John Sutton

Psychic and Spiritualist medium

I am proud to present some of the reports about my brother John from the Psychic news and Spiritualist News from the seventies. I was just a lad in those days and had never made any sort of animation

News report about John Sutton on front page of Spiritualist News 1971

Tyrone Mathieson, a Canadian journalist visiting this country was particularly anxious to trace members of his mother's family who originally hailed from the Midlands. Extensive enquiries failed to reveal their whereabouts but a remarkably accurate spirit message has stimulated his interest in our claims He told SN, "1 was amazed when the medium pointed to me and asked if I knew a name like Hedge. My mother's maiden name was Hodge, and the chap proceeded to give me an astonishingly detailed description of my mother. And his references to the Midlands fitted exactly". The spiritualist medium was John Sutton who at a recent Sunday service was demonstrating at Hayes Church in Middlesex.

Mathieson had no intention of visiting a Spiritualist Church. Until now he had been sceptical about the ability of mediums and he assured us that his decision to pass an hour or so resulted in his attendance.

He continued his tribute to Sutton. "There is no earthly way that this medium fellow could know me or my family, And I nearly. Fell off my seat when he asked me if I recognised the initial T. My mother always called me T. and I KNOW that my mother was definitely involved in some way with this message. She relayed to me that I had been to see her friends but that I was to discontinue my searches for other relatives. It would appear that they were also "dead". I left that meeting with an indescribable sense of re-assurance. My mother and I were very close and on my return to Canada I shall certainly pursue my investigation".

Part time receptionist

Visitors who call at the Spiritualist Association of Great Britain in Belgrave Square; London know John Sutton. He is a part time receptionist at their headquarters but does not work there as a medium. Because of recent illness John's medium-ship is restricted to weekends and occasional evenings in churches and societies throughout London. An account of his accurate message is to appear in a Canadian newspaper. Mathieson is determined that he shares his delight with others

Haunting Evidence is a matter of record

Dead airman's messages confirmed - report in Psychic News June 11 1977

PN Reporter

I have Just finished listening to a compelling tape recording made at a haunted aerodrome which features a remarkable seance conducted by spiritualist medium John Sutton. Details he gave while entranced were later confirmed. Names, including that of a suicide, came.The seance is the tape's high spot, Via John, who passed three years ago, a "dead" airman relives the last moment, of a crash that ended his and two colleagues' earthly lives.

Promise fulfilled

The narrator of "the haunting of Bircham Newton Aerodrome"* says it is "difficult for many people to believe in ghosts. We tend to accept only what we can see and hear with normal senses."Ghosts can show up at any time of day or night, often in the most unlikely places, they can take many forms...The narrator promises "to prove ghosts really do exist. You will hear them on this tape." The results are not imagination or self-hypnosis, they were recorded via a microphone and tape-recorder. The microphone cannot record figments of the imagination. It is not subject to hypnosis or telepathy. It relies on physical sound to function. Under certain circumstances tape-recorders could act like a radio receiver. But the sounds on the tape do not resemble radio material. At the time these recordings were being made, there were no stations transmitting material of this nature.

Phenomena begins

The aerodrome haunting he adds, has been investigated by radio and TV crews and broadcast all over the world.The airport, near King's Lynn, Norfolk, was built in 1914, Today it is used to train building operatives. Psychic events were first reported in the mess. A crew was producing a management training film, a very down to earth subject ! Suddenly, one heavy studio lamp started to topple over without anybody touching it, Peter Clark, a film crew member should have been brained as he was standing by it, but just as it was about to hit him , it swerved to the right, pulled by some unseen hand. It then crashed across a table quite undamaged. At the time everyone in the room was standing motionless. No one had tripped or pulled its wire. In a squash court behind the mess another film crew member had a terrifying experience. He thought he'd like to play a game of squash and arranged to borrow a racket and a ball. he was loaned the only key to the building. As none of his colleagues wanted a game, this person went to the court alone. Suddenly he heard footsteps walk along the viewing gallery. At first, he did not pay much attention, he imagined one of the film crew had come to watch him play. Suddenly, he realised he'd locked himself into the building and was completely alone.Then he heard a sigh which made the hairs on his neck prickle. Turning round, he saw a man in RAF uniform. The figure vanished.That night he and Clark returned to the court with the crew's professional tape recorder to try and capture the footsteps.

We heard footsteps.

They did not succeed, but I what they did obtain was an "amazing psychic recording." In the right hand court, says Clark, the atmosphere was "frightening. It was so cold, like stepping into another world" The pair left the building, locked it and left the recorder. When they returned and bent over the machine to turn it off they heard footstep so they thought someone most be in here, then realised they had checked the place."As we stood there, the footsteps progressed. We could see no-one was there and were so frightened, we grabbed the recorder and ran." The crews tape is reproduced An aeroplane's drone is heard. "there were no aircraft flying over that area that night" metallic knockings are also heard. From time to time the recorder picked up sounds of muffled speech (A woman's voice can be heard)

Experts puzzled

There were noises as if heavy objects were being moved around. Coupled with odd bits of conversation, it gives the impression that one is listening to the everyday sounds, in a wartime hangar.The master tape was passed to the BBC. After thorough analysis an engineer admits he and his colleagues are very puzzled . We can't offer any simple clear explanation.The engineer rules out that the sounds captured on tape came from outside the building as it has 9 inch brick walls. Also discounted are that internal noises generated within the machine caused the sounds. "I think," the engineer testifies "we can definitely say these noises have been recorded through the microphone" A new tape was used. There was no possibility of a previous recording breaking through. Then comes the recording of an unnamed trance medium who visited the building being controlled . A ''dead" airman said he was called Willev."This was remarkable. We contacted a local newspaper. In the files it turned out there was an airman called Willev who had committed suicide on the aerodrome during the last war. "The aerodrome had been haunted for many years this was not just an isolated incident."

Figure vanishes

One man had his bedclothes pulled off at night. Another said his curtains were torn down. A senior engineer was tapped on the shoulder three times in the mess attic, yet nobody else was up there. Another man claimed he saw a figure in RAF uniform walk through a solid wall which had been erected since the last war's ending. He was so frightened he refused to complete his course. The records show that one window near the mess is continually being broken. There seems to be no logical reason why this happens.­During the probe, many other psychic stories were related. The mess radiators at one time, were inexplicably turned off at night. But the covered stopcock was behind a wardrobe.

Pets frightened

"It seems unlikely that anybody would take the trouble to move the wardrobe, find a screwdriver and remove the six screws to turn the water off, yet this happened four times running. The sounds were broadcast by the BBC", several people who had been stationed at the aerodrome wrote. One man said the haunting was common knowledge. Several pet owners said their animals were frightened by the sounds, they could not have understood the dialogue as human beings would - what upset them? If the tape was broadcast for a second time, would the animals react again?

A re-run was arranged and the animals obliged for the second time,many listeners wrote to confirm this A BBC TV team investigated the haunting had two Spiritualist Association of Gt Britain members declared there was "nothing abnormal" about the left hand squash court, but in the right hand section they became excited and claimed it held a presence. They did not know this was the one where the tape had been recorded and a ghost materialised. On the tape appear the voices ~ of SAGB secretary Tom Johanson and medium John Sutton,

Pleads for help

Re-entering the court, Spiritualist medium John was suddenly entranced. Via, John a "dead" airman who says he had an accident.This airman talks of fire and a plane crash that occurred locally near a church. A "Dusty Miller", Pat Sullivan and Gerry Arnold are mentioned. "Help us" pleads the airman. "What can we do" Tom reasons with the entity. explaining he has left earth. After the seance John said the airmen had all been keen squash players. The courts were a meeting place for them. He told us that they had made a pact that if anything happened to them they would try to meet again in this building.John also told us they had been burned to death in a crash. The aircraft had crashed behind a church which had a tower but no steeple, he thought it must be somewhere in the vicinity.

Ignorant of dying

As he'd never visited the area before, he could not confirm the actual location. John said the airmen had no idea they were dead. As the seance ended, John took on the appearance of an old man. This,we were told later, was his spirit guide. We were quite certain John had never visited Bircham Newton before, The investigators were "astonished" to discover the type of plane John described had crashed near the local church. It killed the crew of three. What is more remarkable is that the church has a tower but no steeple though the majority of the churches in the area do. A BBC girl reporter and a friend who locked themselves in the squash court building experienced supernatural happenings, when the locked door thrice opened and slammed shut. Yet the reporter had the only key with her. The girl's recorder refused to work. When she and her friend returned to their hotel "somewhat shaken." the machine started working perfectly

John Sutton spiritualist medium passed over in 1974. If you have information you would like added or just a chat with his brother please contact me via contact form.