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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8db21ad --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #51743 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/51743) diff --git a/old/51743-8.txt b/old/51743-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 04d527d..0000000 --- a/old/51743-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4918 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's Is Spiritualism Based on Fraud?, by Joseph McCabe - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: Is Spiritualism Based on Fraud? - -Author: Joseph McCabe - -Release Date: April 12, 2016 [EBook #51743] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IS SPIRITUALISM BASED ON FRAUD? *** - - - - -Produced by deaurider, Martin Pettit and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - -IS SPIRITUALISM BASED ON FRAUD? - - -THE EVIDENCE GIVEN BY SIR A. C. DOYLE -AND OTHERS DRASTICALLY EXAMINED - - -BY - -JOSEPH McCABE - - -LONDON: -WATTS & CO., -17 JOHNSON'S COURT, FLEET STREET, E.C.4 - - - - -PREFACE - - -On March 11 of this year Sir Arthur Conan Doyle did me the honour of -debating the claims of Spiritualism with me before a vast and -distinguished audience at the Queen's Hall, London. My opponent had -insisted that I should open the debate; and, when it was pointed out -that the critic usually follows the exponent, he had indicated that I -had ample material to criticize in the statement of the case for -Spiritualism in his two published works. - -How conscientiously I addressed myself to that task, and with what -result, must be left to the reader of the published debate. Suffice it -to say that my distinguished opponent showed a remarkable disinclination -to linger over his own books, and wished to "broaden the issue." Since -the bulk of the time allotted to me in the debate was then already -spent, it was not possible to discuss satisfactorily the new evidences -adduced by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and not recorded in his books. I -hasten to repair the defect in this critical examination of every -variety of Spiritualistic phenomena. - -My book has a serious aim. The pen of even the dullest author--and I -trust I do not fall into that low category of delinquents--must grow -lively or sarcastic at times in the course of such a study as this. When -one finds Spiritualists gravely believing that a corpulent lady is -transferred by spirit hands, at the rate of sixty miles an hour, over -the chimney-pots of London, and through several solid walls, one cannot -be expected to refrain from smiling. When one contemplates a group of -scientific or professional men plumbing the secrets of the universe -through the mediumship of an astute peasant or a carpenter, or a lady of -less than doubtful virtue, one may be excused a little irony. When our -creators of super-detectives enthusiastically applaud things which were -fully exposed a generation ago, and affirm that, because they could not, -in pitch darkness, see any fraud, there _was_ no fraud, we cannot -maintain the gravity of philosophers. When we find this "new revelation" -heralded by a prodigious outbreak of fraud, and claiming as its most -solid foundations to-day a mass of demonstrable trickery and deceit, our -sense of humour is pardonably irritated. Nor are these a few exceptional -weeds in an otherwise fair garden. In its living literature to-day, in -its actual hold upon a large number of people in Europe and America, -Spiritualism rests to a very great extent on fraudulent representations. - -Here is my serious purpose. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle made two points -against me which pleased his anxious followers. One--which evoked a -thunder of applause--was that I was insensible of the consolation which -this new religion has brought to thousands of bereaved humans. I am as -conscious of that as he or any other Spiritualist is. It has, however, -nothing to do with the question whether Spiritualism is true or no, -which we were debating; or with the question to what extent Spiritualism -is based on fraud, which I now discuss. Far be it from me to slight the -finer or more tender emotions of the human heart. On the contrary, it is -in large part to the more general cultivation of this refinement and -delicacy of feeling that I look for the uplifting of our race. But let -us take things in order. Does any man think it is a matter of -indifference whether this ministry of consolation is based on fraud and -inspired by greed? It is inconceivable. - -And, indeed, the second point made by my opponent shows that I do not -misconceive him and his followers. It is that I exaggerate the quantity -of fraud in the movement. If they are right--if they have purified the -movement of the grosser frauds which so long disfigured it--they have -some ground to ask the critic to address himself to the substantial -truth rather than the occasional imposture. But this is a question of -fact; and to that question of fact the following pages are devoted. I -survey the various classes of Spiritualistic phenomena. I tell the -reader how materializations, levitations, raps, direct voices, apports, -spirit-photographs, lights and music in the dark, messages from the -dead, and so on, have actually and historically been engineered during -the last fifty years. This is, surely, useful. Spiritualism is in one of -its periodical phases of advance. Our generation knows nothing of the -experience of these things of an earlier generation. To teach one's -fellows the weird ingenuity, the sordid impostures, the grasping -trickery, which have accompanied Spiritualism since its birth in America -in 1848 can hurt only one class of men--impostors. - -J. M. - -_Easter, 1920._ - - - - -CONTENTS - -CHAP. PAGE - I. MEDIUMS: BLACK, WHITE, AND GREY 1 - - II. HOW GHOSTS ARE MADE 17 - - III. THE MYSTERY OF RAPS AND LEVITATIONS 42 - - IV. SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHS AND SPIRIT PICTURES 63 - - V. A CHAPTER OF GHOSTLY ACCOMPLISHMENTS 77 - - VI. THE SUBTLE ART OF CLAIRVOYANCE 93 - - VII. MESSAGES FROM THE SPIRIT-WORLD 109 - -VIII. AUTOMATIC WRITING 129 - - IX. GHOST-LAND AND ITS CITIZENS 147 - - - - -CHAPTER I - -MEDIUMS: BLACK, WHITE, AND GREY - - -Mediums are the priests of the Spiritualist religion. They are the -indispensable channels of communication with the other world. They have, -not by anointing, but by birthright, the magical character which fits -them alone to perform the miracles of the new revelation. From them -alone, and through them alone, can one learn the conditions under which -manifestations may be expected. Were they to form a union or go on -strike, the life of the new religion would be more completely suspended -than the life of any other religion. They control the entire output of -evidence. They guard the gates of the beyond. They are the priests of -the new religion. - -Now it will not be seriously disputed that during the last three -quarters of the century these mediums or priests have perpetrated more -fraud than was ever attributed to any priesthood before. A few weeks ago -Spiritualists held a meeting in commemoration of the "seventy-second -anniversary" of the birth of their religion. That takes us back to 1848, -the year in which Mrs. Fish, as I will tell later, astutely turned into -a profitable concern the power of her younger sisters to rap out -"spirit" communications with the joints of their toes. There have been -some quaint beginnings of religions, but the formation of that -fraudulent little American family-syndicate in 1848 is surely the -strangest that ever got "commemoration" in the annals of religion. And -from that day until ours there is hardly a single prominent medium who -has not been convicted of fraud. Any person who cares to run over Mr. -Podmore's history of the movement will see this. There is hardly a -medium named in the nineteenth century who does not eventually disappear -in an odour of sulphur. - -Podmore was one of the best-informed and most conscientious -non-Spiritualists who ever wrote on Spiritualism. If one prefers the -verdict of the French astronomer Flammarion, who believes that mediums -do possess abnormal powers and has studied them for nearly sixty years, -this is what he says:-- - - - It is the same with all mediums, male and female. I believe I have - had nearly all of them, from various parts of the world, at my - house during the last forty years. One may lay it down as a - principle that all professional mediums cheat, but they do not - cheat always.[1] - - -If you are inclined to think that this applies only to professional -mediums, whose need of money drives them into trickery, listen to this -further verdict, which M. Flammarion says he could support by "hundreds -of instances":-- - - - I have seen unpaid mediums, men and women of the world, cheat - without the least scruple, out of sheer vanity, or from a still - less creditable motive--the love of deceiving. Spiritualist séances - have led to very useful and pleasant acquaintanceships, and to more - than one marriage. You must distrust both classes [paid and - unpaid].[2] - - -Listen to the verdict of another man who believes in the powers of -mediums, and who has studied them enthusiastically for thirty years, a -medical man with means and leisure--Baron von Schrenck-Notzing[3]:-- - - - It is indisputable that nearly every professional medium (and many - private mediums) does part of his performances by fraud.... - Conscious and unconscious fraud plays an immense part in this - field.... The entire method of the Spiritualist education of - mediums, with its ballast of unnecessary ideas, leads directly to - the facilitation of fraud. - - -If this is not enough, take another gentleman, Mr. Hereward Carrington, -who has studied mediums for two decades in various parts of the world, -and who also believes that they have genuine abnormal powers:-- - - - Ninety-eight per cent. of the [physical] phenomena are - fraudulent.[4] - - -These are not men who have dismissed the phenomena as "all rot." They -believe in the reality of materializations or levitations. They are not -men who have been recently converted, in an emotional mood. They have -spent whole decades in the patient study of mediums. I could quote a -dozen more witnesses of that type; but the reader will be able to judge -for himself presently. - -Some Spiritualists try to tone down this very grave blot on their -religion by distinguishing between the professional medium and the -unpaid. The men I have quoted warn us against this distinction. It is -quite absurd to think that money is the only incentive to cheat. The -history of the movement swarms with exposures of unpaid as well as paid -mediums. An unpaid medium who can display "wonderful powers" becomes at -once a centre of most flattering interest; and we shall see dozens of -cases of this vanity leading men and women of every social position into -fraud and misrepresentation, even in quite recent times. All that one -can say is that there is far less fraud among unpaid mediums. But there -are far less striking phenomena among unpaid mediums, as a rule, and so -this helps us very little. The "evidence" afforded by mediums like Mr. -Vale Owen, and the myriads of quite recent automatic writers and -artists, is absolutely worthless. What they do is too obviously human. - -We must remember, also, that the distinction between "paid" and "unpaid" -is not quite so plain as some think. Daniel Dunglas Home is always -described by Spiritualists as an unpaid medium, but I will show -presently that he lived in great comfort all his life on the strength of -his Spiritualist powers. Florence Cook, Sir William Crookes's famous -medium, is described as "unpaid," because she did not (at that time) -charge sitters; but she had a large annual allowance from a wealthy -Spiritualist precisely in order that she should not charge at the door. -To take a living medium, and one very strongly recommended to us by Sir -Arthur Conan Doyle under the name of "Eva C." (though it has been openly -acknowledged by her patrons on the continent for six years that her name -is Marthe Beraud): she has lived a luxurious life with people far above -her own station in life for fifteen years, in virtue of her supposed -abnormal powers. - -The distinction is, in any case, useless. When Spiritualists try to -conciliate us to their wonderful stories by telling us that the medium -was "unpaid," they do not know the history of their own movement. The -most extraordinary frauds have been perpetrated, even in recent years, -by unpaid mediums, or ladies of good social position. Flammarion, -Maxwell, Ochorowicz, Carrington, and all other experienced investigators -give hundreds of cases. Not many years ago Professor Reichel, tired of -examining and exposing professional mediums, heard that the daughter of -a high official in Costa Rica was producing wonderful materializations. -He actually went to Costa Rica to study her, and he found that she was -tricking (dressing a servant girl as a ghost) in the crudest fashion, as -I will tell later. The daughter of an Italian chemist, Linda Gazerra -cheated scientific and professional men for three years (1908-11), but -was at last found to conceal her "ghosts" and "apports" in her false -hair and her underclothing. There is no such thing as a guarantee -against fraud in the character of the medium. Every case has to be -examined with unsparing rigour. - -Sir Arthur Conan Doyle meets the difficulty by cheerfully distinguishing -between white, black, and grey mediums: the entirely honest, the -entirely fraudulent, and those who have genuine powers, but cheat at -times when their powers flag and the sitters are impatient for -"manifestations." It is a familiar distinction. To some extent it is a -sound distinction. We all admit black mediums. The chronicle of -Spiritualism, short as it is, contains as sorry a collection of rogues, -male and female, as any human movement _could_ show in seventy years. -Politics is spotless by comparison. Even business can hold up its head. -For a "religion" the situation is remarkable. - -Next, we all admit white mediums. We all know those myriads of innocent -folk, tender maidens and nervous spinsters, neuropathic clergymen and -even quite sober-looking professional men, who bring us reams and rivers -of inspiration through the planchette and the _ouija_ board and the -crystal and automatic writing. Bless them, they are as guileless, -generally, as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself. I have seen them--seen men -and women of such social standing that one dare not breathe a -suspicion--stoop to trickery more than once in order to get -communications of "evidential value." But there are tens of thousands of -amateur mediums of this kind who are as honest as any of us. We all -admit it. It is sheer Spiritualistic nonsense to say that we dismiss the -whole movement as fraud. We do not question for a moment the honesty of -these myriads of amateur mediums. What we say is that the evidential -value of _their_ work would not convert a Kaffir to Spiritualism. Dr. J. -Maxwell, a distinguished French lawyer and doctor, who has been a close -investigator of these things for decades and believes in mediumistic -powers, says:-- - - - I share M. Janet's opinion concerning the majority of Spiritualist - mediums. I have only found two interesting ones among them; the - hundred others whom I have observed have only given me automatic - phenomena, more or less conscious; nearly all were the puppets of - their imagination.[5] - - -No, Spiritualism does not rely at all on these innocent and useless -productions. Invariably, your Spiritualist opponent turns sooner or -later to the big, striking things, the "physical phenomena," the work of -the "powerful" mediums. - -Now, which of these were ever "white"? Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, when he -came to this important point, named four "snow-white" mediums. He -_could_, he added, name "ten or twelve living mediums"; but since he did -not, we still hunger for the names. The four spotless ones were Home, -Stainton Moses, Mrs. Piper, and Mrs. Everett--not a great record for -seventy years (since Home began in 1852). Mrs. Piper we will discuss -later, but I may say at once that a man for whom Sir Arthur has a great -respect as a psychic expert, Dr. Maxwell, speaks of Mrs. Piper's -"inaccuracies and falsehoods" with great disdain. Who Mrs. Ever_e_tt may -be I do not know. If Sir Arthur means the Mrs. Ever_i_tt of forty years -ago, I insist on transferring her to the flock of the _black_ sheep. In -later chapters we will examine the performances of Stainton Moses and -Home, and probably the reader will agree with me that these snow-white -lambs were two of the arch-impostors of the Spiritualist movement. But a -word of general interest may be inserted here. - -The snow-white Daniel, whom Sir W. Barrett and Sir A. C. Doyle and all -other Spiritualists quote as one of the pillars of the movement, as a -spotless worker of the most prodigious miracles, was quite the most -successful and cynical adventurer in the history of Spiritualism. He was -no "paid adventurer," says Sir A. C. Doyle in his _New Revelation_ (p. -28), but "the nephew of the Earl of Home." To the general public that -statement suggests a cultivated and refined member of the British -aristocracy, above all suspicion of fraud. It is the precise opposite of -the truth. Even Daniel himself never pretended that he was more than a -son of a bastard son of the Earl of Home. He appears first as a -penniless adventurer in America at the age of fifteen, and he lived on -his Spiritualistic wits until he died. He married a wealthy Russian lady -in virtue of his pretensions, and his second marriage was based on the -same pretensions. It is true that he did not charge so much a sitter. He -had a more profitable way. He lived--apart from his wives and a few -lectures (supported by his followers)--on the generosity of his dupes -all his life. - -In the Debate Sir A. C. Doyle tried to defend him against one grave -charge I brought against the white lamb. In 1866 a wealthy London widow, -Mrs. Lyon, asked Daniel to get her into touch with her dead husband. The -gifted medium did so at once, of course. For this he received a fee of -thirty pounds, nominally as a subscription to the Spiritual Athenæum, of -which he was paid secretary. Daniel stuck to the lady, and got immense -sums of money from her; and a London court of justice compelled him to -return the lot. - -Now, Sir A. C. Doyle, who said several times in the Debate that _I_ did -not know what I was talking about, while _he_ had read "the literature -of my opponents as well as my own," asserts: "I have read the case very -carefully, and I believe that Home behaved in a perfectly natural and -honourable manner." He quotes Mr. Clodd (who has, apparently, been -misled by Podmore's too lenient account of the case), but I prefer to -deal with Sir Arthur's own assurance that he has "read the case very -carefully." - -It was on in London, under Vice-Chancellor Gifford, from April 21 to May -1, 1868. Sir A. C. Doyle seems to regard Mrs. Lyon's affidavit as -waste-paper. She swears that Home brought a fictitious message from her -dead husband, ordering her to adopt Daniel and endow him, and she gave -him at once £26,000. She swears that, when Home's birthday came round, -another fictitious message ordered her to give Daniel a further fat -cheque, and she gave him £6,798. Sir A. C. Doyle may set aside all this -as "lies," because he is determined to have at least one snow-white -medium in the nineteenth century, and his cause cannot afford to lose -Home's miracles. But when he and other writers say that Home was -acquitted of dishonourable conduct, they are, if they have read -Gifford's decree, saying the exact opposite of the truth. It is enough -to mention that Vice-Chancellor Gifford decided that "the gifts and -deeds are _fraudulent_ and void," and he added:-- - - - The system [Spiritualism], as presented by the evidence, is - mischievous nonsense--well calculated on the one hand to delude the - vain, the weak, the foolish, and the superstitious; and on the - other to assist the projects of _the needy and the adventurer_. - Beyond all doubt there is plain law enough and plain sense enough - to forbid and prevent the retention of _acquisitions such as these_ - by any medium, whether with or without a strange gift. - - -That is the official judgment which Spiritualists constantly represent -as acquitting Home of fraud! This man, scornfully lashed as a greedy -impostor from the British Bench, is the snow-white medium recommended to -the public by Sir A. C. Doyle, Sir W. Barrett, Sir W. Crookes, and Sir -O. Lodge. Sir Arthur adds in his _Vital Message_ (p. 55) that "the -genuineness of his psychic powers has never been seriously questioned." -That statement is hardly less astounding. Home's performances, which we -will examine in the third chapter, were regarded by the overwhelming -majority of the cultivated people of his time as trickery of the most -sordid description from beginning to end. Has Sir A. C. Doyle never -heard of Browning's "Sludge"? It expressed the opinion of nearly all -London. - -As to Stainton Moses, the other lamb, an ex-minister who ran Home close -in sleight-of-hand and foot (in the dark), it is enough to say, with -Carrington, that "no test conditions were ever allowed to be imposed -upon this medium." Spiritualists ought to quote that whenever they quote -the miracles of Stainton Moses. His tricks were always performed--in -very bad light (if any)--before a few chosen friends, who had not the -least inclination to look for fraud. Home was never exposed, though he -was once caught, because he chose his sitters. But Stainton Moses chose -a far more exclusive circle of sitters, and never once had a critical -eye on him. We shall see that the tricks themselves brand him as a -fraud. He was not exposed; but it was the sitters who were lambs, not -Stainton Moses. - -Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in effect, recommends two further mediums as -snow-white. One is Kathleen Goligher, of Belfast, whose performances -shall speak for her in our third chapter. The other is "Eva C.," whose -miracles will be examined in the second chapter. We shall see that she -was detected cheating over and over again. At the present juncture, -however, I would make only a few general remarks about this living -"lamb." - -In a work which was published in 1914--in German by Baron von -Schrenck-Notzing, and in French by Mme. Bisson (they are not two -distinct books, as Sir A. C. Doyle says)--there are 150 photographs of -"materializations" with this medium. We shall see that they tell their -own story of crude imposture. In the introductory part of his book Baron -Schrenck describes the character of the lady (pp. 51-4). He says, -politely, that she has "moral sentiments only in the ego-centric sense" -(that is to say, none); that she "behaves improperly to herself"; that -she "lost her virginity before she was twenty"; and that she has "a -lively, erotic imagination" and an "exaggerated idea of her charms and -her influence on the male sex." That is bad enough for a snow-white -Vestal Virgin, a sacred portal of the new revelation. But worse was to -follow; and it was evident to me during the Debate that, while Sir A. C. -Doyle twitted me with knowing nothing about these matters, he was -himself quite ignorant of the developments of this case six years -before. The young woman's real name, Marthe Beraud, had been concealed -by Baron Schrenck, and her age mis-stated by six years, for a very good -reason--she is the "Marthe B." who was recommended to us in 1905 as a -wonderful medium by Sir Oliver Lodge, and who was detected and exposed -(in Algiers) in 1907! Baron Schrenck was forced to acknowledge her real -age and name in 1914. - -Where, then, are the snow-whites? Does Sir A. C. Doyle want us to go -back to the pure early days of the movement? Take the Foxes, who began -the movement. In 1888 Margaretta Fox, who had married Captain Kane, the -Arctic explorer, and had been brought to some sense of her misconduct by -him, confessed (in the _New York Herald_, September 24) that the -movement was from the start a gross fraud, engineered for profit by her -elder sister, and that the whole Spiritualist movement of America was -steeped in fraud and immorality. - -Perhaps Sir A. C. Doyle would plead that this appalling outburst of -fraud, which poured over America from 1848 to 1888, was only the -occasion of the appearance of genuine mediums. Well, who are they? Take -the mediums who founded Spiritualism in England from 1852 onward. Was -Foster white? As early as 1863 the Spiritualist Judge, Edmonds, learned -"sickening details of his criminality." Was Colchester, who was detected -and exposed, white? What was the colour of the Holmes family, whose -darling spirit-control, "Katie King," got so much jewellery from poor -old R. D. Owen before she was found out? Are we to see no spots on the -egregious "Dr." Monck, who pretended that he was taken from his bed in -Bristol and put to bed in Swindon by spirit hands? Or in corpulent Mrs. -Guppy (an amateur who duped A. Russel Wallace for years), who swore that -she had been snatched from her table in her home at Ball's Pond, taken -across London (and through several solid walls) for three miles at sixty -miles an hour, and deposited on the table in a locked room? Was Charles -Williams white? He was, with Rita, detected by Spiritualists at -Amsterdam in 1878 with a whole ghost-making apparatus in his possession. -Were Bastian and Taylor white? They were similarly exposed at Arnheim in -1874. Was Florence Cook, the pupil of Herne (the transporter of Mrs. -Guppy at sixty miles an hour) and bewitcher of Sir W. Crookes, white? We -shall soon see. Was her friend and contemporary ghost-producer, Miss -Showers, never exposed? Or does Sir A. C. Doyle want us to believe in -Morse, or Eglinton, or Slade, or the Davenport brothers, or Mrs. Fay, -or Miss Davenport, or Duguid, or Fowler, or Hudson, or Miss Wood, or -Mme. Blavatsky? - -These are not a few black sheep picked out of a troop of snowy fleeces. -They are the great mediums of the first forty years of the movement. -They are the men and women who converted Russel Wallace, and Crookes, -and Robert Owen, and Judge Edmunds, and Vice-Admiral Moore, and all the -other celebrities. They are the mediums whose exploits filled the -columns of the _Spiritualist_, the _Medium and Daybreak_, and the -_Banner of Light_. Cut these and Home and Moses out of the chronicle, -and you have precious little left on which to found a religion. - -Spiritualists think that they lessen the reproach to some extent by the -"grey" theory. Some mediums have genuine powers, but a time comes when -the powers fail and, as the audience presses for a return on its money, -they resort to trickery. That is only another way of saying that a -medium is white until he is found out, which usually takes some years, -as the conditions (dictated by the mediums) are the best possible for -fraud and the worse possible for exposure. - -But Sir A. C. Doyle is not fortunate in his example. Indeed, nearly -every statement he made in his debate with me was inaccurate. Eusapia -Palladino was a typical "grey," he says. "One cannot read her record," -he assures us, "without feeling that for the first fifteen years of her -mediumship she was quite honest." An amazing statement! Her whole career -as a public medium lasted little more than fifteen years, and she -tricked from the very beginning of it. In his _New Revelation_ Sir -Arthur assures the public that she "was at least twice convicted of very -clumsy and foolish fraud" (p. 46). - -Such statements are quite reckless. Eusapia Palladino tricked -habitually, on the confession of Morselli and Flammarion and her -greatest admirers, from the beginning of her public career. Eusapia -began her public career in 1888, but was little known until 1892. She -was exposed at Cambridge by the leading English Spiritualists in 1895, -only _three_ years after she had begun her performances on the great -European stage. Myers and Lodge reported that not one of her -performances (in 1895) was clearly genuine, and that her fraud was so -clever (Myers said) that it "must have needed long practice to bring it -to its present level of skill." Mr. Myers was quite right. She had -cheated from the start. Schiaparelli, the great Italian astronomer, -investigated her in 1892, and said that, as she refused all tests, he -remained agnostic. Antoniadi, the French astronomer, studied her at -Flammarion's house in 1898, and he found her performance "fraud from -beginning to end." Flammarion himself reports that she tried constantly -to get her hands free from control, and that she was caught lowering a -letter-scale by means of a hair. Thus her common tricks had begun as -early as 1898, 1895, and even 1892. - -"_Our_ hands are clean," Sir A. C. Doyle retorted to my charge of fraud. -That is precisely what they are not. Spiritualists have from the -beginning covered up fraud with the mantle of ingenious theories, like -this "grey" theory. Fifty years ago (1873) a Mr. Volckmann, a -Spiritualist, grasped "Katie King," the pretty ghost who had duped -Professor Crookes for months. He at once found that he had hold of the -medium, Florence Cook; but the other Spiritualists present tore him off, -and put out the feeble light; so Florence Cook continued for seven -years longer to dupe Spiritualists, until she was caught again in just -the same way in 1880. From the earliest days of materializations there -were such exposures, and the Spiritualists condoned everything. The -medium, they said, when the identity of ghost and medium was too solidly -proved, had acted the part of ghost unconsciously, in a state of trance. -The ghosts had economized, using the medium's body instead of making -one. Some even said that the ghost and medium coalesced again (to save -the medium's life!) when a wicked sceptic seized the phantom. Some said, -when gauzy stuff, such as any draper sells, or a curl of false hair, was -found in the cabinet, that the spirits had forgotten to "dematerialize" -it. Some laid the blame on "wicked spirits" who got snow-white mediums -into trouble. Some learnedly proved that thoughts of fraud in the mind -of sceptics present had telepathically influenced the entranced medium! - -These things are past, Sir A. C. Doyle may say. Not in the least. In the -decade before the War exposures were as frequent as in the palmy days of -the middle of the nineteenth century, and Spiritualist excuses were just -as bad. Craddock, the most famous materializing medium in England, who -had duped the most cultivated Spiritualists of London for years, was -caught and fined £10 and costs at London in 1906. Marthe Beraud, the -next sensation of the Spiritualist world, was caught in 1907, and had to -be transformed into "Eva C." Miller, the wonderful San Francisco maker -of ghosts, was exposed in France in 1908. Frau Abend, the marvel of -Berlin and the pet of the German Spiritualist aristocracy, was exposed -and arrested in 1909. Bailey, the pride of the Australian -Spiritualists, was unmasked in France in 1910. Ofelia Corralès, the next -nine days' wonder, passed among the black sheep in 1911; and Lucia -Sordi, the chief medium of Italy, was exposed in the same year. In 1912 -Linda Gazerra, the refined Italian lady who had duped scientific men and -the Spiritualist world for three years, came to the same inevitable end; -and Mrs. Ebba Wriedt, the famous American direct-voice medium, met her -disaster in Norway. In 1913 it was the turn of Carancini; in 1914 of -Marthe Beraud in her new incarnation, "Eva C." - -We will consider the trickery of these people in detail later. This mere -list of names, of more than national repute, gathered from one single -periodical (the German _Psychische Studien_), shows how the mischievous -readiness of Spiritualists to find excuses, and their equally -mischievous readiness to admit "phenomena" where real control is -impossible, make the movement as rich in impostors to-day as it was half -a century ago. It must be understood that behind each of these leading -mediums--men and women of international interest--are thousands of -obscurer men and women who cheat less cultivated and less critical folk, -and are never detected. It is therefore useless to divide mediums into -professional and amateur, or into black, white, and grey. You take a -very grave risk with every one of them. You need a close familiarity -with all the varieties of fraud, and these we will now carefully -examine. We will then consider more patiently and courteously what -phenomena remain in the Spiritualist world which are reasonably free -from the suspicion of fraud. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] _Les forces naturelles inconnues_ (1907), p. 18. - -[2] Same work, p. 213. - -[3] _Materialisations-phänomene_ (1914), pp. 22, 28, and 29. - -[4] _Personal Experiences in Spiritualism_ (1913), p. ix. - -[5] _Metapsychical Phenomena_ (1905), p. 46. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -HOW GHOSTS ARE MADE - - -The most thrilling expectation of every Spiritualist is to witness a -materialization. The wild ghost, the ghost in a state of nature, the -ghost which beckoned our grandmothers from their beds and waylaid our -grandfathers when they passed the graveyard on dark nights, has become a -mere legend. Hardly fifty years ago authentic ghost stories were as -common as blackberries. But the growth of education and the -establishment of exact inquiry into such matters have relegated all -these stories to the realm of imagination. According to the -Spiritualist, however, we have merely replaced the wild ghost by the -tame ghost, the domesticated ghost of the séance room. The clever -spirits of the other world, who could not when they were alive on earth -detach a single particle from a living body (except with a knife), are -now able to take a vast amount of material out of the medium's body and -build it up in the space of quarter or half an hour into a hand, a face, -or even a complete human body. This is the great feat of -materialization. - -Let me truthfully record that many of the better educated Spiritualists -fight shy of belief in this class of phenomena. They know that in the -history of the movement every single "materializing medium" has sooner -or later been convicted of fraud. They have, on reflection, seen that -the formation, in the course of half an hour, of even a human -hand--which is a marvellously compacted structure of millions of -cells--would be a feat of stupendous power and intelligence. They feel -that, if all the scientific men in the world cannot make a single living -cell, it is rather absurd to think that these spirit workers, whose -messages do not reflect a very high degree of intelligence, can make a -human face out of the slime or raw material of the medium's body in half -an hour, and put all the atoms back in their places in the medium's body -in another half hour. - -The faith of the great majority of Spiritualists is, of course, heroic -enough to overlook all these difficulties. Indeed, it is amazing to find -even students of science among them indifferent to the enormous -intrinsic improbability of a materialization. During the debate at the -Queen's Hall Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had on the table before him a work -which contained a hundred and fifty photographs of materializations. -Several of these represented full-sized human busts (sometimes with the -superfluous decoration of beards, spectacles, starched collars, ties, -and tie-pins). One of them represented a full-sized human form, dressed -in a bath robe. And Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a trained medical man, -assured the audience that he believed that these were real forms, -moulded out of the "ectoplasm" of the medium's body, in the space of -less than half an hour, by spiritual powers! Sir William Crookes -believed in materializations of a still more wonderful nature, as we -shall see. Dr. Russel Wallace believed implicitly in materializations. -Sir W. Barrett and Sir O. Lodge believe in materializations, since they -believe in the honesty of D. D. Home, who professed to materialize -hands. - -So we must not blame the ordinary Spiritualist if he knows nothing about -the tremendous internal difficulties of this class of phenomena, and -the consistent and appalling career of fraud of mediums in this respect. -Materialization is the crowning triumph of the medium, the most -convincing evidence of the new religion. It goes on to-day in darkened -rooms in London--done by men who have already been convicted in London -police-courts--and all parts of the world. Fraud follows fraud, yet the -believer hopes (and pays) on. _Some_ of the phenomena are genuine, he -says; that is to say, some of the tricks were not proved to be -fraudulent. Let us see how these things are done. - -The incomparable Daniel was the first, apparently, to open up this great -field of Spiritualist evidence. In the early fifties he began to exhibit -hands which the Spiritualists present were sure were not _his_ hands. -But we shall see how, even in our own day, Spiritualists easily take a -stuffed glove, a foot, or even a bit of muslin to be a hand, in the -weird light of the dark room; and we will not linger over this. - -The real creator of this important department of the movement was Mrs. -Underhill, the eldest of the three Fox sisters who founded Spiritualism. -I will tell the marvellous story of the three Foxes later, and will -anticipate here only to the extent of saying that Leah, the eldest -sister (Mrs. Fish, later Mrs. Underhill), was the organizing genius of -the movement. She was an expert in fraud and a woman of business. Until -her own sisters gave her away, forty years after the beginning of the -movement, she was never exposed; and even an exposure by her sister in -the public Press and on the public stage in New York made no difference -to her career. She was the Mme. Blavatsky, the Mrs. Eddy, of -Spiritualism. - -Leah began in 1869, every other branch of Spiritualist conjuring having -now been fully explored, to produce a ghost at her sittings. In the dark -a veiled and luminous female figure walked solemnly about the room, and -profoundly impressed the sitters. The mere fact of _walking_--ghosts -have to _glide_ nowadays--would tell a modern audience that the ghost -was the very solid medium; and the luminosity would have an aroma of -phosphorus to a modern nostril. But the Americans of 1869 were not very -critical. A few months later a wealthy New York banker, Livermore, lost -his wife, and the "hyenas"--as Sir A. C. Doyle calls mediums who prey on -the affections of the bereaved--hastened to relieve his grief and his -purse. For four hundred sittings, spread over a space of six years, -Katie Fox impersonated his dead wife. As Katie Fox confessed in 1888 -that Spiritualism was "all humbuggery--every bit of it," we need not -enter into a learned analysis of these sittings. - -English mediums were put on their mettle, and after a little practice in -private they announced that they had the same powers of materialization, -and it was unnecessary to bring over the Americans. Mrs. Guppy, the -pride of London Spiritualism, opened this new and rich vein. The story -of Mrs. Guppy need not be told here. It is enough that, while she was -still Miss Nichol, she was the chief medium to convert Dr. Russel -Wallace to Spiritualism; and that, on the other hand, she was the lady -who professed that she was aerially transported by spirits from Highbury -to Lamb's Conduit Street, and through several solid walls, in the space -of three minutes. Mrs. Guppy was above suspicion: first because she was -unpaid, and secondly because she exposed several fraudulent mediums. So -Mrs. Guppy set up her little peep-show in the first month of 1872, and -drew fashionable London. But the performance was rather tame. While Mrs. -Guppy sat in the cabinet, a little white face appeared, in the dim -moonlight, at an opening near the top of the cabinet. It did not speak, -as the New York ghosts did. Dolls do not speak. - -A few months later Herne and Williams, the professional friends of Mrs. -Guppy whose spirit-controls had wafted that very voluminous lady as -rapidly as a zeppelin across London, set up a more robust performance. -As they sat in the cabinet (unseen), spirit-forms emerged--dim, -luminous, but unmistakably alive--and moved about the room. It was the -first appearance in England of those famous spirits, John King, the -converted pirate, and Katie King, his daughter, who had been a great -attraction in America for several years. John's beard looked rather -theatrical, and his lamp smelt of phosphorus. But what would you? -Spirits have to use earthly chemicals; and they would find plenty of -phosphorus in the brain of Charlie Williams, not to speak of his -pockets, which were never searched. Again we may save ourselves the -trouble of a learned analysis of the phenomena by recalling that -Williams presently dissolved partnership with Herne, and entered into an -alliance with Rita; and that in 1878 the precious pair were seized -during a performance, and searched, at Amsterdam. Rita had a false -beard, six handkerchiefs, and a bottle of phosphorized oil. Williams had -the familiar false black beard and dirty drapery of "John King," and -bottles of phosphorized oil and scent. - -The Spiritualist reader here impatiently observes that I am merely -picking out a few little irregularities in the early days of the -movement. Far from it. I am scientifically studying the preparatory -stages of one of the classic manifestations of the movement: the -materializations of Florence Cook, which are vouched for by Sir W. -Crookes, Sir A. C. Doyle, and, apparently, all the leaders of the -movement. If the Spiritualist wishes, like other people, honestly to -understand "Katie King," he or she must read this part of the story -which I am giving, and which is generally omitted (though it may be read -in any history of the movement). - -Florence Cook was a pretty little Hackney girl of sixteen when Herne and -Williams began. She attended séances at their house in Lamb's Conduit -Street, and she was so impressed that she became a pupil of Herne. She -and her father seem to have understood each other very well, and she -very shortly began to give, to paying guests, materialization-séances in -their house at Hackney. Florence went one better than Mrs. Guppy and -Herne. There was a lamp in the room--at the far side of the room--and -you saw faces plainly at the opening in the cabinet. As her "power" -developed, the ghost began to leave the cabinet and walk about the room -and talk to the sitters. Florence remained bound with rope in the -cabinet while "Katie King" stalked abroad. You did not see her, it is -true, but you had her word for it. She was not bound by the -spectators--nor by herself, of course. She was bound by the spirits. A -rope was put on her lap, the curtains were drawn, and presently you -discovered Florrie, "securely" bound and in a trance, in the cabinet. -The curtains were drawn again when the ghost, in flowing white drapery, -walked the room. - -Meantime, and at a very early date, a Manchester Spiritualist named -Blackburn privately engaged to give Florrie an annual fee if she would -not take money at the door; so she became an "unpaid" and highly -respectable medium. Jewellery is, of course, not money, and Florrie -exacted jewellery (as the Spiritualist Volckmann found and said in the -London Press at the time, when he wanted to attend) from would-be -sitters through her father. It is said that she looked, in features, -remarkably like a Jewess. - -Her fame reached the ears of a brilliant young scientist, Professor W. -Crookes, and he invited her to materialize at his house. She soon laid -aside all dread of the scientific man. In three niggardly little -letters, which he never republished, Crookes described in 1874 the -wonderful things done at his house. While Florrie lay in an improvised -cabinet, or behind a curtain, the beautiful and romantic and quite -different maiden, Katie King, walked about his room. She played with -Crookes's children, and told them stories about her earthly life in -India long ago. She talked affably to his guests, and took his arm as -she walked. There was not the least doubt about her solidity. The wicked -sceptic who suggests that Katie King was a muslin doll or a streak of -light has certainly not read Crookes's letters. He felt her pulse, he -sounded her heart and lungs, he cut off a tress of her lovely auburn -hair, he took her in his arms, and he--well, he breaks off here and -simply asks us what any man would do in the circumstances? We assume -that he found that she had lips and warm breath like any other maiden. - -Florence Cook's opinion of scientific men would to-day be priceless. I -will say, on behalf of Sir W. Crookes, that he never obtruded this -sacred experience on the public. He "accidentally" destroyed all the -negatives and photographs he had taken of Katie King. He forbade -friends, to whom he had given copies, ever to publish them. The three -short letters he wrote to the _Spiritualist_ (February 6, April 3, and -June 5, 1874--I have, of course, read them) are now rare. He wrote them -out of chivalry, because a rival Spiritualist, Volckmann (who married -Mrs. Guppy), got admission to the Hackney sanctuary (by a present of -jewellery) and exposed Florence (December 9, 1873). He saw at once that -she was impersonating the spirit, and he seized it. Other Spiritualists -present, supporters of Florrie, tore him off, and turned out the lamp; -and five minutes later Florence was found, bound and peacefully -entranced, in her cabinet. In the hubbub that followed Professor Crookes -gave his modest testimonial to Florrie's virtue. Spiritualists generally -accepted her version, and she continued to make ghosts until 1880, when -Sir George Sitwell and Baron von Buch exposed her in precisely the same -way. - -No Spiritualist can quarrel with me for dwelling on this famous -materialization. It is supposed to be the mostly firmly authenticated in -the whole movement. Sir W. Crookes said, quite late in life, that he had -"nothing to retract"; and every Spiritualist who quotes his high -authority endorses the materialization of Katie King. The majority of -the public to-day will merely conclude that some scientific men are -worse witnesses on such matters than dockers, and that the disgust of -scientific men like Sir E. Ray Lankester and Sir Bryan Donkin has a -very solid foundation. Even at the time there were leading Spiritualists -like Sergeant Cox who regarded the affair with bewilderment and -suspected that all materializations were fraud. - -What can be said for Sir W. Crookes? He alleges that the medium and the -ghost were unmistakably different persons. Katie King was taller than -Florrie. But Florence Cook, like her contemporary, Miss Showers, was -seen to walk on tip-toe, and alter her stature, when she was the ghost. -Sir W. Crookes nowhere says that he took the elementary precaution of -measuring ghost and medium _with their dresses drawn up to their knees_. -He says that the lock of hair which Katie gave him as a memento was -auburn, and Florrie's hair was very dark brown. But we do not doubt that -on the _last occasion_ the ghost was _not_ Florence Cook. Other -differences he finds, in a dim light, are negligible. If the modern -Spiritualist really believes Sir W. Crookes, as he professes to do, he -must come to this ultra-miraculous conclusion: The spiritual powers in -this case did not merely take _some_ matter out of Florence Cook's body, -but they took more than the whole substance of it, because Crookes says -that Katie was taller and broader than Florrie! And, to cap this supreme -miracle, he on one occasion saw ghost and medium together, and -apparently Florrie was as solid as ever! The spirits had in this case -multiplied nine stone into eighteen or nineteen. - -After twenty years of religious controversy I am a patient man, but I -decline to argue with any one who doubts that Florrie Cook (four times -caught in fraud, and a pupil of Herne) impersonated the ghost. - -Mr. F. Podmore saw the photographs which Professor Crookes took. He -says that ghost and medium are the same person. Crookes himself was -nervous, in spite of Florrie's charms, and he begged to be allowed to -see ghost and medium plainly together. The artful Florence could not -manage that in his house. Once she let him look at her, lying on the -ground, but he saw no face or hands; and a bundle of clothes and a pair -of boots are not quite clearly a living person. He pressed again. -Florence--he tells us this very naively--borrowed his lamp (a bottle of -phosphorized oil) and tested its penetrating power, and then told him he -should see both ghost and medium in _her_ house. He went, and we are not -surprised that he saw them. - -If any Spiritualist of our time really doubts that on this occasion -there were _two_ girls, I invite him to read carefully Sir W. Crookes's -account of the famous farewell scene. Katie proclaimed that her mission -was over (she had converted a scientific man), and this was to be her -last appearance. Florrie (who was in a trance, of course) wept, vainly -implored her to visit this earth again, and sank, broken-hearted, to the -floor. Katie directed Crookes--who stood, mute, with his phosphorus lamp -in the middle of this pretty comedy--to see to Florrie, and, when he -turned round again, Katie King had vanished for ever. That is to say, -she had not been re-absorbed in the medium's body, as Spiritualist -theory demands, but had _gone in the opposite direction while his back -was turned_! - -Now there you have the most wonderful, classic, historic materialization -in the whole Spiritualist history. It is attested by a distinguished man -of science. It is endorsed by all the Spiritualist leaders of our time. -And it is piffle from beginning to end. The evidence would not justify a -man in drowning a mouse. The control was ridiculously inadequate. The -imposture was palpable. If Sir W. Crookes had taken the scientific -precaution of spreading a few tacks on the carpet, or waxing a bent pin -in the ghost's chair, he would have heard the Hackney dialect at its -richest. It was reserved for two Oxford undergraduates to show Sir W. -Crookes how to investigate ghosts. They seized "Marie," Florrie's next -spirit, in 1880; and they found they had in their arms the charming -Florence, in her _lingerie_. Crookes had never searched the ample black -velvet dress she used to wear. - -It is hardly worth while running over all the ghostly frauds since then, -but a word about Florrie's friend and contemporary, Miss Showers, will -be found instructive. Miss Showers was a really unpaid medium; though -she received a good deal in the way of jewellery and other presents from -admirers of her fair and aristocratic ghost, "Lenore Fitzwarren." She -was a general's daughter, and above suspicion. No one dreamed of -searching her. On one occasion she allowed Florence Cook to peep into -her cabinet; and Florence--hawks do not pick out hawks' eyes--assured -the public that she plainly saw Miss Showers and "Lenore," and even a -second ghost, simultaneously. But, alas for the fair Lenore! Sergeant -Cox, who was very sceptical, had Miss Showers at his country-house in -1874; and Miss Cox, a born daughter of Eve, tried to draw the curtain -and peep into the cabinet. Miss Showers fought for her curtain, and the -ghostly headdress fell off, and the game was up. - -This was only four months after the exposure of Florence Cook. The two -most certainly genuine and respectable mediums in England were unmasked -within four months. R. D. Owen's "Katie King" had been exposed in -America in the previous year, the last sad year of the old man's life. - -One by one the others followed. In spite of darkness, in spite of solemn -promises extracted from sitters not to break the circle or seize the -ghost, the materializers were all exposed. One man shot a ghost with -ink, and the ink was found on the medium. Stuart Cumberland squirted -cochineal on a ghost, and the medium could not wash it away. One -American with a gun had a shot at a ghost. At another place tin-tacks -were strewn on the floor, and the spirit's language was painful to hear. -In 1876 Eglinton was exposed by Mr. Colley; he had in his trunk the -beard and draperies of his ghost "Abdullah." In 1877 Miss Wood was -caught at Blackburn, and Dr. Monck was caught and sent to jail. In 1878 -Rita and Williams were caught, with all their tawdry ghost-properties, -at Amsterdam. Spiritualists were getting a little nervous, though as a -rule they accepted every excuse. The medium had acted "unconsciously," -or under the influence of evil spirits. Sir A. C. Doyle boasts that it -is Spiritualists who weed out frauds. On the contrary, they have shown a -very grave willingness to accept the flimsiest excuses and reinstate the -medium. Miss Wood was exposed, for instance, in 1877. They at once -admitted her defence, that she had been quite unconscious in -impersonating the ghost, and she went on. In 1882 a sceptical sitter -seized the "pretty little Indian girl" who came out of the cabinet while -Miss Wood was entranced in it; and the Indian girl-ghost was Miss Wood -walking on her knees, swathed in muslin. - -Ah, but this is ancient history, your Spiritualist friend says. Listen! -About fifteen years ago, when I was already making that inquiry into -Spiritualism which Spiritualists say I have never made, I was told by a -group of London Spiritualists, all cultivated men and women, that it was -useless to go the round of the mediums who advertised in _Light_, since -they were "all frauds." I was told that the one genuine medium in London -was a certain F. G. F. Craddock, who performed in a studio at the back -of Mr. Gambier Bolton's house. The minor phenomena I saw did not impress -me, and I asked to be allowed to see these wonderful materializations of -Mr. Craddock. Three ghosts--a nun, a clown, and a Pathan--walked the -room (successively) while Craddock sat (unseen) in a trance. I saw -pictures of these materialized forms, and was told that they were -accurate. But before I could get admission Craddock left, and he began -to hold sittings for his own profit at Pinner. And on March 18, 1906, -the "ghost" was seized, in the usual way, and found to be Craddock. On -June 20 (see the _Times_ of June 21) Craddock was fined ten pounds, and -five guineas cost, at Edgware Police Court, on the charge "that he, -being a rogue and a vagabond, did unlawfully use certain subtle craft, -means, or device, by palmistry or otherwise, to deceive the said Mark -Mayhew and others." He had been controlled as carelessly as F. Cook was -in 1874. He had smuggled in masks and drapery, and impersonated his -ghosts. - -After all, Sir A. C. Doyle may say, in his blunt way, this was 1906. I -do not know if he knows it--he seems to have an exceedingly limited -knowledge of his own movement--but _Craddock is giving -materialization-séances in or near London to-day_; and prominent -Spiritualists know it, and condone it, on the ground that _some_ of his -phenomena are genuine. - -The imposture has continued to flourish in all parts of the Spiritualist -world since 1906. In 1907 it was the turn of Marthe Beraud, of whom I -will say more presently. In 1908 exposure fell upon Miller, the most -famous of the American materializing mediums. Such was his repute that -the French Spiritualists invited him to Paris, and were delighted with -him. The figures which appeared while he sat _before_ the cabinet were -suspiciously like dolls, but there was no mistake about the "beautiful -girl" (in dull, red light) who came out, and offered her hand, when -Miller was (presumably) inside the cabinet. But when the spirits -announced that it was improper to strip and search him, and when they -said that, though he was an "unpaid" medium, they must make him a nice -little present before he went back to San Francisco, there was a chill -in the Spiritualist world. And when he produced the ghosts of Luther's -wife and Melanchthon, when they found bits of tulle and a perfumed cloth -in the cabinet after a séance, they sent Miller back to America without -his present. - -This fiasco, which agitated the Spiritualist world in the beginning of -1909, had not yet been forgotten when, in October of the same year, Frau -Anna Abend and her husband were arrested by the police at Berlin. Frau -Abend was the leading German medium. Strings of motor-cars stretched -before her door of an afternoon. For several years she and her husband -had duped and fascinated Berlin by their accurate knowledge of the dead -you wished to see. You heard on every side, what you hear on every side -in London to-day: "I was _quite_ unknown to the medium," and "She could -not _possibly_ know by natural means what the spirits told me." The -police thought otherwise. They found in her cabinet tulle enough to -drape six ghosts; and they found in her house quite a detective-bureau -of information about dead folk and possible sitters, and a secret -address to which she had the flowers sent which her spirits would -produce as "apports." The whole machinery of her information and -trickery was laid bare. Was she ruined? Not a bit of it. She and her -husband got off on technical grounds, and the Spiritualists showered -congratulations on them and set them up again.[6] - -In 1910 our Spiritualist journal, _Light_, which is so zealous to root -out fraud, announced that a really genuine materializing medium had -appeared in Costa Rica. It seemed a safe distance away, but Professor -Reichel, of France, had actually been to Costa Rica and found it a -flagrant imposture at the very time when _Light_ was confirming the -faith of English Spiritualists with the glorious news. - -Ofelia Corralès, the medium in question, was the daughter of a high -civic functionary of San José; an _unpaid_ medium, you notice. As soon -as Reichel arrived he found that the wonderful manifestation which the -Spiritualist journals of the world had announced was well known locally -to be a hoax. The ghost was a servant-girl, who was recognized by -everybody, smuggled in at the back door. Ofelia, under pressure, -admitted this. Her "spirit-control," she explained, could not -"materialize," so directed her to bring in this girl, who resembled her -"in the last incarnation but one." Sometimes her mother took the part, -and she was one night embraced by an ardent Costa Rican sitter. Reichel -assisted at some of her performances, but the girl declined to -materialize a ghost. What she did get was a chorus of ghostly voices in -the dark. It says something for the robustness of Professor Reichel's -psychic faith that, though the music was "rotten," though the whole -family was suspect and all the members of it were present, though he -caught the girl cheating and her "ghost" was an acknowledged imposture, -he believed that this music was a "genuine" phenomenon! He was not going -to make a journey to Costa Rica for nothing. - -To English Spiritualists this case ought to be particularly interesting, -because among the gentle Ofelia's admirers in San José was an -Englishman, Mr. Lindo, and it was he who sent the outrageous account to -_Light_. According to him--and he was present--they all saw Ofelia -floating in the air. Now, Reichel had taken with him some phosphorized -paper, and by the light of this he saw that Ofelia was standing on a -stool. In fact, she fell off the stool, and was ignominiously exposed. -What is worse, Reichel says (_Psychische Studien_, April, 1911, p. 224) -that he had expressly warned Lindo, who used his name, that he "would -not be mixed up with such a burlesque," and that the minutes of the -sittings were grossly exaggerated by Ofelia's father. So much for -first-hand Spiritualist testimony in _Light_. The French _Annales des -Sciences Psychiques_ gave an equally false account. The German -_Psychische Studien_ alone called it "a conglomerate of stupidity and -lies." It certainly was; but when the whole truth was known _Light_ -mildly described it as "a girlish prank." It was calculated and -shameless fraud. - -A few months later it was the turn of Lucia Sordi, a famous Italian -medium, a young married woman of the peasant class, assisted by her two -girls. Her marvels put Eusapia Palladino in the shade. The guests were -not merely touched, but bitten! A man's hat was brought from the hall -and put on his head. The cat was brought in through the solid walls. The -table was not merely lifted up, but carried into the hall. Professor -Tanfani and other scientific men were taken in. Four "materialized -spirits" seemed to be in the room at once, while Lucia was bound to her -chair. They fastened her in a crate, and it made little difference. In -1911 Baron von Schrenck-Notzing went to Rome and exposed her. She could -get out of any bandages. But when the War broke out she was still -occupying the leisure hours of certain Italian professors. - -Meantime, Dr. Imoda, of Turin, university teacher of science, was -investigating the marvels of Linda Gazerra. Linda was not exactly an -unpaid medium, but she was the cultivated daughter of a professional -man. Being a lady and a good Catholic, she could not, of course, be -stripped and searched. So she did wonderful things, which Imoda gravely -watched and described and photographed for three years. Her "control" -was "Vincenzo," a young officer who had been killed in a duel; and a -terrible chap he was to choose so respectable and pious a medium. Things -simply flew about when he was at work. At other times she "apported" -birds and flowers, and the ghosts that materialized beside her--you -could plainly see both her and the ghost--were very pretty, though -remarkably flat-faced, and fond of muslin. As Linda's hands were -controlled by the sitters, it did not matter that she insisted on -absolute darkness until she pleased to say "Foco" ("Light") and let you -take a photograph. She had a three years' run. Then Schrenck-Notzing -studied her at Paris in the spring of 1911. She treated him to a -"witches' Sabbath," he says. But he soon found that her feet were not -where a lady ought to keep her feet. He felt a spirit-touch, grasped the -touching limb, and found that he had the virtuous Linda's foot. Then he -sewed her in a sack, and the spirits were powerless. Her -materializations and tricks were simple. She brought her birds and -flowers and muslin and masks (or pictures) in her hair (which was -largely false, and never examined) and her underclothing, and she, by a -common trick, released her hands and feet from control to manipulate -them. - -This Baron Schrenck, you think, was a terrible fellow at exposures. -Unhappily, our last instance must be the exposure of his own medium, Eva -C. This will fitly crown the chapter for two reasons. First, because Sir -A. C. Doyle recommends her to us as a genuine materializing medium of -our own times. He says in the Debate that, while Spiritualists have been -much "derided" for claiming that spirits build up temporary forms out of -the medium's body, "recent scientific investigation shows that their -assertion was absolutely true. (Cheers.)" I quote the printed Debate (p. -32), and it will be recognized that here at least I am not shirking my -opponent's strongest evidence, for Sir A. C. Doyle at once explains -that he means the case of Eva C. He gave his own (quite inaccurate) -version of the facts, and, to the delight of his supporters, he went -on:-- - - - Don't you think it is simply the insanity of incredulity to waive - that aside? Imagine discussing what happened in 1866 ... when you - have scientific facts of this sort remaining unanswered. - - -So, you see, I was very heavily punished in that contest, and I have to -try to redeem my "insanity"; but perhaps the reader will remember what -Sir A. C. Doyle forgot, that he had stipulated that I should open the -debate and _deal with his books_. No doubt I was quite free to take -other evidence also, but I had an idea that, since this evidence was -published in 1914 and Sir Arthur's books were published in 1918 and -1919, he had not mentioned it because he disdained it. - -The other reason why the case of Eva C. is important is because it shows -us modern scientific men at work. In the earlier days of the movement -faking was easy. No one searched a medium, especially a lady medium. She -could have yards of butter-cloth or muslin and even dolls or masks under -her skirts. Even now the ordinary medium is not searched, as a rule. A -friend of mine went recently to a materializing medium near London--it -is all going on still--and was allowed to feel the medium over his -clothes. He could easily tell that the man had yards of muslin wrapped -round his body, but he said nothing, and he got his money's worth; a man -dressed in muslin, in a bad light, being recognized by Spiritualists as -a deceased relative. Most materializations are still the medium in a -mask or beard and muslin. In some cases, in very poor light, the ghost -is merely a white rag, a picture, or even a faint patch of light from a -lantern, or a phosphorized streak. - -Now we come to the "scientific facts." Half the professors and other -scientific men quoted as adherents by modern Spiritualist writers and -speakers are not Spiritualists at all. Flammarion, Ochorowicz, Foa, -Bottazzi, Richet, de Vesme, Schrenck-Notzing, Morselli, Flournoy, -Maxwell, Ostwald, etc., are not, and never were, Spiritualists. Most of -them regard Spiritualism as childish and mischievous. But they believe -that mediums have remarkable psychic powers, and they admit levitations -and (in many cases) materializations. They think that a mysterious force -of the living medium, not spirits, does these things, and they talk of a -"new science." I agree with them that the idea of spirits strolling -along from the Elysian fields to play banjoes and lift tables and make -ghosts for us is rather peculiar, but I am not sure that _their_ idea is -much less peculiar. However, they promise us research under scientific -conditions, and they say that they have got materializations under such -conditions. "Eva C." is the grand example. - -Who is this mysterious lady? I have already let the reader into the -secret. Sir A. C. Doyle may justly plead that he does not read German; -and the French version of her exploits is, he may be surprised to hear, -very different from Baron Schrenck's fuller version in German, and very -wrong and misleading. But does Sir Arthur never read the _Proceedings of -the Society for Psychical Research_? - -As long ago as July, 1914, it contained a very good article on Marthe -Beraud, which tells most of the facts (except about her morals), and -quite openly disdains these wonderful photographs which have made such -an impression on Sir A. C. Doyle. From that article, which betrays, in -the official organ of the Society, almost the same "insanity of -incredulity" as I did, he would have learned things that might have -saved him from the worst "howler" of the Debate. It tells that "Eva C.," -as was well known all over the continent in 1914, was Marthe Beraud, the -medium of the "Villa Carmen materializations" in Algiers in 1905. It -gives a lengthy report on the case by an Algiers lawyer, M. Marsault, -who knew the family at the Villa Carmen intimately, and often saw the -performances; and this report contains an explicit confession by Marthe -that she had no abnormal powers whatever. To excuse herself she said -that there was a trap-door in the room, and "ghosts" were introduced by -others. That was a lie, for there was no trap-door; and those who -obstinately wished to believe in the ghosts rejected the whole of -Marsault's weighty evidence on the ground that _he_ said there was a -trap-door! - -I have before me photographs of the Algiers ghost and of Eva C.'s ghost. -They plainly show Marthe dressed up as a ghost, in the familiar old way, -while Professor Richet gravely photographs her, and Sir Oliver Lodge -recommends these things to our serious notice. However, Marthe found -Algiers unhealthy after this, and she returned to France and set up in -the materializing trade. Mme. Bisson found her and adopted her, and -changed her name; and Baron von Schrenck-Notzing settled down to a three -years' study of her marvellous performances. It was on the strength of -his book and photographs that Miss Verrall in 1914 (in the _Proceedings -S. P. R._) gave a verdict not much different from my own. She found -some evidence of abnormal power, and a great deal of fraud. I see no -evidence whatever of abnormal _psychic_ power if--it is not clear--this -is what Miss Verrall means. Yet Sir A. C. Doyle, who seems to know -nothing about the matter beyond Mme. Bisson's worthless work, puts the -facts before a London audience in the year 1920 in the language I have -quoted. - -In the beginning Marthe plainly impersonated the ghost, as Baron -Schrenck admits. He believes that she did it unconsciously. The sooner -that excuse for fraudulent mediums is abandoned the better. She was -quite obviously _not_ in a trance, though she pretended to be, -throughout the whole three years. For smaller "ghosts" (white patches, -streaks, arms, etc.) she used muslin, gloves, rubber--all sorts of -things. As a rule, she knew when they were going to let off the -magnesium-flare and photograph her. She had had ample time behind the -curtain to arrange her effects. In one photograph, taken too suddenly, -she has a white rag on her knee, which would look like a hand in the red -light, and her real hand is holding the "ghost" over her head! After -that Baron Schrenck sadly admitted that she used her hands. Mme. Bisson -does not; so Sir Arthur does not know this. In another photograph she is -supposed to accept a cigarette in a materialized third hand. It is -obviously her bare foot, and, if you look closely, you see that her -"face" is a piece of white stuff pinned to the curtain. She is really -leaning back and stretching up her foot. The book reeks with cheating. - -After a time she began to stick or paste on the cabinet or the curtain -pictures cut out of the current illustrated papers, and daubed with -paint, provided with false noses, or adorned with beards and moustaches. -President Wilson has a heavy cavalry moustache and a black eye; but the -glasses, collar, tie, and tie-pin, and even the marks of the scissors, -are unmistakable. Baron Schrenck was forced to admit that dozens of -pinholes were found (not by him) on the cabinet-wall, and that the pins -must have been smuggled in, deceptively, in spite of a control which he -claimed to be perfect. In fact, poor Baron Schrenck was driven from -concession to concession until his case was very limp. Of all these -things Sir A. C. Doyle knew nothing; and, although he had the portrait -of President Wilson in his hands at the Queen's Hall, only disguised by -a moustache and a few daubs of paint, he assured the audience he -believed that it was the ectoplasm of the medium's body moulded by -spirit forces into a human form! - -The point of interest to us is to find how the medium concealed her -trappings. No medium was ever more rigorously controlled, yet the fraud -is obvious. The answer shows that you can almost never be sure of your -medium. She was stripped naked before every sitting and _sewn_ into -black tights. Her mouth and hair were always examined. Occasionally her -sex-cavity was examined. South African detectives have told me how this -receptacle is used for smuggling diamonds, and, as Marthe was rarely -examined there by a competent and reliable witness, she probably often -used it. Dr. Schrenck admits that the outlet of her intestinal tube was -scarcely ever examined until very late in the inquiry, and an -independent doctor gave positive reason to suspect that she used this. -There is only one photograph in the book that shows a ghost which, -tightly wrapped up (and nearly all show plain marks of folding, as Baron -Schrenck admits), might be too large for such concealment; and the -careful reader will find that on these occasions there was no control at -all! They were impromptu sittings, suddenly decided upon by Marthe -herself. - -There is strong reason to believe that usually she swallowed her -material and brought it up at will from her gullet or stomach. More than -a hundred cases of this power are known, and there is much positive -evidence that Marthe was a "ruminant." She sometimes bled copiously from -the mouth and gullet, and she used the mouth much to manipulate the -gauzy stuff. When I mentioned this well-known theory of Marthe Beraud -Sir Arthur laughed. He said that he doubted if I had read the book I -professed to have read, because Marthe had a net sewn round her head, -which "disproved" my theory. He summoned me to retract. He said I had -"slipped up pretty badly." - -Well, the theory was not mine, but that of a doctor who had studied -Marthe, and who has little difficulty in dealing with the net. Had it -not been the end of the debate, however, our audience would have heard a -surprising reply. They would have learned that the net was used only in -_seven_ sittings out of hundreds, and that the medium then compelled -them to abandon it. They would have learned that the net, instead of -"not making the slightest difference to the experiments," as Sir A. C. -Doyle says, made _four_ out of these _seven_ sittings completely barren -of results! And they would have further learned that when the net was -on, and Marthe could not use her mouth, she stipulated that the back of -her clothing should be left open. - -Just one further detail of this sordid imposture. I said that on one -occasion Marthe allowed the very title of the paper out of which she cut -her portraits, _Le Miroir_, to appear in the photograph, and gave it a -spiritual meaning. Now, that is Mme. Bisson's version. But Baron -Schrenck's version is in flagrant contradiction, and an examination of -the photographs proves that he is right. The words were caught, -_accidentally_, by a camera placed in the cabinet, and the excuse was -concocted the next day! - -Enough of these miserable "materializations." They are always dishonest. -Every materializing medium has been found out. Almost since the birth of -the movement there have been, and are to-day, hundreds of these men and -women, paid and unpaid, who have masqueraded as ghosts, or duped their -sitters in a dull red light with muslin and butter-cloth and -phosphorized paper, with dolls and masks and stuffed gloves and -stockings and rubber arms. If Spiritualists would persuade us that they -are scrupulously honest, they must drive the last of these people out of -their fold, and they must expunge every reference to these -materializations from their literature. When we get such phenomena with -a medium who has been searched by competent and independent witnesses, -whose body-openings have been sealed and clothing changed, in a cabinet -set up by independent inquirers, with _each_ hand and foot controlled by -a separate man, or in a good light, we may begin to talk. Never yet has -the faintest suggestion of a phenomenon been secured under such -circumstances. - -FOOTNOTE: - -[6] I take this from the German psychic journal, _Psychische Studien_ -Nov., 1909. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -THE MYSTERY OF RAPS AND LEVITATIONS - - -I now pass at once to a class of Spiritualistic manifestations which -would be put forward by any well-educated occultist as the most -authentic of all. Reference was made a few pages back to a large group -of scientific and professional men who believe in what they call -"mediumistic phenomena." They are not Spiritualists, and it is one of -the questionable features of recent Spiritualist literature that they -are often described as such. Thus the astronomers Flammarion and -Schiaparelli are quoted. But Flammarion says repeatedly in his latest -and most important book (_Les forces naturelles inconnues_, 1907) that -he is not and never was a Spiritualist (see p. 581), and he includes a -long letter from Schiaparelli, who disavows all belief even in the -phenomena (p. 93). Professor Richet, who believes in materializations, -is not a Spiritualist. Professor Morselli, who also accepts the facts, -speaks of the Spiritualist interpretation of them as "childish, absurd, -and immoral." The long lists of scientific supporters which the -Spiritualists publish are in part careless or even dishonest. - -But such professors as Richet, Ochorowicz, de Vesme, Flournoy, etc., and -men like Flammarion, Carrington, Maxwell, etc., do believe that raps and -other physical phenomena are produced by abnormal powers of the medium. -They believe that when the medium sits in or before the cabinet, in -proper conditions, the floor and table are rapped, the furniture is -lifted or moved about, musical instruments are played, and impressions -are made in plaster, although the medium has not done it with his or her -hands or feet. As I said, these scientific men scorn the idea that -"spirits" from another world play these pranks. They look for unknown -natural forces in the medium. They _think_ that they have excluded -fraud. We shall see. Meantime, the assent of so many scientific men to -the phenomena themselves gives this class of experiences more -plausibility than others. - -Most of these men base their opinion upon the remarkable doings of the -Italian medium, Eusapia Palladino, and we shall therefore pay particular -attention to her. But Spiritualists rely for these things on a very -large number of mediums. In fact, some of our leading English -Spiritualists do not believe in Palladino at all, having detected her in -fraud. We must therefore first examine the evidence put before us by -Spiritualists. - -We begin with the story of the Fox family in America in 1848, which -admittedly inaugurated modern Spiritualism. Since Spiritualists -commemorate, in 1920, the "seventy-second" anniversary of the foundation -of their religion, I will surely not be accused of wasting time over -trivial or irrelevant matters in going back to 1848. As, however, this -is not a history, I must deal with this matter very briefly. - -In March, 1848, a Mr. and Mrs. Fox, of Hydesville, a very small town of -the State of New York, had their domestic peace disturbed by mysterious -and repeated rappings, apparently on their walls and floors. -Swedenborgians and Shakers had by that time familiarized people with the -idea of spirit, and the neighbours were presently informed that the raps -took an intelligent form, and replied "Yes" or "No" (by a given number -of raps) to questions. The Foxes stated that the raps came from the -spirit of a murdered man, and later they said that they had dug and -found human bones. These raps were clearly associated with the two -girls, Margaretta (aged fifteen) and Katie or Cathie (aged twelve). A -third, a married elder sister, named Leah--at that time Mrs. Fish, and -later Mrs. Underhill--came to Hydesville, and, at her return to -Rochester, took Margaretta with her. Leah herself was presently a -"medium." The excitement in rural America was intense. Mediums sprang up -on every side, and the Foxes were in such demand that they could soon -charge a dollar a sitter. The "spirits," having at last discovered a way -of communicating with the living, rapped out all sorts of messages to -the sitters. In a few years table-turning, table-tilting, levitation, -etc., were developed, but the "foundation of the religion" was as I have -described in 1848. - -Towards the close of 1850 three professors of Buffalo University formed -the theory that the Fox girls were simple frauds, causing the supposed -raps by cracking their knee joints. At a trial sitting they so placed -the legs and feet of the girls that no raps could be produced. A few -months later a relative, Mrs. Culver, made a public statement, which was -published in the _New York Herald_ (April 17, 1851), that Margaretta Fox -had admitted the fraud to her, and had shown her how it was done. -Neither of these checks had any appreciable effect upon the movement. -From year to year it found new developments, and it is said within three -years of its origin to have won more than a million adherents in the -United States, or more than five times as many as it has to-day. - -Our Spiritualists may find it possible, in their solemn commemoration of -1848, to smile at the Buffalo professors and Mrs. Culver, but I have yet -to meet a representative of theirs who can plausibly explain away what -happened in 1888. Margaretta Fox married Captain Kane, the Arctic -explorer, who often urged her to expose the fraud, as he believed it to -be. In 1888 she found courage to do so (_New York Herald_, September 24, -1888). She and Katie, she said, had discovered a power of making raps -with their toe-joints (not knee-joints), and had hoaxed Hydesville. -Their enterprising elder sister had learned their secret, and had -organized the very profitable business of spirit-rapping. The raps and -all other phenomena of the Spiritualist movement were, Mrs. Kane said, -fraud from beginning to end. She gave public demonstrations in New York -of the way it was done; and in October of the same year her younger -sister Cathie confirmed the statement, and said that Spiritualism was -"all humbuggery, every bit of it" (_Herald_, October 10 and 11, 1888). -They agreed that their sister Leah (Mrs. Underhill), the founder of the -Spiritualist movement and the most prosperous medium of its palmiest -days, was a monumental liar and a shameless organizer of every variety -of fraud. That a wealthy Spiritualist afterwards induced Cathie to go -back on this confession need not surprise us. - -So much for "St. Leah"--if she is yet canonized--and the foundation of -the Spiritualist religion in 1848. We need say little further about -raps. Dr. Maxwell, the French lawyer and medical student who belongs to -the scientific psychic school which I have noticed, gives six different -fraudulent ways of producing "spirit-raps." He has studied every variety -of medium, including girls about the age of the Fox girls, and found -fraud everywhere. In one case he discovered that the raps were -fraudulently produced by two young men among the sitters; and the normal -character of these men was so high that their conduct is beyond his -power of explanation. He has verified by many experiments that loud raps -may be produced by the knee- and toe-joints, and that even slowly -gliding the finger or boot along the leg of the table (or the cuff, -etc.) will, in a strained and darkened room, produce the noises. In the -dark, of course--Dr. Maxwell roundly says that any sitting in total -darkness is waste of time--cheating is easy. The released foot or hand, -or a concealed stick, will give striking manifestations. Some mediums -have electrical apparatus for the purpose. - -If any Spiritualist is still disposed to attach importance to raps, we -may at least ask for these manifestations under proper conditions. Since -spirits can rap on floors, or on the medium's chair, let the table be -abolished. It usually affords a very suspicious shade, especially in red -light, in the region of the medium. Let the medium be plainly isolated, -and bound in limb and joint, and let us then have these mysterious raps. -It has not yet been done. - -The same general objection may be premised when we approach the subject -of levitation and the moving of furniture generally. Levitation is a -more impressive word than "lifting," but the inexpert reader may take -it that the meaning is the same. The "spirits" manifest their presence -to the faithful, not by making the table or the medium "light," but by -lifting up it or him. It is unfortunate that here again the spirits seem -compelled by their very limited intelligence to choose a phenomenon -which not only looks rather like the pastime of a slightly deranged -Hottentot, but happens to coincide with just the kind of thing a -fraudulent medium would be disposed to do in a dim light. However, since -quite a number of learned men believe in these things, let us consider -them seriously. - -And, with the courage of honest inquirers, let us attack the strongest -manifestations of this power first. Such are the instances in which the -medium himself--spirits respect the proprieties and do not treat -lady-mediums in this way--is lifted from the ground and raised even as -high as the ceiling. When I say that ladies are not treated in this -frivolous way, the informed reader will gather at once that I decline to -take serious notice of the once famous levitation of Mrs. Guppy. Dr. -Russel Wallace was quite convinced that this lady was "levitated" on to -the table, in the dark, and she was no light weight. But we shall be -excused from examining his statement if we recall what the lady claimed -in 1871. Herne and Williams, both impostors, were giving a séance in -Lamb's Conduit Street, and their "spirit-controls" said they would -"apport" the weighty Mrs. Guppy. Three minutes later, although the doors -were locked, and her home was three miles away, she was standing on the -table. She had a wet pen in her hand, and she explained tearfully to the -innocent sitters that she had been snatched by invisible powers from her -books and taken through the solid walls. People like Russel Wallace -still believed in Mrs. Guppy, but I assume that there is no one to-day -who does not see in this case a blatant collusion of three rogues to -cheat the public. I assume that the same contempt will be meted out to -the claim of the Rev. Dr. Monck, who, not to be outdone, stated shortly -afterwards that _he_ had been similarly transported from Bristol to -Swindon. - -Probably the modern reader will be disposed to dismiss with equal -contempt the claim that Daniel Dunglas Home was, in the year 1869, -wafted by spirit-hands from one window to another, seventy feet above -the ground, at a house in Victoria Street. But here I must ask him to -pause. This is one of the classical manifestations, one of the -foundations of Spiritualism. Sir A. C. Doyle says that the evidence here -is excellent. Sir William Barrett maintains that the story is -indisputably true. Sir William Crookes says that "to reject the recorded -evidence on this subject is to reject all human testimony whatever." It -is a Spiritualist dogma. - -I have shown in the debate with Sir A. C. Doyle that this dogma is based -on evidence that will not stand five minutes' examination. Not one of -these leading Spiritualists can possibly have examined the evidence. No -witness even _claims_ to have seen Home wafted from window to window. -Lord Adare is the only survivor of the three supposed witnesses, and, -when he saw some Press report of my destructive criticism in the Debate, -he sent to the _Weekly Dispatch_ a letter that he had written at the -time. He seemed to think that this letter afforded new evidence. The -interested reader will be amused to find that this letter is precisely -the evidence I had quoted in the Debate, for it was published forty -years ago. - -No one professes to have seen Home carried from window to window. Home -told the three men who were present that he was going to be wafted, and -he thus set up a state of very nervous expectation. Sir W. Barrett, who -tells us that "nothing was said beforehand of what they might expect to -see," says precisely the opposite of the truth. Both Lord Crawford and -Lord Adare say that they were warned. Then Lord Crawford says that he -saw the shadow on the wall of Home entering the room horizontally; and -as the moon, by whose light he professes to have seen the shadow, was at -the most only three days old, his testimony is absolutely worthless. -Lord Adare claims only that he saw Home, in the dark, "standing upright -outside our window."[7] In the dark--it was an almost moonless December -night--one could not, as a matter of fact, say very positively whether -Home was outside or inside; but, in any case, he acknowledges that there -was a nineteen-inch window-sill outside the window, and Home could stand -on that. - -So there is not only not a shred of evidence that Home went from one -window to another, but the whole story suggests trickery. Home told them -what to expect, and he pretended, in the dark, that he was a "spirit" -whispering this to them. He noisily opened the window in the next room. -He came into their room, from the window-sill, laughing and saying (in -spite of the historic solemnity of the occasion!) that it would be funny -if a policeman had seen him in the air. When Lord Adare went into the -next room, and politely doubted if Home could have gone out by so small -an aperture, Home told him to stand some distance back, and then swung -himself out in a jaunty fashion, as a gymnast would. In fine, it is well -to remember that this was the same D. D. Home who had defrauded a widow -of £33,000, and had been, in the previous year (1868), branded in a -London court as a fraud and an adventurer. - -After this we need not linger long over the other "levitations" of Home, -or allow ourselves to be intimidated by the bluster of Sir A. C. Doyle -and Sir W. Barrett. Sir Arthur tells us that "there are altogether on -record some fifty or sixty cases of levitation on the part of Home"; -that "Professor Crookes saw Home levitated twice"; and that "as he -floated round the room he wrote his name above the pictures." It is a -pity that Sir A. C. Doyle does not tell people that Home did all these -wonderful things in the dark, and that in most cases the people present -merely had Home's word for it that he was "floating round the room." The -whole evidence for these things has been demolished so effectually by -Mr. Podmore in his _Newer Spiritualism_ (chs. i and ii) that I need say -little here. - -No reliable witness, giving us a precise account of the circumstances, -has ever claimed that he saw Home off the ground and clear of all -furniture. Sir W. Crookes says that he saw Home, in poor light, rise six -inches for a space of ten seconds. It is a poor instalment of miracle; -but I am obliged to add that Crookes was at the other side of the room, -and he confesses that he did not see Home's feet leave the ground! -Crookes says that on one occasion he was allowed to pass his hands -under Home's feet; but he tells this wonderful exploit twenty-three -years after the event (in 1894), and he does not give precise -indications where the hands were when he examined the feet. Mr. John -Jones saw Home rise in 1861; but he does not say that he saw Home's -hands, and he admits that his muscles were so taut that he calls them -"cataleptic." It is equally true that Home wrote his name above the -pictures; but no one had examined the spots before the séance, and no -one could see if he stood on anything to reach them during the séance, -as it was pitch dark. The only apparently good case is an occasion when -a sitter says that, in the dark, he saw Home's figure _completely_ cross -the rather lighter space of the window, feet first, and then cross it -again head first. But it happens that on this occasion there are two -witnesses, and the less rhetorical of the two expressly says that the -shadow on the blind was at first only "the feet and part of the legs," -and then (after Home had _announced_ that the spirits were turning him -round) only "the head and face." Any gymnast could do that. The whole of -these recorded miracles reek with evidence of charlatanry. The lights -were always put out, and Home in nearly all cases _said_ that he was -rising, and then _told_ them that he was floating about various parts of -the room. - -Still worse is the evidence for Home's occasional "elongation." The -picture of Sir W. Crookes gravely measuring the height of this brazen -impostor, as he alternately draws himself in and stretches out, is as -pathetic as the picture of him standing with a bottle of phosphorus in a -bedroom at Hackney while two girls make a fool of him. It is just as -pathetic that men like Sir A. C. Doyle and Sir W. Barrett assure the -public that they believe these things, when they have, apparently, not -examined the evidence. To believe that in the course of a few seconds -certain spiritual powers, who cannot unravel for us the smallest -scientific problem, can so alter that marvellous world of cells and -tissues which make up a man's body as to make him even six inches -taller, is to believe in a miracle beside which the dividing of the -waters of the Red Sea is child's play. Yet distinguished men of science -and medical men assure the public that they believe this, and believe it -on evidence that has been riddled over and over again. - -It was a still earlier fraud, Gordon, who began this trick of mounting -furniture in the dark and saying that the spirits bore him up; but the -"evidence" is not worth glancing at. One might as well ask us to examine -seriously the evidence for the "elongation" of Herne, Peters, Morse, and -all the other impostors of the time, or for the spiritual transit of -Mrs. Guppy and Dr. Monck. Let us rather see what sort of evidence is -furnished in recent times. - -It appears that the spirits no longer levitate the mediums themselves. -Although the power is said to be developing as time goes on, the age of -these impressive floatings round pitch-dark rooms is over. The only -instance I have read in the last twenty years is that of Ofelia -Corralès, of Costa Rica, who unfortunately fell off the stool she was -standing on. We have now to be content with the levitation of tables and -the dragging of furniture towards the medium. - -Again let us, in order not to waste time, address ourselves at once to -the classical case of Eusapia Palladino. Your common or garden medium, -with his uncritical audience, has a dozen ways of tilting and lifting -tables and pulling furniture about the room. To press on with the hands -or thumbs (with four fingers "above the table" to edify the audience) -and lift with the knees is easy. The same thing can be done by pressure -against the inside of the legs of the table. The foot is still more -useful, for the table is generally light. A confederate is even more -useful. The more artistic medium wears a ring with a slot in it, and has -a strong pin in the table. While his hands seem to be spread out above -the table, he catches the head of the pin in the slot of his ring, -and--the miracle occurs. Other mediums have leather cuffs inside their -sleeves, with a dark piece of iron or a hook projecting to catch the -edge of the table. - -But we will take Palladino, who was examined by scores of scientific -men, many of whom to this day believe that at least a large part of her -"phenomena" were genuine. The average man hesitates immediately when he -hears that _everybody_ admits that part of her performances were -fraudulent. She was a "grey" medium, Sir A. C. Doyle says. But he, and -so many others, assure you at once that this is quite natural. She had -real mediumistic powers; but these decay after a time, while the public -still clamours for miracles, and the poor medium is strongly tempted to -cheat. I have already said that Sir Arthur is here even more inaccurate -than he usually is. He says that she was "quite honest" for the first -fifteen years, as any person who studies her record will admit. Let us -briefly study it. - -Eusapia Palladino was an Italian working girl, an orphan, who married a -small shopkeeper of Naples. She remained throughout life almost entirely -illiterate, but she came in time to earn "exorbitant fees" (Lombroso's -daughter says) by her séances. She had begun to dabble in Spiritualism, -and lift tables, at the age of thirteen, but she did little and was -quite obscure until 1888, when Professor Chiaia, of Naples, took her up. -He challenged Lombroso to study her, and in 1892 a group of Italian -professors investigated her powers at Naples. That is the beginning of -her public career, and her performances varied little. She sat with her -back to the cabinet--unlike other mediums, she sat outside it--and her -chief trick was to lift off the ground the light table in front of her -while the professors controlled her hands and feet. It was the ghost of -"John King" who did these things, she said; and we remember "John King" -as a classic ghost of the early fraudulent mediums. He rapped on the -table and raised it off the floor; he dragged furniture towards the -medium, especially out of the cabinet behind her; he flung musical -instruments on the table, and prodded and pulled the hair of the -sitters; he made impressions of hands and faces in plaster; and he even -brought very faint ghosts into the room at times. - -Lombroso and other professors regarded these things as genuine or due to -an abnormal power of the medium (not to ghosts). In the end of his life, -in fact, Lombroso announced that he had come to believe in the -immortality of the mind, though he still regarded this as material. His -daughter, Gina Ferrero, tells us that at this time he was a physical -wreck, and his mental vitality was very low.[8] However, the professors -of 1892 said that they did not detect fraud. The reader of their report -may think otherwise. They put Eusapia, for instance, on a scale, and -"John King" took seventeen pounds off her weight. Any person can perform -that miracle by getting his toe to the floor while he is on the weighing -machine; and the professors gravely note that, whenever they prevented -Eusapia's dress from touching the floor, she could not reduce her -weight! They note also that she cannot raise the table unless her dress -is allowed to touch it. - -In the same year, 1892, Flammarion invited her to Paris. He says frankly -that he caught her cheating more than once. One of her miracles was to -depress the scale of a letter-balance by placing her hands on either -side of it, at some distance from it. Flammarion found that she used a -hair, stretched from hand to hand. His colleague, the astronomer -Antoniadi, who was called in, said that it was "fraud from beginning to -end." - -In 1894 Professor Richet, assisted by Mr. Myers and Sir O. Lodge, -examined her at Richet's house, and found no fraud. But Dr. Hodgson -insisted that she released her hands and feet from control and used -them, and Myers invited her to Cambridge in 1895. The result is well -known. In great disgust they reported that she cheated throughout, and -that not a single phenomenon could be regarded as genuine. This was, on -the most generous estimate, seven years after the beginning of her -public career; and Myers, the most conscientious and respected of -English Spiritualists, reported that she must have had "long practice" -in fraud. Yet Sir A. C. Doyle tells the public that she was "quite -honest" for the first fifteen years. - -Her admirers were angry, and they continued to guarantee her -genuineness. She became the most famous and most prosperous medium in -the world. In 1897 and 1898 she was again in France, and Flammarion -detected her in fraud after fraud. She released her hands and feet -constantly from control. From 1905 to 1907 she was rigorously examined -by the General Psychological Institute of Paris. They reported constant -trickery and evasion of tests. Sitters were not allowed to put a foot -_on_ her right foot because she had a painful corn on it. One of her -hands must not be _clasped_ by the control because she was acutely -sensitive to pain in that hand. She will not allow a man to stand near -and do nothing but watch her. She wriggles and squirms all the time, and -releases her hands and feet. She learns that, in a photograph they have -taken of one high "levitation" of a stool, it is plainly seen to be -resting on her head, so she allows no more photographs of this. And so -on. Professor G. le Bon got her at his house for a private sitting in -1906. He was able to instal an illumination behind her of which she knew -nothing, and he plainly caught her releasing and using her hand. - -In 1910 the Americans tried her. At one sitting Professor Münsterberg -was carefully controlling her left foot, as he thought, when the table -in the cabinet behind her began to move. But one man had stealthily -crept into the cabinet under cover of the dark, and he seized something. -Eusapia shrieked--it was her left foot![9] Then the professors of -Columbia University took Eusapia in hand, and finished her. They had -special apparatus ready for use, but they never used it. In a few -sittings they discovered that she was an habitual cheat, and they -abandoned the inquiry in disgust. - -These are the main points in Eusapia's official record. They suffice to -damn her. She cheated from the start to the finish. Her moans and groans -and wriggles habitually enabled her to release her hands and feet from -the men who were supposed to control them. Nothing is more notorious in -her career than that. She pretended that "John King" did everything, yet -she used constantly to announce that "some very fine phenomena would be -seen to-night." She pretended to be in a trance, yet she habitually -called out "E fatto" ("It's done") when something had been accomplished, -in the dark, two feet away from her. She was alive to every suspicious -movement of the sitters, and controlled the light and the photographers. -The impressions of faces which she got in wax or putty were always _her_ -face. I have seen many of them. The strong bones of her face impress -deep. Her nose is relatively flattened by the pressure. The hair on the -temples is plain. It is outrageous for scientific men to think that -either "John King" or an abnormal power of the medium _made_ a human -face (in a few minutes) with bones and muscles and hair, and precisely -the same bones and muscles and hair as those of Eusapia. I have seen -dozens of photographs of her levitating a table. On not a single one are -her person and dress entirely clear of the table. In fine, at every -single sitting, from beginning to end, the observers were distracted by -the "ghost." They were prodded and pinched and pushed, and their hair -and whiskers were pulled. It seems a pity that they did not refuse to -continue unless "John King" desisted from this frivolity. It was Eusapia -spoiling their vigilance. - -Believers in Eusapia would point to some dozens of things in her record -that these professors, and even conjurers like Carrington, could not -explain. I am quite content to leave them unexplained. We are under no -obligation to explain them or else accept Spiritualism. There is, as -Schiaparelli said, a third alternative: agnosticism. If the majority of -Eusapia's tricks were at one time or other seen to be done by fraud, the -presumption is that the rest were fraud. There are scientific men who -seem to lose their common sense in these inquiries. You might put a -conjurer before them in broad daylight, and they will not see how he -does a single one of his tricks. But when, in a bad light, a lady -conjurer or medium does something which they cannot explain they appeal -to abnormal powers or ghosts. It is neither science nor common sense. - -Towards the close of Eusapia's career another powerful Italian -peasant-woman, Lucia Sordi, began to interest the professors. She outdid -Eusapia in some matters. While she sat bound with cords in the cabinet, -a decanter of wine was lifted from the table, and a glass put to the -lips of each sitter. She was eventually exposed, and I will not linger -on her. She could get out of any bonds; and she had two confederates -always, in the shape of her young daughters. - -Most recent of all are the phenomena of the "Goligher circle" of -Belfast. A teacher of mechanics, Mr. Crawford, has greatly strengthened -the faith by recording their wonderful exploits in his _Reality of -Psychic Phenomena_ (1916) and _Experiments in Psychical Science_ (1919). -Sir A. C. Doyle is enthusiastic about them, as is his wont. Even Sir W. -Barrett tells us that "it is difficult to believe how the cleverest -conjurer, with elaborate apparatus, could have performed" what he -witnessed. Decidedly, here is something serious. Yet I intend to dismiss -it very briefly. The "circle" consists of seven members of the Goligher -family, and they are all mediums. In other words, there were fourteen -hands and fourteen feet to be watched, in a red light (the worst in the -world for the eye), and this young teacher of science flatters himself -that he controlled them all, and meantime attended to a lot of scales -and other apparatus. We are asked to believe this after four or five -professors repeatedly failed to control the hands and feet of one woman -(Eusapia). Moreover, they were permitted to _hold_ Eusapia's hands and -feet, but Crawford was not permitted to touch the feet of his medium. He -gives no photographs, except of his superfluous scales and tables. The -Goligher family, he says, were most anxious to have photographs taken, -but the "spirits" said it would injure the medium. - -When Sir W. Barrett tells the public that "the cleverest conjurer, with -elaborate apparatus," could not do these things, he talks nonsense of -which he ought to be ashamed. There is nothing in the two books that -requires any apparatus at all, or anything more than practice. Raps were -common. They have been since 1848. Mr. Crawford talks of "sledgehammer -blows" and "thunderous noises." As the mediums were never searched, the -raps may have been exceptionally loud, but Mr. Crawford naïvely gives -one detail which puts us on our guard. He one night brought a -particularly sensitive phonograph. The noises that night were -"terrific," he says. He took the record to the offices of _Light_, and -the editor of that journal can do no more than say that the noises were -"clearly audible" (p. 32). So, when Mr. Crawford tells us of strong men -being unable to press down the levitated table, we will take a pinch of -salt. - -The "table" (really a light stool) usually lifted weighed two pounds. -Sir A. C. Doyle assured his audience that this was lifted as high as the -ceiling. On the contrary, Mr. Crawford expressly says that it never rose -more than four feet; which is, I find by "scientific" experiment, the -height to which a young lady, sitting on a chair, could raise such a -stool on her foot. A most remarkable coincidence. It is a further -remarkable coincidence that the young lady's weight increased, when an -object was levitated, by just the weight of that object, less about two -ounces which some other person took over (a steadying finger, for -instance). It is an even more remarkable coincidence that, when Mr. -Crawford asked for an impression of the ghostly machinery which made the -raps, the mark he got on paper was "something of an oval shape, about -two square inches in area" (p. 192); which is singularly like a young -lady's heel. Similarly, when he asked for an impression in a saucer of -putty, the mark he describes--and carefully omits to photograph for -us--is precisely the mark of a young lady's big toe with a threaded -material on it. It is further curious that this remarkable psychic -power, which can lift a ten-pound table, could not lift a _white_ -handkerchief a fraction of an inch; which prompts the painful reflection -that a dark foot might be visible if it touched a white handkerchief. - -Mr. Crawford's books are really too naive. He asked Kathleen, by way of -control experiment, to show him if she _could_ raise the stool on her -foot; and he asks us to believe that her very obvious wriggles and -straining prove that this was not the usual lifting force. He puts her -on a scale, and asks the "ghosts" to take a large amount of matter out -of her body. He is profoundly impressed when her weight decreases by 54½ -pounds; and he asks us to believe that ghosts have taken 54½ pounds of -flesh and fat out of the fair Kathleen and "laid it on the floor." A -simpler hypothesis is that she got her toe to the floor, as Eusapia did. -Mr. Crawford ought to leave ghosts for a while, and take a course of -human anatomy and physiology. His mechanical knowledge enables him to -sketch a diagram of a "cantilever," constructed out of the medium's -body, and reaching from it to the centre of the table, a distance of -eighteen inches, or the length of Kathleen's leg from knee to foot. But -how in the name of all that is reasonable this cantilever is worked from -the body end, without wrenching the young lady's "innards" out of joint, -passes the subtlest imagination. The "spirits" were consulted as to the -way they did it. By a final peculiar coincidence it transpired that they -knew just as much about science as Kathleen Goligher; and that was -nothing. - -This is a very long chapter, but the phenomena it had to discuss are the -most serious in Spiritualist literature, and I was eager to omit -nothing which is deemed important. Let me close it with a short account -of an historical occurrence, which is at the same time a parable. We are -often told that the medium was "physically incapable" of doing this or -the other. Here is an interesting illustration of human possibilities. - -In 1846 all Paris was busy discussing "the electric girl." Little -Angélique Cottin, a village child of thirteen summers, a very quiet and -guileless-looking maid, exuded the "electric fluid" (ghosts were not yet -in fashion) in such abundance that the furniture almost danced about the -room. When she rose from her chair it flew back, even if a man held it, -and was often smashed. A heavy dining-table went over at a touch from -her dress. A chair held by "several strong men" was pushed back when she -sat on it. The Paris Academy of Sciences examined her, and could make -nothing of her. The chairs she rose from were sent crashing against the -wall, and broken. But one night, when the crowd gathered about her to -see the marvels, a wicked old sceptic watched her closely from a -distance. Only that afternoon a heavy dining-table, with its load of -dishes, had gone over. The child saw the sceptic's eye, yet wanted to -entertain the crowd. There was a struggle of patience between sceptic -and child for _two hours_, and at last age won. He saw her move, and -demanded an examination; and they found the bruise on her leg caused by -knocking over the heavy table. It was all over. She had developed a -marvellous way of using the muscles of her legs and buttocks -instantaneously and imperceptibly. This was, says Flammarion, "the end -of this sad story in which so many people had been duped by a poor -idiot." He is wrong on two points. The child was by no means an idiot; -and this was only the beginning, not the end. We do well to remember -what this child of thirteen could do.[10] - -FOOTNOTES: - -[7] The account which he gives in the _Dispatch_ (March 21, 1920) is -precisely the same as his account (which I quoted verbatim in the -Debate) in his _Experience of Spiritualism with D. D. Home_, pp. 82-3. - -[8] _Cesare Lombroso_ (1915), p. 416. Much is suppressed in the English -translation of his book. - -[9] Mr. Hereward Carrington, who believes in the genuineness of -Eusapia's powers, makes light of this. He misses the main point. In the -minutes of the sitting, which he gives, it is expressly stated by the -controllers at this point that they have both Eusapia's hands and feet -secure. So we cannot trust such minutes when they say that the control -was perfect. - -[10] Flammarion, _Les forces naturelles inconnues_, pp. 299-310. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHS AND SPIRIT PICTURES - - -Before me, as I write, are two spirit photographs which have gone at -least part of the round of the Press, and confirmed the consoling belief -in thousands of hearts. One is a photograph of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, -and behind him, peeping over his shoulder, is a strange form which has, -he says, "a general but not very exact resemblance to my son." The other -photograph is supplied by the Rev. W. Wynne. It bears the ghostly faces -of Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone, with whom Mr. Wynne had been acquainted; and -the text says that the plate was exposed for Mr. and Mrs. Wynne and -received these ghostly imprints. Both these photographs came from "the -Crewe Spiritual Circle," which has done so much in recent years to -strengthen the faith. - -Let me first make a few general remarks on spirit photography. Everybody -to-day has an elementary idea what taking a photograph means. A chemical -mixture, rich in certain compounds of silver, is spread as a film over -the glass plate which you buy at the stores. The rays of light--chiefly -the ultra-violet or "actinic" rays--which come from the sun (or the -electric lamp) are reflected by a body upon this plate, through the -lenses of the camera, and form a picture of that body by fixing the -chemicals on the plate. The lens is essential in order to concentrate -the rays and give an image, instead of a mere flood of light. The object -which reflects the light--whether it be the ordinary light or the -actinic rays--must be material. Ether does not reflect light, for light -is a movement of ether. - -Spiritualists have such vague ideas as to what can and cannot happen -that they overlook these elementary details altogether. Sometimes they -ask us to believe that a medium can get the head of a ghost on a plate, -without a camera, by merely placing his or her hand on the packet -containing the plate. Even if there were a materialized spirit present, -it could make no _image_ on the plate unless the rays were properly -concentrated through lenses. But the whole idea of spirits hovering -about and making images on photographic plates because a man called a -medium puts his hand on the camera is preposterous. That would be magic -with a vengeance! Even if we suppose that the spirits have material -bodies--ether bodies would not do--which reflect only the actinic rays, -and so are not visible to the eye, the idea remains as absurd as ever. -To say that the invisible material body of Mr. Gladstone (if anybody is -inclined to believe in such a thing) only reflects the rays into the -camera at Crewe when Mr. Hope and Mrs. Buxton, the mediums, put their -hands on the camera, and do not reflect light at all unless these -mediums touch the camera, is to utter an obvious absurdity. The ghosts -are either material or they are not. - -We must look for a simpler explanation. Now, when we examine Sir A. C. -Doyle's spirit photograph, we find at once that the candour of that -earnest and conscientious Spiritualist gives us a clue. He tells us how -he bought the plate, examined the camera, and exposed and developed the -plate with his own hands. "No hands but mine ever touched the plate," he -says impressively. We shall see presently that that need not impress us -in the least. What is important is that Sir Arthur adds: "On examining -with a powerful lens the face of the 'extra' I have found such a marking -as is produced in newspaper process work." Very few of the general -public would understand the significance of this, but I advise the -reader to take an illustrated book or journal and examine a photograph -in it with a lens (which need not be powerful). He will see at once that -the figure consists of a multitude of dots, and wherever you find an -illustration showing these dots it has been at some time printed in a -book or paper. During a lantern lecture, for instance, you can tell, by -the presence or absence of these dots, whether a slide has been -reproduced from an illustration or made direct from the photographic -negative. - -Sir A. C. Doyle is candid, but his Spiritualist zeal outruns his reason. -He goes on to say:-- - - - It is _very possible_ that the picture ... was conveyed on to the - plate from some existing picture. However that may be, it was most - certainly supernormal, and not due to any manipulation or fraud. - - -This is an amazing conclusion. It is not merely "possible," but certain, -that the photo, which he says resembles his son, had been _printed_ -somewhere before it got on to his plate. The marks are infallible. It is -further practically certain that, when the son of so distinguished a -novelist died on active service, his photograph would appear in the -Press. It is equally certain that mediums, knowing well that Sir Arthur -and Lady Doyle would presently seek to get into touch with their dead -son, would treasure that photograph. When I add that, as I will explain -presently, there is no need at all for the spirit photographer to touch -the plate, the reader may judge for himself how much "supernormal" there -is about the matter. - -Let us glance next at the Gladstone ghost. We are not told if it showed -process marks, but, of course, they need not always be looked for. It -might be taken direct from a photograph in the case of so well known a -couple as the Gladstones. But here again there is a significant -weakness. When you turn the photograph upside down, you discover that -the photographs of Mr. and Mrs. Wynne are on the lower half of the -plate, and inverted! You have to come to this remarkable conclusion, if -you follow the Spiritualist theory, that either the highly respectable -Mr. and Mrs. Wynne or the perfectly puritanical Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone -were _standing on their heads_! For my part, I decline to believe that -Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone have taken to such frivolity in the spirit land. -I prefer to think that the spirit photographer has bungled. - -But how could it be done if the plate was never in the hands of the -photographer? In the early days of Spiritualism faking was easy. You put -on an air of piety, and your sitter implicitly trusted you. It was then -quite easy to make a ghost, as every photographer knows. Expose a plate -for half the required time to a young lady dressed as a ghost, then put -the plate away in the dark until a sitter comes and give it a _full_ -exposure with him. He is delighted, when the plate is developed, to find -a charming lady spirit, of ghostly consistency, beaming upon him. Double -development, or skilful manipulation of the plate in the dark room, will -give the same result. - -This is how the trick was done in the sixties and seventies. A London -photographer, Hudson, made large sums by this kind of trickery. It was -easily exposed--any person who has dabbled in photography knows it--and -often the furniture or carpet behind the ghost could be seen through it. - -At last there was a very bad exposure which for a time almost suspended -the trade. At Paris there was a particularly gifted photographer medium -named Buguet. Not only were his ghosts very artistic, but Spiritualists -were able to identify their dead relatives on the photographs. Buguet -came to London and did a roaring trade. But early in 1875 the police of -Paris carried Buguet off to prison and searched his premises. They found -a headless doll or lay figure, and a large variety of heads to fit it. -At first Buguet had had confederates who used to creep quietly behind -the sitter and impersonate the ghost. Then he used to take a -half-exposure photograph of his doll, and so dispense with confederates. -He had a very smart clerk at the door who used, in collecting your -twenty francs, to get from you a little information about the dead -relative you wanted to see. Then Buguet rigged up and dressed a more or -less appropriate doll, gave it a half-exposure, and brought the same -plate to use for his sitter. - -One feature of the trial of Buguet should be carefully borne in mind. -Spiritualists are very fond of assuring us that the spirit voice or -message or photograph they obtained from a medium was "perfectly -recognizable." They scout any suggestion that they could be mistaken. Do -they not know the features of their dead son or daughter or wife? During -the trial of Buguet scores of these Spiritualists entered the -witness-box and swore that they had received exact likenesses of their -dead relatives. But Buguet, hoping to get a lighter sentence, confessed -that the same group of heads had served every purpose, and the witnesses -in his favour were all wrong![11] - -Buguet got a year in prison, and for a time trade was poor. But new -methods were invented, and spirit photographers are again at work all -over the world, and have been for decades. In country places the old -method may still be followed. Generally, however, the sitter brings his -or her own plate, and is then supposed to be secured against fraud. The -next development was easy enough. A prepared plate was substituted for -the plate you brought. This trick in turn was discovered, and sitters -began to make secret marks on the plates they brought, in order to -identify them afterwards. Then the machinery of the ghost was rigged up -in the camera itself, and you might bring your own plate and mark it -unmistakably with a diamond, if you liked. The ghost appeared on it when -it was developed. - -There were several ways of doing this. The first was to cut out the -figure of the ghost in celluloid or some other almost transparent -material and attach it to the lens. When this trick leaked out, a very -tiny figure of the ghost, hidden in the camera, was projected through a -magnifying glass (a kind of small magic-lantern) on to the plate when it -was exposed in the camera. As time went on, sitters began to insist on -examining the camera, and these tricks were apt to be discovered. I -remember an honest and critical Spiritualist telling me, about ten years -ago, that he offered a certain spirit-photographer (who is still at -work) five pounds for a spirit-photograph, if the sitter were permitted -to see every step of the process. The photographer agreed; but when my -friend wanted to examine the camera he at first bluffed, and then -returned the money, saying that that was carrying scepticism too far! He -had the ghost in his camera. - -Your modern Spiritualist friend smiles when you tell him of these -tricks. They are prehistoric. To-day you are allowed to examine the -camera, bring your own plate, expose it and develop it yourself. The -logic of the Spiritualist is here just as defective as ever. Because he -has not on this occasion discovered certain forms of trickery which are -now well known, he concludes that there was _no_ trickery. As if -trickery did not evolve like anything else! Spiritualists were just as -certain twenty years ago that there was no possibility of fraud because -they brought their own marked plates; but they were cheated every time. - -There are still several ways of making the ghost. Where the sitter is -careless, or an enthusiastic Spiritualist, the old tricks (substitution -of plates, etc.) are used; but there are new tricks to meet the -critical. The ghost may be painted in sulphate of quinine or other -chemicals on the ground-glass screen. Such a figure is invisible when it -is dry. There may be a trick dark-slide, with a plate which will appear -in front of yours. If the photographer develops it for you, he can -skilfully get a ghost on it by holding another plate against yours -(pretending to see how it is developing) in the yellow light. If you -develop it yourself, you use _his_ dish, which is often an ingenious -mechanism. It has glass sides or a glass bottom, and, while the whole -thing is covered up during development, secret lights impress the ghost -on it. An actual case of this sort was exposed in _Pearson's Weekly_ on -January 31, 1920. - -When the Spiritualist airily assures us that he has guarded against all -these things (some of which could not be seen at all) we have to -remember that Spiritualist literature teems with cases in which, we are -told, "all precautions against fraud were taken," yet sooner or later -the fraud is discovered. But the possibilities are not yet exhausted. I -once saw a remarkable photograph which Sir Robert Ball had taken of the -famous old ship, the _Great Eastern_. Along the side of it, in enormous -letters, was the name "Lewis"; yet this name was totally invisible to -the naked eye when one looked at the ship. A coat of paint had been put -over the name--the ship had been used by Lewis's as an -advertisement--and concealed it from the eye, yet the sensitive plate -registered it. No scrutiny of the camera or the studio or the dark room -would reveal conjuring of that sort. In fine, there is the possibility -of some compound of radium, or radio-paint, being used at one or other -stage in the process. - -No sensible man will pay serious attention to spirit photographs until -one is taken in these conditions; neither plates nor any single part of -the apparatus shall belong to or be touched by the medium. The spirit -photographer shall be brought to an unknown studio, and shall not be -allowed to do more than, under the eye of an expert observer, lay his -hand, at a sufficient distance from the lens, on the outside of a camera -which does not belong to him. That has not been done yet. Until it is -done fraud is certainly not excluded; and any man who uses the medium's -own premises and apparatus is courting deception. - -That the ghost on a photograph often resembles a dead relative of the -sitter will surprise no sensible person. It is well known that mediums -collect such photographs, as well as information about the dead. Mr. -Carrington describes in his _Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism_ the -elaborate system they have. They have considerable knowledge of likely -sitters in their own town. In fact, I have clearly enough traced in some -cases that they _first_ gathered information about a man, and _then_ got -an intermediary to persuade him to visit them. He, of course, tells -everybody afterwards that the medium "could not possibly" know anything -about him. Sometimes a Spiritualist takes the precaution of going to a -spirit photographer in a distant town. If he is quite able to conceal -his identity, he will get nothing, or only a common or garden ghost. But -he makes an appointment for a sitting in a few days to try again, and -gives his name and address; and the next mail takes a letter to a medium -in his town asking for information and photographs. As I have previously -said, when the Berlin police arrested Frau Abend and her husband they -found an encyclopædic mass of information about possible sitters. - -A case, with which I may conclude this section, is given by Dr. Tuckett -in his _Evidence for the Supernatural_ (pp. 52-3). Mr. Stead was once -delighted to find the ghost of a "brother Boer" on a photograph, and the -clairvoyant photographer mystically informed him that he "got" the name -"Piet Botha," and gathered that he had been shot in the Boer War. Mr. -Stead was jubilant, and the Materialist was nowhere, when he learned -that Piet Botha _had_ been shot in the war. Who in England knew anything -about Piet Botha and his death? But the wicked sceptic got to work, and -he presently discovered that on November 9, 1899, the _Graphic_ had -reproduced a photograph of Piet Botha, who had been shot in the war! A -magnificent case fell completely to pieces. - -Spirit-drawings and paintings have drawn out just the same ingenuity on -the part of the mediums. A favourite and impressive form is to let the -sitter choose a blank card and see that it _is_ blank. Then the medium -tears off the corner and hands it to the sitter, so that he will -recognize his own card at the close. The lights are completely -extinguished, the card is laid on the table, and when the gas is re-lit -a very fair picture (still wet) in oil is found to have been painted on -the card. David Duguid persuaded thousands of people of this marvel in -the later decades of the nineteenth century. It was represented that he -was merely a cabinet-maker who, in 1866, came under the control of the -spirits of certain Dutch painters, and was used by them. I learned long -ago in Scotland that the statement that he had never practised drawing -or painting was untrue. It is, in any case, probable that he had torn -the corners off the little paintings he had prepared in advance, and -that it was _these_ corners which he palmed off on the sitter. In the -dark he substituted his painting for the blank card, and the corner -naturally fitted. The fact that the paint was "still wet" need impress -nobody. A touch of varnish easily gives that impression. - -Innumerable tricks have been invented by American mediums for fooling -the Spiritualist public in this respect, and in many cases it taxes the -ingenuity of an expert conjurer to find out where the fraud lay. Mr. -Carrington gives a long series of frauds which he has at one time or -other studied. One medium offers you an apparently blank sheet of paper, -and, although nothing more suspicious than laying it under an -innocent-looking blotting-pad can be seen, and there is certainly no -substitution, a photograph appears on it while you wait. If you happen -to be one of those people whom the medium had had in mind as a possible -sitter, or whom he (through an intermediary) induced to come to him, it -may be a photograph of your dead son. The photograph was there, -invisible, all the time. It had been taken on a special paper (solio -paper), and bleached out with bi-chloride of mercury. The blotting-pad -was wet with a solution of hypo, and this suffices to restore the -photograph. - -In other cases the medium, with solemn air, enters his cabinet and draws -the curtain. There is a fantastic theory in the Spiritualist world that -this cabinet, or cloth-covered frame (like a Punch and Judy show), -prevents the "fluid" or force which the medium generates from spreading -about the room and being wasted. Nearly all these convenient theories -and regulations come from the spirits through the mediums; that is to -say, are imposed by the mediums themselves. The closed cabinet, like -charity, covers a multitude of sins. In the case of the spirit-painting -it may have a trap-door or other outlet, through which the medium hands -the blank canvas to a confederate and receives the previously painted -picture. - -Another medium shows you a blank canvas, and, _almost_ without taking it -out of your sight, produces an elegant, and still wet, oil painting on -it. The painting was there from the start, of course, but a blank canvas -was lightly gummed over it, and all the conjuring the medium had to do -was to strip off this blank canvas while your attention was diverted. -Mediums know that their sitters are profoundly impressed if the paint is -"still wet." I have heard Spiritualists stubbornly maintain that this -proves that the painting had only just been done, and done by -spirit-power, since no man could do it in so short a time. It is a good -illustration of the ease with which they are duped. The picture may have -been painted a week or a month before. Rub it with a little poppy oil -and you have "wet paint." - -Mr. Carrington's _Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism_, one of the -richest manuals of mediumistic trickery, has a number of these -picture-frauds. A painting is, when thoroughly dry, covered with a -solution of water and zinc-white. It is then invisible, and you have "a -blank canvas." The picture comes out again by merely washing it with a -sponge. In other cases a painting is done in certain chemicals which -will remain invisible until a weak solution of tincture of iron is -applied; and it may be applied to the back of the canvas. The medium, -Carrington suggests, begs the sitters to sing "Nearer, my God, to Thee," -to drown the noise, while his confederate creeps behind the canvas and -sprays it with the solution. The picture dawns before their astonished -eyes. - -Perhaps the best illustration is one that Carrington gives in his -_Personal Experiences_, to which I must send the reader for the full -story. Two spinster-mediums of Chicago had a great and profitable -reputation for spirit-painted photographs. I take it that their general -air of ancient virtue and piety disarmed sitters, who are apt to think -that a _fraudulent_ medium will betray himself or herself by criminal -features. You took a photograph of your dead friend, and asked that the -spirits might reproduce it in oils. The medium studied it, and made an -appointment with you at a later date. Perhaps the medium then studied it -again, and made a further appointment. On the solemn day the medium held -a blank canvas up to the window before your eyes, and gradually, first -as a dim dawn of colours, then as a precise figure, the picture appeared -on the canvas. Carrington suggests that she held up to the window two -canvases--a thin blank canvas a few inches in front of the prepared -picture. By deftly and slowly bringing these together with her fingers -she brought about the illusion; and only a little ordinary sleight of -hand was required to get rid of the blank canvas. - -These illustrations will suffice to show the reader what subtle and -artful trickery is used in this department of Spiritualism. He will know -what to think when a Spiritualist friend, who could not detect the -simplest conjuring trick, shows him a spirit-photograph and says that he -took care there was no fraud. The ordinary members of the Spiritualist -movement are as honest as any, but their eagerness--natural as it -is--puts them in a frame of mind which is quite unreasonable. The -trickery of this class of mediums has been developing for nearly sixty -years, and it has to find new forms every few years as the older forms -are exposed. The mediums have become expert conjurers and even, in some -cases, expert chemists--or they have expert chemists in collusion with -them--and it is simply foolish for an ordinary person to think that he -can judge if there has been fraud. We must have at least one elementary -safeguard. No part of the apparatus employed must belong to the medium -or be manipulated by him; and the photograph must not be taken on his -premises. Every Spiritualist who approves a photograph taken under other -conditions is courting deception and encouraging fraud. - -And instead of finding even the leading Spiritualists setting an example -of caution in face of the recognized mass of fraud in their movement, we -find them exhibiting a bewildering hastiness and lack of critical -faculty. Most readers will remember how Sir A. C. Doyle sent to the -_Daily Mail_ on December 16, 1919, a photograph of a picture of Christ -which had, he said, been "done in a few hours by a lady who has no power -of artistic expression when in her normal condition." The picture was, -he said, "a masterpiece"; so wonderful, in fact, that "a great painter -in Paris" (not named, of course) "fell instantly upon his knees" before -such a painting. It was "a supreme example" of a Spiritualist miracle. -The sequel is pretty well known. On December 31 the artist's husband -wrote a letter to the _Daily Mail_, of which I need quote only one -sentence:-- - - - Mrs. Spencer wishes definitely to state once and for all that her - pictures are painted in a perfectly normal manner, that she is - disgusted at having "psychic power" attributed to her, and that she - does not cherish any ludicrous and mawkish sentiments about helping - humanity by her paintings. - - -FOOTNOTE: - -[11] I might add that Mrs. Gladstone is not at all recognized by her own -son in Mr. Wynne's photograph. The other figure seems to me certainly a -reproduction of a photograph or bad picture of Gladstone. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -A CHAPTER OF GHOSTLY ACCOMPLISHMENTS - - -Spiritualism began in 1848 with the humble and entirely fraudulent -phenomena of raps. Within three years there were hundreds of mediums in -the United States, and a dollar per sitter was the customary fee for -assisting at one of the services of the new religion. It soon became -widely known that raps could be produced by very earthly means, and in -any case the rivalry of mediums was bound to develop new "phenomena." As -in all other professions, originality paid; and as the wonderful -discovery was quickly made that darkness favoured the intensity and -variety of the phenomena, the spirit power began to break upon humanity -in a bewildering variety of forms. In this chapter we will examine a -number of these accomplishments which our departed fellows have learned -on the Elysian fields. - -D. D. Home is still the classical exponent of some of these -accomplishments. Indeed, there is one of his phenomena which no medium -of our time has the courage to reproduce, and, since this phenomenon is -expressly endorsed by Sir William Barrett in his recent work, _On the -Threshold of the Unseen_ (1917), we shall be accused of timidity and -unfairness if we omit to consider it. It is said that on several -well-authenticated occasions--so Sir W. Barrett assures the public--Home -took burning coals in his hands, thrust his hands into the blazing fire, -or even put his face among the live coals. What is the evidence which -Sir W. Barrett, knowing that the general public has no leisure to -investigate these things, endorses as satisfactory? - -The reader who has patience enough to consider these extraordinary -claims in detail will find the evidence collected and examined in Mr. -Podmore's _Newer Spiritualism_ (chapters i and ii). It is just as weak -and unsatisfactory as the evidence for Home's levitations, which we have -already examined. The first witness is a lady, Mrs. Hall, who had the -advantage of a profound belief that Home could do anything whatever, and -that the idea of fraud was worse than preposterous in connection with so -holy a man. Home's demure expression and constant utterances of piety -and virtue, which seem to Mr. Podmore "inconceivably nauseous," made a -deep impression on Mrs. Hall and the other ladies whom Home used -generally to have next to him when he was performing his wonders. Now, -this lady tells us that on July 5, 1869, he took a large live coal from -the fire, put it on her husband's head, and drew his white hair over it. -He left it there for four or five minutes, and then gave it to Mrs. Hall -to hold. She says that it was "still red in parts," but she was not -burned. - -It would follow that Home was so charged with supernatural power that he -could communicate a large measure of it to Mr. Hall's head or Mrs. -Hall's hands--a feat unique in the history of Spiritualism. We need not -go so far. There is nothing in Mrs. Hall's narrative to prevent us from -supposing that Home put some non-conducting substance on her husband's -head _before_ he put the coal on it. Any person can pick a live coal out -of the fire if a part of it (as is common) is _not_ alive. Some can go -further. I can stick my finger-tips in my live pipe without being -burned. Some smokers can pick up a small live coal and light their pipes -with it. Probably all the coals which Daniel picked from the fire were -"dead" in parts. It is clear that this particular coal was not glowing, -as Mrs. Hall states that her husband's white hair showed "silvery" -against it. If the coal had glowed, the hair would show _black_ against -it. Probably Home lifted up the hair round, and not on, it; and after -five minutes part of it would be cool enough to lay on Mrs. Hall's hand. - -Sir William Crookes is the next witness: a great scientist, but--we -cannot forget it--the man who was easily duped by a girl of seventeen. -He says that he accompanied Home to the fire, and saw him put his hands -in it. That is anything but the scientific way to give evidence. We want -an exact description of the state of the fire, the light, etc. But -notice this next sentence: "He very deliberately pulled the lumps of hot -coal off, one at a time, with his right hand, and touched _one_ which -was bright red." So the "lumps" among which he had put his hands were -_not_ bright red; and we are left free to suppose that the _one_ which -he touched was not bright red all over. Home then took out a -handkerchief, waved it about in the air, and folded it on his hand. He -next took out a coal which was "red in one part" and laid it on the -handkerchief without burning it. The story smacks of charlatanry from -beginning to end. Crookes ought at least to have known better than to -suppose that a handkerchief "gathered power" by being waved about. It -more probably gathered a piece of asbestos from Home's pocket. - -The other pretty stories of Home's fire-tricks may be read in Podmore. -Juggling with fire is an ancient practice. It is very common among -savages. Daniel Home, with his select and private audience, had -excellent conditions for doing it. In bad light he did even more -wonderful things than those I have quoted; that is to say, if we take -the record literally, which we may decline to do. Crookes, like some -other investigating professors, was short-sighted. No wonder that Daniel -loved him. - -Let us pass on to the musical accomplishments of the spirits; and here -again the gifted Daniel was one of the pioneer mediums. He induced the -spirits to play an accordion while he held it with one hand; and his -hand held it by the end farthest removed from the keys. Unfortunately, -the spirits laid down the condition that he must hold it out of sight, -underneath the table, and our interest is damped. We know something from -other mediums of the ways of doing this. While you are putting the -accordion under the table you change your hand from the back end to the -key end of the accordion. Then you can get the bellows to play by -pushing it against something or using a hook at the end of a strong -thread or catgut. It is well to remember that Home was a good musician. -Possibly he played a mouth-organ while the professor was looking -intently at the accordion. - -But Home was put to a severe test, we are told. Sir W. Crookes made a -cage (like a waste-paper basket) to go under the table, and Home was -told to let the accordion hang in this. He could certainly not now use -his second hand or his feet, yet it "played." But, as Mr. Podmore, most -ingenious of critics, points out, no one saw the _keys_ move. The music -may have come from a musical box in Home's pocket, or placed by him on -the floor. The degree of light or darkness is not stated. The opening -and shutting of the accordion could be done by hooks, or loops of black -silk. So with the crowning miracle, when Home withdrew his hand, and the -accordion was seen suspended in the air, moving about in the cage (under -the dark table). It was probably hooked on to the table. - -Before we pass on to other ghostly musicians, let us notice another feat -of Home's which Sir William Crookes records here. He placed a board with -one end on the table and the other on a spring balance. It was so shaped -(with feet at each end) that an enormous pressure would have to be -exerted on it at the table-end if the balance were to be appreciably -altered. Yet a light touch of Home's fingers caused the scale to -register six pounds. Podmore points out that this experiment had been -gradually reached. Home knew the conditions, and had made his -preparations. The light was poor, and a loop of strong silk thread at -the far end of the board, pulled from some part of his person, would not -be noticed. We shall see far more remarkable feats than this. - -A pretty variation of musical mediumship was next introduced by Mrs. -Annie Eva Fay, another American fraud with whom Sir W. Crookes made -solemn scientific experiments. Florrie Cook was a chicken in comparison -with Annie Fay, and she triumphantly passed all the professor's tests. -She came to London in 1874, and everybody soon went to see and hear the -"fascinating American blonde" at the Hanover Square Rooms. - -Mrs. Fay's most characteristic séance was when she sat in the middle of -a circle of sitters, a bell and a guitar beside her. Her husband, -"Colonel" Fay, was in the circle, but, as they held each other's hands, -it was presumed that he could do nothing to help her if he wished. Mrs. -Fay then began to clap her hands. The lights were extinguished, and, -although Mrs. Fay continued to clap her hands loudly, so that you could -be sure she was not using them, the bell was rung, the tambourine -played, the sitters' beards were pulled, and so on. This was easy. When -the gas was put out, Mrs. Fay no longer slapped her left hand against -her right, but against her forehead or cheek--perhaps slapped the -Colonel's face for a variation--and had the right hand free for -business. No doubt the Colonel also released a hand, as we have seen -Eusapia Palladino do, and joined the band. - -When this trick was realized, Mrs. Fay used to allow herself to be bound -with tapes to a stake erected on the stage. A few minutes after the -lights were put out the band began its ghostly, but not very impressive, -music. Sometimes a pail was put beside her, and it was raised by -invisible hands (in the dark) on to her head. When the light was -restored Mrs. Fay was discovered still bound to the stake, the knots and -seals intact. By an accident at one of her performances Mr. Podmore was -enabled to see how she did it, and the secret has long been known. The -tapes supplied had to be fastened in such a way that she could with -great speed slip them up her slender arms and get into a working -position. Maskelyne also exposed her, and trade fell off so badly that -she made him an offer, by letter, to go on his stage and, for payment, -show how all the tricks were done. She had by that time converted -hundreds to Spiritualism. - -There were various other forms of the musical performance. One medium -used to sit in sight of the audience with a sitter holding his hands. A -cloth was then put over them both, from the neck downward, the lights -extinguished, and the usual band began. He had released one hand, by the -familiar trick, and reached behind him for the instruments. - -The medium, Bastian, also played instruments in the dark. At Arnheim, -where he was edifying the Dutch Spiritualists, he was suspected, and it -was arranged to ignite some inflammable cotton by an electric current -from the next room. The next time a ghostly hand played the guitar above -the heads of the sitters, the signal was given, and the flash lit the -room. The guitar fell hastily to the table, and Bastian's hand retreated -rapidly to its right place. His English Spiritualist admirers accepted -his explanation that it was a "materialized" hand that was seen -shrinking back into his body. One medium strummed his guitar with a long -pencil which he took with his teeth out of his inner coat-pocket and -held with his teeth. Others had telescopic rods or "lazy tongs" hidden -about them, and used these in the dark. - -The binding of mediums with cords or tapes is a "precaution against -fraud" which was thoroughly exposed fifty years ago. Many of Sir A. C. -Doyle's own admirers were pained when he announced to the world his -belief in the genuineness of the performance of two Welsh colliers, the -Thomas brothers. Their "manifestations" were prehistoric. More than -fifty years ago spectators were invited to tie up the mediums, and as -long ago as 1883 Mr. Maskelyne was exhibiting the trick. The Davenport -brothers, the latest American marvels, had toured England. Most people -will remember how they were held up at Liverpool by some one tying the -rope in knots with which they were not familiar. The spirits failed -entirely to play the tambourine when the tying-up was properly done, and -the instrument was put out of reach of the medium's mouth. As usual, it -had been said for months that fraud was "absolutely excluded." - -Later mediums found the solution of this difficulty. The medium kept a -sharp knife-blade within reach of his teeth, and, when knots proved too -stubborn, he cut the rope and freed himself. He had a spare rope in his -clothes and fastened himself--or was bound by a confederate--before the -lights went up. People thought that they could prevent this by sealing -the knots. It was useless. The medium had chewing gum of the same colour -as sealing-wax, and the seals were imitated with this. These desperate -shifts are, however, rarely necessary. While he is being tied the medium -catches a loop of the rope with his thumb, and this gives him plenty of -slack to use. I have seen a medium laced tight into a leather arm-case, -and get out behind the curtain in three minutes. He had caught a loop of -the lace with his thumb, and the rest was tooth work. - -It was therefore little wonder that when the Thomas brothers were -brought from the valleys of South Wales to London their ancient miracles -would not work. A recent convert to Spiritualism, Mr. S. A. Moseley, -describes their work on their native heath (or hearth) with the same awe -and simplicity as Sir A. C. Doyle had done. Many of us knew the history -of Spiritualism, and smiled. They were brought to London by the _Daily -Express_ in 1919, and here, where sceptics abounded and the need of -convincing evidence was at its most acute, "White Eagle" (the Red Indian -spirit who controls Will Thomas) and all his band of merry men were -powerless. Will Thomas was properly bound, the tambourine and castanets -were put out of reach, and his brother was isolated. All that -happened--the throwing of a badge-button and a pair of braces to the -audience--is within the range of possibilities of the human mouth. - -Let us now turn to another bright and classical page in the history of -Spiritualism: the experiments of Professor Zöllner with the medium -Slade. Sir A. C. Doyle granted in the Debate, with an air of generosity, -that Slade "cheated occasionally," but he insisted that Slade's -phenomena in the house of Professor Zöllner were genuine. Now, as long -as Sir A. C. Doyle does this kind of thing, as long as he assures his -readers that he will not build on any medium who has been convicted of -fraud and then builds on such a medium, as long as he tells his readers -(who will not check the facts) that a medium who was exposed over and -over again merely "cheated occasionally," it is no use for him to assert -that he is trying to purge Spiritualism of fraud. Slade was a cynical -impostor from beginning to end of his career. - -I will show in the next chapter but one how Slade confessed his -habitual fraud as early as 1872, how he was exposed and arrested in -London in 1876, and how he was exposed again in Canada in 1882 and in -the United States in 1884. A word about the last occasion will suffice -for my purpose here. Henry Seybert, a Spiritualist, left a large sum of -money to the University of Pennsylvania on the condition that the -University authorities would appoint a commission to examine into (among -other things) the claims of Spiritualism. They did; and it was the most -unlucky inspiration the ghosts of the dead ever conveyed. Very few -mediums would face the professors, and those who did were shown to be -all frauds. Slade was one of these, and the Pennsylvania professors, -wondering how any trained man could be taken in by so palpable a fraud, -sent a representative to Leipsic to investigate the experiences of -Professor Zöllner and the three other German professors who had endorsed -Slade. The gist of his report was that of the four professors one -(Zöllner) was in an early stage of insanity (he died shortly -afterwards), one (Fechner) was nearly blind, the third (Weber) was -seventy-four years old, and the fourth (Scheibner) was very -short-sighted, yet did _not_ (as Sir A. C. Doyle says) entirely endorse -the phenomena! - -I have not been able to discover evidence that Zöllner's mind was really -deranged, but he certainly approached the inquiry with a theory of a -fourth dimension of space, and was most eager to get his theory -confirmed by the experiments. The key to the whole situation is, -therefore, lack of sharp control. Slade had been conjuring for years, -and was an expert in substitution. He had a purblind audience, and he -astutely guided the professor until the conditions of the experiment -suited him. He knew beforehand, as a rule, what apparatus Zöllner would -use, and he duplicated his wooden rings, thongs, etc. An excellent study -of his tricks in detail will be found in Carrington's _Physical -Phenomena of Spiritualism_. Sir A. C. Doyle speaks of the shattering of -a screen in Slade's presence as an indisputably superhuman feat. But -before the séance no one had thought of looking to see if the screen had -been taken to pieces and lightly tied together by a black thread which -Slade could pull asunder at will! - -Slade was a very bad selection by Sir A. C. Doyle. No prominent medium -was ever so frequently exposed as he. In addition to the exposures I -have mentioned, Dr. Hyslop, Mrs. Sidgwick, and other leading -Spiritualists riddled his pretensions to supernormal power. In the end -he took to drink and died in an asylum. Yet Sir A. C. Doyle assures his -followers, in his _Vital Message_, that he never builds on a discredited -medium. - -Let us turn now to Stainton Moses, the snow-white medium. Moses was a -neuropathic clergyman who in 1872 left the Church and became a teacher. -About the same time he discovered mediumistic powers. He died ultimately -of Bright's disease, brought on by drink. His audience, as I said -before, consisted only of a few intimate friends who never doubted his -saintliness or thought for a moment of fraud. He worked always in the -dark, or in a very bad light; and his doings are mainly described by his -trustful friend and host, Mrs. Speer. This would dispense any serious -student from troubling about his phenomena; but let us see if they throw -any light on his character. Mr. Carrington says that the things -reported are unbelievable, yet that we cannot think of fraud in -connection with Moses. Podmore also tries hard not to accuse him of -_conscious_ fraud, and hints that he was irresponsible. The reader may -choose to think otherwise. - -The spirits performed every variety of phenomena through Stainton Moses. -Like Home, and only a few of the quite holiest mediums, he was -occasionally lifted off the ground; or, which is, of course, the same -thing, he said that he was. Raps were common when he was about. -Automatic writing of the most elevating (and most inaccurate) -description flowed from his pencil. Lights floated about the room; and -once or twice he dropped and broke a bottle of phosphorus in the dark. -Musical sounds were repeatedly heard, as in the case of the Rev. Dr. -Monck, who had a little musical box in his trousers. The sitters were -sprayed with scent. The objects on the dressing-table in his room were -arranged by invisible hands in the form of a cross. Wonderful messages -about recently deceased persons were sent through him; and the details -could later be found in the papers. In fine, he was a remarkably good -medium for "apports"--that is to say, the bringing into the circle by -the spirits of flowers and other objects. Statuettes, jewels, books, and -all kinds of things (provided they were in the house and could be -secreted about the person) were "apported." - -The evidence for these things is particularly poor, but I am a liberal -man. I do not doubt them. Each one of them, separately, was done by -other mediums. It is the rich variety that characterizes Moses. Let him -sleep in peace. The credulity and admiration of his friends seem to have -made him lose the last particle of sense of honour in these matters. -These things are common elementary conjuring from beginning to end. - -Apports are a familiar ghostly accomplishment, and the way they are done -is familiar. Mme. Blavatsky was wonderful at apports. Who would ever -dream of proposing to search Mme. Blavatsky? And who would now be so -simple as to think of spirits when the medium was not searched? The -person of Mme. Blavatsky was as sacred from such search as the person of -the Rev. Stainton Moses or of the charming and guileless Florrie Cook. -Indeed, it is only in recent times that a real search of the medium has -been demanded, and the accounts of weird and wonderful objects -"apported" under other conditions merit only a smile. Mrs. Guppy, -secured from search by her virtue and the esteem of Dr. Russel Wallace, -went so far as to apport live eels. Eusapia Palladino one day "apported" -a branch of azaleas in Flammarion's house; and he afterwards found an -azalea plant, which it exactly fitted, in her bedroom. Another day her -spirits showered marguerites on the table; and the marguerites were -missed from a pot in the corridor. Anna Rothe, the Princess Karadja's -pet medium, was secretly watched, and was caught bringing bouquets from -her petticoats and oranges out of her ample bosom; and the spirits did -not save her from a year in gaol. She had a whole flower-shop under her -skirts when she was seized. - -But we will not run over the whole silly chronicle of "apports." Two -recent instances will suffice. One is the Turin lady, Linda Gazerra, of -whom I have spoken on an earlier page. She was too virtuous to strip, -and let down her hair, even in the presence of a lady. So Dr. Imoda, a -scientific man who consented to accept her on these terms, was fooled -for three years (1908-11). She had live birds caged in the large mass of -her hair (natural and artificial), and all sorts of things in her -_lingerie_. - -About the same time, an Australian medium, Bailey, made a sensational -name throughout the Spiritualist world by his "apports." The spirits -brought silks from the Indies (until the brutal customs official claimed -the tariff), live birds, and all sorts of things. He was taken so -seriously in the Spiritualist world that Professor Reichel, a rich -French inquirer, brought him to France for investigation. Sure enough, -although he was searched, the spirits brought into the room two little -birds "from India." But his long hesitations and evasions had aroused -suspicion, and on inquiry it was proved that he had bought the birds, -which were quite French, at a local shop in Grenoble. How had he -smuggled them into the room? I give the answer (as it is given by Count -Rochas, his host) with reluctance, but it is absolutely necessary to -know these things if you want to understand some of the more difficult -mediumistic performances. The birds were concealed in the unpleasant end -of his alimentary canal. Professor Reichel gave him his return fare and -urged him to go quickly; and the Australian Spiritualists received him -with open arms, and listened sympathetically to his stories of French -brutality. - -Of "apports," therefore, we say the same as of "materializations." The -medium shall be stripped naked, have all his or her body-openings -muzzled, be sewn in prepared garments, and placed in a prepared and -carefully searched room. When Spiritualists announce the appearance of -an eel or a pigeon or a bouquet, or even a copy of _Light_, under those -conditions, we will begin to consider the question of apports. - -Luminous phenomena "are easily simulated," says Dr. Maxwell. Most people -will agree to this candid verdict of so experienced and so sympathetic -an investigator. Tons of phosphorus have been used in the service of -religion since 1848. It has taken the place of incense. The saintly -Moses twice had a nasty mess with his bottle of phosphorus. Herne was -one night tracing a pious message in luminous characters (with a damp -match) when there was a crackle and flash; the match had "struck." The -movement abounds in incidents which are, in a double sense, "luminous." - -Certain sulphides may be used instead of phosphorus, and in modern times -electricity is an excellent means of producing lights at a distance. -Chemicals of the pyrotechnic sort are also useful. One must remember -that behind the thousands of mediums, whose fertile brains are -constantly elaborating new methods of evading control, are manufacturers -and scientific experts who supply them with chemicals and apparatus. One -often hears Spiritualists laugh at this suggestion as a wild theory of -their opponents. Any impartial person will acknowledge that it is more -probable than improbable. But positive proof has been given over and -over again. - -Quite recently Mr. Sidney Hamilton described in _Pearson's Weekly_ -(February 28, 1920) an "illustrated printed catalogue of forty pages" -which he had with great difficulty secured. It was the secret catalogue -of a firm which supplies apparatus to mediums. The outfit includes "a -self-playing guitar," a telescopic aluminium trumpet (for direct voice), -magic tables, luminous objects, and even "a fully materialized female -form (with face that convinces) ... floats about the room and disappears -... Price £10." For eight shillings this firm supplies the secret how to -turn one's vest inside out, without changing coat, while one is bound, -and the knots sealed, in the cabinet. For two pounds ten you get an -apparatus which will levitate a table so effectively that "two or three -persons cannot hold the table down." In short, there is, and has been -for decades, a trade supply of apparatus and instructions for producing -the whole range of "physical phenomena," and any person who pays serious -attention to such things is not very particular whether he is deceived -or not. - -I may close the chapter with a case of spirit sculpture, which is -recorded by Truesdell in his _Bottom Facts of Spiritualism_. By this -trick, he says, Mrs. Mary Hardy converted one of those professors whose -names adorn the Spiritualist list. A pail of warm water, with several -inches of paraffin floating on its surface, was weighed and put under -the table. After a time a hand moulded most accurately in wax was found -on the floor beside the pail, and it was found that the weight of the -contents of the pail had decreased by precisely the weight of the hand. -A convincing test, surely! But the professor had forgotten to allow for -the evaporation of the warm water. The hand had been made in advance, by -moulding the soft paraffin on the medium's hand, and hidden under Mrs. -Hardy's skirt. It was transferred by her toes to the floor under the -table. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -THE SUBTLE ART OF CLAIRVOYANCE - - -Spiritualists distinguish between physical phenomena and psychic -phenomena. The use of this distinction is obvious. When a man reads some -such history of the movement as Podmore's, and then the works of -Truesdell, Robinson, Maskelyne, Carrington, and others who have time -after time exposed the ways of mediums, he is very ill-disposed to -listen to stories of materialization, levitation, spirit photographs, -spirit messages, spirit music, spirit voices, or anything of the kind. -He knows that each single trick has been exposed over and over again. So -the liberal Spiritualist urges him to leave out "physical" phenomena and -concentrate on the "psychic." It is a word with an aroma of refinement, -spirituality, even intellect. It indicates the sort of thing that -respectable spirits _ought_ to do. So we will turn to the psychic -phenomenon of clairvoyance. - -Here at once the reader's resolution to approach the subject gravely is -disturbed by the recollection of a recent event. Many a reader would, -quite apart from the question of consolation, like to find something -true in Spiritualism. He may feel, as Professor William James did, that -the mass of fraud is so appalling that, for the credit of humanity, we -should like to think that it is the citizens of another world, not of -ours, who are responsible. He may feel that, if it is all fraud, a -number of quite distinguished people occupy a very painful position in -modern times. He would like to find at least something serious; -something that is reasonably capable of a Spiritualist interpretation. -But as soon as he approaches any class of phenomena some startling -instance of fraud rises in his memory and tries to prejudice him. In -this case it is the "Masked Medium." - -A recent case in the law courts has brought this to mind. In 1919, when -the _Sunday Express_ was making its grave search for ghosts, in order to -rebuke the materialism of our age, it offered £500 for a -materialization. A gentleman, who (with an eye on the police) genially -waived the money offer aside, offered to bring an unknown lady and -present a materialization, and some startling feats of clairvoyance in -addition. A sitting was arranged, and the lady, who wore a mask, gave a -clairvoyant demonstration that could not be surpassed in all the annals -of Spiritualism. Her ghost was rather a failure; though Lady Glenconnor, -who has the true Spiritualist temperament, recognized in it an "initial -stage of materialization." But the clairvoyance was great. The sitters, -while the lady was still out of the room, put various objects connected -with the dead (a ring, a stud, a sealed letter, etc.) in a bag. The bag -was closed, and was put inside a box; and the lady, who was then -introduced, described every object with marvellous accuracy. Sir A. C. -Doyle said that the medium gave "a clear proof of clairvoyance." Mr. Gow -said that he saw "no normal explanation." - -And it was fraud from beginning to end, as everybody now knows. -Clairvoyance must be distinguished from prophecy, which Spiritualists -sometimes claim. Prediction means the art of seeing things which do not -exist, and it is therefore not even mentioned in this book. Clairvoyance -means the art of seeing things through a brick wall (or any other opaque -covering). Now this was an admirable piece of clairvoyance. Even -Spiritualists present were suspicious, because the lady was quite -unknown. Yet they could not see any suggestion of fraud or any "normal -explanation." Did they turn back upon their earlier experiences of -clairvoyance, when the fraud was confessed, and ask if those also may -not have been due to trickery? Not in the least. Everything is genuine -until it is found out--and, sometimes, even afterwards. - -Mr. Selbit, the conjurer who really conducted the performance, is -naturally unwilling to give away his secret. He acknowledged immediately -after the performance, as Mr. Moseley describes in his _Amazing Séance_, -that he had fooled the audience. The masked lady was an actress with no -more abnormal power than Sir Oliver Lodge has. Mr. Stuart Cumberland -suggested at the time that, when the assistant went to the door to call -the medium, he handed the box to a confederate and received a dummy box. -He thought that the medium would then have time to study and memorize -the contents of the real box (including a sealed letter in dog-German) -before she entered the room. From the account, which is not precise -enough, I can hardly see how she would have time for this. But Mr. -Selbit acknowledged that a dummy box _was_ substituted. He says that a -person entered the room in the dark, took the box from the table and -substituted a dummy, and afterwards impersonated the ghost. This is -most important for us. The room had been searched, and such acute -observers as Mr. Stuart Cumberland and Superintendent Thomas, of -Scotland Yard, were on the watch; yet a confederate got into the room. -After this an ordinary Spiritualist séance is child's play. A long and -minute description of the objects in the bag, which must have been -spelled letter by letter in parts, on account of the difficult wording -of the sealed letter, was in some way telegraphed or communicated to the -girl under the eyes of this watchful group. It would be scarcely more -marvellous to suppose that Mr. Selbit, after studying the contents of -the box, took her place before their faces and they never knew it! - -The reader will not fail to see why I have minutely pointed out the -features of this recent case. It is, in the first place, an example of -"psychic," not "physical," phenomena; and it was conjuring pure and -simple. It was, further, "most successful and convincing," as Sir A. C. -Doyle pronounced; yet there was not a particle of abnormal power about -it. Finally, it was done in the presence of three keen critics, as well -as of leading Spiritualists; yet the fraud was not discovered. To invoke -the "supernormal," after this, the moment some ordinary individual fails -to detect fraud, is surely ludicrous. - -Now let me put another warning before the reader. It is notorious that -Spiritualists are particularly, even if innocently, apt to mislead in -their accounts of their experiences. Unless the experience is recorded -on paper at once, it is almost worthless; and even then it is often -quite wrong. There is such a thing as "selection" in the human mind. -When two people, a Spiritualist and a sceptic, see or read the same -thing, their minds may get quite a different impression of it. The mind -of the Spiritualist leaps to the features of it which seem to be -supernormal, and slurs or ignores or soon forgets the others. The mind -of the sceptic does the opposite. You thus get quite inaccurate accounts -from Spiritualists, though they are often quite innocent. One once asked -me to explain how a medium, two hundred miles from his home, in a place -where no one knew him, could tell his name and a good deal about him. By -two minutes' cross-examination I got him to admit that he had been -working for some weeks in this district and was known to a few -fellow-workers. No doubt one of these had given a medium information -about him, and then induced him to visit her. These indirect methods are -very effective. - -A very good example is Sir A. C. Doyle himself. In the debate with me he -made statement after statement of the most inaccurate description. He -said that Eusapia Palladino was quite honest in the first fifteen years -of her mediumship; that he had given me the names of forty Spiritualist -professors; that the Fox sisters were at first honest; that I did not -give the evidence from his books correctly; that Mr. Lethem got certain -detailed information the first time he consulted a medium; that in Mme. -Bisson's book you can see ectoplasm pouring from the medium's "nose, -eyes, ears, and skin"; that Florrie Cook "never took one penny of -money"; that in the Belfast experiment the table rose to the ceiling; -and so on. His frame of mind was extraordinary. But I will give a far -more extraordinary case which will make the reader very cautious about -Spiritualist testimony. - -About forty years ago, when the old type of ghost story was not yet -quite dead, Myers and Gurney, who were collecting anecdotes of this -sort, received a particularly authentic specimen. It was a personal -experience of Sir Edmund Hornby, a retired Judge from Shanghai. A few -years earlier, he said, he had one night written out his judgment for -the following day, but the reporter failed to call for a copy. He went -to bed, and some time after one o'clock he was awakened by the reporter, -who very solemnly asked him for the copy. With much grumbling Sir Edmund -got up and gave him the copy. He remembered that in returning to bed he -had awakened Lady Hornby. And the next morning, on going to court, he -learned that the reporter had died just at that hour, of heart disease -(as the inquest afterwards found), and had never left the house. He had -been visited by the reporter's spirit. - -Here was an experience of most exceptional weight. Who could doubt -either the word or the competence of the Chief Judge of the Supreme -Consular Court of China and Japan? The story was promptly written up in -the _Nineteenth Century_ ("Visible Apparitions," July, 1884), and -sceptics were confounded. But a copy of the _Nineteenth Century_ reached -Shanghai, where the incident was said to have taken place, and in the -same monthly for November there appeared a letter from Mr. Balfour, -editor of the _North China Herald_ and the _Supreme Court and Consular -Gazette_. It proved, and Sir E. Hornby was compelled to admit, that the -story was entirely untrue. It was a jumble of inaccuracies. The reporter -had died between eight and nine in the morning, not at one, and had -slept peacefully all night. There had been no inquest. There was no -judgment whatever delivered by Sir E. Hornby that morning. There was -not even a Lady Hornby in existence at the time! Sir Edmund Hornby -sullenly acknowledged the truth of all this, and could mutter only that -he could not understand his own mistake. - -After this awful example we think twice before we take the testimony of -Spiritualists at its face value. Sir A. C. Doyle, in particular, is -especially guilty of such confusions, to the great advantage of his -stories. During the Debate, as I said, he told of a wonderful Glasgow -clairvoyante, who was consulted by a Mr. Lethem (a Glasgow J.P.), who -had lost a son in the War. She at once told Mr. Lethem, Sir Arthur says, -his son's name, the name of the London station at which he had said -farewell, and the name of the London hotel at which they had stayed. -This sounded very impressive indeed. But I happened to have read Mr. -Lethem's articles (_Weekly Record_, February 21 and 28, 1920), and I -have them before me. Mr. Lethem was a well-known man in Glasgow, and was -known to be "inquiring." Now it was _eight months_ after his son's death -that he met this clairvoyante, yet all she could tell him was his son's -name and appearance. It was, he confesses, "not much" and "not strictly -evidential." It was at a _later_ sitting that she gave the other -details. Sir A. C. Doyle has fused the two sittings together and made -the experience more impressive. The medium had time to make inquiries. -There is a further detail which Sir A. C. Doyle does not tell. The -brother of the dead officer asked, as a test question, the name of the -town where they had last dined together. It took "more than a year" to -get an answer to this! - -Thus a quite commonplace and easily explained feat of a medium is -dressed up by Sir A. C. Doyle as supernormal. He does this repeatedly in -his books. In the _New Revelation_ he says, quoting Sir Oliver Lodge's -Raymond, that a medium described to Sir Oliver a photograph of his son, -"no copy of which had reached England, and which proved to be exactly as -_he_ described it." Here he has done the same as in the case of Mr. -Lethem--fused together several successive sittings. The first medium -consulted by Sir Oliver Lodge made only a very brief statement. It was -wrong in three out of four particulars; and the fourth was a very safe -guess (that Raymond had once been photographed in a group). The -particulars which so much impressed Sir O. Lodge were given much later, -and by a lady medium; and by that time there were plenty of copies of -the photograph in England! Sir O. Lodge gives the various dates. - -Sir William Barrett and Sir O. Lodge are just as slipshod. I have amply -shown this in the case of Lodge in my _Religion of Sir O. Lodge_ (and -_Raymond_ is even worse than the books I analysed), and Sir W. F. -Barrett's _On the Threshold of the Unseen_ is just as bad. I have -previously said how he tells his readers that it would take "the -cleverest conjurer with elaborate apparatus" to do what the Golighers do -at Belfast; and I showed that one limb of one member of the circle of -seven mediums would, with the help of a finger or two perhaps, explain -everything. Sir William also says (p. 53) that the London Dialectical -Society "published the report of a special committee" strongly in favour -of Spiritualism. On the contrary, the London Dialectical Society -expressly refused to publish that egregious document. He says (p. 72), -in describing the Home levitation case, that "nothing was said -beforehand of what they might expect to see," and "the accounts given by -each [witness] are alike." These statements are the reverse of the -truth. The book contains many such instances. - -Here is another, which is expressly concerned with the greatest of all -"clairvoyantes," Mrs. Piper, and the most critical Spiritualist of -modern times, Dr. Hodgson. In the Debate Sir A. C. Doyle introduces him -(p. 21) as "Professor Hodgson, the greatest detective who ever put his -mind to this subject." He is fond of turning the people he quotes into -"professors." It makes them more weighty. Hodgson was never a professor, -but he was an able man, and he exposed more than one fraud like Eusapia -Palladino. But I have been permitted to see a letter which puts Dr. -Hodgson himself in the category of over-zealous and unreliable -witnesses; and as this letter is to be published in the form of a -preface to the second edition of Dr. C. Mercier's book on Spiritualism, -I am not quoting an anonymous document. - -Mrs. Piper, the great American clairvoyante, the medium whose -performances are endorsed as genuine even by men who regard Spiritualism -as ninety-eight per cent. fraud, began her career as a "psychic" in -1874. At first she was controlled, in the common Spiritualist way, by -"an Indian girl." Then the great spirits of Bach and Longfellow and -other illustrious dead began to control her. Next a deceased French -doctor, "Phinuit," took her in hand, and she did wonderful things. But -when people who were really critical began to test Phinuit's knowledge -of medicine, and inquire (for the purpose of verification) about -Phinuit's former address on earth, he hedged and shuffled, and then -retired into obscurity, like the Indian girl and Longfellow. Her next -spirit was "Pelham," a young man who modestly desired to remain -anonymous. For four years "George Pelham," a highly cultivated spirit, -gave "marvellously accurate" messages through Mrs. Piper, and the world -was assured that there was not the slightest doubt about his identity. -He was a very cultivated young American who had "passed over" in 1892. - -Mr. Podmore, who, in spite of his high critical faculty, was taken in by -this episode, thinks that telepathy alone can explain the wonderful -things done. He does not believe in ghosts. Mrs. Piper's "subconscious -self," he thinks, creates and impersonates these spirit beings, and -draws the information telepathically from the sitters. But he says that -the impersonation was so "dramatically true to life," so "consistently -and dramatically sustained," that "some of G. P.'s most intimate friends -were convinced that they were actually in communication with the -deceased G. P."[12] It is true that when the dead G. P. was asked about -a society he had helped to form in his youth he could give neither its -aim nor its name, and Podmore admits that Mrs. Piper hedged very badly -in trying to cover up her failure. But on other occasions the hits were -so good that we have, if we do not admit the ghost theory, to take -refuge in telepathy and the subconscious self. - -There is no need even for this thin shade of mysticism. Podmore was -misled by Hodgson's account. "G. P." meant, as everybody knew, George -Pellew. Now a cousin of Pellew's wrote to Mr. Clodd to tell him that, if -he cared to ask the family, he would learn that all the relatives of the -dead man regarded Mrs. Piper's impersonation of him as "beneath -contempt." Mr. Clodd wrote to Professor Pellew, George's brother, and -found that this was the case. The family had been pestered for fifteen -years with reports of the proceedings and requests to authenticate them -and join the S. P. R. They said that they knew George, and they could -not believe that, when freed from the burden of the flesh, he would talk -such "utter drivel and inanity." As to "intimate friends," one of these -was Professor Fiske, who had been described by Dr. Hodgson as -"absolutely convinced" of the identity of "G. P." When Professor Pellew -told Professor Fiske of this, he replied, roundly, that it was "a lie." -Mrs. Piper had, he said, been "silent or entirely wrong" on all his test -questions.[13] - -I am, you see, not choosing "weak spots," as Sir A. C. Doyle said, and -am not quite so ignorant of psychic matters, in comparison with himself, -as he represented (_Debate_, p. 51). I am taking the greatest -"clairvoyante" in the history of the movement, and in precisely those -respects in which she was endorsed by Dr. Hodgson and the American S. P. -R. and Sir O. Lodge and all the leading English Spiritualists. She -failed at every crucial test. Phinuit, who knew so much, could not give -a plausible account of his own life on earth, or how he came to forget -medicine. When Sir O. Lodge presented to Mrs. Piper a sealed envelope -containing a number of letters of the alphabet, she could not read one -of them, and declined to try again. She could not answer simple tests -about Pellew. She gave Professor James messages from Gurney after his -death (1888), and James pronounced them "tiresome twaddle." When Myers -died in 1901 and left a sealed envelope containing a message, she could -not get a word of it. When Hodgson died in 1905 and left a large amount -of manuscript in cipher, she could not get the least clue to it. When -friends put test questions to the spirit of Hodgson about his early life -in Australia, the answers were all wrong. - -Mrs. Piper fished habitually and obviously for information from her -sitters. She got at names by childishly repeating them with different -letters (a very common trick of mediums), and often changed them. She -made the ghost of Sir Walter Scott talk the most arrant nonsense about -the sun and planets. She was completely baffled when a message was given -to her in Latin, though she was supposed to be speaking in the name of -the spirit of the learned Myers, and it took her three months to get the -meaning (out of a dictionary?) of one or two easy words of it. She gave -a man a long account of an uncle whom he had never had; and it turned -out that this information was in the _Encyclopædia_, and related to -another man of the same name. In no instance did she ever give details -that it was _impossible_ for her to learn in a normal way, and it is for -her admirers to prove that she did _not_ learn them in a normal way, -and, on the other hand, to give a more plausible explanation of what -Dr. Maxwell, their great authority, calls her "inaccuracies and -falsehoods." - -The truth is that the phenomenon known as "clairvoyance" rests just as -plainly on trickery as the physical phenomena we have studied. -Margaretta Fox explained decades ago how they used to watch minutely the -faces of sitters and find their way by changes of expression. "I see a -young man," says the medium dreamily, with half-closed but _very_ -watchful eyes. There is no response on the face of the sitter. "I see -the form of a young woman--a child," the medium goes on. At the right -shot the sitter's face lights up with joy and eagerness, and the fishing -goes on. Probably in the end, or after a time, the sitter will tell -people how the clairvoyant saw the form of her darling child "at once." - -In some cases the medium is prepared in advance. Carrington tells us -that he was one day strongly urged to give a man, who thought that he -had abnormal powers, a sitting. He decided at least to give him a -lesson, and made an appointment. The man came with friends at the -appointed hour, and they were astonished and awed when Carrington, as a -clairvoyant, told them their names and other details. He had simply sent -a man to track his visitor to his hotel and learn all about him and his -friends. Other cases are just as easy. When Sir O. Lodge and Sir A. C. -Doyle lost their sons, the whole mediumistic world knew it and was -ready. But mediums gather information about far less important sitters, -because it is precisely these cases that are most impressive. It is -quite easy to get information quietly about a certain man's dead -relatives, and then find an intermediary who will casually recommend him -to see Mrs. ----. I do not suggest that the intermediary knows the -plot, though that may often be the case. - -In other cases the medium tells very little at the first visit. The -"spirit" is dazed in its new surroundings. It takes time to get adjusted -and learn how to talk through a medium. And so on. You go again, and the -details increase. You have, of course, left your name and address in -making a fresh appointment. Some clever people go anonymously. Lady -Lodge went thus and heard remarkable things; but Sir O. Lodge admits -that her companion greatly helped the medium by forgetting herself and -addressing her as "Lady Lodge." You may leave your coat in the hall, and -it is searched. When Truesdell consulted Slade in New York, he wickedly -left in his overcoat pocket a letter which gave the impression that his -name was "Samuel Johnson." The first ghost that turned up was, of -course, "Mary Johnson." - -Still more ingenious was the "clairvoyance" of the famous American -medium Foster, one of the impostors who duped Robert Dale Owen and for -years held a high position in the movement. While he was out of the room -you wrote on bits of paper the names of your dead relatives or friends, -and you then screwed up the bits of paper into pellets. Foster then came -in, and sat near you. He dreamily took the pellets in his hand, pressed -them against his forehead, and then let them fall again upon the table. -Slowly and gradually, as he puffed at his everlasting cigar, the spirits -communicated all the names to him. - -Such tricks can be fathomed only by an expert, and they ought to warn -Spiritualists of the folly of thinking that "fraud was excluded." -Truesdell, the great medium hunter, the terror of the American -Spiritualist world in the seventies, had a sitting with Foster and paid -the usual five dollars. He was puzzled, and consented to come again. On -the second occasion Foster could tell him, clairvoyantly, the name of -his hotel and other details. He had had Truesdell watched in the usual -way. At last the detective got his clue. Foster's cigar was continually -going out, and in constantly re-lighting it he sheltered the match in -the hollow of his hands. Truesdell concluded that he was then reading -the slips of paper, and the rest was easy. In pressing the pellets to -his forehead Foster substituted blank pellets for them and kept the -written papers in his hand. So the next time Truesdell went, and Foster -had touched one of the six pellets and read it, Truesdell snatched up -the other five pellets and found them blank. Foster genially -acknowledged that it was conjuring, but he continued as a priest of the -Spiritualist movement for a long time afterwards. - -Another clairvoyant feat is to read the contents of a sealed envelope, -provided the contents are not a folded letter. We shall see in the next -chapter how the contents of a folded and sealed letter are learned. I -speak here of the simple clairvoyant practice of taking a sealed -envelope which contains only a strip of written paper, pressing it to -the forehead and reading the contents. You need not pay half-a-guinea to -a Bond Street clairvoyante for this. Sponge your envelope with alcohol -(which will soon evaporate and leave no trace) and you can "see through -it." - -Some readers may expect me to say a word here about "clairaudience." The -only word I feel disposed to say is that it is one of the worst pieces -of nonsense in the movement. Clairvoyance means to read the contents of -a sealed letter, or to see spirits which ordinary mortals cannot see. It -is half the stock-in-trade of the ordinary medium. You pay your guinea -or half-guinea, and the gifted lady sees your invisible dead friends and -describes them. Sometimes she is quite accurate, "on information -received." Generally the performance is a tedious medley of guesses and -grotesque inaccuracies. As is known, Mr. Labouchere quite safely -promised a thousand-pound note to any clairvoyante who would see the -number of it through a sealed envelope. The French Academy of Science -had invited clairvoyants, and thoroughly discredited the claim, years -before. - -Yet the imposture goes on daily, all over England and America, and some -now offer the novelty of "clairaudience," or hearing spirit voices which -we ordinary mortals cannot hear. It is the same fraud under another -name. When some clairaudient comes along who can hear the spirits of -Myers, and so many other deceased Spiritualists answer the crucial -questions they have never yet answered, we may become interested. Until -then a new addition to this world of cranks, frauds, decadents, and -nervous invalids is not a matter of much importance. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[12] _The Newer Spiritualism_, p. 180. - -[13] Mr. Clodd, as will be read in the preface to the second edition of -Dr. Mercier's book, sent a copy of this letter to _Light_. The editor -declined to publish it. So Sir A. C. Doyle may justly plead that he knew -nothing about it. Will he ask why? - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -MESSAGES FROM THE SPIRIT-WORLD - - -Clairvoyance, strictly speaking, is supposed to be an abnormal power of -the medium: a range of vision, a fineness of sense, that we less gifted -beings do not possess. But the performance is very apt to resolve itself -into a claim that the medium sees invisible spirits and is communicating -with them. Of real clairvoyance--of a power to read a closed book or a -folded paper or see a distant spot--no instance has ever yet been -recorded that will pass scrutiny. Many scientific men, as I said, who do -not believe in spirits do believe in the abnormal powers of mediums. -They would like to get a proof of clairvoyance, but they are unable to -offer us one. The wonderful stories told of the gift in Spiritualist -circles vanish, like the stories about Home and Moses, the moment the -critical lamp is turned upon them. - -We are therefore reduced to the Spiritualist claim that a medium really -receives information from spirits, and we have to see on what sort of -evidence this is based. Now there is an aspect of this question which -even the leading Spiritualists do not face very candidly. More than -twenty years ago it was felt, and rightly felt, by Spiritualists that at -least a long step forward would be made if they left sealed or -cipher-messages at death, and communicated the contents or the key of -these from "beyond." It is well known how Myers left with Sir Oliver -Lodge a sealed message of this description. A month after his death he -"got into touch" with Lodge through the medium Mrs. Thompson. Unhappily -he had forgotten all about the message, and even about the Society for -Psychical Research! Next the supremely gifted Mrs. Verrall got into -touch with Myers. By this time--it was the end of 1904--Myers had had -time to get adjusted, and was talking more or less rationally through -Mrs. Verrall. If there had not been a very material test in reserve, Sir -O. Lodge and his friends would have sworn that the messages were from -the spirit of Myers. As it was, they were so confident that on December -13, 1904, they solemnly opened the precious envelope. They were struck -dumb when there was not the least correspondence between Mrs. Verrall's -message from Myers and the message he had left in the envelope. - -Miss Dallas tries, in her _Mors Janua Vitæ_, to soften the blow, but her -pleas are useless. The final failure utterly stultifies all the days and -months of supposed messages. And this is not the only case. Hodgson had -adopted a similar test, and it was a ghastly failure. Other -Spiritualists left sealed messages when they died, and not a syllable of -one of them has been read. Our Spiritualists _do not_ get into -communication with the dead. This is negative evidence, but it is far -more impressive than any of the rhetorical and inaccurate accounts of -experiences which they give us. It is precise and unmistakable. Every -Spiritualist who dies now knows that this is the supremely desired test, -yet we have twenty years of complete, unmitigated failure. Men like Sir -O. Lodge tell us that they recognize the personality of Hodgson beyond -mistake in the messages they get through mediums; but the one sure -test, the getting of the key to the cipher-messages which Hodgson left -behind, is an absolute failure. It would become our Spiritualists to -strike a more modest note, and not assure the ignorant public, as Sir A. -C. Doyle does, that the time for proof has gone by and it is for their -opponents now to justify themselves. The experience of the last twenty -years has been deadly to Spiritualist pretensions. - -The truth is that here again Spiritualists had been led into their -belief, that messages from the spirit-world were easy and common, by a -vast amount of mediumistic trickery. The earliest method was by raps, -and we have seen that since 1848 this performance has been a matter of -trickery. The next way was to rap out messages with a leg of the table, -which was merely a variation of the table-lifting we have studied. These -forms are so often used by amateur mediums that it is necessary to -recall our warning that the distinction between paid and unpaid mediums -is not of the least use. Carrington, Maxwell, Podmore, and Flammarion -give numbers of instances of cheating by men and women of good social -position. Carrington tells of an American lawyer who deliberately--not -as a joke--made his friends believe that he could make a poker stand -upright and do similar abnormal phenomena. He did his tricks by means of -black threads. Podmore gives a similar case in England. Flammarion tells -us of a Parisian doctor's wife who cheated flagrantly in order to get -credit for abnormal powers. This sort of prestige has as much -fascination for some people as money has for others. - -The professional mediums, however, early developed in America the trick -of receiving messages from spirits on slates, and this is fraud from -beginning to end. The supreme artist in this field was Henry Slade, whom -Sir A. C. Doyle regards as a genuine intermediary between the lofty -spirits of the other world and ourselves. As Truesdell's account of the -way in which he unmasked Slade as early as 1872 contains one of the -richest stories in the whole collection of Spiritualist anecdotes, one -would have thought that a story-teller like Sir A. C. Doyle could not -possibly have forgotten it. From it we learn that Slade was from the -outset of his career an adroit and brazen and confessed impostor. - -Truesdell paid the customary five dollars, and received pretty and -edifying, but inconclusive, messages from the spirits. Incidentally he -detected that the spirit-touches on his arms were done by Slade's foot, -to distract his attention; but he could not see the method of the -slate-trick. However, as the main theme of the messages was an -exhortation to persevere in his inquiries (at five dollars a sitting to -the medium), he made another appointment. It was on this occasion that -he left a misleading letter in his overcoat in Slade's hall, and found -the spirits assuming that he was "Samuel Johnson, Rome, N.Y." But before -Slade entered the room, or while Slade was going through his -overcoat-pockets, _he_ rapidly overhauled Slade's room. He found a slate -with a pious message from the spirits already written on it, signed (as -was usual) by the spirit of Slade's dead wife, Alcinda. Beneath the -message Truesdell wrote "Henry, look out for this fellow--he is up to -snuff! Alcinda," and replaced the slate. Slade came in, and gave a most -dramatic performance. In his contortions, under the spirit-influence, -he drew the table near to the hidden slate, and "accidentally" knocked -the clean slate off the table. Of course, he picked up the _prepared_ -slate. His emotions can be imagined when he read the words which -Truesdell had written on it. After a little bluster, however, he -laughingly acknowledged that he was a mere conjurer, and he told -Truesdell many tricks of his profession.[14] - -This was in 1872. Four years later Slade came to London, where Sir E. -Ray Lankester and Sir Bryan Donkin again exposed him. Sir E. Ray -Lankester snatched the slate before the message was supposed to be -written on it, and the message was already there. He prosecuted Slade, -who was sentenced to three months' hard labour. He had charged a guinea -a sitter. But a few words had been omitted from the antiquated form of -the charge (which I have previously given in the case of Craddock), and -before Slade could be again prosecuted he fled to the continent. There, -we saw, he duped a group of purblind professors, and he returned to -America in higher repute than ever. In 1882 an inspector of police at -Belleville, in Canada, snatched the slate just as Sir E. Ray Lankester -had done, and exposed him again. He escaped arrest only by a maudlin -appeal for mercy; and on his return to the States he succeeded in -persuading the Spiritualists--who solemnly stated this in their organ, -the _Banner of Light_--that the man exposed at Belleville was an -impostor making use of his name! In 1884 he faced the Seybert Committee, -and its sharp-eyed members saw and exposed every step in his trickery. -Eventually, as I have said, he lived in drink and misery, developed -Bright's disease, and died in the common asylum. Such was the man whom -Sir A. C. Doyle seriously regards as the chosen instrument of his -spiritual powers. - -The Seybert Committee found two different kinds of writing on Slade's -slates. Some messages were short and badly written, and they concluded -that these were written by him with one finger while he held the slate -under the table (as the custom was) to receive a spirit-message. Other -messages were relatively long, well written, and dignified; and they -regarded these as prepared in advance. Both points were fully verified. -At one sitting they noticed two slates resting suspiciously against the -leg of the table. These doubtless had messages written on them, and were -to be substituted for the blank slate when this was supposed to be put -under the table. Slade would then produce the sound of the spirits -writing by scraping with his nail on the edge of the slate. On this -occasion, however, Slade saw that they had their eyes on the slates and -he dare not use them. But one of the members of the committee, -determined to do his work thoroughly, carelessly knocked the two slates -over with his foot, and the messages were exposed. - -The reception of messages from the spirits on slates may linger in rural -or suburban districts, but it has lent itself to such trickery, and been -exposed so thoroughly, that mediums have generally abandoned it. For -whole decades it was the chief way of communicating with the spirits, -and weird and wonderful were the artifices by which the medium defeated -the growing sense of caution of the sitters. In spite of the exposures -of Slade, the English medium Eglinton adopted and improved his methods, -and he was one of the bright stars of the Spiritualist world for twenty -years. He was detected in fraud as early as 1876. At that time he gave -materialization-séances, at which the ghostly form of "Abdullah" -appeared. Archdeacon Colley found the beard and draperies of Abdullah in -his trunk. But exposure never ruins a medium in the Spiritualist world, -and ten years later Eglinton was the most successful and respected -medium in England, especially for slate-messages. - -Hodgson more than suspected him, and he at last found a man, Mr. S. J. -Davey, who was able to reproduce all his tricks. He wrote messages while -he held the slates under the table, and he substituted prepared slates -for clean slates under the noses of his sitters. Perhaps the most -valuable part of his experience was this substitution, which is one of -the fundamental elements of mediumistic trickery. Spiritualists--indeed, -inquirers generally--honestly flatter themselves that they have taken -care that there was no deception of this kind. Such confidence is -foolish, as the professional conjurer does this kind of substitution -under our eyes habitually, and we never see him do it. In order to make -people more cautious Davey, with Dr. Hodgson's connivance, set up as a -medium and gave sittings to Spiritualists. They afterwards sent accounts -of their experiences to the Society for Psychical Research. They were, -as usual, certain that there was no trickery, and that the messages were -genuine. Davey then wrote correct accounts of what he had done, and it -was seen that the accounts of the sitters were inaccurate and their -observation faulty. Some of them indignantly retorted that Davey was a -genuine medium, but found it more profitable to pose as a conjurer and -exposer of mediums! - -In a work specially devoted to this subject (_Spirit Slate Writing and -Kindred Phenomena_, 1899) Mr. W. E. Robinson gives about thirty -different fraudulent ways of getting spirit-messages. Indeed, many of -these may be sub-divided, and you get scores of methods. One method, for -instance, is to write a message with invisible fluid on paper, seal the -apparently blank paper in an envelope, and then let the message appear -and pretend that the spirits wrote it. Mr. Robinson gives thirty-seven -different recipes for the "invisible ink," and sixteen of these require -only heat, which is easily applied, to develop them. In other cases the -inside of the envelope has been moistened with a chemical solution which -develops the hidden writing. One medium used to put an apparently blank -sheet of paper in a clear bottle and seal it. Here trickery seemed -impossible, and the sitter was greatly impressed at receiving a pious -message on the paper. But the message had been written in advance with a -weak solution of copper sulphate, and the bottle had been washed out -with ammonia, which develops it. - -In slate-messages much use is made of a false flap, or a loose sheet of -slate which fits imperceptibly on one side of the framed slate. It -conceals the message written on the slate, and is removed under the -table or under cover of a newspaper. A sheet of slate-coloured silk or -cloth is sometimes fitted on the slate, and it is drawn up the medium's -sleeve or rolled into the frame of the slate. Invisible messages may be -written on the slate with onion or lemon juice, and developed by lightly -passing over them a cloth containing powdered chalk. Double-frame slates -lend themselves to infinite trickery. Slates are provided by "the trade" -with false hinges and all kinds of mechanism. But even when the sitter -brings his own slates, as Zöllner did, and ties them up and seals them, -the medium is not baffled. They are laid aside, for the spirits to write -on at their leisure. At the first convenient opportunity the medium -removes the wax, without spoiling the seal, by passing a heated -knife-blade or fine wire beneath it, and, after untying the strings, -heats the under-surface of the wax and sticks it on again. - -Mediums found that sitters were greatly impressed if they heard the -sound of the spirits writing on the slate. This was easily done by -scraping with the finger nail, and cautious people wanted to have a -security against fraud. One medium gave them adequate security. He held -both hands above the table, yet writing was distinctly heard underneath -it. The man had attached to the table a clamp holding a bit of -slate-pencil, and against this he rubbed a pencil which was fastened to -his trousers by loops of black silk. Others can use a pencil with their -toes--I have seen an armless Bulgar girl use a pen with her toes as -neatly as a good writer uses his fingers--and hold both hands above the -table. - -This trick is often used when a message is wanted in answer to a -question and cannot be written in advance. The usual method is, however, -to hold the slate under the table-top and write on it while it is held -there. At first this was done by means of a tiny bit of slate-pencil -slipped under the nail of the big finger. Slade soon found that this -was suspected, and he made a point of keeping his nails short. The trade -which is at the back of mediums then supplied thimbles with bits of -pencil attached, which the medium could slip on to his finger as he put -the slate under the table. Even thimbles with three differently coloured -chalks were made, and the innocent sitter would be invited to select his -own colour for the spirits to write in. The most amazing tricks were -developed. Robinson tells of a man who would let you bring your own -slate and hold it against your own breast, and the message then appeared -on it. He "tried" your slate when you brought it by writing on it with -his pencil. But, of course, he sponged out all his writing before he -handed the slate back to you, as you could see. He had a double -pencil--slate at one end and silver nitrate at the other--and what he -wrote with the latter was invisible until it was damped with salt-water. -Well, the sponging (or damping) had been done with salt-water, and so -the message (in silver nitrate) appeared as the slate dried against your -breast. - -When you thus allow the medium to use his own apparatus in his own room -you need not be surprised at any result whatever. The sensible man will -remember that behind the mediums is the same ingenious industry which -supplies conjuring outfits. Mr. Selbit showed Mr. Moseley a typewriter, -on an ordinary-looking table, which spelt out, by invisible fingers, a -message in reply to your question. There was an electrical mechanism in -the table, and an electrician in the next room controlling it by a wire -through the hollow table-leg. But even without such elaborate mechanism -mediums can baffle quite vigilant sitters. There was one who would -allow you to examine his nails, yet he got slate-messages without -putting the slate under the table. He had ground slate-pencil to dust, -mixed it with gum, and then cut the mixture into little cubes or -pellets. He simply stuck these on his trousers, and, _after_ you had -examined his nails, helped himself to one. - -When the answers are given on paper a hundred other tricks are employed. -First the medium must learn the question you are putting to the spirits. -If you put it mentally, you will never get more than a lucky or unlucky -guess, unless you happen to be one of those sitters for whom the medium -was prepared. You need not fear telepathy. It must be admitted to-day -that the evidence for telepathy or thought-transference is in as parlous -a condition as the evidence for Spiritualism. After all the challenges -and discussions not a single serious claim lies before us. Sir A. C. -Doyle, it is true, tells (_Debate_, p. 28) quite confidently of Mr. -Lethem getting an answer to his unspoken questions. But Sir Arthur, as -usual, does not tell all the facts. The unspoken questions to which Mrs. -Lethem, as a medium, gave "correct answers" were precisely the two test -questions which Mr. Lethem had put to a medium some time before! We may -surely presume that he had confided that wonderful experience to the -wife of his bosom. - -No, there is no clear case of telepathy, or answers to unspoken -questions, on record. The medium gets you to write your questions. -Spirits are supposed to be more at home in reading such spiritual things -as thoughts than in reading material scribbles; but your medium is not a -spirit, and you will get no answer unless he knows the question. If you -write your question on the pad which he kindly offers, it is easy. -There is a carbon paper underneath, which gives him a duplicate. In one -very elaborate case the carbon and duplicate were under the cloth, and -were drawn off, when you had finished writing, through a hollow leg of -the table into the next room. One medium developed the art of reading -what you wrote from the movements of the top of your pencil. Others, -like Foster, artfully stole your bit of paper and substituted dummies. -But I will quote from Mr. Carrington a last trick which will give the -reader a sufficiently large idea of the wonderful ingenuity which -mediums use in these spirit messages. - -He tells in his _Personal Experiences of Spiritualism_ of a pair of -Chicago mediums--the same Misses Bangs who painted spirit pictures -before your eyes, as I have previously described--whose method was -extraordinarily difficult to detect. You wrote a letter to a deceased -person. You folded a blank sheet with this letter, and sealed them -yourself in an envelope. This letter you handed to Miss Bangs as she sat -at the table opposite you. After a long delay, but without her leaving -the room, she restored the envelope (which had lain on the table under a -blotter) to you intact, and you found a letter to you from your spirit -friend written on the blank sheet you had enclosed. - -Mr. Carrington admits that he can only guess the way in which this -striking performance was done, but the reader who cares to read his full -and interesting account will feel that his conjecture is right. The -letter did not remain on the table. Under cover of the blotting pad and -various nervous movements it was conveyed to the medium's lap, and from -there to a shallow tray on the floor under the table. The medium, he -noticed, sat close to a door which led into an adjoining room, and he -believes that the tray was pulled by a string from under the table into -the next room. An expert whom he afterwards sent to examine the house, -under cover of a sitting, verified his conjecture that there was space -enough at the bottom of the door to pull a shallow tray through. In the -next room it was easy for Miss Bangs No. 2 to open the letter, write the -reply, and seal the envelope again. Even wax seals offer no difficulty -to mediums. The letter was re-conducted to the table in the same furtive -way. A desperate Spiritualist may say that his hypothesis is simpler -than this. But there is one little difficulty. No such person had ever -existed as the supposed dead relative to whom Mr. Carrington addressed -his letter! He had hoaxed the hoaxer. - -Here were two quiet and inoffensive-looking spinsters earning a good -living by deceptive practices (this and the spirit-painting trick) which -they had themselves, apparently, originated, and which taxed the -ingenuity of an expert conjurer to discover. What chance has the -ordinary inquirer, much less the eager Spiritualist, against guile of -this description? A boy of sixteen can buy a box of conjuring apparatus -for a guinea. It contains only tricks which have been scattered over the -country for years. Yet in your own drawing-room he can, after a little -practice, cheat your eyes every time, although you know that there is -trickery, and are keenly on the look-out for it. What chance have you, -then, against a man or woman who has been conjuring for twenty years? -What chance have you in a poor light? What earthly chance have you in -the dark? It is amazing how inquirers and Spiritualists forget this -elementary truism. They tell you repeatedly, with the air of supreme -experts in conjuring, that "there was no possibility of fraud." That is -sheer self-deception. Even expert conjurers have been completely -deceived by mediums, as Bellachini was with Slade (a confessed impostor) -and Carrington was with Eusapia Palladino. The man who tells you that -there was no fraud because he saw none is as foolish as the man who -expects _you_ either to explain where the fraud was or else embrace -Spiritualism. - -There is one other method of receiving messages which we must briefly -notice. It is, to Spiritualists, the most impressive of all. The ghost -of the dead _talks directly to you_. A "direct voice" medium is, of -course, required, and some kind of trumpet is provided by the medium -through which the spirit speaks to you. If you are known to the medium, -or if you have a good imagination and are very eager, you can recognize -the very accents of your dead wife or mother-in-law. But there is one -disadvantage of this impressive phenomenon. It must take place in -complete darkness; and we remember the warning of that high and -experienced psychic authority, Dr. Maxwell, that the man who seeks any -kind of phenomena in complete darkness is wasting his time. - -Spiritualist writers are amusing when they try to reconcile us to the -conditions which their mediums have imposed on them. Are there not -certain conditions for the appearance of all scientific phenomena, they -ask us? Most assuredly. You cannot grow carrots without soil, and so on. -Is not darkness a condition of certain scientific processes? Again, -most certainly. The photographic plate must be prepared in the dark, or -in a dull red light. Therefore.... That is just where the Spiritualist -fails. If the darkness under cover of which the photographic chemist -prepares his plates lent itself equally to cover fraud or to protect his -operations, there would be a parallel. As it is, there is no parallel. - -The red light of the photographer can serve only one purpose. When the -medium uses it, there are two purposes conceivable. One is, on the -Spiritualist theory, that white light may interfere with the -"magnetism," or the "psychic force," or whatever the latest jargon is. -The other conceivable purpose is that it may cover fraud. Everybody -admits that the darkening of the planet since 1848 has covered "a vast -amount of fraud," to use the words of Baron Schrenck. Few people admit -that it has favoured real phenomena. It is therefore quite absurd to -attempt to reconcile us to the darkness by the analogy of photographic -operations. There is no analogy at all. In the one case the poor light -certainly favours fraud, and does not certainly do anything else. In the -other case the red light never covers fraud, but has a single clear -purpose. - -Red light, as I have said, is the most tiring for the eye of all kinds -of light. The man who thinks that he can control the hands and feet of -seven mediums in such a light cannot expect to be taken seriously. He -can expect only to be taken in. But the man who pays any attention to -phenomena for which the medium requires pitch darkness is even worse. -Why not simply _imagine_ that the dead still live, and save the guinea? -You have not the slightest guarantee of the genuineness of the -phenomena. Imagining that you can recognize the voice or the features -is one of the oldest of illusions. - -In the summer of 1912 our Spiritualists were elated by the discovery of -a new medium of the most powerful type. Mrs. Ebba Wriedt came from that -perennial breeding-ground of great mediums, the United States, where she -had long been known. In 1912 she illumined London. Through her W. T. -Stead was able once more to address Spiritualists _viva voce_. One -recognized the familiar voice unmistakably. Scepticism was ludicrous. -Did not a Serbian diplomatist talk to the spirit in Serb, which Mrs. -Wriedt did not know, and answer for the genuineness of the phenomena? -_Light_ had wonderful columns on Mrs. Wriedt's marvels. She was, the -editor of a psychic journal said, "the pride and the most convincing -argument of the whole Spiritualist and Theosophical world." In admiring -her powers, even the mutual hostility of Spiritualist and Theosophist -was laid aside, it seems. - -Norwegian Spiritualists were eager to avail themselves of this rare -gift, and they asked if Norwegian spirits could speak through the great -medium. After consulting the spirits--a cynic would say, after -practising a word or two of Norwegian--Mrs. Wriedt replied in the -affirmative, and boldly crossed the sea. - -There is, of course, no intrinsic reason, on the Spiritualist theory, -why spirits should be confined to the language of the medium. In "direct -voice" they do not even have to use her vocal organs. A trumpet lies on -the ground or the table, and the spirits lift it up and megaphone (very -softly) through it. It is quite inexplicable to those of us who are mere -inquirers why the spirits must always talk English in England, American -in America, and so on. Even when they try, as in the case of the Thomas -brothers, to talk their native American to us in England, the result is -half bad American and half Welsh-English. It would be much more -impressive to our hesitating generation if a half-dozen foreigners were -brought to the sitting, and each had a real conversation--not a word or -two--with a ghost of his own nationality. Somehow the spirits insist on -speaking the language, and even the dialect, of the medium. We shall -consider in the next chapter a few supposed variations from this -unfortunate rule of spirit-intercourse. - -Well, Mrs. Wriedt went to Norway, and confronted her new inquirers with -all the solidity and confidence of the well-built American matron. -Somehow, the vocabulary of the Norwegian dead, who came along, was very -limited. They could say only "Yes" or "No" in Norwegian. Otherwise the -first séance was very good. To make up for their culpable ignorance of -their native tongue the Norwegian ghosts scattered flowers about the -dark room, gave ghostly music, and did other marvellous things. But -there were two ladies and a professor--Frau Nielsen and Frau Anker and -Professor Birkeland--who did not like this "Yes" and "No" business. It -was scriptural, but not ladylike. So the professor held Mrs. Wriedt's -hands very firmly at the second séance, and for twenty minutes the -spirits were dumb. They always resent such things, as every Spiritualist -knows. The trumpets lay on the floor, neglected and silent. - -At length Professor Birkeland heard some very faint explosive sounds -which his ears located in the trumpets or horns (in shape something like -the old coach-horn). He looked steadily and saw them move slightly, a -phosphorescent light in them making the movements clear. A good -Spiritualist would have seen that this was the beginning of -manifestations, and he would have paid close attention to the trumpets -and relaxed his hard control of Mrs. Wriedt. The professor was, however, -of the type which mediums call "brutal." He jumped up, switched on the -electric light, and, before the Spiritualists could interfere, had -snatched the two trumpets from the floor and bolted to the nearest -analytic chemist. So the curtain fell on one more glorious act in the -Spiritualist drama. Mrs. Wriedt had put in the trumpet particles of -metallic potassium which, meeting the moisture she had also thoughtfully -provided, explained the "psychic movements." Close examination disclosed -that on other occasions she had used Lycopodium seeds to produce the -same effect. - -Professor Birkeland did not discover how the voices were produced, but -they offer no difficulty. The trumpets were, he found, telescopic. Each -consisted of three parts, and could stretch to nearly three feet. When -some guileless lady, who is controlling the medium, allows a hand to -stray in the usual way, the trumpet is seized, and it will give a -"direct voice" over the heads of the sitters or close to any one of -them. When the trumpet remains on the ground during the ghostly message, -the medium has a rubber speaking-tube fitted to it. When no trumpet is -provided at all, it makes no difference. The medium has thoughtfully -brought one of these telescopic aluminium tubes in his trousers. It -folds up to less than a foot. In some of the earlier cases, possibly -still in some cases, the medium's little daughter, who sits demure and -mildly interested on the couch before the light is switched off, mounts -the furniture in the dark, and obligingly impersonates the ghost. - -No one would accuse Mr. Crawford, of Belfast, of being ultra-critical, -yet his experience confirms my conclusions. His marvellous experiences -with the pious Kathleen drew the attention of the Spiritualist world, -and all sorts of mediums came to help. First he tried the clairvoyants. -But they saw such weird and contradictory things that he was worried. -None of them saw the wonderful "psychic cantilever" which he thought the -spirits made to lift the table, but they all saw ghostly hands where he -did not want them; and the worst of it was that the same spirits which -had confirmed his theory of a cantilever, and even allowed him to take a -photograph (which he has meanly refused to publish) of it, now joyously -confirmed the quite different theory of the Spiritualist clairvoyants. - -So he gave it up, and next tried a "direct voice" medium. He is fairly -polite about the result. He got plenty of voices from all quarters--in -total darkness. Not only did a voice come from the ceiling, but a mark -was made on it. The medium's silk coat was frivolously taken off her by -the ghosts, and flung on the lap of one of the sitters. Strangely, these -things do not impress him as much as the raising of a two-pound stool to -a height of four feet does. He drops dark hints that things were said -about this "direct voice" medium. She was a big woman, and she was not -searched; and telescopic aluminium tubes take up little room. Mr. -Crawford put his little electrical register near her feet, and she was -"annoyed and nervous." In short, Mr. Crawford seems to have formed the -same opinion as any sensible person would in the circumstances.[15] - -We have still to examine the claims of the automatic writers; but, after -all this, the reader will not expect much. Never yet was a message -received which could not have been learned by the medium in a normal -way. The overwhelming mass of the messages which are delivered daily in -every country are fraudulent. In an amusing recent work (_The Road to -En-Dor_) two officers have shown us how easy it was to dupe even -educated men by these professions of marvellous powers. The advantage is -on the side of the conjurer every time, and the sitter has little -chance. Let the mediums come before a competent tribunal. All sorts of -inducements have been offered to them to do so, but they are very shy of -competent investigators. In 1911 an advertisement in the _Times_ offered -£1,000 to any medium who would merely give proof of possessing -telepathic power, and there was not a single offer. This year Mr. Joseph -Rinn, a former member of the American Society for Psychical Research and -a life-long inquirer, has deposited with that Society a sum of £1,000 -for any evidence of communication with the dead under proper conditions. -There will again be no application. Mediums prefer a simpler and more -reverent audience, even if the fees be smaller. But those who consult -them under their own conditions, knowing that fraud has been practised -under those conditions from San Francisco to Petrograd ever since 1848, -must not talk to us about "evidence." - -FOOTNOTES: - -[14] The chapter should be read in Truesdell's racy book, which is now -unfortunately rare, _Bottom Facts Concerning the Science of -Spiritualism_ (1883), pp. 276-307. - -[15] These experiments are recorded in his _Experiments in Psychical -Science_ (1919), pp. 134-35 and 170-89. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -AUTOMATIC WRITING - - -The Spiritualist--if any Spiritualist reader has persevered thus -far--will be surprised to hear that many Rationalists censure me because -I decline to admit that his movement is "all fraud." For heaven's sake, -he will exclaim, let us hear something about our honesty for a change! -Even the impartial outsider will possibly welcome such a change. How is -it possible, he will ask, that so many distinguished men have given -their names to the movement if it is all fraudulent? - -Now let us have a word first on these supposed distinguished -Spiritualists. During the debate with me Sir A. C. Doyle produced a tiny -red book and told the audience that it contained "the names of 160 -people of high distinction, many of them of great eminence, including -over forty professors" (p. 19). He said expressly that "these 160 people -... have announced themselves as Spiritualists" (p. 20). The book was -handed to me, and it will be understood that I could not very well read -it and attend to my opponent's speech, to which I had to reply. But I -saw at a glance several utterly destructive weaknesses. Several men were -described as "professor" who had no right to the title. Several men were -included who were certainly _not_ Spiritualists (Richet, Ochorowicz, -Schiaparelli, Flammarion, Maxwell, etc.). And in not one single case is -a precise reference given for the words which are attributed to these -men. My opponent regretted that chapter and verse were not "always" -(this word is omitted from the printed Debate) quoted in his little -book. As a matter of fact, "chapter and verse" (book and page) are -_never_ given, in any instance; and in the vast majority of the 160 -cases not even words are quoted to justify the inclusion. He further -said that he quite admitted that some of the "forty professors" in the -book did not go so far as Spiritualists. But I have already quoted his -words to the effect that they had "announced themselves as -Spiritualists," and the same impression is undoubtedly conveyed by the -book itself, the title of which is _Who Are These Spiritualists?_ - -I have the book before me, and any reader who cares to glance at the -printed Debate and see what Sir A. C. Doyle said about it will be -astonished when I describe it. The printed text gives 126 names, and 32 -further names (many illegible) are written on the margins in Sir A. C. -Doyle's hand. Only in 53 cases out of the 158 is any quotation given -from the person named, and in not _one_ of these cases are we told where -the quotation may be verified. There are 27 (not 49, as Sir Arthur said) -men described as "professors"; and of these several never were -professors, and very few ever were Spiritualists. Sir A. C. Doyle has -himself included Professor Morselli, who calls Spiritualism "childish -and immoral." There are men included who died before Spiritualism was -born, and there are twenty or thirty Agnostics included. Men like "Lord -Dunraven, Lord Adare, and Alexander Wilder" are described, with the most -amazing effrontery, as "some of the world's greatest authors." Padre -Secchi, the pious Roman Catholic, is included. Thackeray, Sir E. Arnold, -Professor de Morgan, Thiers, Lord Brougham, Forbes Winslow, Longfellow, -Ruskin, Abraham Lincoln, and other distinguished sceptics are dragged -in. For sloppy, slovenly, loose, and worthless work--and I have in -twenty years of controversy had to handle a good deal--this little book -would be hard to beat. - -A list of distinguished Spiritualists could be accommodated on a single -page of this book. A list of distinguished Rationalists in the same -period (1848-1920) would take twenty pages. The truth is that in the -earlier days of Spiritualism, when less was known than we now know about -mediumistic fraud, a number of distinguished men were "converted." They -were in every case converted by the impostors I have exposed in the -course of this work--by Home, Florrie Cook, Mrs. Guppy, Eglinton, Slade, -Morse, Holmes, etc. What is the value of such conversions? Who are the -"distinguished" Spiritualists _to-day_? Sir A. C. Doyle, Sir O. Lodge, -Sir W. Barrett, Mr. Gerald Balfour.... The reader will be astonished to -know that those are the only names of living men of any distinction that -Sir A. C. Doyle dares to give, either in the text or on the margins of -his book. What their opinion is worth the reader may judge for himself. - -Let us pass on. I wrote recently in the _Literary Guide_ that "there are -hundreds of honest mediums." Some of my readers resented this as -over-generous. Possibly they have only a vague idea of Spiritualism, and -it is advisable for us to reflect clearly on the point. In the eyes of -Spiritualists every man or woman, paid or unpaid, who is supposed to be -in any way in communication with spirits is a "medium." The word does -not simply apply to men and women who, for payment, sit in cabinets or -in a circle, and lift tables, play guitars, write on slates, produce -ghosts, pull furniture about, tug the beards of sitters, and so on. I -should agree with the reader that these people, paid or unpaid, and all -mediums who operate in the dark or in red light, are probably frauds. -That is a fair conclusion from the preceding chapters, in which I have -exposed every variety of their manifestations, and from the history of -Spiritualism. - -This rules out all professional mediums and a large proportion of the -amateurs. Perhaps the reader does not know, and would like to know, what -a séance is like. As far as the "more powerful" (and more certainly -fraudulent) mediums are concerned, I have already given a sufficient -description. A cloth-covered frame or "cabinet" is raised at one end of -the room, or a curtain is drawn across an alcove or corner. In this the -medium generally (not always) sits, and the curtains are closed until -the medium thinks fit to have them opened. The medium is sometimes -hypnotized, and sometimes falls into a natural trance; it matters -little, for the trance is invariably a sham, and the medium is wide -awake all the time, though he simulates the appearance of a trance. The -lights are lowered or extinguished. Generally a red-glass lantern or -bulb (sometimes several) is lit. Then, after a time, which is occupied -by singing or music (to drown the noise of the medium's movements), the -ghost appears, or the tambourine is played, or the table is lifted, and -so on. - -These are the heavier and more expensive performances, and are -constantly being exposed. The medium has apparatus in the false seat of -his chair or concealed about his person. But the common, daily séance is -quite different. You sit round a table or in a circle, or (if you will -rise to the price) sit alone with the lady. The light may be good. The -medium "sees" and describes spirit forms hovering about you. If you are -one of the people whom the medium has, through an intermediary, -attracted to the circle, you get some accurate details. If not, the -medium begins with generalities and, studying your expression, feels her -way to details. It is generally a waste of time. Friends of mine have -gone from one to another medium in London, and they tell me that it is -simply a tedious and most irritating way of convincing oneself that -these people are all frauds. - -But beyond these are hundreds, or thousands, of private individuals who -discover that they are mediums. They take a pencil in their hands, fall -into a passive, dreamy state, and presently the pencil "automatically" -writes messages from the spirit world. Others use the planchette (a -pencil fixed in a heart-shaped board which, when the medium's fingers -are on it, writes on a sheet of paper) or the ouija board (in which the -apex of the heart spells out messages by pointing rapidly to the letters -of the alphabet painted on a larger board over which it travels). I have -studied all three forms, and may take them together as "automatic -writing." - -The first question is whether this _can_ be done unconsciously. If such -messages are consciously spelt or written by the medium, it is, of -course, fraud, because the messages purport to come from the dead. My -own experience convinces me that even here there is a vast amount of -fraud. The social status and general character of the medium do not -seem to matter at all, as we have repeatedly seen. People get into the -attitude of the child. "I can do what you can't do," you constantly hear -the child say to its fellows. There is a good deal of the child in all -of us. Prestige, distinction, credit for a rare or original power, is as -much sought as money; and this motive grows stronger when the medium -already has money. Everybody knows, or ought to know, the perfectly -authentic story of Mozart's _Requiem_. A wealthy amateur, Count Walsegg, -secretly paid Mozart to compose that famous Mass, and it was to be -passed off by Walsegg as his own. - -But while there is much fraud even in automatic writing, there are -certainly hundreds of mediums of this description who quite honestly -believe that they are spirit-controlled. Mr. G. B. Shaw's mother was an -automatic artist of that class. I have seen some of her spirit drawings. -A high-minded medical man of my acquaintance was a medium of the same -type. The class is very numerous. Psychologically, it is not very -difficult to understand. A pianist can play quite complicated pieces -unconsciously or subconsciously. A writer, who cannot normally write -decent fiction, may have wonderful flights of imagination in a dream. An -expert worker can do quite complicated things without attention. -Something of the same faculty seems to come in time to the automatic -writer or artist. Consciousness is more or less--never entirely, -perhaps--switched off from its usual connection with the hand, and the -part of the brain-machine which is not lit by consciousness takes over -the connection. - -That this can be done in perfect honesty will be clear to every reader -of Flammarion's book, _Les forces naturelles inconnues_. Flammarion -never became a Spiritualist, but he was quite a fluent automatic writer -in his youth. Victorien Sardou, the great dramatist, belonged to the -same circle, and was an automatic draughtsman. Flammarion gives -specimens of the work of both. Quite without a deliberate intention, he -signed his automatic writing (on science) "Galileo." - -I have no doubt that at the time both these distinguished men were -strongly tempted to embrace the Spiritualist theory. These experiences, -and the experiences of the séance, can be exceedingly impressive and -dramatic. The man who has never been there is too apt to think that all -Spiritualists are fools. I have been to séances, and I do not admit -that. I am quarrelling with Spiritualists because they will not realize -the possibilities and the actual abundance of fraud. But the séance is -undoubtedly very impressive at times. I have held a serious -conversation, in German and Latin, through an amateur medium of my own -acquaintance, with the supposed spirit of a certain German theologian of -the last century whose name (as given) was well known to me. I do not at -all wonder that many succumb in sittings of this sort. But I found -invariably that, if one resolutely kept one's head and devised crucial -tests, the claim broke down. So it is with Flammarion and Sardou. What -"Galileo" wrote in 1870 was just the astronomy of that time; and much of -it is totally wrong to-day. Sardou, on the other hand, drew remarkable -sketches of life on Jupiter; and we know to-day that Jupiter is red-hot! - -This is a broad characteristic of automatic writing since it began in -the fifties of the nineteenth century. At its best it merely reflected -the culture of the time, which was often wrong. Stainton Moses, for -instance, wrote reams of edifying revelation. But I find among his -wonderful utterances about ancient history certain statements concerning -the early Hindus and Persians which recent discoveries have completely -falsified. He had been reading certain books which were just passable -(though already a little out of date) fifty years ago. Among other -things the spirits told him that Manu lived 3,000 B.C., and that there -was a high "Brahminical lore" long before that date! So with Andrew -Jackson Davis, the first of these marvellous bringers of wisdom from the -spirit world. He had probably read R. Chambers's _Vestiges of Creation_, -and he gave out weird and wonderful revelations about evolution. In the -beginning was a clam, which begot a tadpole, which begot a quadruped, -and so on. Davis certainly lied hard when he used to deny that he had -read the books to which his "revelations" were traced, but no one can -deny his originality. - -Then there was Fowler, an American medical student and pious amateur -medium, who was regarded with reverence by the American Spiritualists. I -invite the reader's particular attention to this man, as he is one of -those unpaid individuals who are supposed (by Spiritualists) to have no -conceivable motive for cheating. Yet he lied and cheated in the most -original fashion. He told his friends that ghostly men entered his -bedroom at nights, produced ghostly pens and ink, and left messages in -Hebrew on his table. An expert in Hebrew found that the message was a -very bad copy of a passage from the Hebrew text of _Daniel_. This did -not affect the faith of Spiritualists, who put a piece of parchment in -Fowler's room for a further message. They had a rich reward. They found -next day a spiritual manifesto signed by no less than fifty-six spirits, -including some of the statesmen who had signed the Declaration of -Independence. - -The frauds were very gross in those early decades. Franklin, Washington, -even Thomas Paine, sent hundreds of messages from the "Summerland." As -time went on, Socrates, Plato, Sir I. Newton, Milton, Galileo, -Aristotle, and nearly everybody whose name was in an encyclopædia, -guided the automatic writers. When one reads the inane twaddle signed -with their names, one wonders that even simple people could be deceived. -Dante dictated a poem of three thousand lines in the richest provincial -American. One automatic writer wrote, under inspiration, a book of a -hundred thousand words. It is estimated that there were two thousand -writing mediums in the United States alone four years after the -foundation of the movement. - -Mrs. Piper was chiefly an automatic writer in the latter part of her -famous career as a medium, but we need scarcely discuss further her -accomplishments. In her later years she said that she did not claim to -be controlled by spirits, and this is sometimes wrongly described as a -confession of fraud. What she directly meant was that she did not -profess any opinion as to the source of the knowledge she gave to -sitters. She seemed to favour the theory of telepathy. When, however, we -remember that she spoke constantly in the name of spirits (Longfellow, -Phinuit, Pelham, Myers, etc.), the plea seems curious. Those who believe -that she was really in a sort of trance-state, and knew not what she -was doing, may be disposed to accept Podmore's theory, that her -subconscious personality dramatized these various spirits or supposed -spirits. Some of us do not like this idea of trance. In the hundreds of -exact records of proceedings with mediums that I have read, I have not -seen a page that suggested a genuine "trance," but I have noted scores -and scores of passages which showed that the medium feigned to be in a -trance, but was very wide awake. - -Mrs. Thompson is another clairvoyant and automatic writer who has been -much appreciated by modern Spiritualists. It is well to recall that -before 1898 she was a medium for "physical phenomena." She even brought -about materializations. Then she met Mr. Myers, and her powers assumed a -more refined form. Dr. Hodgson, that quaint mixture of blunt criticism -and occasional credulity, had six sittings with her, and roundly stated -that she was a fraud. The correct information which she gave him was, he -said, taken from letters to which she had access, or from works of -reference like _Who's Who_. In one case, which made a great impression, -she gave some remarkably abstruse and correct information. It was -afterwards found that the facts were stated in an old diary which had -belonged to her husband. She herself produced the diary, and said that -she had never read it; so, of course, everybody believed her. When -Professor Sidgwick died, in 1900, his "spirit" used to communicate -through her. She reproduced his manner, and even his writing (which she -said she had never seen), very fairly; but she could give no -communication from him of "evidential" value. - -The impersonation of dead people by the "entranced" medium makes a -great impression on Spiritualists. It is difficult to understand why. -One medium quite convinced a friend of mine by such a performance. She -sat, in the circle, in a trance one day, when she suddenly rose from her -chair, stroked an imaginary moustache, and began to speak in a gruff -voice. "He"--the young lady had become a cavalry man--explained in a -dazed way that he had died at Knightsbridge Barracks on the previous -day, and gave his name. Great was the joy of the elect on finding -afterwards that a soldier of the name had died at Knightsbridge on the -previous day. - -It was quite childish. It is just by learning such out-of-the-way facts, -as they easily can, and making use of them, that the mediums keep up -their reputations. There was no reason whatever why the medium should -not have learned of the death and made so profitable a use of it. -Stainton Moses often did such things. One day he was possessed by the -spirit of a cabman who said that he had been killed on the streets of -London that very afternoon. By an unusual oversight the spirit did not -give his name. It was afterwards found that the accident was reported in -an evening paper which Stainton Moses _might_ have seen just before the -séance; and, by a curious coincidence, the reporter had not given the -cabman's name. In other cases, where mediums had been invited to -districts with which they were not familiar, yet they gave quite -accurate details about local dead, it was found on inquiry that the -information _might_ have been gathered from the stones in the local -cemetery. - -A common retort of the Spiritualist, when you point out the possibility -of the medium impersonating the dead, is that, "if she did so, she must -be one of the cleverest actresses in England." You are asked, -triumphantly, why the lady should be content with a few pounds a week as -a despised medium, when she might be making five thousand a year on a -stage. Any person who has seen these "trances" will know the value of -their "dramatic" art. Almost anybody could do it. The medium makes from -three to five pounds a week by such things, but if she tried the stage -she would have, at the most, a minor part with fifty or sixty pounds a -year. Spiritualists get their judgments weirdly distorted by their bias. -I need only quote the extravagant language in which Sir A. C. Doyle -refers to Mr. Vale Owen's trash or Mrs. Spencer's picture of Christ. He -makes the miracle in which he wishes to believe. - -Two particular cases of spirit messages by automatic writing have lately -been pressed upon us, and we must briefly examine them. One is given in -a book by Mr. F. Bligh Bond, called _The Gate of Remembrance_, which is -recommended to us by Sir A. C. Doyle as one of the five particularly -convincing works which he would have us read. He again fails to tell his -readers that Mr. Bligh Bond draws a very different conclusion than his -own from the facts. He has a mystical theory of a universal memory or -consciousness, a sort of ocean into which the memories of the dead have -flowed. He does not believe that the individual spirits of the dead -monks of pre-Reformation days came along and dictated their views -through his automatic-writing friend. - -Any person, however, who reads the book impartially will see no need for -either the Spiritualist view or Mr. Bond's. The main point is that, -through Mr. Bond's friend, Mr. John Alleyne, what purported to be the -ghosts of the old monks of Glastonbury Abbey wrote quite vivid sketches -of their medieval life in the Abbey and, particularly, suggested the -position and general features of a chapel that was at the time unknown. -As to the character or impersonation of the monks, which seems to -Spiritualists so impressive, we are told by experts on medieval language -that it will not sustain criticism. The language is quaint and pleasant -to read, but it is not consistent either in old English or Latin. It is -the language of a man who is familiar with medieval English and Latin, -but does not speak it as his _own_ language, and so often trips. It is, -in other words, Mr. John Alleyne writing old English and medieval Latin, -and stumbling occasionally. - -As to the indication of a buried chapel, both this and the general -impersonation of the old monks are intelligible to any man who has read -the book itself, not Spiritualist accounts of it. Mr. Bond, an architect -and archæologist, expected to be appointed to the charge of the ruins, -and he and his friend Mr. Alleyne steeped themselves, all through the -year 1907, in the literature of the subject. They read all that was -known about Glastonbury, and lived for months in the medieval -atmosphere. Then Mr. Alleyne took his pencil and began to write -automatically. The general result is not strange; nor is it at all -supernatural that he should have formed a theory about the lost chapel -and conveyed this to paper in the guise of a message from one of the old -monks. - -The next work recommended to us is a short paper by Mr. Gerald Balfour -called "The Ear of Dionysius" (published in the _Proceedings of the -Society for Psychical Research_, vol. xxix, March, 1917). The writing -medium, Mrs. Verrall, a Cambridge lady of a highly cultivated and -refined type and an excellent classical scholar, found in her automatic -"script" on August 26, 1910, a reference to "the Ear of Dionysius." -Three years and a-half later another writing medium, Mrs. Willett, got -one of those rambling and incoherent messages, which are customary, in -reference to "the Ear of Dionysius." This seemed to be more than a -coincidence, as Mrs. Willett is no classical scholar. But Mr. Balfour -candidly warns us that Mrs. Willett said that she had heard nothing -about the earlier reference to the Ear of Dionysius in Mrs. Verrall's -case. It would be remarkable if the fact had been kept entirely secret -for three and a-half years, as some importance was attached to it in -psychic circles, and we may prefer to trust Mr. Balfour's memory rather -than Mrs. Willett's. He says that he feels sure that one day, in the -long interval, Mrs. Willett asked him what the Ear of Dionysius was. - -Mr. Balfour, however, believes that in the sequel we have fair evidence -of spirit communication. The reader who is not familiar with these -matters should know that a new test had been devised for controlling the -origin of these messages. It was felt that if the "spirit" of one of the -dead psychical researchers (who could no longer read or remember the -sealed messages they had left) were to give an unintelligible message to -one medium, a second unintelligible message to a second medium, and then -the key to both to either or to a third medium, and if the contents of -these messages were strictly withheld from the mediums (each knowing -only her own part), a very definite proof of spirit origin would be -afforded. Thus the ghost of Mr. Verrall or Mr. Myers might take a line -of an obscure Greek poet, give one word of it to Mrs. Thompson, another -to Mrs. Willett, and then point out the connection through Mrs. Verrall. -Mr. Balfour claims that this was done in connection with the Ear of -Dionysius. Mrs. Willett, who does not know Latin or Greek, got messages -containing a number of classical allusions. Among them was one which no -one could understand, and the key to this was some time afterwards given -in the automatic writing of Mrs. Verrall. - -The reader will now begin to understand the serious and respectable part -of modern Spiritualism. I presume that these cultivated Spiritualists -regard the "physical phenomena" of the movement and the ordinary mediums -with the same contempt that I do. They know that fraud is being -perpetrated daily, and that the history of the movement, since its -beginning in 1848, has reeked with fraud. It is on these refined -messages and cross-references that they would stake their faith. - -But, while we readily grant that these things offer an arguable case and -must not be dismissed with the disdain which we have shown in the -previous chapters, we feel that the new basis is altogether insecure and -inadequate. Two mediums get a reference to so remote and unlikely a -thing as "the Ear of Dionysius." When you put it in this simple form it -sounds impressive; but we saw that there was an interval of three and -a-half years, and we do not feel at all sure that people so profoundly -interested, so religiously eager, in these matters would succeed in -keeping the first communication entirely from the ears of medium No. 2. -In point of fact, Mr. Balfour tells us that he has a distinct -recollection of being asked by Mrs. Willett, during the interval, what -the Ear of Dionysius was. Mrs. Willett denies it. We shall probably -prefer the disinterested memory of Mr. Balfour. Now, the very same -weakness is found even in the second part of the story. For any -evidential value it rests on two very large suppositions:-- - -1. That one medium knew absolutely nothing about the most interesting -and promising development which was for months agitating the minds of -her own friends. - -2. That another medium heroically refrained from reading up any -classical dictionaries or works on the subject, and reserved her mind -strictly for whatever information the spirits might give her. - -One can scarcely be called hypercritical if one has doubts about these -suppositions. There does not seem to be any room for the theory either -of telepathy or of spirit communication. - -The two experiences I have just analysed are selected by Sir A. C. Doyle -as the most convincing in the whole of the work of the more modern and -more refined Spiritualists. I need not linger over other experiences of -these automatic writers. For the most part, automatic writing provides -only vapid or inaccurate stuff which is its own refutation. In the early -years, when Franklin, Shakespeare, Plato, and all the most illustrious -dead wrote nonsense of the most vapoury description, the situation was -quite grotesque. Nor is this kind of thing yet extinct. There are -mediums practising in London to-day who put the sitter in communication -with the sages and poets of ancient times. In the very best of these -cases there is a certain silliness about the communications which makes -them difficult to read. Even the spirits of Myers and Verrall seem to be -in a perpetual Bank-Holiday mood, making naive little puns and jokes, -and talking in the rambling, incoherent way that scholars do only in -hours of domestic dissipation. There is a world thirsting (it is said) -for proof that the dead still live. Here are (it is said) men like W. T. -Stead, Myers, Hodgson, Verrall, Sidgwick, Vice-Admiral Moore, Robert -Owen, etc., at the "other end of the wire," as William James used to -say. Yet, apparently, nothing can be said or done that quite clearly -goes beyond the power of the mediums. The arrogance of the Spiritualists -in the circumstances is amazing. - -There are a dozen ways in which the theory could be rigorously tested. -One has been tried and completely failed: the communication of messages -which were left in proper custody before death. We shall, of course, -presently have an announcement that such a message has been read. Some -zealous Spiritualist will leave a sealed message, and will take care -that some medium or other is able to read it. We may be prepared for -such things. The fact is that half-a-dozen serious and reliable -Spiritualists have tried this test, and it has hopelessly miscarried. -Another test was that devised by Dr. Hodgson--to leave messages in -cipher, though not sealed. This also has completely failed. A third test -would be for one of these ghosts of learned Cambridge men, who are so -fluent on things that do not matter, to dictate a passage from an -obscure Greek poet through a medium who does not know Greek _at the -request of a sitter_. It is a familiar and ancient trick for a medium -to recite or write a passage in a foreign language. It has been learned -beforehand. But let a scholar ask the spirit of a dead scholar to spell -out through the ignorant medium _there and then_ a specified line or -passage within his knowledge. I have tried the experiment. It never -succeeds. Another test would be for one of these ghostly scholars to -dictate a word of a line of some obscure Greek poet (chosen by the -sitter) to one medium (ignorant of Greek), and another word of the same -line to another medium immediately afterwards, before there was the -remotest possibility of communication. - -A score of such tests could be devised. Three of the best writing -mediums the Society for Psychical Research cares to indicate could be -accommodated, under proper observation, in different rooms of the same -building, and these tests carried out. We could invite the spirit to -pass from medium to medium and repeat the message to all three, or give -a part to each. Until some such rigorous inquiry is carried out, we may -decline to be interested. I have before me several volumes of the -_Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research_. Candidly, they are -full of trash and padding. There is very little that merits serious -consideration, and nothing that is not weakened by uncertainties, -suppressions, and over-zealous eagerness. - -In fine, what impresses any man who reads much of all the volumes of -"revelation" which have been vouchsafed to us is the entirely _earthly_ -character of it all. The Spiritualist theory is that men grow rapidly -wiser after death. Plato is two thousand years wiser than he was when he -lived. Ptah-hotep is six thousand years older and wiser. Neither these, -nor Buddha nor Christ nor any other moralist, has a word of wisdom for -us. In fact, a theory has had to be invented which supposes that they -move away from the earth to distant regions of the spirit-world as they -grow older, and so cannot communicate. It is a pity they are not -"permitted" to do so for propaganda purposes. But even those who remain -in communication have learned nothing since they left the earth. No -discovery has ever yet been communicated to us. In Spiritualist -literature, it is true, there is a claim that certain unknown facts -about the satellites of Uranus were revealed; but Flammarion makes short -work of the claim. The communications _never_ rise above the level of -the thought and knowledge of living humanity: never even above the level -of the knowledge available to the mediums. It is scarcely an "insanity -of incredulity" to suppose that they originated there. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -GHOST-LAND AND ITS CITIZENS - - -About twenty years ago a writing medium, a sober professional man whose -character would not be questioned, showed me a pile of his automatic -"script." He sincerely believed that he had for several years been in -communication with the dead. I glanced over many sheets of platitude and -familiar moralizing, and then asked him to tell me how they described -the new world in which the dead lived. He hesitated, and tried to -convince me that this point, which seemed to me the most interesting of -all, was unimportant. When I pressed, he said that it was a world so -different from ours that the spirits could hardly convey a coherent -description of it in our language. They had to be content with such -vague phrases as that they "lived in houses of flowers." - -That was the state of the "new revelation" twenty years ago. Long before -that whole volumes of quite precise description of ghost-land had been -written, but it was discredited. Andrew Jackson Davis had invented the -name "Summerland," which Sir A. C. Doyle adopts to-day; but Davis's -wonderful gospel had turned out to be a farrago of wild speculation, -founded on an imperfect grasp of a crude, early stage of science. Then -Stainton Moses and hundreds of other automatic writers had given us -knowledge about the next world. A common feature of these early -descriptions was that the dead lived in a quasi-material universe round -about the earth and could visit the various planets and the sun at any -time. In that case, of course, they could give most valuable assistance -to our astronomers, and they were quite willing. Some said that there -were living beings on the sun. As a matter of fact, one of our early -astronomers had conjectured that there might be a cool, dark surface -below the shining clouds which give out the light of the sun, and this -"spirit" was following his lead. We know to-day that no part of the sun -falls below a temperature of 7,000° C. Others described life on Jupiter -and Saturn, and we now know that they are red-hot. Another medium, Helen -Smith, attracted to herself a most romantic interest for years because -she was controlled by the spirit of a late inhabitant of the planet -Mars, and we learned a marvellous amount of weird detail about life on -Mars. - -The thing was so obviously overdone, and Spiritualism was so generally -discredited in the eighties on account of the very numerous exposures of -mediums, that for a time revelations were less frequent. People fell -back very largely on the older belief, that the dead are "pure spirits," -living in an environment that cannot be described in our language, which -is material. This, in point of fact, is a hollow and insincere pretext. -Philosophers have been accustomed for two thousand years to describe the -life of the spirit, and have provided a vocabulary for any who are -interested in it. The truth is that ideas were changing, and mediums -were not at all sure what it was safe to say. - -Towards the close of the century there was some revival of Spiritualism, -and there were fresh attempts to describe the beautiful world beyond the -grave. Mediums were then in the "houses of flowers" stage. It sounded -very pretty, but you must not take it literally. With the advance of the -new century, mediums recovered all their confidence. It was at the -beginning of the present century that physicists began to discover that -matter was composed of electrons, and "ether" was the most discussed -subject in the whole scientific press. Here was a grand opportunity. A -world of ether would not be so crudely Materialistic as the earlier -post-mortem world of the mediums. Yet it might be moulded by the -imagination into a more or less material shape. It must be frankly -admitted that the "pure spirit" idea is not attractive. Those who yearn -to meet again the people they had known and loved are a little chilled -at the prospect of finding only what seems to be an abstraction, a mere -mathematical point, a thing paler and less tangible than a streak of -mist. Ether was therefore gladly seized as a good compromise. Ghost-land -was in the ether of space. - -There had been, it is true, earlier references in Spiritualist -revelations to "ether bodies," but it is chiefly since the series of -discoveries in science to which radium led that the modern Spiritualist -idea has been evolved. As usual, the spiritual revelations follow in the -rear of advancing science. But in this case the automatic writers had a -great advantage. They need only follow the lead of Sir Oliver Lodge, -who, however curious his ideas of physiology may be, is certainly an -authority on ether. He began by hinting mysteriously that he saw "a -spiritual significance" in ether. Following up that clue, the automatic -writers have worked so industriously that we now know the "Summerland" -more thoroughly than we know Central Africa or Thibet. - -Buoyed up by the growing sentiment of agreement, as proved by the very -profitable sales of his works, Sir Oliver Lodge, in _Raymond_, gave the -world a vast amount of detail about the land beyond the grave. He did -not guarantee it, it is true. That is not his way. But he assured the -public that his mediums were undoubtedly "in touch" with his dead son, -and the Spiritualist public must be pardoned if they understood that all -the marvellous matter put out in the name of Raymond was to be taken -seriously. The message was really ingenious. Raymond was, unhappily, not -merely unable to give "direct voice" communications, as Sir A. C. -Doyle's son is believed to have done, but he could not even directly -communicate through Mrs. Leonard, the medium. He used as an -intermediary the spirit of a child named "Feda"; and, of course, when -one has to use a child--and such an irresponsible, lisping, foolish -little child as "Feda"--as intermediary, you must not press the message -literally in every part. The method had the advantage of pleasing -Spiritualists, who found a complete confirmation of all their -speculations about ghost-land, and at the same time disarming critics, -because Raymond was not really responsible. - -Many people did not fully realize this when they bore down heavily and -contemptuously on the description of the next world which is given in -_Raymond_. The deceased young officer had a "nice doggie," which he -brought along with him when he strolled to the medium's shop to send a -message to his distinguished father. Presently the medium added a "cat," -though she said nothing about a cats'-meat man. Raymond had also what I -believe young officers call "a bird"--a young lady acquaintance on -spiritual terms. There were cows in the spirit meadows and flowers in -the gardens. Our "damaged flowers," we are told, pass over to the other -side and raise their heads once more gloriously. Why they flower if -there are no bees, whether they have chlorophyll circulating in their -leaves, whether the soil is sandy or clayey, etc., we are not told. The -information comes in chance clots, as if Raymond were too busy with -ethereal billiards to study the natural history of ghostland very -closely. We are told to picture Raymond in a real suit of clothes. He -was offered the orthodox white sheet, which every right-minded spirit -wears; but he had a British young man's repugnance to that sort of -thing. So in the laboratories on the other side they made Raymond an -ordinary suit, out of "damaged worsted" which we earthly wastrels had no -use for. For other young officers, with less refined tastes, they -manufactured whisky-and-soda and cigars. "Don't think I'm stretching -it," Raymond observed to his father, through "Feda" and Mrs. Leonard. -The father does not say what he thought. - -Now, it is, as I said, quite wrong for Spiritualists to plant all this -upon the authority of Sir Oliver Lodge. Does he not warn us in a -footnote that he has "not yet traced the source of all this supposed -information"? It would not take most of us long to do so, but the remark -at least leaves open a way of retreat for Sir Oliver Lodge. On the other -hand, we must not blame Spiritualists too severely. He assures them that -this lady, Mrs. Leonard, is in undoubted communication with his dead -son, and one may question whether he is entitled to take one part of the -lady's message as genuine and leave other parts open. At all events, -this puerile and bewildering nonsense was put before the world in an -expensive book by Sir Oliver Lodge, with his personal assurance that -Mrs. Leonard was a genuine medium. - -Sir Arthur Conan Doyle next gathered details from scores of revelations -of this kind--they fell upon us like leaves in Vallombrosa after Sir -Oliver Lodge's bold lead--and built them into a consistent picture of -"Summerland." It is an ether world. Each of us has a duplicate of his -body in ether. This is quite in harmony with science, he says, because -some one has discovered that "bound" ether--that is to say, ether -enclosed in a material body--is different from the free ether of space. -From this slight difference Sir A. C. Doyle concludes that there is a -portion of ether shaped exactly like my body; then, by a still more -heroic leap of the imagination, he gathers that this special ether has -not merely the contour of my body, but duplicates all its internal -organs and minute parts; and lastly--this is a really prodigious -leap--he supposes that this ether duplicate will remain when the body -dissolves. On that theory, naturally, every flower and tree and rock -that ever existed, every house or ship that was ever built, every oyster -or chicken that was ever swallowed, has left an ether duplicate -somewhere. - -Well, when you die, your ethereal body remains, and is animated by your -soul just as the body of flesh was. A death-bed is, on the new view, a -most remarkable scene. Men and women weep round the ghastly expiring -frame, but all round them are invisible (ether) beings smiling and -joyful. When the last breath leaves the prostrate body, you stand erect -in your ethereal frame, and your ethereal friends gather round and wring -your ethereal hand. Congratulations over, one radiant spirit takes you -by the hand and leads you through the solid wall and out into the -beyond. Presumably he is in a hurry to fit you with one of the "damaged -worsted" suits. Sir Arthur stresses the fact that they have the same -sense of modesty as we. - -The next step is rather vague. One gathers that the reborn man is dazed, -and he goes to sleep for weeks or months. Sleep is generally understood -to be a natural process by which nerve and muscle, which have become -loaded with chemical refuse, are relieved of this by the blood. What it -means in ghostland we have not the least idea. But why puzzle over -details where all is a challenge to common human reason? You awaken -presently in Summerland and get your bearings. This is so much like the -paradise described by Mr. Vale Owen that we will put ourselves under the -guidance of that gentleman. I would merely note here a little -inconsistency in the gospel according to St. Conan. - -One of the now discovered charms of Summerland is that the young rapidly -reach maturity, and the old go back to maturity. The ether-duplicate of -the stillborn child continues to grow--we would give much for a treatise -from Professor Huxley (in his new incarnation) on this process of growth -without mitosis and metabolism--and the ether-duplicate of the shrunken -old lady of eighty smoothes out its wrinkles, straightens its back, and -recovers its fine contour of adipose tissue. But here a difficulty -occurred to Sir A. C. Doyle. In his lectures all over the kingdom he has -had to outbid the preacher. _I_ promise you, he told bereaved mothers, -that you shall see again just the blue-eyed, golden-haired child that -you lost. He even says this in his book. With all goodwill, we cannot -let him have it both ways. If children rapidly mature, mothers will not -see the golden-haired child again. - -At the risk of seeming meticulous, I would point out another aspect of -the revelation on which more information is desirable. Golden hair -implies a certain chemical combination which is well known to the -physiologist. Blue eyes mean a certain degree of thinness of pigment on -the front curtains of the eye. Now, ether has no chemical elements. It -is precisely the subtle substance of the universe which is not yet -moulded into chemical elements. Are we to take it that Summerland is -really a material universe, not an ether world? - -As Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has glowingly praised the revelations which -have come through the Rev. Mr. Vale Owen, I turn to these for closer -guidance, and I find that my suspicion is correct. The next world is a -material world. Whether it has a different sun from ours is not stated, -but it is a world of wonderful colour. Flowers of the most gorgeous -description live in it perpetually. Whether they ever grew up or will -ever decay, whether they have roots in soil and need water, the prophet -has not yet told us. But the world is lovely with masses of flowers. -People also dress like the flowers. They have beautifully coloured robes -and gems (none of your "damaged worsted" for Mr. Vale Owen). In other -words, light, never-fading light, is the grand feature of the next -world. Since ether does not reflect light, it is obviously a material -universe. - -Music is the second grand element. Perhaps Mr. Owen would dispute this, -and say that preaching is the outstanding feature. Certainly, everybody -he describes preaches so constantly and so dully that many people will -not like the prospect. Let us take it, rather, that music is the second -great feature. They have great factories for musical instruments which -make a mockery of Brinsmeads. The bands go up high towers and produce -effects which no earthly musician ever dreamed of producing. It follows, -of course, that the ghosts not only tread a solid soil, in which flowers -grow, on which they build towers and mansions, but a very considerable -atmosphere floats above the soil. Mr. Vale Owen, in fact, introduces -streams and sheets of water; lovely lakes and rivers for the good ghosts -and "stagnant pools" in the slums of ghostland. We will not press this. -Mr. Owen forgot for a moment that it _never rains_ in Summerland. But -the atmosphere is an essential part of the revelation, as without it -there will certainly be no music or flying birds. And an atmosphere -means a very solid material world. Our moon, which weighs millions of -billions of tons, is too light to possess an atmosphere and water. -Consequently, there must be thousands of miles of solid rock and metal -underfoot in ghostland. - -It follows further that, since ghostland is very spacious, and since at -least a billion humans (to say nothing of animals) have quitted this -earth since the ape men first wandered over it, this other material -universe must be very extensive. If all the inhabited planets in the -universe have their Summerlands, or all pour their dead into one vast -Summerland, one begins to see that modern science is a ridiculous -illusion. We should not see the sun, to say nothing of stars a thousand -billion miles away, or even remoter nebulæ. As to astronomical -calculations of mass and gravitation.... - -I can sustain the comedy no longer. These "revelations" are the most -childish twaddle that has been put before our race since the Middle -Ages. They are the meanderings of imaginations on a level with that of a -fifteen-year-old school-girl. One really begins to wonder if our -generation is _not_ in a state of senile decay, when tens of thousands -of us acclaim this sort of thing as an outcome of superhuman -intelligence. It is on a level with the "happy hunting grounds" of the -Amerind. It is a dreamy parson's idea of the kind of world he would -like to retire to, and continue to "do good" without getting tired. It -is a flimsy, irresponsible, juvenile thing of paint and tinsel and -gold-foil: the kind of transformation-scene in which we revelled, at the -Christmas pantomime, when we were young. Our generation needs guidance -if ever any generation of men did. Another great war would wreck the -planet. The social soil heaves with underground movements. The stars are -hidden from view. And people come before us with this kind of insipid -puerility, and tell us it is "the greatest message ever offered to man." - -Seriously, what it is can be told in few words. It is partly a fresh -attempt to bring our generation back to religion. It is partly an -attempt to divert working people from the politics and economics of -_this_ world. And it is partly a fresh outbreak of the unlimited -credulity which every epidemic of Spiritualism has developed since 1848. -There was such a phase in the fifties of the nineteenth century, when -Spiritualism swept over the world. There was a second such phase in the -seventies, when materializations began. This was checked by exposures -everywhere in the early eighties, and not until our time has -Spiritualism partly recovered. Now the vast and lamentable emotional -disturbance of the War has given it a fresh opportunity, and for a time -the flame of credulity has soared up again. - -To come back to the question which forms the title of this book, the -reader may supply the answer, but I will venture to offer him a few -summary reflections. We do well to distinguish two classes of phenomena. -Broadly, but by no means exactly, this is the distinction between -psychical and physical phenomena. Messages on slates or paper from the -spirit-world I would class with the physical phenomena. We have seen -that they reek with fraud, and there is no serious claim that any of -them are genuine. - -The nearest we can get to a useful division is to set on one side a -small class of mediums of high character who claim that, in trance and -script, they are spirit-controlled. - -Spiritualism is not based on these things. The thousands of enthusiastic -Spiritualists of Great Britain and America know nothing about the "Ear -of Dionysius" and the "cross-correspondences" of the Psychical -Researchers. Their faith is solidly based on physical phenomena. They -are taught by their leaders to base it on physical phenomena. Sir A. C. -Doyle and Sir W. Barrett urge the levitations and other miracles of D. -D. Home and Stainton Moses and Kathleen Goligher. Sir Oliver Lodge--who -seems also to admit the preceding--asks us to consider seriously the -performances of Marthe Beraud. Sir W. Crookes lets it be understood that -to the day of his death he believed in "Katie King" and the -spirit-played accordion. Professor Richet, and all those other -professors and scholars whose names are fondly quoted by Spiritualists, -rely entirely on physical phenomena. If you cut out all the -physical-phenomena mediums of the nineteenth century, and all the -ghost-photographs and "direct voices" of to-day, you have very little -left. That is to say that Spiritualism is generally based on fraud. - -Does it matter? Yes, it matters exceedingly. It matters more than it -ever did before. The world is at a pass where it needs the -clearest-headed attention and warmest interest of every man and woman -in every civilization. Fine sentiments, too, we want; but not a -sentimentality that palsies the judgment. Men never faced graver -problems or had a greater opportunity. Instead of distraction we want -concentration on earth. Instead of dreaminess we want a close -appreciation of realities. There lies before our generation a period -either of greater general prosperity than was ever known before, or a -period of prolonged and devastating struggle. Which it shall be depends -on our wisdom. - -Is there any need to settle whether we shall live after death? The -Spiritualist says that if we could convince men that their lot in that -other world will be decided by their characters they will be more eager -for justice, honour, and sobriety. But a man's position in _this_ world -is settled by his character. Justice, honour, and sobriety are laws of -_this_ world. Men would have perceived it long ago, and acted -accordingly, but for the unfortunate belief that these qualities were -arbitrarily commanded by supernatural powers. We need no other-worldly -motives whatever for the cultivation of character. Indeed, so far as I -can see, the man who gambles and drinks is more likely to say to the -Spiritualist: "You tell me there is no vindictive hell for what I do -here. You tell me there are no horses or fiery drinks in that other -world. Then I will drink and bet while the opportunity remains, and be -sober and prudent afterwards." - -But the dead, the loved ones we have lost! Must we forfeit this new hope -that we may see them again? Let us make no mistake. Half the civilized -world has already forfeited it. Six million people in London never -approach a church, and the vast majority of these believe no longer in -heaven. So it is in the large towns of nearly every civilization. Yet -the number of Spiritualists in the entire world is not one-tenth the -number of "pagans" in London alone. And there is no weeping and gnashing -of teeth. At the time of the wrench one suffers. Slowly nature embalms -the wound, as she already draws her green mantle over the hideous wounds -of France and Belgium. We learn serenity. Life is a gift. Every friend -and dear one is a gift. It is not wise to complain that gifts do not -last for ever. - -The finest sentiment you can bestow on the memory of the dead is to make -the world better for the living. Has your child been torn from you? In -its memory try to make the world safer and happier for the myriads of -children who remain. This earth is but a poor drab thing compared with -what it could be made in a single generation. Hotbeds of disease abound -in our cities, and children fall in scandalous numbers in the heat of -summer or perish in the blasts of winter. Let the pain of loss drive us -survivors into securing that losses shall be less frequent and less -painful. Do not listen to those who say that critics crush the voice of -the heart in the name of reason. We want all the heart we can get in -life, all the strength of emotion and devotion we can engender. But let -it be expended on the plain, and plainly profitable, task of making this -earth a Summerland. Do that, as your leisure and your powers permit, -and, when the day is over, you will lie down with a smile, whether you -are ever to awaken or are to sleep for ever. - - -PRINTED BY WATTS AND CO., JOHNSON'S COURT, FLEET ST., LONDON, E.C.4. - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Is Spiritualism Based on Fraud?, by Joseph McCabe - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IS SPIRITUALISM BASED ON FRAUD? *** - -***** This file should be named 51743-8.txt or 51743-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/1/7/4/51743/ - -Produced by deaurider, Martin Pettit and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: Is Spiritualism Based on Fraud? - -Author: Joseph McCabe - -Release Date: April 12, 2016 [EBook #51743] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IS SPIRITUALISM BASED ON FRAUD? *** - - - - -Produced by deaurider, Martin Pettit and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="center"><a name="cover.jpg" id="cover.jpg"></a><img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="cover" /></div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[Pg i]</a></span></p> - -<h1>IS SPIRITUALISM BASED<br />ON FRAUD?</h1> - -<p class="bold space-above">THE EVIDENCE GIVEN BY SIR A. C. DOYLE<br />AND OTHERS DRASTICALLY EXAMINED</p> - -<p class="bold space-above">BY</p> - -<p class="bold2">JOSEPH McCABE</p> - - -<p class="bold space-above"><span class="smcap">London</span>:<br /> -WATTS & CO.,<br />17 JOHNSON'S COURT, FLEET STREET, E.C.4</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</a></span></p> - -<h2>PREFACE</h2> - -<p>On March 11 of this year Sir Arthur Conan Doyle did me the honour of -debating the claims of Spiritualism with me before a vast and -distinguished audience at the Queen's Hall, London. My opponent had -insisted that I should open the debate; and, when it was pointed out -that the critic usually follows the exponent, he had indicated that I -had ample material to criticize in the statement of the case for -Spiritualism in his two published works.</p> - -<p>How conscientiously I addressed myself to that task, and with what -result, must be left to the reader of the published debate. Suffice it -to say that my distinguished opponent showed a remarkable disinclination -to linger over his own books, and wished to "broaden the issue." Since -the bulk of the time allotted to me in the debate was then already -spent, it was not possible to discuss satisfactorily the new evidences -adduced by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and not recorded in his books. I -hasten to repair the defect in this critical examination of every -variety of Spiritualistic phenomena.</p> - -<p>My book has a serious aim. The pen of even the dullest author—and I -trust I do not fall into that low category of delinquents—must grow -lively or sarcastic at times in the course of such a study as this. When -one finds Spiritualists gravely believing that a corpulent lady is -transferred by spirit hands, at the rate of sixty miles an hour, over -the chimney-pots of London, and through several solid walls, one cannot -be expected to refrain from smiling. When one contemplates a group of -scientific or professional men<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</a></span> plumbing the secrets of the universe -through the mediumship of an astute peasant or a carpenter, or a lady of -less than doubtful virtue, one may be excused a little irony. When our -creators of super-detectives enthusiastically applaud things which were -fully exposed a generation ago, and affirm that, because they could not, -in pitch darkness, see any fraud, there <i>was</i> no fraud, we cannot -maintain the gravity of philosophers. When we find this "new revelation" -heralded by a prodigious outbreak of fraud, and claiming as its most -solid foundations to-day a mass of demonstrable trickery and deceit, our -sense of humour is pardonably irritated. Nor are these a few exceptional -weeds in an otherwise fair garden. In its living literature to-day, in -its actual hold upon a large number of people in Europe and America, -Spiritualism rests to a very great extent on fraudulent representations.</p> - -<p>Here is my serious purpose. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle made two points -against me which pleased his anxious followers. One—which evoked a -thunder of applause—was that I was insensible of the consolation which -this new religion has brought to thousands of bereaved humans. I am as -conscious of that as he or any other Spiritualist is. It has, however, -nothing to do with the question whether Spiritualism is true or no, -which we were debating; or with the question to what extent Spiritualism -is based on fraud, which I now discuss. Far be it from me to slight the -finer or more tender emotions of the human heart. On the contrary, it is -in large part to the more general cultivation of this refinement and -delicacy of feeling that I look for the uplifting of our race. But let -us take things in order. Does any man think it is a matter of -indifference whether this ministry of consolation is based on fraud and -inspired by greed? It is inconceivable.</p> - -<p>And, indeed, the second point made by my opponent shows that I do not -misconceive him and his followers. It is that I exaggerate the quantity -of fraud in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span>movement. If they are right—if they have purified the -movement of the grosser frauds which so long disfigured it—they have -some ground to ask the critic to address himself to the substantial -truth rather than the occasional imposture. But this is a question of -fact; and to that question of fact the following pages are devoted. I -survey the various classes of Spiritualistic phenomena. I tell the -reader how materializations, levitations, raps, direct voices, apports, -spirit-photographs, lights and music in the dark, messages from the -dead, and so on, have actually and historically been engineered during -the last fifty years. This is, surely, useful. Spiritualism is in one of -its periodical phases of advance. Our generation knows nothing of the -experience of these things of an earlier generation. To teach one's -fellows the weird ingenuity, the sordid impostures, the grasping -trickery, which have accompanied Spiritualism since its birth in America -in 1848 can hurt only one class of men—impostors.</p> - -<p class="right">J. M.</p> - -<p><i>Easter, 1920.</i></p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CONTENTS</h2> - -<hr class="smler" /> - -<table summary="CONTENTS"> - <tr> - <td colspan="2" class="left"><span class="smaller">CHAP.</span></td> - <td><span class="smalle">PAGE</span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>I.</td> - <td class="left"> MEDIUMS: BLACK, WHITE, AND GREY</td> - <td><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>II.</td> - <td class="left"> HOW GHOSTS ARE MADE</td> - <td><a href="#Page_17">17</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>III.</td> - <td class="left"> THE MYSTERY OF RAPS AND LEVITATIONS</td> - <td><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>IV.</td> - <td class="left"> SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHS AND SPIRIT PICTURES</td> - <td><a href="#Page_63">63</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>V.</td> - <td class="left"> A CHAPTER OF GHOSTLY ACCOMPLISHMENTS</td> - <td><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>VI.</td> - <td class="left"> THE SUBTLE ART OF CLAIRVOYANCE</td> - <td><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>VII.</td> - <td class="left"> MESSAGES FROM THE SPIRIT-WORLD</td> - <td><a href="#Page_109">109</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>VIII.</td> - <td class="left"> AUTOMATIC WRITING</td> - <td><a href="#Page_129">129</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>IX.</td> - <td class="left"> GHOST-LAND AND ITS CITIZENS</td> - <td><a href="#Page_147">147</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span><span class="smcap">Chapter I</span></span> <span class="smaller">MEDIUMS: BLACK, WHITE, AND GREY</span></h2> - -<p>Mediums are the priests of the Spiritualist religion. They are the -indispensable channels of communication with the other world. They have, -not by anointing, but by birthright, the magical character which fits -them alone to perform the miracles of the new revelation. From them -alone, and through them alone, can one learn the conditions under which -manifestations may be expected. Were they to form a union or go on -strike, the life of the new religion would be more completely suspended -than the life of any other religion. They control the entire output of -evidence. They guard the gates of the beyond. They are the priests of -the new religion.</p> - -<p>Now it will not be seriously disputed that during the last three -quarters of the century these mediums or priests have perpetrated more -fraud than was ever attributed to any priesthood before. A few weeks ago -Spiritualists held a meeting in commemoration of the "seventy-second -anniversary" of the birth of their religion. That takes us back to 1848, -the year in which Mrs. Fish, as I will tell later, astutely turned into -a profitable concern the power of her younger sisters to rap out -"spirit" communications with the joints of their toes. There have been -some quaint beginnings of religions, but the formation of that -fraudulent little American family-syndicate in 1848 is surely the -strangest that ever got "commemoration"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> in the annals of religion. And -from that day until ours there is hardly a single prominent medium who -has not been convicted of fraud. Any person who cares to run over Mr. -Podmore's history of the movement will see this. There is hardly a -medium named in the nineteenth century who does not eventually disappear -in an odour of sulphur.</p> - -<p>Podmore was one of the best-informed and most conscientious -non-Spiritualists who ever wrote on Spiritualism. If one prefers the -verdict of the French astronomer Flammarion, who believes that mediums -do possess abnormal powers and has studied them for nearly sixty years, -this is what he says:—</p> - -<blockquote><p>It is the same with all mediums, male and female. I believe I have -had nearly all of them, from various parts of the world, at my -house during the last forty years. One may lay it down as a -principle that all professional mediums cheat, but they do not -cheat always.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p></blockquote> - -<p>If you are inclined to think that this applies only to professional -mediums, whose need of money drives them into trickery, listen to this -further verdict, which M. Flammarion says he could support by "hundreds -of instances":—</p> - -<blockquote><p>I have seen unpaid mediums, men and women of the world, cheat -without the least scruple, out of sheer vanity, or from a still -less creditable motive—the love of deceiving. Spiritualist séances -have led to very useful and pleasant acquaintanceships, and to more -than one marriage. You must distrust both classes [paid and -unpaid].<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p></blockquote> - -<p>Listen to the verdict of another man who believes in the powers of -mediums, and who has studied them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> enthusiastically for thirty years, a -medical man with means and leisure—Baron von Schrenck-Notzing<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a>:—</p> - -<blockquote><p>It is indisputable that nearly every professional medium (and many -private mediums) does part of his performances by fraud.... -Conscious and unconscious fraud plays an immense part in this -field.... The entire method of the Spiritualist education of -mediums, with its ballast of unnecessary ideas, leads directly to -the facilitation of fraud.</p></blockquote> - -<p>If this is not enough, take another gentleman, Mr. Hereward Carrington, -who has studied mediums for two decades in various parts of the world, -and who also believes that they have genuine abnormal powers:—</p> - -<blockquote><p>Ninety-eight per cent. of the [physical] phenomena are -fraudulent.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p></blockquote> - -<p>These are not men who have dismissed the phenomena as "all rot." They -believe in the reality of materializations or levitations. They are not -men who have been recently converted, in an emotional mood. They have -spent whole decades in the patient study of mediums. I could quote a -dozen more witnesses of that type; but the reader will be able to judge -for himself presently.</p> - -<p>Some Spiritualists try to tone down this very grave blot on their -religion by distinguishing between the professional medium and the -unpaid. The men I have quoted warn us against this distinction. It is -quite absurd to think that money is the only incentive to cheat. The -history of the movement swarms with exposures of unpaid as well as paid -mediums. An unpaid medium who can display "wonderful powers" becomes at -once a centre of most flattering interest;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> and we shall see dozens of -cases of this vanity leading men and women of every social position into -fraud and misrepresentation, even in quite recent times. All that one -can say is that there is far less fraud among unpaid mediums. But there -are far less striking phenomena among unpaid mediums, as a rule, and so -this helps us very little. The "evidence" afforded by mediums like Mr. -Vale Owen, and the myriads of quite recent automatic writers and -artists, is absolutely worthless. What they do is too obviously human.</p> - -<p>We must remember, also, that the distinction between "paid" and "unpaid" -is not quite so plain as some think. Daniel Dunglas Home is always -described by Spiritualists as an unpaid medium, but I will show -presently that he lived in great comfort all his life on the strength of -his Spiritualist powers. Florence Cook, Sir William Crookes's famous -medium, is described as "unpaid," because she did not (at that time) -charge sitters; but she had a large annual allowance from a wealthy -Spiritualist precisely in order that she should not charge at the door. -To take a living medium, and one very strongly recommended to us by Sir -Arthur Conan Doyle under the name of "Eva C." (though it has been openly -acknowledged by her patrons on the continent for six years that her name -is Marthe Beraud): she has lived a luxurious life with people far above -her own station in life for fifteen years, in virtue of her supposed -abnormal powers.</p> - -<p>The distinction is, in any case, useless. When Spiritualists try to -conciliate us to their wonderful stories by telling us that the medium -was "unpaid," they do not know the history of their own movement.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> The -most extraordinary frauds have been perpetrated, even in recent years, -by unpaid mediums, or ladies of good social position. Flammarion, -Maxwell, Ochorowicz, Carrington, and all other experienced investigators -give hundreds of cases. Not many years ago Professor Reichel, tired of -examining and exposing professional mediums, heard that the daughter of -a high official in Costa Rica was producing wonderful materializations. -He actually went to Costa Rica to study her, and he found that she was -tricking (dressing a servant girl as a ghost) in the crudest fashion, as -I will tell later. The daughter of an Italian chemist, Linda Gazerra -cheated scientific and professional men for three years (1908-11), but -was at last found to conceal her "ghosts" and "apports" in her false -hair and her underclothing. There is no such thing as a guarantee -against fraud in the character of the medium. Every case has to be -examined with unsparing rigour.</p> - -<p>Sir Arthur Conan Doyle meets the difficulty by cheerfully distinguishing -between white, black, and grey mediums: the entirely honest, the -entirely fraudulent, and those who have genuine powers, but cheat at -times when their powers flag and the sitters are impatient for -"manifestations." It is a familiar distinction. To some extent it is a -sound distinction. We all admit black mediums. The chronicle of -Spiritualism, short as it is, contains as sorry a collection of rogues, -male and female, as any human movement <i>could</i> show in seventy years. -Politics is spotless by comparison. Even business can hold up its head. -For a "religion" the situation is remarkable.</p> - -<p>Next, we all admit white mediums. We all know those myriads of innocent -folk, tender maidens and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> nervous spinsters, neuropathic clergymen and -even quite sober-looking professional men, who bring us reams and rivers -of inspiration through the planchette and the <i>ouija</i> board and the -crystal and automatic writing. Bless them, they are as guileless, -generally, as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself. I have seen them—seen men -and women of such social standing that one dare not breathe a -suspicion—stoop to trickery more than once in order to get -communications of "evidential value." But there are tens of thousands of -amateur mediums of this kind who are as honest as any of us. We all -admit it. It is sheer Spiritualistic nonsense to say that we dismiss the -whole movement as fraud. We do not question for a moment the honesty of -these myriads of amateur mediums. What we say is that the evidential -value of <i>their</i> work would not convert a Kaffir to Spiritualism. Dr. J. -Maxwell, a distinguished French lawyer and doctor, who has been a close -investigator of these things for decades and believes in mediumistic -powers, says:—</p> - -<blockquote><p>I share M. Janet's opinion concerning the majority of Spiritualist -mediums. I have only found two interesting ones among them; the -hundred others whom I have observed have only given me automatic -phenomena, more or less conscious; nearly all were the puppets of -their imagination.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p></blockquote> - -<p>No, Spiritualism does not rely at all on these innocent and useless -productions. Invariably, your Spiritualist opponent turns sooner or -later to the big, striking things, the "physical phenomena," the work of -the "powerful" mediums.</p> - -<p>Now, which of these were ever "white"? Sir<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> Arthur Conan Doyle, when he -came to this important point, named four "snow-white" mediums. He -<i>could</i>, he added, name "ten or twelve living mediums"; but since he did -not, we still hunger for the names. The four spotless ones were Home, -Stainton Moses, Mrs. Piper, and Mrs. Everett—not a great record for -seventy years (since Home began in 1852). Mrs. Piper we will discuss -later, but I may say at once that a man for whom Sir Arthur has a great -respect as a psychic expert, Dr. Maxwell, speaks of Mrs. Piper's -"inaccuracies and falsehoods" with great disdain. Who Mrs. Ever<i>e</i>tt may -be I do not know. If Sir Arthur means the Mrs. Ever<i>i</i>tt of forty years -ago, I insist on transferring her to the flock of the <i>black</i> sheep. In -later chapters we will examine the performances of Stainton Moses and -Home, and probably the reader will agree with me that these snow-white -lambs were two of the arch-impostors of the Spiritualist movement. But a -word of general interest may be inserted here.</p> - -<p>The snow-white Daniel, whom Sir W. Barrett and Sir A. C. Doyle and all -other Spiritualists quote as one of the pillars of the movement, as a -spotless worker of the most prodigious miracles, was quite the most -successful and cynical adventurer in the history of Spiritualism. He was -no "paid adventurer," says Sir A. C. Doyle in his <i>New Revelation</i> (p. -28), but "the nephew of the Earl of Home." To the general public that -statement suggests a cultivated and refined member of the British -aristocracy, above all suspicion of fraud. It is the precise opposite of -the truth. Even Daniel himself never pretended that he was more than a -son of a bastard son of the Earl of Home. He appears first as a -penniless adventurer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> in America at the age of fifteen, and he lived on -his Spiritualistic wits until he died. He married a wealthy Russian lady -in virtue of his pretensions, and his second marriage was based on the -same pretensions. It is true that he did not charge so much a sitter. He -had a more profitable way. He lived—apart from his wives and a few -lectures (supported by his followers)—on the generosity of his dupes -all his life.</p> - -<p>In the Debate Sir A. C. Doyle tried to defend him against one grave -charge I brought against the white lamb. In 1866 a wealthy London widow, -Mrs. Lyon, asked Daniel to get her into touch with her dead husband. The -gifted medium did so at once, of course. For this he received a fee of -thirty pounds, nominally as a subscription to the Spiritual Athenæum, of -which he was paid secretary. Daniel stuck to the lady, and got immense -sums of money from her; and a London court of justice compelled him to -return the lot.</p> - -<p>Now, Sir A. C. Doyle, who said several times in the Debate that <i>I</i> did -not know what I was talking about, while <i>he</i> had read "the literature -of my opponents as well as my own," asserts: "I have read the case very -carefully, and I believe that Home behaved in a perfectly natural and -honourable manner." He quotes Mr. Clodd (who has, apparently, been -misled by Podmore's too lenient account of the case), but I prefer to -deal with Sir Arthur's own assurance that he has "read the case very -carefully."</p> - -<p>It was on in London, under Vice-Chancellor Gifford, from April 21 to May -1, 1868. Sir A. C. Doyle seems to regard Mrs. Lyon's affidavit as -waste-paper. She swears that Home brought a fictitious message from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> her -dead husband, ordering her to adopt Daniel and endow him, and she gave -him at once £26,000. She swears that, when Home's birthday came round, -another fictitious message ordered her to give Daniel a further fat -cheque, and she gave him £6,798. Sir A. C. Doyle may set aside all this -as "lies," because he is determined to have at least one snow-white -medium in the nineteenth century, and his cause cannot afford to lose -Home's miracles. But when he and other writers say that Home was -acquitted of dishonourable conduct, they are, if they have read -Gifford's decree, saying the exact opposite of the truth. It is enough -to mention that Vice-Chancellor Gifford decided that "the gifts and -deeds are <i>fraudulent</i> and void," and he added:—</p> - -<blockquote><p>The system [Spiritualism], as presented by the evidence, is -mischievous nonsense—well calculated on the one hand to delude the -vain, the weak, the foolish, and the superstitious; and on the -other to assist the projects of <i>the needy and the adventurer</i>. -Beyond all doubt there is plain law enough and plain sense enough -to forbid and prevent the retention of <i>acquisitions such as these</i> -by any medium, whether with or without a strange gift.</p></blockquote> - -<p>That is the official judgment which Spiritualists constantly represent -as acquitting Home of fraud! This man, scornfully lashed as a greedy -impostor from the British Bench, is the snow-white medium recommended to -the public by Sir A. C. Doyle, Sir W. Barrett, Sir W. Crookes, and Sir -O. Lodge. Sir Arthur adds in his <i>Vital Message</i> (p. 55) that "the -genuineness of his psychic powers has never been seriously questioned." -That statement is hardly less astounding. Home's performances, which we -will examine in the third chapter, were regarded by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> overwhelming -majority of the cultivated people of his time as trickery of the most -sordid description from beginning to end. Has Sir A. C. Doyle never -heard of Browning's "Sludge"? It expressed the opinion of nearly all -London.</p> - -<p>As to Stainton Moses, the other lamb, an ex-minister who ran Home close -in sleight-of-hand and foot (in the dark), it is enough to say, with -Carrington, that "no test conditions were ever allowed to be imposed -upon this medium." Spiritualists ought to quote that whenever they quote -the miracles of Stainton Moses. His tricks were always performed—in -very bad light (if any)—before a few chosen friends, who had not the -least inclination to look for fraud. Home was never exposed, though he -was once caught, because he chose his sitters. But Stainton Moses chose -a far more exclusive circle of sitters, and never once had a critical -eye on him. We shall see that the tricks themselves brand him as a -fraud. He was not exposed; but it was the sitters who were lambs, not -Stainton Moses.</p> - -<p>Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in effect, recommends two further mediums as -snow-white. One is Kathleen Goligher, of Belfast, whose performances -shall speak for her in our third chapter. The other is "Eva C.," whose -miracles will be examined in the second chapter. We shall see that she -was detected cheating over and over again. At the present juncture, -however, I would make only a few general remarks about this living -"lamb."</p> - -<p>In a work which was published in 1914—in German by Baron von -Schrenck-Notzing, and in French by Mme. Bisson (they are not two -distinct books, as Sir A. C. Doyle says)—there are 150 photographs of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> -"materializations" with this medium. We shall see that they tell their -own story of crude imposture. In the introductory part of his book Baron -Schrenck describes the character of the lady (pp. 51-4). He says, -politely, that she has "moral sentiments only in the ego-centric sense" -(that is to say, none); that she "behaves improperly to herself"; that -she "lost her virginity before she was twenty"; and that she has "a -lively, erotic imagination" and an "exaggerated idea of her charms and -her influence on the male sex." That is bad enough for a snow-white -Vestal Virgin, a sacred portal of the new revelation. But worse was to -follow; and it was evident to me during the Debate that, while Sir A. C. -Doyle twitted me with knowing nothing about these matters, he was -himself quite ignorant of the developments of this case six years -before. The young woman's real name, Marthe Beraud, had been concealed -by Baron Schrenck, and her age mis-stated by six years, for a very good -reason—she is the "Marthe B." who was recommended to us in 1905 as a -wonderful medium by Sir Oliver Lodge, and who was detected and exposed -(in Algiers) in 1907! Baron Schrenck was forced to acknowledge her real -age and name in 1914.</p> - -<p>Where, then, are the snow-whites? Does Sir A. C. Doyle want us to go -back to the pure early days of the movement? Take the Foxes, who began -the movement. In 1888 Margaretta Fox, who had married Captain Kane, the -Arctic explorer, and had been brought to some sense of her misconduct by -him, confessed (in the <i>New York Herald</i>, September 24) that the -movement was from the start a gross fraud, engineered for profit by her -elder sister, and that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> whole Spiritualist movement of America was -steeped in fraud and immorality.</p> - -<p>Perhaps Sir A. C. Doyle would plead that this appalling outburst of -fraud, which poured over America from 1848 to 1888, was only the -occasion of the appearance of genuine mediums. Well, who are they? Take -the mediums who founded Spiritualism in England from 1852 onward. Was -Foster white? As early as 1863 the Spiritualist Judge, Edmonds, learned -"sickening details of his criminality." Was Colchester, who was detected -and exposed, white? What was the colour of the Holmes family, whose -darling spirit-control, "Katie King," got so much jewellery from poor -old R. D. Owen before she was found out? Are we to see no spots on the -egregious "Dr." Monck, who pretended that he was taken from his bed in -Bristol and put to bed in Swindon by spirit hands? Or in corpulent Mrs. -Guppy (an amateur who duped A. Russel Wallace for years), who swore that -she had been snatched from her table in her home at Ball's Pond, taken -across London (and through several solid walls) for three miles at sixty -miles an hour, and deposited on the table in a locked room? Was Charles -Williams white? He was, with Rita, detected by Spiritualists at -Amsterdam in 1878 with a whole ghost-making apparatus in his possession. -Were Bastian and Taylor white? They were similarly exposed at Arnheim in -1874. Was Florence Cook, the pupil of Herne (the transporter of Mrs. -Guppy at sixty miles an hour) and bewitcher of Sir W. Crookes, white? We -shall soon see. Was her friend and contemporary ghost-producer, Miss -Showers, never exposed? Or does Sir A. C. Doyle want us to believe in -Morse, or Eglinton, or Slade, or the Davenport<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> brothers, or Mrs. Fay, -or Miss Davenport, or Duguid, or Fowler, or Hudson, or Miss Wood, or -Mme. Blavatsky?</p> - -<p>These are not a few black sheep picked out of a troop of snowy fleeces. -They are the great mediums of the first forty years of the movement. -They are the men and women who converted Russel Wallace, and Crookes, -and Robert Owen, and Judge Edmunds, and Vice-Admiral Moore, and all the -other celebrities. They are the mediums whose exploits filled the -columns of the <i>Spiritualist</i>, the <i>Medium and Daybreak</i>, and the -<i>Banner of Light</i>. Cut these and Home and Moses out of the chronicle, -and you have precious little left on which to found a religion.</p> - -<p>Spiritualists think that they lessen the reproach to some extent by the -"grey" theory. Some mediums have genuine powers, but a time comes when -the powers fail and, as the audience presses for a return on its money, -they resort to trickery. That is only another way of saying that a -medium is white until he is found out, which usually takes some years, -as the conditions (dictated by the mediums) are the best possible for -fraud and the worse possible for exposure.</p> - -<p>But Sir A. C. Doyle is not fortunate in his example. Indeed, nearly -every statement he made in his debate with me was inaccurate. Eusapia -Palladino was a typical "grey," he says. "One cannot read her record," -he assures us, "without feeling that for the first fifteen years of her -mediumship she was quite honest." An amazing statement! Her whole career -as a public medium lasted little more than fifteen years, and she -tricked from the very beginning of it. In his <i>New Revelation</i> Sir -Arthur assures the public that she "was at least twice convicted of very -clumsy and foolish fraud" (p. 46).</p> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p><p>Such statements are quite reckless. Eusapia Palladino tricked -habitually, on the confession of Morselli and Flammarion and her -greatest admirers, from the beginning of her public career. Eusapia -began her public career in 1888, but was little known until 1892. She -was exposed at Cambridge by the leading English Spiritualists in 1895, -only <i>three</i> years after she had begun her performances on the great -European stage. Myers and Lodge reported that not one of her -performances (in 1895) was clearly genuine, and that her fraud was so -clever (Myers said) that it "must have needed long practice to bring it -to its present level of skill." Mr. Myers was quite right. She had -cheated from the start. Schiaparelli, the great Italian astronomer, -investigated her in 1892, and said that, as she refused all tests, he -remained agnostic. Antoniadi, the French astronomer, studied her at -Flammarion's house in 1898, and he found her performance "fraud from -beginning to end." Flammarion himself reports that she tried constantly -to get her hands free from control, and that she was caught lowering a -letter-scale by means of a hair. Thus her common tricks had begun as -early as 1898, 1895, and even 1892.</p> - -<p>"<i>Our</i> hands are clean," Sir A. C. Doyle retorted to my charge of fraud. -That is precisely what they are not. Spiritualists have from the -beginning covered up fraud with the mantle of ingenious theories, like -this "grey" theory. Fifty years ago (1873) a Mr. Volckmann, a -Spiritualist, grasped "Katie King," the pretty ghost who had duped -Professor Crookes for months. He at once found that he had hold of the -medium, Florence Cook; but the other Spiritualists present tore him off, -and put out the feeble light; so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> Florence Cook continued for seven -years longer to dupe Spiritualists, until she was caught again in just -the same way in 1880. From the earliest days of materializations there -were such exposures, and the Spiritualists condoned everything. The -medium, they said, when the identity of ghost and medium was too solidly -proved, had acted the part of ghost unconsciously, in a state of trance. -The ghosts had economized, using the medium's body instead of making -one. Some even said that the ghost and medium coalesced again (to save -the medium's life!) when a wicked sceptic seized the phantom. Some said, -when gauzy stuff, such as any draper sells, or a curl of false hair, was -found in the cabinet, that the spirits had forgotten to "dematerialize" -it. Some laid the blame on "wicked spirits" who got snow-white mediums -into trouble. Some learnedly proved that thoughts of fraud in the mind -of sceptics present had telepathically influenced the entranced medium!</p> - -<p>These things are past, Sir A. C. Doyle may say. Not in the least. In the -decade before the War exposures were as frequent as in the palmy days of -the middle of the nineteenth century, and Spiritualist excuses were just -as bad. Craddock, the most famous materializing medium in England, who -had duped the most cultivated Spiritualists of London for years, was -caught and fined £10 and costs at London in 1906. Marthe Beraud, the -next sensation of the Spiritualist world, was caught in 1907, and had to -be transformed into "Eva C." Miller, the wonderful San Francisco maker -of ghosts, was exposed in France in 1908. Frau Abend, the marvel of -Berlin and the pet of the German Spiritualist aristocracy, was exposed -and arrested in 1909. Bailey, the pride<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> of the Australian -Spiritualists, was unmasked in France in 1910. Ofelia Corralès, the next -nine days' wonder, passed among the black sheep in 1911; and Lucia -Sordi, the chief medium of Italy, was exposed in the same year. In 1912 -Linda Gazerra, the refined Italian lady who had duped scientific men and -the Spiritualist world for three years, came to the same inevitable end; -and Mrs. Ebba Wriedt, the famous American direct-voice medium, met her -disaster in Norway. In 1913 it was the turn of Carancini; in 1914 of -Marthe Beraud in her new incarnation, "Eva C."</p> - -<p>We will consider the trickery of these people in detail later. This mere -list of names, of more than national repute, gathered from one single -periodical (the German <i>Psychische Studien</i>), shows how the mischievous -readiness of Spiritualists to find excuses, and their equally -mischievous readiness to admit "phenomena" where real control is -impossible, make the movement as rich in impostors to-day as it was half -a century ago. It must be understood that behind each of these leading -mediums—men and women of international interest—are thousands of -obscurer men and women who cheat less cultivated and less critical folk, -and are never detected. It is therefore useless to divide mediums into -professional and amateur, or into black, white, and grey. You take a -very grave risk with every one of them. You need a close familiarity -with all the varieties of fraud, and these we will now carefully -examine. We will then consider more patiently and courteously what -phenomena remain in the Spiritualist world which are reasonably free -from the suspicion of fraud.</p> - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> <i>Les forces naturelles inconnues</i> (1907), p. 18.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Same work, p. 213.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> <i>Materialisations-phänomene</i> (1914), pp. 22, 28, and 29.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> <i>Personal Experiences in Spiritualism</i> (1913), p. ix.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> <i>Metapsychical Phenomena</i> (1905), p. 46.</p></div> -</div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span><span class="smcap">Chapter II</span></span> <span class="smaller">HOW GHOSTS ARE MADE</span></h2> - -<p>The most thrilling expectation of every Spiritualist is to witness a -materialization. The wild ghost, the ghost in a state of nature, the -ghost which beckoned our grandmothers from their beds and waylaid our -grandfathers when they passed the graveyard on dark nights, has become a -mere legend. Hardly fifty years ago authentic ghost stories were as -common as blackberries. But the growth of education and the -establishment of exact inquiry into such matters have relegated all -these stories to the realm of imagination. According to the -Spiritualist, however, we have merely replaced the wild ghost by the -tame ghost, the domesticated ghost of the séance room. The clever -spirits of the other world, who could not when they were alive on earth -detach a single particle from a living body (except with a knife), are -now able to take a vast amount of material out of the medium's body and -build it up in the space of quarter or half an hour into a hand, a face, -or even a complete human body. This is the great feat of -materialization.</p> - -<p>Let me truthfully record that many of the better educated Spiritualists -fight shy of belief in this class of phenomena. They know that in the -history of the movement every single "materializing medium" has sooner -or later been convicted of fraud. They have, on reflection, seen that -the formation, in the course of half an hour, of even a human -hand—which is a marvellously compacted structure of millions of -cells<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>—would be a feat of stupendous power and intelligence. They feel -that, if all the scientific men in the world cannot make a single living -cell, it is rather absurd to think that these spirit workers, whose -messages do not reflect a very high degree of intelligence, can make a -human face out of the slime or raw material of the medium's body in half -an hour, and put all the atoms back in their places in the medium's body -in another half hour.</p> - -<p>The faith of the great majority of Spiritualists is, of course, heroic -enough to overlook all these difficulties. Indeed, it is amazing to find -even students of science among them indifferent to the enormous -intrinsic improbability of a materialization. During the debate at the -Queen's Hall Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had on the table before him a work -which contained a hundred and fifty photographs of materializations. -Several of these represented full-sized human busts (sometimes with the -superfluous decoration of beards, spectacles, starched collars, ties, -and tie-pins). One of them represented a full-sized human form, dressed -in a bath robe. And Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a trained medical man, -assured the audience that he believed that these were real forms, -moulded out of the "ectoplasm" of the medium's body, in the space of -less than half an hour, by spiritual powers! Sir William Crookes -believed in materializations of a still more wonderful nature, as we -shall see. Dr. Russel Wallace believed implicitly in materializations. -Sir W. Barrett and Sir O. Lodge believe in materializations, since they -believe in the honesty of D. D. Home, who professed to materialize -hands.</p> - -<p>So we must not blame the ordinary Spiritualist if he knows nothing about -the tremendous internal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> difficulties of this class of phenomena, and -the consistent and appalling career of fraud of mediums in this respect. -Materialization is the crowning triumph of the medium, the most -convincing evidence of the new religion. It goes on to-day in darkened -rooms in London—done by men who have already been convicted in London -police-courts—and all parts of the world. Fraud follows fraud, yet the -believer hopes (and pays) on. <i>Some</i> of the phenomena are genuine, he -says; that is to say, some of the tricks were not proved to be -fraudulent. Let us see how these things are done.</p> - -<p>The incomparable Daniel was the first, apparently, to open up this great -field of Spiritualist evidence. In the early fifties he began to exhibit -hands which the Spiritualists present were sure were not <i>his</i> hands. -But we shall see how, even in our own day, Spiritualists easily take a -stuffed glove, a foot, or even a bit of muslin to be a hand, in the -weird light of the dark room; and we will not linger over this.</p> - -<p>The real creator of this important department of the movement was Mrs. -Underhill, the eldest of the three Fox sisters who founded Spiritualism. -I will tell the marvellous story of the three Foxes later, and will -anticipate here only to the extent of saying that Leah, the eldest -sister (Mrs. Fish, later Mrs. Underhill), was the organizing genius of -the movement. She was an expert in fraud and a woman of business. Until -her own sisters gave her away, forty years after the beginning of the -movement, she was never exposed; and even an exposure by her sister in -the public Press and on the public stage in New York made no difference -to her career. She was the Mme. Blavatsky, the Mrs. Eddy, of -Spiritualism.</p> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p><p>Leah began in 1869, every other branch of Spiritualist conjuring having -now been fully explored, to produce a ghost at her sittings. In the dark -a veiled and luminous female figure walked solemnly about the room, and -profoundly impressed the sitters. The mere fact of <i>walking</i>—ghosts -have to <i>glide</i> nowadays—would tell a modern audience that the ghost -was the very solid medium; and the luminosity would have an aroma of -phosphorus to a modern nostril. But the Americans of 1869 were not very -critical. A few months later a wealthy New York banker, Livermore, lost -his wife, and the "hyenas"—as Sir A. C. Doyle calls mediums who prey on -the affections of the bereaved—hastened to relieve his grief and his -purse. For four hundred sittings, spread over a space of six years, -Katie Fox impersonated his dead wife. As Katie Fox confessed in 1888 -that Spiritualism was "all humbuggery—every bit of it," we need not -enter into a learned analysis of these sittings.</p> - -<p>English mediums were put on their mettle, and after a little practice in -private they announced that they had the same powers of materialization, -and it was unnecessary to bring over the Americans. Mrs. Guppy, the -pride of London Spiritualism, opened this new and rich vein. The story -of Mrs. Guppy need not be told here. It is enough that, while she was -still Miss Nichol, she was the chief medium to convert Dr. Russel -Wallace to Spiritualism; and that, on the other hand, she was the lady -who professed that she was aerially transported by spirits from Highbury -to Lamb's Conduit Street, and through several solid walls, in the space -of three minutes. Mrs. Guppy was above suspicion: first because she was -unpaid,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> and secondly because she exposed several fraudulent mediums. So -Mrs. Guppy set up her little peep-show in the first month of 1872, and -drew fashionable London. But the performance was rather tame. While Mrs. -Guppy sat in the cabinet, a little white face appeared, in the dim -moonlight, at an opening near the top of the cabinet. It did not speak, -as the New York ghosts did. Dolls do not speak.</p> - -<p>A few months later Herne and Williams, the professional friends of Mrs. -Guppy whose spirit-controls had wafted that very voluminous lady as -rapidly as a zeppelin across London, set up a more robust performance. -As they sat in the cabinet (unseen), spirit-forms emerged—dim, -luminous, but unmistakably alive—and moved about the room. It was the -first appearance in England of those famous spirits, John King, the -converted pirate, and Katie King, his daughter, who had been a great -attraction in America for several years. John's beard looked rather -theatrical, and his lamp smelt of phosphorus. But what would you? -Spirits have to use earthly chemicals; and they would find plenty of -phosphorus in the brain of Charlie Williams, not to speak of his -pockets, which were never searched. Again we may save ourselves the -trouble of a learned analysis of the phenomena by recalling that -Williams presently dissolved partnership with Herne, and entered into an -alliance with Rita; and that in 1878 the precious pair were seized -during a performance, and searched, at Amsterdam. Rita had a false -beard, six handkerchiefs, and a bottle of phosphorized oil. Williams had -the familiar false black beard and dirty drapery of "John King," and -bottles of phosphorized oil and scent.</p> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p><p>The Spiritualist reader here impatiently observes that I am merely -picking out a few little irregularities in the early days of the -movement. Far from it. I am scientifically studying the preparatory -stages of one of the classic manifestations of the movement: the -materializations of Florence Cook, which are vouched for by Sir W. -Crookes, Sir A. C. Doyle, and, apparently, all the leaders of the -movement. If the Spiritualist wishes, like other people, honestly to -understand "Katie King," he or she must read this part of the story -which I am giving, and which is generally omitted (though it may be read -in any history of the movement).</p> - -<p>Florence Cook was a pretty little Hackney girl of sixteen when Herne and -Williams began. She attended séances at their house in Lamb's Conduit -Street, and she was so impressed that she became a pupil of Herne. She -and her father seem to have understood each other very well, and she -very shortly began to give, to paying guests, materialization-séances in -their house at Hackney. Florence went one better than Mrs. Guppy and -Herne. There was a lamp in the room—at the far side of the room—and -you saw faces plainly at the opening in the cabinet. As her "power" -developed, the ghost began to leave the cabinet and walk about the room -and talk to the sitters. Florence remained bound with rope in the -cabinet while "Katie King" stalked abroad. You did not see her, it is -true, but you had her word for it. She was not bound by the -spectators—nor by herself, of course. She was bound by the spirits. A -rope was put on her lap, the curtains were drawn, and presently you -discovered Florrie, "securely" bound and in a trance, in the cabinet. -The curtains were drawn<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> again when the ghost, in flowing white drapery, -walked the room.</p> - -<p>Meantime, and at a very early date, a Manchester Spiritualist named -Blackburn privately engaged to give Florrie an annual fee if she would -not take money at the door; so she became an "unpaid" and highly -respectable medium. Jewellery is, of course, not money, and Florrie -exacted jewellery (as the Spiritualist Volckmann found and said in the -London Press at the time, when he wanted to attend) from would-be -sitters through her father. It is said that she looked, in features, -remarkably like a Jewess.</p> - -<p>Her fame reached the ears of a brilliant young scientist, Professor W. -Crookes, and he invited her to materialize at his house. She soon laid -aside all dread of the scientific man. In three niggardly little -letters, which he never republished, Crookes described in 1874 the -wonderful things done at his house. While Florrie lay in an improvised -cabinet, or behind a curtain, the beautiful and romantic and quite -different maiden, Katie King, walked about his room. She played with -Crookes's children, and told them stories about her earthly life in -India long ago. She talked affably to his guests, and took his arm as -she walked. There was not the least doubt about her solidity. The wicked -sceptic who suggests that Katie King was a muslin doll or a streak of -light has certainly not read Crookes's letters. He felt her pulse, he -sounded her heart and lungs, he cut off a tress of her lovely auburn -hair, he took her in his arms, and he—well, he breaks off here and -simply asks us what any man would do in the circumstances? We assume -that he found that she had lips and warm breath like any other maiden.</p> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p><p>Florence Cook's opinion of scientific men would to-day be priceless. I -will say, on behalf of Sir W. Crookes, that he never obtruded this -sacred experience on the public. He "accidentally" destroyed all the -negatives and photographs he had taken of Katie King. He forbade -friends, to whom he had given copies, ever to publish them. The three -short letters he wrote to the <i>Spiritualist</i> (February 6, April 3, and -June 5, 1874—I have, of course, read them) are now rare. He wrote them -out of chivalry, because a rival Spiritualist, Volckmann (who married -Mrs. Guppy), got admission to the Hackney sanctuary (by a present of -jewellery) and exposed Florence (December 9, 1873). He saw at once that -she was impersonating the spirit, and he seized it. Other Spiritualists -present, supporters of Florrie, tore him off, and turned out the lamp; -and five minutes later Florence was found, bound and peacefully -entranced, in her cabinet. In the hubbub that followed Professor Crookes -gave his modest testimonial to Florrie's virtue. Spiritualists generally -accepted her version, and she continued to make ghosts until 1880, when -Sir George Sitwell and Baron von Buch exposed her in precisely the same -way.</p> - -<p>No Spiritualist can quarrel with me for dwelling on this famous -materialization. It is supposed to be the mostly firmly authenticated in -the whole movement. Sir W. Crookes said, quite late in life, that he had -"nothing to retract"; and every Spiritualist who quotes his high -authority endorses the materialization of Katie King. The majority of -the public to-day will merely conclude that some scientific men are -worse witnesses on such matters than dockers, and that the disgust of -scientific men like Sir E. Ray<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> Lankester and Sir Bryan Donkin has a -very solid foundation. Even at the time there were leading Spiritualists -like Sergeant Cox who regarded the affair with bewilderment and -suspected that all materializations were fraud.</p> - -<p>What can be said for Sir W. Crookes? He alleges that the medium and the -ghost were unmistakably different persons. Katie King was taller than -Florrie. But Florence Cook, like her contemporary, Miss Showers, was -seen to walk on tip-toe, and alter her stature, when she was the ghost. -Sir W. Crookes nowhere says that he took the elementary precaution of -measuring ghost and medium <i>with their dresses drawn up to their knees</i>. -He says that the lock of hair which Katie gave him as a memento was -auburn, and Florrie's hair was very dark brown. But we do not doubt that -on the <i>last occasion</i> the ghost was <i>not</i> Florence Cook. Other -differences he finds, in a dim light, are negligible. If the modern -Spiritualist really believes Sir W. Crookes, as he professes to do, he -must come to this ultra-miraculous conclusion: The spiritual powers in -this case did not merely take <i>some</i> matter out of Florence Cook's body, -but they took more than the whole substance of it, because Crookes says -that Katie was taller and broader than Florrie! And, to cap this supreme -miracle, he on one occasion saw ghost and medium together, and -apparently Florrie was as solid as ever! The spirits had in this case -multiplied nine stone into eighteen or nineteen.</p> - -<p>After twenty years of religious controversy I am a patient man, but I -decline to argue with any one who doubts that Florrie Cook (four times -caught in fraud, and a pupil of Herne) impersonated the ghost.</p> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p><p>Mr. F. Podmore saw the photographs which Professor Crookes took. He -says that ghost and medium are the same person. Crookes himself was -nervous, in spite of Florrie's charms, and he begged to be allowed to -see ghost and medium plainly together. The artful Florence could not -manage that in his house. Once she let him look at her, lying on the -ground, but he saw no face or hands; and a bundle of clothes and a pair -of boots are not quite clearly a living person. He pressed again. -Florence—he tells us this very naively—borrowed his lamp (a bottle of -phosphorized oil) and tested its penetrating power, and then told him he -should see both ghost and medium in <i>her</i> house. He went, and we are not -surprised that he saw them.</p> - -<p>If any Spiritualist of our time really doubts that on this occasion -there were <i>two</i> girls, I invite him to read carefully Sir W. Crookes's -account of the famous farewell scene. Katie proclaimed that her mission -was over (she had converted a scientific man), and this was to be her -last appearance. Florrie (who was in a trance, of course) wept, vainly -implored her to visit this earth again, and sank, broken-hearted, to the -floor. Katie directed Crookes—who stood, mute, with his phosphorus lamp -in the middle of this pretty comedy—to see to Florrie, and, when he -turned round again, Katie King had vanished for ever. That is to say, -she had not been re-absorbed in the medium's body, as Spiritualist -theory demands, but had <i>gone in the opposite direction while his back -was turned</i>!</p> - -<p>Now there you have the most wonderful, classic, historic materialization -in the whole Spiritualist history. It is attested by a distinguished man -of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> science. It is endorsed by all the Spiritualist leaders of our time. -And it is piffle from beginning to end. The evidence would not justify a -man in drowning a mouse. The control was ridiculously inadequate. The -imposture was palpable. If Sir W. Crookes had taken the scientific -precaution of spreading a few tacks on the carpet, or waxing a bent pin -in the ghost's chair, he would have heard the Hackney dialect at its -richest. It was reserved for two Oxford undergraduates to show Sir W. -Crookes how to investigate ghosts. They seized "Marie," Florrie's next -spirit, in 1880; and they found they had in their arms the charming -Florence, in her <i>lingerie</i>. Crookes had never searched the ample black -velvet dress she used to wear.</p> - -<p>It is hardly worth while running over all the ghostly frauds since then, -but a word about Florrie's friend and contemporary, Miss Showers, will -be found instructive. Miss Showers was a really unpaid medium; though -she received a good deal in the way of jewellery and other presents from -admirers of her fair and aristocratic ghost, "Lenore Fitzwarren." She -was a general's daughter, and above suspicion. No one dreamed of -searching her. On one occasion she allowed Florence Cook to peep into -her cabinet; and Florence—hawks do not pick out hawks' eyes—assured -the public that she plainly saw Miss Showers and "Lenore," and even a -second ghost, simultaneously. But, alas for the fair Lenore! Sergeant -Cox, who was very sceptical, had Miss Showers at his country-house in -1874; and Miss Cox, a born daughter of Eve, tried to draw the curtain -and peep into the cabinet. Miss Showers fought for her curtain, and the -ghostly headdress fell off, and the game was up.</p> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p><p>This was only four months after the exposure of Florence Cook. The two -most certainly genuine and respectable mediums in England were unmasked -within four months. R. D. Owen's "Katie King" had been exposed in -America in the previous year, the last sad year of the old man's life.</p> - -<p>One by one the others followed. In spite of darkness, in spite of solemn -promises extracted from sitters not to break the circle or seize the -ghost, the materializers were all exposed. One man shot a ghost with -ink, and the ink was found on the medium. Stuart Cumberland squirted -cochineal on a ghost, and the medium could not wash it away. One -American with a gun had a shot at a ghost. At another place tin-tacks -were strewn on the floor, and the spirit's language was painful to hear. -In 1876 Eglinton was exposed by Mr. Colley; he had in his trunk the -beard and draperies of his ghost "Abdullah." In 1877 Miss Wood was -caught at Blackburn, and Dr. Monck was caught and sent to jail. In 1878 -Rita and Williams were caught, with all their tawdry ghost-properties, -at Amsterdam. Spiritualists were getting a little nervous, though as a -rule they accepted every excuse. The medium had acted "unconsciously," -or under the influence of evil spirits. Sir A. C. Doyle boasts that it -is Spiritualists who weed out frauds. On the contrary, they have shown a -very grave willingness to accept the flimsiest excuses and reinstate the -medium. Miss Wood was exposed, for instance, in 1877. They at once -admitted her defence, that she had been quite unconscious in -impersonating the ghost, and she went on. In 1882 a sceptical sitter -seized the "pretty little Indian girl" who came out of the cabinet while -Miss Wood was entranced in it;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> and the Indian girl-ghost was Miss Wood -walking on her knees, swathed in muslin.</p> - -<p>Ah, but this is ancient history, your Spiritualist friend says. Listen! -About fifteen years ago, when I was already making that inquiry into -Spiritualism which Spiritualists say I have never made, I was told by a -group of London Spiritualists, all cultivated men and women, that it was -useless to go the round of the mediums who advertised in <i>Light</i>, since -they were "all frauds." I was told that the one genuine medium in London -was a certain F. G. F. Craddock, who performed in a studio at the back -of Mr. Gambier Bolton's house. The minor phenomena I saw did not impress -me, and I asked to be allowed to see these wonderful materializations of -Mr. Craddock. Three ghosts—a nun, a clown, and a Pathan—walked the -room (successively) while Craddock sat (unseen) in a trance. I saw -pictures of these materialized forms, and was told that they were -accurate. But before I could get admission Craddock left, and he began -to hold sittings for his own profit at Pinner. And on March 18, 1906, -the "ghost" was seized, in the usual way, and found to be Craddock. On -June 20 (see the <i>Times</i> of June 21) Craddock was fined ten pounds, and -five guineas cost, at Edgware Police Court, on the charge "that he, -being a rogue and a vagabond, did unlawfully use certain subtle craft, -means, or device, by palmistry or otherwise, to deceive the said Mark -Mayhew and others." He had been controlled as carelessly as F. Cook was -in 1874. He had smuggled in masks and drapery, and impersonated his -ghosts.</p> - -<p>After all, Sir A. C. Doyle may say, in his blunt way, this was 1906. I -do not know if he knows it—he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> seems to have an exceedingly limited -knowledge of his own movement—but <i>Craddock is giving -materialization-séances in or near London to-day</i>; and prominent -Spiritualists know it, and condone it, on the ground that <i>some</i> of his -phenomena are genuine.</p> - -<p>The imposture has continued to flourish in all parts of the Spiritualist -world since 1906. In 1907 it was the turn of Marthe Beraud, of whom I -will say more presently. In 1908 exposure fell upon Miller, the most -famous of the American materializing mediums. Such was his repute that -the French Spiritualists invited him to Paris, and were delighted with -him. The figures which appeared while he sat <i>before</i> the cabinet were -suspiciously like dolls, but there was no mistake about the "beautiful -girl" (in dull, red light) who came out, and offered her hand, when -Miller was (presumably) inside the cabinet. But when the spirits -announced that it was improper to strip and search him, and when they -said that, though he was an "unpaid" medium, they must make him a nice -little present before he went back to San Francisco, there was a chill -in the Spiritualist world. And when he produced the ghosts of Luther's -wife and Melanchthon, when they found bits of tulle and a perfumed cloth -in the cabinet after a séance, they sent Miller back to America without -his present.</p> - -<p>This fiasco, which agitated the Spiritualist world in the beginning of -1909, had not yet been forgotten when, in October of the same year, Frau -Anna Abend and her husband were arrested by the police at Berlin. Frau -Abend was the leading German medium. Strings of motor-cars stretched -before her door of an afternoon. For several years she and her husband -had duped and fascinated Berlin by their accurate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> knowledge of the dead -you wished to see. You heard on every side, what you hear on every side -in London to-day: "I was <i>quite</i> unknown to the medium," and "She could -not <i>possibly</i> know by natural means what the spirits told me." The -police thought otherwise. They found in her cabinet tulle enough to -drape six ghosts; and they found in her house quite a detective-bureau -of information about dead folk and possible sitters, and a secret -address to which she had the flowers sent which her spirits would -produce as "apports." The whole machinery of her information and -trickery was laid bare. Was she ruined? Not a bit of it. She and her -husband got off on technical grounds, and the Spiritualists showered -congratulations on them and set them up again.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p> - -<p>In 1910 our Spiritualist journal, <i>Light</i>, which is so zealous to root -out fraud, announced that a really genuine materializing medium had -appeared in Costa Rica. It seemed a safe distance away, but Professor -Reichel, of France, had actually been to Costa Rica and found it a -flagrant imposture at the very time when <i>Light</i> was confirming the -faith of English Spiritualists with the glorious news.</p> - -<p>Ofelia Corralès, the medium in question, was the daughter of a high -civic functionary of San José; an <i>unpaid</i> medium, you notice. As soon -as Reichel arrived he found that the wonderful manifestation which the -Spiritualist journals of the world had announced was well known locally -to be a hoax. The ghost was a servant-girl, who was recognized by -everybody, smuggled in at the back door. Ofelia, under pressure, -admitted this. Her "spirit-control,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> she explained, could not -"materialize," so directed her to bring in this girl, who resembled her -"in the last incarnation but one." Sometimes her mother took the part, -and she was one night embraced by an ardent Costa Rican sitter. Reichel -assisted at some of her performances, but the girl declined to -materialize a ghost. What she did get was a chorus of ghostly voices in -the dark. It says something for the robustness of Professor Reichel's -psychic faith that, though the music was "rotten," though the whole -family was suspect and all the members of it were present, though he -caught the girl cheating and her "ghost" was an acknowledged imposture, -he believed that this music was a "genuine" phenomenon! He was not going -to make a journey to Costa Rica for nothing.</p> - -<p>To English Spiritualists this case ought to be particularly interesting, -because among the gentle Ofelia's admirers in San José was an -Englishman, Mr. Lindo, and it was he who sent the outrageous account to -<i>Light</i>. According to him—and he was present—they all saw Ofelia -floating in the air. Now, Reichel had taken with him some phosphorized -paper, and by the light of this he saw that Ofelia was standing on a -stool. In fact, she fell off the stool, and was ignominiously exposed. -What is worse, Reichel says (<i>Psychische Studien</i>, April, 1911, p. 224) -that he had expressly warned Lindo, who used his name, that he "would -not be mixed up with such a burlesque," and that the minutes of the -sittings were grossly exaggerated by Ofelia's father. So much for -first-hand Spiritualist testimony in <i>Light</i>. The French <i>Annales des -Sciences Psychiques</i> gave an equally false account. The German<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> -<i>Psychische Studien</i> alone called it "a conglomerate of stupidity and -lies." It certainly was; but when the whole truth was known <i>Light</i> -mildly described it as "a girlish prank." It was calculated and -shameless fraud.</p> - -<p>A few months later it was the turn of Lucia Sordi, a famous Italian -medium, a young married woman of the peasant class, assisted by her two -girls. Her marvels put Eusapia Palladino in the shade. The guests were -not merely touched, but bitten! A man's hat was brought from the hall -and put on his head. The cat was brought in through the solid walls. The -table was not merely lifted up, but carried into the hall. Professor -Tanfani and other scientific men were taken in. Four "materialized -spirits" seemed to be in the room at once, while Lucia was bound to her -chair. They fastened her in a crate, and it made little difference. In -1911 Baron von Schrenck-Notzing went to Rome and exposed her. She could -get out of any bandages. But when the War broke out she was still -occupying the leisure hours of certain Italian professors.</p> - -<p>Meantime, Dr. Imoda, of Turin, university teacher of science, was -investigating the marvels of Linda Gazerra. Linda was not exactly an -unpaid medium, but she was the cultivated daughter of a professional -man. Being a lady and a good Catholic, she could not, of course, be -stripped and searched. So she did wonderful things, which Imoda gravely -watched and described and photographed for three years. Her "control" -was "Vincenzo," a young officer who had been killed in a duel; and a -terrible chap he was to choose so respectable and pious a medium. Things -simply flew about when he was at work. At other<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> times she "apported" -birds and flowers, and the ghosts that materialized beside her—you -could plainly see both her and the ghost—were very pretty, though -remarkably flat-faced, and fond of muslin. As Linda's hands were -controlled by the sitters, it did not matter that she insisted on -absolute darkness until she pleased to say "Foco" ("Light") and let you -take a photograph. She had a three years' run. Then Schrenck-Notzing -studied her at Paris in the spring of 1911. She treated him to a -"witches' Sabbath," he says. But he soon found that her feet were not -where a lady ought to keep her feet. He felt a spirit-touch, grasped the -touching limb, and found that he had the virtuous Linda's foot. Then he -sewed her in a sack, and the spirits were powerless. Her -materializations and tricks were simple. She brought her birds and -flowers and muslin and masks (or pictures) in her hair (which was -largely false, and never examined) and her underclothing, and she, by a -common trick, released her hands and feet from control to manipulate -them.</p> - -<p>This Baron Schrenck, you think, was a terrible fellow at exposures. -Unhappily, our last instance must be the exposure of his own medium, Eva -C. This will fitly crown the chapter for two reasons. First, because Sir -A. C. Doyle recommends her to us as a genuine materializing medium of -our own times. He says in the Debate that, while Spiritualists have been -much "derided" for claiming that spirits build up temporary forms out of -the medium's body, "recent scientific investigation shows that their -assertion was absolutely true. (Cheers.)" I quote the printed Debate (p. -32), and it will be recognized that here at least I am not shirking my -opponent's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> strongest evidence, for Sir A. C. Doyle at once explains -that he means the case of Eva C. He gave his own (quite inaccurate) -version of the facts, and, to the delight of his supporters, he went -on:—</p> - -<blockquote><p>Don't you think it is simply the insanity of incredulity to waive -that aside? Imagine discussing what happened in 1866 ... when you -have scientific facts of this sort remaining unanswered.</p></blockquote> - -<p>So, you see, I was very heavily punished in that contest, and I have to -try to redeem my "insanity"; but perhaps the reader will remember what -Sir A. C. Doyle forgot, that he had stipulated that I should open the -debate and <i>deal with his books</i>. No doubt I was quite free to take -other evidence also, but I had an idea that, since this evidence was -published in 1914 and Sir Arthur's books were published in 1918 and -1919, he had not mentioned it because he disdained it.</p> - -<p>The other reason why the case of Eva C. is important is because it shows -us modern scientific men at work. In the earlier days of the movement -faking was easy. No one searched a medium, especially a lady medium. She -could have yards of butter-cloth or muslin and even dolls or masks under -her skirts. Even now the ordinary medium is not searched, as a rule. A -friend of mine went recently to a materializing medium near London—it -is all going on still—and was allowed to feel the medium over his -clothes. He could easily tell that the man had yards of muslin wrapped -round his body, but he said nothing, and he got his money's worth; a man -dressed in muslin, in a bad light, being recognized by Spiritualists as -a deceased relative. Most materializations are still the medium in a -mask or beard and muslin. In some cases, in very poor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> light, the ghost -is merely a white rag, a picture, or even a faint patch of light from a -lantern, or a phosphorized streak.</p> - -<p>Now we come to the "scientific facts." Half the professors and other -scientific men quoted as adherents by modern Spiritualist writers and -speakers are not Spiritualists at all. Flammarion, Ochorowicz, Foa, -Bottazzi, Richet, de Vesme, Schrenck-Notzing, Morselli, Flournoy, -Maxwell, Ostwald, etc., are not, and never were, Spiritualists. Most of -them regard Spiritualism as childish and mischievous. But they believe -that mediums have remarkable psychic powers, and they admit levitations -and (in many cases) materializations. They think that a mysterious force -of the living medium, not spirits, does these things, and they talk of a -"new science." I agree with them that the idea of spirits strolling -along from the Elysian fields to play banjoes and lift tables and make -ghosts for us is rather peculiar, but I am not sure that <i>their</i> idea is -much less peculiar. However, they promise us research under scientific -conditions, and they say that they have got materializations under such -conditions. "Eva C." is the grand example.</p> - -<p>Who is this mysterious lady? I have already let the reader into the -secret. Sir A. C. Doyle may justly plead that he does not read German; -and the French version of her exploits is, he may be surprised to hear, -very different from Baron Schrenck's fuller version in German, and very -wrong and misleading. But does Sir Arthur never read the <i>Proceedings of -the Society for Psychical Research</i>?</p> - -<p>As long ago as July, 1914, it contained a very good article on Marthe -Beraud, which tells most of the facts (except about her morals), and -quite openly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> disdains these wonderful photographs which have made such -an impression on Sir A. C. Doyle. From that article, which betrays, in -the official organ of the Society, almost the same "insanity of -incredulity" as I did, he would have learned things that might have -saved him from the worst "howler" of the Debate. It tells that "Eva C.," -as was well known all over the continent in 1914, was Marthe Beraud, the -medium of the "Villa Carmen materializations" in Algiers in 1905. It -gives a lengthy report on the case by an Algiers lawyer, M. Marsault, -who knew the family at the Villa Carmen intimately, and often saw the -performances; and this report contains an explicit confession by Marthe -that she had no abnormal powers whatever. To excuse herself she said -that there was a trap-door in the room, and "ghosts" were introduced by -others. That was a lie, for there was no trap-door; and those who -obstinately wished to believe in the ghosts rejected the whole of -Marsault's weighty evidence on the ground that <i>he</i> said there was a -trap-door!</p> - -<p>I have before me photographs of the Algiers ghost and of Eva C.'s ghost. -They plainly show Marthe dressed up as a ghost, in the familiar old way, -while Professor Richet gravely photographs her, and Sir Oliver Lodge -recommends these things to our serious notice. However, Marthe found -Algiers unhealthy after this, and she returned to France and set up in -the materializing trade. Mme. Bisson found her and adopted her, and -changed her name; and Baron von Schrenck-Notzing settled down to a three -years' study of her marvellous performances. It was on the strength of -his book and photographs that Miss Verrall in 1914 (in the <i>Proceedings -S. P. R.</i>) gave a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> verdict not much different from my own. She found -some evidence of abnormal power, and a great deal of fraud. I see no -evidence whatever of abnormal <i>psychic</i> power if—it is not clear—this -is what Miss Verrall means. Yet Sir A. C. Doyle, who seems to know -nothing about the matter beyond Mme. Bisson's worthless work, puts the -facts before a London audience in the year 1920 in the language I have -quoted.</p> - -<p>In the beginning Marthe plainly impersonated the ghost, as Baron -Schrenck admits. He believes that she did it unconsciously. The sooner -that excuse for fraudulent mediums is abandoned the better. She was -quite obviously <i>not</i> in a trance, though she pretended to be, -throughout the whole three years. For smaller "ghosts" (white patches, -streaks, arms, etc.) she used muslin, gloves, rubber—all sorts of -things. As a rule, she knew when they were going to let off the -magnesium-flare and photograph her. She had had ample time behind the -curtain to arrange her effects. In one photograph, taken too suddenly, -she has a white rag on her knee, which would look like a hand in the red -light, and her real hand is holding the "ghost" over her head! After -that Baron Schrenck sadly admitted that she used her hands. Mme. Bisson -does not; so Sir Arthur does not know this. In another photograph she is -supposed to accept a cigarette in a materialized third hand. It is -obviously her bare foot, and, if you look closely, you see that her -"face" is a piece of white stuff pinned to the curtain. She is really -leaning back and stretching up her foot. The book reeks with cheating.</p> - -<p>After a time she began to stick or paste on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> cabinet or the curtain -pictures cut out of the current illustrated papers, and daubed with -paint, provided with false noses, or adorned with beards and moustaches. -President Wilson has a heavy cavalry moustache and a black eye; but the -glasses, collar, tie, and tie-pin, and even the marks of the scissors, -are unmistakable. Baron Schrenck was forced to admit that dozens of -pinholes were found (not by him) on the cabinet-wall, and that the pins -must have been smuggled in, deceptively, in spite of a control which he -claimed to be perfect. In fact, poor Baron Schrenck was driven from -concession to concession until his case was very limp. Of all these -things Sir A. C. Doyle knew nothing; and, although he had the portrait -of President Wilson in his hands at the Queen's Hall, only disguised by -a moustache and a few daubs of paint, he assured the audience he -believed that it was the ectoplasm of the medium's body moulded by -spirit forces into a human form!</p> - -<p>The point of interest to us is to find how the medium concealed her -trappings. No medium was ever more rigorously controlled, yet the fraud -is obvious. The answer shows that you can almost never be sure of your -medium. She was stripped naked before every sitting and <i>sewn</i> into -black tights. Her mouth and hair were always examined. Occasionally her -sex-cavity was examined. South African detectives have told me how this -receptacle is used for smuggling diamonds, and, as Marthe was rarely -examined there by a competent and reliable witness, she probably often -used it. Dr. Schrenck admits that the outlet of her intestinal tube was -scarcely ever examined until very late in the inquiry, and an -independent doctor gave positive reason to suspect<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> that she used this. -There is only one photograph in the book that shows a ghost which, -tightly wrapped up (and nearly all show plain marks of folding, as Baron -Schrenck admits), might be too large for such concealment; and the -careful reader will find that on these occasions there was no control at -all! They were impromptu sittings, suddenly decided upon by Marthe -herself.</p> - -<p>There is strong reason to believe that usually she swallowed her -material and brought it up at will from her gullet or stomach. More than -a hundred cases of this power are known, and there is much positive -evidence that Marthe was a "ruminant." She sometimes bled copiously from -the mouth and gullet, and she used the mouth much to manipulate the -gauzy stuff. When I mentioned this well-known theory of Marthe Beraud -Sir Arthur laughed. He said that he doubted if I had read the book I -professed to have read, because Marthe had a net sewn round her head, -which "disproved" my theory. He summoned me to retract. He said I had -"slipped up pretty badly."</p> - -<p>Well, the theory was not mine, but that of a doctor who had studied -Marthe, and who has little difficulty in dealing with the net. Had it -not been the end of the debate, however, our audience would have heard a -surprising reply. They would have learned that the net was used only in -<i>seven</i> sittings out of hundreds, and that the medium then compelled -them to abandon it. They would have learned that the net, instead of -"not making the slightest difference to the experiments," as Sir A. C. -Doyle says, made <i>four</i> out of these <i>seven</i> sittings completely barren -of results! And they would have further learned that when the net was -on, and Marthe could not use her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> mouth, she stipulated that the back of -her clothing should be left open.</p> - -<p>Just one further detail of this sordid imposture. I said that on one -occasion Marthe allowed the very title of the paper out of which she cut -her portraits, <i>Le Miroir</i>, to appear in the photograph, and gave it a -spiritual meaning. Now, that is Mme. Bisson's version. But Baron -Schrenck's version is in flagrant contradiction, and an examination of -the photographs proves that he is right. The words were caught, -<i>accidentally</i>, by a camera placed in the cabinet, and the excuse was -concocted the next day!</p> - -<p>Enough of these miserable "materializations." They are always dishonest. -Every materializing medium has been found out. Almost since the birth of -the movement there have been, and are to-day, hundreds of these men and -women, paid and unpaid, who have masqueraded as ghosts, or duped their -sitters in a dull red light with muslin and butter-cloth and -phosphorized paper, with dolls and masks and stuffed gloves and -stockings and rubber arms. If Spiritualists would persuade us that they -are scrupulously honest, they must drive the last of these people out of -their fold, and they must expunge every reference to these -materializations from their literature. When we get such phenomena with -a medium who has been searched by competent and independent witnesses, -whose body-openings have been sealed and clothing changed, in a cabinet -set up by independent inquirers, with <i>each</i> hand and foot controlled by -a separate man, or in a good light, we may begin to talk. Never yet has -the faintest suggestion of a phenomenon been secured under such -circumstances.</p> - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> I take this from the German psychic journal, <i>Psychische -Studien</i> Nov., 1909.</p></div></div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span><span class="smcap">Chapter III</span></span> <span class="smaller">THE MYSTERY OF RAPS AND LEVITATIONS</span></h2> - -<p>I now pass at once to a class of Spiritualistic manifestations which -would be put forward by any well-educated occultist as the most -authentic of all. Reference was made a few pages back to a large group -of scientific and professional men who believe in what they call -"mediumistic phenomena." They are not Spiritualists, and it is one of -the questionable features of recent Spiritualist literature that they -are often described as such. Thus the astronomers Flammarion and -Schiaparelli are quoted. But Flammarion says repeatedly in his latest -and most important book (<i>Les forces naturelles inconnues</i>, 1907) that -he is not and never was a Spiritualist (see p. 581), and he includes a -long letter from Schiaparelli, who disavows all belief even in the -phenomena (p. 93). Professor Richet, who believes in materializations, -is not a Spiritualist. Professor Morselli, who also accepts the facts, -speaks of the Spiritualist interpretation of them as "childish, absurd, -and immoral." The long lists of scientific supporters which the -Spiritualists publish are in part careless or even dishonest.</p> - -<p>But such professors as Richet, Ochorowicz, de Vesme, Flournoy, etc., and -men like Flammarion, Carrington, Maxwell, etc., do believe that raps and -other physical phenomena are produced by abnormal powers of the medium. -They believe that when the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> medium sits in or before the cabinet, in -proper conditions, the floor and table are rapped, the furniture is -lifted or moved about, musical instruments are played, and impressions -are made in plaster, although the medium has not done it with his or her -hands or feet. As I said, these scientific men scorn the idea that -"spirits" from another world play these pranks. They look for unknown -natural forces in the medium. They <i>think</i> that they have excluded -fraud. We shall see. Meantime, the assent of so many scientific men to -the phenomena themselves gives this class of experiences more -plausibility than others.</p> - -<p>Most of these men base their opinion upon the remarkable doings of the -Italian medium, Eusapia Palladino, and we shall therefore pay particular -attention to her. But Spiritualists rely for these things on a very -large number of mediums. In fact, some of our leading English -Spiritualists do not believe in Palladino at all, having detected her in -fraud. We must therefore first examine the evidence put before us by -Spiritualists.</p> - -<p>We begin with the story of the Fox family in America in 1848, which -admittedly inaugurated modern Spiritualism. Since Spiritualists -commemorate, in 1920, the "seventy-second" anniversary of the foundation -of their religion, I will surely not be accused of wasting time over -trivial or irrelevant matters in going back to 1848. As, however, this -is not a history, I must deal with this matter very briefly.</p> - -<p>In March, 1848, a Mr. and Mrs. Fox, of Hydesville, a very small town of -the State of New York, had their domestic peace disturbed by mysterious -and repeated rappings, apparently on their walls and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> floors. -Swedenborgians and Shakers had by that time familiarized people with the -idea of spirit, and the neighbours were presently informed that the raps -took an intelligent form, and replied "Yes" or "No" (by a given number -of raps) to questions. The Foxes stated that the raps came from the -spirit of a murdered man, and later they said that they had dug and -found human bones. These raps were clearly associated with the two -girls, Margaretta (aged fifteen) and Katie or Cathie (aged twelve). A -third, a married elder sister, named Leah—at that time Mrs. Fish, and -later Mrs. Underhill—came to Hydesville, and, at her return to -Rochester, took Margaretta with her. Leah herself was presently a -"medium." The excitement in rural America was intense. Mediums sprang up -on every side, and the Foxes were in such demand that they could soon -charge a dollar a sitter. The "spirits," having at last discovered a way -of communicating with the living, rapped out all sorts of messages to -the sitters. In a few years table-turning, table-tilting, levitation, -etc., were developed, but the "foundation of the religion" was as I have -described in 1848.</p> - -<p>Towards the close of 1850 three professors of Buffalo University formed -the theory that the Fox girls were simple frauds, causing the supposed -raps by cracking their knee joints. At a trial sitting they so placed -the legs and feet of the girls that no raps could be produced. A few -months later a relative, Mrs. Culver, made a public statement, which was -published in the <i>New York Herald</i> (April 17, 1851), that Margaretta Fox -had admitted the fraud to her, and had shown her how it was done. -Neither of these checks had any appreciable effect upon the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> movement. -From year to year it found new developments, and it is said within three -years of its origin to have won more than a million adherents in the -United States, or more than five times as many as it has to-day.</p> - -<p>Our Spiritualists may find it possible, in their solemn commemoration of -1848, to smile at the Buffalo professors and Mrs. Culver, but I have yet -to meet a representative of theirs who can plausibly explain away what -happened in 1888. Margaretta Fox married Captain Kane, the Arctic -explorer, who often urged her to expose the fraud, as he believed it to -be. In 1888 she found courage to do so (<i>New York Herald</i>, September 24, -1888). She and Katie, she said, had discovered a power of making raps -with their toe-joints (not knee-joints), and had hoaxed Hydesville. -Their enterprising elder sister had learned their secret, and had -organized the very profitable business of spirit-rapping. The raps and -all other phenomena of the Spiritualist movement were, Mrs. Kane said, -fraud from beginning to end. She gave public demonstrations in New York -of the way it was done; and in October of the same year her younger -sister Cathie confirmed the statement, and said that Spiritualism was -"all humbuggery, every bit of it" (<i>Herald</i>, October 10 and 11, 1888). -They agreed that their sister Leah (Mrs. Underhill), the founder of the -Spiritualist movement and the most prosperous medium of its palmiest -days, was a monumental liar and a shameless organizer of every variety -of fraud. That a wealthy Spiritualist afterwards induced Cathie to go -back on this confession need not surprise us.</p> - -<p>So much for "St. Leah"—if she is yet canonized<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>—and the foundation of -the Spiritualist religion in 1848. We need say little further about -raps. Dr. Maxwell, the French lawyer and medical student who belongs to -the scientific psychic school which I have noticed, gives six different -fraudulent ways of producing "spirit-raps." He has studied every variety -of medium, including girls about the age of the Fox girls, and found -fraud everywhere. In one case he discovered that the raps were -fraudulently produced by two young men among the sitters; and the normal -character of these men was so high that their conduct is beyond his -power of explanation. He has verified by many experiments that loud raps -may be produced by the knee- and toe-joints, and that even slowly -gliding the finger or boot along the leg of the table (or the cuff, -etc.) will, in a strained and darkened room, produce the noises. In the -dark, of course—Dr. Maxwell roundly says that any sitting in total -darkness is waste of time—cheating is easy. The released foot or hand, -or a concealed stick, will give striking manifestations. Some mediums -have electrical apparatus for the purpose.</p> - -<p>If any Spiritualist is still disposed to attach importance to raps, we -may at least ask for these manifestations under proper conditions. Since -spirits can rap on floors, or on the medium's chair, let the table be -abolished. It usually affords a very suspicious shade, especially in red -light, in the region of the medium. Let the medium be plainly isolated, -and bound in limb and joint, and let us then have these mysterious raps. -It has not yet been done.</p> - -<p>The same general objection may be premised when we approach the subject -of levitation and the moving of furniture generally. Levitation is a -more <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>impressive word than "lifting," but the inexpert reader may take -it that the meaning is the same. The "spirits" manifest their presence -to the faithful, not by making the table or the medium "light," but by -lifting up it or him. It is unfortunate that here again the spirits seem -compelled by their very limited intelligence to choose a phenomenon -which not only looks rather like the pastime of a slightly deranged -Hottentot, but happens to coincide with just the kind of thing a -fraudulent medium would be disposed to do in a dim light. However, since -quite a number of learned men believe in these things, let us consider -them seriously.</p> - -<p>And, with the courage of honest inquirers, let us attack the strongest -manifestations of this power first. Such are the instances in which the -medium himself—spirits respect the proprieties and do not treat -lady-mediums in this way—is lifted from the ground and raised even as -high as the ceiling. When I say that ladies are not treated in this -frivolous way, the informed reader will gather at once that I decline to -take serious notice of the once famous levitation of Mrs. Guppy. Dr. -Russel Wallace was quite convinced that this lady was "levitated" on to -the table, in the dark, and she was no light weight. But we shall be -excused from examining his statement if we recall what the lady claimed -in 1871. Herne and Williams, both impostors, were giving a séance in -Lamb's Conduit Street, and their "spirit-controls" said they would -"apport" the weighty Mrs. Guppy. Three minutes later, although the doors -were locked, and her home was three miles away, she was standing on the -table. She had a wet pen in her hand, and she explained tearfully to the -innocent sitters that she had been snatched by invisible powers from her -books and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> taken through the solid walls. People like Russel Wallace -still believed in Mrs. Guppy, but I assume that there is no one to-day -who does not see in this case a blatant collusion of three rogues to -cheat the public. I assume that the same contempt will be meted out to -the claim of the Rev. Dr. Monck, who, not to be outdone, stated shortly -afterwards that <i>he</i> had been similarly transported from Bristol to -Swindon.</p> - -<p>Probably the modern reader will be disposed to dismiss with equal -contempt the claim that Daniel Dunglas Home was, in the year 1869, -wafted by spirit-hands from one window to another, seventy feet above -the ground, at a house in Victoria Street. But here I must ask him to -pause. This is one of the classical manifestations, one of the -foundations of Spiritualism. Sir A. C. Doyle says that the evidence here -is excellent. Sir William Barrett maintains that the story is -indisputably true. Sir William Crookes says that "to reject the recorded -evidence on this subject is to reject all human testimony whatever." It -is a Spiritualist dogma.</p> - -<p>I have shown in the debate with Sir A. C. Doyle that this dogma is based -on evidence that will not stand five minutes' examination. Not one of -these leading Spiritualists can possibly have examined the evidence. No -witness even <i>claims</i> to have seen Home wafted from window to window. -Lord Adare is the only survivor of the three supposed witnesses, and, -when he saw some Press report of my destructive criticism in the Debate, -he sent to the <i>Weekly Dispatch</i> a letter that he had written at the -time. He seemed to think that this letter afforded new evidence. The -interested reader will be amused to find that this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> letter is precisely -the evidence I had quoted in the Debate, for it was published forty -years ago.</p> - -<p>No one professes to have seen Home carried from window to window. Home -told the three men who were present that he was going to be wafted, and -he thus set up a state of very nervous expectation. Sir W. Barrett, who -tells us that "nothing was said beforehand of what they might expect to -see," says precisely the opposite of the truth. Both Lord Crawford and -Lord Adare say that they were warned. Then Lord Crawford says that he -saw the shadow on the wall of Home entering the room horizontally; and -as the moon, by whose light he professes to have seen the shadow, was at -the most only three days old, his testimony is absolutely worthless. -Lord Adare claims only that he saw Home, in the dark, "standing upright -outside our window."<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> In the dark—it was an almost moonless December -night—one could not, as a matter of fact, say very positively whether -Home was outside or inside; but, in any case, he acknowledges that there -was a nineteen-inch window-sill outside the window, and Home could stand -on that.</p> - -<p>So there is not only not a shred of evidence that Home went from one -window to another, but the whole story suggests trickery. Home told them -what to expect, and he pretended, in the dark, that he was a "spirit" -whispering this to them. He noisily opened the window in the next room. -He came into their room, from the window-sill, laughing and saying (in -spite of the historic solemnity of the occasion!) that it would be funny -if a policeman had seen him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> in the air. When Lord Adare went into the -next room, and politely doubted if Home could have gone out by so small -an aperture, Home told him to stand some distance back, and then swung -himself out in a jaunty fashion, as a gymnast would. In fine, it is well -to remember that this was the same D. D. Home who had defrauded a widow -of £33,000, and had been, in the previous year (1868), branded in a -London court as a fraud and an adventurer.</p> - -<p>After this we need not linger long over the other "levitations" of Home, -or allow ourselves to be intimidated by the bluster of Sir A. C. Doyle -and Sir W. Barrett. Sir Arthur tells us that "there are altogether on -record some fifty or sixty cases of levitation on the part of Home"; -that "Professor Crookes saw Home levitated twice"; and that "as he -floated round the room he wrote his name above the pictures." It is a -pity that Sir A. C. Doyle does not tell people that Home did all these -wonderful things in the dark, and that in most cases the people present -merely had Home's word for it that he was "floating round the room." The -whole evidence for these things has been demolished so effectually by -Mr. Podmore in his <i>Newer Spiritualism</i> (chs. i and ii) that I need say -little here.</p> - -<p>No reliable witness, giving us a precise account of the circumstances, -has ever claimed that he saw Home off the ground and clear of all -furniture. Sir W. Crookes says that he saw Home, in poor light, rise six -inches for a space of ten seconds. It is a poor instalment of miracle; -but I am obliged to add that Crookes was at the other side of the room, -and he confesses that he did not see Home's feet leave the ground! -Crookes says that on one occasion he was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> allowed to pass his hands -under Home's feet; but he tells this wonderful exploit twenty-three -years after the event (in 1894), and he does not give precise -indications where the hands were when he examined the feet. Mr. John -Jones saw Home rise in 1861; but he does not say that he saw Home's -hands, and he admits that his muscles were so taut that he calls them -"cataleptic." It is equally true that Home wrote his name above the -pictures; but no one had examined the spots before the séance, and no -one could see if he stood on anything to reach them during the séance, -as it was pitch dark. The only apparently good case is an occasion when -a sitter says that, in the dark, he saw Home's figure <i>completely</i> cross -the rather lighter space of the window, feet first, and then cross it -again head first. But it happens that on this occasion there are two -witnesses, and the less rhetorical of the two expressly says that the -shadow on the blind was at first only "the feet and part of the legs," -and then (after Home had <i>announced</i> that the spirits were turning him -round) only "the head and face." Any gymnast could do that. The whole of -these recorded miracles reek with evidence of charlatanry. The lights -were always put out, and Home in nearly all cases <i>said</i> that he was -rising, and then <i>told</i> them that he was floating about various parts of -the room.</p> - -<p>Still worse is the evidence for Home's occasional "elongation." The -picture of Sir W. Crookes gravely measuring the height of this brazen -impostor, as he alternately draws himself in and stretches out, is as -pathetic as the picture of him standing with a bottle of phosphorus in a -bedroom at Hackney while two girls make a fool of him. It is just as -pathetic that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> men like Sir A. C. Doyle and Sir W. Barrett assure the -public that they believe these things, when they have, apparently, not -examined the evidence. To believe that in the course of a few seconds -certain spiritual powers, who cannot unravel for us the smallest -scientific problem, can so alter that marvellous world of cells and -tissues which make up a man's body as to make him even six inches -taller, is to believe in a miracle beside which the dividing of the -waters of the Red Sea is child's play. Yet distinguished men of science -and medical men assure the public that they believe this, and believe it -on evidence that has been riddled over and over again.</p> - -<p>It was a still earlier fraud, Gordon, who began this trick of mounting -furniture in the dark and saying that the spirits bore him up; but the -"evidence" is not worth glancing at. One might as well ask us to examine -seriously the evidence for the "elongation" of Herne, Peters, Morse, and -all the other impostors of the time, or for the spiritual transit of -Mrs. Guppy and Dr. Monck. Let us rather see what sort of evidence is -furnished in recent times.</p> - -<p>It appears that the spirits no longer levitate the mediums themselves. -Although the power is said to be developing as time goes on, the age of -these impressive floatings round pitch-dark rooms is over. The only -instance I have read in the last twenty years is that of Ofelia -Corralès, of Costa Rica, who unfortunately fell off the stool she was -standing on. We have now to be content with the levitation of tables and -the dragging of furniture towards the medium.</p> - -<p>Again let us, in order not to waste time, address ourselves at once to -the classical case of Eusapia Palladino. Your common or garden medium, -with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> his uncritical audience, has a dozen ways of tilting and lifting -tables and pulling furniture about the room. To press on with the hands -or thumbs (with four fingers "above the table" to edify the audience) -and lift with the knees is easy. The same thing can be done by pressure -against the inside of the legs of the table. The foot is still more -useful, for the table is generally light. A confederate is even more -useful. The more artistic medium wears a ring with a slot in it, and has -a strong pin in the table. While his hands seem to be spread out above -the table, he catches the head of the pin in the slot of his ring, -and—the miracle occurs. Other mediums have leather cuffs inside their -sleeves, with a dark piece of iron or a hook projecting to catch the -edge of the table.</p> - -<p>But we will take Palladino, who was examined by scores of scientific -men, many of whom to this day believe that at least a large part of her -"phenomena" were genuine. The average man hesitates immediately when he -hears that <i>everybody</i> admits that part of her performances were -fraudulent. She was a "grey" medium, Sir A. C. Doyle says. But he, and -so many others, assure you at once that this is quite natural. She had -real mediumistic powers; but these decay after a time, while the public -still clamours for miracles, and the poor medium is strongly tempted to -cheat. I have already said that Sir Arthur is here even more inaccurate -than he usually is. He says that she was "quite honest" for the first -fifteen years, as any person who studies her record will admit. Let us -briefly study it.</p> - -<p>Eusapia Palladino was an Italian working girl, an orphan, who married a -small shopkeeper of Naples. She remained throughout life almost entirely -illiterate,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> but she came in time to earn "exorbitant fees" (Lombroso's -daughter says) by her séances. She had begun to dabble in Spiritualism, -and lift tables, at the age of thirteen, but she did little and was -quite obscure until 1888, when Professor Chiaia, of Naples, took her up. -He challenged Lombroso to study her, and in 1892 a group of Italian -professors investigated her powers at Naples. That is the beginning of -her public career, and her performances varied little. She sat with her -back to the cabinet—unlike other mediums, she sat outside it—and her -chief trick was to lift off the ground the light table in front of her -while the professors controlled her hands and feet. It was the ghost of -"John King" who did these things, she said; and we remember "John King" -as a classic ghost of the early fraudulent mediums. He rapped on the -table and raised it off the floor; he dragged furniture towards the -medium, especially out of the cabinet behind her; he flung musical -instruments on the table, and prodded and pulled the hair of the -sitters; he made impressions of hands and faces in plaster; and he even -brought very faint ghosts into the room at times.</p> - -<p>Lombroso and other professors regarded these things as genuine or due to -an abnormal power of the medium (not to ghosts). In the end of his life, -in fact, Lombroso announced that he had come to believe in the -immortality of the mind, though he still regarded this as material. His -daughter, Gina Ferrero, tells us that at this time he was a physical -wreck, and his mental vitality was very low.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> However, the professors -of 1892 said that they did not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> detect fraud. The reader of their report -may think otherwise. They put Eusapia, for instance, on a scale, and -"John King" took seventeen pounds off her weight. Any person can perform -that miracle by getting his toe to the floor while he is on the weighing -machine; and the professors gravely note that, whenever they prevented -Eusapia's dress from touching the floor, she could not reduce her -weight! They note also that she cannot raise the table unless her dress -is allowed to touch it.</p> - -<p>In the same year, 1892, Flammarion invited her to Paris. He says frankly -that he caught her cheating more than once. One of her miracles was to -depress the scale of a letter-balance by placing her hands on either -side of it, at some distance from it. Flammarion found that she used a -hair, stretched from hand to hand. His colleague, the astronomer -Antoniadi, who was called in, said that it was "fraud from beginning to -end."</p> - -<p>In 1894 Professor Richet, assisted by Mr. Myers and Sir O. Lodge, -examined her at Richet's house, and found no fraud. But Dr. Hodgson -insisted that she released her hands and feet from control and used -them, and Myers invited her to Cambridge in 1895. The result is well -known. In great disgust they reported that she cheated throughout, and -that not a single phenomenon could be regarded as genuine. This was, on -the most generous estimate, seven years after the beginning of her -public career; and Myers, the most conscientious and respected of -English Spiritualists, reported that she must have had "long practice" -in fraud. Yet Sir A. C. Doyle tells the public that she was "quite -honest" for the first fifteen years.</p> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></p><p>Her admirers were angry, and they continued to guarantee her -genuineness. She became the most famous and most prosperous medium in -the world. In 1897 and 1898 she was again in France, and Flammarion -detected her in fraud after fraud. She released her hands and feet -constantly from control. From 1905 to 1907 she was rigorously examined -by the General Psychological Institute of Paris. They reported constant -trickery and evasion of tests. Sitters were not allowed to put a foot -<i>on</i> her right foot because she had a painful corn on it. One of her -hands must not be <i>clasped</i> by the control because she was acutely -sensitive to pain in that hand. She will not allow a man to stand near -and do nothing but watch her. She wriggles and squirms all the time, and -releases her hands and feet. She learns that, in a photograph they have -taken of one high "levitation" of a stool, it is plainly seen to be -resting on her head, so she allows no more photographs of this. And so -on. Professor G. le Bon got her at his house for a private sitting in -1906. He was able to instal an illumination behind her of which she knew -nothing, and he plainly caught her releasing and using her hand.</p> - -<p>In 1910 the Americans tried her. At one sitting Professor Münsterberg -was carefully controlling her left foot, as he thought, when the table -in the cabinet behind her began to move. But one man had stealthily -crept into the cabinet under cover of the dark, and he seized something. -Eusapia shrieked—it was her left foot!<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> Then the professors of -Columbia<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> University took Eusapia in hand, and finished her. They had -special apparatus ready for use, but they never used it. In a few -sittings they discovered that she was an habitual cheat, and they -abandoned the inquiry in disgust.</p> - -<p>These are the main points in Eusapia's official record. They suffice to -damn her. She cheated from the start to the finish. Her moans and groans -and wriggles habitually enabled her to release her hands and feet from -the men who were supposed to control them. Nothing is more notorious in -her career than that. She pretended that "John King" did everything, yet -she used constantly to announce that "some very fine phenomena would be -seen to-night." She pretended to be in a trance, yet she habitually -called out "E fatto" ("It's done") when something had been accomplished, -in the dark, two feet away from her. She was alive to every suspicious -movement of the sitters, and controlled the light and the photographers. -The impressions of faces which she got in wax or putty were always <i>her</i> -face. I have seen many of them. The strong bones of her face impress -deep. Her nose is relatively flattened by the pressure. The hair on the -temples is plain. It is outrageous for scientific men to think that -either "John King" or an abnormal power of the medium <i>made</i> a human -face (in a few minutes) with bones and muscles and hair, and precisely -the same bones and muscles and hair as those of Eusapia. I have seen -dozens of photographs of her levitating a table. On not a single one are -her person and dress entirely clear of the table. In fine,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> at every -single sitting, from beginning to end, the observers were distracted by -the "ghost." They were prodded and pinched and pushed, and their hair -and whiskers were pulled. It seems a pity that they did not refuse to -continue unless "John King" desisted from this frivolity. It was Eusapia -spoiling their vigilance.</p> - -<p>Believers in Eusapia would point to some dozens of things in her record -that these professors, and even conjurers like Carrington, could not -explain. I am quite content to leave them unexplained. We are under no -obligation to explain them or else accept Spiritualism. There is, as -Schiaparelli said, a third alternative: agnosticism. If the majority of -Eusapia's tricks were at one time or other seen to be done by fraud, the -presumption is that the rest were fraud. There are scientific men who -seem to lose their common sense in these inquiries. You might put a -conjurer before them in broad daylight, and they will not see how he -does a single one of his tricks. But when, in a bad light, a lady -conjurer or medium does something which they cannot explain they appeal -to abnormal powers or ghosts. It is neither science nor common sense.</p> - -<p>Towards the close of Eusapia's career another powerful Italian -peasant-woman, Lucia Sordi, began to interest the professors. She outdid -Eusapia in some matters. While she sat bound with cords in the cabinet, -a decanter of wine was lifted from the table, and a glass put to the -lips of each sitter. She was eventually exposed, and I will not linger -on her. She could get out of any bonds; and she had two confederates -always, in the shape of her young daughters.</p> - -<p>Most recent of all are the phenomena of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> "Goligher circle" of -Belfast. A teacher of mechanics, Mr. Crawford, has greatly strengthened -the faith by recording their wonderful exploits in his <i>Reality of -Psychic Phenomena</i> (1916) and <i>Experiments in Psychical Science</i> (1919). -Sir A. C. Doyle is enthusiastic about them, as is his wont. Even Sir W. -Barrett tells us that "it is difficult to believe how the cleverest -conjurer, with elaborate apparatus, could have performed" what he -witnessed. Decidedly, here is something serious. Yet I intend to dismiss -it very briefly. The "circle" consists of seven members of the Goligher -family, and they are all mediums. In other words, there were fourteen -hands and fourteen feet to be watched, in a red light (the worst in the -world for the eye), and this young teacher of science flatters himself -that he controlled them all, and meantime attended to a lot of scales -and other apparatus. We are asked to believe this after four or five -professors repeatedly failed to control the hands and feet of one woman -(Eusapia). Moreover, they were permitted to <i>hold</i> Eusapia's hands and -feet, but Crawford was not permitted to touch the feet of his medium. He -gives no photographs, except of his superfluous scales and tables. The -Goligher family, he says, were most anxious to have photographs taken, -but the "spirits" said it would injure the medium.</p> - -<p>When Sir W. Barrett tells the public that "the cleverest conjurer, with -elaborate apparatus," could not do these things, he talks nonsense of -which he ought to be ashamed. There is nothing in the two books that -requires any apparatus at all, or anything more than practice. Raps were -common. They have been since 1848. Mr. Crawford talks of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>"sledgehammer -blows" and "thunderous noises." As the mediums were never searched, the -raps may have been exceptionally loud, but Mr. Crawford naïvely gives -one detail which puts us on our guard. He one night brought a -particularly sensitive phonograph. The noises that night were -"terrific," he says. He took the record to the offices of <i>Light</i>, and -the editor of that journal can do no more than say that the noises were -"clearly audible" (p. 32). So, when Mr. Crawford tells us of strong men -being unable to press down the levitated table, we will take a pinch of -salt.</p> - -<p>The "table" (really a light stool) usually lifted weighed two pounds. -Sir A. C. Doyle assured his audience that this was lifted as high as the -ceiling. On the contrary, Mr. Crawford expressly says that it never rose -more than four feet; which is, I find by "scientific" experiment, the -height to which a young lady, sitting on a chair, could raise such a -stool on her foot. A most remarkable coincidence. It is a further -remarkable coincidence that the young lady's weight increased, when an -object was levitated, by just the weight of that object, less about two -ounces which some other person took over (a steadying finger, for -instance). It is an even more remarkable coincidence that, when Mr. -Crawford asked for an impression of the ghostly machinery which made the -raps, the mark he got on paper was "something of an oval shape, about -two square inches in area" (p. 192); which is singularly like a young -lady's heel. Similarly, when he asked for an impression in a saucer of -putty, the mark he describes—and carefully omits to photograph for -us—is precisely the mark of a young lady's big toe with a threaded -material on it. It is further<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> curious that this remarkable psychic -power, which can lift a ten-pound table, could not lift a <i>white</i> -handkerchief a fraction of an inch; which prompts the painful reflection -that a dark foot might be visible if it touched a white handkerchief.</p> - -<p>Mr. Crawford's books are really too naive. He asked Kathleen, by way of -control experiment, to show him if she <i>could</i> raise the stool on her -foot; and he asks us to believe that her very obvious wriggles and -straining prove that this was not the usual lifting force. He puts her -on a scale, and asks the "ghosts" to take a large amount of matter out -of her body. He is profoundly impressed when her weight decreases by -54½ pounds; and he asks us to believe that ghosts have taken 54½ -pounds of flesh and fat out of the fair Kathleen and "laid it on the -floor." A simpler hypothesis is that she got her toe to the floor, as -Eusapia did. Mr. Crawford ought to leave ghosts for a while, and take a -course of human anatomy and physiology. His mechanical knowledge enables -him to sketch a diagram of a "cantilever," constructed out of the -medium's body, and reaching from it to the centre of the table, a -distance of eighteen inches, or the length of Kathleen's leg from knee -to foot. But how in the name of all that is reasonable this cantilever -is worked from the body end, without wrenching the young lady's -"innards" out of joint, passes the subtlest imagination. The "spirits" -were consulted as to the way they did it. By a final peculiar -coincidence it transpired that they knew just as much about science as -Kathleen Goligher; and that was nothing.</p> - -<p>This is a very long chapter, but the phenomena it had to discuss are the -most serious in Spiritualist<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> literature, and I was eager to omit -nothing which is deemed important. Let me close it with a short account -of an historical occurrence, which is at the same time a parable. We are -often told that the medium was "physically incapable" of doing this or -the other. Here is an interesting illustration of human possibilities.</p> - -<p>In 1846 all Paris was busy discussing "the electric girl." Little -Angélique Cottin, a village child of thirteen summers, a very quiet and -guileless-looking maid, exuded the "electric fluid" (ghosts were not yet -in fashion) in such abundance that the furniture almost danced about the -room. When she rose from her chair it flew back, even if a man held it, -and was often smashed. A heavy dining-table went over at a touch from -her dress. A chair held by "several strong men" was pushed back when she -sat on it. The Paris Academy of Sciences examined her, and could make -nothing of her. The chairs she rose from were sent crashing against the -wall, and broken. But one night, when the crowd gathered about her to -see the marvels, a wicked old sceptic watched her closely from a -distance. Only that afternoon a heavy dining-table, with its load of -dishes, had gone over. The child saw the sceptic's eye, yet wanted to -entertain the crowd. There was a struggle of patience between sceptic -and child for <i>two hours</i>, and at last age won. He saw her move, and -demanded an examination; and they found the bruise on her leg caused by -knocking over the heavy table. It was all over. She had developed a -marvellous way of using the muscles of her legs and buttocks -instantaneously and imperceptibly. This was, says Flammarion, "the end -of this sad story in which so many people had been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> duped by a poor -idiot." He is wrong on two points. The child was by no means an idiot; -and this was only the beginning, not the end. We do well to remember -what this child of thirteen could do.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p> - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> The account which he gives in the <i>Dispatch</i> (March 21, -1920) is precisely the same as his account (which I quoted verbatim in -the Debate) in his <i>Experience of Spiritualism with D. D. Home</i>, pp. -82-3.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> <i>Cesare Lombroso</i> (1915), p. 416. Much is suppressed in the -English translation of his book.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Mr. Hereward Carrington, who believes in the genuineness of -Eusapia's powers, makes light of this. He misses the main point. In the -minutes of the sitting, which he gives, it is expressly stated by the -controllers at this point that they have both Eusapia's hands and feet -secure. So we cannot trust such minutes when they say that the control -was perfect.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Flammarion, <i>Les forces naturelles inconnues</i>, pp. -299-310.</p></div></div> - -<hr /> - -<h2><span><span class="smcap">Chapter IV</span></span> <span class="smaller">SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHS AND SPIRIT PICTURES</span></h2> - -<p>Before me, as I write, are two spirit photographs which have gone at -least part of the round of the Press, and confirmed the consoling belief -in thousands of hearts. One is a photograph of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, -and behind him, peeping over his shoulder, is a strange form which has, -he says, "a general but not very exact resemblance to my son." The other -photograph is supplied by the Rev. W. Wynne. It bears the ghostly faces -of Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone, with whom Mr. Wynne had been acquainted; and -the text says that the plate was exposed for Mr. and Mrs. Wynne and -received these ghostly imprints. Both these photographs came from "the -Crewe Spiritual Circle," which has done so much in recent years to -strengthen the faith.</p> - -<p>Let me first make a few general remarks on spirit photography. Everybody -to-day has an elementary idea what taking a photograph means. A chemical -mixture, rich in certain compounds of silver, is spread<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> as a film over -the glass plate which you buy at the stores. The rays of light—chiefly -the ultra-violet or "actinic" rays—which come from the sun (or the -electric lamp) are reflected by a body upon this plate, through the -lenses of the camera, and form a picture of that body by fixing the -chemicals on the plate. The lens is essential in order to concentrate -the rays and give an image, instead of a mere flood of light. The object -which reflects the light—whether it be the ordinary light or the -actinic rays—must be material. Ether does not reflect light, for light -is a movement of ether.</p> - -<p>Spiritualists have such vague ideas as to what can and cannot happen -that they overlook these elementary details altogether. Sometimes they -ask us to believe that a medium can get the head of a ghost on a plate, -without a camera, by merely placing his or her hand on the packet -containing the plate. Even if there were a materialized spirit present, -it could make no <i>image</i> on the plate unless the rays were properly -concentrated through lenses. But the whole idea of spirits hovering -about and making images on photographic plates because a man called a -medium puts his hand on the camera is preposterous. That would be magic -with a vengeance! Even if we suppose that the spirits have material -bodies—ether bodies would not do—which reflect only the actinic rays, -and so are not visible to the eye, the idea remains as absurd as ever. -To say that the invisible material body of Mr. Gladstone (if anybody is -inclined to believe in such a thing) only reflects the rays into the -camera at Crewe when Mr. Hope and Mrs. Buxton, the mediums, put their -hands on the camera, and do not reflect light at all unless these -mediums touch<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> the camera, is to utter an obvious absurdity. The ghosts -are either material or they are not.</p> - -<p>We must look for a simpler explanation. Now, when we examine Sir A. C. -Doyle's spirit photograph, we find at once that the candour of that -earnest and conscientious Spiritualist gives us a clue. He tells us how -he bought the plate, examined the camera, and exposed and developed the -plate with his own hands. "No hands but mine ever touched the plate," he -says impressively. We shall see presently that that need not impress us -in the least. What is important is that Sir Arthur adds: "On examining -with a powerful lens the face of the 'extra' I have found such a marking -as is produced in newspaper process work." Very few of the general -public would understand the significance of this, but I advise the -reader to take an illustrated book or journal and examine a photograph -in it with a lens (which need not be powerful). He will see at once that -the figure consists of a multitude of dots, and wherever you find an -illustration showing these dots it has been at some time printed in a -book or paper. During a lantern lecture, for instance, you can tell, by -the presence or absence of these dots, whether a slide has been -reproduced from an illustration or made direct from the photographic -negative.</p> - -<p>Sir A. C. Doyle is candid, but his Spiritualist zeal outruns his reason. -He goes on to say:—</p> - -<blockquote><p>It is <i>very possible</i> that the picture ... was conveyed on to the -plate from some existing picture. However that may be, it was most -certainly supernormal, and not due to any manipulation or fraud.</p></blockquote> - -<p>This is an amazing conclusion. It is not merely "possible," but certain, -that the photo, which he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> says resembles his son, had been <i>printed</i> -somewhere before it got on to his plate. The marks are infallible. It is -further practically certain that, when the son of so distinguished a -novelist died on active service, his photograph would appear in the -Press. It is equally certain that mediums, knowing well that Sir Arthur -and Lady Doyle would presently seek to get into touch with their dead -son, would treasure that photograph. When I add that, as I will explain -presently, there is no need at all for the spirit photographer to touch -the plate, the reader may judge for himself how much "supernormal" there -is about the matter.</p> - -<p>Let us glance next at the Gladstone ghost. We are not told if it showed -process marks, but, of course, they need not always be looked for. It -might be taken direct from a photograph in the case of so well known a -couple as the Gladstones. But here again there is a significant -weakness. When you turn the photograph upside down, you discover that -the photographs of Mr. and Mrs. Wynne are on the lower half of the -plate, and inverted! You have to come to this remarkable conclusion, if -you follow the Spiritualist theory, that either the highly respectable -Mr. and Mrs. Wynne or the perfectly puritanical Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone -were <i>standing on their heads</i>! For my part, I decline to believe that -Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone have taken to such frivolity in the spirit land. -I prefer to think that the spirit photographer has bungled.</p> - -<p>But how could it be done if the plate was never in the hands of the -photographer? In the early days of Spiritualism faking was easy. You put -on an air of piety, and your sitter implicitly trusted you. It was then -quite easy to make a ghost, as every photographer knows. Expose a plate -for half the required<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> time to a young lady dressed as a ghost, then put -the plate away in the dark until a sitter comes and give it a <i>full</i> -exposure with him. He is delighted, when the plate is developed, to find -a charming lady spirit, of ghostly consistency, beaming upon him. Double -development, or skilful manipulation of the plate in the dark room, will -give the same result.</p> - -<p>This is how the trick was done in the sixties and seventies. A London -photographer, Hudson, made large sums by this kind of trickery. It was -easily exposed—any person who has dabbled in photography knows it—and -often the furniture or carpet behind the ghost could be seen through it.</p> - -<p>At last there was a very bad exposure which for a time almost suspended -the trade. At Paris there was a particularly gifted photographer medium -named Buguet. Not only were his ghosts very artistic, but Spiritualists -were able to identify their dead relatives on the photographs. Buguet -came to London and did a roaring trade. But early in 1875 the police of -Paris carried Buguet off to prison and searched his premises. They found -a headless doll or lay figure, and a large variety of heads to fit it. -At first Buguet had had confederates who used to creep quietly behind -the sitter and impersonate the ghost. Then he used to take a -half-exposure photograph of his doll, and so dispense with confederates. -He had a very smart clerk at the door who used, in collecting your -twenty francs, to get from you a little information about the dead -relative you wanted to see. Then Buguet rigged up and dressed a more or -less appropriate doll, gave it a half-exposure, and brought the same -plate to use for his sitter.</p> - -<p>One feature of the trial of Buguet should be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>carefully borne in mind. -Spiritualists are very fond of assuring us that the spirit voice or -message or photograph they obtained from a medium was "perfectly -recognizable." They scout any suggestion that they could be mistaken. Do -they not know the features of their dead son or daughter or wife? During -the trial of Buguet scores of these Spiritualists entered the -witness-box and swore that they had received exact likenesses of their -dead relatives. But Buguet, hoping to get a lighter sentence, confessed -that the same group of heads had served every purpose, and the witnesses -in his favour were all wrong!<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p> - -<p>Buguet got a year in prison, and for a time trade was poor. But new -methods were invented, and spirit photographers are again at work all -over the world, and have been for decades. In country places the old -method may still be followed. Generally, however, the sitter brings his -or her own plate, and is then supposed to be secured against fraud. The -next development was easy enough. A prepared plate was substituted for -the plate you brought. This trick in turn was discovered, and sitters -began to make secret marks on the plates they brought, in order to -identify them afterwards. Then the machinery of the ghost was rigged up -in the camera itself, and you might bring your own plate and mark it -unmistakably with a diamond, if you liked. The ghost appeared on it when -it was developed.</p> - -<p>There were several ways of doing this. The first was to cut out the -figure of the ghost in celluloid or some other almost transparent -material and attach<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> it to the lens. When this trick leaked out, a very -tiny figure of the ghost, hidden in the camera, was projected through a -magnifying glass (a kind of small magic-lantern) on to the plate when it -was exposed in the camera. As time went on, sitters began to insist on -examining the camera, and these tricks were apt to be discovered. I -remember an honest and critical Spiritualist telling me, about ten years -ago, that he offered a certain spirit-photographer (who is still at -work) five pounds for a spirit-photograph, if the sitter were permitted -to see every step of the process. The photographer agreed; but when my -friend wanted to examine the camera he at first bluffed, and then -returned the money, saying that that was carrying scepticism too far! He -had the ghost in his camera.</p> - -<p>Your modern Spiritualist friend smiles when you tell him of these -tricks. They are prehistoric. To-day you are allowed to examine the -camera, bring your own plate, expose it and develop it yourself. The -logic of the Spiritualist is here just as defective as ever. Because he -has not on this occasion discovered certain forms of trickery which are -now well known, he concludes that there was <i>no</i> trickery. As if -trickery did not evolve like anything else! Spiritualists were just as -certain twenty years ago that there was no possibility of fraud because -they brought their own marked plates; but they were cheated every time.</p> - -<p>There are still several ways of making the ghost. Where the sitter is -careless, or an enthusiastic Spiritualist, the old tricks (substitution -of plates, etc.) are used; but there are new tricks to meet the -critical. The ghost may be painted in sulphate of quinine or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> other -chemicals on the ground-glass screen. Such a figure is invisible when it -is dry. There may be a trick dark-slide, with a plate which will appear -in front of yours. If the photographer develops it for you, he can -skilfully get a ghost on it by holding another plate against yours -(pretending to see how it is developing) in the yellow light. If you -develop it yourself, you use <i>his</i> dish, which is often an ingenious -mechanism. It has glass sides or a glass bottom, and, while the whole -thing is covered up during development, secret lights impress the ghost -on it. An actual case of this sort was exposed in <i>Pearson's Weekly</i> on -January 31, 1920.</p> - -<p>When the Spiritualist airily assures us that he has guarded against all -these things (some of which could not be seen at all) we have to -remember that Spiritualist literature teems with cases in which, we are -told, "all precautions against fraud were taken," yet sooner or later -the fraud is discovered. But the possibilities are not yet exhausted. I -once saw a remarkable photograph which Sir Robert Ball had taken of the -famous old ship, the <i>Great Eastern</i>. Along the side of it, in enormous -letters, was the name "Lewis"; yet this name was totally invisible to -the naked eye when one looked at the ship. A coat of paint had been put -over the name—the ship had been used by Lewis's as an -advertisement—and concealed it from the eye, yet the sensitive plate -registered it. No scrutiny of the camera or the studio or the dark room -would reveal conjuring of that sort. In fine, there is the possibility -of some compound of radium, or radio-paint, being used at one or other -stage in the process.</p> - -<p>No sensible man will pay serious attention to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> spirit photographs until -one is taken in these conditions; neither plates nor any single part of -the apparatus shall belong to or be touched by the medium. The spirit -photographer shall be brought to an unknown studio, and shall not be -allowed to do more than, under the eye of an expert observer, lay his -hand, at a sufficient distance from the lens, on the outside of a camera -which does not belong to him. That has not been done yet. Until it is -done fraud is certainly not excluded; and any man who uses the medium's -own premises and apparatus is courting deception.</p> - -<p>That the ghost on a photograph often resembles a dead relative of the -sitter will surprise no sensible person. It is well known that mediums -collect such photographs, as well as information about the dead. Mr. -Carrington describes in his <i>Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism</i> the -elaborate system they have. They have considerable knowledge of likely -sitters in their own town. In fact, I have clearly enough traced in some -cases that they <i>first</i> gathered information about a man, and <i>then</i> got -an intermediary to persuade him to visit them. He, of course, tells -everybody afterwards that the medium "could not possibly" know anything -about him. Sometimes a Spiritualist takes the precaution of going to a -spirit photographer in a distant town. If he is quite able to conceal -his identity, he will get nothing, or only a common or garden ghost. But -he makes an appointment for a sitting in a few days to try again, and -gives his name and address; and the next mail takes a letter to a medium -in his town asking for information and photographs. As I have previously -said, when the Berlin police arrested Frau Abend and her husband<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> they -found an encyclopædic mass of information about possible sitters.</p> - -<p>A case, with which I may conclude this section, is given by Dr. Tuckett -in his <i>Evidence for the Supernatural</i> (pp. 52-3). Mr. Stead was once -delighted to find the ghost of a "brother Boer" on a photograph, and the -clairvoyant photographer mystically informed him that he "got" the name -"Piet Botha," and gathered that he had been shot in the Boer War. Mr. -Stead was jubilant, and the Materialist was nowhere, when he learned -that Piet Botha <i>had</i> been shot in the war. Who in England knew anything -about Piet Botha and his death? But the wicked sceptic got to work, and -he presently discovered that on November 9, 1899, the <i>Graphic</i> had -reproduced a photograph of Piet Botha, who had been shot in the war! A -magnificent case fell completely to pieces.</p> - -<p>Spirit-drawings and paintings have drawn out just the same ingenuity on -the part of the mediums. A favourite and impressive form is to let the -sitter choose a blank card and see that it <i>is</i> blank. Then the medium -tears off the corner and hands it to the sitter, so that he will -recognize his own card at the close. The lights are completely -extinguished, the card is laid on the table, and when the gas is re-lit -a very fair picture (still wet) in oil is found to have been painted on -the card. David Duguid persuaded thousands of people of this marvel in -the later decades of the nineteenth century. It was represented that he -was merely a cabinet-maker who, in 1866, came under the control of the -spirits of certain Dutch painters, and was used by them. I learned long -ago in Scotland that the statement that he had never practised drawing -or painting was untrue. It is, in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> any case, probable that he had torn -the corners off the little paintings he had prepared in advance, and -that it was <i>these</i> corners which he palmed off on the sitter. In the -dark he substituted his painting for the blank card, and the corner -naturally fitted. The fact that the paint was "still wet" need impress -nobody. A touch of varnish easily gives that impression.</p> - -<p>Innumerable tricks have been invented by American mediums for fooling -the Spiritualist public in this respect, and in many cases it taxes the -ingenuity of an expert conjurer to find out where the fraud lay. Mr. -Carrington gives a long series of frauds which he has at one time or -other studied. One medium offers you an apparently blank sheet of paper, -and, although nothing more suspicious than laying it under an -innocent-looking blotting-pad can be seen, and there is certainly no -substitution, a photograph appears on it while you wait. If you happen -to be one of those people whom the medium had had in mind as a possible -sitter, or whom he (through an intermediary) induced to come to him, it -may be a photograph of your dead son. The photograph was there, -invisible, all the time. It had been taken on a special paper (solio -paper), and bleached out with bi-chloride of mercury. The blotting-pad -was wet with a solution of hypo, and this suffices to restore the -photograph.</p> - -<p>In other cases the medium, with solemn air, enters his cabinet and draws -the curtain. There is a fantastic theory in the Spiritualist world that -this cabinet, or cloth-covered frame (like a Punch and Judy show), -prevents the "fluid" or force which the medium generates from spreading -about the room and being wasted. Nearly all these convenient theories -and regulations come from the spirits through the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> mediums; that is to -say, are imposed by the mediums themselves. The closed cabinet, like -charity, covers a multitude of sins. In the case of the spirit-painting -it may have a trap-door or other outlet, through which the medium hands -the blank canvas to a confederate and receives the previously painted -picture.</p> - -<p>Another medium shows you a blank canvas, and, <i>almost</i> without taking it -out of your sight, produces an elegant, and still wet, oil painting on -it. The painting was there from the start, of course, but a blank canvas -was lightly gummed over it, and all the conjuring the medium had to do -was to strip off this blank canvas while your attention was diverted. -Mediums know that their sitters are profoundly impressed if the paint is -"still wet." I have heard Spiritualists stubbornly maintain that this -proves that the painting had only just been done, and done by -spirit-power, since no man could do it in so short a time. It is a good -illustration of the ease with which they are duped. The picture may have -been painted a week or a month before. Rub it with a little poppy oil -and you have "wet paint."</p> - -<p>Mr. Carrington's <i>Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism</i>, one of the -richest manuals of mediumistic trickery, has a number of these -picture-frauds. A painting is, when thoroughly dry, covered with a -solution of water and zinc-white. It is then invisible, and you have "a -blank canvas." The picture comes out again by merely washing it with a -sponge. In other cases a painting is done in certain chemicals which -will remain invisible until a weak solution of tincture of iron is -applied; and it may be applied to the back of the canvas. The medium, -Carrington suggests, begs the sitters to sing "Nearer, my God, to Thee," -to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> drown the noise, while his confederate creeps behind the canvas and -sprays it with the solution. The picture dawns before their astonished -eyes.</p> - -<p>Perhaps the best illustration is one that Carrington gives in his -<i>Personal Experiences</i>, to which I must send the reader for the full -story. Two spinster-mediums of Chicago had a great and profitable -reputation for spirit-painted photographs. I take it that their general -air of ancient virtue and piety disarmed sitters, who are apt to think -that a <i>fraudulent</i> medium will betray himself or herself by criminal -features. You took a photograph of your dead friend, and asked that the -spirits might reproduce it in oils. The medium studied it, and made an -appointment with you at a later date. Perhaps the medium then studied it -again, and made a further appointment. On the solemn day the medium held -a blank canvas up to the window before your eyes, and gradually, first -as a dim dawn of colours, then as a precise figure, the picture appeared -on the canvas. Carrington suggests that she held up to the window two -canvases—a thin blank canvas a few inches in front of the prepared -picture. By deftly and slowly bringing these together with her fingers -she brought about the illusion; and only a little ordinary sleight of -hand was required to get rid of the blank canvas.</p> - -<p>These illustrations will suffice to show the reader what subtle and -artful trickery is used in this department of Spiritualism. He will know -what to think when a Spiritualist friend, who could not detect the -simplest conjuring trick, shows him a spirit-photograph and says that he -took care there was no fraud. The ordinary members of the Spiritualist -movement are as honest as any, but their eagerness<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>—natural as it -is—puts them in a frame of mind which is quite unreasonable. The -trickery of this class of mediums has been developing for nearly sixty -years, and it has to find new forms every few years as the older forms -are exposed. The mediums have become expert conjurers and even, in some -cases, expert chemists—or they have expert chemists in collusion with -them—and it is simply foolish for an ordinary person to think that he -can judge if there has been fraud. We must have at least one elementary -safeguard. No part of the apparatus employed must belong to the medium -or be manipulated by him; and the photograph must not be taken on his -premises. Every Spiritualist who approves a photograph taken under other -conditions is courting deception and encouraging fraud.</p> - -<p>And instead of finding even the leading Spiritualists setting an example -of caution in face of the recognized mass of fraud in their movement, we -find them exhibiting a bewildering hastiness and lack of critical -faculty. Most readers will remember how Sir A. C. Doyle sent to the -<i>Daily Mail</i> on December 16, 1919, a photograph of a picture of Christ -which had, he said, been "done in a few hours by a lady who has no power -of artistic expression when in her normal condition." The picture was, -he said, "a masterpiece"; so wonderful, in fact, that "a great painter -in Paris" (not named, of course) "fell instantly upon his knees" before -such a painting. It was "a supreme example" of a Spiritualist miracle. -The sequel is pretty well known. On December 31 the artist's husband -wrote a letter to the <i>Daily Mail</i>, of which I need quote only one -sentence:—</p> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p><blockquote><p>Mrs. Spencer wishes definitely to state once and for all that her -pictures are painted in a perfectly normal manner, that she is -disgusted at having "psychic power" attributed to her, and that she -does not cherish any ludicrous and mawkish sentiments about helping -humanity by her paintings.</p></blockquote> - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> I might add that Mrs. Gladstone is not at all recognized -by her own son in Mr. Wynne's photograph. The other figure seems to me -certainly a reproduction of a photograph or bad picture of Gladstone.</p></div> -</div> - -<hr /> - -<h2><span><span class="smcap">Chapter V</span></span> <span class="smaller">A CHAPTER OF GHOSTLY ACCOMPLISHMENTS</span></h2> - -<p>Spiritualism began in 1848 with the humble and entirely fraudulent -phenomena of raps. Within three years there were hundreds of mediums in -the United States, and a dollar per sitter was the customary fee for -assisting at one of the services of the new religion. It soon became -widely known that raps could be produced by very earthly means, and in -any case the rivalry of mediums was bound to develop new "phenomena." As -in all other professions, originality paid; and as the wonderful -discovery was quickly made that darkness favoured the intensity and -variety of the phenomena, the spirit power began to break upon humanity -in a bewildering variety of forms. In this chapter we will examine a -number of these accomplishments which our departed fellows have learned -on the Elysian fields.</p> - -<p>D. D. Home is still the classical exponent of some of these -accomplishments. Indeed, there is one of his phenomena which no medium -of our time has the courage to reproduce, and, since this phenomenon is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> -expressly endorsed by Sir William Barrett in his recent work, <i>On the -Threshold of the Unseen</i> (1917), we shall be accused of timidity and -unfairness if we omit to consider it. It is said that on several -well-authenticated occasions—so Sir W. Barrett assures the public—Home -took burning coals in his hands, thrust his hands into the blazing fire, -or even put his face among the live coals. What is the evidence which -Sir W. Barrett, knowing that the general public has no leisure to -investigate these things, endorses as satisfactory?</p> - -<p>The reader who has patience enough to consider these extraordinary -claims in detail will find the evidence collected and examined in Mr. -Podmore's <i>Newer Spiritualism</i> (chapters i and ii). It is just as weak -and unsatisfactory as the evidence for Home's levitations, which we have -already examined. The first witness is a lady, Mrs. Hall, who had the -advantage of a profound belief that Home could do anything whatever, and -that the idea of fraud was worse than preposterous in connection with so -holy a man. Home's demure expression and constant utterances of piety -and virtue, which seem to Mr. Podmore "inconceivably nauseous," made a -deep impression on Mrs. Hall and the other ladies whom Home used -generally to have next to him when he was performing his wonders. Now, -this lady tells us that on July 5, 1869, he took a large live coal from -the fire, put it on her husband's head, and drew his white hair over it. -He left it there for four or five minutes, and then gave it to Mrs. Hall -to hold. She says that it was "still red in parts," but she was not -burned.</p> - -<p>It would follow that Home was so charged with supernatural power that he -could communicate a large<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> measure of it to Mr. Hall's head or Mrs. -Hall's hands—a feat unique in the history of Spiritualism. We need not -go so far. There is nothing in Mrs. Hall's narrative to prevent us from -supposing that Home put some non-conducting substance on her husband's -head <i>before</i> he put the coal on it. Any person can pick a live coal out -of the fire if a part of it (as is common) is <i>not</i> alive. Some can go -further. I can stick my finger-tips in my live pipe without being -burned. Some smokers can pick up a small live coal and light their pipes -with it. Probably all the coals which Daniel picked from the fire were -"dead" in parts. It is clear that this particular coal was not glowing, -as Mrs. Hall states that her husband's white hair showed "silvery" -against it. If the coal had glowed, the hair would show <i>black</i> against -it. Probably Home lifted up the hair round, and not on, it; and after -five minutes part of it would be cool enough to lay on Mrs. Hall's hand.</p> - -<p>Sir William Crookes is the next witness: a great scientist, but—we -cannot forget it—the man who was easily duped by a girl of seventeen. -He says that he accompanied Home to the fire, and saw him put his hands -in it. That is anything but the scientific way to give evidence. We want -an exact description of the state of the fire, the light, etc. But -notice this next sentence: "He very deliberately pulled the lumps of hot -coal off, one at a time, with his right hand, and touched <i>one</i> which -was bright red." So the "lumps" among which he had put his hands were -<i>not</i> bright red; and we are left free to suppose that the <i>one</i> which -he touched was not bright red all over. Home then took out a -handkerchief, waved it about in the air, and folded it on his hand. He -next<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> took out a coal which was "red in one part" and laid it on the -handkerchief without burning it. The story smacks of charlatanry from -beginning to end. Crookes ought at least to have known better than to -suppose that a handkerchief "gathered power" by being waved about. It -more probably gathered a piece of asbestos from Home's pocket.</p> - -<p>The other pretty stories of Home's fire-tricks may be read in Podmore. -Juggling with fire is an ancient practice. It is very common among -savages. Daniel Home, with his select and private audience, had -excellent conditions for doing it. In bad light he did even more -wonderful things than those I have quoted; that is to say, if we take -the record literally, which we may decline to do. Crookes, like some -other investigating professors, was short-sighted. No wonder that Daniel -loved him.</p> - -<p>Let us pass on to the musical accomplishments of the spirits; and here -again the gifted Daniel was one of the pioneer mediums. He induced the -spirits to play an accordion while he held it with one hand; and his -hand held it by the end farthest removed from the keys. Unfortunately, -the spirits laid down the condition that he must hold it out of sight, -underneath the table, and our interest is damped. We know something from -other mediums of the ways of doing this. While you are putting the -accordion under the table you change your hand from the back end to the -key end of the accordion. Then you can get the bellows to play by -pushing it against something or using a hook at the end of a strong -thread or catgut. It is well to remember that Home was a good musician. -Possibly he played a mouth-organ while the professor was looking -intently at the accordion.</p> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span></p><p>But Home was put to a severe test, we are told. Sir W. Crookes made a -cage (like a waste-paper basket) to go under the table, and Home was -told to let the accordion hang in this. He could certainly not now use -his second hand or his feet, yet it "played." But, as Mr. Podmore, most -ingenious of critics, points out, no one saw the <i>keys</i> move. The music -may have come from a musical box in Home's pocket, or placed by him on -the floor. The degree of light or darkness is not stated. The opening -and shutting of the accordion could be done by hooks, or loops of black -silk. So with the crowning miracle, when Home withdrew his hand, and the -accordion was seen suspended in the air, moving about in the cage (under -the dark table). It was probably hooked on to the table.</p> - -<p>Before we pass on to other ghostly musicians, let us notice another feat -of Home's which Sir William Crookes records here. He placed a board with -one end on the table and the other on a spring balance. It was so shaped -(with feet at each end) that an enormous pressure would have to be -exerted on it at the table-end if the balance were to be appreciably -altered. Yet a light touch of Home's fingers caused the scale to -register six pounds. Podmore points out that this experiment had been -gradually reached. Home knew the conditions, and had made his -preparations. The light was poor, and a loop of strong silk thread at -the far end of the board, pulled from some part of his person, would not -be noticed. We shall see far more remarkable feats than this.</p> - -<p>A pretty variation of musical mediumship was next introduced by Mrs. -Annie Eva Fay, another American fraud with whom Sir W. Crookes made -solemn<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> scientific experiments. Florrie Cook was a chicken in comparison -with Annie Fay, and she triumphantly passed all the professor's tests. -She came to London in 1874, and everybody soon went to see and hear the -"fascinating American blonde" at the Hanover Square Rooms.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Fay's most characteristic séance was when she sat in the middle of -a circle of sitters, a bell and a guitar beside her. Her husband, -"Colonel" Fay, was in the circle, but, as they held each other's hands, -it was presumed that he could do nothing to help her if he wished. Mrs. -Fay then began to clap her hands. The lights were extinguished, and, -although Mrs. Fay continued to clap her hands loudly, so that you could -be sure she was not using them, the bell was rung, the tambourine -played, the sitters' beards were pulled, and so on. This was easy. When -the gas was put out, Mrs. Fay no longer slapped her left hand against -her right, but against her forehead or cheek—perhaps slapped the -Colonel's face for a variation—and had the right hand free for -business. No doubt the Colonel also released a hand, as we have seen -Eusapia Palladino do, and joined the band.</p> - -<p>When this trick was realized, Mrs. Fay used to allow herself to be bound -with tapes to a stake erected on the stage. A few minutes after the -lights were put out the band began its ghostly, but not very impressive, -music. Sometimes a pail was put beside her, and it was raised by -invisible hands (in the dark) on to her head. When the light was -restored Mrs. Fay was discovered still bound to the stake, the knots and -seals intact. By an accident at one of her performances Mr. Podmore was -enabled to see how she did it, and the secret has long been known. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> -tapes supplied had to be fastened in such a way that she could with -great speed slip them up her slender arms and get into a working -position. Maskelyne also exposed her, and trade fell off so badly that -she made him an offer, by letter, to go on his stage and, for payment, -show how all the tricks were done. She had by that time converted -hundreds to Spiritualism.</p> - -<p>There were various other forms of the musical performance. One medium -used to sit in sight of the audience with a sitter holding his hands. A -cloth was then put over them both, from the neck downward, the lights -extinguished, and the usual band began. He had released one hand, by the -familiar trick, and reached behind him for the instruments.</p> - -<p>The medium, Bastian, also played instruments in the dark. At Arnheim, -where he was edifying the Dutch Spiritualists, he was suspected, and it -was arranged to ignite some inflammable cotton by an electric current -from the next room. The next time a ghostly hand played the guitar above -the heads of the sitters, the signal was given, and the flash lit the -room. The guitar fell hastily to the table, and Bastian's hand retreated -rapidly to its right place. His English Spiritualist admirers accepted -his explanation that it was a "materialized" hand that was seen -shrinking back into his body. One medium strummed his guitar with a long -pencil which he took with his teeth out of his inner coat-pocket and -held with his teeth. Others had telescopic rods or "lazy tongs" hidden -about them, and used these in the dark.</p> - -<p>The binding of mediums with cords or tapes is a "precaution against -fraud" which was thoroughly exposed fifty years ago. Many of Sir A. C. -Doyle's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> own admirers were pained when he announced to the world his -belief in the genuineness of the performance of two Welsh colliers, the -Thomas brothers. Their "manifestations" were prehistoric. More than -fifty years ago spectators were invited to tie up the mediums, and as -long ago as 1883 Mr. Maskelyne was exhibiting the trick. The Davenport -brothers, the latest American marvels, had toured England. Most people -will remember how they were held up at Liverpool by some one tying the -rope in knots with which they were not familiar. The spirits failed -entirely to play the tambourine when the tying-up was properly done, and -the instrument was put out of reach of the medium's mouth. As usual, it -had been said for months that fraud was "absolutely excluded."</p> - -<p>Later mediums found the solution of this difficulty. The medium kept a -sharp knife-blade within reach of his teeth, and, when knots proved too -stubborn, he cut the rope and freed himself. He had a spare rope in his -clothes and fastened himself—or was bound by a confederate—before the -lights went up. People thought that they could prevent this by sealing -the knots. It was useless. The medium had chewing gum of the same colour -as sealing-wax, and the seals were imitated with this. These desperate -shifts are, however, rarely necessary. While he is being tied the medium -catches a loop of the rope with his thumb, and this gives him plenty of -slack to use. I have seen a medium laced tight into a leather arm-case, -and get out behind the curtain in three minutes. He had caught a loop of -the lace with his thumb, and the rest was tooth work.</p> - -<p>It was therefore little wonder that when the Thomas<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> brothers were -brought from the valleys of South Wales to London their ancient miracles -would not work. A recent convert to Spiritualism, Mr. S. A. Moseley, -describes their work on their native heath (or hearth) with the same awe -and simplicity as Sir A. C. Doyle had done. Many of us knew the history -of Spiritualism, and smiled. They were brought to London by the <i>Daily -Express</i> in 1919, and here, where sceptics abounded and the need of -convincing evidence was at its most acute, "White Eagle" (the Red Indian -spirit who controls Will Thomas) and all his band of merry men were -powerless. Will Thomas was properly bound, the tambourine and castanets -were put out of reach, and his brother was isolated. All that -happened—the throwing of a badge-button and a pair of braces to the -audience—is within the range of possibilities of the human mouth.</p> - -<p>Let us now turn to another bright and classical page in the history of -Spiritualism: the experiments of Professor Zöllner with the medium -Slade. Sir A. C. Doyle granted in the Debate, with an air of generosity, -that Slade "cheated occasionally," but he insisted that Slade's -phenomena in the house of Professor Zöllner were genuine. Now, as long -as Sir A. C. Doyle does this kind of thing, as long as he assures his -readers that he will not build on any medium who has been convicted of -fraud and then builds on such a medium, as long as he tells his readers -(who will not check the facts) that a medium who was exposed over and -over again merely "cheated occasionally," it is no use for him to assert -that he is trying to purge Spiritualism of fraud. Slade was a cynical -impostor from beginning to end of his career.</p> - -<p>I will show in the next chapter but one how Slade<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> confessed his -habitual fraud as early as 1872, how he was exposed and arrested in -London in 1876, and how he was exposed again in Canada in 1882 and in -the United States in 1884. A word about the last occasion will suffice -for my purpose here. Henry Seybert, a Spiritualist, left a large sum of -money to the University of Pennsylvania on the condition that the -University authorities would appoint a commission to examine into (among -other things) the claims of Spiritualism. They did; and it was the most -unlucky inspiration the ghosts of the dead ever conveyed. Very few -mediums would face the professors, and those who did were shown to be -all frauds. Slade was one of these, and the Pennsylvania professors, -wondering how any trained man could be taken in by so palpable a fraud, -sent a representative to Leipsic to investigate the experiences of -Professor Zöllner and the three other German professors who had endorsed -Slade. The gist of his report was that of the four professors one -(Zöllner) was in an early stage of insanity (he died shortly -afterwards), one (Fechner) was nearly blind, the third (Weber) was -seventy-four years old, and the fourth (Scheibner) was very -short-sighted, yet did <i>not</i> (as Sir A. C. Doyle says) entirely endorse -the phenomena!</p> - -<p>I have not been able to discover evidence that Zöllner's mind was really -deranged, but he certainly approached the inquiry with a theory of a -fourth dimension of space, and was most eager to get his theory -confirmed by the experiments. The key to the whole situation is, -therefore, lack of sharp control. Slade had been conjuring for years, -and was an expert in substitution. He had a purblind audience, and he -astutely guided the professor until the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>conditions of the experiment -suited him. He knew beforehand, as a rule, what apparatus Zöllner would -use, and he duplicated his wooden rings, thongs, etc. An excellent study -of his tricks in detail will be found in Carrington's <i>Physical -Phenomena of Spiritualism</i>. Sir A. C. Doyle speaks of the shattering of -a screen in Slade's presence as an indisputably superhuman feat. But -before the séance no one had thought of looking to see if the screen had -been taken to pieces and lightly tied together by a black thread which -Slade could pull asunder at will!</p> - -<p>Slade was a very bad selection by Sir A. C. Doyle. No prominent medium -was ever so frequently exposed as he. In addition to the exposures I -have mentioned, Dr. Hyslop, Mrs. Sidgwick, and other leading -Spiritualists riddled his pretensions to supernormal power. In the end -he took to drink and died in an asylum. Yet Sir A. C. Doyle assures his -followers, in his <i>Vital Message</i>, that he never builds on a discredited -medium.</p> - -<p>Let us turn now to Stainton Moses, the snow-white medium. Moses was a -neuropathic clergyman who in 1872 left the Church and became a teacher. -About the same time he discovered mediumistic powers. He died ultimately -of Bright's disease, brought on by drink. His audience, as I said -before, consisted only of a few intimate friends who never doubted his -saintliness or thought for a moment of fraud. He worked always in the -dark, or in a very bad light; and his doings are mainly described by his -trustful friend and host, Mrs. Speer. This would dispense any serious -student from troubling about his phenomena; but let us see if they throw -any light on his character. Mr. Carrington says that the things<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> -reported are unbelievable, yet that we cannot think of fraud in -connection with Moses. Podmore also tries hard not to accuse him of -<i>conscious</i> fraud, and hints that he was irresponsible. The reader may -choose to think otherwise.</p> - -<p>The spirits performed every variety of phenomena through Stainton Moses. -Like Home, and only a few of the quite holiest mediums, he was -occasionally lifted off the ground; or, which is, of course, the same -thing, he said that he was. Raps were common when he was about. -Automatic writing of the most elevating (and most inaccurate) -description flowed from his pencil. Lights floated about the room; and -once or twice he dropped and broke a bottle of phosphorus in the dark. -Musical sounds were repeatedly heard, as in the case of the Rev. Dr. -Monck, who had a little musical box in his trousers. The sitters were -sprayed with scent. The objects on the dressing-table in his room were -arranged by invisible hands in the form of a cross. Wonderful messages -about recently deceased persons were sent through him; and the details -could later be found in the papers. In fine, he was a remarkably good -medium for "apports"—that is to say, the bringing into the circle by -the spirits of flowers and other objects. Statuettes, jewels, books, and -all kinds of things (provided they were in the house and could be -secreted about the person) were "apported."</p> - -<p>The evidence for these things is particularly poor, but I am a liberal -man. I do not doubt them. Each one of them, separately, was done by -other mediums. It is the rich variety that characterizes Moses. Let him -sleep in peace. The credulity and admiration of his friends seem to have -made him lose the last<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> particle of sense of honour in these matters. -These things are common elementary conjuring from beginning to end.</p> - -<p>Apports are a familiar ghostly accomplishment, and the way they are done -is familiar. Mme. Blavatsky was wonderful at apports. Who would ever -dream of proposing to search Mme. Blavatsky? And who would now be so -simple as to think of spirits when the medium was not searched? The -person of Mme. Blavatsky was as sacred from such search as the person of -the Rev. Stainton Moses or of the charming and guileless Florrie Cook. -Indeed, it is only in recent times that a real search of the medium has -been demanded, and the accounts of weird and wonderful objects -"apported" under other conditions merit only a smile. Mrs. Guppy, -secured from search by her virtue and the esteem of Dr. Russel Wallace, -went so far as to apport live eels. Eusapia Palladino one day "apported" -a branch of azaleas in Flammarion's house; and he afterwards found an -azalea plant, which it exactly fitted, in her bedroom. Another day her -spirits showered marguerites on the table; and the marguerites were -missed from a pot in the corridor. Anna Rothe, the Princess Karadja's -pet medium, was secretly watched, and was caught bringing bouquets from -her petticoats and oranges out of her ample bosom; and the spirits did -not save her from a year in gaol. She had a whole flower-shop under her -skirts when she was seized.</p> - -<p>But we will not run over the whole silly chronicle of "apports." Two -recent instances will suffice. One is the Turin lady, Linda Gazerra, of -whom I have spoken on an earlier page. She was too virtuous to strip, -and let down her hair, even in the presence<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> of a lady. So Dr. Imoda, a -scientific man who consented to accept her on these terms, was fooled -for three years (1908-11). She had live birds caged in the large mass of -her hair (natural and artificial), and all sorts of things in her -<i>lingerie</i>.</p> - -<p>About the same time, an Australian medium, Bailey, made a sensational -name throughout the Spiritualist world by his "apports." The spirits -brought silks from the Indies (until the brutal customs official claimed -the tariff), live birds, and all sorts of things. He was taken so -seriously in the Spiritualist world that Professor Reichel, a rich -French inquirer, brought him to France for investigation. Sure enough, -although he was searched, the spirits brought into the room two little -birds "from India." But his long hesitations and evasions had aroused -suspicion, and on inquiry it was proved that he had bought the birds, -which were quite French, at a local shop in Grenoble. How had he -smuggled them into the room? I give the answer (as it is given by Count -Rochas, his host) with reluctance, but it is absolutely necessary to -know these things if you want to understand some of the more difficult -mediumistic performances. The birds were concealed in the unpleasant end -of his alimentary canal. Professor Reichel gave him his return fare and -urged him to go quickly; and the Australian Spiritualists received him -with open arms, and listened sympathetically to his stories of French -brutality.</p> - -<p>Of "apports," therefore, we say the same as of "materializations." The -medium shall be stripped naked, have all his or her body-openings -muzzled, be sewn in prepared garments, and placed in a prepared and -carefully searched room. When Spiritualists<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> announce the appearance of -an eel or a pigeon or a bouquet, or even a copy of <i>Light</i>, under those -conditions, we will begin to consider the question of apports.</p> - -<p>Luminous phenomena "are easily simulated," says Dr. Maxwell. Most people -will agree to this candid verdict of so experienced and so sympathetic -an investigator. Tons of phosphorus have been used in the service of -religion since 1848. It has taken the place of incense. The saintly -Moses twice had a nasty mess with his bottle of phosphorus. Herne was -one night tracing a pious message in luminous characters (with a damp -match) when there was a crackle and flash; the match had "struck." The -movement abounds in incidents which are, in a double sense, "luminous."</p> - -<p>Certain sulphides may be used instead of phosphorus, and in modern times -electricity is an excellent means of producing lights at a distance. -Chemicals of the pyrotechnic sort are also useful. One must remember -that behind the thousands of mediums, whose fertile brains are -constantly elaborating new methods of evading control, are manufacturers -and scientific experts who supply them with chemicals and apparatus. One -often hears Spiritualists laugh at this suggestion as a wild theory of -their opponents. Any impartial person will acknowledge that it is more -probable than improbable. But positive proof has been given over and -over again.</p> - -<p>Quite recently Mr. Sidney Hamilton described in <i>Pearson's Weekly</i> -(February 28, 1920) an "illustrated printed catalogue of forty pages" -which he had with great difficulty secured. It was the secret catalogue -of a firm which supplies apparatus to mediums. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> outfit includes "a -self-playing guitar," a telescopic aluminium trumpet (for direct voice), -magic tables, luminous objects, and even "a fully materialized female -form (with face that convinces) ... floats about the room and disappears -... Price £10." For eight shillings this firm supplies the secret how to -turn one's vest inside out, without changing coat, while one is bound, -and the knots sealed, in the cabinet. For two pounds ten you get an -apparatus which will levitate a table so effectively that "two or three -persons cannot hold the table down." In short, there is, and has been -for decades, a trade supply of apparatus and instructions for producing -the whole range of "physical phenomena," and any person who pays serious -attention to such things is not very particular whether he is deceived -or not.</p> - -<p>I may close the chapter with a case of spirit sculpture, which is -recorded by Truesdell in his <i>Bottom Facts of Spiritualism</i>. By this -trick, he says, Mrs. Mary Hardy converted one of those professors whose -names adorn the Spiritualist list. A pail of warm water, with several -inches of paraffin floating on its surface, was weighed and put under -the table. After a time a hand moulded most accurately in wax was found -on the floor beside the pail, and it was found that the weight of the -contents of the pail had decreased by precisely the weight of the hand. -A convincing test, surely! But the professor had forgotten to allow for -the evaporation of the warm water. The hand had been made in advance, by -moulding the soft paraffin on the medium's hand, and hidden under Mrs. -Hardy's skirt. It was transferred by her toes to the floor under the table.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span><span class="smcap">Chapter VI</span></span> <span class="smaller">THE SUBTLE ART OF CLAIRVOYANCE</span></h2> - -<p>Spiritualists distinguish between physical phenomena and psychic -phenomena. The use of this distinction is obvious. When a man reads some -such history of the movement as Podmore's, and then the works of -Truesdell, Robinson, Maskelyne, Carrington, and others who have time -after time exposed the ways of mediums, he is very ill-disposed to -listen to stories of materialization, levitation, spirit photographs, -spirit messages, spirit music, spirit voices, or anything of the kind. -He knows that each single trick has been exposed over and over again. So -the liberal Spiritualist urges him to leave out "physical" phenomena and -concentrate on the "psychic." It is a word with an aroma of refinement, -spirituality, even intellect. It indicates the sort of thing that -respectable spirits <i>ought</i> to do. So we will turn to the psychic -phenomenon of clairvoyance.</p> - -<p>Here at once the reader's resolution to approach the subject gravely is -disturbed by the recollection of a recent event. Many a reader would, -quite apart from the question of consolation, like to find something -true in Spiritualism. He may feel, as Professor William James did, that -the mass of fraud is so appalling that, for the credit of humanity, we -should like to think that it is the citizens of another world, not of -ours, who are responsible. He may feel that, if it is all fraud, a -number of quite distinguished<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> people occupy a very painful position in -modern times. He would like to find at least something serious; -something that is reasonably capable of a Spiritualist interpretation. -But as soon as he approaches any class of phenomena some startling -instance of fraud rises in his memory and tries to prejudice him. In -this case it is the "Masked Medium."</p> - -<p>A recent case in the law courts has brought this to mind. In 1919, when -the <i>Sunday Express</i> was making its grave search for ghosts, in order to -rebuke the materialism of our age, it offered £500 for a -materialization. A gentleman, who (with an eye on the police) genially -waived the money offer aside, offered to bring an unknown lady and -present a materialization, and some startling feats of clairvoyance in -addition. A sitting was arranged, and the lady, who wore a mask, gave a -clairvoyant demonstration that could not be surpassed in all the annals -of Spiritualism. Her ghost was rather a failure; though Lady Glenconnor, -who has the true Spiritualist temperament, recognized in it an "initial -stage of materialization." But the clairvoyance was great. The sitters, -while the lady was still out of the room, put various objects connected -with the dead (a ring, a stud, a sealed letter, etc.) in a bag. The bag -was closed, and was put inside a box; and the lady, who was then -introduced, described every object with marvellous accuracy. Sir A. C. -Doyle said that the medium gave "a clear proof of clairvoyance." Mr. Gow -said that he saw "no normal explanation."</p> - -<p>And it was fraud from beginning to end, as everybody now knows. -Clairvoyance must be distinguished<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> from prophecy, which Spiritualists -sometimes claim. Prediction means the art of seeing things which do not -exist, and it is therefore not even mentioned in this book. Clairvoyance -means the art of seeing things through a brick wall (or any other opaque -covering). Now this was an admirable piece of clairvoyance. Even -Spiritualists present were suspicious, because the lady was quite -unknown. Yet they could not see any suggestion of fraud or any "normal -explanation." Did they turn back upon their earlier experiences of -clairvoyance, when the fraud was confessed, and ask if those also may -not have been due to trickery? Not in the least. Everything is genuine -until it is found out—and, sometimes, even afterwards.</p> - -<p>Mr. Selbit, the conjurer who really conducted the performance, is -naturally unwilling to give away his secret. He acknowledged immediately -after the performance, as Mr. Moseley describes in his <i>Amazing Séance</i>, -that he had fooled the audience. The masked lady was an actress with no -more abnormal power than Sir Oliver Lodge has. Mr. Stuart Cumberland -suggested at the time that, when the assistant went to the door to call -the medium, he handed the box to a confederate and received a dummy box. -He thought that the medium would then have time to study and memorize -the contents of the real box (including a sealed letter in dog-German) -before she entered the room. From the account, which is not precise -enough, I can hardly see how she would have time for this. But Mr. -Selbit acknowledged that a dummy box <i>was</i> substituted. He says that a -person entered the room in the dark, took the box from the table and -substituted a dummy, and afterwards impersonated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> the ghost. This is -most important for us. The room had been searched, and such acute -observers as Mr. Stuart Cumberland and Superintendent Thomas, of -Scotland Yard, were on the watch; yet a confederate got into the room. -After this an ordinary Spiritualist séance is child's play. A long and -minute description of the objects in the bag, which must have been -spelled letter by letter in parts, on account of the difficult wording -of the sealed letter, was in some way telegraphed or communicated to the -girl under the eyes of this watchful group. It would be scarcely more -marvellous to suppose that Mr. Selbit, after studying the contents of -the box, took her place before their faces and they never knew it!</p> - -<p>The reader will not fail to see why I have minutely pointed out the -features of this recent case. It is, in the first place, an example of -"psychic," not "physical," phenomena; and it was conjuring pure and -simple. It was, further, "most successful and convincing," as Sir A. C. -Doyle pronounced; yet there was not a particle of abnormal power about -it. Finally, it was done in the presence of three keen critics, as well -as of leading Spiritualists; yet the fraud was not discovered. To invoke -the "supernormal," after this, the moment some ordinary individual fails -to detect fraud, is surely ludicrous.</p> - -<p>Now let me put another warning before the reader. It is notorious that -Spiritualists are particularly, even if innocently, apt to mislead in -their accounts of their experiences. Unless the experience is recorded -on paper at once, it is almost worthless; and even then it is often -quite wrong. There is such a thing as "selection" in the human mind. -When two people, a Spiritualist and a sceptic, see or read the same<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> -thing, their minds may get quite a different impression of it. The mind -of the Spiritualist leaps to the features of it which seem to be -supernormal, and slurs or ignores or soon forgets the others. The mind -of the sceptic does the opposite. You thus get quite inaccurate accounts -from Spiritualists, though they are often quite innocent. One once asked -me to explain how a medium, two hundred miles from his home, in a place -where no one knew him, could tell his name and a good deal about him. By -two minutes' cross-examination I got him to admit that he had been -working for some weeks in this district and was known to a few -fellow-workers. No doubt one of these had given a medium information -about him, and then induced him to visit her. These indirect methods are -very effective.</p> - -<p>A very good example is Sir A. C. Doyle himself. In the debate with me he -made statement after statement of the most inaccurate description. He -said that Eusapia Palladino was quite honest in the first fifteen years -of her mediumship; that he had given me the names of forty Spiritualist -professors; that the Fox sisters were at first honest; that I did not -give the evidence from his books correctly; that Mr. Lethem got certain -detailed information the first time he consulted a medium; that in Mme. -Bisson's book you can see ectoplasm pouring from the medium's "nose, -eyes, ears, and skin"; that Florrie Cook "never took one penny of -money"; that in the Belfast experiment the table rose to the ceiling; -and so on. His frame of mind was extraordinary. But I will give a far -more extraordinary case which will make the reader very cautious about -Spiritualist testimony.</p> - -<p>About forty years ago, when the old type of ghost<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> story was not yet -quite dead, Myers and Gurney, who were collecting anecdotes of this -sort, received a particularly authentic specimen. It was a personal -experience of Sir Edmund Hornby, a retired Judge from Shanghai. A few -years earlier, he said, he had one night written out his judgment for -the following day, but the reporter failed to call for a copy. He went -to bed, and some time after one o'clock he was awakened by the reporter, -who very solemnly asked him for the copy. With much grumbling Sir Edmund -got up and gave him the copy. He remembered that in returning to bed he -had awakened Lady Hornby. And the next morning, on going to court, he -learned that the reporter had died just at that hour, of heart disease -(as the inquest afterwards found), and had never left the house. He had -been visited by the reporter's spirit.</p> - -<p>Here was an experience of most exceptional weight. Who could doubt -either the word or the competence of the Chief Judge of the Supreme -Consular Court of China and Japan? The story was promptly written up in -the <i>Nineteenth Century</i> ("Visible Apparitions," July, 1884), and -sceptics were confounded. But a copy of the <i>Nineteenth Century</i> reached -Shanghai, where the incident was said to have taken place, and in the -same monthly for November there appeared a letter from Mr. Balfour, -editor of the <i>North China Herald</i> and the <i>Supreme Court and Consular -Gazette</i>. It proved, and Sir E. Hornby was compelled to admit, that the -story was entirely untrue. It was a jumble of inaccuracies. The reporter -had died between eight and nine in the morning, not at one, and had -slept peacefully all night. There had been no inquest. There was no -judgment whatever delivered by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> Sir E. Hornby that morning. There was -not even a Lady Hornby in existence at the time! Sir Edmund Hornby -sullenly acknowledged the truth of all this, and could mutter only that -he could not understand his own mistake.</p> - -<p>After this awful example we think twice before we take the testimony of -Spiritualists at its face value. Sir A. C. Doyle, in particular, is -especially guilty of such confusions, to the great advantage of his -stories. During the Debate, as I said, he told of a wonderful Glasgow -clairvoyante, who was consulted by a Mr. Lethem (a Glasgow J.P.), who -had lost a son in the War. She at once told Mr. Lethem, Sir Arthur says, -his son's name, the name of the London station at which he had said -farewell, and the name of the London hotel at which they had stayed. -This sounded very impressive indeed. But I happened to have read Mr. -Lethem's articles (<i>Weekly Record</i>, February 21 and 28, 1920), and I -have them before me. Mr. Lethem was a well-known man in Glasgow, and was -known to be "inquiring." Now it was <i>eight months</i> after his son's death -that he met this clairvoyante, yet all she could tell him was his son's -name and appearance. It was, he confesses, "not much" and "not strictly -evidential." It was at a <i>later</i> sitting that she gave the other -details. Sir A. C. Doyle has fused the two sittings together and made -the experience more impressive. The medium had time to make inquiries. -There is a further detail which Sir A. C. Doyle does not tell. The -brother of the dead officer asked, as a test question, the name of the -town where they had last dined together. It took "more than a year" to -get an answer to this!</p> - -<p>Thus a quite commonplace and easily explained<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> feat of a medium is -dressed up by Sir A. C. Doyle as supernormal. He does this repeatedly in -his books. In the <i>New Revelation</i> he says, quoting Sir Oliver Lodge's -Raymond, that a medium described to Sir Oliver a photograph of his son, -"no copy of which had reached England, and which proved to be exactly as -<i>he</i> described it." Here he has done the same as in the case of Mr. -Lethem—fused together several successive sittings. The first medium -consulted by Sir Oliver Lodge made only a very brief statement. It was -wrong in three out of four particulars; and the fourth was a very safe -guess (that Raymond had once been photographed in a group). The -particulars which so much impressed Sir O. Lodge were given much later, -and by a lady medium; and by that time there were plenty of copies of -the photograph in England! Sir O. Lodge gives the various dates.</p> - -<p>Sir William Barrett and Sir O. Lodge are just as slipshod. I have amply -shown this in the case of Lodge in my <i>Religion of Sir O. Lodge</i> (and -<i>Raymond</i> is even worse than the books I analysed), and Sir W. F. -Barrett's <i>On the Threshold of the Unseen</i> is just as bad. I have -previously said how he tells his readers that it would take "the -cleverest conjurer with elaborate apparatus" to do what the Golighers do -at Belfast; and I showed that one limb of one member of the circle of -seven mediums would, with the help of a finger or two perhaps, explain -everything. Sir William also says (p. 53) that the London Dialectical -Society "published the report of a special committee" strongly in favour -of Spiritualism. On the contrary, the London Dialectical Society -expressly refused to publish that egregious document. He says (p. 72), -in describing the Home levitation case,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> that "nothing was said -beforehand of what they might expect to see," and "the accounts given by -each [witness] are alike." These statements are the reverse of the -truth. The book contains many such instances.</p> - -<p>Here is another, which is expressly concerned with the greatest of all -"clairvoyantes," Mrs. Piper, and the most critical Spiritualist of -modern times, Dr. Hodgson. In the Debate Sir A. C. Doyle introduces him -(p. 21) as "Professor Hodgson, the greatest detective who ever put his -mind to this subject." He is fond of turning the people he quotes into -"professors." It makes them more weighty. Hodgson was never a professor, -but he was an able man, and he exposed more than one fraud like Eusapia -Palladino. But I have been permitted to see a letter which puts Dr. -Hodgson himself in the category of over-zealous and unreliable -witnesses; and as this letter is to be published in the form of a -preface to the second edition of Dr. C. Mercier's book on Spiritualism, -I am not quoting an anonymous document.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Piper, the great American clairvoyante, the medium whose -performances are endorsed as genuine even by men who regard Spiritualism -as ninety-eight per cent. fraud, began her career as a "psychic" in -1874. At first she was controlled, in the common Spiritualist way, by -"an Indian girl." Then the great spirits of Bach and Longfellow and -other illustrious dead began to control her. Next a deceased French -doctor, "Phinuit," took her in hand, and she did wonderful things. But -when people who were really critical began to test Phinuit's knowledge -of medicine, and inquire (for the purpose of verification) about<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> -Phinuit's former address on earth, he hedged and shuffled, and then -retired into obscurity, like the Indian girl and Longfellow. Her next -spirit was "Pelham," a young man who modestly desired to remain -anonymous. For four years "George Pelham," a highly cultivated spirit, -gave "marvellously accurate" messages through Mrs. Piper, and the world -was assured that there was not the slightest doubt about his identity. -He was a very cultivated young American who had "passed over" in 1892.</p> - -<p>Mr. Podmore, who, in spite of his high critical faculty, was taken in by -this episode, thinks that telepathy alone can explain the wonderful -things done. He does not believe in ghosts. Mrs. Piper's "subconscious -self," he thinks, creates and impersonates these spirit beings, and -draws the information telepathically from the sitters. But he says that -the impersonation was so "dramatically true to life," so "consistently -and dramatically sustained," that "some of G. P.'s most intimate friends -were convinced that they were actually in communication with the -deceased G. P."<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> It is true that when the dead G. P. was asked about -a society he had helped to form in his youth he could give neither its -aim nor its name, and Podmore admits that Mrs. Piper hedged very badly -in trying to cover up her failure. But on other occasions the hits were -so good that we have, if we do not admit the ghost theory, to take -refuge in telepathy and the subconscious self.</p> - -<p>There is no need even for this thin shade of mysticism. Podmore was -misled by Hodgson's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> account. "G. P." meant, as everybody knew, George -Pellew. Now a cousin of Pellew's wrote to Mr. Clodd to tell him that, if -he cared to ask the family, he would learn that all the relatives of the -dead man regarded Mrs. Piper's impersonation of him as "beneath -contempt." Mr. Clodd wrote to Professor Pellew, George's brother, and -found that this was the case. The family had been pestered for fifteen -years with reports of the proceedings and requests to authenticate them -and join the S. P. R. They said that they knew George, and they could -not believe that, when freed from the burden of the flesh, he would talk -such "utter drivel and inanity." As to "intimate friends," one of these -was Professor Fiske, who had been described by Dr. Hodgson as -"absolutely convinced" of the identity of "G. P." When Professor Pellew -told Professor Fiske of this, he replied, roundly, that it was "a lie." -Mrs. Piper had, he said, been "silent or entirely wrong" on all his test -questions.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p> - -<p>I am, you see, not choosing "weak spots," as Sir A. C. Doyle said, and -am not quite so ignorant of psychic matters, in comparison with himself, -as he represented (<i>Debate</i>, p. 51). I am taking the greatest -"clairvoyante" in the history of the movement, and in precisely those -respects in which she was endorsed by Dr. Hodgson and the American S. P. -R. and Sir O. Lodge and all the leading English Spiritualists. She -failed at every crucial test. Phinuit, who knew so much, could not give -a plausible account of his own<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> life on earth, or how he came to forget -medicine. When Sir O. Lodge presented to Mrs. Piper a sealed envelope -containing a number of letters of the alphabet, she could not read one -of them, and declined to try again. She could not answer simple tests -about Pellew. She gave Professor James messages from Gurney after his -death (1888), and James pronounced them "tiresome twaddle." When Myers -died in 1901 and left a sealed envelope containing a message, she could -not get a word of it. When Hodgson died in 1905 and left a large amount -of manuscript in cipher, she could not get the least clue to it. When -friends put test questions to the spirit of Hodgson about his early life -in Australia, the answers were all wrong.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Piper fished habitually and obviously for information from her -sitters. She got at names by childishly repeating them with different -letters (a very common trick of mediums), and often changed them. She -made the ghost of Sir Walter Scott talk the most arrant nonsense about -the sun and planets. She was completely baffled when a message was given -to her in Latin, though she was supposed to be speaking in the name of -the spirit of the learned Myers, and it took her three months to get the -meaning (out of a dictionary?) of one or two easy words of it. She gave -a man a long account of an uncle whom he had never had; and it turned -out that this information was in the <i>Encyclopædia</i>, and related to -another man of the same name. In no instance did she ever give details -that it was <i>impossible</i> for her to learn in a normal way, and it is for -her admirers to prove that she did <i>not</i> learn them in a normal way, -and, on the other hand, to give a more plausible explanation of what<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> -Dr. Maxwell, their great authority, calls her "inaccuracies and -falsehoods."</p> - -<p>The truth is that the phenomenon known as "clairvoyance" rests just as -plainly on trickery as the physical phenomena we have studied. -Margaretta Fox explained decades ago how they used to watch minutely the -faces of sitters and find their way by changes of expression. "I see a -young man," says the medium dreamily, with half-closed but <i>very</i> -watchful eyes. There is no response on the face of the sitter. "I see -the form of a young woman—a child," the medium goes on. At the right -shot the sitter's face lights up with joy and eagerness, and the fishing -goes on. Probably in the end, or after a time, the sitter will tell -people how the clairvoyant saw the form of her darling child "at once."</p> - -<p>In some cases the medium is prepared in advance. Carrington tells us -that he was one day strongly urged to give a man, who thought that he -had abnormal powers, a sitting. He decided at least to give him a -lesson, and made an appointment. The man came with friends at the -appointed hour, and they were astonished and awed when Carrington, as a -clairvoyant, told them their names and other details. He had simply sent -a man to track his visitor to his hotel and learn all about him and his -friends. Other cases are just as easy. When Sir O. Lodge and Sir A. C. -Doyle lost their sons, the whole mediumistic world knew it and was -ready. But mediums gather information about far less important sitters, -because it is precisely these cases that are most impressive. It is -quite easy to get information quietly about a certain man's dead -relatives, and then find an intermediary who will casually recommend him -to see Mrs. ——.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> I do not suggest that the intermediary knows the -plot, though that may often be the case.</p> - -<p>In other cases the medium tells very little at the first visit. The -"spirit" is dazed in its new surroundings. It takes time to get adjusted -and learn how to talk through a medium. And so on. You go again, and the -details increase. You have, of course, left your name and address in -making a fresh appointment. Some clever people go anonymously. Lady -Lodge went thus and heard remarkable things; but Sir O. Lodge admits -that her companion greatly helped the medium by forgetting herself and -addressing her as "Lady Lodge." You may leave your coat in the hall, and -it is searched. When Truesdell consulted Slade in New York, he wickedly -left in his overcoat pocket a letter which gave the impression that his -name was "Samuel Johnson." The first ghost that turned up was, of -course, "Mary Johnson."</p> - -<p>Still more ingenious was the "clairvoyance" of the famous American -medium Foster, one of the impostors who duped Robert Dale Owen and for -years held a high position in the movement. While he was out of the room -you wrote on bits of paper the names of your dead relatives or friends, -and you then screwed up the bits of paper into pellets. Foster then came -in, and sat near you. He dreamily took the pellets in his hand, pressed -them against his forehead, and then let them fall again upon the table. -Slowly and gradually, as he puffed at his everlasting cigar, the spirits -communicated all the names to him.</p> - -<p>Such tricks can be fathomed only by an expert, and they ought to warn -Spiritualists of the folly of thinking that "fraud was excluded." -Truesdell, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> great medium hunter, the terror of the American -Spiritualist world in the seventies, had a sitting with Foster and paid -the usual five dollars. He was puzzled, and consented to come again. On -the second occasion Foster could tell him, clairvoyantly, the name of -his hotel and other details. He had had Truesdell watched in the usual -way. At last the detective got his clue. Foster's cigar was continually -going out, and in constantly re-lighting it he sheltered the match in -the hollow of his hands. Truesdell concluded that he was then reading -the slips of paper, and the rest was easy. In pressing the pellets to -his forehead Foster substituted blank pellets for them and kept the -written papers in his hand. So the next time Truesdell went, and Foster -had touched one of the six pellets and read it, Truesdell snatched up -the other five pellets and found them blank. Foster genially -acknowledged that it was conjuring, but he continued as a priest of the -Spiritualist movement for a long time afterwards.</p> - -<p>Another clairvoyant feat is to read the contents of a sealed envelope, -provided the contents are not a folded letter. We shall see in the next -chapter how the contents of a folded and sealed letter are learned. I -speak here of the simple clairvoyant practice of taking a sealed -envelope which contains only a strip of written paper, pressing it to -the forehead and reading the contents. You need not pay half-a-guinea to -a Bond Street clairvoyante for this. Sponge your envelope with alcohol -(which will soon evaporate and leave no trace) and you can "see through -it."</p> - -<p>Some readers may expect me to say a word here about "clairaudience." The -only word I feel disposed to say is that it is one of the worst pieces -of nonsense<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> in the movement. Clairvoyance means to read the contents of -a sealed letter, or to see spirits which ordinary mortals cannot see. It -is half the stock-in-trade of the ordinary medium. You pay your guinea -or half-guinea, and the gifted lady sees your invisible dead friends and -describes them. Sometimes she is quite accurate, "on information -received." Generally the performance is a tedious medley of guesses and -grotesque inaccuracies. As is known, Mr. Labouchere quite safely -promised a thousand-pound note to any clairvoyante who would see the -number of it through a sealed envelope. The French Academy of Science -had invited clairvoyants, and thoroughly discredited the claim, years -before.</p> - -<p>Yet the imposture goes on daily, all over England and America, and some -now offer the novelty of "clairaudience," or hearing spirit voices which -we ordinary mortals cannot hear. It is the same fraud under another -name. When some clairaudient comes along who can hear the spirits of -Myers, and so many other deceased Spiritualists answer the crucial -questions they have never yet answered, we may become interested. Until -then a new addition to this world of cranks, frauds, decadents, and -nervous invalids is not a matter of much importance.</p> - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> <i>The Newer Spiritualism</i>, p. 180.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Mr. Clodd, as will be read in the preface to the second -edition of Dr. Mercier's book, sent a copy of this letter to <i>Light</i>. -The editor declined to publish it. So Sir A. C. Doyle may justly plead -that he knew nothing about it. Will he ask why?</p></div></div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span><span class="smcap">Chapter VII</span></span> <span class="smaller">MESSAGES FROM THE SPIRIT-WORLD</span></h2> - -<p>Clairvoyance, strictly speaking, is supposed to be an abnormal power of -the medium: a range of vision, a fineness of sense, that we less gifted -beings do not possess. But the performance is very apt to resolve itself -into a claim that the medium sees invisible spirits and is communicating -with them. Of real clairvoyance—of a power to read a closed book or a -folded paper or see a distant spot—no instance has ever yet been -recorded that will pass scrutiny. Many scientific men, as I said, who do -not believe in spirits do believe in the abnormal powers of mediums. -They would like to get a proof of clairvoyance, but they are unable to -offer us one. The wonderful stories told of the gift in Spiritualist -circles vanish, like the stories about Home and Moses, the moment the -critical lamp is turned upon them.</p> - -<p>We are therefore reduced to the Spiritualist claim that a medium really -receives information from spirits, and we have to see on what sort of -evidence this is based. Now there is an aspect of this question which -even the leading Spiritualists do not face very candidly. More than -twenty years ago it was felt, and rightly felt, by Spiritualists that at -least a long step forward would be made if they left sealed or -cipher-messages at death, and communicated the contents or the key of -these from "beyond." It is well known how Myers left with Sir Oliver -Lodge<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> a sealed message of this description. A month after his death he -"got into touch" with Lodge through the medium Mrs. Thompson. Unhappily -he had forgotten all about the message, and even about the Society for -Psychical Research! Next the supremely gifted Mrs. Verrall got into -touch with Myers. By this time—it was the end of 1904—Myers had had -time to get adjusted, and was talking more or less rationally through -Mrs. Verrall. If there had not been a very material test in reserve, Sir -O. Lodge and his friends would have sworn that the messages were from -the spirit of Myers. As it was, they were so confident that on December -13, 1904, they solemnly opened the precious envelope. They were struck -dumb when there was not the least correspondence between Mrs. Verrall's -message from Myers and the message he had left in the envelope.</p> - -<p>Miss Dallas tries, in her <i>Mors Janua Vitæ</i>, to soften the blow, but her -pleas are useless. The final failure utterly stultifies all the days and -months of supposed messages. And this is not the only case. Hodgson had -adopted a similar test, and it was a ghastly failure. Other -Spiritualists left sealed messages when they died, and not a syllable of -one of them has been read. Our Spiritualists <i>do not</i> get into -communication with the dead. This is negative evidence, but it is far -more impressive than any of the rhetorical and inaccurate accounts of -experiences which they give us. It is precise and unmistakable. Every -Spiritualist who dies now knows that this is the supremely desired test, -yet we have twenty years of complete, unmitigated failure. Men like Sir -O. Lodge tell us that they recognize the personality of Hodgson beyond -mistake in the messages<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> they get through mediums; but the one sure -test, the getting of the key to the cipher-messages which Hodgson left -behind, is an absolute failure. It would become our Spiritualists to -strike a more modest note, and not assure the ignorant public, as Sir A. -C. Doyle does, that the time for proof has gone by and it is for their -opponents now to justify themselves. The experience of the last twenty -years has been deadly to Spiritualist pretensions.</p> - -<p>The truth is that here again Spiritualists had been led into their -belief, that messages from the spirit-world were easy and common, by a -vast amount of mediumistic trickery. The earliest method was by raps, -and we have seen that since 1848 this performance has been a matter of -trickery. The next way was to rap out messages with a leg of the table, -which was merely a variation of the table-lifting we have studied. These -forms are so often used by amateur mediums that it is necessary to -recall our warning that the distinction between paid and unpaid mediums -is not of the least use. Carrington, Maxwell, Podmore, and Flammarion -give numbers of instances of cheating by men and women of good social -position. Carrington tells of an American lawyer who deliberately—not -as a joke—made his friends believe that he could make a poker stand -upright and do similar abnormal phenomena. He did his tricks by means of -black threads. Podmore gives a similar case in England. Flammarion tells -us of a Parisian doctor's wife who cheated flagrantly in order to get -credit for abnormal powers. This sort of prestige has as much -fascination for some people as money has for others.</p> - -<p>The professional mediums, however, early developed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> in America the trick -of receiving messages from spirits on slates, and this is fraud from -beginning to end. The supreme artist in this field was Henry Slade, whom -Sir A. C. Doyle regards as a genuine intermediary between the lofty -spirits of the other world and ourselves. As Truesdell's account of the -way in which he unmasked Slade as early as 1872 contains one of the -richest stories in the whole collection of Spiritualist anecdotes, one -would have thought that a story-teller like Sir A. C. Doyle could not -possibly have forgotten it. From it we learn that Slade was from the -outset of his career an adroit and brazen and confessed impostor.</p> - -<p>Truesdell paid the customary five dollars, and received pretty and -edifying, but inconclusive, messages from the spirits. Incidentally he -detected that the spirit-touches on his arms were done by Slade's foot, -to distract his attention; but he could not see the method of the -slate-trick. However, as the main theme of the messages was an -exhortation to persevere in his inquiries (at five dollars a sitting to -the medium), he made another appointment. It was on this occasion that -he left a misleading letter in his overcoat in Slade's hall, and found -the spirits assuming that he was "Samuel Johnson, Rome, N.Y." But before -Slade entered the room, or while Slade was going through his -overcoat-pockets, <i>he</i> rapidly overhauled Slade's room. He found a slate -with a pious message from the spirits already written on it, signed (as -was usual) by the spirit of Slade's dead wife, Alcinda. Beneath the -message Truesdell wrote "Henry, look out for this fellow—he is up to -snuff! Alcinda," and replaced the slate. Slade came in, and gave a most -dramatic performance. In his contortions, under the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> spirit-influence, -he drew the table near to the hidden slate, and "accidentally" knocked -the clean slate off the table. Of course, he picked up the <i>prepared</i> -slate. His emotions can be imagined when he read the words which -Truesdell had written on it. After a little bluster, however, he -laughingly acknowledged that he was a mere conjurer, and he told -Truesdell many tricks of his profession.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p> - -<p>This was in 1872. Four years later Slade came to London, where Sir E. -Ray Lankester and Sir Bryan Donkin again exposed him. Sir E. Ray -Lankester snatched the slate before the message was supposed to be -written on it, and the message was already there. He prosecuted Slade, -who was sentenced to three months' hard labour. He had charged a guinea -a sitter. But a few words had been omitted from the antiquated form of -the charge (which I have previously given in the case of Craddock), and -before Slade could be again prosecuted he fled to the continent. There, -we saw, he duped a group of purblind professors, and he returned to -America in higher repute than ever. In 1882 an inspector of police at -Belleville, in Canada, snatched the slate just as Sir E. Ray Lankester -had done, and exposed him again. He escaped arrest only by a maudlin -appeal for mercy; and on his return to the States he succeeded in -persuading the Spiritualists—who solemnly stated this in their organ, -the <i>Banner of Light</i>—that the man exposed at Belleville was an -impostor making use of his name! In 1884 he faced the Seybert Committee, -and its sharp-eyed members<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> saw and exposed every step in his trickery. -Eventually, as I have said, he lived in drink and misery, developed -Bright's disease, and died in the common asylum. Such was the man whom -Sir A. C. Doyle seriously regards as the chosen instrument of his -spiritual powers.</p> - -<p>The Seybert Committee found two different kinds of writing on Slade's -slates. Some messages were short and badly written, and they concluded -that these were written by him with one finger while he held the slate -under the table (as the custom was) to receive a spirit-message. Other -messages were relatively long, well written, and dignified; and they -regarded these as prepared in advance. Both points were fully verified. -At one sitting they noticed two slates resting suspiciously against the -leg of the table. These doubtless had messages written on them, and were -to be substituted for the blank slate when this was supposed to be put -under the table. Slade would then produce the sound of the spirits -writing by scraping with his nail on the edge of the slate. On this -occasion, however, Slade saw that they had their eyes on the slates and -he dare not use them. But one of the members of the committee, -determined to do his work thoroughly, carelessly knocked the two slates -over with his foot, and the messages were exposed.</p> - -<p>The reception of messages from the spirits on slates may linger in rural -or suburban districts, but it has lent itself to such trickery, and been -exposed so thoroughly, that mediums have generally abandoned it. For -whole decades it was the chief way of communicating with the spirits, -and weird and wonderful were the artifices by which the medium defeated -the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> growing sense of caution of the sitters. In spite of the exposures -of Slade, the English medium Eglinton adopted and improved his methods, -and he was one of the bright stars of the Spiritualist world for twenty -years. He was detected in fraud as early as 1876. At that time he gave -materialization-séances, at which the ghostly form of "Abdullah" -appeared. Archdeacon Colley found the beard and draperies of Abdullah in -his trunk. But exposure never ruins a medium in the Spiritualist world, -and ten years later Eglinton was the most successful and respected -medium in England, especially for slate-messages.</p> - -<p>Hodgson more than suspected him, and he at last found a man, Mr. S. J. -Davey, who was able to reproduce all his tricks. He wrote messages while -he held the slates under the table, and he substituted prepared slates -for clean slates under the noses of his sitters. Perhaps the most -valuable part of his experience was this substitution, which is one of -the fundamental elements of mediumistic trickery. Spiritualists—indeed, -inquirers generally—honestly flatter themselves that they have taken -care that there was no deception of this kind. Such confidence is -foolish, as the professional conjurer does this kind of substitution -under our eyes habitually, and we never see him do it. In order to make -people more cautious Davey, with Dr. Hodgson's connivance, set up as a -medium and gave sittings to Spiritualists. They afterwards sent accounts -of their experiences to the Society for Psychical Research. They were, -as usual, certain that there was no trickery, and that the messages were -genuine. Davey then wrote correct accounts of what he had done, and it -was seen that the accounts of the sitters were inaccurate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> and their -observation faulty. Some of them indignantly retorted that Davey was a -genuine medium, but found it more profitable to pose as a conjurer and -exposer of mediums!</p> - -<p>In a work specially devoted to this subject (<i>Spirit Slate Writing and -Kindred Phenomena</i>, 1899) Mr. W. E. Robinson gives about thirty -different fraudulent ways of getting spirit-messages. Indeed, many of -these may be sub-divided, and you get scores of methods. One method, for -instance, is to write a message with invisible fluid on paper, seal the -apparently blank paper in an envelope, and then let the message appear -and pretend that the spirits wrote it. Mr. Robinson gives thirty-seven -different recipes for the "invisible ink," and sixteen of these require -only heat, which is easily applied, to develop them. In other cases the -inside of the envelope has been moistened with a chemical solution which -develops the hidden writing. One medium used to put an apparently blank -sheet of paper in a clear bottle and seal it. Here trickery seemed -impossible, and the sitter was greatly impressed at receiving a pious -message on the paper. But the message had been written in advance with a -weak solution of copper sulphate, and the bottle had been washed out -with ammonia, which develops it.</p> - -<p>In slate-messages much use is made of a false flap, or a loose sheet of -slate which fits imperceptibly on one side of the framed slate. It -conceals the message written on the slate, and is removed under the -table or under cover of a newspaper. A sheet of slate-coloured silk or -cloth is sometimes fitted on the slate, and it is drawn up the medium's -sleeve or rolled into the frame of the slate. Invisible messages may be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> -written on the slate with onion or lemon juice, and developed by lightly -passing over them a cloth containing powdered chalk. Double-frame slates -lend themselves to infinite trickery. Slates are provided by "the trade" -with false hinges and all kinds of mechanism. But even when the sitter -brings his own slates, as Zöllner did, and ties them up and seals them, -the medium is not baffled. They are laid aside, for the spirits to write -on at their leisure. At the first convenient opportunity the medium -removes the wax, without spoiling the seal, by passing a heated -knife-blade or fine wire beneath it, and, after untying the strings, -heats the under-surface of the wax and sticks it on again.</p> - -<p>Mediums found that sitters were greatly impressed if they heard the -sound of the spirits writing on the slate. This was easily done by -scraping with the finger nail, and cautious people wanted to have a -security against fraud. One medium gave them adequate security. He held -both hands above the table, yet writing was distinctly heard underneath -it. The man had attached to the table a clamp holding a bit of -slate-pencil, and against this he rubbed a pencil which was fastened to -his trousers by loops of black silk. Others can use a pencil with their -toes—I have seen an armless Bulgar girl use a pen with her toes as -neatly as a good writer uses his fingers—and hold both hands above the -table.</p> - -<p>This trick is often used when a message is wanted in answer to a -question and cannot be written in advance. The usual method is, however, -to hold the slate under the table-top and write on it while it is held -there. At first this was done by means of a tiny bit of slate-pencil -slipped under the nail of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> big finger. Slade soon found that this -was suspected, and he made a point of keeping his nails short. The trade -which is at the back of mediums then supplied thimbles with bits of -pencil attached, which the medium could slip on to his finger as he put -the slate under the table. Even thimbles with three differently coloured -chalks were made, and the innocent sitter would be invited to select his -own colour for the spirits to write in. The most amazing tricks were -developed. Robinson tells of a man who would let you bring your own -slate and hold it against your own breast, and the message then appeared -on it. He "tried" your slate when you brought it by writing on it with -his pencil. But, of course, he sponged out all his writing before he -handed the slate back to you, as you could see. He had a double -pencil—slate at one end and silver nitrate at the other—and what he -wrote with the latter was invisible until it was damped with salt-water. -Well, the sponging (or damping) had been done with salt-water, and so -the message (in silver nitrate) appeared as the slate dried against your -breast.</p> - -<p>When you thus allow the medium to use his own apparatus in his own room -you need not be surprised at any result whatever. The sensible man will -remember that behind the mediums is the same ingenious industry which -supplies conjuring outfits. Mr. Selbit showed Mr. Moseley a typewriter, -on an ordinary-looking table, which spelt out, by invisible fingers, a -message in reply to your question. There was an electrical mechanism in -the table, and an electrician in the next room controlling it by a wire -through the hollow table-leg. But even without such elaborate mechanism -mediums can baffle quite<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> vigilant sitters. There was one who would -allow you to examine his nails, yet he got slate-messages without -putting the slate under the table. He had ground slate-pencil to dust, -mixed it with gum, and then cut the mixture into little cubes or -pellets. He simply stuck these on his trousers, and, <i>after</i> you had -examined his nails, helped himself to one.</p> - -<p>When the answers are given on paper a hundred other tricks are employed. -First the medium must learn the question you are putting to the spirits. -If you put it mentally, you will never get more than a lucky or unlucky -guess, unless you happen to be one of those sitters for whom the medium -was prepared. You need not fear telepathy. It must be admitted to-day -that the evidence for telepathy or thought-transference is in as parlous -a condition as the evidence for Spiritualism. After all the challenges -and discussions not a single serious claim lies before us. Sir A. C. -Doyle, it is true, tells (<i>Debate</i>, p. 28) quite confidently of Mr. -Lethem getting an answer to his unspoken questions. But Sir Arthur, as -usual, does not tell all the facts. The unspoken questions to which Mrs. -Lethem, as a medium, gave "correct answers" were precisely the two test -questions which Mr. Lethem had put to a medium some time before! We may -surely presume that he had confided that wonderful experience to the -wife of his bosom.</p> - -<p>No, there is no clear case of telepathy, or answers to unspoken -questions, on record. The medium gets you to write your questions. -Spirits are supposed to be more at home in reading such spiritual things -as thoughts than in reading material scribbles; but your medium is not a -spirit, and you will get no answer unless he knows the question. If you -write your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> question on the pad which he kindly offers, it is easy. -There is a carbon paper underneath, which gives him a duplicate. In one -very elaborate case the carbon and duplicate were under the cloth, and -were drawn off, when you had finished writing, through a hollow leg of -the table into the next room. One medium developed the art of reading -what you wrote from the movements of the top of your pencil. Others, -like Foster, artfully stole your bit of paper and substituted dummies. -But I will quote from Mr. Carrington a last trick which will give the -reader a sufficiently large idea of the wonderful ingenuity which -mediums use in these spirit messages.</p> - -<p>He tells in his <i>Personal Experiences of Spiritualism</i> of a pair of -Chicago mediums—the same Misses Bangs who painted spirit pictures -before your eyes, as I have previously described—whose method was -extraordinarily difficult to detect. You wrote a letter to a deceased -person. You folded a blank sheet with this letter, and sealed them -yourself in an envelope. This letter you handed to Miss Bangs as she sat -at the table opposite you. After a long delay, but without her leaving -the room, she restored the envelope (which had lain on the table under a -blotter) to you intact, and you found a letter to you from your spirit -friend written on the blank sheet you had enclosed.</p> - -<p>Mr. Carrington admits that he can only guess the way in which this -striking performance was done, but the reader who cares to read his full -and interesting account will feel that his conjecture is right. The -letter did not remain on the table. Under cover of the blotting pad and -various nervous movements it was conveyed to the medium's lap, and from -there to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> a shallow tray on the floor under the table. The medium, he -noticed, sat close to a door which led into an adjoining room, and he -believes that the tray was pulled by a string from under the table into -the next room. An expert whom he afterwards sent to examine the house, -under cover of a sitting, verified his conjecture that there was space -enough at the bottom of the door to pull a shallow tray through. In the -next room it was easy for Miss Bangs No. 2 to open the letter, write the -reply, and seal the envelope again. Even wax seals offer no difficulty -to mediums. The letter was re-conducted to the table in the same furtive -way. A desperate Spiritualist may say that his hypothesis is simpler -than this. But there is one little difficulty. No such person had ever -existed as the supposed dead relative to whom Mr. Carrington addressed -his letter! He had hoaxed the hoaxer.</p> - -<p>Here were two quiet and inoffensive-looking spinsters earning a good -living by deceptive practices (this and the spirit-painting trick) which -they had themselves, apparently, originated, and which taxed the -ingenuity of an expert conjurer to discover. What chance has the -ordinary inquirer, much less the eager Spiritualist, against guile of -this description? A boy of sixteen can buy a box of conjuring apparatus -for a guinea. It contains only tricks which have been scattered over the -country for years. Yet in your own drawing-room he can, after a little -practice, cheat your eyes every time, although you know that there is -trickery, and are keenly on the look-out for it. What chance have you, -then, against a man or woman who has been conjuring for twenty years? -What chance have you in a poor light? What earthly chance have you in -the dark? It is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> amazing how inquirers and Spiritualists forget this -elementary truism. They tell you repeatedly, with the air of supreme -experts in conjuring, that "there was no possibility of fraud." That is -sheer self-deception. Even expert conjurers have been completely -deceived by mediums, as Bellachini was with Slade (a confessed impostor) -and Carrington was with Eusapia Palladino. The man who tells you that -there was no fraud because he saw none is as foolish as the man who -expects <i>you</i> either to explain where the fraud was or else embrace -Spiritualism.</p> - -<p>There is one other method of receiving messages which we must briefly -notice. It is, to Spiritualists, the most impressive of all. The ghost -of the dead <i>talks directly to you</i>. A "direct voice" medium is, of -course, required, and some kind of trumpet is provided by the medium -through which the spirit speaks to you. If you are known to the medium, -or if you have a good imagination and are very eager, you can recognize -the very accents of your dead wife or mother-in-law. But there is one -disadvantage of this impressive phenomenon. It must take place in -complete darkness; and we remember the warning of that high and -experienced psychic authority, Dr. Maxwell, that the man who seeks any -kind of phenomena in complete darkness is wasting his time.</p> - -<p>Spiritualist writers are amusing when they try to reconcile us to the -conditions which their mediums have imposed on them. Are there not -certain conditions for the appearance of all scientific phenomena, they -ask us? Most assuredly. You cannot grow carrots without soil, and so on. -Is not darkness a condition of certain scientific processes? Again, -most<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> certainly. The photographic plate must be prepared in the dark, or -in a dull red light. Therefore.... That is just where the Spiritualist -fails. If the darkness under cover of which the photographic chemist -prepares his plates lent itself equally to cover fraud or to protect his -operations, there would be a parallel. As it is, there is no parallel.</p> - -<p>The red light of the photographer can serve only one purpose. When the -medium uses it, there are two purposes conceivable. One is, on the -Spiritualist theory, that white light may interfere with the -"magnetism," or the "psychic force," or whatever the latest jargon is. -The other conceivable purpose is that it may cover fraud. Everybody -admits that the darkening of the planet since 1848 has covered "a vast -amount of fraud," to use the words of Baron Schrenck. Few people admit -that it has favoured real phenomena. It is therefore quite absurd to -attempt to reconcile us to the darkness by the analogy of photographic -operations. There is no analogy at all. In the one case the poor light -certainly favours fraud, and does not certainly do anything else. In the -other case the red light never covers fraud, but has a single clear -purpose.</p> - -<p>Red light, as I have said, is the most tiring for the eye of all kinds -of light. The man who thinks that he can control the hands and feet of -seven mediums in such a light cannot expect to be taken seriously. He -can expect only to be taken in. But the man who pays any attention to -phenomena for which the medium requires pitch darkness is even worse. -Why not simply <i>imagine</i> that the dead still live, and save the guinea? -You have not the slightest guarantee of the genuineness of the -phenomena. Imagining that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> you can recognize the voice or the features -is one of the oldest of illusions.</p> - -<p>In the summer of 1912 our Spiritualists were elated by the discovery of -a new medium of the most powerful type. Mrs. Ebba Wriedt came from that -perennial breeding-ground of great mediums, the United States, where she -had long been known. In 1912 she illumined London. Through her W. T. -Stead was able once more to address Spiritualists <i>viva voce</i>. One -recognized the familiar voice unmistakably. Scepticism was ludicrous. -Did not a Serbian diplomatist talk to the spirit in Serb, which Mrs. -Wriedt did not know, and answer for the genuineness of the phenomena? -<i>Light</i> had wonderful columns on Mrs. Wriedt's marvels. She was, the -editor of a psychic journal said, "the pride and the most convincing -argument of the whole Spiritualist and Theosophical world." In admiring -her powers, even the mutual hostility of Spiritualist and Theosophist -was laid aside, it seems.</p> - -<p>Norwegian Spiritualists were eager to avail themselves of this rare -gift, and they asked if Norwegian spirits could speak through the great -medium. After consulting the spirits—a cynic would say, after -practising a word or two of Norwegian—Mrs. Wriedt replied in the -affirmative, and boldly crossed the sea.</p> - -<p>There is, of course, no intrinsic reason, on the Spiritualist theory, -why spirits should be confined to the language of the medium. In "direct -voice" they do not even have to use her vocal organs. A trumpet lies on -the ground or the table, and the spirits lift it up and megaphone (very -softly) through it. It is quite inexplicable to those of us who are mere -inquirers why the spirits must always talk English in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> England, American -in America, and so on. Even when they try, as in the case of the Thomas -brothers, to talk their native American to us in England, the result is -half bad American and half Welsh-English. It would be much more -impressive to our hesitating generation if a half-dozen foreigners were -brought to the sitting, and each had a real conversation—not a word or -two—with a ghost of his own nationality. Somehow the spirits insist on -speaking the language, and even the dialect, of the medium. We shall -consider in the next chapter a few supposed variations from this -unfortunate rule of spirit-intercourse.</p> - -<p>Well, Mrs. Wriedt went to Norway, and confronted her new inquirers with -all the solidity and confidence of the well-built American matron. -Somehow, the vocabulary of the Norwegian dead, who came along, was very -limited. They could say only "Yes" or "No" in Norwegian. Otherwise the -first séance was very good. To make up for their culpable ignorance of -their native tongue the Norwegian ghosts scattered flowers about the -dark room, gave ghostly music, and did other marvellous things. But -there were two ladies and a professor—Frau Nielsen and Frau Anker and -Professor Birkeland—who did not like this "Yes" and "No" business. It -was scriptural, but not ladylike. So the professor held Mrs. Wriedt's -hands very firmly at the second séance, and for twenty minutes the -spirits were dumb. They always resent such things, as every Spiritualist -knows. The trumpets lay on the floor, neglected and silent.</p> - -<p>At length Professor Birkeland heard some very faint explosive sounds -which his ears located in the trumpets or horns (in shape something like -the old<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> coach-horn). He looked steadily and saw them move slightly, a -phosphorescent light in them making the movements clear. A good -Spiritualist would have seen that this was the beginning of -manifestations, and he would have paid close attention to the trumpets -and relaxed his hard control of Mrs. Wriedt. The professor was, however, -of the type which mediums call "brutal." He jumped up, switched on the -electric light, and, before the Spiritualists could interfere, had -snatched the two trumpets from the floor and bolted to the nearest -analytic chemist. So the curtain fell on one more glorious act in the -Spiritualist drama. Mrs. Wriedt had put in the trumpet particles of -metallic potassium which, meeting the moisture she had also thoughtfully -provided, explained the "psychic movements." Close examination disclosed -that on other occasions she had used Lycopodium seeds to produce the -same effect.</p> - -<p>Professor Birkeland did not discover how the voices were produced, but -they offer no difficulty. The trumpets were, he found, telescopic. Each -consisted of three parts, and could stretch to nearly three feet. When -some guileless lady, who is controlling the medium, allows a hand to -stray in the usual way, the trumpet is seized, and it will give a -"direct voice" over the heads of the sitters or close to any one of -them. When the trumpet remains on the ground during the ghostly message, -the medium has a rubber speaking-tube fitted to it. When no trumpet is -provided at all, it makes no difference. The medium has thoughtfully -brought one of these telescopic aluminium tubes in his trousers. It -folds up to less than a foot. In some of the earlier cases, possibly -still in some cases, the medium's little daughter, who sits demure<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> and -mildly interested on the couch before the light is switched off, mounts -the furniture in the dark, and obligingly impersonates the ghost.</p> - -<p>No one would accuse Mr. Crawford, of Belfast, of being ultra-critical, -yet his experience confirms my conclusions. His marvellous experiences -with the pious Kathleen drew the attention of the Spiritualist world, -and all sorts of mediums came to help. First he tried the clairvoyants. -But they saw such weird and contradictory things that he was worried. -None of them saw the wonderful "psychic cantilever" which he thought the -spirits made to lift the table, but they all saw ghostly hands where he -did not want them; and the worst of it was that the same spirits which -had confirmed his theory of a cantilever, and even allowed him to take a -photograph (which he has meanly refused to publish) of it, now joyously -confirmed the quite different theory of the Spiritualist clairvoyants.</p> - -<p>So he gave it up, and next tried a "direct voice" medium. He is fairly -polite about the result. He got plenty of voices from all quarters—in -total darkness. Not only did a voice come from the ceiling, but a mark -was made on it. The medium's silk coat was frivolously taken off her by -the ghosts, and flung on the lap of one of the sitters. Strangely, these -things do not impress him as much as the raising of a two-pound stool to -a height of four feet does. He drops dark hints that things were said -about this "direct voice" medium. She was a big woman, and she was not -searched; and telescopic aluminium tubes take up little room. Mr. -Crawford put his little electrical register near her feet, and she was -"annoyed and nervous." In short, Mr. Crawford seems to have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> formed the -same opinion as any sensible person would in the circumstances.<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p> - -<p>We have still to examine the claims of the automatic writers; but, after -all this, the reader will not expect much. Never yet was a message -received which could not have been learned by the medium in a normal -way. The overwhelming mass of the messages which are delivered daily in -every country are fraudulent. In an amusing recent work (<i>The Road to -En-Dor</i>) two officers have shown us how easy it was to dupe even -educated men by these professions of marvellous powers. The advantage is -on the side of the conjurer every time, and the sitter has little -chance. Let the mediums come before a competent tribunal. All sorts of -inducements have been offered to them to do so, but they are very shy of -competent investigators. In 1911 an advertisement in the <i>Times</i> offered -£1,000 to any medium who would merely give proof of possessing -telepathic power, and there was not a single offer. This year Mr. Joseph -Rinn, a former member of the American Society for Psychical Research and -a life-long inquirer, has deposited with that Society a sum of £1,000 -for any evidence of communication with the dead under proper conditions. -There will again be no application. Mediums prefer a simpler and more -reverent audience, even if the fees be smaller. But those who consult -them under their own conditions, knowing that fraud has been practised -under those conditions from San Francisco to Petrograd ever since 1848, -must not talk to us about "evidence."</p> - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> The chapter should be read in Truesdell's racy book, which -is now unfortunately rare, <i>Bottom Facts Concerning the Science of -Spiritualism</i> (1883), pp. 276-307.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> These experiments are recorded in his <i>Experiments in -Psychical Science</i> (1919), pp. 134-35 and 170-89.</p></div></div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span><span class="smcap">Chapter VIII</span></span> <span class="smaller">AUTOMATIC WRITING</span></h2> - -<p>The Spiritualist—if any Spiritualist reader has persevered thus -far—will be surprised to hear that many Rationalists censure me because -I decline to admit that his movement is "all fraud." For heaven's sake, -he will exclaim, let us hear something about our honesty for a change! -Even the impartial outsider will possibly welcome such a change. How is -it possible, he will ask, that so many distinguished men have given -their names to the movement if it is all fraudulent?</p> - -<p>Now let us have a word first on these supposed distinguished -Spiritualists. During the debate with me Sir A. C. Doyle produced a tiny -red book and told the audience that it contained "the names of 160 -people of high distinction, many of them of great eminence, including -over forty professors" (p. 19). He said expressly that "these 160 people -... have announced themselves as Spiritualists" (p. 20). The book was -handed to me, and it will be understood that I could not very well read -it and attend to my opponent's speech, to which I had to reply. But I -saw at a glance several utterly destructive weaknesses. Several men were -described as "professor" who had no right to the title. Several men were -included who were certainly <i>not</i> Spiritualists (Richet, Ochorowicz, -Schiaparelli, Flammarion, Maxwell, etc.). And in not one single case is -a precise reference given<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> for the words which are attributed to these -men. My opponent regretted that chapter and verse were not "always" -(this word is omitted from the printed Debate) quoted in his little -book. As a matter of fact, "chapter and verse" (book and page) are -<i>never</i> given, in any instance; and in the vast majority of the 160 -cases not even words are quoted to justify the inclusion. He further -said that he quite admitted that some of the "forty professors" in the -book did not go so far as Spiritualists. But I have already quoted his -words to the effect that they had "announced themselves as -Spiritualists," and the same impression is undoubtedly conveyed by the -book itself, the title of which is <i>Who Are These Spiritualists?</i></p> - -<p>I have the book before me, and any reader who cares to glance at the -printed Debate and see what Sir A. C. Doyle said about it will be -astonished when I describe it. The printed text gives 126 names, and 32 -further names (many illegible) are written on the margins in Sir A. C. -Doyle's hand. Only in 53 cases out of the 158 is any quotation given -from the person named, and in not <i>one</i> of these cases are we told where -the quotation may be verified. There are 27 (not 49, as Sir Arthur said) -men described as "professors"; and of these several never were -professors, and very few ever were Spiritualists. Sir A. C. Doyle has -himself included Professor Morselli, who calls Spiritualism "childish -and immoral." There are men included who died before Spiritualism was -born, and there are twenty or thirty Agnostics included. Men like "Lord -Dunraven, Lord Adare, and Alexander Wilder" are described, with the most -amazing effrontery, as "some of the world's greatest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> authors." Padre -Secchi, the pious Roman Catholic, is included. Thackeray, Sir E. Arnold, -Professor de Morgan, Thiers, Lord Brougham, Forbes Winslow, Longfellow, -Ruskin, Abraham Lincoln, and other distinguished sceptics are dragged -in. For sloppy, slovenly, loose, and worthless work—and I have in -twenty years of controversy had to handle a good deal—this little book -would be hard to beat.</p> - -<p>A list of distinguished Spiritualists could be accommodated on a single -page of this book. A list of distinguished Rationalists in the same -period (1848-1920) would take twenty pages. The truth is that in the -earlier days of Spiritualism, when less was known than we now know about -mediumistic fraud, a number of distinguished men were "converted." They -were in every case converted by the impostors I have exposed in the -course of this work—by Home, Florrie Cook, Mrs. Guppy, Eglinton, Slade, -Morse, Holmes, etc. What is the value of such conversions? Who are the -"distinguished" Spiritualists <i>to-day</i>? Sir A. C. Doyle, Sir O. Lodge, -Sir W. Barrett, Mr. Gerald Balfour.... The reader will be astonished to -know that those are the only names of living men of any distinction that -Sir A. C. Doyle dares to give, either in the text or on the margins of -his book. What their opinion is worth the reader may judge for himself.</p> - -<p>Let us pass on. I wrote recently in the <i>Literary Guide</i> that "there are -hundreds of honest mediums." Some of my readers resented this as -over-generous. Possibly they have only a vague idea of Spiritualism, and -it is advisable for us to reflect clearly on the point. In the eyes of -Spiritualists every man or woman, paid or unpaid, who is supposed to be -in any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> way in communication with spirits is a "medium." The word does -not simply apply to men and women who, for payment, sit in cabinets or -in a circle, and lift tables, play guitars, write on slates, produce -ghosts, pull furniture about, tug the beards of sitters, and so on. I -should agree with the reader that these people, paid or unpaid, and all -mediums who operate in the dark or in red light, are probably frauds. -That is a fair conclusion from the preceding chapters, in which I have -exposed every variety of their manifestations, and from the history of -Spiritualism.</p> - -<p>This rules out all professional mediums and a large proportion of the -amateurs. Perhaps the reader does not know, and would like to know, what -a séance is like. As far as the "more powerful" (and more certainly -fraudulent) mediums are concerned, I have already given a sufficient -description. A cloth-covered frame or "cabinet" is raised at one end of -the room, or a curtain is drawn across an alcove or corner. In this the -medium generally (not always) sits, and the curtains are closed until -the medium thinks fit to have them opened. The medium is sometimes -hypnotized, and sometimes falls into a natural trance; it matters -little, for the trance is invariably a sham, and the medium is wide -awake all the time, though he simulates the appearance of a trance. The -lights are lowered or extinguished. Generally a red-glass lantern or -bulb (sometimes several) is lit. Then, after a time, which is occupied -by singing or music (to drown the noise of the medium's movements), the -ghost appears, or the tambourine is played, or the table is lifted, and -so on.</p> - -<p>These are the heavier and more expensive performances, and are -constantly being exposed. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> medium has apparatus in the false seat of -his chair or concealed about his person. But the common, daily séance is -quite different. You sit round a table or in a circle, or (if you will -rise to the price) sit alone with the lady. The light may be good. The -medium "sees" and describes spirit forms hovering about you. If you are -one of the people whom the medium has, through an intermediary, -attracted to the circle, you get some accurate details. If not, the -medium begins with generalities and, studying your expression, feels her -way to details. It is generally a waste of time. Friends of mine have -gone from one to another medium in London, and they tell me that it is -simply a tedious and most irritating way of convincing oneself that -these people are all frauds.</p> - -<p>But beyond these are hundreds, or thousands, of private individuals who -discover that they are mediums. They take a pencil in their hands, fall -into a passive, dreamy state, and presently the pencil "automatically" -writes messages from the spirit world. Others use the planchette (a -pencil fixed in a heart-shaped board which, when the medium's fingers -are on it, writes on a sheet of paper) or the ouija board (in which the -apex of the heart spells out messages by pointing rapidly to the letters -of the alphabet painted on a larger board over which it travels). I have -studied all three forms, and may take them together as "automatic -writing."</p> - -<p>The first question is whether this <i>can</i> be done unconsciously. If such -messages are consciously spelt or written by the medium, it is, of -course, fraud, because the messages purport to come from the dead. My -own experience convinces me that even here there is a vast amount of -fraud. The social status and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> general character of the medium do not -seem to matter at all, as we have repeatedly seen. People get into the -attitude of the child. "I can do what you can't do," you constantly hear -the child say to its fellows. There is a good deal of the child in all -of us. Prestige, distinction, credit for a rare or original power, is as -much sought as money; and this motive grows stronger when the medium -already has money. Everybody knows, or ought to know, the perfectly -authentic story of Mozart's <i>Requiem</i>. A wealthy amateur, Count Walsegg, -secretly paid Mozart to compose that famous Mass, and it was to be -passed off by Walsegg as his own.</p> - -<p>But while there is much fraud even in automatic writing, there are -certainly hundreds of mediums of this description who quite honestly -believe that they are spirit-controlled. Mr. G. B. Shaw's mother was an -automatic artist of that class. I have seen some of her spirit drawings. -A high-minded medical man of my acquaintance was a medium of the same -type. The class is very numerous. Psychologically, it is not very -difficult to understand. A pianist can play quite complicated pieces -unconsciously or subconsciously. A writer, who cannot normally write -decent fiction, may have wonderful flights of imagination in a dream. An -expert worker can do quite complicated things without attention. -Something of the same faculty seems to come in time to the automatic -writer or artist. Consciousness is more or less—never entirely, -perhaps—switched off from its usual connection with the hand, and the -part of the brain-machine which is not lit by consciousness takes over -the connection.</p> - -<p>That this can be done in perfect honesty will be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> clear to every reader -of Flammarion's book, <i>Les forces naturelles inconnues</i>. Flammarion -never became a Spiritualist, but he was quite a fluent automatic writer -in his youth. Victorien Sardou, the great dramatist, belonged to the -same circle, and was an automatic draughtsman. Flammarion gives -specimens of the work of both. Quite without a deliberate intention, he -signed his automatic writing (on science) "Galileo."</p> - -<p>I have no doubt that at the time both these distinguished men were -strongly tempted to embrace the Spiritualist theory. These experiences, -and the experiences of the séance, can be exceedingly impressive and -dramatic. The man who has never been there is too apt to think that all -Spiritualists are fools. I have been to séances, and I do not admit -that. I am quarrelling with Spiritualists because they will not realize -the possibilities and the actual abundance of fraud. But the séance is -undoubtedly very impressive at times. I have held a serious -conversation, in German and Latin, through an amateur medium of my own -acquaintance, with the supposed spirit of a certain German theologian of -the last century whose name (as given) was well known to me. I do not at -all wonder that many succumb in sittings of this sort. But I found -invariably that, if one resolutely kept one's head and devised crucial -tests, the claim broke down. So it is with Flammarion and Sardou. What -"Galileo" wrote in 1870 was just the astronomy of that time; and much of -it is totally wrong to-day. Sardou, on the other hand, drew remarkable -sketches of life on Jupiter; and we know to-day that Jupiter is red-hot!</p> - -<p>This is a broad characteristic of automatic writing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> since it began in -the fifties of the nineteenth century. At its best it merely reflected -the culture of the time, which was often wrong. Stainton Moses, for -instance, wrote reams of edifying revelation. But I find among his -wonderful utterances about ancient history certain statements concerning -the early Hindus and Persians which recent discoveries have completely -falsified. He had been reading certain books which were just passable -(though already a little out of date) fifty years ago. Among other -things the spirits told him that Manu lived 3,000 <span class="smaller">B.C.</span>, and that there -was a high "Brahminical lore" long before that date! So with Andrew -Jackson Davis, the first of these marvellous bringers of wisdom from the -spirit world. He had probably read R. Chambers's <i>Vestiges of Creation</i>, -and he gave out weird and wonderful revelations about evolution. In the -beginning was a clam, which begot a tadpole, which begot a quadruped, -and so on. Davis certainly lied hard when he used to deny that he had -read the books to which his "revelations" were traced, but no one can -deny his originality.</p> - -<p>Then there was Fowler, an American medical student and pious amateur -medium, who was regarded with reverence by the American Spiritualists. I -invite the reader's particular attention to this man, as he is one of -those unpaid individuals who are supposed (by Spiritualists) to have no -conceivable motive for cheating. Yet he lied and cheated in the most -original fashion. He told his friends that ghostly men entered his -bedroom at nights, produced ghostly pens and ink, and left messages in -Hebrew on his table. An expert in Hebrew found that the message was a -very bad copy of a passage from the Hebrew text of <i>Daniel</i>. This did -not affect the faith of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> Spiritualists, who put a piece of parchment in -Fowler's room for a further message. They had a rich reward. They found -next day a spiritual manifesto signed by no less than fifty-six spirits, -including some of the statesmen who had signed the Declaration of -Independence.</p> - -<p>The frauds were very gross in those early decades. Franklin, Washington, -even Thomas Paine, sent hundreds of messages from the "Summerland." As -time went on, Socrates, Plato, Sir I. Newton, Milton, Galileo, -Aristotle, and nearly everybody whose name was in an encyclopædia, -guided the automatic writers. When one reads the inane twaddle signed -with their names, one wonders that even simple people could be deceived. -Dante dictated a poem of three thousand lines in the richest provincial -American. One automatic writer wrote, under inspiration, a book of a -hundred thousand words. It is estimated that there were two thousand -writing mediums in the United States alone four years after the -foundation of the movement.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Piper was chiefly an automatic writer in the latter part of her -famous career as a medium, but we need scarcely discuss further her -accomplishments. In her later years she said that she did not claim to -be controlled by spirits, and this is sometimes wrongly described as a -confession of fraud. What she directly meant was that she did not -profess any opinion as to the source of the knowledge she gave to -sitters. She seemed to favour the theory of telepathy. When, however, we -remember that she spoke constantly in the name of spirits (Longfellow, -Phinuit, Pelham, Myers, etc.), the plea seems curious. Those who believe -that she was really in a sort of trance-state,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> and knew not what she -was doing, may be disposed to accept Podmore's theory, that her -subconscious personality dramatized these various spirits or supposed -spirits. Some of us do not like this idea of trance. In the hundreds of -exact records of proceedings with mediums that I have read, I have not -seen a page that suggested a genuine "trance," but I have noted scores -and scores of passages which showed that the medium feigned to be in a -trance, but was very wide awake.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Thompson is another clairvoyant and automatic writer who has been -much appreciated by modern Spiritualists. It is well to recall that -before 1898 she was a medium for "physical phenomena." She even brought -about materializations. Then she met Mr. Myers, and her powers assumed a -more refined form. Dr. Hodgson, that quaint mixture of blunt criticism -and occasional credulity, had six sittings with her, and roundly stated -that she was a fraud. The correct information which she gave him was, he -said, taken from letters to which she had access, or from works of -reference like <i>Who's Who</i>. In one case, which made a great impression, -she gave some remarkably abstruse and correct information. It was -afterwards found that the facts were stated in an old diary which had -belonged to her husband. She herself produced the diary, and said that -she had never read it; so, of course, everybody believed her. When -Professor Sidgwick died, in 1900, his "spirit" used to communicate -through her. She reproduced his manner, and even his writing (which she -said she had never seen), very fairly; but she could give no -communication from him of "evidential" value.</p> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p><p>The impersonation of dead people by the "entranced" medium makes a -great impression on Spiritualists. It is difficult to understand why. -One medium quite convinced a friend of mine by such a performance. She -sat, in the circle, in a trance one day, when she suddenly rose from her -chair, stroked an imaginary moustache, and began to speak in a gruff -voice. "He"—the young lady had become a cavalry man—explained in a -dazed way that he had died at Knightsbridge Barracks on the previous -day, and gave his name. Great was the joy of the elect on finding -afterwards that a soldier of the name had died at Knightsbridge on the -previous day.</p> - -<p>It was quite childish. It is just by learning such out-of-the-way facts, -as they easily can, and making use of them, that the mediums keep up -their reputations. There was no reason whatever why the medium should -not have learned of the death and made so profitable a use of it. -Stainton Moses often did such things. One day he was possessed by the -spirit of a cabman who said that he had been killed on the streets of -London that very afternoon. By an unusual oversight the spirit did not -give his name. It was afterwards found that the accident was reported in -an evening paper which Stainton Moses <i>might</i> have seen just before the -séance; and, by a curious coincidence, the reporter had not given the -cabman's name. In other cases, where mediums had been invited to -districts with which they were not familiar, yet they gave quite -accurate details about local dead, it was found on inquiry that the -information <i>might</i> have been gathered from the stones in the local -cemetery.</p> - -<p>A common retort of the Spiritualist, when you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> point out the possibility -of the medium impersonating the dead, is that, "if she did so, she must -be one of the cleverest actresses in England." You are asked, -triumphantly, why the lady should be content with a few pounds a week as -a despised medium, when she might be making five thousand a year on a -stage. Any person who has seen these "trances" will know the value of -their "dramatic" art. Almost anybody could do it. The medium makes from -three to five pounds a week by such things, but if she tried the stage -she would have, at the most, a minor part with fifty or sixty pounds a -year. Spiritualists get their judgments weirdly distorted by their bias. -I need only quote the extravagant language in which Sir A. C. Doyle -refers to Mr. Vale Owen's trash or Mrs. Spencer's picture of Christ. He -makes the miracle in which he wishes to believe.</p> - -<p>Two particular cases of spirit messages by automatic writing have lately -been pressed upon us, and we must briefly examine them. One is given in -a book by Mr. F. Bligh Bond, called <i>The Gate of Remembrance</i>, which is -recommended to us by Sir A. C. Doyle as one of the five particularly -convincing works which he would have us read. He again fails to tell his -readers that Mr. Bligh Bond draws a very different conclusion than his -own from the facts. He has a mystical theory of a universal memory or -consciousness, a sort of ocean into which the memories of the dead have -flowed. He does not believe that the individual spirits of the dead -monks of pre-Reformation days came along and dictated their views -through his automatic-writing friend.</p> - -<p>Any person, however, who reads the book impartially will see no need for -either the Spiritualist view or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> Mr. Bond's. The main point is that, -through Mr. Bond's friend, Mr. John Alleyne, what purported to be the -ghosts of the old monks of Glastonbury Abbey wrote quite vivid sketches -of their medieval life in the Abbey and, particularly, suggested the -position and general features of a chapel that was at the time unknown. -As to the character or impersonation of the monks, which seems to -Spiritualists so impressive, we are told by experts on medieval language -that it will not sustain criticism. The language is quaint and pleasant -to read, but it is not consistent either in old English or Latin. It is -the language of a man who is familiar with medieval English and Latin, -but does not speak it as his <i>own</i> language, and so often trips. It is, -in other words, Mr. John Alleyne writing old English and medieval Latin, -and stumbling occasionally.</p> - -<p>As to the indication of a buried chapel, both this and the general -impersonation of the old monks are intelligible to any man who has read -the book itself, not Spiritualist accounts of it. Mr. Bond, an architect -and archæologist, expected to be appointed to the charge of the ruins, -and he and his friend Mr. Alleyne steeped themselves, all through the -year 1907, in the literature of the subject. They read all that was -known about Glastonbury, and lived for months in the medieval -atmosphere. Then Mr. Alleyne took his pencil and began to write -automatically. The general result is not strange; nor is it at all -supernatural that he should have formed a theory about the lost chapel -and conveyed this to paper in the guise of a message from one of the old -monks.</p> - -<p>The next work recommended to us is a short paper by Mr. Gerald Balfour -called "The Ear of Dionysius"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> (published in the <i>Proceedings of the -Society for Psychical Research</i>, vol. xxix, March, 1917). The writing -medium, Mrs. Verrall, a Cambridge lady of a highly cultivated and -refined type and an excellent classical scholar, found in her automatic -"script" on August 26, 1910, a reference to "the Ear of Dionysius." -Three years and a-half later another writing medium, Mrs. Willett, got -one of those rambling and incoherent messages, which are customary, in -reference to "the Ear of Dionysius." This seemed to be more than a -coincidence, as Mrs. Willett is no classical scholar. But Mr. Balfour -candidly warns us that Mrs. Willett said that she had heard nothing -about the earlier reference to the Ear of Dionysius in Mrs. Verrall's -case. It would be remarkable if the fact had been kept entirely secret -for three and a-half years, as some importance was attached to it in -psychic circles, and we may prefer to trust Mr. Balfour's memory rather -than Mrs. Willett's. He says that he feels sure that one day, in the -long interval, Mrs. Willett asked him what the Ear of Dionysius was.</p> - -<p>Mr. Balfour, however, believes that in the sequel we have fair evidence -of spirit communication. The reader who is not familiar with these -matters should know that a new test had been devised for controlling the -origin of these messages. It was felt that if the "spirit" of one of the -dead psychical researchers (who could no longer read or remember the -sealed messages they had left) were to give an unintelligible message to -one medium, a second unintelligible message to a second medium, and then -the key to both to either or to a third medium, and if the contents of -these messages were strictly withheld from the mediums<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> (each knowing -only her own part), a very definite proof of spirit origin would be -afforded. Thus the ghost of Mr. Verrall or Mr. Myers might take a line -of an obscure Greek poet, give one word of it to Mrs. Thompson, another -to Mrs. Willett, and then point out the connection through Mrs. Verrall. -Mr. Balfour claims that this was done in connection with the Ear of -Dionysius. Mrs. Willett, who does not know Latin or Greek, got messages -containing a number of classical allusions. Among them was one which no -one could understand, and the key to this was some time afterwards given -in the automatic writing of Mrs. Verrall.</p> - -<p>The reader will now begin to understand the serious and respectable part -of modern Spiritualism. I presume that these cultivated Spiritualists -regard the "physical phenomena" of the movement and the ordinary mediums -with the same contempt that I do. They know that fraud is being -perpetrated daily, and that the history of the movement, since its -beginning in 1848, has reeked with fraud. It is on these refined -messages and cross-references that they would stake their faith.</p> - -<p>But, while we readily grant that these things offer an arguable case and -must not be dismissed with the disdain which we have shown in the -previous chapters, we feel that the new basis is altogether insecure and -inadequate. Two mediums get a reference to so remote and unlikely a -thing as "the Ear of Dionysius." When you put it in this simple form it -sounds impressive; but we saw that there was an interval of three and -a-half years, and we do not feel at all sure that people so profoundly -interested, so religiously eager, in these matters would succeed in -keeping the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> first communication entirely from the ears of medium No. 2. -In point of fact, Mr. Balfour tells us that he has a distinct -recollection of being asked by Mrs. Willett, during the interval, what -the Ear of Dionysius was. Mrs. Willett denies it. We shall probably -prefer the disinterested memory of Mr. Balfour. Now, the very same -weakness is found even in the second part of the story. For any -evidential value it rests on two very large suppositions:—</p> - -<p>1. That one medium knew absolutely nothing about the most interesting -and promising development which was for months agitating the minds of -her own friends.</p> - -<p>2. That another medium heroically refrained from reading up any -classical dictionaries or works on the subject, and reserved her mind -strictly for whatever information the spirits might give her.</p> - -<p>One can scarcely be called hypercritical if one has doubts about these -suppositions. There does not seem to be any room for the theory either -of telepathy or of spirit communication.</p> - -<p>The two experiences I have just analysed are selected by Sir A. C. Doyle -as the most convincing in the whole of the work of the more modern and -more refined Spiritualists. I need not linger over other experiences of -these automatic writers. For the most part, automatic writing provides -only vapid or inaccurate stuff which is its own refutation. In the early -years, when Franklin, Shakespeare, Plato, and all the most illustrious -dead wrote nonsense of the most vapoury description, the situation was -quite grotesque. Nor is this kind of thing yet extinct. There are -mediums practising in London to-day who put the sitter in communication -with the sages and poets of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> ancient times. In the very best of these -cases there is a certain silliness about the communications which makes -them difficult to read. Even the spirits of Myers and Verrall seem to be -in a perpetual Bank-Holiday mood, making naive little puns and jokes, -and talking in the rambling, incoherent way that scholars do only in -hours of domestic dissipation. There is a world thirsting (it is said) -for proof that the dead still live. Here are (it is said) men like W. T. -Stead, Myers, Hodgson, Verrall, Sidgwick, Vice-Admiral Moore, Robert -Owen, etc., at the "other end of the wire," as William James used to -say. Yet, apparently, nothing can be said or done that quite clearly -goes beyond the power of the mediums. The arrogance of the Spiritualists -in the circumstances is amazing.</p> - -<p>There are a dozen ways in which the theory could be rigorously tested. -One has been tried and completely failed: the communication of messages -which were left in proper custody before death. We shall, of course, -presently have an announcement that such a message has been read. Some -zealous Spiritualist will leave a sealed message, and will take care -that some medium or other is able to read it. We may be prepared for -such things. The fact is that half-a-dozen serious and reliable -Spiritualists have tried this test, and it has hopelessly miscarried. -Another test was that devised by Dr. Hodgson—to leave messages in -cipher, though not sealed. This also has completely failed. A third test -would be for one of these ghosts of learned Cambridge men, who are so -fluent on things that do not matter, to dictate a passage from an -obscure Greek poet through a medium who does not know Greek <i>at the -request of a sitter</i>. It is a familiar and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> ancient trick for a medium -to recite or write a passage in a foreign language. It has been learned -beforehand. But let a scholar ask the spirit of a dead scholar to spell -out through the ignorant medium <i>there and then</i> a specified line or -passage within his knowledge. I have tried the experiment. It never -succeeds. Another test would be for one of these ghostly scholars to -dictate a word of a line of some obscure Greek poet (chosen by the -sitter) to one medium (ignorant of Greek), and another word of the same -line to another medium immediately afterwards, before there was the -remotest possibility of communication.</p> - -<p>A score of such tests could be devised. Three of the best writing -mediums the Society for Psychical Research cares to indicate could be -accommodated, under proper observation, in different rooms of the same -building, and these tests carried out. We could invite the spirit to -pass from medium to medium and repeat the message to all three, or give -a part to each. Until some such rigorous inquiry is carried out, we may -decline to be interested. I have before me several volumes of the -<i>Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research</i>. Candidly, they are -full of trash and padding. There is very little that merits serious -consideration, and nothing that is not weakened by uncertainties, -suppressions, and over-zealous eagerness.</p> - -<p>In fine, what impresses any man who reads much of all the volumes of -"revelation" which have been vouchsafed to us is the entirely <i>earthly</i> -character of it all. The Spiritualist theory is that men grow rapidly -wiser after death. Plato is two thousand years wiser than he was when he -lived. Ptah-hotep is six thousand years older and wiser. Neither these, -nor Buddha nor Christ nor any other moralist, has a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> word of wisdom for -us. In fact, a theory has had to be invented which supposes that they -move away from the earth to distant regions of the spirit-world as they -grow older, and so cannot communicate. It is a pity they are not -"permitted" to do so for propaganda purposes. But even those who remain -in communication have learned nothing since they left the earth. No -discovery has ever yet been communicated to us. In Spiritualist -literature, it is true, there is a claim that certain unknown facts -about the satellites of Uranus were revealed; but Flammarion makes short -work of the claim. The communications <i>never</i> rise above the level of -the thought and knowledge of living humanity: never even above the level -of the knowledge available to the mediums. It is scarcely an "insanity -of incredulity" to suppose that they originated there.</p> - -<hr /> - -<h2><span><span class="smcap">Chapter IX</span></span> <span class="smaller">GHOST-LAND AND ITS CITIZENS</span></h2> - -<p>About twenty years ago a writing medium, a sober professional man whose -character would not be questioned, showed me a pile of his automatic -"script." He sincerely believed that he had for several years been in -communication with the dead. I glanced over many sheets of platitude and -familiar moralizing, and then asked him to tell me how they described -the new world in which the dead lived. He hesitated, and tried to -convince me that this point,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> which seemed to me the most interesting of -all, was unimportant. When I pressed, he said that it was a world so -different from ours that the spirits could hardly convey a coherent -description of it in our language. They had to be content with such -vague phrases as that they "lived in houses of flowers."</p> - -<p>That was the state of the "new revelation" twenty years ago. Long before -that whole volumes of quite precise description of ghost-land had been -written, but it was discredited. Andrew Jackson Davis had invented the -name "Summerland," which Sir A. C. Doyle adopts to-day; but Davis's -wonderful gospel had turned out to be a farrago of wild speculation, -founded on an imperfect grasp of a crude, early stage of science. Then -Stainton Moses and hundreds of other automatic writers had given us -knowledge about the next world. A common feature of these early -descriptions was that the dead lived in a quasi-material universe round -about the earth and could visit the various planets and the sun at any -time. In that case, of course, they could give most valuable assistance -to our astronomers, and they were quite willing. Some said that there -were living beings on the sun. As a matter of fact, one of our early -astronomers had conjectured that there might be a cool, dark surface -below the shining clouds which give out the light of the sun, and this -"spirit" was following his lead. We know to-day that no part of the sun -falls below a temperature of 7,000° C. Others described life on Jupiter -and Saturn, and we now know that they are red-hot. Another medium, Helen -Smith, attracted to herself a most romantic interest for years because -she was controlled by the spirit of a late inhabitant of the planet -Mars, and we learned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> a marvellous amount of weird detail about life on -Mars.</p> - -<p>The thing was so obviously overdone, and Spiritualism was so generally -discredited in the eighties on account of the very numerous exposures of -mediums, that for a time revelations were less frequent. People fell -back very largely on the older belief, that the dead are "pure spirits," -living in an environment that cannot be described in our language, which -is material. This, in point of fact, is a hollow and insincere pretext. -Philosophers have been accustomed for two thousand years to describe the -life of the spirit, and have provided a vocabulary for any who are -interested in it. The truth is that ideas were changing, and mediums -were not at all sure what it was safe to say.</p> - -<p>Towards the close of the century there was some revival of Spiritualism, -and there were fresh attempts to describe the beautiful world beyond the -grave. Mediums were then in the "houses of flowers" stage. It sounded -very pretty, but you must not take it literally. With the advance of the -new century, mediums recovered all their confidence. It was at the -beginning of the present century that physicists began to discover that -matter was composed of electrons, and "ether" was the most discussed -subject in the whole scientific press. Here was a grand opportunity. A -world of ether would not be so crudely Materialistic as the earlier -post-mortem world of the mediums. Yet it might be moulded by the -imagination into a more or less material shape. It must be frankly -admitted that the "pure spirit" idea is not attractive. Those who yearn -to meet again the people they had known and loved are a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> little chilled -at the prospect of finding only what seems to be an abstraction, a mere -mathematical point, a thing paler and less tangible than a streak of -mist. Ether was therefore gladly seized as a good compromise. Ghost-land -was in the ether of space.</p> - -<p>There had been, it is true, earlier references in Spiritualist -revelations to "ether bodies," but it is chiefly since the series of -discoveries in science to which radium led that the modern Spiritualist -idea has been evolved. As usual, the spiritual revelations follow in the -rear of advancing science. But in this case the automatic writers had a -great advantage. They need only follow the lead of Sir Oliver Lodge, -who, however curious his ideas of physiology may be, is certainly an -authority on ether. He began by hinting mysteriously that he saw "a -spiritual significance" in ether. Following up that clue, the automatic -writers have worked so industriously that we now know the "Summerland" -more thoroughly than we know Central Africa or Thibet.</p> - -<p>Buoyed up by the growing sentiment of agreement, as proved by the very -profitable sales of his works, Sir Oliver Lodge, in <i>Raymond</i>, gave the -world a vast amount of detail about the land beyond the grave. He did -not guarantee it, it is true. That is not his way. But he assured the -public that his mediums were undoubtedly "in touch" with his dead son, -and the Spiritualist public must be pardoned if they understood that all -the marvellous matter put out in the name of Raymond was to be taken -seriously. The message was really ingenious. Raymond was, unhappily, not -merely unable to give "direct voice" communications, as Sir A. C. -Doyle's son is believed to have done, but he could not even directly -<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>communicate through Mrs. Leonard, the medium. He used as an -intermediary the spirit of a child named "Feda"; and, of course, when -one has to use a child—and such an irresponsible, lisping, foolish -little child as "Feda"—as intermediary, you must not press the message -literally in every part. The method had the advantage of pleasing -Spiritualists, who found a complete confirmation of all their -speculations about ghost-land, and at the same time disarming critics, -because Raymond was not really responsible.</p> - -<p>Many people did not fully realize this when they bore down heavily and -contemptuously on the description of the next world which is given in -<i>Raymond</i>. The deceased young officer had a "nice doggie," which he -brought along with him when he strolled to the medium's shop to send a -message to his distinguished father. Presently the medium added a "cat," -though she said nothing about a cats'-meat man. Raymond had also what I -believe young officers call "a bird"—a young lady acquaintance on -spiritual terms. There were cows in the spirit meadows and flowers in -the gardens. Our "damaged flowers," we are told, pass over to the other -side and raise their heads once more gloriously. Why they flower if -there are no bees, whether they have chlorophyll circulating in their -leaves, whether the soil is sandy or clayey, etc., we are not told. The -information comes in chance clots, as if Raymond were too busy with -ethereal billiards to study the natural history of ghostland very -closely. We are told to picture Raymond in a real suit of clothes. He -was offered the orthodox white sheet, which every right-minded spirit -wears; but he had a British young<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> man's repugnance to that sort of -thing. So in the laboratories on the other side they made Raymond an -ordinary suit, out of "damaged worsted" which we earthly wastrels had no -use for. For other young officers, with less refined tastes, they -manufactured whisky-and-soda and cigars. "Don't think I'm stretching -it," Raymond observed to his father, through "Feda" and Mrs. Leonard. -The father does not say what he thought.</p> - -<p>Now, it is, as I said, quite wrong for Spiritualists to plant all this -upon the authority of Sir Oliver Lodge. Does he not warn us in a -footnote that he has "not yet traced the source of all this supposed -information"? It would not take most of us long to do so, but the remark -at least leaves open a way of retreat for Sir Oliver Lodge. On the other -hand, we must not blame Spiritualists too severely. He assures them that -this lady, Mrs. Leonard, is in undoubted communication with his dead -son, and one may question whether he is entitled to take one part of the -lady's message as genuine and leave other parts open. At all events, -this puerile and bewildering nonsense was put before the world in an -expensive book by Sir Oliver Lodge, with his personal assurance that -Mrs. Leonard was a genuine medium.</p> - -<p>Sir Arthur Conan Doyle next gathered details from scores of revelations -of this kind—they fell upon us like leaves in Vallombrosa after Sir -Oliver Lodge's bold lead—and built them into a consistent picture of -"Summerland." It is an ether world. Each of us has a duplicate of his -body in ether. This is quite in harmony with science, he says, because -some one has discovered that "bound" ether—that is to say, ether -enclosed in a material body—is different from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> free ether of space. -From this slight difference Sir A. C. Doyle concludes that there is a -portion of ether shaped exactly like my body; then, by a still more -heroic leap of the imagination, he gathers that this special ether has -not merely the contour of my body, but duplicates all its internal -organs and minute parts; and lastly—this is a really prodigious -leap—he supposes that this ether duplicate will remain when the body -dissolves. On that theory, naturally, every flower and tree and rock -that ever existed, every house or ship that was ever built, every oyster -or chicken that was ever swallowed, has left an ether duplicate -somewhere.</p> - -<p>Well, when you die, your ethereal body remains, and is animated by your -soul just as the body of flesh was. A death-bed is, on the new view, a -most remarkable scene. Men and women weep round the ghastly expiring -frame, but all round them are invisible (ether) beings smiling and -joyful. When the last breath leaves the prostrate body, you stand erect -in your ethereal frame, and your ethereal friends gather round and wring -your ethereal hand. Congratulations over, one radiant spirit takes you -by the hand and leads you through the solid wall and out into the -beyond. Presumably he is in a hurry to fit you with one of the "damaged -worsted" suits. Sir Arthur stresses the fact that they have the same -sense of modesty as we.</p> - -<p>The next step is rather vague. One gathers that the reborn man is dazed, -and he goes to sleep for weeks or months. Sleep is generally understood -to be a natural process by which nerve and muscle, which have become -loaded with chemical refuse, are relieved of this by the blood. What it -means in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> ghostland we have not the least idea. But why puzzle over -details where all is a challenge to common human reason? You awaken -presently in Summerland and get your bearings. This is so much like the -paradise described by Mr. Vale Owen that we will put ourselves under the -guidance of that gentleman. I would merely note here a little -inconsistency in the gospel according to St. Conan.</p> - -<p>One of the now discovered charms of Summerland is that the young rapidly -reach maturity, and the old go back to maturity. The ether-duplicate of -the stillborn child continues to grow—we would give much for a treatise -from Professor Huxley (in his new incarnation) on this process of growth -without mitosis and metabolism—and the ether-duplicate of the shrunken -old lady of eighty smoothes out its wrinkles, straightens its back, and -recovers its fine contour of adipose tissue. But here a difficulty -occurred to Sir A. C. Doyle. In his lectures all over the kingdom he has -had to outbid the preacher. <i>I</i> promise you, he told bereaved mothers, -that you shall see again just the blue-eyed, golden-haired child that -you lost. He even says this in his book. With all goodwill, we cannot -let him have it both ways. If children rapidly mature, mothers will not -see the golden-haired child again.</p> - -<p>At the risk of seeming meticulous, I would point out another aspect of -the revelation on which more information is desirable. Golden hair -implies a certain chemical combination which is well known to the -physiologist. Blue eyes mean a certain degree of thinness of pigment on -the front curtains of the eye. Now, ether has no chemical elements. It -is precisely the subtle substance of the universe which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> is not yet -moulded into chemical elements. Are we to take it that Summerland is -really a material universe, not an ether world?</p> - -<p>As Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has glowingly praised the revelations which -have come through the Rev. Mr. Vale Owen, I turn to these for closer -guidance, and I find that my suspicion is correct. The next world is a -material world. Whether it has a different sun from ours is not stated, -but it is a world of wonderful colour. Flowers of the most gorgeous -description live in it perpetually. Whether they ever grew up or will -ever decay, whether they have roots in soil and need water, the prophet -has not yet told us. But the world is lovely with masses of flowers. -People also dress like the flowers. They have beautifully coloured robes -and gems (none of your "damaged worsted" for Mr. Vale Owen). In other -words, light, never-fading light, is the grand feature of the next -world. Since ether does not reflect light, it is obviously a material -universe.</p> - -<p>Music is the second grand element. Perhaps Mr. Owen would dispute this, -and say that preaching is the outstanding feature. Certainly, everybody -he describes preaches so constantly and so dully that many people will -not like the prospect. Let us take it, rather, that music is the second -great feature. They have great factories for musical instruments which -make a mockery of Brinsmeads. The bands go up high towers and produce -effects which no earthly musician ever dreamed of producing. It follows, -of course, that the ghosts not only tread a solid soil, in which flowers -grow, on which they build towers and mansions, but a very considerable -atmosphere floats above the soil. Mr. Vale Owen,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> in fact, introduces -streams and sheets of water; lovely lakes and rivers for the good ghosts -and "stagnant pools" in the slums of ghostland. We will not press this. -Mr. Owen forgot for a moment that it <i>never rains</i> in Summerland. But -the atmosphere is an essential part of the revelation, as without it -there will certainly be no music or flying birds. And an atmosphere -means a very solid material world. Our moon, which weighs millions of -billions of tons, is too light to possess an atmosphere and water. -Consequently, there must be thousands of miles of solid rock and metal -underfoot in ghostland.</p> - -<p>It follows further that, since ghostland is very spacious, and since at -least a billion humans (to say nothing of animals) have quitted this -earth since the ape men first wandered over it, this other material -universe must be very extensive. If all the inhabited planets in the -universe have their Summerlands, or all pour their dead into one vast -Summerland, one begins to see that modern science is a ridiculous -illusion. We should not see the sun, to say nothing of stars a thousand -billion miles away, or even remoter nebulæ. As to astronomical -calculations of mass and gravitation....</p> - -<p>I can sustain the comedy no longer. These "revelations" are the most -childish twaddle that has been put before our race since the Middle -Ages. They are the meanderings of imaginations on a level with that of a -fifteen-year-old school-girl. One really begins to wonder if our -generation is <i>not</i> in a state of senile decay, when tens of thousands -of us acclaim this sort of thing as an outcome of superhuman -intelligence. It is on a level with the "happy hunting grounds" of the -Amerind. It is a dreamy parson's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> idea of the kind of world he would -like to retire to, and continue to "do good" without getting tired. It -is a flimsy, irresponsible, juvenile thing of paint and tinsel and -gold-foil: the kind of transformation-scene in which we revelled, at the -Christmas pantomime, when we were young. Our generation needs guidance -if ever any generation of men did. Another great war would wreck the -planet. The social soil heaves with underground movements. The stars are -hidden from view. And people come before us with this kind of insipid -puerility, and tell us it is "the greatest message ever offered to man."</p> - -<p>Seriously, what it is can be told in few words. It is partly a fresh -attempt to bring our generation back to religion. It is partly an -attempt to divert working people from the politics and economics of -<i>this</i> world. And it is partly a fresh outbreak of the unlimited -credulity which every epidemic of Spiritualism has developed since 1848. -There was such a phase in the fifties of the nineteenth century, when -Spiritualism swept over the world. There was a second such phase in the -seventies, when materializations began. This was checked by exposures -everywhere in the early eighties, and not until our time has -Spiritualism partly recovered. Now the vast and lamentable emotional -disturbance of the War has given it a fresh opportunity, and for a time -the flame of credulity has soared up again.</p> - -<p>To come back to the question which forms the title of this book, the -reader may supply the answer, but I will venture to offer him a few -summary reflections. We do well to distinguish two classes of phenomena. -Broadly, but by no means exactly, this is the distinction between -psychical and physical phenomena.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> Messages on slates or paper from the -spirit-world I would class with the physical phenomena. We have seen -that they reek with fraud, and there is no serious claim that any of -them are genuine.</p> - -<p>The nearest we can get to a useful division is to set on one side a -small class of mediums of high character who claim that, in trance and -script, they are spirit-controlled.</p> - -<p>Spiritualism is not based on these things. The thousands of enthusiastic -Spiritualists of Great Britain and America know nothing about the "Ear -of Dionysius" and the "cross-correspondences" of the Psychical -Researchers. Their faith is solidly based on physical phenomena. They -are taught by their leaders to base it on physical phenomena. Sir A. C. -Doyle and Sir W. Barrett urge the levitations and other miracles of D. -D. Home and Stainton Moses and Kathleen Goligher. Sir Oliver Lodge—who -seems also to admit the preceding—asks us to consider seriously the -performances of Marthe Beraud. Sir W. Crookes lets it be understood that -to the day of his death he believed in "Katie King" and the -spirit-played accordion. Professor Richet, and all those other -professors and scholars whose names are fondly quoted by Spiritualists, -rely entirely on physical phenomena. If you cut out all the -physical-phenomena mediums of the nineteenth century, and all the -ghost-photographs and "direct voices" of to-day, you have very little -left. That is to say that Spiritualism is generally based on fraud.</p> - -<p>Does it matter? Yes, it matters exceedingly. It matters more than it -ever did before. The world is at a pass where it needs the -clearest-headed attention and warmest interest of every man and woman -in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> every civilization. Fine sentiments, too, we want; but not a -sentimentality that palsies the judgment. Men never faced graver -problems or had a greater opportunity. Instead of distraction we want -concentration on earth. Instead of dreaminess we want a close -appreciation of realities. There lies before our generation a period -either of greater general prosperity than was ever known before, or a -period of prolonged and devastating struggle. Which it shall be depends -on our wisdom.</p> - -<p>Is there any need to settle whether we shall live after death? The -Spiritualist says that if we could convince men that their lot in that -other world will be decided by their characters they will be more eager -for justice, honour, and sobriety. But a man's position in <i>this</i> world -is settled by his character. Justice, honour, and sobriety are laws of -<i>this</i> world. Men would have perceived it long ago, and acted -accordingly, but for the unfortunate belief that these qualities were -arbitrarily commanded by supernatural powers. We need no other-worldly -motives whatever for the cultivation of character. Indeed, so far as I -can see, the man who gambles and drinks is more likely to say to the -Spiritualist: "You tell me there is no vindictive hell for what I do -here. You tell me there are no horses or fiery drinks in that other -world. Then I will drink and bet while the opportunity remains, and be -sober and prudent afterwards."</p> - -<p>But the dead, the loved ones we have lost! Must we forfeit this new hope -that we may see them again? Let us make no mistake. Half the civilized -world has already forfeited it. Six million people in London never -approach a church, and the vast majority of these believe no longer in -heaven. So it is in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> large towns of nearly every civilization. Yet -the number of Spiritualists in the entire world is not one-tenth the -number of "pagans" in London alone. And there is no weeping and gnashing -of teeth. At the time of the wrench one suffers. Slowly nature embalms -the wound, as she already draws her green mantle over the hideous wounds -of France and Belgium. We learn serenity. Life is a gift. Every friend -and dear one is a gift. It is not wise to complain that gifts do not -last for ever.</p> - -<p>The finest sentiment you can bestow on the memory of the dead is to make -the world better for the living. Has your child been torn from you? In -its memory try to make the world safer and happier for the myriads of -children who remain. This earth is but a poor drab thing compared with -what it could be made in a single generation. Hotbeds of disease abound -in our cities, and children fall in scandalous numbers in the heat of -summer or perish in the blasts of winter. Let the pain of loss drive us -survivors into securing that losses shall be less frequent and less -painful. Do not listen to those who say that critics crush the voice of -the heart in the name of reason. We want all the heart we can get in -life, all the strength of emotion and devotion we can engender. But let -it be expended on the plain, and plainly profitable, task of making this -earth a Summerland. Do that, as your leisure and your powers permit, -and, when the day is over, you will lie down with a smile, whether you -are ever to awaken or are to sleep for ever.</p> - -<hr class="smler" /> - -<p class="center">PRINTED BY WATTS AND CO., JOHNSON'S COURT, FLEET ST., LONDON, E.C.4.</p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Is Spiritualism Based on Fraud?, by Joseph McCabe - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IS SPIRITUALISM BASED ON FRAUD? *** - -***** This file should be named 51743-h.htm or 51743-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/1/7/4/51743/ - -Produced by deaurider, Martin Pettit and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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