Glimpses Of The Next State.Pdf - Spiritualists' National Union

16The zither, or as we were accustomed to call it, “the fairy bells”, performed variousgyrations round the table over the heads of the sitters, playing a regular tune, before and after thematerialisation’s. The spirit that works it is known as Ebenezer. The last thing it did was to dashdown on the floor, and apparently go through it, for we heard faint sounds below; these becamelouder and louder, till a crack was heard and the playing was again loud in the room, where theinstrument was laid down gently on the table.Mr. Cecil Husk’s séances have been the theme of many discussions amongst spiritists. Ihave sat with him over forty times, and have only once suspected fraud. On that occasion theconditions were bad, and I am by no means sure that my doubts were reasonable. Even supposingmy first ideas were correct, there were good reasons for attributing the trick I thought I hadwitnessed to unconscious fraud. I have a great deal more to say about him on my return fromAmerica. In the meantime it is well to state what arguments might be alleged for and against hisgenuineness.Let us commence with such arguments as may be put forward for his reliability. He is, toall intents and purposes, blind. He enters a room with some fourteen people in it. Some greethim, some do not. They when his controls come, at a time when we believe him to be in a trance,they speak to each sitter by name in the correct order round the table. It is true that his wife, onthe occasion described above, was with him, and sat next to him; but the unerring certainty withwhich this recognition was cannot be accounted for by her assistance, for it was practicallyimpossible for her to locate the precise seat of each member of the circle before the light wasextinguished, and she seldom knew the names of all. Moreover, after his wife died, his niecebrought him to our rooms, and there was no change in the accuracy with which his controls greetedthe sitters; nor indeed, was there any difference in the manifestations, except that the forms did notget so far away as before from the medium. One of the well-known ladies in our society alwaysheld his left hand. Supposing his right hand was free (and, I admit, this must be taken intoconsideration), it would be impossible for him to manipulate the fairy bells or the materialisation’s;it would not assist him to remove the candle and put it down in a corner of the room; it would be nohelp to him in the singing, which is, perhaps, the most extraordinary phenomenon that occurs whenhe is present. It is rational that one of the members of the circle who sits next to him should be aperson to whom he is thoroughly accustomed.The manifestations that occur through the mediumship of Husk when in private rooms arefar better than those which happen in his own house. All those investigators who have beenpresent at both agree on this point.The materialisation’s which represent the sitters’ friends are less than life-size. If frauds,they must be dummies. But, if dummies, how is it the lips are seen to move when they speak?And, if dummies, they would appear more natural. I have seen faces even half life-size - for theyvary very much – but none that I can remember which looked fresh and of good colour, such as youwould expect from a face intended to simulate that of a human being. There was a parchmentappearance about all that came to me, and there is an undefinable look of Husk in some. This“Husky” appearance is just what we ought to expect, unless we are to suppose that the mediumthrough whom they manifest has imparted nothing of individuality to the form and face.The movements of the fairy bells while playing defy all normal explanation. I have seenfeeble attempts to account for them by supposing there is a small musical box inside, started andstopped by a stick used in the right hand of the medium. This, and the supposition that he alsomoves the instrument, the zither, are idle stories; for the deliberate strumming on the strings of theinstrument, as if by human fingers is always distinctly heard, and the instrument often soars twelvefeet away from the medium. It apparently goes through ceilings, walls, floors, and doors, and playson the other side.The singing is astonishing in volume, and goes on just the same when Husk happens to havea cold. He has himself, I believe a very good voice; but this would not enable him to sing tenor,bass and all the shades between, and this without the knowledge of his left-hand neighbour.Different languages are spoken by spirits to sitters. When foreigners attended, they alwayscarried on short conversations with their friends on the other side. I have heard twelve languagesspoken at different séances.