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

Chapter VII.99THE BANGS SISTERS AT CHICAGOReason for visiting the Bangs Sisters—Account by a Canadian gentleman—First interview withMay Bangs—She reads letter inside a closed envelope—Cleopatra appears to her clairvoyantevision—First precipitated picture—Picture is found on the further side of the canvas next to thesitter—The psychics receive messages from the spirits by taps on a hard surface—Precipitatedwriting found inside an envelope gummed, and sealed with wax—Seal not tampered with—MayBangs does not touch the letter or slates after they are bound together—Instances of passage ofmatter through matter—Profile of Iola—Close resemblance to photograph in my pocket—Use myown slates, rubber bands, and ink for letters—Citrate of Lithium mixed with the ink—Replieswritten with the same ink—Letter from a spirit purporting to be Cleopatra—Picture ofCleopatra—Various other letters and pictures—Letters under stretched frames, with ink in sight—Diminution of ink in the pot—Essence extracted from the ink—Dematerialisation of flowers—Onebottle of ink used up in the precipitation of one letter—Flowers transferred into a closedenvelope—Excitement and loss of self control of May Bangs—Pictures for backwoodsmen fromOregon—Much discussion with reference to phenomena that occur in presence of Bangs Sisters—Theory of fraud—Reasons why theory cannot be accepted—How the pictures are probablyproduced—Trials with Mr. William Marriot, the conjurer—Bangs not always successful.One of the principal reasons for my visiting the United States was to see a phenomenondescribed to me in the following letter, dated October 19, 1908, by a gentleman of considerableposition and influence in Canada :—Our next experience was at Chicago, with the Bangs Sisters, of whom we had heard bothgood and evil reports. We were, in consequence, specially on the alert. I will leave you to judgeof what we obtained there. We were told by friends who had visited them to write our questionsbefore going to the house, and place them, with a number of blank sheets of stamped or initialledpaper, inside an envelope gummed and sealed. This we did, using paper from a Toledo hotel thatwas decorated with a gilt monogram. We reached Chicago early on the following morning. Atnine o’clock we had found the Bangs residence, and secured an immediate séance, before thearrival of their numerous clients. We sat with Miss May Bangs. To this day she is ignorant ofour names or where we came from; nor had she any inkling of our visit or its purpose. Weaccompanied her, each in turn, into a comfortable little boudoir on the sunny side of the house,looking out on a bit of lawn ; the only window remained open. In the centre of the room was atable, four feet square, covered with a woollen cloth. The medium sat opposite to me, about a footor more from the table ; the only object on the table was an open inkstand. I said I had broughtwith me some questions in a sealed envelope, and hoped to obtain replies through her mediumship.She said, “We will try.” She then fetched a pair of hinged slated, the frames of which werecovered with dark cloth, gave them to me, and resumed her seat saying : “Place your letter betweenthe slates, close them, and secure them with these stout rubber bands ; lay the slates on the table, infront of you, and place both hands flat on top of them.”The medium’s instructions having been carried out, we engaged in general conversation.Three times she interrupted the talk to ask, “Is the name or place correctly spelt ?” (foreign namesmentioned in my questions), showing that some knowledge of what I had written was reaching her.If I assented, or made a slight correction, she would write on a pad resting on her knee ; thenresumed our conversation where it had dropped.About half-an-hour was thus spent, when three distinct raps were heard and felt by me,proceeding, apparently, from the centre of the table. Miss Bangs then said : “The séance is over ;you have obtained what you are to get ; you may open your envelope now or later.” I opened the