1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:13,440 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,480 --> 00:00:16,960 Speaker 1: I'm Holly Fry and I'm Tracy view Wilson. Tracy. It's 4 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:18,920 Speaker 1: the best month of the year. I know it's your 5 00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:22,200 Speaker 1: absolute favorite. It is. I mean, I in my heart 6 00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:25,480 Speaker 1: it's October every day, but now we're actually in October, 7 00:00:25,560 --> 00:00:31,720 Speaker 1: which means Halloween. E content um. And for this October 8 00:00:31,800 --> 00:00:34,720 Speaker 1: we're doing kind of an on ramp topic because it's 9 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:36,839 Speaker 1: a subject that I know you and I have both 10 00:00:36,880 --> 00:00:41,080 Speaker 1: been kind of mentally prowling around for a bit. Um. 11 00:00:41,120 --> 00:00:44,120 Speaker 1: It is Madame Blavatsky, who is said to have gone 12 00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:47,720 Speaker 1: simply by her initials of HPB. I have a hard 13 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:49,800 Speaker 1: time saying that, so I'm going to stick to her 14 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:54,040 Speaker 1: regular name. Well, it's like the name she was known 15 00:00:54,080 --> 00:00:58,960 Speaker 1: by in all of her work around the English speaking world. 16 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:02,920 Speaker 1: We're not going to try to recreate her Russian name 17 00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:07,360 Speaker 1: in Russian because that's like not how she was known here, right. 18 00:01:08,319 --> 00:01:11,160 Speaker 1: And Blovotsky is a figure that is iconic in a 19 00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:14,640 Speaker 1: number of ways. She was the founder of the Theosophical movement. 20 00:01:15,040 --> 00:01:17,240 Speaker 1: She lived of a life of adventure that is hard, 21 00:01:18,040 --> 00:01:21,720 Speaker 1: very hard to believe. Frankly, Um, we'll talk a little 22 00:01:21,720 --> 00:01:24,679 Speaker 1: bit about the likely embellishment of some of her life story, 23 00:01:25,680 --> 00:01:27,560 Speaker 1: and you could also make the case that she, in 24 00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:30,640 Speaker 1: many ways set the image that persists to this day 25 00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:34,440 Speaker 1: in pop culture of the fortune teller, clad in flowing 26 00:01:34,480 --> 00:01:38,080 Speaker 1: garments and fringe. She tended to play up her otherness 27 00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:40,640 Speaker 1: as she traveled through the world to make a name 28 00:01:40,680 --> 00:01:43,760 Speaker 1: for herself and to make a living. She is a 29 00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:47,440 Speaker 1: polarizing figure to this day. There are still people that 30 00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:49,760 Speaker 1: are scholars of her work, and still people that are 31 00:01:49,880 --> 00:01:53,920 Speaker 1: very vested in disproving her work. But the important thing 32 00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:56,120 Speaker 1: is that the impact of her work is still felt 33 00:01:56,120 --> 00:01:58,120 Speaker 1: in the world, whether you believe her to have been 34 00:01:58,160 --> 00:02:01,920 Speaker 1: a genuine mystic or a total fraud. So we're tackling 35 00:02:02,640 --> 00:02:06,560 Speaker 1: Mata after many years of kind of looking at it 36 00:02:06,600 --> 00:02:10,000 Speaker 1: and then being like later later yeah. Well, And then also, um, 37 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:14,000 Speaker 1: when we were we have each had a time away 38 00:02:14,040 --> 00:02:15,640 Speaker 1: from the office recently, and it was like we were 39 00:02:15,639 --> 00:02:18,600 Speaker 1: trying to get a handle on what was coming up 40 00:02:18,639 --> 00:02:20,720 Speaker 1: on the show. So one of us didn't do the 41 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:22,959 Speaker 1: same thing as the other one while the other one 42 00:02:23,040 --> 00:02:26,400 Speaker 1: was out and not reachable. Uh, And you sent me 43 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:28,040 Speaker 1: your list over and I was like, oh, I'm so 44 00:02:28,120 --> 00:02:32,040 Speaker 1: glad this is finally on there. Well, and it worked 45 00:02:32,040 --> 00:02:35,560 Speaker 1: out well because you know, um, this is a it's 46 00:02:35,560 --> 00:02:39,040 Speaker 1: a longer episode in part because there's a lot of 47 00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:42,000 Speaker 1: her story for her and her life is is in 48 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:47,399 Speaker 1: some ways well documented, it in other ways very fuzzily documented. Um, 49 00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:49,800 Speaker 1: picking it apart is quite tricky. But I also wanted 50 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:54,160 Speaker 1: to try to read as many different sources and biographies 51 00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:56,520 Speaker 1: as I could, because, as we know, and we've talked 52 00:02:56,520 --> 00:02:59,560 Speaker 1: about before, some will be favorable to a subject, some 53 00:02:59,639 --> 00:03:01,720 Speaker 1: will not, some will fall in the middle, and you 54 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:04,120 Speaker 1: kind of have to develop a sense of pattern recognition 55 00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:07,720 Speaker 1: to see like what is consistent biography to biography and 56 00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:10,680 Speaker 1: what seems like biographer bias, and so in her case, 57 00:03:10,760 --> 00:03:13,600 Speaker 1: that's a really big part of the research is just 58 00:03:13,720 --> 00:03:16,880 Speaker 1: kind of trying to suss out the bias versus the 59 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:21,800 Speaker 1: actual Yeah, I'm literally putting your quotes around actual fact 60 00:03:21,960 --> 00:03:28,280 Speaker 1: because you'll see it starts right from the beginning. The 61 00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:32,839 Speaker 1: life of Madame Blovotsky was just the tangle of intensity 62 00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:37,119 Speaker 1: right from her birth. She was born Elena Petrovna von 63 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:40,880 Speaker 1: Han and what was at the time Russian Ukraine. She 64 00:03:41,040 --> 00:03:45,080 Speaker 1: was born August twelfth, thirty one, and she was born 65 00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:48,640 Speaker 1: prematurely in the middle of a cholera epidemic, so that's 66 00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:53,880 Speaker 1: already a lot. Helena's mother, Elena Andrea Navon Hahn, was 67 00:03:53,920 --> 00:03:57,480 Speaker 1: still a teenager, was sick with cholera when she gave birth, 68 00:03:58,360 --> 00:04:01,280 Speaker 1: and both of them were not acted to live. A 69 00:04:01,320 --> 00:04:05,520 Speaker 1: priest was brought in to baptize the baby quickly before 70 00:04:05,960 --> 00:04:10,000 Speaker 1: she was expected to die, and so then Elena's aunt 71 00:04:10,440 --> 00:04:12,760 Speaker 1: not Yat, who was also a child at the time, 72 00:04:13,200 --> 00:04:16,560 Speaker 1: accidentally set the priest robes on fire with a candle 73 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:19,520 Speaker 1: that she was holding. This is so much in a 74 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:24,760 Speaker 1: birth story, right, There's just a lot going on. Elena's 75 00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:27,599 Speaker 1: German father, Peter von Hahn, was a captain in the 76 00:04:27,680 --> 00:04:30,359 Speaker 1: Royal Horse Artillery. He was in Poland when all of 77 00:04:30,360 --> 00:04:33,000 Speaker 1: this happened, so he missed all of the you know, 78 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:35,880 Speaker 1: sort of grave happenings, but also the wackiness with the 79 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:40,599 Speaker 1: child setting a priest on fire accidentally. Um, he actually 80 00:04:40,640 --> 00:04:43,360 Speaker 1: did not meet his daughter for six months to a year, 81 00:04:43,480 --> 00:04:46,560 Speaker 1: depending on the store you look at. Accounts swerve around 82 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:49,000 Speaker 1: quite a bit on that point. So of course she 83 00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:52,719 Speaker 1: did not die. In infancy. Um. She was also descended 84 00:04:52,720 --> 00:04:58,599 Speaker 1: from royalty. Her grandmother was Princess Elena Pavlovna Delgakov, and 85 00:04:59,320 --> 00:05:02,960 Speaker 1: defied convention of the day. She educated herself and everything 86 00:05:03,040 --> 00:05:07,279 Speaker 1: from Greek language to botany. Helena's seventeen year old mother 87 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:12,320 Speaker 1: also survived the delivery and became a novelist shortly after that. 88 00:05:12,680 --> 00:05:16,000 Speaker 1: Sometimes she's been called the Russian George Son because of 89 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:18,919 Speaker 1: the similarity of the themes and her work to that 90 00:05:18,960 --> 00:05:23,880 Speaker 1: of our previous podcast subject, So Young. Elena grew up 91 00:05:23,920 --> 00:05:27,760 Speaker 1: in a household of women who really valued writing and learning. Yeah, 92 00:05:27,800 --> 00:05:30,880 Speaker 1: her mother's novels are largely about women who are in 93 00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:35,119 Speaker 1: marriages that do not hold enough romance or happiness for them, 94 00:05:35,279 --> 00:05:38,680 Speaker 1: much like a lot of short songs work um. But 95 00:05:38,800 --> 00:05:42,479 Speaker 1: though Elena was born into the aristocracy and had really 96 00:05:42,520 --> 00:05:46,520 Speaker 1: positive role models in terms of education for women, Elena's 97 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:48,280 Speaker 1: life as a child was not really what you would 98 00:05:48,279 --> 00:05:52,760 Speaker 1: call idyllic. Her father's military career meant that they moved frequently, 99 00:05:53,240 --> 00:05:57,000 Speaker 1: and there are wildly different assessments of what her relationship 100 00:05:57,040 --> 00:06:00,240 Speaker 1: with her mother was like. Some indicate that the older 101 00:06:00,279 --> 00:06:03,520 Speaker 1: Elena was generally unhappy with her life and the constant 102 00:06:03,560 --> 00:06:06,119 Speaker 1: moving and would have been very pleased to just break 103 00:06:06,120 --> 00:06:10,159 Speaker 1: free of her family obligations entirely. Other accounts suggest that 104 00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:13,279 Speaker 1: mother and daughter were in fact quite close. At one point, 105 00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:16,719 Speaker 1: Peter's orders took the family to St. Petersburg, and the 106 00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:21,000 Speaker 1: elder Elena was finally happy, so much so that when 107 00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:24,240 Speaker 1: the orders came to leave, she refused to go. The 108 00:06:24,320 --> 00:06:27,680 Speaker 1: von Hans were separated for a while during this period, 109 00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:30,480 Speaker 1: though she did take her two daughters on a thousand 110 00:06:30,520 --> 00:06:33,840 Speaker 1: mild journey with their grandfather to Ostrakon, which was at 111 00:06:33,880 --> 00:06:37,440 Speaker 1: the mouth of the Vulga River. The family patriarch was 112 00:06:37,480 --> 00:06:41,960 Speaker 1: traveling for work, and the young Helena was exposed to 113 00:06:41,960 --> 00:06:44,880 Speaker 1: Tibetan Buddhism there for the first time. Later in life, 114 00:06:44,960 --> 00:06:47,359 Speaker 1: she would describe this as having made a really lasting 115 00:06:47,400 --> 00:06:50,520 Speaker 1: impression on her. Yeah, I didn't dig into it here, 116 00:06:50,520 --> 00:06:54,200 Speaker 1: but most biographers make the point of like, her mother 117 00:06:54,680 --> 00:06:56,520 Speaker 1: was so happy to be in a city and in St. 118 00:06:56,520 --> 00:06:59,839 Speaker 1: Petersburg that she refused to move with her father. But 119 00:07:00,040 --> 00:07:02,000 Speaker 1: then she took her kids out of St. Petersburg and 120 00:07:02,040 --> 00:07:05,120 Speaker 1: went on what was actually a very long, arduous journey. 121 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:07,559 Speaker 1: So it kind of points to the fact that maybe 122 00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:10,040 Speaker 1: she just didn't want to be with Peter. She maybe 123 00:07:10,040 --> 00:07:14,360 Speaker 1: wanted a break. Yeah. By the time Elena was nine, 124 00:07:14,480 --> 00:07:16,920 Speaker 1: her parents were back together and the family was then 125 00:07:16,960 --> 00:07:20,440 Speaker 1: living in Odessa. But at this point the elder Helena, 126 00:07:20,560 --> 00:07:24,000 Speaker 1: who had never really enjoyed robust health, was sick and 127 00:07:24,080 --> 00:07:27,520 Speaker 1: she was getting worse. When she was finally diagnosed with 128 00:07:27,560 --> 00:07:31,000 Speaker 1: tuberculosis during a pregnancy, a doctor moved in with the 129 00:07:31,040 --> 00:07:34,640 Speaker 1: family full time, and that baby, a son named Leonid, 130 00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:38,280 Speaker 1: was born in June, and he was actually the family's 131 00:07:38,320 --> 00:07:40,760 Speaker 1: second son. They had had a boy named Sasha, who 132 00:07:40,760 --> 00:07:43,880 Speaker 1: had died in infancy several years earlier. And you may 133 00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:46,560 Speaker 1: have have noticed that we referenced two daughters a little 134 00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:48,440 Speaker 1: bit ago, and that's because at that point there was 135 00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:51,920 Speaker 1: already a second daughter. Her name was Vera and Helena 136 00:07:52,080 --> 00:07:56,080 Speaker 1: Andreaevna survived the birth of her fourth child despite her illness, 137 00:07:56,880 --> 00:08:00,000 Speaker 1: but despite every treatment at the family's wealth and can 138 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:02,080 Speaker 1: actions could arrange for her, she did not live a 139 00:08:02,080 --> 00:08:04,920 Speaker 1: whole lot longer. She died in eighteen forty two at 140 00:08:04,920 --> 00:08:08,240 Speaker 1: the age of just twenty eight, and in an apocryphal story, 141 00:08:08,360 --> 00:08:10,920 Speaker 1: her last words to her daughter where that she would 142 00:08:10,920 --> 00:08:12,920 Speaker 1: not live a life like other women, and that she 143 00:08:12,960 --> 00:08:17,080 Speaker 1: would suffer a great deal, so something that uh Blovotsky 144 00:08:17,120 --> 00:08:20,480 Speaker 1: would say throughout her life. Helena, her sister Vera, and 145 00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:23,800 Speaker 1: her brother Leonid were sent to live with their grandparents. 146 00:08:23,800 --> 00:08:27,160 Speaker 1: That sort of trophy sentiment that Helena was not like 147 00:08:27,240 --> 00:08:29,960 Speaker 1: other girls was something that was really part of the 148 00:08:29,960 --> 00:08:33,720 Speaker 1: way the family described her from her youth. Her sister 149 00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:38,479 Speaker 1: Vera described her as being singularly strange, and most descriptions 150 00:08:38,480 --> 00:08:41,880 Speaker 1: talk about her having a duality to her personality. On 151 00:08:41,920 --> 00:08:44,600 Speaker 1: the one hand, she was really rebellious and stubborn and 152 00:08:44,679 --> 00:08:47,560 Speaker 1: like to play unkind pranks and kind of talk back 153 00:08:47,559 --> 00:08:51,120 Speaker 1: to adults, and on the other she was bookish, deeply 154 00:08:51,240 --> 00:08:55,160 Speaker 1: interested in the metaphysical, and really obsessed with hiding in 155 00:08:55,200 --> 00:08:58,160 Speaker 1: the many tunnels and other strange hideaways that were part 156 00:08:58,200 --> 00:09:01,320 Speaker 1: of their grandparents house in this city of Saratov on 157 00:09:01,400 --> 00:09:04,160 Speaker 1: the Vulgar River. And this is also the point in 158 00:09:04,160 --> 00:09:07,960 Speaker 1: the timeline where the stories of her unusual paranormal abilities 159 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:11,000 Speaker 1: are rooted. So according to family stories, which are of 160 00:09:11,040 --> 00:09:14,760 Speaker 1: course not verifiable, Helena would play with what seemed to 161 00:09:14,760 --> 00:09:18,520 Speaker 1: be ghosts, and she would sleepwalk into the unused passages 162 00:09:18,559 --> 00:09:22,280 Speaker 1: of the house and developed the ability to put birds 163 00:09:22,320 --> 00:09:26,640 Speaker 1: to sleep using something that she called Solomon's wisdom. We 164 00:09:26,679 --> 00:09:30,120 Speaker 1: don't know what that was, um. There is literally nothing 165 00:09:30,120 --> 00:09:35,040 Speaker 1: that tries to explain what Solomon's wistows um. And of course, 166 00:09:35,280 --> 00:09:39,280 Speaker 1: the family lore around Helena mentions her fascination with the 167 00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:42,360 Speaker 1: dead from the time she was a child. Once the 168 00:09:42,480 --> 00:09:46,400 Speaker 1: children had relocated to Saratov and we're just not constantly 169 00:09:46,480 --> 00:09:50,959 Speaker 1: moving around to accommodate their father's career anymore, their education 170 00:09:51,040 --> 00:09:56,600 Speaker 1: settled into more consistent and formalized structures. But even so, 171 00:09:56,880 --> 00:09:59,640 Speaker 1: and in spite of coming from a pretty progressive family 172 00:09:59,720 --> 00:10:03,120 Speaker 1: into terms of women in education, this was largely about 173 00:10:03,200 --> 00:10:06,319 Speaker 1: preparing her to be an aristocratic life. So she was 174 00:10:06,400 --> 00:10:10,400 Speaker 1: learning French, studying art and music, but things like math 175 00:10:10,480 --> 00:10:13,600 Speaker 1: and science were not really part of the curriculum. Nope. 176 00:10:13,840 --> 00:10:18,280 Speaker 1: She was supposed to learn how to be very pretty 177 00:10:18,320 --> 00:10:21,320 Speaker 1: and quiet and to be able to entertain her husband 178 00:10:21,320 --> 00:10:25,040 Speaker 1: with talks of culture, but not really anything else. Uh. 179 00:10:25,040 --> 00:10:27,800 Speaker 1: And there are a lot of stories of the ways 180 00:10:27,840 --> 00:10:30,840 Speaker 1: in which Helena in her early years comes into contact 181 00:10:30,880 --> 00:10:34,120 Speaker 1: with the occult and the mystical, just before her own 182 00:10:34,400 --> 00:10:37,320 Speaker 1: deeper connection to that world is said to have manifested, 183 00:10:38,040 --> 00:10:41,960 Speaker 1: so she allegedly learned about be communication and plants that 184 00:10:42,040 --> 00:10:45,520 Speaker 1: had mystical uses from what is usually referred to as 185 00:10:45,559 --> 00:10:48,880 Speaker 1: a surf on the family property. His name is listed 186 00:10:48,920 --> 00:10:52,720 Speaker 1: as baron Ig Buyak. And while traveling with her grandparents, 187 00:10:52,720 --> 00:10:55,160 Speaker 1: she was again exposed to a number of other cultures 188 00:10:55,160 --> 00:10:59,040 Speaker 1: and ideas, and was once again completely fascinated with Tibetan 189 00:10:59,040 --> 00:11:03,360 Speaker 1: Buddhism in particular. She also started to mention a protector 190 00:11:03,400 --> 00:11:06,760 Speaker 1: that she saw in her dreams during her late childhood, 191 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:11,240 Speaker 1: and she described this protector, which was her name for him, 192 00:11:11,280 --> 00:11:14,679 Speaker 1: as a tall man from India. There we said, well, 193 00:11:14,720 --> 00:11:18,800 Speaker 1: accidents that happened to her where she narrowly escaped serious injury, 194 00:11:18,880 --> 00:11:22,920 Speaker 1: and she attributed her lack of damage to the intervention 195 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:27,000 Speaker 1: of this protector figure. Yeah. In one instance, she had 196 00:11:27,040 --> 00:11:29,880 Speaker 1: stacked a table with other furniture and climbed it to 197 00:11:29,920 --> 00:11:31,880 Speaker 1: get a look at a portrait that was high on 198 00:11:31,920 --> 00:11:34,920 Speaker 1: the wall of her grandparents home. There's a whole layer 199 00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:37,040 Speaker 1: to this story where the portrait is covered with a 200 00:11:37,080 --> 00:11:40,360 Speaker 1: curtain and nobody wants anybody to see it, and so 201 00:11:40,440 --> 00:11:42,440 Speaker 1: that makes it more alluring. And we don't ever find 202 00:11:42,440 --> 00:11:47,240 Speaker 1: out what the portrait is, but uh, when she peeked 203 00:11:47,320 --> 00:11:50,880 Speaker 1: behind it to the forbidden painting, whatever it was was 204 00:11:50,920 --> 00:11:54,400 Speaker 1: either so shocking or startling that she passed out and 205 00:11:54,440 --> 00:11:57,800 Speaker 1: fell from this giant stack of furniture. And she claimed 206 00:11:57,840 --> 00:12:00,760 Speaker 1: that when she came to everything was where it belonged. 207 00:12:00,880 --> 00:12:02,839 Speaker 1: All of the furniture had been put back in its 208 00:12:02,840 --> 00:12:06,600 Speaker 1: proper place, and the only evidence of her clandestine climb 209 00:12:07,040 --> 00:12:09,480 Speaker 1: was a handprint that she had left high on the 210 00:12:09,520 --> 00:12:13,080 Speaker 1: wall and on a dusty surface. And then on another occasion, 211 00:12:13,600 --> 00:12:16,000 Speaker 1: she was thrown from a horse, and she said that 212 00:12:16,080 --> 00:12:18,800 Speaker 1: her protector had appeared and saved her by holding her 213 00:12:18,840 --> 00:12:22,000 Speaker 1: head so it did not impact on the ground. There's 214 00:12:22,040 --> 00:12:25,800 Speaker 1: also a sort of incongruous piece of travel information that 215 00:12:25,920 --> 00:12:29,360 Speaker 1: comes up around the same time that she started seeing 216 00:12:29,400 --> 00:12:32,960 Speaker 1: this protector. Later in life, she mentioned having gone to 217 00:12:33,080 --> 00:12:35,720 Speaker 1: England with her father when she was twelve or thirteen. 218 00:12:36,280 --> 00:12:39,359 Speaker 1: There's really no record of this trip. It's not corroborated 219 00:12:39,400 --> 00:12:42,760 Speaker 1: by her sister's diary at the time. So historians tend 220 00:12:42,800 --> 00:12:46,280 Speaker 1: to be of two views on this sort of strange 221 00:12:46,400 --> 00:12:50,440 Speaker 1: standout piece in the whole Madame Blovotsky puzzle. Either it 222 00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:55,880 Speaker 1: never happened, or it happened, but she recalled the timeline incorrectly, 223 00:12:55,960 --> 00:12:58,840 Speaker 1: and this trip really took place closer to eighteen fifty, 224 00:12:58,960 --> 00:13:01,880 Speaker 1: when she was seventeen or eighteen instead of twelve or thirteen. 225 00:13:02,360 --> 00:13:05,240 Speaker 1: There will be so many inconsistencies with where she is 226 00:13:05,280 --> 00:13:09,280 Speaker 1: and when Accepting all of these stories, of course, requires 227 00:13:09,320 --> 00:13:11,160 Speaker 1: a bit of faith, because there isn't a way to 228 00:13:11,200 --> 00:13:14,600 Speaker 1: corroborate the appearance of a spirit that only appears to 229 00:13:14,640 --> 00:13:18,719 Speaker 1: one person, or even to verify simple events that are 230 00:13:18,760 --> 00:13:21,480 Speaker 1: part of family history but have no actual record. Right, 231 00:13:21,480 --> 00:13:23,360 Speaker 1: we don't know if she was thrown from a horse, 232 00:13:24,120 --> 00:13:27,160 Speaker 1: no one would have like recorded that in any way. 233 00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:29,840 Speaker 1: We don't know if she climbed this table full of 234 00:13:29,880 --> 00:13:34,000 Speaker 1: things and was somehow protected and cleaned up after by 235 00:13:34,040 --> 00:13:38,199 Speaker 1: a friendly spirit, because like, there's not like anybody files 236 00:13:38,200 --> 00:13:43,320 Speaker 1: a report on that. When it came to this protector, 237 00:13:43,679 --> 00:13:46,800 Speaker 1: Helena also didn't seem content to just use the idea 238 00:13:46,880 --> 00:13:51,280 Speaker 1: as a means of explaining the unexplainable. As a teenager, 239 00:13:51,320 --> 00:13:55,600 Speaker 1: she became really fixated on studying what exactly was at 240 00:13:55,640 --> 00:13:59,000 Speaker 1: work when strange events happened around her. So she read, 241 00:13:59,240 --> 00:14:03,200 Speaker 1: according to her own account books on alchemy, magic and 242 00:14:03,240 --> 00:14:06,479 Speaker 1: the occult. These had been part of her great grandfather's 243 00:14:06,559 --> 00:14:10,640 Speaker 1: royal library and included in these volumes there was even 244 00:14:10,679 --> 00:14:14,200 Speaker 1: a book by the previous podcast subject to Saint Germain, 245 00:14:14,360 --> 00:14:18,000 Speaker 1: if that account is actually true. Reading the work of 246 00:14:18,120 --> 00:14:21,280 Speaker 1: other explorers of the unknown gave her this base of 247 00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:24,000 Speaker 1: knowledge that she then used as her jumping off point 248 00:14:24,080 --> 00:14:28,880 Speaker 1: with her own mystical and philosophical explorations. Helena's teenage years 249 00:14:28,880 --> 00:14:31,720 Speaker 1: were a time full of significant change, as is pretty 250 00:14:31,720 --> 00:14:34,600 Speaker 1: normal for a teenager, although hers is not always that normal. 251 00:14:35,160 --> 00:14:37,280 Speaker 1: We're going to delve into that after we first pause 252 00:14:37,400 --> 00:14:47,320 Speaker 1: for a sponsor break. When Helena was fifteen, her life 253 00:14:47,320 --> 00:14:51,800 Speaker 1: shifted once again. Her grandfather's appointment as governor of Saratov ended, 254 00:14:52,280 --> 00:14:54,800 Speaker 1: and at that point Helena, Vera and Leon had first 255 00:14:54,800 --> 00:14:57,400 Speaker 1: spent a year with an aunt before joining their grandparents 256 00:14:57,400 --> 00:15:00,160 Speaker 1: in the Georgian capital of Tibilisi, which was called if 257 00:15:00,200 --> 00:15:03,800 Speaker 1: List at the time. As she turned sixteen, Helena had 258 00:15:03,800 --> 00:15:06,800 Speaker 1: started to speak about a double life that she was leading. 259 00:15:07,560 --> 00:15:10,360 Speaker 1: One was her normal, everyday life and the other was 260 00:15:10,400 --> 00:15:13,920 Speaker 1: her astral life. She also made the acquaintance of Prince 261 00:15:13,960 --> 00:15:18,280 Speaker 1: Alexander Goliatson who was similarly interested in the mystical and 262 00:15:18,320 --> 00:15:21,720 Speaker 1: had traveled the world seeking out experts and practitioners of 263 00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:26,120 Speaker 1: various occult and magical activities. Gol Jetson is said to 264 00:15:26,160 --> 00:15:30,760 Speaker 1: have encouraged Lena's interest in this secondary spiritual life, and 265 00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:33,720 Speaker 1: specifically advised her to travel the same way that he 266 00:15:33,800 --> 00:15:37,479 Speaker 1: had to learn more about the unknown. When Elena was seventeen, 267 00:15:37,600 --> 00:15:40,560 Speaker 1: there was once again a sudden change in her circumstance, 268 00:15:40,720 --> 00:15:44,359 Speaker 1: but this time in the form of a marriage. Seemingly 269 00:15:44,520 --> 00:15:48,240 Speaker 1: out of nowhere. She wed Nikop Blovotsky, a man in 270 00:15:48,320 --> 00:15:51,000 Speaker 1: his forties who was vice governor of the Arab and 271 00:15:51,080 --> 00:15:55,400 Speaker 1: Province of Armenia. How this match happened is another place 272 00:15:55,440 --> 00:16:00,000 Speaker 1: in Helena's life where the stories differ really significantly. Uh. 273 00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:01,960 Speaker 1: There are some theories that she may have just run 274 00:16:01,960 --> 00:16:04,280 Speaker 1: off and gotten married as an act of rebellion against 275 00:16:04,320 --> 00:16:07,800 Speaker 1: her father or her governess, who she was having some 276 00:16:07,840 --> 00:16:10,720 Speaker 1: conflict with h and again that depends on the source 277 00:16:10,720 --> 00:16:14,280 Speaker 1: you read. It also might have been a hastily arranged 278 00:16:14,520 --> 00:16:17,680 Speaker 1: marriage made by the family in the hopes of tethering 279 00:16:17,760 --> 00:16:21,560 Speaker 1: the increasingly restless Helena to her home in some way, 280 00:16:21,720 --> 00:16:24,760 Speaker 1: but in later years. She herself also said that Nickophore, 281 00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:27,400 Speaker 1: unlike a lot of the men closer to her age, 282 00:16:27,720 --> 00:16:30,480 Speaker 1: never mocked her interest in the mystical, and would talk 283 00:16:30,480 --> 00:16:32,400 Speaker 1: to her about things that he had learned in other 284 00:16:32,480 --> 00:16:35,880 Speaker 1: places and cultures that might interest her as she studied 285 00:16:35,880 --> 00:16:39,560 Speaker 1: such matters. This was not a good match, though. Helena 286 00:16:39,640 --> 00:16:42,480 Speaker 1: got cold feet before the wedding even happened, and she 287 00:16:42,560 --> 00:16:46,280 Speaker 1: tried to back out. She vanished for several days, and 288 00:16:46,320 --> 00:16:49,000 Speaker 1: there were rumors that she had met up with Glitson, 289 00:16:49,640 --> 00:16:52,120 Speaker 1: but she returned from wherever she had gone in time 290 00:16:52,160 --> 00:16:55,760 Speaker 1: for the wedding. That wedding took place on July seven, nine, 291 00:16:56,360 --> 00:16:58,840 Speaker 1: and she said to have refused to do the vow 292 00:16:58,960 --> 00:17:01,920 Speaker 1: of honoring a banying her new husband, but otherwise the 293 00:17:01,920 --> 00:17:05,760 Speaker 1: ceremony did go as planned. According to Helena, though this 294 00:17:05,800 --> 00:17:08,320 Speaker 1: marriage was never consummated, and we'll come back to this. 295 00:17:09,160 --> 00:17:12,239 Speaker 1: No sooner was this wedding over than Helena began a 296 00:17:12,280 --> 00:17:14,960 Speaker 1: series of attempts to run away from her new husband 297 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:18,119 Speaker 1: and her new life. She and Nikopore lived in the 298 00:17:18,119 --> 00:17:20,720 Speaker 1: palace of Sardar and Aravan, and she spent a great 299 00:17:20,760 --> 00:17:24,159 Speaker 1: deal of time, it seems, evading guards who wished she 300 00:17:24,160 --> 00:17:27,760 Speaker 1: would just stay put. Eventually, she did manage to get 301 00:17:27,800 --> 00:17:30,000 Speaker 1: past the guards and she ran back to her family 302 00:17:30,040 --> 00:17:33,240 Speaker 1: in Tifflis, and at that point the decision was made 303 00:17:33,240 --> 00:17:35,600 Speaker 1: to ship her off to her father and see if 304 00:17:35,640 --> 00:17:39,080 Speaker 1: that might help. But she purposely missed the boat and 305 00:17:39,119 --> 00:17:42,280 Speaker 1: then bribed a different boat captain to take her to Kirch. 306 00:17:42,920 --> 00:17:45,879 Speaker 1: She traveled with two members of her family's household staff 307 00:17:45,920 --> 00:17:49,600 Speaker 1: and assured them that she was still planning to rendezvous 308 00:17:49,640 --> 00:17:53,560 Speaker 1: with her father. Then she gave them the slip. Similarly, 309 00:17:53,880 --> 00:17:56,840 Speaker 1: after some issues with the captain of the English ship 310 00:17:56,960 --> 00:18:00,199 Speaker 1: the Commodore, which was the captain she had bribed, she 311 00:18:00,280 --> 00:18:04,080 Speaker 1: ran away again. The captain's boat was boarded by harbor 312 00:18:04,160 --> 00:18:07,680 Speaker 1: police who were looking for this runaway aristocrat, and while 313 00:18:07,760 --> 00:18:10,840 Speaker 1: she managed to evade capture by dressing as a cabin boy, 314 00:18:11,040 --> 00:18:15,120 Speaker 1: the captain probably did not like all of this. Bus 315 00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:17,520 Speaker 1: Soon she was gone, and this was the start of 316 00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:22,440 Speaker 1: just a wild decade. The next nine years of Elena 317 00:18:22,440 --> 00:18:26,239 Speaker 1: Blovotsky's life are very murky. She did not trust her 318 00:18:26,240 --> 00:18:28,560 Speaker 1: family not to send her back to her husband if 319 00:18:28,560 --> 00:18:31,840 Speaker 1: she told them where she was, so she didn't with 320 00:18:31,960 --> 00:18:34,959 Speaker 1: the possible exception of her father, who might have occasionally 321 00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:38,080 Speaker 1: been sending her money, and because of the cloak and 322 00:18:38,160 --> 00:18:42,560 Speaker 1: dagger nature of her travels, plenty of unlikely stories about 323 00:18:42,640 --> 00:18:44,720 Speaker 1: just what she was up to during those years of 324 00:18:44,760 --> 00:18:48,719 Speaker 1: travel abound. Blovotsky's own accounts of this period of her 325 00:18:48,760 --> 00:18:52,280 Speaker 1: life shifted and changed over the years, sometimes in ways 326 00:18:52,320 --> 00:18:56,359 Speaker 1: that contradicted one another or created impossibilities in terms of 327 00:18:56,359 --> 00:19:03,000 Speaker 1: the timeline. The first place that Madame Blovotsky explored was Constantinople. Later, 328 00:19:03,080 --> 00:19:05,400 Speaker 1: she shared that it was here that she met opera 329 00:19:05,440 --> 00:19:09,320 Speaker 1: singer a Guardi Metrovitch. After finding him stabbed and left 330 00:19:09,359 --> 00:19:13,280 Speaker 1: for dead in the street, Lavotsky stood watch over him 331 00:19:13,280 --> 00:19:16,240 Speaker 1: with a pistol to ward off anybody who had ill intent, 332 00:19:16,320 --> 00:19:19,840 Speaker 1: while waiting for somebody to help her, arranged for him 333 00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:24,359 Speaker 1: to get help. She did find some non nefarious help eventually, 334 00:19:24,520 --> 00:19:27,120 Speaker 1: and Metrovitch was treated and recovered. The two of them 335 00:19:27,119 --> 00:19:31,040 Speaker 1: remained friends for the remaining two decades of the singer's life. 336 00:19:31,359 --> 00:19:33,800 Speaker 1: Helena is also said to have made the acquaintance of 337 00:19:33,840 --> 00:19:37,679 Speaker 1: the Countess Sofia Kisslv in Constantinople, who she traveled with 338 00:19:37,760 --> 00:19:41,399 Speaker 1: for several months, often disguised as a young man, they 339 00:19:41,440 --> 00:19:44,760 Speaker 1: went to Egypt and Greece together before heading to Eastern Europe. 340 00:19:45,520 --> 00:19:49,400 Speaker 1: Metrovich and Helena then turned up together somewhere in Europe. 341 00:19:49,800 --> 00:19:52,720 Speaker 1: Metrovitch wrote to Helena's grandfather to tell him that the 342 00:19:52,760 --> 00:19:55,840 Speaker 1: two were married. This is all very blurry. We don't 343 00:19:55,840 --> 00:19:58,080 Speaker 1: know if this was like a i'm your friend, I'm 344 00:19:58,080 --> 00:20:02,000 Speaker 1: gonna tell your and parents that, like we're together now 345 00:20:02,040 --> 00:20:06,000 Speaker 1: and explain this to your husband, or if he really 346 00:20:06,040 --> 00:20:10,240 Speaker 1: thought they were getting married. It's again everything marky, marky, markeys. 347 00:20:12,160 --> 00:20:14,640 Speaker 1: But we do know that by the early eighteen fifties, 348 00:20:14,680 --> 00:20:17,960 Speaker 1: Blovotsky was first in Paris and then in London and 349 00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:21,000 Speaker 1: in England, she had what she claimed was a significant 350 00:20:21,040 --> 00:20:24,919 Speaker 1: spiritual experience. She met a man from India who she 351 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:29,560 Speaker 1: claimed to already know, remember that protector from her childhood. 352 00:20:30,160 --> 00:20:32,760 Speaker 1: She said that this man, who she called Master Maria 353 00:20:33,160 --> 00:20:35,760 Speaker 1: sometimes she'll just call him the Master, was one and 354 00:20:35,840 --> 00:20:39,560 Speaker 1: the same, and the specifics around exactly when and where 355 00:20:39,600 --> 00:20:42,680 Speaker 1: she met him shifted in her own accounts. She told 356 00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:45,399 Speaker 1: different people that she had seen him in a crowd 357 00:20:45,520 --> 00:20:48,399 Speaker 1: first and recognized him, others that she had met him 358 00:20:48,400 --> 00:20:52,560 Speaker 1: at Waterloo Bridge when she was considering suicide. Another version 359 00:20:52,600 --> 00:20:55,119 Speaker 1: was that she ran into him at the Great Exhibition, 360 00:20:55,840 --> 00:20:58,200 Speaker 1: and also that she met him in the seaside town 361 00:20:58,240 --> 00:21:01,479 Speaker 1: of Ramsgate. By All of these versions, even though they 362 00:21:01,480 --> 00:21:04,840 Speaker 1: are different, include his seeking her out to tell her 363 00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:09,600 Speaker 1: that she must spend several years in Tibet before trying 364 00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:13,040 Speaker 1: to make a path to Tibet. Though she headed to Canada. 365 00:21:13,240 --> 00:21:16,399 Speaker 1: She was inspired by the writing of James Finnimore Cooper 366 00:21:16,520 --> 00:21:21,639 Speaker 1: to seek out First Nations people's She found these encounters disappointing, though, 367 00:21:21,880 --> 00:21:26,640 Speaker 1: and she attributed this disappointment to the indigenous population having 368 00:21:26,680 --> 00:21:31,480 Speaker 1: been exposed to Christian missionaries. There's some layers here. There 369 00:21:31,480 --> 00:21:34,600 Speaker 1: are so many layers. And she's very problematic when it 370 00:21:34,640 --> 00:21:41,240 Speaker 1: comes to her interactions with people of other cultures because 371 00:21:41,320 --> 00:21:46,440 Speaker 1: she does that thing where she simultaneously fetishizes them and 372 00:21:46,600 --> 00:21:49,280 Speaker 1: criticizes the heck out of them as not being what 373 00:21:49,440 --> 00:21:53,960 Speaker 1: she wanted them to be. Um it's very problematic. But 374 00:21:54,080 --> 00:21:56,879 Speaker 1: after this time in Canada, she has said to have 375 00:21:56,960 --> 00:22:00,159 Speaker 1: moved south to New Orleans and then into text Us 376 00:22:00,240 --> 00:22:03,800 Speaker 1: before leaving North America for India. And she made it 377 00:22:03,800 --> 00:22:06,399 Speaker 1: to India. She stayed in Bombay first for two years, 378 00:22:06,520 --> 00:22:09,640 Speaker 1: and it said that during this time, masters of ancient 379 00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:12,680 Speaker 1: wisdom also told her to go to Tibet to learn 380 00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:16,840 Speaker 1: about the integration of science, religion and philosophy. But she 381 00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:20,000 Speaker 1: couldn't really make her way into Tibets. That was tricky 382 00:22:20,040 --> 00:22:26,119 Speaker 1: at this time. Uh, Europeans not so much welcome. Tibet 383 00:22:26,200 --> 00:22:28,800 Speaker 1: was very closed off. At this point, she decided to 384 00:22:28,840 --> 00:22:31,760 Speaker 1: head back to England. When she got there, she had 385 00:22:31,920 --> 00:22:35,879 Speaker 1: quite the tail of her journey. She claimed that the 386 00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:38,560 Speaker 1: ship she was on had wrecked near the Cape of 387 00:22:38,600 --> 00:22:41,720 Speaker 1: Good Hope and that she was one of twenty one survivors. 388 00:22:42,320 --> 00:22:45,320 Speaker 1: After allegedly meeting with the Master again and the home 389 00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:49,160 Speaker 1: of someone she says she didn't know, Elena Blovotsky made 390 00:22:49,200 --> 00:22:51,960 Speaker 1: her way to North America again. Yeah, this is the 391 00:22:51,960 --> 00:22:54,440 Speaker 1: point in her story where I was like, she's lost 392 00:22:54,480 --> 00:22:57,840 Speaker 1: all sense of even grounding her tails in any sort 393 00:22:57,880 --> 00:23:01,680 Speaker 1: of reality, like this whole Oh, I took a ship 394 00:23:01,720 --> 00:23:05,480 Speaker 1: from India and it was shipwrecked. Twenty one of us survived. 395 00:23:06,480 --> 00:23:08,639 Speaker 1: There's no account of how she got back to Europe 396 00:23:08,680 --> 00:23:15,119 Speaker 1: from that point. Um, yeah, it's a little bit a 397 00:23:15,160 --> 00:23:18,159 Speaker 1: little bit KOOKI but she landed in New York and 398 00:23:18,200 --> 00:23:20,760 Speaker 1: then she headed west, first to Chicago and then to 399 00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:23,040 Speaker 1: Salt Lake City, and from there she moved on to 400 00:23:23,080 --> 00:23:27,400 Speaker 1: San Francisco, where she boarded a steamer to Japan. From 401 00:23:27,440 --> 00:23:29,840 Speaker 1: there it was on to India, and this time with 402 00:23:29,920 --> 00:23:33,720 Speaker 1: the help of a guide and disguised herself. She claimed 403 00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:36,720 Speaker 1: to have entered Tibet in eighteen fifty six. At last, 404 00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:40,240 Speaker 1: the timeline of her travels was written up and published 405 00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:43,640 Speaker 1: by Blovotsky in the Moscow Chronicle under the pen name 406 00:23:43,800 --> 00:23:47,600 Speaker 1: rata By From Tibet, she was eventually ordered by the 407 00:23:47,640 --> 00:23:51,240 Speaker 1: mysterious Master to travel back to Europe. All of this 408 00:23:51,320 --> 00:23:56,520 Speaker 1: is disputed. It's entirely possible that she was just hanging 409 00:23:56,560 --> 00:24:00,440 Speaker 1: out in Europe this whole time, of Holly said earlier, 410 00:24:00,480 --> 00:24:04,439 Speaker 1: Tibet was pretty closed off to Europeans. She might have 411 00:24:04,640 --> 00:24:06,840 Speaker 1: managed to gain access to to Bet if she was 412 00:24:06,880 --> 00:24:09,960 Speaker 1: traveling with one of the people that she name checked 413 00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:13,440 Speaker 1: as a spiritual master from the surrounding area. But I mean, 414 00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:16,280 Speaker 1: these are kind of long odds on this. There's just 415 00:24:16,359 --> 00:24:20,000 Speaker 1: never been any corroborating information for these claims. But while 416 00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:22,720 Speaker 1: the years from eighteen forty nine to eighteen fifty eight 417 00:24:22,760 --> 00:24:26,480 Speaker 1: are really only known by what Blovotsky said she did. 418 00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:29,480 Speaker 1: We do know that she was back in Russia with 419 00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:33,520 Speaker 1: her family on Christmas eighteen fifty eight. Once again, the 420 00:24:33,560 --> 00:24:37,400 Speaker 1: family noted the strange phenomena that seemed to always surround her. 421 00:24:38,080 --> 00:24:40,719 Speaker 1: Elena went back to her husband Nicko four in eighteen 422 00:24:40,760 --> 00:24:44,240 Speaker 1: sixty two, but a Guardi Metrovich then showed up in 423 00:24:44,280 --> 00:24:48,320 Speaker 1: Tifflis not long after, claiming his own rights as her husband. 424 00:24:48,600 --> 00:24:51,760 Speaker 1: This whole thing is really messy and unclear. And then 425 00:24:51,800 --> 00:24:56,440 Speaker 1: to confuse the situation further, she adopted a boy named 426 00:24:56,520 --> 00:25:00,000 Speaker 1: Yuri with Nick for the couple didn't stay to get 427 00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:02,960 Speaker 1: other Urie died at the age of five and was 428 00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:08,399 Speaker 1: buried as Uri Metrovich. Your's actual parentage is also a 429 00:25:08,440 --> 00:25:11,760 Speaker 1: matter of debate. Madame Blovotsky said that this was the 430 00:25:11,840 --> 00:25:14,520 Speaker 1: out of wedlock son of her sister in law and 431 00:25:15,160 --> 00:25:21,160 Speaker 1: Baron Meyendorff. Rumors arose and continued that he was actually 432 00:25:21,280 --> 00:25:25,480 Speaker 1: the child of Helena and Metrovich. Yeah, it's a big 433 00:25:25,520 --> 00:25:28,560 Speaker 1: it's a big cluster and mystery. We don't know. There's 434 00:25:28,560 --> 00:25:31,120 Speaker 1: so many I feel like she was so good at 435 00:25:31,200 --> 00:25:35,400 Speaker 1: creating such a pastiche of confusing details. About her life 436 00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:37,280 Speaker 1: that no one could untangle them and be like, wait, 437 00:25:37,280 --> 00:25:41,520 Speaker 1: this doesn't end up um. In eighteen sixty four, Blovotsky 438 00:25:41,560 --> 00:25:43,560 Speaker 1: had a horse riding accident that actually left her in 439 00:25:43,560 --> 00:25:46,400 Speaker 1: a coma for several months, and she said that when 440 00:25:46,400 --> 00:25:49,840 Speaker 1: she came out of that coma, her paranormal abilities had 441 00:25:49,840 --> 00:25:53,720 Speaker 1: been fully actualized. After this, she was once again on 442 00:25:53,760 --> 00:25:57,360 Speaker 1: the move throughout Europe before once again receiving instructions from 443 00:25:57,400 --> 00:26:01,040 Speaker 1: the Master to go to Constantinople, then India, and into 444 00:26:01,040 --> 00:26:05,520 Speaker 1: Tibet again all unsubstantiated. We're about to get to the 445 00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:10,320 Speaker 1: phase of Blovotsky's life where she became associated with spiritualism. 446 00:26:10,320 --> 00:26:12,639 Speaker 1: Before we get into that, let's take a quick break 447 00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:14,879 Speaker 1: and hear from some of the sponsors that keep stuff 448 00:26:14,920 --> 00:26:25,520 Speaker 1: you missed in history class going. In the seventies, Blovotsky 449 00:26:25,600 --> 00:26:28,600 Speaker 1: became involved with the spiritualist movement. If you are a 450 00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:31,199 Speaker 1: long time listener to the podcast, you may recall that 451 00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:34,920 Speaker 1: the modern spiritualist movement is usually cited as beginning with 452 00:26:34,960 --> 00:26:38,640 Speaker 1: the Fox Sisters and their claims of communication with spirits. 453 00:26:38,640 --> 00:26:42,560 Speaker 1: In previous host Sarah and Bablina did a whole episode 454 00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:46,199 Speaker 1: on their story, so By the time Helena Blovotsky became 455 00:26:46,320 --> 00:26:50,240 Speaker 1: connected to it, spiritualism had been getting attention, particularly in 456 00:26:50,280 --> 00:26:52,960 Speaker 1: the United States, for a couple of decades, and had 457 00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:56,440 Speaker 1: grown very popular. Even though it had it also had 458 00:26:56,480 --> 00:27:00,280 Speaker 1: plenty of doubters right from the beginning, and although Madame 459 00:27:00,320 --> 00:27:04,680 Speaker 1: Blovotsky became connected to spiritualism, she was ideologically not a 460 00:27:04,800 --> 00:27:09,640 Speaker 1: hundred percent aligned with it. The idea of spiritualism involved 461 00:27:09,720 --> 00:27:14,000 Speaker 1: communication with the souls of the deceased. She didn't believe 462 00:27:14,160 --> 00:27:17,600 Speaker 1: that events like seances were making contact with the dead, 463 00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:22,760 Speaker 1: but instead that the entities being reached were elementals or shells, 464 00:27:22,800 --> 00:27:26,320 Speaker 1: not actual souls. She did really love a seance, though, 465 00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:29,400 Speaker 1: oh she certainly did, because that was part of her 466 00:27:29,440 --> 00:27:34,119 Speaker 1: fully actualized paranormal abilities after she came out of that como, 467 00:27:34,200 --> 00:27:38,280 Speaker 1: was that she could contact other realms through seances, and 468 00:27:38,320 --> 00:27:41,040 Speaker 1: it is through her work conducting seances that she met 469 00:27:41,080 --> 00:27:44,320 Speaker 1: the man who would become one of her greatest admirers 470 00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:48,960 Speaker 1: and most enthusiastic collaborators. Madame Blovotsky had made her way 471 00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:52,240 Speaker 1: back to North America by eighteen seventy three. She was 472 00:27:52,280 --> 00:27:54,119 Speaker 1: living in New York City at the time, and she 473 00:27:54,200 --> 00:27:56,480 Speaker 1: was actually kind of struggling to get by. She was 474 00:27:56,520 --> 00:28:00,440 Speaker 1: working in a sweatshop making artificial flowers to support herself, 475 00:28:01,400 --> 00:28:04,720 Speaker 1: and then she met Henry Steele Olcott at a seance 476 00:28:04,800 --> 00:28:08,040 Speaker 1: in Vermont. Olcott was, in a lot of ways the 477 00:28:08,160 --> 00:28:13,880 Speaker 1: last person you would expect to have responded positively to spiritualism. 478 00:28:13,920 --> 00:28:16,320 Speaker 1: He had served in the U. S. Army during the 479 00:28:16,359 --> 00:28:19,520 Speaker 1: American Civil War, He had a career as a lawyer 480 00:28:19,600 --> 00:28:23,080 Speaker 1: working on fraud cases, and by the time he met Blovotsky, 481 00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:27,000 Speaker 1: he was working as an investigative journalist. He found himself 482 00:28:27,040 --> 00:28:31,400 Speaker 1: at Bolovotsky's seance because he was conducting investigative research into 483 00:28:31,440 --> 00:28:35,200 Speaker 1: what a lot of people suspected were not spiritual experiences 484 00:28:35,280 --> 00:28:39,280 Speaker 1: at all, but the work of Charlatan's. Alcott had already 485 00:28:39,280 --> 00:28:42,880 Speaker 1: written a number of articles about spiritualism and was becoming 486 00:28:42,880 --> 00:28:45,800 Speaker 1: more and more fascinated by it. Yeah, there's a whole 487 00:28:45,840 --> 00:28:49,360 Speaker 1: story about the farm that they're at, which was run 488 00:28:49,400 --> 00:28:52,000 Speaker 1: by these people that were having seances and making money 489 00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:54,560 Speaker 1: off of it, like they were, you know, charging entry 490 00:28:54,560 --> 00:28:58,280 Speaker 1: fees and booking spiritualists to come and and do these 491 00:28:58,800 --> 00:29:00,920 Speaker 1: I want to call them performance is. But these, uh, 492 00:29:01,280 --> 00:29:05,560 Speaker 1: these events but even before the seance began, Olcott could 493 00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:08,200 Speaker 1: not help but notice Helena, who stood out in the 494 00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:12,440 Speaker 1: farming town of Chittenden, Vermont. Her manner of dress, including 495 00:29:12,520 --> 00:29:16,000 Speaker 1: a bright red tunic and a fur tobacco pouch, her 496 00:29:16,040 --> 00:29:20,120 Speaker 1: many rings, her blonde, curly hair, which Olcott described as 497 00:29:20,320 --> 00:29:23,400 Speaker 1: like the fleece of a Cotswald you, and the fact 498 00:29:23,440 --> 00:29:26,840 Speaker 1: that he overheard her speaking French to a friend all 499 00:29:26,960 --> 00:29:31,360 Speaker 1: drew the journalist in. He was completely fascinated. Here's how 500 00:29:31,400 --> 00:29:35,040 Speaker 1: he wrote of her later quote, This lady, my dam 501 00:29:35,440 --> 00:29:39,240 Speaker 1: Helen P. Blovotsky, has a lot of very eventful life, 502 00:29:39,280 --> 00:29:43,000 Speaker 1: traveling in most of the lands of the Orient, searching 503 00:29:43,080 --> 00:29:46,640 Speaker 1: for antiquities at the base of the pyramids, witnessing the 504 00:29:46,840 --> 00:29:51,719 Speaker 1: mysteries of Hindu temples, and pushing with an armed escort 505 00:29:51,840 --> 00:29:56,640 Speaker 1: far into the interior of Africa. The adventures she has encountered, 506 00:29:56,680 --> 00:29:59,680 Speaker 1: the strange people she has seen, the perils by sea 507 00:29:59,760 --> 00:30:02,240 Speaker 1: and land she has passed through, would make one of 508 00:30:02,240 --> 00:30:06,040 Speaker 1: the most romantic stories ever told by a biographer. And 509 00:30:06,080 --> 00:30:08,760 Speaker 1: the whole course of my experience I never met so 510 00:30:08,920 --> 00:30:12,760 Speaker 1: interesting and, if I may say, without offense, eccentric a 511 00:30:12,920 --> 00:30:16,640 Speaker 1: character all Kot's endorsement went a really long way in 512 00:30:16,760 --> 00:30:21,080 Speaker 1: terms of validating Bulovatsky's personal story, and he also called 513 00:30:21,080 --> 00:30:24,960 Speaker 1: her quote a lady of such social position as to 514 00:30:25,040 --> 00:30:28,880 Speaker 1: be incapable of entering into a vulgar conspiracy with any 515 00:30:28,920 --> 00:30:32,040 Speaker 1: pair of tricksters to deceive the public. She was like 516 00:30:32,120 --> 00:30:35,920 Speaker 1: all in he believed everything she said without fact checking. 517 00:30:35,960 --> 00:30:40,240 Speaker 1: It seemed the seance that Oldcott witnessed sounds a little 518 00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:44,760 Speaker 1: more like a stage show. Various spirits made appearances, as 519 00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:49,320 Speaker 1: in showing up on stage a Native American woman, a 520 00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:52,360 Speaker 1: man from the country of Georgia, the spirit of a 521 00:30:52,400 --> 00:30:55,280 Speaker 1: German Man, and the French Canadian father of one of 522 00:30:55,320 --> 00:30:59,240 Speaker 1: the attendees, who gave responses to questions posed in French 523 00:30:59,280 --> 00:31:02,760 Speaker 1: by making upping noises and in one instance is said 524 00:31:02,800 --> 00:31:07,280 Speaker 1: to have audibly uttered the word. A journalist writing for 525 00:31:07,320 --> 00:31:11,440 Speaker 1: The Smithsonian, Edward Howard, described Alcott as having one of 526 00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:15,959 Speaker 1: the most dramatic midlife crises in history and his relationship 527 00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:20,440 Speaker 1: with Blovotsky. Some takes on their relationship suggests that Madame 528 00:31:20,480 --> 00:31:24,720 Speaker 1: Blovotsky was a home wrecker who caused Alcott's divorce. He 529 00:31:24,840 --> 00:31:27,640 Speaker 1: was actually already estranged from his wife and in the 530 00:31:27,720 --> 00:31:30,880 Speaker 1: legal proceedings to end that marriage before the two of 531 00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:34,320 Speaker 1: them met. Rumors of an affair between the two of 532 00:31:34,360 --> 00:31:37,600 Speaker 1: them persisted, though in part because he moved in with 533 00:31:37,640 --> 00:31:40,400 Speaker 1: her when they both got back to New York. Even so, 534 00:31:40,600 --> 00:31:44,000 Speaker 1: while Blovotsky and Olcott may have been emotionally very intimate, 535 00:31:44,080 --> 00:31:47,280 Speaker 1: it really does seem unlikely that they had a romantic relationship, 536 00:31:47,360 --> 00:31:51,440 Speaker 1: at least not one that manifested physically. We mentioned that 537 00:31:51,480 --> 00:31:54,800 Speaker 1: Helena always said her first marriage was never consummated, and 538 00:31:54,880 --> 00:31:56,920 Speaker 1: she claimed later in life that she had never had 539 00:31:56,960 --> 00:32:01,960 Speaker 1: a sexual relationship with anyone. She generally described herself in 540 00:32:02,000 --> 00:32:05,200 Speaker 1: a way that today might be categorized as a sexual. 541 00:32:05,440 --> 00:32:08,480 Speaker 1: She once said, quote, I had a volcano in constant 542 00:32:08,600 --> 00:32:11,920 Speaker 1: eruption in my brain and a glacier at the foot 543 00:32:11,920 --> 00:32:17,120 Speaker 1: of the mountain. But she and Olcott tended to refer 544 00:32:17,200 --> 00:32:20,200 Speaker 1: to one another as chum uh, so they were close. 545 00:32:20,720 --> 00:32:23,360 Speaker 1: But her characterization as a mistress who lured him away 546 00:32:23,360 --> 00:32:26,880 Speaker 1: from his wife really doesn't quite track Oldcott, by the way, 547 00:32:27,040 --> 00:32:30,520 Speaker 1: was known to have had mistresses. He sounds like something 548 00:32:30,560 --> 00:32:33,360 Speaker 1: of a ladies man. But it doesn't appear that Bolovotsky 549 00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:36,320 Speaker 1: was one of them. Olcott was a major boon to 550 00:32:36,600 --> 00:32:41,040 Speaker 1: Madame Blovotsky's public persona through his writing as well as 551 00:32:41,080 --> 00:32:44,800 Speaker 1: a source of financial support. Their shared apartment became an 552 00:32:44,800 --> 00:32:49,760 Speaker 1: epicenter for spiritualist gatherings, and they routinely hosted seances and 553 00:32:49,840 --> 00:32:54,240 Speaker 1: discussions at the paranormal. There, Bolovotsky would invite journalists to 554 00:32:54,360 --> 00:32:56,560 Speaker 1: visit so they would see that she was no trickster, 555 00:32:56,800 --> 00:32:59,680 Speaker 1: just merely a woman who was in touch with other realms. 556 00:33:00,120 --> 00:33:02,200 Speaker 1: And it was in this haven for discussion of the 557 00:33:02,200 --> 00:33:06,280 Speaker 1: paranormal and occult that Colonel Henry Olcott suggested that they 558 00:33:06,320 --> 00:33:10,560 Speaker 1: formalized their gatherings under an official organization that could study 559 00:33:10,640 --> 00:33:13,040 Speaker 1: all of the mystical and spiritual subjects that they were 560 00:33:13,080 --> 00:33:16,520 Speaker 1: all interested in. And this marks the beginning of the 561 00:33:16,520 --> 00:33:20,360 Speaker 1: Theosophical Society, which sought to create an identity for itself 562 00:33:20,400 --> 00:33:23,760 Speaker 1: that was separate from the spiritualist movement, and to help 563 00:33:23,800 --> 00:33:28,280 Speaker 1: shape that identity, Elena began writing. One of the numerous 564 00:33:28,520 --> 00:33:33,440 Speaker 1: reasons that Blovotsky was and remains a figure of controversy 565 00:33:33,600 --> 00:33:36,800 Speaker 1: is really clear in her writing from this period. She 566 00:33:36,880 --> 00:33:41,360 Speaker 1: published her book Isis Unveiled in eighteen seventy seven. Alcott 567 00:33:41,560 --> 00:33:45,160 Speaker 1: edited it, and she leveled a lot of criticism at 568 00:33:45,160 --> 00:33:49,160 Speaker 1: both organized religion and the scientific community. She thought that 569 00:33:49,240 --> 00:33:54,480 Speaker 1: both groups were missing the real path to enlightenment and insight. Theosophy, 570 00:33:54,680 --> 00:33:58,080 Speaker 1: according to Helena Blovotsky, was the answer, and it was, 571 00:33:58,280 --> 00:34:01,840 Speaker 1: to quote her quote, the s phasis of science, religion, 572 00:34:02,040 --> 00:34:05,240 Speaker 1: and philosophy. It was a way to bring those three 573 00:34:05,280 --> 00:34:09,560 Speaker 1: disciplines together. This book was both praised and panned, and 574 00:34:09,640 --> 00:34:12,920 Speaker 1: Blovotsky put all of the reviews into a scrap book. 575 00:34:13,320 --> 00:34:17,279 Speaker 1: Isis Unveiled is something of a hodgepodge. It borrows from 576 00:34:17,400 --> 00:34:20,719 Speaker 1: religions all over the world, pulling in ideas which Blovotsky 577 00:34:20,800 --> 00:34:24,160 Speaker 1: adapted from memory. Although she claimed that it was largely 578 00:34:24,200 --> 00:34:28,640 Speaker 1: dictated to her telepathically by masters of ancient and secret knowledge. 579 00:34:29,239 --> 00:34:33,880 Speaker 1: Its deepest roots are in Helena's versions of Buddhism and Hinduism. 580 00:34:33,880 --> 00:34:38,040 Speaker 1: But she incorporated so many varied ideas because she envisioned 581 00:34:38,120 --> 00:34:41,520 Speaker 1: theosophy as something that could unite the world's varied systems 582 00:34:41,560 --> 00:34:45,880 Speaker 1: of beliefs. Although Madame Blovotsky had managed to amass the 583 00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:49,560 Speaker 1: following in the United States, it didn't really sustain itself. 584 00:34:50,160 --> 00:34:53,960 Speaker 1: And as her influence and the members of the Theosophical 585 00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:57,560 Speaker 1: Society fizzled out, she and Alcott decided to move on 586 00:34:58,320 --> 00:35:01,760 Speaker 1: and supporting Blovotsky and houting her gifts. He had really 587 00:35:01,960 --> 00:35:05,040 Speaker 1: squandered his good name among his fellow journalists in the 588 00:35:05,120 --> 00:35:07,759 Speaker 1: United States who had really just taken to mocking him 589 00:35:07,880 --> 00:35:10,720 Speaker 1: openly about it. Yeah, he kind of tanked his career 590 00:35:11,280 --> 00:35:14,920 Speaker 1: um to prepare to leave with an eye towards India. 591 00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:18,680 Speaker 1: Elena Blovotsky became a U. S citizen, and the thinking 592 00:35:18,719 --> 00:35:21,279 Speaker 1: here was that if things went badly overseas, she would 593 00:35:21,320 --> 00:35:24,719 Speaker 1: have the protection of the consulate in India. She and 594 00:35:24,760 --> 00:35:27,279 Speaker 1: the colonel also sold off all of their belongings. They 595 00:35:27,280 --> 00:35:30,880 Speaker 1: cleared out their cool apartment, and on December seventeenth, eighteen 596 00:35:30,920 --> 00:35:34,879 Speaker 1: seventy eight, they left the US for India. More specifically 597 00:35:34,920 --> 00:35:38,920 Speaker 1: than simply going to India, though, all Caught and Blovotsky 598 00:35:38,960 --> 00:35:42,480 Speaker 1: intended for the Theosophical Society to join up with the 599 00:35:42,520 --> 00:35:46,000 Speaker 1: Aria Samage, which was a Hindu reform movement that had 600 00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:50,120 Speaker 1: started in eighteen seventy five. All Caught and Blovotsky were 601 00:35:50,200 --> 00:35:55,160 Speaker 1: novelties in Bombay. They openly criticized colonialism, and they embraced 602 00:35:55,160 --> 00:35:58,040 Speaker 1: Eastern religious ideas, and in doing so that kind of 603 00:35:58,080 --> 00:36:02,319 Speaker 1: became media darlings for a time. Through a spiritualist named 604 00:36:02,320 --> 00:36:05,760 Speaker 1: Alfred Percy Sinnett, who edited a British newspaper that published 605 00:36:05,800 --> 00:36:09,360 Speaker 1: in India, the founders of the Theosophical Society were booked 606 00:36:09,360 --> 00:36:13,200 Speaker 1: at seances throughout British society that lived in Bombay. At 607 00:36:13,239 --> 00:36:16,640 Speaker 1: the time, colonialism seemed to be a little more palatable, 608 00:36:16,680 --> 00:36:19,680 Speaker 1: if that meant it led to paying gigs for them. Uh. 609 00:36:19,719 --> 00:36:24,320 Speaker 1: These seances featured all kinds of paranormal happenings. When Sinnett's wife, 610 00:36:24,320 --> 00:36:27,720 Speaker 1: for example, mentioned a lost brooch that she longed to find, 611 00:36:28,160 --> 00:36:31,920 Speaker 1: Blovotsky told her it had re materialized in her flower beds. 612 00:36:32,480 --> 00:36:34,880 Speaker 1: Those flower beds were dug up and lo the brooch. 613 00:36:35,840 --> 00:36:38,239 Speaker 1: She has also said to have produced a spray of 614 00:36:38,400 --> 00:36:40,560 Speaker 1: roses in mid air which fell on the heads of 615 00:36:40,560 --> 00:36:42,880 Speaker 1: people in the room. When a visitor said that she 616 00:36:42,960 --> 00:36:46,480 Speaker 1: could not produce a miracle, all caught and Blovotsky set 617 00:36:46,560 --> 00:36:51,320 Speaker 1: up their Theosophical Society headquarters in Bombay in eighteen seventy nine. 618 00:36:51,840 --> 00:36:55,879 Speaker 1: Madam Blovotsky became the editor of their periodical The Theosophist, 619 00:36:56,320 --> 00:36:58,120 Speaker 1: which was a role she would have for the next 620 00:36:58,320 --> 00:37:03,200 Speaker 1: nine years. All Kott toured the Indian subcontinent giving lectures. 621 00:37:03,239 --> 00:37:07,480 Speaker 1: He spoke against British efforts to convert Buddhists to Christianity, 622 00:37:07,520 --> 00:37:09,200 Speaker 1: and on a trip to Sri Lanka, which was of 623 00:37:09,200 --> 00:37:12,160 Speaker 1: course still called Ceylon at the time, he and Madame 624 00:37:12,200 --> 00:37:17,120 Speaker 1: Bolovotsky publicly took Buddhist vows. Olcott took a deep interest 625 00:37:17,160 --> 00:37:20,040 Speaker 1: in Ceylon and contributed to the Buddhist community there in 626 00:37:20,040 --> 00:37:23,200 Speaker 1: a variety of ways, from opening schools to writing religious 627 00:37:23,200 --> 00:37:26,080 Speaker 1: study texts to designing a flag which is still in 628 00:37:26,239 --> 00:37:30,839 Speaker 1: use today. He also started working as a healer. He 629 00:37:30,960 --> 00:37:34,719 Speaker 1: believed that magnetism had curative properties and that he could 630 00:37:34,800 --> 00:37:38,839 Speaker 1: manipulate it to administer to all manner of ailments. While 631 00:37:38,880 --> 00:37:42,680 Speaker 1: the beginning of Blovotsky's and Alcott's time in Bombay and 632 00:37:42,719 --> 00:37:47,239 Speaker 1: Ceylon was joyous, the tides eventually turned. The members of 633 00:37:47,239 --> 00:37:51,960 Speaker 1: the Theosophical Society asked Olcott to stop healing people. The 634 00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:54,120 Speaker 1: public version of this story was that they felt like 635 00:37:54,120 --> 00:37:57,880 Speaker 1: it was depleting his energy, but there was also likely 636 00:37:58,000 --> 00:38:01,720 Speaker 1: some kind of version about it being problematic then Olcott 637 00:38:01,760 --> 00:38:04,920 Speaker 1: and Blovotsky became embroiled in a dispute when a woman 638 00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:08,440 Speaker 1: that they had taken under their wing as a medium 639 00:38:08,520 --> 00:38:13,719 Speaker 1: named Emma Colombe started to hold obviously fake seances to 640 00:38:13,800 --> 00:38:17,640 Speaker 1: make easy money. Next, the head of the Arias Homage 641 00:38:17,719 --> 00:38:21,719 Speaker 1: denounced Theosophy very publicly, as he believed the incorporation of 642 00:38:21,760 --> 00:38:25,480 Speaker 1: all faiths was not in line with his group's ideology. 643 00:38:25,560 --> 00:38:30,479 Speaker 1: He had come to view Bolovotsky and Olcott as untrustworthy. Yeah, 644 00:38:30,520 --> 00:38:33,680 Speaker 1: he had pamphlets written up talking about how he had 645 00:38:33,800 --> 00:38:36,680 Speaker 1: changed his mind and believed that they were Charlatan's um 646 00:38:36,760 --> 00:38:40,160 Speaker 1: and things only got worse from there. Alfred Percy Sinnett, 647 00:38:40,160 --> 00:38:42,600 Speaker 1: who he mentioned just a little while ago, had published 648 00:38:42,640 --> 00:38:46,120 Speaker 1: a book of letters, and these letters were alleged to 649 00:38:46,280 --> 00:38:50,080 Speaker 1: have come from the masters that Madam Blovotsky knew. But 650 00:38:50,200 --> 00:38:53,839 Speaker 1: one of them was obviously plagiarized from an American periodical, 651 00:38:54,200 --> 00:38:57,680 Speaker 1: and someone recognized it, and so the press, which had 652 00:38:57,719 --> 00:39:02,240 Speaker 1: initially welcomed that Theosophists, turned on Blovotsky. They first started 653 00:39:02,239 --> 00:39:05,279 Speaker 1: to question her legitimacy as a psychic, and soon she 654 00:39:05,440 --> 00:39:07,600 Speaker 1: was just flat out accused of being a fraud in 655 00:39:07,640 --> 00:39:11,440 Speaker 1: all the papers. She and Oldcott moved their headquarters from 656 00:39:11,480 --> 00:39:14,319 Speaker 1: Bombay to Madras in eight two to get away from 657 00:39:14,360 --> 00:39:17,600 Speaker 1: the controversy. That worked for a while, but within a 658 00:39:17,640 --> 00:39:22,280 Speaker 1: few years there was another, much bigger controversy. Emma Colombe, 659 00:39:22,280 --> 00:39:25,520 Speaker 1: who had been doing those fake seances, published a series 660 00:39:25,560 --> 00:39:29,120 Speaker 1: of letters in a Madras periodical. She said they were 661 00:39:29,160 --> 00:39:33,920 Speaker 1: written to her by Helena Blovotsky. They clearly instructed her 662 00:39:33,960 --> 00:39:38,200 Speaker 1: to create fake, miraculous and paranormal events to support their 663 00:39:38,280 --> 00:39:42,920 Speaker 1: various stories. Bolovotsky and Alcott dismissed these letters as fakes, 664 00:39:42,960 --> 00:39:46,040 Speaker 1: but they found themselves viewed with just a whole new 665 00:39:46,120 --> 00:39:49,400 Speaker 1: level of suspicion. Yeah, there's a really fun story in 666 00:39:49,440 --> 00:39:53,719 Speaker 1: there about making a life size doll that they kind 667 00:39:53,719 --> 00:39:57,880 Speaker 1: of like, we're puppeteering in like darkness to try to 668 00:39:58,160 --> 00:40:01,640 Speaker 1: convince people they were being visited by the masters the 669 00:40:01,680 --> 00:40:05,480 Speaker 1: Blogotsky often referenced, um, there's some very fun and kookie 670 00:40:05,480 --> 00:40:09,080 Speaker 1: theatricality to it. And that is how the London Society 671 00:40:09,120 --> 00:40:13,160 Speaker 1: for Psychical Research came to open an investigation into Bolovotsky 672 00:40:13,239 --> 00:40:17,400 Speaker 1: and the Theosophical Society. That investigation, which was conducted by 673 00:40:17,520 --> 00:40:20,680 Speaker 1: Richard Hodgson was aided by none other than Emma Coulomb, 674 00:40:20,800 --> 00:40:24,440 Speaker 1: who showed how, among other things, the miracle of things 675 00:40:24,480 --> 00:40:28,879 Speaker 1: like letters dropping into visitors laps seemingly from thin air 676 00:40:29,160 --> 00:40:31,960 Speaker 1: was actually achieved through a bit of theatrical trickery. There 677 00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:35,200 Speaker 1: was a thread and hook system in the ceiling. A 678 00:40:35,280 --> 00:40:38,160 Speaker 1: handwriting expert was also called upon to weigh in on 679 00:40:38,200 --> 00:40:42,560 Speaker 1: whether the letters that Coulomb had provided as as evidence 680 00:40:42,640 --> 00:40:47,600 Speaker 1: of Madame Blovotsky's treachery were indeed written by Blovotsky. We 681 00:40:47,680 --> 00:40:49,440 Speaker 1: have talked on the show before about some of the 682 00:40:49,480 --> 00:40:52,440 Speaker 1: problems with handwriting analysis, but this was very damning at 683 00:40:52,440 --> 00:40:57,960 Speaker 1: the time. In eight five, Paras psychologist Richard Hodgson filed 684 00:40:58,040 --> 00:41:01,560 Speaker 1: his report which concluded the Bolovotsk he was a fraud. 685 00:41:02,320 --> 00:41:06,600 Speaker 1: Alcott was found you merely have been incredibly gullible. After 686 00:41:06,600 --> 00:41:10,560 Speaker 1: the Hodgson report, Blovotsky left India, although she continued to 687 00:41:10,719 --> 00:41:14,800 Speaker 1: edit the theosophyst The damage of this report was far reaching, 688 00:41:14,880 --> 00:41:19,640 Speaker 1: in addition to discrediting Blovotsky in a very public way, 689 00:41:19,760 --> 00:41:23,879 Speaker 1: and also sewed some conflict between her and Alcott. When 690 00:41:23,880 --> 00:41:28,239 Speaker 1: Helena Blovotsky filed a slander suit against Richard Hodgson and 691 00:41:28,320 --> 00:41:32,200 Speaker 1: the Society for Psychical Research. Alcott did not support that. 692 00:41:32,320 --> 00:41:35,400 Speaker 1: He instead wanted to just let things die down the 693 00:41:35,440 --> 00:41:38,439 Speaker 1: way they had in the past. To Helena, this really 694 00:41:38,440 --> 00:41:42,200 Speaker 1: felt like a betrayal. It essentially ended their partnership and 695 00:41:42,239 --> 00:41:45,840 Speaker 1: their friendship. Madame Blovotsky, who was quite ill at the 696 00:41:45,880 --> 00:41:48,600 Speaker 1: time due to a problem with her liver, took a 697 00:41:48,640 --> 00:41:51,799 Speaker 1: steamer to Europe, and despite the apparent seriousness of her 698 00:41:51,840 --> 00:41:55,000 Speaker 1: health when she left India, she did make a recovery. 699 00:41:55,080 --> 00:41:58,279 Speaker 1: After spending some time in Belgium, she established the Bolovotsky 700 00:41:58,360 --> 00:42:02,799 Speaker 1: Lodge of London. In eight seven, she released the work 701 00:42:02,840 --> 00:42:05,479 Speaker 1: that she's probably most well known for, which is called 702 00:42:05,520 --> 00:42:09,799 Speaker 1: The Secret Doctrine, and that was a comprehensive look at theosophy. 703 00:42:09,800 --> 00:42:12,920 Speaker 1: While she was writing this book, she had shifted focus 704 00:42:13,000 --> 00:42:17,120 Speaker 1: away from the paranormal and wrote more extensively about philosophy. 705 00:42:17,280 --> 00:42:20,840 Speaker 1: The book's subhead is there is no religion higher than truth, 706 00:42:21,480 --> 00:42:24,360 Speaker 1: and the introduction in Bologotsky makes her goal clear. Quote. 707 00:42:24,360 --> 00:42:27,320 Speaker 1: The aim of this work maybe thus stated to show 708 00:42:27,360 --> 00:42:31,160 Speaker 1: that nature is not a fortuitous concurrence of atoms and 709 00:42:31,200 --> 00:42:33,480 Speaker 1: to a science a man his rightful place in the 710 00:42:33,520 --> 00:42:37,960 Speaker 1: scheme of the universe. To rescue from degradation the archaic 711 00:42:38,040 --> 00:42:41,680 Speaker 1: truths which are the basis of all religions. To uncover, 712 00:42:41,840 --> 00:42:46,520 Speaker 1: to some extent, the fundamental unity from which they all spring. Finally, 713 00:42:46,760 --> 00:42:49,239 Speaker 1: to show that the occult side of nature has never 714 00:42:49,280 --> 00:42:53,680 Speaker 1: been approached by the science of modern civilization. In eighty 715 00:42:53,760 --> 00:42:57,200 Speaker 1: nine she published two more books. The Voice of Silence 716 00:42:57,239 --> 00:43:00,960 Speaker 1: has the subtitle translated from the Book of the Golden Precepts, 717 00:43:01,160 --> 00:43:04,120 Speaker 1: which shares a common origin with the Secret Doctrine. The 718 00:43:04,239 --> 00:43:07,480 Speaker 1: rules and ethics presented here contrast the two paths of 719 00:43:07,520 --> 00:43:11,239 Speaker 1: spiritual attainment, the one pursued by those seeking knowledge for 720 00:43:11,280 --> 00:43:15,040 Speaker 1: their own enlightenment, the other chosen by those whose aspirations 721 00:43:15,080 --> 00:43:18,279 Speaker 1: are prompted by compassion. For all. Her other book to 722 00:43:18,320 --> 00:43:21,359 Speaker 1: come out that year was Key to Theosophy, being a 723 00:43:21,360 --> 00:43:24,960 Speaker 1: clear exposition in the form of question answer of the ethics, 724 00:43:25,000 --> 00:43:29,160 Speaker 1: science and philosophy for the study of which the Theosophical 725 00:43:29,239 --> 00:43:33,160 Speaker 1: Society has been founded. Even though these were very popular 726 00:43:33,200 --> 00:43:36,600 Speaker 1: and they continued to actually be printed, they were her 727 00:43:37,320 --> 00:43:41,680 Speaker 1: really final achievements. Madame Blovotsky died on May eight at 728 00:43:41,719 --> 00:43:45,080 Speaker 1: the tail end of an influenza epidemic, and that date 729 00:43:45,080 --> 00:43:48,239 Speaker 1: of her death is now celebrated annually by Theosophists as 730 00:43:48,239 --> 00:43:52,200 Speaker 1: White Lotus Day. Long after her death, starting in nineteen 731 00:43:52,320 --> 00:43:56,919 Speaker 1: fifty but Am Blovotsky's collected writings were published. The full 732 00:43:56,920 --> 00:43:59,920 Speaker 1: publication spanned fifteen volumes and it came out over the 733 00:44:00,040 --> 00:44:03,920 Speaker 1: course of forty years. Blovotsky is often credited with bringing 734 00:44:03,920 --> 00:44:07,719 Speaker 1: Buddhism and Hinduism to the Western audience, and this is 735 00:44:07,719 --> 00:44:10,080 Speaker 1: a little bit tricky to celebrate, of course, since these 736 00:44:10,120 --> 00:44:13,960 Speaker 1: ideas were being channeled through European lens. We also don't 737 00:44:14,000 --> 00:44:16,520 Speaker 1: know really what the depths of her exposure was to 738 00:44:16,600 --> 00:44:20,160 Speaker 1: these things before she started talking about them as though 739 00:44:20,200 --> 00:44:24,120 Speaker 1: she were an expert. Uh And since the study of 740 00:44:24,120 --> 00:44:27,680 Speaker 1: these belief systems on the part of Blovotsky is difficult 741 00:44:27,680 --> 00:44:31,320 Speaker 1: to corroborate in any level, particularly in her earlier years, 742 00:44:32,480 --> 00:44:35,319 Speaker 1: I just want people to recognize that that has to 743 00:44:35,400 --> 00:44:37,799 Speaker 1: all be taken with a grain of salts. We do 744 00:44:38,000 --> 00:44:42,400 Speaker 1: have to note, though, that the Theosophical Society persists despite 745 00:44:42,560 --> 00:44:46,239 Speaker 1: these bumpy times during Blovatski's life. Her books continue to 746 00:44:46,280 --> 00:44:50,480 Speaker 1: be pretty popular. Additionally, the Blovotsky Lodge in London is 747 00:44:50,520 --> 00:44:54,040 Speaker 1: still there, although it has changed locations from where it 748 00:44:54,120 --> 00:44:58,239 Speaker 1: was when Madame Blovotski initially established it. And as for 749 00:44:58,280 --> 00:45:01,080 Speaker 1: that damning report of a ten D five that declared 750 00:45:01,120 --> 00:45:06,320 Speaker 1: Madame Blovotsky a fraud in the Society for Psychical Research, 751 00:45:06,440 --> 00:45:09,560 Speaker 1: retracted it due to a review that found that Hodgson 752 00:45:09,960 --> 00:45:12,960 Speaker 1: had set out to discredit Blovotsky and that his research 753 00:45:13,000 --> 00:45:16,879 Speaker 1: and his methods were biased toward that. Although there are 754 00:45:16,920 --> 00:45:20,239 Speaker 1: a lot of the issues that Hodgson raised that remain unanswered, 755 00:45:20,280 --> 00:45:22,319 Speaker 1: this is one of those things you'll sometimes find argued 756 00:45:22,360 --> 00:45:25,640 Speaker 1: about on the Internet that, uh, some people will say 757 00:45:25,640 --> 00:45:29,120 Speaker 1: this is vindication of Madame Blovotsky, and others are like, no, no, 758 00:45:29,160 --> 00:45:32,279 Speaker 1: they're just pointing out that the research was bad, not 759 00:45:32,520 --> 00:45:36,839 Speaker 1: weighing in really on whether that conclusion would have been 760 00:45:36,880 --> 00:45:41,000 Speaker 1: reached other one. Right. Um, Like I said, she continues 761 00:45:41,040 --> 00:45:45,680 Speaker 1: to be very polarizing. I find her utterly fascinating. Um, 762 00:45:45,719 --> 00:45:49,160 Speaker 1: But I don't have a strong opinion. I have some opinions, 763 00:45:49,200 --> 00:45:51,080 Speaker 1: but they're not strong, and they're kind of cloudy for 764 00:45:51,120 --> 00:45:54,160 Speaker 1: me anyway, which is unusual, just because there's always part 765 00:45:54,160 --> 00:45:56,239 Speaker 1: of me it's like, I don't know, I don't I 766 00:45:56,239 --> 00:46:02,600 Speaker 1: don't know anything. So do you have some listener mail 767 00:46:02,680 --> 00:46:04,799 Speaker 1: for us? I do have a piece of listener mail. 768 00:46:04,840 --> 00:46:07,279 Speaker 1: It's from our listener Josie, who did the magic thing 769 00:46:07,280 --> 00:46:09,720 Speaker 1: and sent us pictures of kiddies but also the lovely 770 00:46:09,760 --> 00:46:13,480 Speaker 1: thing that ties in to uh, the spooky season, as 771 00:46:13,520 --> 00:46:16,240 Speaker 1: she calls it. She writes, Greetings, lovely people, It's getting 772 00:46:16,239 --> 00:46:18,480 Speaker 1: close to spooky season, and that always reminds me of 773 00:46:18,520 --> 00:46:21,120 Speaker 1: the very first episode of your podcast I heard, which 774 00:46:21,200 --> 00:46:24,080 Speaker 1: was The Solder Family Mystery. I actually believe it was 775 00:46:24,120 --> 00:46:26,319 Speaker 1: the first podcast I ever heard in my life, and 776 00:46:26,360 --> 00:46:29,280 Speaker 1: I was so entrenched that I binged all your mystery 777 00:46:29,280 --> 00:46:32,080 Speaker 1: episodes and then all of your other episodes. You guys 778 00:46:32,080 --> 00:46:35,200 Speaker 1: are always my go to favorite podcasts, and every October 779 00:46:35,239 --> 00:46:37,640 Speaker 1: I look back fondly on that feeling of excitement being 780 00:46:37,640 --> 00:46:40,759 Speaker 1: swept up in your history mysteries. You guys do such 781 00:46:40,760 --> 00:46:44,160 Speaker 1: a fantastic job. You're graceful, professional, and always a delight. 782 00:46:44,200 --> 00:46:46,560 Speaker 1: I appreciate you both so much. I was actually going 783 00:46:46,560 --> 00:46:49,560 Speaker 1: to name my cats after you guys, what but she 784 00:46:49,640 --> 00:46:52,600 Speaker 1: went with Nelly and Bessie instead because of their horse 785 00:46:52,600 --> 00:46:56,799 Speaker 1: and cow like personalities respectively. Uh, my cat Bessie has 786 00:46:56,840 --> 00:46:59,279 Speaker 1: Pika and we'll eat metal. I remember one of you 787 00:46:59,320 --> 00:47:01,560 Speaker 1: mentioning that cow was eat metal. Also my love of 788 00:47:01,560 --> 00:47:04,160 Speaker 1: Bessie Smith, and your podcast has hosted quite a few 789 00:47:04,920 --> 00:47:07,800 Speaker 1: adventurous Nellie's. Hey, I had a cat that had pika. 790 00:47:08,080 --> 00:47:13,640 Speaker 1: It's not fun. So my my hat is off to 791 00:47:13,680 --> 00:47:15,600 Speaker 1: you because you have to manage it in crazy ways. 792 00:47:15,880 --> 00:47:19,480 Speaker 1: That is why I stopped using pins when I sew um, 793 00:47:19,520 --> 00:47:21,759 Speaker 1: because I had a cat that would eat them, or 794 00:47:21,800 --> 00:47:24,520 Speaker 1: would try. He never successfully did because I always caught him. 795 00:47:24,560 --> 00:47:28,000 Speaker 1: But oh that was stressful times, she goes on. Some 796 00:47:28,080 --> 00:47:30,200 Speaker 1: of your podcasts have been so enchanting. I've listened to 797 00:47:30,239 --> 00:47:34,080 Speaker 1: them multiple times, specifically the Fort Shaw Indian School basketball Team, 798 00:47:34,320 --> 00:47:37,600 Speaker 1: Theodosia Austin Burr. When I recently watched Hamilton's, I was 799 00:47:37,680 --> 00:47:40,120 Speaker 1: just waiting around for them to mention her, the Memphis 800 00:47:40,120 --> 00:47:45,359 Speaker 1: Sanitation Strike, Catalina, the Lieutenant Nun, Halifax Explosion, Maria tal Chiefs, 801 00:47:45,400 --> 00:47:48,279 Speaker 1: the Ballerina, and so many more. My boyfriend loved the 802 00:47:48,320 --> 00:47:51,400 Speaker 1: Klondike Bigines Land promotion episode, and I'm especially fond of 803 00:47:51,440 --> 00:47:54,359 Speaker 1: your super Ancient History episodes as well. You cover such 804 00:47:54,400 --> 00:47:57,239 Speaker 1: an array of topics and make them also interesting. Being 805 00:47:57,280 --> 00:48:01,640 Speaker 1: a female carpenter, I always appreciate your episode about female pioneers. 806 00:48:01,680 --> 00:48:04,719 Speaker 1: Being Canadian, I'm always thrilled to see Canadian history episodes. 807 00:48:05,120 --> 00:48:07,239 Speaker 1: I always love to hear more history about Canada and 808 00:48:07,280 --> 00:48:10,719 Speaker 1: the Canadian American relationship and past wars and feuds and 809 00:48:10,840 --> 00:48:13,919 Speaker 1: the indigenous people of this continent. You've taught me so much, 810 00:48:13,960 --> 00:48:16,600 Speaker 1: really valuable, as Canadian schools don't teach us as much 811 00:48:16,640 --> 00:48:19,319 Speaker 1: as they should. That's not just in Canada, by the way. Uh. 812 00:48:19,320 --> 00:48:22,240 Speaker 1: And now finally my podcast suggestion, which is the Toronto 813 00:48:22,280 --> 00:48:26,839 Speaker 1: Circus Riot of eighteen fifty five. Um. She goes on 814 00:48:26,880 --> 00:48:28,759 Speaker 1: to tell us that before she was a carpenter, I 815 00:48:28,840 --> 00:48:30,880 Speaker 1: used to fiddle around as an actor and performer, and 816 00:48:30,920 --> 00:48:33,840 Speaker 1: my old director Angola put on this show. Uh. She 817 00:48:33,960 --> 00:48:37,520 Speaker 1: shares some information about it. She also loves any history 818 00:48:37,520 --> 00:48:41,160 Speaker 1: about Sicily because she's Sicilian Canadian and always looking to 819 00:48:41,160 --> 00:48:43,640 Speaker 1: reconnect to her roots. And then she apologizes for it 820 00:48:43,680 --> 00:48:47,359 Speaker 1: being long, don't It's delightful, So that is Josie, Thank you, 821 00:48:47,360 --> 00:48:49,759 Speaker 1: thank you, thank you, Josie. Those cats are cute. I 822 00:48:49,840 --> 00:48:51,720 Speaker 1: don't even know what I would do with the information 823 00:48:51,760 --> 00:48:53,960 Speaker 1: that someone had named a cat after me. So it's 824 00:48:53,960 --> 00:48:56,839 Speaker 1: probably safest that you did not show up at your 825 00:48:56,840 --> 00:48:59,320 Speaker 1: house and be like, show me the kiddie. Uh, nobody 826 00:48:59,360 --> 00:49:01,359 Speaker 1: wants that. If you would like to write to us, 827 00:49:01,400 --> 00:49:03,520 Speaker 1: you can do so at History Podcast at i heeart 828 00:49:03,600 --> 00:49:06,000 Speaker 1: radio dot com. You can also find us everywhere on 829 00:49:06,000 --> 00:49:09,240 Speaker 1: social media as missed in History, and you are welcome 830 00:49:09,320 --> 00:49:12,040 Speaker 1: and encouraged to subscribe to the podcast. You can do 831 00:49:12,040 --> 00:49:14,440 Speaker 1: that on the I heart radio app, at Apple Podcasts, 832 00:49:14,560 --> 00:49:21,560 Speaker 1: or wherever it is you listen. Stuff you Missed in 833 00:49:21,640 --> 00:49:24,400 Speaker 1: History Class is a production of I heart Radio. For 834 00:49:24,480 --> 00:49:27,160 Speaker 1: more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i heart 835 00:49:27,239 --> 00:49:30,319 Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 836 00:49:30,360 --> 00:49:31,040 Speaker 1: favorite shows.