by Travis Sanders
Not much is written, much to my dismay about the Campbell Brothers. I will present to you what I know and have found.
Allen Campbell was born in England in 1833, and as a young man, moved to the states, where he met Charles Shourds. The two became friends, and business partners, dealing with importing and exporting in the New England States.
The Campbell brothers were not brothers but actually said to be lovers, using the “brothers” title in their work to make their relationship palatable.
Charles (whose date of birth is unknown) and Allen both started working as mediums in the late 1890s. They are said to be the mediums responsible for introducing the idea and use of a spirit cabinet.
Allen’s forte seemed to be the manifestation of spirit art through means of precipitation, while Charles could materialize spirits. They were known as well for slate and type-writter seances, where a type writer was placed on a table in a small cabinet, and as sitters joined hands around the table, messages from the “dead” would be typed and later distributed.
One of their most known works was produced in June of 1887. In this seance a large (40×60) spirit portrait was precipitated of Allen’s Spirit guide, Azure. The portrait, titled Azure the helper, hangs today in the lobby of the Maplewood hotel in Lily Dale, NY.
I have been fortunate enough to see the painting for myself, and there is a palpable energy to it, to say the least.
Allen died in 1919, and Charles passed in his home in Cottage Row at Lily Dale Assembly, in 1926.
Sources:
The Spirit Book by Raymond Buckland
Seance 101 by Elaine M. Kusmeskus
My Truth 