Alexander J. McIvor-Tyndall

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Alexander J. McIvor-Tyndall
BornMarch 4, 1860
Leicestershire
Died1940
California
Occupation(s)Mentalist, writer

Alexander James McIvor-Tyndall (March 4, 1860 – 1940), also known as Ali Nomad was an English-American hypnotist, mentalist and new thought writer.

Biography

McIvor-Tyndall was born in Leicestershire to Dr. Alexander and Agnes Stuart.[1] In 1890, McIvor-Tyndall gave theosophical lectures in Canada. He was theosophical editor of Denver Sunday Post (1906–1907) and edited The Swastika: A Magazine of Triumph (1906–1911) an occult magazine.[1][2] He founded the International New Thought Fellowship and in 1907, Swastika headquarters in the United States.[3] He was the founder of the International Swastika Society.

McIvor-Tyndall wrote under the pseudonyms Ali Nomad and Dr. John Lockwood.[4] In 1913, under the pseudonym Ali Nomad he authored the book Cosmic Consciousness: The Man-God Whom We Await. In the book he promoted the idea that Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was the latest incarnation of God in India.[5]

McIvor-Tyndall married Margaret Logan of Los Angeles on September 3, 1896.[1] He married Laura Hudson Wray on June 13, 1917 in Crown Point, Indiana. In total he married six times.[3][6]

Career

McIvor-Tyndall was notable for performing the blindfold drive. This involved driving a carriage through crowded streets blindfolded whilst reading the thoughts of the man seated beside him.[7][8] In 1893, McIvor-Tyndall requested the St. Louis Republic to appoint a committee to ride with him in a carriage. Theodore Dreiser was present on the committee and authored several articles about McIvor-Tyndall's successful "mind-reading" demonstrations.[9][10][11] However, in 1896 he was arrested in Sacramento, California because he was driving a carriage too fast.[7] He was also known for his "death-trances", it was alleged that he could cheat death and return to life.[12] Skeptics dismissed McIvor-Tyndall as a fakir. His mind-reading demonstrations were similar to the mentalist Washington Irving Bishop.

In the late 1890s, McIvor-Tyndall worked as a palmist, giving lectures and private palm reading sessions.[13][14] In 1902, he performed successful billet reading tests that impressed Eugene Schmitz the mayor of San Francisco and several city officials.[15] In 1908, McIvor-Tyndall became known as a psychic sleuth in Los Angeles. Whilst blindfolded he aimed to direct a posse assembled by Col. E. J. Bell to a murderer. He stated that he had received a vision of the murderer whilst in a trance in Denver.[16] McIvor-Tyndall was involved with other criminal cases, for example years earlier in 1893 he was given permission to hypnotise convicted murderer Jacob Menze. After the hypnotic test, McIvor-Tyndall declared Menze to be innocent.[17]

In 1909, McIvor-Tyndall gave many public demonstrations and lectures on his alleged clairvoyant powers including automatic writing, precognition, psychometry and telepathy.[18][19][20][21] In 1912, he gave lectures on cosmic consciousness, immortality and psychic phenomena.[22]

Selected publications

  • Revelations of the Hand (1900)
  • Ghosts: A Message from the Illuminati (1906)
  • How to Read Thought (1909)
  • Cosmic Consciousness: The Man-God Whom We Await (1913)
  • Sex: The Unknown Quantity: The Spiritual Function of Sex (1916)

References

  1. ^ a b c Marquis, Albert Nelson. (1917). Who's Who in America, Volume 9. Chicago: A. N. Marquis & Company. p. 1650
  2. ^ Herringshaw, Thomas William. (1914). Herringshaw's National Library of American Biography. Chicago: American Publishers' Association. p. 121
  3. ^ a b "The Swastika". iapsop.com. Retrieved 22 January 2022.
  4. ^ Carty, T. J. (2015). A Dictionary of Literary Pseudonyms in the English Language. Routledge. p. 594. ISBN 978-1135955786
  5. ^ Stavig, Gopal; Shuddhidananda, Swami. (2010). Western Admirers of Ramakrishna and His Disciples. Advaita Ashrama. p. 128. ISBN 978-8175053342
  6. ^ Cosmic Goat Forgives New Thoughter's New Wife for Taking Him From Her. Harrisburg Telegraph (June 26, 1917). p. 14
  7. ^ a b Tyndall the Mind-Reader. The Record-Union (August 3, 1896). p. 4
  8. ^ Power of McIvor-Tyndall. The Billings Gazette (February 26, 1901). p. 5
  9. ^ Atkinson, Hugh C. (1948). Theodore Dreiser: Apostle of Nature. Alfred A. Knopf. p. 50.
  10. ^ Dreiser, Theodore; Nostwich, T. D. (2000). Newspaper Days: An Autobiography. Black Sparrow Press. p. 337. ISBN 978-1574231380
  11. ^ "The Hypnotist". alchemyofbones.com. Retrieved 22 January 2022.
  12. ^ Deaths Fails to Seize its Pray. The Daily Sentinel (March 3, 1909). p. 4
  13. ^ "McIvor-Tyndall". The Anaconda Standard (October 16, 1898). p. 5
  14. ^ McIvor-Tyndall Has Arrived. The Daily Sentinel (September 25, 1899). p. 1
  15. ^ Will Succeed Himself on the Board of Works. The San Francisco Call. (December 11, 1902). p. 5
  16. ^ McIvor-Tyndall Becomes Sleuth. Los Angeles Herald (June 3, 1908). p. 1
  17. ^ "A Criminal Spell-Bound". The Morning News (September 14, 1893). p. 5
  18. ^ McIvor-Tyndall Comes to Rocky Ford for a Few Days. Rocky Ford Enterprise (February 5, 1909). p. 1
  19. ^ Is Prepared to Startle Grand Junction People. The Daily Sentinel (March 1, 1909). p. 5
  20. ^ Tickets Are Now on Sale for McIvor-Tyndall's Big Public Meeting, Sunday Eve. The Daily Sentinel (March 5, 1909). p. 4
  21. ^ Big Audience Will Greet Dr. MIvor-Tyndall Tomorrow Night at the Opera House. The Daily Sentinel (March 9, 1909). p. 2
  22. ^ Dr. McIvor-Tyndall Proving Big Magnet. The Detroit Times (November 30, 1912). p. 2
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