The Strange Case of Hellish Nell: The True Story of Helen Duncan and the Witch Trial of World War II | 
 enlarge | Author: Nina Shandler
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Category: Book
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Avg. Customer Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 1021344
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6 x 1.3
ISBN: 0306814382
Dewey Decimal Number: 345.410288
EAN: 9780306814389
ASIN: 0306814382
Publication Date: September 25, 2006
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Product Description
The fascinating story of Britain's World War II witchcraft trial of Helen Duncan, the grandmother who conducted sances, and had a knack for revealing military secrets On March 23, 1944, as the Allied Forces were preparing for D-Day, Helen Duncan--"Nell" to her six children and four grandchildren and "Hellish Nell" to her detractors--stood in the dock of Britain's highest criminal court accused of: witchcraft! At the time of her arrest, Helen Duncan was Britain's most controversial psychic, a celebrity medium with a notorious reputation. During her seances, she channeled spirits who spoke from the world beyond, and on a few occasions, her "spirit" seemed to know too much: Helen's seances were accurately revealing top-secret British ship movements. Intelligence authorities wanted "Hellish Nell" silenced. Using diaries, personal papers, interviews, and declassified documents, Nina Shandler resurrects this strange episode and explores the unanswered questions surrounding the trial: Did "Hellish Nell" channel spirits of the dead who gave away wartime secrets? Was she a calculating charlatan or the innocent target of obsessive wartime secrecy? Why did the Director of Public Prosecutions try her as a witch, and not a spy? Sometimes comic, sometimes tragic, The Strange Case of Hellish Nell is a true crime tale laced with psychic phenomena and wartime intrigue.
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 Outstanding Book About a Bizarre Subject September 19, 2008
The Strange Case of Hellish Nell is a great book about the strange but true case of Helen Duncan who was the only person to be prosecuted during World War II under the Witchcraft Act of 1735. Duncan was a medium or spiritualist who had a tendency to reveal state secrets during seances that suggested that she was on the side of the Nazis and had somehow corrupted folk in the British government to give her information that was supposed to be kept secret. However, the British government was unable to discover just how she was getting her information and the only way that British law enforcement could come up with to silence her was to bring her up on charges of witchcraft.
What were these secrets that the British government wanted kept out of Duncan's seances? Ship movements including those related to the forthcoming invasion of France.
What specific secret that Duncan leaked during a seance sparked the British government's action against her? The battleship HMS Barham had been sunk in the Mediterranean Sea and the British government withheld this information from the public for fear that it would damage public morale. However, during a seance, Duncan revealed that the Barham had been sunk. To this day it is unknown how Duncan came by this information and it seems unlikely that her naming the Barham as being sunk so soon after it was sunk could have been a coincidence.
In any event, The Strange Case of Hellish Nell is a great book about a bizarre subject.
 Disappointing February 21, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book was a great disappointment for me. Written by an American woman, it contains a number of factual errors which a more erudite American or, better, English person would have avoided.
Firstly, the authoress is plainly not at home in English English. A couple of examples will suffice: the word "brownstone" is usually reserved for a house in New York City or perhaps Boston. It is wrong to use it for a house situated in England. Secondly, while it is true that, in the late 19th Century, legislation was passed making the High Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal "the Supreme Court", that term is never used as such in England to refer to either of those courts; it is completely and simply wrong to refer to a judge of High Court or Court of Appeal as "a justice of the Supreme Court" of England. Ain't no such thing!
Secondly, the authoress admits that she takes the facts as known of the case of Hellish Nell, a supposed witch tried in 1944 under the now-repealed 18th Century Witchcraft Act and has then invented dialogue as she imagines it might have been spoken. This will not do, particularly when many of the conversations supposedly had are, in the book, excruciatingly but unintentionally funny.
The writer has even invented things like the mode of arrival of the prison van at the Court of Appeal (or Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand), NOT, as penned, the arrival of a "prison lorry" at the "Supreme Court". Apparently the authoress went to the present RCJ and found out how prisoners are today transported and brought into the building, which may well have been completely different in 1944. You have to see the notes to realize just how much in this book was simply invented.
This 1944 trial will one day perhaps be written up properly by someone who has a greater understanding of both English idiom and the historical framework. This reads like a poor attempt at publishing for its own sake in American academia.
a fun read, a truly bizarre tale December 30, 2006
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
For those of you who, like myself, enjoy bizarre stories, "The Strange Case of Hellish Nell" will be your cup of tea. In the style of the non-fiction novel popularized by Truman Capote in "In Cold Blood" and Norman Mailer in "The Executioner's Song", the book traces the extraordinary life of Helen Duncan, highlighting her 1944 trial for "witchcraft", all of this documented by voluminous footnotes, and adds what Shandler calls "constructed" dialogue and states of mind that flesh out and enliven the documented record.
One of the ironic details of the story is that while the driving force behind the criminal prosecution was the fear that her channeled spirit Albert would reveal war secrets surrounding the imminent Normandy landings, the statute under which she was indicted actually accused her of being a fraudulent medium. So the government labored to prove she was a charlatan and phony while secretly fearing she was just legitimate enough to apprehend and reveal real secrets. If she were truly guilty of being a fraud, she would be technically guilty but no real threat to government secrecy. On the other hand, if she were innocent, she might be acquitted of the charges but would represent quite a real security risk. This cognitive dissonance adds humor and complexity to the "strange case".
One interesting sidelight is that even though Duncan was convicted, the preponderance of testimony under oath tended to establish that far from being a fraud, she could actually channel deceased spirits. The book thus adds a bit of second-hand evidence to the life-after-life debate.
My one reservation is that the tone went back and forth between broad comedy and pathos. Many of the dramatis personae are portrayed as stock comic characters, but Helen Duncan was physically and emotinally abused and incarcerated for six months, which are hardly laughing matters. So, is this a comedy or a tragedy? Maybe, like life, it's both.
But overall, this is a fun read and a stranger than fiction truly bizarre tale.
Her diaries, personal papers, interviews, and declassified documents contribute to psychologist Nina Shandler December 13, 2006
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
In 1944 as Allied Forces prepared for D-Day, one Helen Duncan was in Britiain's highest criminal court - facing charges of witchcraft. She was the country's most controversial psychic - and a grandmother - and channeled spirits who seemed to know too many military secrets. Strangely her seances were revealing to-secret British intelligence - and authorities wanted her silenced. Her diaries, personal papers, interviews, and declassified documents contribute to psychologist Nina Shandler, Ed.D.'s survey of 'Hellish Nell' and her strange talents.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
This Really Happened in England November 22, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
A book that if it hadn't led to a prison sentence would go down as comedy.
It is early 1944. Helen Duncan is being tried for WITCHCRAFT! Yes, Witchcraft and in 1944. The law, you see, put into effect in 1735 is still in effect.
Oh well! This only proved the second of her mother's prophecies - 'You'll be tried as a witch.'
Not only was she tried, she was convicted and put in jail.
Come on, you gotta be kidding.
Nope - tried, convicted, jailed.
Nell was a spiritualist. She contacted a dead Spirit named Albert. On May 24, 1941 Albert speaking through her said, 'A great British battleship has just sunk.' At that time the Navy itself wasn't aware that the Bismark had just sunk HMS Hood. Neither did the German Navy know as the Bismark was keeping radio silence.
Later in November 1941 the battleship HMS Barham was sunk by a U-boat in the Med. later that November Helen reported that a ghost-like creature appeared, wearing a sailor's cap that read HMS Barham. The creature hovered around a young woman and said, 'Sorry Sweetheart, my ship sank in the Mediterranean. I've crossed over to the other side.' Meanwhile, the Royal Navy began a cover up including forged Christmas cards from the dead crewmen to prevent the Germans from finding out that the Barham was sunk.
These two incidents led the authorities to fear that Helen would talk about other things like the D-Day landings, so they tried her and put her in jail.
The report of the trial was classified 'CLOSED UNTIL 2046.' A good way to keep things secret. But this is England, land of freedom, fair judges and all that. Still it's true, and fascinating reading.
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