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

32The sitter who seizes a figure incurs a heavy responsibility. The tacit contract betweenhim and the medium may be presented in this way: (a) The medium undertakes to give a séance;nothing may happen, but such phenomena as do occur shall be genuine. (b) The sitter agrees to sitwith his hands touching those of his neighbours, and to obey instructions imposed by the leader ofthe circle.A sitter is only justified in breaking conditions if he is convinced that the medium hasviolated his part of the contract. He is liable to the charge of dishonourable conduct if it should beproved that the medium is not guilty of conscious fraud. Moreover, if the seizure takes place latein the séance, when a deep cataleptic trance supervenes, and his pulse is very low, it is possible thatthe medium may be killed by the shock.In this case the sitter was justified by the result; Craddock refused to give the only proofwhich would have cleared him. Had the search taken place, and nothing been found on Mr. orMrs. Craddock, nor in the room, Colonel Mayhew would have been in an unenviable position. Asit turned out, all spiritualists should be grateful to him for his prompt and decisive action.Up to this time no explanation has been offered to the public by Craddock, and no onepresent in the room that evening has attempted to defend him in the Press. The gravamen of thecharge against him is that, having been detected outside the cabinet, he refused flatly the only testwhich would clear him of a deliberate intention to deceive those whom he had invited to sit withhim. The events were reported in Light of March 24, 1906.A theory has been started by a few irresponsible people that, when an astral figure is seized,the body of its medium, may fly to it and coalesce, thus inducing the captor to believe that heoriginally laid hold of the medium himself; but of this there is no proof whatever. It is true that aform may elude its captor and fly back to its parent; but for a human being to come hurtlingthrough the curtains of the cabinet into the arms of the captor without the latter receiving anyshock is a phenomenon which requires something more than mere assertion to obtain credence forit.One naturally inquires at this stage: “If fraud was intended by Craddock, were his principalcontrols parties to it?” Of course they were. Whatever else may be a matter of conjecture, therecan be no manner of doubt that truth and falsehood are terms in common to both this and the nextstate of existence. Graem, at any rate, must have known what was going on, and been in leaguewith his medium. Thus we must regretfully come to the conclusion that, for spiritual purposes,Craddock’s mediumship is useless. Graem, intelligent as he is, is an undesirable associate.In the light of the exposure of March 18, 1906, I feel justified in saying that some of thematerialisation’s which have appeared to me at various times, in two different rooms, have beenCraddock disguised.In justice to Craddock, one curious circumstance must be mentioned. When hemasqueraded before his captor. Showing by his illuminated slate, he had a robe of some sortcovering his collar and waistcoat. I saw him on the floor in the arms of the Colonel, in a good lightbefore Mrs. Craddock touched him. Mayhew’s grip effectively prevented him from moving afinger; yet the robe was gone, and was not found afterwards during a search of the room. Somesupernormal influence was at work that removed that robe; but it does not exculpate the mediumfrom the charge of entering the room with the intention of deceiving his sitters.But this man is, none the less, a very interesting curiosity. The object of these remarks isnot to attempt to reinstate him in the eyes of spiritualists, but to record certain phenomena I havewitnessed which were, to the best of my belief, genuine. In my judgement, his offence is muchaggravated by the fact that he is a real sensitive who had, from greed, prostituted a rare gift.Under strict test conditions, and with a fixed moderate income assured to him, it is very probablethat a committee might obtain some very useful information by watching the phenomena whichoccur when he is in trance. He would, of course, be retained for this purpose alone, and preventedfrom giving séances to any but the committee.In the following notes I have mentioned a sensitive who is a member of my family, and whois here called A. He is a busy professional man who has attended a few of Craddock’s séances,some at a private house and some at Pinner. Since January 1906, he had become suspicious, as he