Death Date: | (aged 48) |
Death Cause: | Suicide by household gas |
Known For: | Trying to prove the existence of an afterlife |
Thomas Lynn Bradford (– February 5, 1921) of Detroit, Michigan was a spiritualist who died by suicide in an attempt to ascertain the existence of an afterlife and communicate that information to a living accomplice, Ruth Doran.[1] On February 5, 1921, Bradford sealed his apartment in Detroit, blew out the pilot on his heater, and turned on the gas, which killed him.[2] [3]
Some weeks earlier, Bradford had sought a fellow spiritualist in a newspaper advertisement and Doran responded. The two agreed "that there was but one way to solve the mystery—two minds properly attuned, one of which must shed its earthly mantle".[4] The New York Times ran a follow-up under the headline "Dead Spiritualist Silent".[5]
. Mary Roach . Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife . 2005 . W. W. Norton . 0-393-05962-6.