-20. John Libby & Co., Sydney, Australia.

Hall, Trevor (1964) The Strange Case of Edmund Gurney. Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd, London, UK.

Blackburn, Douglas (1883) Thought Reading Extraordinary. Light, No 86, Vol II. London, UK.

Smith, George Albert (1884) Report on a Haunted House at Norwich. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, Vol I, 1884-5. London, UK.

Podmore, Frank (1890) Phantasms of the Dead from Another Point of View. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, Vol VI, 1889-90. London, UK.

Gauld, Alan & Cornell, Tony (1979) Poltergeists. White Crow Books, London, UK.

Sussex Advertiser (1879) Suicide By Hanging. Sussex Advertiser, Sat 5 April 1879, p2. Brighton, UK.

-------

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp, check out betterhelp.com/darkhistories to get 10% off your first month.

 

-------

For almost anything, head over to the podcasts hub at darkhistories.com

Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistories

The Dark Histories books are available to buy here: http://author.to/darkhistories

Dark Histories merch is available here: https://bit.ly/3GChjk9

Connect with us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcast

Or find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkhistories

& Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/

Or you can contact us directly via email at contact@darkhistories.com

or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/cmGcBFf

The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye

Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017

Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that.