Andrew Jackson Davis

Andrew Jackson Davis (August 11, 1826 – January 13, 1910) was an American spiritualist, born in Blooming Grove, New York.

Early years Davis was the son of a shoemaker and had little education. From age 14, Davis claimed to be able to diagnose illness via clairvoyance. He described himself as "the Poughkeepsie Seer".

Work For the next three years (1844–1847) he practiced magnetic healing, a form of therapy regarded as pseudoscience, and in 1847 he published The Principles of Nature, Her Divine Revelations, and a Voice to Mankind, which starting in 1845 he had dictated while in a trance, while being mesmerized by Dr. Silas S. Lyon to his scribe, William Fishbough. While in a trance he said that he renounced copyrights to this book, so the copyrights were given to Dr. Silas S. Lyon and William Fishbough. He lectured with little success and returned to writing books, publishing about 30 in all, including The Principles of Nature, Her Divine Revelations, and a Voice to Mankind. (1847). The Great Harmonia (1850–1861), an encyclopaedia in six volumes; The Philosophy of Special Providences (1850), which with its evident rehash of old arguments against special providences and miracles would seem to show that Davis's inspiration was literary; The Philosophy of Spiritual Intercourse; Being an Explanation of Modern Mysteries. (1851). The Present Age and Inner Life; a Sequel to Spiritual Intercourse, Modern Mysteries Classified and Explained. (1853). The Penetralia; Being Harmonial Answers to Important Questions (1856), which allegedly predicted the development of the automobile, road systems, typewriter, and other modern technology years if not decades before they were developed, and claimed the speed of light was 200,000 miles per second 94 years before it was scientifically calculated by Louis Essen showing the true speed was 186,000 miles per second. The Magic Staff: An Autobiography (1857), which explains that he was not related to President Andrew Jackson but he was named after him at the recommendation of a neighbor and it was supplemented by Arabula: or, The Divine Guest. Containing a New Collection of New Gospels (1867), the gospels being those according to St. Confucius, St. John (John Greenleaf Whittier), St. Gabriel (Gabriel Derzhavin), St. Octavius (Octavius Frothingham), St. Gerrit (Gerrit Smith), St. Emma (Emma Harding), St. Ralph (Ralph Waldo Emerson), St. Selden (Selden J. Finney), St. Theodore (Theodore Parker), and others; A Stellar Key to the Summer Land (1868); Tale of a Physician, or, The Seeds and Fruits of Crime (1869) The Fountain with Jets of New Meanings (1870)

Davis's complete library is now housed within the Edgar Cayce Library.

Davis described the concept of Summerland as an undefined location where souls go after death, the secular nature of which was attractive to some non-religious spiritualists. Davis also plagiarised long passages from Swedenborg in The Principles of Nature, which some of Davis's believers take as proof that Davis was inhabited by Swedenborg.

The spiritualist writings of Davis have been criticized by scientists and skeptics for containing inaccuracies and false information. For example, in one case, Davis seemed unaware that water is a compound of oxygen and hydrogen. Researcher Georgess McHargue pointed out that the supposed "scientific" passages from his writings are filled with "gobbledegook as to put it in the class with the most imaginative vintage science fantasy."