Nixon, Queenie (ca. 1918-1989)

views updated

Nixon, Queenie (ca. 1918-1989)

British transfiguration medium. Her psychic gifts manifested in childhood, when she grew up in the care of two aunts, both Spiritualist mediums. She spent 35 years as a medium, traveling widely in Europe, North America, and Australia. In addition to trance communications through her spirit guide "Paul," she manifested the rare phenomenon of transfiguration, when her features reportedly took on the appearance of deceased persons speaking through her.

These transfiguration demonstrations would sometimes last as long as three hours, with various personalities manifesting. In 1967, infrared photographs captured a record of such appearances, including what appeared to be clouds of ectoplasm around her face. Two newspapers accused her of fraud, but the reporters in each incident had neither interviewed her nor attended her séances. She died at the age of 71, following several heart attacks.