Helen Colburn's Spirit Tree

by Diana Kohn

Who is this Victorian lady and why the look of mystery? Let us dig a little deeper into this photo from our archives. The woman is Helen Colburn sitting under her "spirit tree" in the 1890s. Click on the image and you will see the expansive front yard and ornate house that one stood on the site of today's Victory Tower on Carroll Avenue. The tree was her favorite spot for communing with the spirits. LIke many in the 1890s she was a spiritualist, actively trying to exchange messages to those in the great beyond. This was the age of seances and ouija boards, and it is likely this house was the scene of many seances. It ran in the family - her father was a renowned spiritualist.

Helen lived here with her brother Arthur, who chose to capture spirits in a different way - with his camera. A gifted photographer, Arthur took many iconic images of early Takoma Park including this one of his sister. Those glass negatives form an important collection in our archives. Neither married, and decades later the house was demolished to make way for the modern world. But this haunting image remains as a reminder of an earlier time.

The November 1995 Voice ran a feature on the Colburn family and the history of spiritualism. The archives referred to in the article are now housed here in our new home.

Harry Houdini was a fierce opponent of spiritualism, trying to debunk their claims. Ironically, he died on Halloween of 1926. Learn more at pbs.org/wgbh/amex/houdini/sfeature/margery.html and historynet.com/mina-crandon-harry-houdini-the-medium-and-the-magician.htm".