Professor Longman

In the short story Motive v. Opportunity, Professor Longman was a noted scientist who also took an interest in spiritualism. According to the description by Mr Petherick, Longman's achievements in the field of science gave credence to spiritualism and caused it to be treated with some respect. He was also noted for his uprightness and probity.

Philip Garrod requested Longman to visit Simon Clode to ascertain if the medium, Eurydice Spragg was genuine. Longman called at Simon Clode's house and attended two seances by Spragg. Unfortunately for Garrod, Longman was not as outspoken during his stay with Clode as was wished. Instead he remained non-committal. After the stay, Longman told Garrod that he could not detect any obvious fraud in Spragg but he opined that the phenomenon was probably not genuine. He wrote this in a letter which he said Garrod could show to Clode. This letter enraged Clode. He retorted that this was all a conspiracy to discredit Spragg. His fury led to his health deteriorating and to him driving Garrod out of the house.