A psychic, a pocket watch and a shark ..... The tale of the Browne Boys
During the Great Depression and WW2, the world was suffering through loss and grief. People turned to spiritualism for comfort in the knowledge that their loved ones no longer with us, were still OK. One of the core beliefs in the spiritualism movement was that a person survives the death of their physical body, by ascending into the spirit realm. For those who had lost faith in traditional Catholic values, spiritualism offered them a new religion. While a controversial subject of the time, people held on to their beliefs, engaging with mediums to help them find their missing loved ones. One famous account happened right here in Melbourne, Australia. It even attracted the attention of Mr Sherlock Holmes himself, spiritualism advocate Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
In December of 1884, three men went on a fishing trip sailing through Port Phillip Bay in Victoria Australia, aboard their new yacht nicknamed Lolanthe. The fun weekend was to be filled with fishing, a day trip over the seaboard to Frankston, and returning home on Monday morning. Unfortunately, they never returned. Two of the missing sailors were Will and Hugh Browne. Their parents were deeply invested in spiritualism, and after a feeling of strong intuition that something would go wrong, their mother urged them not to go on the trip. They still went on their way and by Tuesday when they had not returned, Mrs Browne called upon famous medical clairvoyant Mr George Spriggs of Cardiff to use his abilities to find her lost boys. Spriggs was controversially known in the spiritualism community for his ability to diagnose and treat diseases or ailments while he was in a psychic trance.
William and Hugh Browne
Upon arriving at the Browne household unaware of the missing boys or any information as to why he was there, Spriggs quickly entered a trance and proclaimed “Oh! I perceive it is all about the sea”. He asked to receive personal belongings of the missing boys to hold, so he could psychically trace their whereabouts. Mr Browne fetched their pocketbooks from their bedrooms and handed them to Spriggs. In trance, he went on to talk about an accident occurring at “9 o’clock on the Monday morning through, the jib-halyard fouling in a squall as they were putting the yacht about on another tack.” He went on to say that lolanthe would never be found as it had now sunk deep into the ocean.
Geelong Advertiser 24th December 1884
The government sent the steamer Dispatch to search for lolanthe, but as Spriggs predicted, their search came up empty-handed. Luckily for the Brownes, Spriggs was still on the case. During a séance, both Hugh and Will appeared to their parents. They apologised to their mother for not listening to her warnings, while Spriggs confirmed that Will and Hugh still lived and loved their parents from the spirit realm.
Just one week later, the body of Will washed up on shore at a beach in Brighton. His body was highly decomposed, and his left arm was missing. After the body was recovered, an inquest was held by authorities to determine what had happened. Mr Browne asked investigators to consider the testimony of Spriggs, however they ‘declined to receive that kind of evidence’. During the eulogy at the boys’ funeral, Mr Browne talked about the ‘glorious knowledge’ conveyed through their communication, that his sons were now so happy that even if they could come back, they would choose not to. The case was closed by authorities and deemed to be ‘death by shark attack’.
An engraving published in the Australasian Sketcher, 14 January 1885
On Christmas Day, a large 14-ft shark was spotted just off the jetty in Frankston. Local butcher Mr. E Coxall enticed the shark with bait to lure it back toward the area. At 1 am on Saturday, the 27th of December, the shark was eventually baited with a specially made hook and killed via gunshot. Once onshore, the butcher cut open the shark’s stomach to see if there were any human remains. The Age newspaper reported that inside were ‘portions of a coat, vest and trousers and in one of the vest pockets were found a gold watch and a silver chain, and in the trousers pocket the sum of 10s in silver, two keys and a pipe…and a human arm’. The belongings were identified as belonging to Hugh Browne. The arm with its hand still attached could not be identified, but it was assumed to belong to Will, whose body had been found earlier with the arm missing.
Mr Browne did not see this as closure, but more as confirmation that Mr Spriggs’ reading was the real deal. Curiously, when Hugh’s pocket watch was found rusted and damaged, the hands were noted as stopping at exactly 9 o’clock, the same time mentioned above when Spriggs conveyed an accident had occurred during his reading. Whether synchronicity or coincidence, this confirmation was all Mr Browne needed to confirm his faith in spiritualism. He wrote about the account in his book A Rational Faith.
The story became well known within the spiritualism community, gaining the attention of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Confused as to why Australia had not embraced spiritualism after such an affirmation, he wrote about the account in his Australian-themed book, Wanderings of a Spiritualist. “These remarks are elicited by a case which occurred in 1884 in Melbourne, and which should have converted the city as surely as if an angel had walked down Collins Street”.
The Browne family itself was cemented in spiritualism royalty. On top of Mr Browne’s widely popular book of the ordeal, the Browne’s eldest daughter was a well-known automatic writing medium, while their daughter Elizabeth ‘Pattie’ Browne would marry Sir Alfred Deakin. They met through their connections to spiritualism. Deakin would go on to become Australia’s first Attorney-General and the second Prime Minister. He was also the President of the Victorian Spiritualist Association.
The shark at the centre of the mystery was displayed at Hall’s Stables in Swanston Street Melbourne for a day before the World went on with their lives. Spiritualists who read Mr Browne’s book found great comfort in the findings. Mrs Browne continued to communicate with her boys from beyond, reassuring her that they felt no pain and were content. Oh, and they were still apologising for not listening to their mother’s intuition. Mothers always know best!
Wanderings of a Spiritualist
Here is an extract from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Book "Wanderings of a Spiritualist written in 1921, with his take on the case of the Browne boys.
These remarks are elicited by a case which occurred in 1883 in Melbourne, and which should have converted the city as surely as if an angel had walked down Collins Street. Yet nearly forty years later I find it as stagnant and material as any city I have ever visited. The facts are these, well substantiated by documentary and official evidence. Mr. Junor Browne, a well-known citizen, whose daughter afterwards married Mr. Alfred Deakin, subsequently Premier, had two sons, Frank and Hugh. Together with a seaman named Murray they went out into the bay in their yacht the "Iolanthe," and they never returned. The father was fortunately a Spiritualist and upon the second day of their absence, after making all normal inquiries, he asked a sensitive, Mr. George Spriggs, formerly of Cardiff, if he would trace them. Mr. Spriggs collected some of the young men's belongings, so as to get their atmosphere, and then he was able by psychometry to give an account of their movements, the last which he could see of them being that they were in trouble upon the yacht and that confusion seemed to reign aboard her. Two days later, as no further news was brought in, the Browne family held a séance, Mr. Spriggs being the medium. He fell into trance and the two lads, who had been trained in spiritual knowledge and knew the possibilities, at once came through. They expressed their contrition to their mother, who had desired them not to go, and they then gave a clear account of the capsizing of the yacht, and how they had met their death, adding that they had found themselves after death in the exact physical conditions of happiness and brightness which their father's teaching had led them to expect. They brought with them the seaman Murray, who also said a few words. Finally Hugh, speaking through the medium, informed Mr. Browne that Frank's arm and part of his clothing had been torn off by a fish.
"A shark?" asked Mr. Browne.
"Well, it was not like any shark I have seen."
Mark the sequel. Some weeks later a large shark of a rare deep-sea species, unknown to the fishermen, and quite unlike the ordinary blue shark with which the Brownes were familiar, was taken at Frankston, about twenty-seven miles from Melbourne. Inside it was found the bone of a human arm, and also a watch, some coins, and other articles which had belonged to Frank Browne. These facts were all brought out in the papers at the time, and Mr. Browne put much of it on record in print before the shark was taken, or any word of the missing men had come by normal means. The facts are all set forth in a little book by Mr. Browne himself, called "A Rational Faith." What have fraudulent mediums and all the other decoys to do with such a case as that, and is it not perfectly convincing to any man who is not perverse? Personally, I value it not so much for the evidence of survival, since we have that so complete already, but for the detailed account given by the young men of their new conditions, so completely corroborating what so many young officers, cut off suddenly in the war, have said of their experience. "Mother, if you could see how happy we are, and the beautiful home we are in, you would not weep except for joy. I feel so light in my spiritual body and have no pain, I would not exchange this life for earth life even it were in my power. Poor spirits without number are waiting anxiously to communicate with their friends when an opportunity is offered." The young Brownes had the enormous advantage of the education they had received from their father, so that they instantly understood and appreciated the new conditions.
References:
https://www.sea.museum/2018/09/06/seeking-the-lost-browne-boys-spiritualism-and-grief
https://spiritofpn.wordpress.com/2011/03/04/the-great-shark-case/
https://emhs.org.au/article/that_was_then_this_is_now
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