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

50I have alluded above to certain tests by photographs. It will be remembered that I foundthis plan of testing the powers of clairvoyantes successful in America. On my return to England Iincreased the number in the packet to twenty, and later to forty. Friendly critics had said to me :“It is all very well, but the psychic can see into your mind and sense the image of the person whosepicture you expect to receive ; this done, the task of selecting the picture from the pack is easy.”Among the twenty or forty cartes-de-visite, therefore, I always took care to have two of Iola atwidely different ages and in different attitudes. It occurred to me that, if the clairvoyante bynormal means could pick out the composite portrait of these two that are said to be in my mind, itwould be a more remarkable way of accounting for the selection than by the spirit hypothesis. Ipropose now to record how many times this test succeeded. But before doing so I will note arather different test.(38) I have already referred to Mrs. Alleyne, one of the members of our investigationsocieties in London, who usually sat on the left of Husk at the séances we held with him. Duringmany of these pleasant evenings I was her neighbour ; consequently when Iola appeared she couldbe as well seen by Mrs. Alleyne as by me. Mrs. Alleyne’s husband generally manifested about thesame time as my guide, and I argued that he should be well acquainted with the latter and be ableto pick out her portrait.On June 20, 1905, after Iola had appeared twice to us both together, I handed to Mrs.Alleyne twelve photos in a closed packet, and asked her to be so kind as to take it home and to begher husband to pick out the portrait of the spirit she had seen. A week later she returned me thepacket, and showed me the photo that her husband had selected. It was the only picture of Iola inthe pack ! She told me that she had laid the photographs out in a line on a ouija board in herroom ; that her husband, through her hand holding the pointer, had first indicated by the letters ofthe alphabet, “Take the third from the right,” and had then pushed the required portrait out of therow exposed to view.Now, of course, Husk had nothing to do with this phenomenon, as the selection was made atMrs. Alleyne’s home. Neither Mrs. Alleyne nor her husband when in earth life had ever knownIola. The only person in London who knew the spirit or her photograph was myself ; and I wasthree miles away when the selection was made. There was not a single normal circumstance thatcould have assisted in the selection except that Mrs. Alleyne had twice seen the materialised face ofthe spirit. If that helped her in the choice, so much the better for the mediumship of Husk ; but Idoubt if it could have conveyed much to the brain of the lady, because on both occasions the facewas muffled under the nose, and only a sitter like myself, who was well acquainted with theoriginal, could recognise the likeness.I do not record here any photographic test as a success unless one of the portraits of thespirit alleged to be present was selected outside my range of vision at first shot. To have twohanded to you as was done by Mrs. Endicott on two occasions, separated by twelve months, andwhen the number in the pack was forty, is rare, and cannot be expected except in the case ofclairvoyantes of the first rank.Mr. Peters, in a private interview on July 7, 1905, handed me one picture of Iola, whom hehad previously described accurately, out of a packet of twenty. There were two in the collection.The second he handed me was a portrait of her younger living sister, who has been alluded to inthese notes.(39) This medium described an article of dress worn by the spirit that I have never seen.In fact, it was so unusual that I declared I did not believe she had ever worn it. Peters firmlyadhered to his statement, and denied that there was any mistake in his clairvoyant vision. Somedays afterwards I had an opportunity of inquiring into the truth of this allegation, and discoveredthat fifty years before there had been such an article in vogue, and that, as a little girl, Iola hadactually worn it for about six months.Peters also described two naval officers. One, he remarked, “says he was under you insome foreign place. His name is ‘Fred.’ I hear the name ‘More.’ ‘More.’ (Rolls a newspaper upinto the size and shape of a small telescope.) He is holding something under his arm like this. Hewas with you when you had a very bad fever over twenty years ago. I am no good at dates ; younearly died ; you were in great danger of your life. Others died at this time, but you survived.”