Who was Marie de Caba?

Marie de Caba was a Barcelona Spiritist medium who lived from 1890 to 1973.

A portrait of Marie de Caba, an elderly woman with short, curly gray hair, wearing glasses and pearl earrings, dressed in a dark blazer.

What we know about her life?

A Catalan Origin

Marie de Caba was a Spiritist medium born in Carcassonne, France, in 1890, into a Catalan family. She spent most of her life in Barcelona, where she became involved in Spiritism and took part in mediumistic sessions.

Spanish Repression

During Francisco Franco’s dictatorship, her Spiritist activity brought her under state repression. She was arrested, prosecuted, and sentenced to three years in prison, which she served under house arrest because she had a child in her care.

Old military document from the IV Military Region in Spain, dated April 3, 1940, with stamps, handwritten notes, and official signatures.

Part of her story survives in the official record, including twenty-four pages of transcriptions from Spiritist sessions preserved in her legal case file.

The Family Record

But the record of Marie’s life does not come from official documents alone. Her memory was also preserved within her family through photographs, personal recollections, and stories passed down across generations.

Family portrait of Marie de Caba with her grandchildren. All dressed in vintage clothing.
    Marie de Caba with three of her grandchildren.

Together, the family record and the surviving historical documents provide a fragmentary but credible portrait of a real woman whose life was shaped by Spiritism, persecution, and silence.

Marie died in Barcelona in 1973. Much of her life remains undocumented, but what survives confirms that she was a real woman, a real medium, and part of Barcelona’s suppressed Spiritist history.

At a Glance

Born: Carcassonne, France, 1890

Lived: Barcelona, Spain

Known for: Spiritist mediumship

Historical record: Spiritist-session material preserved in her legal case file

Died: Barcelona, 1973

Questions about Marie de Caba