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

20spoken questions. I closed my eyes until I felt him dig at the square than contained the letter hedesired to indicate. In this manner the following inquiries of Iola were answered with accuracy:“Give the names of those of your family you have met in spirit life”; “Give the name of the last whopassed over”; What was the name of your husband?” “Please give your full name” (two Christiannames and the surname were given correctly. “Give my full name” (answer William UsborneMoore); “Give he name of the town where you died (given correctly, and it was a place which I amsure the medium had never heard of).The delight of Hough when he found out that he had given the correct answers wasimmense. He uttered cries like those of a child, especially when my second Christian name and thename of the town came out. Having ascertained that my father was present, I wrote on a piece ofpaper which Hough did not see, “Where did my eldest brother die?” The reply was correct.Hough bellowed with delight.Remember, up to this moment neither Hough his partner knew anything of me whateverexcept that I was and Englishman; this was known to Mrs. Conklin, as it came out the previousday. At the lowest estimate of this sitting it was an instance of excellent “thought reading”. I aminclined to give it a far higher significance. It is rare that thoughts can be read so accurately, forthe names were difficult to an American. I think it more probable that Iola and my father werepresent and directly impressed the medium.(5) On December 28 th I visited Mrs. Conklin again, and obtained some good tests with apacket of photographs. Iola was asked the following question: “How many children have I got?”The reply was “I see a boy and two girls. One of the girls has the name Harriet. Your son has thesame name as yourself, ‘Usborne’. There are several Usbornes in the family. It is your name andyour son’s name. Your children are not young and not old. One of the girls is about eighteenyears old. I can only see three.” (This is all correct. I had one son and two daughters at home atthis time. My youngest daughter’s name is Harriet and she was eighteen years of age; my son’ssecond name is that same as my own, and there are others of that name in the family).On December 29 I sat again with Hough and his partner. Hough and I sat at two tablesnine feet apart. I wrote a message and doubled it up so that he could not open it under myobservation, then gave it to him. He put it to his forehead. Mrs. Conklin came and sat by my sideafter he had received the note. He wrote answers with feverish haste, which he gave to me. Theanswers were in general terms, but such as showed that he had in some way become acquaintedwith the contents of my messages. As evidence of identity they did not count for much. Here isone specimen: (Q) “Iola why would you not speak to me last night here?” (A). W., I did try to doso, but conditions were not just right for me; and then again to materialise is very difficult. I shallbe with you, and shall help and aid you all I can – Iola.” The handwriting was that of the medium.After a time we agreed to try the alphabet as on the previous occasion. Iola gave my wife’sworking name correctly: and when my father was asked, “Of what disease did my eldest brotherdie?” The reply was “Diphtheria.” I said, “Please repeat the last word and “diphtheria” was speltout (this was correct).(6) I will conclude my record of Hough with the account of an incident that muchimpressed me at the time. One of the members of the circle of the last séance I attended was astalwart young German, over six feet in height, apparently in sound health. He was a perfectstranger to the medium. When Dr. Baker came out from the cabinet, he advanced ten feet into theroom and beckoned this gentleman to him, turned him round with his hands, and made severalpasses across his back at the waist. I happened to leave the house with this young man and askedhim of Baker’s action had any significance. “Much,” he replied; “I have been suffering from acutekidney trouble for three months.”(7) On December 30 I paid a visit to Dr. S., a famous Unitarian minister and ardentenquirer into psychical phenomena. He is the author of two or three books on the subject, and theconversation naturally turned to his latest work. One of the best of the instances of trancemediumshipthat he had adduced in that book was connected with a message which he had receivedfrom his son, what had passed over some three or four years. He took me up to one end of hisroom and showed me a portrait, saying: “That is my son, of whom we were talking just now.” Hethen went to the other side of the room and described to me the portraits on the mantel-shelf,