Pheneas Speaks

What It's About

Pheneas Speaks is Arthur Conan Doyle's own record of séance communications received at home, chiefly through the mediumship of his wife, Jean. The messages begin with departed relatives - a brother, a mother, an old editor - before a recurring spirit guide named Pheneas takes the leading role, delivering both personal comfort and broader "revelations." Doyle presents the book as a direct answer to sceptics who denied that anything of value could come from spiritualist practice.

Key Concepts

The sittings took place over roughly five years, beginning in December 1922, and Doyle notes that what appears in the book is only a fraction of the material recorded, with much left out as too intimate or, in the case of world-event prophecies, unsuitable for publication. The book sits within Doyle's wider spiritualist writing, treating the communications as genuine evidence of survival after death.

About the Author

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) was a Scottish writer and physician, best known for creating the detective Sherlock Holmes. In the latter part of his life he became a committed and outspoken advocate for spiritualism, devoting much of his time and writing to the cause.