Washington Irving Bishop

Washington Irving Bishop (also known as Wellington) (1856-1889) was an American mentalist famous for his blindfold drive and other astounding feats during the 1880s in the United States and England. He learned his trade as an assistant to John Randall Brown, who specialized in Muscle Reading.

Bishop started his career working with the spiritualist Anna Eva Fay as her manager. In 1876 he chose to expose her methods and began doing his own show.

At first, Bishop denied the existence of using any paranormal powers, but then apparently decided that the easier to dupe people and became a "real" psychic.

Bishop is credited with originating the Blindfold Drive trick (in 1885), navigating a horse and carriage while his eyes were covered.

One of Bishop's favorite routines, copied from Brown, was to have a fictitious murderer, a weapon, and a victim chosen from among the audience members while he was out of the area. Upon his return he would identify all three.

In Britain, he lost a lawsuit brought against him by J. N. Maskelyne. Maskelyne objected to his claims of genuine psychic power, which provoked libelous remarks from the Bishop. Maskelyne sued and won the case. Bishop fled from England to escape paying the £10,000 penalty.

References

• http://www.randi.org/encyclopedia/Bishop,%20Washington%20(Wellington)%20Irving.html