Indridi Indridason's contact with Emil Jensen

The general details about the medium Indridi Indridason can be found here on Psi Encyclopedia,

Additional details from Zofia Weaver's essay Ectoplasm: Where Biology Meets Imagination included in Deep Weird: The Varieties of High Strangeness Experience.

As powerful as these sound, Indridi provides us with a yet bigger puzzle of mediumship, a case that straddles all aspects of psychical research. At a sitting on 24th November 1905 a luminous pillar appeared with a human form within it. It identified itself as ‘Mr Jensen’ (a common Danish name), spoke in Danish (unknown to Indridi) and described a fire then currently raging in Copenhagen (Haraldsson, 2011, p. 205).35

Later on ‘Jensen’ appeared on a number of occasions, and detailed records of his statements were kept in the experimental society’s books. However, it was not until 2008-9 that Erlendur Haraldsson, the late well-known investigator, was able to verify all the specific information provided by Jensen (a manufacturer, a native of Copenhagen, first name Emil, a bachelor with no children, but with siblings) (ibid., pp.215-216). It turned out that there had been only one manufacturer named Emil Jensen (1848-1898) in Copenhagen. The fire reported by the Jensen entity in 1905 was close to where he had lived, and his siblings were alive at that time. In the words of Haraldsson, the “‘hit rate’ with respect to the identity of Emil Jensen is 100 per cent, as is the description of the fire in Copenhagen” (ibid., p. 220). The Jensen entity, unknown to anyone present at the time eventually “became an important figure in the séances with frequent appearances […] usually very briefly but several times during the same séance and at various locations in the hall.” The ‘pillar of light’ was larger than Jensen and emitted light in such a way that Jensen and Indridi could sometimes be seen side by side at the same time” (Haraldsson & Gissurarson, 2015, pp. 71-3).

To sum up, matching the original records of the sittings with archival information confirmed both the entity’s claimed identity, and the events it described. The entity was not related to or known to the sitters; it spoke in a language not spoken by the medium; in modern times, a record has been found that such a person did exist; that person died some years before the sittings with Indridason in the 1900s; and the then contemporary events also took place. Haraldsson titled his report: “A perfect case?” (Haraldsson, 2011). So what do we do with a sophisticated, coherent physical manifestation of a classic ‘drop-in’ communicator, familiar from mental mediumship?

A friend of mine re-uploaded the Perfect Case paper at my request:

At a séance with Indridi Indridason in Reykjavik on November 24th 1905 a Danish communicator appeared who gave his name as ‘Jensen’ and his profession as a ‘manufacturer’. He described a fire that had broken out in a factory in Copenhagen. About an hour later he said that the fire had been brought under control. A written account was deposited with the Bishop of Iceland. There was no telephone or telegraph communication with Iceland in 1905 and news arrived by ship near Christmas that a fire had indeed
broken out on November 24th in a factory at Store Kongensgade 63, and was brought under control in an hour as had been stated at the séance.

Minute books were kept of Indridason’s séances which took place from 1904 to 1909. They had been lost for over half a century when two of them turned up a few years ago. According to them on December 11th 1905 the communicator revealed his name to be Emil Jensen, claimed that he was unmarried and had no children, had died when ‘not so young’, and had brothers and sisters who were all still living. No attempt was made to trace manufacturer Jensen until the author did so in 2009. A search by the author in archives in Denmark revealed the existence of a person named Emil Jensen who had been a manufacturer and had lived most of his life on Store Kongensgade where the fire broke out. Everything that the communicator
had stated about himself in 1905 was thus verified over a century after the sittings took place. This case has a striking similarity to the famous case of Emanuel Swedenborg, who described while in Gothenburg in 1759 a fire that raged near his home in Stockholm.

[Ninshub]

You have cool friends.

I liked some of Haraldsson's work, such as his investigation of apparitions around iceland. There are a few crucial cases in that book that really helped me.

But the Indridi Indridason paper was inaccurate, he said he would correct the book he was writing on Indridi Indridason. Which he did. But he refused to back down, and eventually became angry and stopped communicating with me. Indridi was a fraud, who was controlled by the owner of one of the three newspapers on the iceland. The newspapers were given some access to the new Marconi wireless station built on the outskirts of the town, for reporting within their newspapers, as a demonstration of the power of this new technology. The newspaper owner did eventually win out over the other two papers owners to become prime minister. Indridi wanted to leave iceland, but the threat that the deception would come out, and affect those concerned, meant that they killed him shortly before he was due to leave for America. Marconi's wireless bid failed, and Iceland accepted a British bid for laying a cable to iceland.

Britain stayed great, by intercepting communications, spinning stories to their benefit, and influencing populations. Still intercepting communications today, spinning and influencing, and the populations are still so poorly educated, and easy to influence, that they lap it up.

I liked some of Haraldsson's work, such as his investigation of apparitions around iceland. There are a few crucial cases in that book that really helped me.

But the Indridi Indridason paper was inaccurate, he said he would correct the book he was writing on Indridi Indridason. Which he did. But he refused to back down, and eventually became angry and stopped communicating with me. Indridi was a fraud, who was controlled by the owner of one of the three newspapers on the iceland. The newspapers were given some access to the new Marconi wireless station built on the outskirts of the town, for reporting within their newspapers, as a demonstration of the power of this new technology. The newspaper owner did eventually win out over the other two papers owners to become prime minister. Indridi wanted to leave iceland, but the threat that the deception would come out, and affect those concerned, meant that they killed him shortly before he was due to leave for America. Marconi's wireless bid failed, and Iceland accepted a British bid for laying a cable to iceland.

Britain stayed great, by intercepting communications, spinning stories to their benefit, and influencing populations. Still intercepting communications today, spinning and influencing, and the populations are still so poorly educated, and easy to influence, that they lap it up.

So he didn't die of tuberculosis?

So he didn't die of tuberculosis?

was it tuberculosis, or typhoid fever? I can't remember. IIRC was he treated/infected by the Doctor, the one in league with the owner/editor of the newspaper who later became PM, and was it a Bishop who was also in the clique. I can't remember now. They were all in some kind of spiritual society that gave credence to Indridi. Everytime Indridi tried to leave they influenced him to stay, bought him a house as I recall. Was his partner also infected as well.

The idea that they killed him, was only my narrative, but I do strongly suspect the clique could not let him leave. He knew too much...

I liked some of Haraldsson's work, such as his investigation of apparitions around iceland. There are a few crucial cases in that book that really helped me.

But the Indridi Indridason paper was inaccurate, he said he would correct the book he was writing on Indridi Indridason. Which he did. But he refused to back down, and eventually became angry and stopped communicating with me. Indridi was a fraud, who was controlled by the owner of one of the three newspapers on the iceland. The newspapers were given some access to the new Marconi wireless station built on the outskirts of the town, for reporting within their newspapers, as a demonstration of the power of this new technology. The newspaper owner did eventually win out over the other two papers owners to become prime minister. Indridi wanted to leave iceland, but the threat that the deception would come out, and affect those concerned, meant that they killed him shortly before he was due to leave for America. Marconi's wireless bid failed, and Iceland accepted a British bid for laying a cable to iceland.

Britain stayed great, by intercepting communications, spinning stories to their benefit, and influencing populations. Still intercepting communications today, spinning and influencing, and the populations are still so poorly educated, and easy to influence, that they lap it up.

How do you really know Indridi was a total fraud? What about the sudden appearance in front of witnesses of the pillar of light containing the form of a man which communicated in a language unknown to Indridi? Explain this by fraud.

And what about all the other "hits" in communications from this figure of apparently Emil Jensen? You are making the facile assumption that all this later verified information was deliberately transmitted to Indridi via the Marconi telegraph station by confederates in Denmark. A big assumption with no direct evidence. All you apparently really know is that the new Marconi station was operating during this time, and that therefore there did exist a normal means of communication. You don't know for a fact that the medium got his information that way.

was it tuberculosis, or typhoid fever? I can't remember. IIRC was he treated/infected by the Doctor, the one in league with the owner/editor of the newspaper who later became PM, and was it a Bishop who was also in the clique. I can't remember now. They were all in some kind of spiritual society that gave credence to Indridi. Everytime Indridi tried to leave they influenced him to stay, bought him a house as I recall. Was his partner also infected as well.

The idea that they killed him, was only my narrative, but I do strongly suspect the clique could not let him leave. He knew too much...

Where did you see this? Even from skeptics I just get accusations of him being a fraud...

How do you really know Indridi was a total fraud? What about the sudden appearance in front of witnesses of the pillar of light containing the form of a man which communicated in a language unknown to Indridi? Explain this by fraud.

And what about all the other "hits" in communications from this figure of apparently Emil Jensen? You are making the facile assumption that all this later verified information was deliberately transmitted to Indridi via the Marconi telegraph station by confederates in Denmark. A big assumption with no direct evidence. All you apparently really know is that the new Marconi station was operating during this time, and that therefore there did exist a normal means of communication. You don't know for a fact that the medium got his information that way.

Yeah, I do, I found the same short news report in an archive of the Danish Newspaper Berlingske Tidende, containing exactly the same key facts Indridi had provided at the sitting (according to Haraldsson's paper). As for Emil Jensen, there was no Emil Jensen at that sitting, there was just Jensen...

Where did you see this? Even from skeptics I just get accusations of him being a fraud...

I spent quite some time researching information about him... there was a long thread on skeptiko somewhere...