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The Scientist Who Killed Himself To Prove There Was An Afterlife- And Failed

A zealous spiritualist named Thomas Lynn Bradford committed suicide in the misguided hopes of advancing science

Andrew Martin
4 min readSep 3, 2023

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The idea of life after death has long been a prominent point of wonderment among humanity. There are many who believe life on earth isn’t the end, while others are convinced we get just one go at it. Like all good science, theories must be tested, and in one extreme example, a spiritualist named Thomas Lynn Bradford killed himself in an attempt to prove once and for all that there was an existence beyond earthly life.

Bradford, a native of Detroit, was born around 1872. He became a professor, while also developing a growing interest in spiritualism. He was convinced of the afterlife and presence of spirits that existed all around. So convinced was he in the validity of the movement that he came to believe that the only way to provide irrefutable proof was to personally produce the results. His approach was unconventional, to say the least, and that.was the decision to commit suicide, so his spirit could then reach out to mediums he had pre-arranged and finally confirm what existed after death.

Bradford advertised for an assistant interested in “spiritualistic science.” A woman named…

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Andrew Martin
Andrew Martin

Written by Andrew Martin

Dabbler in soccer, history, investing & writing. Master’s degree in baseball history. Passionate about history, diversity, culture, sports, film and investing .

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