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

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

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94distinctly “uncanny.” Nor were the forms, in my judgement, substantial. I came away with thefixed impression that there was, in these forms, a foundation of attenuated matter, and that anypart could be caused by the spirit to solidify, on the instant, such as face or hands ; but that, if I hadsuddenly put out my hand, it would have gone through almost any form that came to me withoutmy being sensible of an obstacle. In one case, as I have related, I touched a face ; the temperaturewas normal and the cheek as soft as velvet.During the time I was sitting with the Jonsons I met at my hotel one of the Vice-Presidents ofthe Society for Psychical Research, who informed me that two members of the Council had actuallybecome convinced, through the mediumship of Eusapia Palladino, that the phenomena oftelekinesis and materialisation were true ! I hope I received this solemn announcement with therespect and gravity so momentous a statement demanded.On the morning of January 13, during my first visit to Toledo, my friend Mr. Z. made anappointment with a Mrs. Alexander, 719 Superior Street, Toledo, for two people (himself andanother) to visit her at 3 p.m. He did not give his own name, nor mine. At 2.30 he kindly calledfor me in his brougham. Mr. Yaryan was with me when he arrived. Between us we persuadedMr. Yaryan to put off an engagement and accompany us to this new medium. We got to the houseat 2,45, and sat from 3 to 5 p.m.(64) It must be clearly understood that Mrs. Alexander had never set eyes on two of us, andonly once, for a few moments, had she seen Mr. Z. She was ignorant of our names.Great was our astonishment, therefore, when Viola and Kitty etherialised and said in a lowvoice, “Uncle Yaryan.” Tim also came from Jonson’s cabinet, and spoke through the trumpet.The séance was held in pitch darkness, and we were led to expect etherialisations.Including re-appearances of the same persons, there were about twenty-five forms seen. Thecabinet consisted of a small chamber, which opened into the room where we sat. The psychic satoutside—i.e., in our room. What the use of this cabinet was I could not discover ; perhaps, being asmaller room, it was easier to conserve the power.About fifteen minutes after we sat down in our easy chairs faintly illuminated forms beganto appear. They were, as a rule, phantasmal and unsatisfactory ; but they spoke through thetrumpet, and occasionally without it. The interest of this sitting lay in one or two incidentsillustrative of the difficulty of establishing identity when the sitter and spirit are both very eager tocommunicate, and the supernormal knowledge displayed through a medium to whom her visitorswere complete strangers.I have already alluded to the visits of certain habitués of Jonson’s cabinet, Who greeted Mr.Yaryan by his name (an unusual one, we must admit). A woman with a baby in her arms came toMr. Yaryan. The latter put his hand upon what seemed to him the head of the infant. He couldnot, at first, recall any friend or acquaintance who had died in child-birth, or under circumstanceswhich demanded a knowledge conveying an association of a mother and her newly-born child.Later, however, he remembered a lady who died, just before her confinement, of disease in thestomach, and whom it was the privilege of Mrs. Yaryan to help materially in some neighbourlyway. A man also came to him. He had a strong feeling of intuition as to the identity, butdemanded his name. No answer. Again the question was asked, “What is your name ?” Thephantom gasped out, “Can’t give it now.” Our attention was then diverted by other phantasms,and the anxiety for the name was in abeyance. Nearly half an hour elapsed, when suddenly therewas a hoarse shout from the ceiling of the room, “I’m Lee.” This was the name of Mr. Yaryan’sdeceased brother, whose form he thought he had seen. The medium also gave a description of thespirit, which tallied with his appearance in earth-life.I have not been able to account, normally, for this incident. It was impossible that Mrs.Alexander could have known Mr. Yaryan or his brother. The anxiety of the brothers tocommunicate caused a positive condition at first, and prevented the spirit from answering thequestion. When Mr. Yaryan became passive, merely attending to other sitters’ concerns, hisbrother gathered sufficient power to pronounce his own Christian name. Throughout this volumeother instances of this paralysis on the part of the spirits are recorded, from the same cause. Sooften has it happened in my investigations in England and America that I now accept the following

95as a law : Identity is never revealed at a time when both sitter and spirit are eager tocommunicate. One, at any rate, must be in a passive condition.During this séance Iola and my mother made themselves known ; they came together once,and separately several times, communicating by whispers. Iola brought some narcissi ; thepungent perfume was distinctly smelt in the room.Towards the end of the séance Mrs. Alexander’s familiar spirit, “Whitesnow,” took control.I shall not easily forget the inimitable chuckle of this little Indian maiden. One of the last thingsshe said was, “I hope I am not going to make this house hot for my medium.”Q.: “What do you mean, Whitesnow ?”A.: “Well, I guess you make houses hot ; but we no want you heat this house.”I can only presume that this was an allusion to one of the many inventions of Mr. Yaryan,who has been the means of heating some twenty-five cities in the United States by the centralsystem.Both the American Gentlemen remarked with emphasis upon the decided difference ofaccent in the utterances of the American and English spirits. I have noticed elsewhere this curiousfact ; it is good evidence of the genuineness of the proceedings. I do not pause to inquire which isthe purer English—that spoken in Ohio and Michigan, or that spoken in the south of England.Sufficient for me that it is widely different ; for the purpose I had in view it was highly significantand useful.A New Psychic in Toledo, Ohio.In Toledo, Ohio, there is a psychic, a young lady at the time of my visit nineteen years of age,in whose presence remarkable manifestations occur. Her name is Miss Ada Besinnet, and she isthe adopted daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Murray Moore, then living at 2617 Glenwood Avenue. Sofar she had only sat in private for her friends, and was in no sense a professional medium.Investigators may be roughly divided into two classes : first, those who believe a psychic tobe guilty of conscious or unconscious fraud, until they prove her to be innocent ; second, those whobelieve her to be innocent, until they detect her in fraud. Supposing other things to be equal—observation, acuteness, and so forth—it is the latter class that will arrive earlier at the truth ; fortheir mental attitude greatly assists the phenomena. When I reflect how ignorant the wisest are,how limited are our senses ; how, to begin with, we do not know the significance of more than oneeighthof the sun’s rays, I cannot understand the point of view of the former class. Miss Besinnetis just one of those psychics who will bring the two classes into fierce conflict. It is to be hopedthat through her mediumship many outstanding problems will be solved.I had the good fortune to sit with her twice ; the first time by the kind invitation of Mr. andMrs. Yaryan in their house, in company with seven of their relatives and friends ; the second timein her own home, when the only other sitter was Mrs Murray Moore. On both occasions theatmospheric conditions were fairly good.(65) First sitting, January 5, 1909—8.10 to 11.50 p.m. We sat in the dark round an oblongoak table that weighs from one hundred and fifty to one hundred and sixty pounds. Directly thelight was put out the psychic went into trance. The phenomena consisted of singing and whistlingin accompaniment to a graphophone ; playing of tambourine, triangle, and bells in accompanimentto a graphophone; voices through trumpet, touchings of hands and heads of sitters, violentmovements of the table, lashing the medium, and spirit lights.I sat on the medium’s right, and my left hand was either lashed to hers or resting upon it thewhole evening. Placed upon the table, before the séance began, were a long, soft piece of rope, atambourine, a tube or trumpet, a bell and triangle. The manifestations lagged at first, and it tookus the best part of an hour to find out that the control (“Dan”) was dissatisfied with thearrangements. Finally, we discovered, through Mrs. Moore, that he wanted the graphophonebrought close up to the table, which would effectively separate her from the psychic. This wasdone ; other small changes among the circle took place, and the real business of the eveningcommenced about 9 o’clock.

95as a law : Identity is never revealed at a time when both sitter and spirit are eager tocommunicate. One, at any rate, must be in a passive condition.During this séance Iola and my mother made themselves known ; they came together once,and separately several times, communicating by whispers. Iola brought some narcissi ; thepungent perfume was distinctly smelt in the room.Towards the end of the séance Mrs. Alexander’s familiar spirit, “Whitesnow,” took control.I shall not easily forget the inimitable chuckle of this little Indian maiden. One of the last thingsshe said was, “I hope I am not going to make this house hot for my medium.”Q.: “What do you mean, Whitesnow ?”A.: “Well, I guess you make houses hot ; but we no want you heat this house.”I can only presume that this was an allusion to one of the many inventions of Mr. Yaryan,who has been the means of heating some twenty-five cities in the United <strong>State</strong>s by the centralsystem.Both the American Gentlemen remarked with emphasis upon the decided difference ofaccent in the utterances of the American and English spirits. I have noticed elsewhere this curiousfact ; it is good evidence of the genuineness of the proceedings. I do not pause to inquire which isthe purer English—that spoken in Ohio and Michigan, or that spoken in the south of England.Sufficient for me that it is widely different ; for the purpose I had in view it was highly significantand useful.A New Psychic in Toledo, Ohio.In Toledo, Ohio, there is a psychic, a young lady at the time of my visit nineteen years of age,in whose presence remarkable manifestations occur. Her name is Miss Ada Besinnet, and she isthe adopted daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Murray Moore, then living at 2617 Glenwood Avenue. Sofar she had only sat in private for her friends, and was in no sense a professional medium.Investigators may be roughly divided into two classes : first, those who believe a psychic tobe guilty of conscious or unconscious fraud, until they prove her to be innocent ; second, those whobelieve her to be innocent, until they detect her in fraud. Supposing other things to be equal—observation, acuteness, and so forth—it is the latter class that will arrive earlier at the truth ; fortheir mental attitude greatly assists the phenomena. When I reflect how ignorant the wisest are,how limited are our senses ; how, to begin with, we do not know the significance of more than oneeighthof the sun’s rays, I cannot understand the point of view of the former class. Miss Besinnetis just one of those psychics who will bring the two classes into fierce conflict. It is to be hopedthat through her mediumship many outstanding problems will be solved.I had the good fortune to sit with her twice ; the first time by the kind invitation of Mr. andMrs. Yaryan in their house, in company with seven of their relatives and friends ; the second timein her own home, when the only other sitter was Mrs Murray Moore. On both occasions theatmospheric conditions were fairly good.(65) First sitting, January 5, 1909—8.10 to 11.50 p.m. We sat in the dark round an oblongoak table that weighs from one hundred and fifty to one hundred and sixty pounds. Directly thelight was put out the psychic went into trance. <strong>The</strong> phenomena consisted of singing and whistlingin accompaniment to a graphophone ; playing of tambourine, triangle, and bells in accompanimentto a graphophone; voices through trumpet, touchings of hands and heads of sitters, violentmovements of the table, lashing the medium, and spirit lights.I sat on the medium’s right, and my left hand was either lashed to hers or resting upon it thewhole evening. Placed upon the table, before the séance began, were a long, soft piece of rope, atambourine, a tube or trumpet, a bell and triangle. <strong>The</strong> manifestations lagged at first, and it tookus the best part of an hour to find out that the control (“Dan”) was dissatisfied with thearrangements. Finally, we discovered, through Mrs. Moore, that he wanted the graphophonebrought close up to the table, which would effectively separate her from the psychic. This wasdone ; other small changes among the circle took place, and the real business of the eveningcommenced about 9 o’clock.

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