John Franklin was an explorer searching for the North West Passage in the Canadian Arctic, but had not been seen since 1845. In the issue of Scientific American dated 28th August 1855 is a letter from someone who witnessed a seance on the 23rd June concerning the fates of John Franklin and Dr Kane, whose own expedition to the Arctic had gone missing two years previously.
"Sir John Franklin is not in the Spiritual world, he still lives upon the earth with seven more of his original party [...] Dr Kane has lost about thirty of his men and is at present near Sir John Franklin."
In a further session, the psychic describes a terrible storm and informs us that John Franklin and Dr Kane are within site of each other. The Scientific American points out that Dr Kane set out with a crew of twelve and concludes "After losing thirteen more men than comprised the whole expedition, according to the spiritual letter, it is really refreshing to find that Dr Kane has still some more left."
The article further adds that the New Spiritualist journal records a communication dated the 30th June that states that Dr Kane has recently passed away, while John Franklin remains alive.
In the issue dated 20th October 1855, the Scientific American ran an article that describes Dr Kane's return from the Artic, and it ends with "In connection with this gratifying announcement of Dr Kane's return we will make a dash at that superlative humbug of the 19th century called "Spiritualism"," and it reminds its readers of the previous article describing the sad loss of Dr Kane.
Note: The Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research vol 7, p.51 includes a paragraph which also describes a psychic attempt to locate John Franklin. Apparently, this account was published in the Aberdeen Herald on May 18th 1850, but I do not have access to that paper to check for myself. The excerpt reads:
"On the evening of April 22nd I put John Park, tailor, aged 22, into a state of clairvoyance, in presence of twelve respectable inhabitants of this town. ' (Here follows a description of certain statements regarding the fate of J Franklin's expedition and the ships Erebus and Terror, which the light of information subsequently received proved to have been inaccurate.) 'He {the clairvoyant) then visited Old Greenland, as was desired, and having gone on board the Hamilton Ross, a whale-ship belonging to this port, saw David Cardno, second mate, getting his hand bandaged up by the doctor in the cabin, having got it injured while sealing. He was then told by the captain that they had upwards of 100 tons of oil. I again, on the evening of the 23rd, put him into a clairvoyant state.' (Here follow some further particulars regarding Sir John Franklin's expedition, which also are proved to have been inaccurate.) Ί again directed him to Old Greenland, and he again visited the Hamilton Ross, and found Captain Gray, of the Eclipse, conversing with the captain about the seal fishing being up."
(Signed) 'WILLIAM REID.' "
References
Scientific American, "Sir John Franklin and Dr Kane - A Spiritual Communication", 28th August 1855
Scientific American, "Return of the Kane Artcic Expeditions", 20th October 1855
Sidgwick, H., "On the Evidence for Clairvoyance", The Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research vol 7, 1891-92, p.51
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