Chapman/Lang healings: Mishlove excerpt #13

Psychologist Jeffrey Mishlove in “Beyond the Brain: The Survival of Human Consciousness After Permanent Bodily Death,” writes - In my estimation, the single most evidential case for human postmortem survival is the ongoing manifestation of William Lang (1852-1937), a prominent ophthalmic surgeon in London, through the mediumship of George Chapman. Chapman was a firefighter working in Aylesbury, UK, when his mediumship began in 1946. Lang’s spirit worked through Chapman regularly for sixty years until Chapman’s death in 2006. During these sessions, Chapman was in trance and knew nothing of what Lang was doing while using his body to conduct healing sessions.

George Chapman was a military veteran and a former boxer with no higher education. His personality, when not in trance, was manifestly distinct from William Lang. Through Chapman, Lang called these sessions etheric healing.

In 1966, noted psychical researcher Eric Dingwall pleaded for a serious investigation of this case. Nevertheless, the professional psychical research and parapsychology literature has ignored it. On the other hand, the spiritualist community knew of and celebrated this case. A search of the Psychic News archives, at the University of Manitoba, for the name “George Chapman,” returned 734 pages mentioning the name.

In March 2021, I interviewed Roy Stemman, former Psychic News editor and author of many articles about the Chapman mediumship. Stemman’s 2017 book, Surgeon from another World, was an updated version of a 1978 book coauthored with Chapman. Here are the salient facts about this extraordinary case making it especially evidential.

Former patients, family members, and medical colleagues acknowledged Chapman’s spirit control as Lang’s actual personality – complete with memory, professional knowledge, speaking style, and mannerisms.

William Lang’s daughter Lyndon Lang, and a group of Lang’s former medical colleagues (and colleagues of his son Basil, who predeceased him), held weekly séances with George Chapman for decades. They were convinced of the authenticity of Lang’s spirit. Journalist Roy Stemman reports how this arrangement came about. First Lyndon Lang’s skepticism was overcome by information from William Lang’s spirit that only he could have known. Then she introduced Chapman to medical colleagues of Lang and his son, Basil.

These former colleagues, family members, and friends of Lang so respected the work of George Chapman’s mediumship they gave Chapman many personal items – including the bed originally belonging to Lang. Stemman was a witness to this series of gifts. Chapman had so many of these personal items, he called it the “Lang Museum.” Today, they are still in the possession of Chapman’s family.

Lyndon Lang supported this mediumship financially, leaving a testimonial and bequeathing a portion of her estate upon her death to George Chapman.

During his six decades of mediumship, while in trance for as much as six hours at a time, George Chapman engaged in a spiritual healing practice that attained international repute. Medical professionals, who didn’t hesitate to send their patients for healing, often attested to cures.

As Roy Stemman reports, throughout his decades of journalistic coverage of the Chapman/Lang mediumship, there was never a time when he found any reason to question the integrity of either the medium or the controlling spirit.

In 1979, the prestigious Ophthalmology Section of the Royal Society of Medicine (of which Lang had formerly been president) invited George Chapman, the former firefighter, to speak about his mediumistic relationship with the deceased Lang.

William Lang’s manifestation is particularly evidential because it persisted over sixty- years. Multiple individuals who had known Lang attested to the authenticity of his discarnate spirit.

 

Jeffrey Mishlove’s essay, “Beyond the Brain: The Survival of Human Consciousness After Permanent Bodily Death,” received first prize in the 2021 Bigelow Institute’s challenge to provide proof for the survival of human consciousness after death. Footnotes in Mishlove’s essay and videos he refers have been removed in this presentation but are available in his essay, which may be downloaded at https://bigelowinstitute.org/contest_winners3.php. Mishlove is a licensed clinical psychologist, author, and host on YouTube of “New Thinking Allowed.”