Berry, Catherine (1813-1891)
Berry, Catherine (1813-1891)
Nineteenth-century English medium active in the 1870s. She discovered her gift in 1864 after a sitting with Mary Marshall. It was alleged that she could throw sitters to the ground by a wave of her hand. Many well-known mediums of the period came to sit with her to be charged with more power. The early issues of the Medium contain many accounts of her seances. In her sole presence, however, psychical phenomena were very few. At the Spiritual Institution in London in 1870, she sat publicly with the medium Frank Herne. Her book, Experiences in Spiritualism (London, 1876), records frequent sittings with Charles Williams, Frank Herne, Agnes Guppy, and Mrs. Everitt.
She developed automatic drawing, painting, and healing power. In 1874 she exhibited 500 curious watercolors at Brighton. In 1870 she published some prophecies regarding the Franco-Prussian war by pointing out Bible texts illustrative of passing events.
Sources:
Berry, Catherine. Experiences in Spiritualism. London, 1876.