Fawcett, Colonel Percy Harrison
(18671925)
British Army officer Percy Harrison Fawcett, who disappeared
in the jungles of South America in 1925, set off a psychic
search that lasted over a quarter of a century. Born in
1867, Fawcett had joined the army as a young man and rose
among the ranks. He mastered cartography and after World
War I (191418) decided to leave the army and focus his remaining
years on some of his youthful passions. He had earlier
carried out some of the pioneering surveys of the Amazon
delta. He had a keen interest in Spiritualism and the occult,
and inspired by the discovery of Machi Picchu in the Peruvian
Andes, he had become fascinated with the idea of hidden civilizations
in the vast Amazonian lands. Fawcett had discovered a
mid-eighteenth-century manuscript whose author claimed to
have found a vast city in the upper Amazon, and in 1920 he initially
tried, unsuccessfully, to find it. He returned in 1925 for
what was to be a two-year expedition. On May 29, 1925, he was
at a camp he had used on the previous trip. His presence at the
camp would be the last confirmed data on him. An expedition
that attempted to find him in 1928 concluded that he had
probably been killed by hostile natives.
His wife refused to give up on him. A psychic search for Fawcett
began in 1930 when a medium in California claimed to be
in contact with some Native Americans in New Mexico, who in
turn claimed to be in contact with some Amazonians with whom
Fawcett was residing. Mrs. Fawcett subsequently announced
that she was in direct telepathic contact with her husband. In
spite of a variety of reported sightings of him by various people
in Brazil, he did not reappear and in 1932 his wife said that she
had lost her telepathic contact. Not to be discouraged, Estelle
Roberts, a prominent Spiritualist medium, claimed to have received
several messages from Fawcett. A medium from New
Zealand was the next to emerge. She claimed to have been in
contact for the past two years, that Fawcett had found the lost
city, but had unfortunately perished trying to get back to civilization.
Through the World War II years (193945), reports concerning
Fawcett, none confirmed, continued. In 1951 the medium
Nell Montague reported that she saw Fawcett being killed
by natives after being questioned by Ralph Paget, a friend of
the Fawcett family. Finally, in 1955, the notable medium Geraldine
Cummins got into the act when she published her book,
The Fate of Colonel Fawcett. The book is an interesting collection
of metaphysical teachings from Fawcett, now believed to be in
the spirit world, and an account of Fawcetts death. Fawcetts
widow did not accept the book, and Cummins admitted it was
not among her best productions.
Fawcetts ultimate fate is still unknown and is likely to remain
so unless some identifiable remains are found by accident
as the Amazon continues to be explored.
Sources
Chambers, Paul. Paranormal People. London Blandford,
1998. Cummins, Geraldine. The Fate of Colonel Fawcett. London
Aquarius Press, 1955.
