Collins, Doris (ca. 1918 )
Medium and psychic noted for her reported powers of
clairvoyance, prediction, and psychic healing. She was born
February 10, 1918 and grew up in Essex, England, the youngest
of a family of nine children. Like many psychics, she said
her first psychic experiences occurred during childhood. Her
psychic talent seemed to have emerged at the age of five or six,
when she stayed for a time with an aunt in Manor Park, East
London. Collins played in the garden with a pretty little girl
named Connie, but was later told by her aunt that Connie (her
daughter) had been dead for several years. Collins had also
seen her own dead sister, Emmie.
At age 12, when her parents were out for the evening, Collins
was in bed when she heard a voice warning her to get her
sister Lily out of the downstairs room, where she was playing
the piano. Collins called out to Lily, and as Lily left the room,
part of the ceiling collapsed and a large slab landed on the
piano stool.
Collins was reassured about the experiences by a medium
who was the mother of one of her girlfriends at school. The medium
explained to Collins that she had a psychic gift, and this
was also confirmed when Collins attended a service at the local
Spiritualist church. There a medium gave her a message for
her father from Emmie. The message so impressed Collinss
parents that they visited the Spiritualist church themselves. In
later visits to the church, Collins went into trance.
After her first marriage and the birth of a son, she developed
a talent for spiritual healing and also for clairvoyance. In
1958 she became president of Woodford National Spiritualist
Church, Essex; she later became vice-president of the Union of
Spiritual Mediums (now renamed the Institute of Spiritualist
Mediums). Among her visitors was a government official from
Trinidad and Tobago, where her fame had already spread.
Collinss healing talents resulted in several visits to the West Indies
to heal prominent politicians. Eventually, she became a
resident psychic at the Spiritualist Association of Great Britain,
headquarters of British Spiritualism.
As her psychic abilities became well known, she was invited
to travel and made trips to the United States, the Philippines,
Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, and Finland. In London
she demonstrated her psychic gifts at the prestigious Royal Albert
Hall. She made many friends among stars of the entertainment
world, including Peter Sellers and Michael Bentine. Together
with the equally famous Doris Stokes, she was regarded
as one of Englands leading psychics through the 1980s.
Sources
Collins, Doris. A Woman of Spirit. London Panther Books,
1983.
