Hereward on a video news clip

Nothing to get excited about, here is a very short video clip of Hereward - the announcer says he is 85 but he must be 75

It is definitely him , he was born in 1880 and died in 1958 at the age of 78 - not sure of the source here it looks like a news clip video from 1955 - it shows him in his Hollywood home down in the library

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RThWsPlTyqk

An appeal to those with Hereward Carrington material

An Appeal to those who know.

If you have Hereward Carrington material such as letters, contracts and his journals, please consider contacting me. I know someone in Los Angeles knew Marie Carrington and has perhaps the lost journals of Hereward Carrington among other things. A few others have some nice material I would like to know more about.

I believe Carrington’s journals still exist in Los Angeles California but they are beyond my reach with no likely permission to read them. Carrington kept a journal of his experiences for each year for over 50 years – his 3rd wife felt they were the most important part of Carrington’s writings. Carrington himself in his final years despaired that his life and writings might be lost. Marie tried to help him and when she died most of Carrington's writings and collection were in her home and still intact after all these years. Much of it is sold and gone now to a thousand different people but the journals in particular are important to a complete picture of this fellows fascinating life.

No, I won't give out any names of people connected or having Carrington material. That is their business unless they wish to be known.

Thanks, Steve Rivkin -Research Psychologist

Email: Dardik@cox.net

More Mistakes about Hereward Carrington

Some more errors I find on websites about Hereward.

Hereward's brother was Hedley. Hereward lived with him as a boy in America and again after he returned to America after High School. [see 1900 MN census]

Hedley Vicars Carrington was born 7 FEB 1868 in England, and died Feb 21, 1923 in Portland, Oregon. [He did not die 1934 in Seattle, WA as is on some web sites.] - death index 1923 Portland, Or / His 1923 death date is from the Oregon State Death index, certificate 491. I recently found a rare photo which I believe is Hedley, perhaps the only remaining photo of him?

Hereward's full name - a 13 year old boy Hereward in one of his magic books signed his name Hereward H.L. Carrington and dated it 1894, he just dropped the middle names later is all. His full name was originally Hereward Hubert Lavington Carrington. Documents and a few friends of his say the same.

Hereward would cheat on his vegetarian and fruit claimed diet. Possibly because some restaurants would not have much choice. His friend Burling Hull reports Hereward would order chicken.

Hereward's diploma says its from Oskaloosa College and the PhD is in philosophy granted in 1918 - with this people should be able to find web links about the mill school connection and William Penn College bought the land as I recall and was not connected at all to the former mill school. Burling Hull, a famed magician and friend of Carrington, said Carrington had to write a paper and submit the fee and obtained the diploma. Despite this fact Carrington was highly self educated , he was a big reader with his own huge library. He supposedly could read, besides English, in 3 or more languages, he translated an Italian book with the help of his first wife. In high school he won honors in math and chemistry. His first job in New York was as an editor for Street and Smith pulp magazines. He could hold his own against other PhD's but likely felt self conscious without the degree himself. He often made a point of asking to be called Dr. Carrington. Burling Hull who had his own ego problems chuckled over this. It is possible Carrington got the mill school idea from his brother Fitzroy who obtained an honorary degree just before teaching at Harvard and becoming the print collection Museum curator in Boston. Houdini also publically revealed Hereward had a mill school degree when he was mad at him over the medium Margery.

I am still working on this biography and I still keep finding new important facts and history. It makes it hard to stop researching and write the book but that is my wish. I will try to add more blog postings as I go along. I know I have not posted in a while.

A few Common Mistakes about Hereward Carrington

When my biography on Hereward Carrington comes out it will clearly be shown.

Hereward did not go to William Penn College.

Hereward did not settle in Boston except the brief period he stayed with the Crandon's while studying the medium Margery, known as Mina Crandon.

Hereward came to the USA when he was 8 years old and was here for years before returning to Britain to attend prep school. So 1899 was not the year he emigrated but only the year he returned to the USA.

Hereward's mother was born in Buffalo, NY to British parents.

These are some corrections to some of the many mistakes repeated about Hereward Carrington, there are more. I don't know why some people started some of these incorrect claims about Carrington. Also, a problem with the internet is once some wrong infomation gets posted other people start to pick up on it and use it.

The Wives of Hereward Carrington

The personal life of Hereward leaves more questions with every answer found. His 3 marriages were all somewhat questionable. His 2nd wife is often confused with his 3rd wife who for some strange reason she changed her name from Mary to Marie. Marie was also the name of his 2nd wife. Believe me, it confused me for a while as I built up data which didn't quite make sense until I found out I was dealing with 2 different people. Hereward was a vegetarian and an early and vocal proponent of fasting as an aid to health. Hereward published a book with his ex-wife in 1956, a short book called "Hints on Fasting Well." Hereward had already been writing occasionally about fasting for decades.

Some of Hereward's early magic collection

Some old magic items and odds and ends. His collection had many standard magic tricks of the day, 1890-1920 mostly. Also he owned various spirit magic and standard items used in seances - rapping hands, slates, reaching rods and so forth. Hereward loved magic and had dreamed of being a magician but early on, he found satisfation in writing, lecturing and presenting demonstrations. Hereward presented his first magic show at age 13 and put on a charity show in New York City for a hospital, not long after he arrived in the USA, he was still 18 years old and it was the year 1899.

Hereward Carrington's Estate collection

Here is half of Hereward's spirit cabinet curtain. There were two halves and each half had a skull at the top. The curtain was set up in the corner of a room with some rods and a rope or line running through and across the top. I have half and a London collector got the other half. Hereward was giving demonstrations of seance trickery by 1909 and likely already had such a curtain handy for the various psychics and mediums he lectured about and allowed to present their demonstations of their "abilities." A spirit cabinet is any separated enclosed area and the spirit curtain was an old common way of setting up such an area. I am not sure of the age of this one he was using but it is very old. Who knows what famous mediums may have used it when Hereward lectured. Hereward's estate collection came up for sale in the late 1990's and thousands of items were sold over the next ten years that had once been his. The bulk of the material was his book collection but a considerable amount of other interesting items were sold too.