Once they were dismissed as cranks and charlatans but now psychics are gaining credibility, particularly with the famous. We talk to the Celebrity Psychics and people who rely on spiritual help in their lives. When she passed, I thought that was the end of it, but I realise now that she’s still working just as hard and the story continues. a b c d e f "Stokes, Doris May Fisher". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. June 2004. Linda continued: “As time passed, I thought I was walking further and further away from the Doris Stokes phenomenon only to discover years later that I’d been going round in a circle. The press couldn’t get over the fact that Doris appeared not to have accumulated the enormous wealth they were certain she must have possessed.

Stokes was born in Grantham, Lincolnshire, England in January 1920. [3] In her memoirs she claimed that she started seeing spirits and hearing disembodied voices in childhood, and that she developed these abilities further once she joined a local spiritualist church after her son died in infancy. She was recognised as a practising clairaudient medium by the Spiritualists' National Union in 1949. [4] Doris suffered health problems for many years,” said Linda. “Apart from having a breast removed due to cancer, her thyroid was also removed. Stories about the mystery of her missing millions kept appearing in papers. There were dark hints about secret Swiss bank accounts and offshore companies. Whatever the truth, on the most charitable assessment, Doris Stokes was not all she seemed, and the most serious question marks hang over her."Stokes was condemned by the Church of England and other Christian denominations, which objected to spirit communication as an offence to God. She countered that her work was done for God, [4] and in accordance with the Bible's injunction to "test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world" (1 John 4.:1). I remember the first thing Doris ever said to me was, "Stop doing the tarot cards", and I nearly jumped out of my skin. I was dabbling with them because I'd recently lost my Mum and I was in turmoil. I suppose I was desperate and I'd always been interested in finding out more about the psychic world. We had a sitting together and Doris helped me actually "see" my Mum and hold a conversation with her. Bob Couttie. (1988). Forbidden Knowledge: The Paranormal Paradox. Lutterworth Press. p. 42 ISBN 978 0 71 882686 4 Without seeking to find them, I met a man who was told by Doris that he would become a medium, meet the woman who’d become his wife on March 6 and even gave her name. All these details were correct. Born on January 6, 1920, Doris passed on May 8, 1987, following surgery at a NW London hospital for a brain tumour. It is thought that she did not regain consciousness after the operation.

JUST weeks away from the centenary of the birth of famous medium Doris Stokes, a new book is being released this month about her life and achievements. Sometimes it seems strange to think I started out as a journalist and had to be professionally sceptical about anything remotely paranormal. Now the spirit world is as real to me as the material world, and 1 would be lost without Doris.Doris is my GuardianIf she had millions stashed away that would never have happened. When Terry, her adopted son, passed on a few years later there wasn’t even enough money to bury him and Psychic News ran an appeal to give him a decent funeral.

Linda added: “I’m amazed at how many people still remember Doris. Not only that, but they told me that she changed their lives. If Doris hadn’t passed when she did, I thought, ‘I wonder what other titles they would have been able to think of using voices?’ Suddenly, into my head jumped the title Voices Everywhere.

The book examines the extraordinary phenomenon that Doris unleashed at the time, which is still continuing to this day. Doris gave me lots of support when I decided to start my business, Astro Angels. She told me as soon as I met her when I was dabbling with the tarot cards, that I would end up in this line of work and she says she is very proud. Doris died before our actual wedding, but I blurted out at the church, "Derek, we didn't invite Doris" because I was so used to having her around. He smiled and said, "She'll be here, she wouldn't miss this for the world". He was right about Doris - I felt her come through to me on my wedding day and she was very close. For instance, she was also genuinely surprised to be asked to appear on BBC Radio 4’s iconic Desert Island Discs. Nothing ever went to Doris’ head. Doris was genuinely surprised that, as a song says, she became ‘the celebrity celebrities wanted to meet.’