In the mid to late 1800s, many Americans were swept up in a religious movement based on the belief that the dead could communicate with the living. It was called Spiritualism. Services were not conducted in churches, rather, séances were held in homes or special rooms. There was no clergy, instead, mediums claimed to be able to reach across the veil between the living and dead to convey messages. Spirits would communicate by moving items, knocking on walls, writing on slate tablets, materializing, etc. It was a phenomenon with many true believers and, of course, charlatans looking to take advantage of grieving and desperate people.
It’s difficult to know when Mary “Mabel” Lang Aber-Jackman converted to Spiritualism, but by 1889, she was married to spiritualist William Aber and together they ran “materializing séances” in Kansas for paying guests. William would enter a cabinet after which a spirit would appear and communicate with those present. One night, a client decided to test the “materialization” and threw an egg shell full of red ink at the “spirit.” When William later emerged from the cabinet stained with red ink, mayhem ensued.
Mabel became “frantic and wild.” She roamed the town with a revolver under her cloak looking for the egg thrower saying he “ought to have the top of his head blowed off.” Mabel was arrested, tried and released. The couple didn’t last much longer in Kansas, as soon afterwards their property was auctioned off at a Sheriff’s sale.
In 1895, Mabel was on the road, performing in a four act “medium drama” where she presented full form materializations in Akron, OH. In Buffalo, she performed a séance to raise money for a kindergarten fund. She took out ads for her services stating, “Skeptics invited.” A man in Pottsville, NY said he had received letters from Napoleon telling him to visit Mabel. When he spent night after night at Mabel’s séances, his wife complained, “My husband is being ruined by these spiritualists.”
That same year, Mabel and another spiritualist had a spat over a client. The lonely man had come to both of them, saying he wanted to find his “soul mate.” Each woman conjured a spirit for the man, but he preferred the one Mabel produced. The “soul mate” who Mabel materialized told the man he should sue the other spiritualist to get his money back. It didn’t take long for that first spiritualist to confront Mabel, threatening to reveal her secrets. She told Mabel that if she fell, “‘somebody’ would fall with her.” Unsurprisingly, the spirit soul-mate changed her mind and told the man to drop the suit.
Newspaper reporters occasionally snuck into Mabel’s sessions, one detailed the illusions he witnessed: white figures, ‘Hindoo’ guides, glowing faces that peeped out of curtains. At one séance, the faces did not particularly glow and the reporter speculated that the “cabinet chemist” had run out of phosphorescent paint.
Soon, William Aber was out of the picture and Mabel was married to Eddie Jackman. The Jackmans set up shop in Chicago. Mabel added the titles “Reverend” and “Shepherdess of Paradise” to her name. She carried a staff or crook to “beat back disease.” In 1902, she was part of a scheme to fleece a man out of $8,000. Working along with two conspirators, they convinced the mark to invest in a device that could wiretap lines and make money at horse races and in the stock market.
Of course, the “device” kept breaking down, requiring more and more money. Finally, the mark complained to the authorities. When the police arrived to arrest her, Mabel asked, “Do you want a reading?” And they replied “We want to read a warrant to you.” After the trial, Mabel was again released. And even though he knew it was a scam, the man continued to return to Mabel for advice only to be fleeced again. Perhaps he returned because she was “a tall, dark woman, with a pair of snappy black eyes.” Throughout it all, Mabel held that she was being unfairly targeted because she was able to spiritually heal people, cutting into the business of traditional physicians.
In 1902 Mabel bought an abandoned church in Chicago at 3538 Indiana Ave. and established the “Paradise Temple of Scriptural Truth.” She also started the “Church of Scientific Christianity” newspaper where she advertised her healing powers, inviting people to come live with her to receive treatments. Not long after, neighbors complained of the “cult” on the property and police were called when screams were heard. A young woman who was under Mabel’s care was found inside, emaciated and in pain. When police tried to remove the girl, her mother, also living with Mabel, protested. Eventually the girl was taken to a hospital where she regained her health, only to return to Mabel.
In 1905, after a woman died in her care, Mabel and Eddie went missing along with all of the church’s money — $50,000. Eventually, the couple contacted the congregation saying they had left because a “good spirit” told them where gold was located in Nevada but they had to keep it a secret. Traveling with them on private train cars was a “rich companion.” Mabel said she was building a town in Nevada where there would be homes for Chicago’s poor. It was to be called Paradise. Unsurprisingly, Mabel, Eddie, and the mysterious “rich companion” soon returned to Chicago where the “rich companion” was subsequently robbed at the church.
In 1914 Mabel fell in love with an 80-year-old man. (Or perhaps she fell in love with his position and his property.) She divorced Eddie and moved into the “house of seven baths” at 5242 Michigan Ave. with her betrothed. Headlines read, “‘Shepherdess’ Jackman Frees Herself of Obscure Husband for Princess Title.” Mabel explained that she was to become a princess because when her fiancé, Dr. Claflin (brother of Lady Tennessee Claflin Cook) had previously been married to the Princess of Wales, he received a title through marriage which meant she was to be the next princess. Sadly, World War I delayed their nuptials (the law also required Mabel to wait a year after her divorce to remarry). Dr. Claflin, a “Gay Old Bird” died before they wed. Fortunately for Mabel, she inherited the “house of seven baths” where she continued to run her church. (When the building at 5242 was listed on Redfin a few years ago, it was said to have 5.5. baths.)
One newspaper noted “Man-made mediums make much misery. But Mabel makes money.”
1918 was a tumultuous year for Mabel. Undercover police attended a séance and when a “spirit” appeared, an officer tackled it and a brawl erupted. The “ghost” – actor Charles Marrow – ended up with a broken nose. Mabel escaped during the melee and hid at a friend’s home but ended up under custody. During the trial, Marrow exposed Mabel’s tricks of the trade, but she was again released to continue her shenanigans. As she had shown in the past, Mabel did not think kindly of people who exposed her. She hired a man, Warren Stephens, to shoot Marrow. Luckily for Marrow, police spotted Stephens lurking around with a gun in his pocket. Stephens confessed all, saying “the only spirits Mrs. Jackman had any dealings with were the spirits sold in pint bottles…” Once again, slippery Mabel did not serve time.
Mabel’s brother must have been distressed by these antics. In 1922, he had Mabel declared “feeble minded” and received letters of conservation. Mabel was institutionalized at Dunning Asylum where she died only a few months afterwards at the age of 67. For a woman who made a living apparating, Mabel has performed a disappearing act in the end. Her death certificate states that she is buried in Waldheim Cemetery (now Forest Home), but the location of her grave is unknown. Perhaps she is in a cabinet somewhere, just waiting to reappear.
References: Chicago Chronicle, Federal Census, Cook County Death Index, The Inter Ocean, Chicago Tribune, Spring Hill New Era, Buffalo Courier, Pottsville Republican, History is Now.