5. The Descendants

About this episode

The episode explores the life of Dr William Jackson Crawford and his experiments with a teenage medium, featuring insights from his descendants.

The story of Dr William Jackson Crawford, an engineer and teacher, who carried out a series of strange experiments with a teenage medium and her family before his untimely death on the shores of Belfast lough in 1920. Dr Crawford’s findings were extraordinary and widely published – but was it all a hoax? Episode 5 – The Descendants Reggie is back on the road to Bangor to meet Kathleen Goligher’s grand daughter. What more can she tell him about her Grandmother’s life as a spiritualist and medium, and how does she feel about Dr Crawford’s unusual experiments? Meanwhile – Dr Crawford’s great granddaughter Clare reveals the engineer did not have a good reputation in their family history. Written and presented by Reggie Chamberlain King Readings by Dave Fleming Lucy McConnell Mark Claney Stephen Beggs Produced by Conor McKay Editor Andy Martin A BBC Northern Ireland production

People in this episode

Host: Reggie Chamberlain King

Guests: Kathleen Goligher, Clare

Topics covered

• spiritualism
• mediumship
• family history
• experiments
• Belfast
• true crime

Keywords

• Dr William Jackson Crawford
• spiritualist
• medium
• experiments
• Belfast lough
• family history
• Kathleen Goligher
• Clare

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Belfast lough

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