Mother Is Convinced She's Found Missing Son, But People Notice Something's 'Off'
Roger Tichborne was young, educated, and rich, so it was no surprise when he decided to become a world traveler in 1854. Four days after Roger's departure, however, a man walking along the coast came across the wreckage of Roger’s ship, the Bella. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Roger never made it around the world...so when he seemingly returned from the dead years later, people couldn’t help but be suspicious.
Roger is Dead
It’s desperation that made Lady Tichborne first place an ad in the newspaper. With the Bella scattered across the Brazilian shoreline with no survivors in sight, the Tichbornes steeled themselves for an unpleasant reality: With Roger dead, who would take care of the family?
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The Psychic's Message
Panicking for her family’s future, Lady Tichborne sought out a clairvoyant. Whatever Lady Tichborne was hoping to get out of a psychic reading, we highly doubt she expected to hear what the clairvoyant had to say. “Your eldest son,” she told a mystified Lady Tichborne, “is alive and well.”
Keeping Hope Alive
The psychic’s message came at a time when the public was eager for news about the Bella wreck. Rumors were already swirling that some of the crew had been rescued by a passing ship; now that a psychic claimed it was so, people couldn’t help but keep hope alive...especially Lady Tichborne.
Lady Tichborne's Advertisement
Refusing to grieve any longer, Lady Tichborne immediately sprung to action. She took to the papers, advertising a “handsome reward” to anyone who knew anything about where Roger could be. And when it came to possibly seeing her son alive, she didn’t hold back in the ad.
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A "Most Liberal Reward"
She not only described in detail who Roger was and what he looked like, but also how he was the heir to his deceased father’s vast estate. She mentioned how people could study the ship’s roster themselves, and reiterated how a “most liberal reward” would be given to anyone with information. Despite causing a stir, it would be a decade before she uncovered any promising leads.
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Meanwhile in Wagga Wagga...
10 years later, a man from Wagga Wagga, Australia, found himself in a bind. He was a butcher named Thomas Castro, and his debts were crushing him. Pressed for cash and for time, the desperate butcher made a shocking claim: he was a survivor of a shipwreck.
A Fateful Connection
Castro also claimed that he owned several properties in England. Still, it wasn’t until he held up his pipe — which was engraved with the initials "RCT" — that his lawyer made the connection between his client and the long lost son of Lady Tichborne.
Everything Changed
Castro’s lawyer pleaded with his client to come clean about being Roger Tichborne, but the butcher wouldn’t budge. It was almost as if he didn’t remember the shipwreck or his past life as an almost-Baronet at all! But when his lawyer mentioned Lady Tichborne, everything changed.
Back from the Dead
Almost as if someone had flicked a switch in his brain, Castro finally admitted that he was, indeed, the believed-to-be-dead Roger Tichborne. When Lady Tichborne heard the news, she immediately reached out to him. It wasn’t long before Castro/Tichborne was en route to England.
Not-So-Subtle Differences
When Roger Tichborne left for Jamaica, he was tall and lean and spoke with a French accent; now he was squat, nearly 400 pounds, and spoke with a hybrid British/Australian accent. The differences raised a few eyebrows, but not Lady Tichborne’s, who was desperate to see her son in the flesh.
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"Roger's" Story
And when Lady Tichborne first laid eyes on her long-lost son, she immediately knew it was him, despite the apparent changes. Since her other son Alfred had recently succumbed to alcoholism, finally finding Roger alive and well was a relief...even if his story didn’t make much sense.
Ready for Duty
Castro/Roger claimed that he’d been rescued by a ship called the Osprey and had ended up in Australia. Still, he was ready to resume life as the 11th Baronet of Tichborne, he told his mother — even though he’d spent the previous ten years living as somebody else for no discernible reason.
Roger's Last Will & Testament
With that, “Roger” made arrangements to move to England permanently. He was a little strapped for cash, but his mother had no problem lending him some, and she also wasn’t bothered by her son’s insistence on creating a will, something he’d shown no interest in doing before.
Hannah/Henrietta
The will, which “Roger” wrote up at the urging of the same lawyer who discovered him, was filled with odd details that some people couldn’t help but question. For instance, the will contained notes about family properties that didn’t exist, and Roger even referred to his mother as Hannah Frances, which was weird, considering how Roger's mother’s name was Henrietta.
Providing Specific Details
But Lady Tichborne, a few family friends, and even the family doctor all agreed that the man standing before them was the real Roger. It helped that Castro/Roger was able to provide very specific details about Roger’s childhood, such as his favorite fly fishing tackle and the name of his childhood dog.
So Many Reasons for Suspicion
Still, there were details beyond his weight gain and accent that got under people’s skin. Besides not knowing his mother’s first name — a reason for suspicion if we’ve ever heard it — "Roger’s" letters were also filled with too many spelling and grammatical errors for such a well-educated man.
A Simple Explanation
When forced to converse with his French family and friends, he could barely manage the simplest French phrases, despite having been raised in Paris. Any memories about his boarding school days, which he’d once held dear, were all but gone. Whenever someone brought up these irregularities, however, Roger had a simple explanation.
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A Mother's Intuition
The shipwreck had been so traumatic, he explained, that his mind had never been the same. That’s why he couldn’t remember key details about his childhood, and that’s why he treated people he’d once known like strangers. Besides, his mother believed he was who he said he was. Why would anyone question a mother’s intuition?
Order in the Court
Well, this excuse was only viable for a few years before Roger’s only real advocate — his mother — died in 1868. Now alone in the world and backed up against a wall, "Roger Tichborne" was forced to prove in court that he was truly the lost Baronet of Tichborne.
Who Is This Guy?!
As it turned out, the Roger Tichborne sitting in a courtroom trying to prove his identity wasn’t as smart as the Roger Tichborne who’d departed on the Bella. It didn’t take long for residents of Wagga Wagga to talk to investigators and identify Tichborne as someone else other than Roger Tichborne or even Tom Castro.
Meet Arthur Orton
They referred to him as Arthur Orton, the London-born son of a butcher who’d at one point moved to Australia and taken the name Tom Castro. When he saw the posters about Lady Tichborne’s search for her son, he had an epiphany.
A Daring Plan
Orton/Castro had seen the advertisements and decided this would be a great way to raise his social standing. He’d paid — or, more likely, promised to pay — two former Tichborne servants in exchange for specific information about the real Roger’s life. Even with all this out in the open, however, “Roger” refused to admit defeat.
Finally Caught
He claimed in court that he didn’t know anyone by the name of Arthur Orton. The court prepared to compile more than 200 witnesses to Orton’s identity theft, but in the end, it wasn’t even necessary: a quick doctor’s examination proved that the real Roger had had tattoos that the fake Roger didn’t possess.
What's the Verdict?
The ensuing perjury trial ended up being the longest ever in English court history (188 court days) and there was more than enough evidence to prove that Orton had been lying from the start. The jury met for just 30 minutes before unanimously deciding that Orton was guilty.
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"Roger" 'Till the End
He served 10 years in prison, but even prison life didn’t quench Orton’s thirst for notoriety. During that decade, he only admitted once that his real name was Arthur Orton, and he only did it because a journalist paid him to do so.
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Much-Needed Closure
In fact, he continued to claim that he was Roger Tichborne for the rest of his life. Though he died a poor man, the Tichbornes placed a plaque on his coffin, forever identifying him as “Sir Roger Charles Doughty Tichborne.” For them, some semblance of closure was better than none at all. They weren't alone in that regard...
Moms In Mourning
After the carnage of World War I, a mother's need for closure only strengthened. Many started asking those classic unanswerable questions: What happens after you die? Where do you go? And the question that kept mothers like Lady Tichborne awake at night: Is my son in a better place? Someone — or something — offered answers.
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Rise Of Spiritualism
A New York Sun headline from 1920 summed it up perfectly: “Riddle of the Life Hereafter Draws World’s Attention.” The promise of communication with lost loved ones drew people from far and wide...even the most respected intellectuals of the day.
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The Clairvoyant CrazeRise
The thing about unanswerable questions is that someone will always claim to be able to answer them. In the 1900s, mediums and clairvoyants claimed not only to have the answers, but to have an open line of communication with the dead.
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Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Seance
That’s how Sir Arthur Conan Doyle found himself at that table with the suspicious flickering candle. You’d expect the creator of Sherlock Holmes to be the most methodical thinker, but when it came to his son, he was willing to toss logic aside...
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Long-Time Spiritualist
Doyle had actually been interested in all things supernatural for quite some time, even before he lost his son, Kingsley, who died of pneumonia brought on by the influenza during World War I. He couldn’t accept that his son was gone forever…
Doyle The Ghost-Hunter
Though he was already a self-proclaimed Spiritualist, his son’s death motivated him to dive into supernatural investigations head-first. He believed that Spiritualism was a “New Revelation” sent by God in order to bring comfort to those grieving loved ones, much like himself.
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Talking To The Dead
It all came to a head during a seance, where Doyle claimed to have communicated with his son. “A large, strong hand then rested upon my head...and I felt and heard a kiss just above my brow,” he described. He even heard his son speak.
Long-Distance Calls
After asking Kingsley if he was happy in the afterlife, Doyle heard the words, “Yes, I am so happy.” This wasn’t the last time Doyle claimed to have spoken with his deceased son. In fact, he said that he and Kingsley had chats quite often.
All About The Afterlife
Apparently, Kingsley even described what the afterlife was like. “There is no crime, no sordidness, and it is many, many times happier,” Doyle said. How he learned this about the afterlife goes back to those all-knowing mediums.
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Automatic Writing
Mediums — people who can allegedly communicate with the dead — did so a variety of ways. They sometimes did automatic writing, in which the spirit “guides” the medium’s hand to write out messages. Still, others preferred communicating in a more physical way.
Table Tilt Levitation
Some mediums practiced table tilting. This technique required a group of people to hold a seance while a medium recited the alphabet. When the medium said the letter the spirit wanted, the table would tilt, turn, or sometimes levitate, seemingly of its own accord.
Lost In A Trance
Most interestingly were the mediums who preferred to speak to the spirits directly. This happened when mediums would become so deeply entranced that the dead would “speak” through them. One of the world’s most respected scientists learned about the afterlife this way.
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Sir Oliver Lodge
Sir Oliver Lodge was a highly respected physicist, but in 1915, all he knew was that his son, Raymond, was dead. He was killed in World War I, and before long the physicist was doing everything he could to hear from his son one last time.
Descriptions Of Heaven
And shockingly enough, he did. He allegedly talked to Raymond via a medium, and he, too, revealed some secrets about the afterlife. Raymond said it was filled with flowers, dogs, and birds, and that he’d reconnected with other deceased family members.
Not Everyone Believed Them
Through Raymond, he was able to talk to other men killed during the war. “They have not gone out of existence. They tell me it is pretty much over there as it is on this side,” Lodge said. Not everyone believed Lodge and Doyle’s claims.
Harry Houdini The Escape Artist
What is surprising is the person who opposed them the most: Harry Houdini, the escape artist. With his expert-level knowledge of magic — or, more accurately, his knowledge of trickery — Houdini knew that something about his friends’ claims was off.
Fakes, Frauds, And Phonies
He wasn’t the only one. As Spiritualism and seances rose in popularity, an influx of “mediums” conveniently came out of the woodwork, especially those who had been outed as frauds years before. They preyed on grieving families, something Houdini just couldn’t abide by.
Houdini The Skeptic
Houdini claimed to have attended more than 100 seances, none of which made him less of a skeptic. "Nothing has been revealed to convince me that intercommunication has been established between the spirits of the departed and those still in the flesh,” he said.
Houdini Can Prove It
Houdini believed in illusions that could be explained, not in mediums who spoke in funny voices, duping the most vulnerable among us. “There are millions of dollars stolen by clairvoyants and mediums every year, and I can prove it,” Houdini announced.
Dismantling The "Illusion"
And as Houdini dismantled the supposed “illusion” set forth by mediums, he also called out two men who had once been his friends. “Conan Doyle is the biggest dupe outside of Sir Oliver Lodge,” he said, and his tirade wasn’t over yet.
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Ouija Boards
Houdini was also quick to denounce one of the most popular modes of spiritual communication at the time: ouija boards. He thought ouija boards were every shrewd businessman’s dream. They made seances, which were usually only done by the upper class, marketable to everyone else.
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Ouija Boards: Fact or Fake?
There was a surge of interest in ouija boards, and all because they were easy to use. Some found them to be a fun dinner party activity, but others trusted that the boards would connect them to a long dead loved one...all with varying results.
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Unwelcome Guests
The results varied in intensity: Some reported an increase in spiritual activity in their homes, others claimed to have had long conversations with a dead relative, and others still asserted that nothing at all happened, and that the whole thing was a sham.
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Does "Ouija" = "Crazy"?
Still, another group was growing, and they were considered to be the most dangerous. There were people who were so obsessed with using ouija boards that they were committed to mental hospitals. With that, “ouija” became another word for “crazy."
Rise In Mental Illness
The medical director of New Jersey State Hospital said at the time, “It would be difficult to imagine conditions more favorable for the development of psychosis than those furnished by the ouija board and other mediums.” Of course, Houdini had his own opinion.
What if?
Houdini claimed that ouija boards were “the first step towards insanity.” Whether Spiritualists were crazy or not, it makes sense that the early 1900s, characterized by loss, was also a time period characterized by the need for closure and the phrase, “What if?”
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