Lord, Jenny (ca. 1854)

Nineteenth-century American physical medium of Maine. Later married to J. L. Webb, she is said to have produced remarkable musical phenomena, either by herself or with her sister Annie, who was also mediumistic.

In her book Modern American Spiritualism (1870), Emma Hardinge (Britten) stated:

"These young ladies, both very slight, fragile persons, suffering under the most pitiable conditions of ill-health, and in their normal state unable to play upon any instrument, became mediums for various phases of "the power" requiring the most astounding physical force in execution, in addition to which, spirits, in their presence and in darkened rooms, would play upon a double bass violin cello, guitar, drums, accordion, tambourine, bells, and various small instruments, with the most astonishing skill and power. Sometimes the instruments would be played on singly, at others all together, and not infrequently the strange concert would conclude by placing the young medium, seated in her invalid chair, silently and in a single instant in the center of the table, piling up all the instruments around her, and then calling for a light to exhibit their ponderous feats of strength and noiseless agility to the eyes of the astonished circle. The sisters rarely sat together, and though it would be impossible to conceive of any persons more incapable of giving off physical power than these two fragile and afflicted girls, yet their manifestations with one alone acting as medium, have surpassed, in feats of vast strength and musical achievements, any that are recorded in the annals of Spiritualism."

In his book The Scientific Basis of Spiritualism (1882), Epes Sargent described similar amazing séances with Lord, and introduced the Scottish writer Robert Chambers to her phenomena on a visit to America. Sargent expressed absolute conviction of the genuineness of the phenomena of Jenny Lord.