Charles Hapgood on Elwood Babbitt the medium of Massachusetts

The collaboration between Charles Hapgood and Elwood Babbitt represents a unique intersection of academic inquiry and spiritual exploration. Their work not only contributed to the understanding of mediumship but also reflected broader cultural currents in American spirituality during the mid-20th century. Despite criticisms, their legacy continues to influence discussions on the nature of consciousness and the potential for communication beyond the physical realm.THE HAGOOD BABBITT EXPERIENCEHapgood spent ten years working with New England medium Elwood Babbitt of Orange Massachusetts, making contact with notable figures from the past. Babbitt, a retired carpenter and World War II veteran, had studied trance mediumship at Edgar Cayce's Association for Research and Enlightenment. Hapgood audiotaped and transcribed a number of Babbitt's "trance lectures" from Jesus, Albert Einstein, Mark Twain, and the Vishnu FORCE, using the material to publish his final three books:Voices of Spirit, Through the Psychic Experience of Elwood Babbitt (1975), Talks with Christ and His Teachers Through the Psychic Gift of Elwood Babbitt (1981), and The God Within: a Testament of Vishnu, a Handbook for the Spiritual Renaissance (1982). During this time Babbitt and Hapgood's cousin, Beth Hapgood worked closely with the nearby Brotherhood of the Spirit New Age commune. After Charles Hapgood's death, Beth Hapgood, assembled a final volume of Babbitt's trance lectures, Dare the Vision and Endure (1997). Charles Hutchins Hapgood was an American college professor and author who became one of the best known advocates of the pseudoarchaeological claim of a rapid and recent pole shift with catastrophic results.