,,historic ,,ghosts ,,and ,,ghost ,,hunters ,,historic ,,ghosts ,,and ,,ghost ,,hunters ,,by ,h4 ,,addington ,,bruce ,author of ,the ,riddle of ,personality ,,new ,,york ,,moffat1 ,,yard ,,company #aijh ,copyright1 #aijh1 by ,,moffat1 ,,yard ,,company ,,new ,,york 999999 ,published1 ,september1 #aijh ,the ,plimpton ,press ,norwood ,mass4 ,u4,s4,a4 ,to ,,the ,,memory ,,of ,,my ,,friend ,,john ,j4 ,,henry ,,contents ,,page ,,preface ix ,i4 ,,the ,,devils ,,of ,,loudun #a ,,ii4 ,,the ,,drummer ,,of ,,tedworth #ag ,,iii4 ,,the ,,haunting ,,of ,,the ,,wesleys #cf ,,iv4 ,,the ,,visions ,,of ,,emanuel ,,swedenborg #ef ,v4 ,,the ,,cock ,,lane ,,ghost #ha ,,vi4 ,,the ,,ghost ,,seen ,,by ,,lord ,,brougham #ajb ,,vii4 ,,the ,,seeress ,,of ,,prevorst #abj ,,viii4 ,,the ,,mysterious ,,mr4 ,,home #adc ,,ix4 ,,the ,,watseka ,,wonder #aga ,x4 ,a ,,medieval ,,ghost ,,hunter #aih ,,xi4 ,,ghost ,,hunters ,,of ,,yesterday ,,and ,,to-,,day #baf ,,preface ,the following pages represent in the main a discussion of certain celebrated mysteries1 as viewed in the light of the discoveries set forth in the writer's earlier work ,the ,riddle of ,personality4 ,that dealt1 it may briefly be recalled1 with the achievements of those scientists whose special endeavor it is to illumine the nature of human personality4 ,on the one hand1 it reviewed the work of the psychopathologists1 or investigators of abnormal mental life2 and1 on the other hand1 the labors of the psychical researchers1 those enthusiastic and patient explorers of the seemingly supernormal in human experience4 ,emphasis was laid on the fact that the two lines of inquiry are more closely interrelated than is commonly supposed1 and that the discoveries made in each aid in the solution of problems apparently belonging exclusively in the other4 ,to this phase of the subject the writer now returns4 ,the problems under examination are1 all of them1 problems in psychical research3 yet1 as will be found1 the majority in no small measure depend for elucidation on facts brought to light by the psychopathologists4 ,of course1 it is not claimed that the last word has here been said with respect to any one of these human enigmas4 ,but it is believed that1 thanks to the knowledge gained by the investigations of the past quarter of a century1 approximately correct solutions have been reached2 and that1 in any event1 it is by no means imperative to regard the phenomena in question as inexplicable1 or as explicable only on a spiritistic basis4 ,before attempting to solve the problems1 it manifestly was necessary to state them4 ,in doing this the writer has sought to present them in a readable and attractive form1 but without any distortion or omission of material facts4 ,h4 ,,addington ,,bruce4 ,,brookline1 ,n4 ,h41 ,july1 #aijh4 ,i ,,the ,,devils ,,of ,,loudun ,loudun is a small town in ,france about midway between the ancient and romantic cities of ,tours and ,poitiers4 ,to-day it is an exceedingly unpretentious and an exceedingly sleepy place2 but in the seventeenth century it was in vastly better estate4 ,then its markets1 its shops1 its inns1 lacked not business4 ,its churches were thronged with worshipers4 ,through its narrow streets proud noble and prouder ecclesiastic1 thrifty merchant and active artisan1 passed and repassed in an unceasing stream4 ,it was rich in points of interest1 preeminent among which were its castle and its convent4 ,in the castle the stout-hearted ,loudunians found a refuge and a stronghold against the ambitions of the feudal lords and the tyranny of the crown4 ,to its convent1 pleasantly situated in a grove of time-honored trees1 they sent their children to be educated4 ,it is to the convent that we must turn our steps2 for it was from the convent that the devils were let loose to plague the good people of ,loudun4 ,and in order to understand the course of events1 we must first make ourselves acquainted with its history4 ,very briefly1 then1 it1 like many other institutions of its kind1 was a product of the ,catholic counter-reformation designed to stem the rising tide of ,protestantism4 ,it came into being in #afaf1 and was of the ,ursuline order1 which had been introduced into ,france not many years earlier4 ,from the first it proved a magnet for the daughters of the nobility1 and soon boasted a goodly complement of nuns4 ,at their head1 as mother superior1 was a certain ,jeanne de ,belfiel1 of noble birth and many attractive qualities1 but with characteristics which1 as the sequel will show1 wrought much woe to others as well as to the poor gentlewoman herself4 ,whatever her defects1 however1 she labored tirelessly in the interests of the convent1 and in this respect was ably seconded by its father confessor1 worthy ,father ,moussaut1 a man of rare good sense and possessing a firm hold on the consciences and affections of the nuns4 ,conceive their grief1 therefore1 when he suddenly sickened and died4 ,now ensued an anxious time pending the appointment of his successor4 ,two names were foremost for consideration--that of ,jean ,mignon1 chief canon of the ,church of the ,holy ,cross1 and that of ,urbain ,grandier1 cure of ,saint ,peter's of ,loudun4 ,mignon was a zealous and learned ecclesiastic1 but belied his name by being cold1 suspicious1 and1 some would have it1 unscrupulous4 ,grandier1 on the contrary1 was frank and ardent and generous1 and was idolized by the people of ,loudun4 ,but he had serious failings4 ,he was most unclerically gallant1 was tactless1 was overready to take offense1 and1 his wrath once fully roused1 was unrelenting4 ,accordingly1 little surprise was felt when the choice ultimately fell1 not on him but on ,mignon4 ,with ,mignon the devils entered the ,ursuline convent4 ,hardly had he been installed when rumors began to go about of strange doings within its quiet walls2 and that there was something in these rumors became evident on the night of ,october #ab1 #afcb1 when two magistrates of ,loudun1 the bailie and the civil lieutenant1 were hurriedly summoned to the convent to listen to an astonishing story4 ,for upwards of a fortnight1 it appeared1 several of the nuns1 including ,mother ,superior ,belfiel1 had been tormented by specters and frightful visions4 ,latterly they had given every evidence of being possessed by evil spirits4 ,with the assistance of another priest1 ,father ,barre1 ,mignon had succeeded in exorcising the demons out of all the afflicted save the mother superior and a ,sister ,claire4 ,in their case every formula known to the ritual had failed4 ,the only conclusion was that they were not merely possessed but bewitched1 and much as he disliked to bring notoriety on the convent1 the father confessor had decided it was high time to learn who was responsible for the dire visitation4 ,he had called the magistrates1 he explained1 in order that legal steps might be taken to apprehend the wizard1 it being well established that devils when duly exorcised must speak the truth1 and that consequently there could be no doubt as to the identity of the offender1 should the evil spirits be induced to name the source of their authority4 ,without giving the officials time to recover from their amazement1 ,mignon led them to an upper room1 where they found the mother superior and ,sister ,claire1 wan-faced and fragile looking creatures on whose countenances were expressions of fear that would have inspired pity in the most stony-hearted4 ,about them hovered monks and nuns4 ,at sight of the strangers1 ,sister ,claire lapsed into a semi-comatose condition2 but the mother superior uttered piercing shrieks1 and was attacked by violent convulsions that lasted until the father confessor spoke to her in a commanding tone4 ,then followed a startling dialogue1 carried on in ,latin between ,mignon and the soi-disant demon possessing her4 ,why have you entered this maiden's body8 ,because of hatred4 ,what sign do you bring8 ,flowers4 ,what flowers8 ,roses4 ,who has sent them8 ,a moment's hesitation1 then the single word--,urbain4 ,tell us his surname8 ,grandier4 ,in an instant the room was in an uproar4 ,but the magistrates did not lose their heads4 ,to the bailie in especial the affair had a suspicious look4 ,he had heard the devil speak worse ,latin than a boy of the fourth class1 he had noted the mother superior's hesitancy in pronouncing ,grandier's name1 and he was well aware that deadly enmity had long existed between ,grandier and ,mignon4 ,so he placed little faith in the latter's protestation that the naming of his rival had taken him completely by surprise4 ,consulting with his colleague1 he coldly informed ,mignon that before any arrest could be made there must be further investigation1 and1 promising to return next day1 bade them good night4 ,next day found the convent besieged by townspeople1 indignant at the accusation against the popular priest1 and determined to laugh the devils out of existence4 ,grandier himself1 burning with rage1 hastened to the bailie and demanded that the nuns be separately interrogated1 and by other inquisitors than ,mignon and ,barre4 ,in these demands the bailie properly acquiesced2 but1 on attempting in person to enforce his orders to that effect1 he was denied admittance to the convent4 ,excitement ran high2 so high that1 fearful for his personal safety1 ,mignon consented to accept as exorcists two priests appointed1 not by the bailie1 but by the ,bishop of ,poitiers--who1 it might incidentally be mentioned1 had his own reasons for disliking ,grandier4 ,exorcising now went on daily1 to the disgust of the serious-minded1 the mystification of the incredulous1 the delight of sensation-mongers1 and the baffled fury of ,grandier4 ,so far the play1 if melodramatic1 had not approached the tragic4 ,sometimes it degenerated to the broadest farce comedy4 ,thus1 on one occasion when the devil was being read out of the mother superior1 a crashing sound was heard and a huge black cat tumbled down the chimney and scampered about the room4 ,at once the cry was raised that the devil had taken the form of a cat1 a mad chase ensued1 and it would have gone hard with pussy had not a nun chanced to recognize in it the pet of the convent4 ,still1 there were circumstances which tended to inspire conviction in the mind of many4 ,the convulsions of the possessed were undoubtedly genuine1 and undoubtedly they manifested phenomena seemingly inexplicable on any naturalistic basis4 ,a contemporary writer1 describing events of a few months later1 when several recruits had been added to their ranks1 states that some when comatose became supple like a thin piece of lead1 so that their body could be bent in every direction1 forward1 backward1 or sideways1 till their head touched the ground1 and that others showed no sign of pain when struck1 pinched1 or pricked4 ,then1 too1 they whirled and danced and grimaced and howled in a manner impossible to any one in a perfectly normal state4,a ,for a few brief weeks ,grandier enjoyed a respite1 thanks to the intervention of his friend1 the ,archbishop of ,bordeaux1 who threatened to send a physician and priests of his own choice to examine the possessed1 a threat of itself sufficient1 apparently1 to put the devils to flight4 ,but they returned with undiminished vigor upon the arrival in ,loudun of a powerful state official who1 unfortunately for ,grandier1 was a relative of ,mother ,superior ,belfiel's4 ,this official1 whose name was ,laubardemont1 had come to ,loudun on a singular mission4 ,richelieu1 the celebrated cardinal statesman1 in the pursuit of his policy of strengthening the crown and weakening the nobility1 had resolved to level to the ground the fortresses and castles of interior ,france1 and among those marked for destruction was the castle of ,loudun4 ,thither1 therefore1 he dispatched ,laubardemont to see that his orders were faithfully executed4 ,naturally1 the cardinal's commissioner became interested in the trouble that had befallen his kinswoman1 and the more interested when ,mignon hinted to him that there was reason to believe that the suspected wizard was also the author of a recent satire which had set the entire court laughing at ,richelieu's expense4 ,what lent plausibility to this charge was the fact that the satire had been universally accredited to a court beauty formerly one of ,grandier's parishioners4 ,also there was the fact that in days gone by1 when ,richelieu was merely a deacon1 he had had a violent quarrel with ,grandier over a question of precedence4 ,putting two and two together1 and knowing that it would result to his own advantage to unearth the real author to the satire1 ,laubardemont turned a willing ear to the suggestion that the woman in question had allowed her old pastor to shield himself behind her name4 ,back to ,paris the commissioner galloped to carry the story to ,richelieu4 ,the cardinal's anger knew no bounds4 ,from the ,king he secured a warrant for ,grandier's arrest1 and to this he added a decree investing ,laubardemont with full inquisitorial powers4 ,events now moved rapidly4 ,though forewarned by ,parisian friends1 ,grandier refused to seek safety by flight1 and was arrested in spectacular fashion while on his way to say mass4 ,his home was searched1 his papers were seized1 and he himself was thrown into an improvised dungeon in a house belonging to ,mignon4 ,witnesses in his favor were intimidated1 while those willing to testify against him were liberally rewarded4 ,to such lengths did the prosecution go that1 discovering a strong undercurrent of popular indignation1 ,laubardemont actually procured from the ,king and council a decree prohibiting any appeal from his decisions1 and gave out that1 since ,king and cardinal believed in the enchantment1 any one denying it would be held guilty of lese majesty divine and human4 ,under these circumstances ,grandier was doomed from the outset4 ,but he made a desperate struggle1 and his opponents were driven to sore straits to bolster up their case4 ,the devils persisted in speaking bad ,latin1 and continually failed to meet tests which they themselves had suggested4 ,sometimes their failures were only too plainly the result of human intervention4 ,for instance1 the mother superior's devil promised that1 on a given night and in the church of the ,holy ,cross1 he would lift ,laubardemont's cap from his head and keep it suspended in mid-air while the commissioner intoned a miserere4 ,when the time came for the fulfilment of this promise two of the spectators noticed that ,laubardemont had taken care to seat himself at a goodly distance from the other participants4 ,quietly leaving the church1 these amateur detectives made their way to the roof1 where they found a man in the act of dropping a long horsehair line1 to which was attached a small hook1 through a hole directly over the spot where ,laubardemont was sitting4 ,the culprit fled1 and that night another failure was recorded against the devil4 ,but such fiascos availed nothing to save ,grandier4 ,neither did it avail him that1 before sentence was finally passed1 ,sister ,claire1 broken in body and mind1 sobbingly affirmed his innocence1 protesting that she did not know what she was saying when she accused him2 nor that the mother superior1 after two hours of agonizing torture self-imposed1 fell on her knees before ,laubardemont1 made a similar admission1 and1 passing into the convent orchard1 tried to hang herself4 ,the commissioner and his colleagues remained obdurate1 averring that these confessions were in themselves evidence of witchcraft1 since they could be prompted only by the desire of the devils to save their master from his just fate4 ,in ,august1 #afcd1 ,grandier's doom was pronounced4 ,he was to be put to the torture1 strangled1 and burned4 ,this judgment was carried out to the letter1 save that when the executioner approached to strangle him1 the ropes binding him to the stake loosened1 and he fell forward among the flames1 perishing miserably4 ,it only remains to analyze this medieval tragedy in the light of modern knowledge4 ,to the people of his own generation ,grandier was either a wizard most foul1 or the victim of a dastardly plot in which all concerned in harrying him to his death knowingly participated4 ,these opinions posterity long shared4 ,but now it is quite possible to reach another conclusion4 ,that there was a conspiracy is evident even from the facts set down by those hostile to ,grandier4 ,on the other hand1 it is as unnecessary as it is incredible to believe that the plotters included every one instrumental in fixing on the unhappy cure the crime of witchcraft4 ,bearing in mind the discoveries of recent years in the twin fields of physiology and psychology1 it seems evident that the conspirators were actually limited in number to ,mignon1 ,barre1 ,laubardemont1 and a few of their intimates4 ,in ,laubardemont's case1 indeed1 there is some reason for supposing that he was more dupe than knave1 and is therefore to be placed in the same category as the superstitious monks and townspeople on whom ,mignon and ,barre so successfully imposed4 ,as to the possessed--the mother superior and her nuns--they may one and all be included in a third group as the unwitting tools of ,mignon's vengeance4 ,in fine1 it is not only possible but entirely reasonable to regard ,mignon as a seventeenth-century forerunner of ,mesmer1 ,elliotson1 ,esdaile1 ,braid1 ,charcot1 and the present day exponents of hypnotism2 and the nuns as his helpless subjects1 obeying his every command with the fidelity observable to-day in the patients of the ,salpetriere and other centers of hypnotic practice4 ,the justness of this view is borne out by the facts recorded by contemporary annalists1 of which only an outline has been given here4 ,the nuns of ,loudun were1 as has been said1 mostly daughters of the nobility1 and were thus1 in all likelihood1 temperamentally unstable1 sensitive1 high-strung1 nervous4 ,the seclusion of their lives1 the monotonous routine of their every-day occupations1 and the possibilities afforded for dangerous1 morbid introspection1 could not but have a baneful effect on such natures1 leading inevitably to actual insanity or to hysteria4 ,that the possessed were hysterical is abundantly shown by the descriptions their historians give of the character of their convulsions1 contortions1 etc41 and by the references to the anesthetic1 or non-sensitive1 spots on their bodies4 ,now1 as we know1 the convent at ,loudun had been in existence for only a few years before ,mignon became its father confessor1 and so1 we may believe1 it fell out that he appeared on the scene precisely when sufficient time had elapsed for environment and heredity to do their deadly work and provoke an epidemic of hysteria4 ,in those benighted times such attacks were popularly ascribed to possession by evil spirits4 ,the hysterical nuns1 as the chronicles tell us1 explained their condition to ,mignon by informing him that1 shortly before the onset of their trouble1 they had been haunted by the ghost of their former confessor1 ,father ,moussaut4 ,here ,mignon found his opportunity4 ,picture him gently rebuking the unhappy women1 admonishing them that such a good man as ,father ,moussaut would never return to torment those who had been in his charge1 and insisting that the source of their woes must be sought elsewhere2 in1 say1 some evil disposed person1 hostile to ,father ,moussaut's successor1 and hoping1 through thus afflicting them1 to bring the convent into disrepute and in this way strike a deadly blow at its new father confessor4 ,who might be this evil disposed person8 ,who1 in truth1 save ,urbain ,grandier8 ,picture ,mignon1 again1 observing that his suggestion had taken root in the minds of two of the most emotional and impressionable1 the mother superior and ,sister ,claire4 ,then would follow a course of lessons designed to aid the suggestion to blossom into open accusation4 ,and presently ,mignon would make the discovery that the mother superior and ,sister ,claire would1 when in a hysterical state1 blindly obey any command he might make1 cease from their convulsions1 respond intelligently and at his will to questions put to them1 renew their convulsions1 lapse even into seeming dementia4 ,doubtless he did not grasp the full significance and possibilities of his discovery--had he done so the devils would not have bungled matters so often1 and no embarrassing confessions would have been forthcoming4 ,but he saw clearly enough that he had in his hand a mighty weapon against his rival1 and history has recorded the manner and effectiveness with which he used it4 ,,footnotes3 ,a ,aubin's ,histoire des ,diables de ,loudun1 a book by a writer who scoffed at the idea that the nuns had actually been bewitched4 ,for an account by a contemporary who firmly believed the charges brought against ,grandier1 consult ,niau's ,la ,veritable ,histoire des ,diables de ,loudun4 ,this latter work is accessible in an ,english translation by ,edmund ,goldsmid4 ,,ii ,,the ,,drummer ,,of ,,tedworth ,there have been drummers a plenty in all countries and all ages1 but there surely has never been the equal of the drummer of ,tedworth4 ,his was the distinction to inspire terror the length and breadth of a kingdom1 to set a nation by the ears--nay1 even to disturb the peace of ,church and ,crown4 ,when the ,cromwellian wars broke out1 he was in his prime1 a stout1 sturdy ,englishman1 suffering1 as did his fellows1 from the misrule of the ,stuarts1 and ready for any desperate step that might better his fortunes4 ,volunteering1 therefore1 under the man of blood and iron1 tradition has it that from the first battle to the last his drum was heard inspiring the revolutionists to mighty deeds of valor4 ,the conflict at an end1 ,charles beheaded1 and the ,fifth ,monarchy men creating chaos in their noisy efforts to establish the ,kingdom of ,god on earth1 he lapsed into an obscurity that endured until the ,restoration4 ,then he reemerged1 not as a veteran living at ease on laurels well won1 but as a wandering beggar1 roving from shire to shire in quest of alms1 which he implored to the accompaniment of fearsome music from his beloved drum4 ,thus he journeyed1 undisturbed and gaining a sufficient living1 until he chanced in the spring of #affa to invade the quiet ,wiltshire village of ,tedworth4 ,at that time the interests of ,tedworth were identical with the interests of a certain ,squire ,mompesson1 and he1 being a gouty1 irritable individual1 was little disposed to have his peace and the peace of ,tedworth disturbed by the drummer's loud bawling and louder drumming4 ,at his orders rough hands seized the unhappy wanderer1 blows rained upon him1 and he was driven from ,tedworth minus his drum4 ,in vain he begged the wrathful ,mompesson to restore it to him2 in vain1 with the tears streaming down his battle-worn1 weather-beaten face1 he protested that the drum was the only friend left to him in all the world2 and in vain he related the happy memories it held for him4 ,go1 he was roughly told--go1 and be thankful thou escapest so lightly6 ,so go he did1 and whither he went nobody knew1 and for the moment nobody cared4 ,but all ,tedworth soon had occasion to wish that his lamentations had moved the ,squire to pity4 ,hardly a month later1 when ,mompesson had journeyed to the capital to pay his respects to the ,king1 his family were aroused in the middle of the night by angry voices and an incessant banging on the front door4 ,windows were tried2 entrance was vehemently demanded4 ,within1 panic reigned at once4 ,the house was situated in a lonely spot1 and it seemed certain that1 having heard of its master's absence1 a band of highwaymen1 with whom the countryside abounded1 had planned to turn burglars4 ,the occupants1 consisting as they did of women and children1 could at best make scant resistance2 and consequently there was much quaking and trembling1 until1 finding the bolts and bars too strong for them1 the unwelcome visitors withdrew4 ,unmeasured was ,mompesson's wrath when he returned and learned of the alarm4 ,he only hoped1 he declared1 that the villains would venture back--he would give them a greeting such as had not been known since the days of the great war4 ,that very night he had opportunity to make good his boast1 for soon after the household had sought repose the disturbance broke out anew4 ,lighting a lantern1 slipping into a dressing-gown1 and snatching up a brace of pistols1 the ,squire dashed down-stairs1 the noise becoming louder the nearer he reached the door4 ,click1 clash--the bolts were slipped back1 the key was turned1 and1 lantern extended1 he peered into the night4 ,the moment he opened the door all became still1 and nothing but empty darkness met his eyes4 ,almost immediately1 however1 the knocking began at a second door1 to which1 after making the first fast1 he hurried1 only to find the same result1 and to hear1 with mounting anger1 a tumult at yet another door4 ,again silence when this was thrown open4 ,but1 stepping outside1 as he afterward told the story1 ,mompesson became aware of a strange and hollow sound in the air4 ,forthwith the suspicion entered his mind that the noises he had heard might be of supernatural origin4 ,to him1 true son of the seventeenth century1 a suspicion of this sort was tantamount to certainty1 and an unreasoning alarm filled his soul2 an alarm that grew into deadly fear when1 safe in the bed he had hurriedly sought1 a tremendous booming sound came from the top of the house4 ,here1 in an upper room1 for safe-keeping and as an interesting relic of the ,civil ,war1 had been placed the beggar's drum1 and the terrible thought occurred to ,mompesson3 ,can it be that the drummer is dead1 and that his spirit has returned to torment me8 ,a few nights later no room for doubt seemed left4 ,instead of the nocturnal shouting and knocking1 there began a veritable concert from the room containing the drum4 ,this concert1 ,mompesson informed his friends1 opened with a peculiar hurling in the air over the house1 and closed with the beating of a drum like that at the breaking up of a guard4 ,the mental torture of the ,squire and his family may be easier imagined than described4 ,and before long matters grew much worse1 when1 becoming emboldened1 the ghostly drummer laid aside his drum to play practical1 and sometimes exceedingly painful1 jokes on the members of the household4 ,curiously enough1 his malice was chiefly directed against ,mompesson's children1 who--poor little dears--had certainly never worked him any injury4 ,yet we are told that for a time it haunted none particularly but them4 ,when they were in bed the coverings were dragged off and thrown on the floor2 there was heard a scratching noise under the bed as of some animal with iron claws2 sometimes they were lifted bodily1 so that six men could not hold them down1 and their limbs were beaten violently against the bedposts4 ,nor did the unseen and unruly visitant scruple to plague ,mompesson's aged mother1 whose ,bible was frequently hidden from her1 and in whose bed ashes1 knives1 and other articles were placed4 ,as time passed marvels multiplied4 ,the assurance is solemnly given that chairs moved of themselves4 ,a board1 it is insisted1 rose out of the floor of its own accord and flung itself violently at a servant4 ,strange lights1 like corpse candles1 floated about4 ,the ,squire's personal attendant ,john1 a stout fellow and of sober conversation1 was one night confronted by a ghastly apparition in the form of a great body with two red and glaring eyes4 ,frequently1 too1 when ,john was in bed he was treated as were the children1 his coverings removed1 his body struck1 etc4 ,but it was noticed that whenever he grasped and brandished a sword he was left in peace4 ,clearly1 the ghost had a healthy respect for cold steel4 ,it had less respect for exorcising1 which1 of course1 was tried1 but tried in vain4 ,all went well as long as the clergyman was on his knees saying the prescribed prayers by the bedside of the tormented children1 but the moment he rose a bed staff was thrown at him and other articles of furniture danced about so madly that body and limb were endangered4 ,mompesson was at his wits' end4 ,well might he be6 ,apart from the injury done to his family and belongings1 his house was thronged night and day by inquisitive visitors from all sections of the country4 ,he was denounced on the one hand as a trickster1 and on the other as a man who must be guilty of some terrible secret sin1 else he would not thus be vexed4 ,sermons were preached with him as the text4 ,factions were formed1 angrily affirming and denying the supernatural character of the disturbances4 ,news of the affair traveled even to the ears of the ,king1 who dispatched an investigating commission to ,mompesson ,house1 where1 greatly to the delight of the unbelieving1 nothing untoward occurred during the commissioners' visit4 ,but thereafter1 as if to make up for lost time1 the most sensational and vexatious phenomena of the haunting were produced4 ,thus matters continued for many months1 until it dawned on ,mompesson and his friends that possibly the case was not one of ghosts but one of witchcraft4 ,this suspicion rose from the singular circumstance that voices in the children's room began1 for a hundred times together1 to cry ,a witch6 ,a witch6 ,resolved to put matters to a test1 one of the boldest of a company of spectators suddenly demanded1 ,satan1 if the drummer set thee to work1 give three knocks and no more6 ,to which three knocks were distinctly heard1 and afterward1 by way of confirmation1 five knocks as requested by another onlooker4 ,now began an eager hunt for the once despised drummer1 who was presently found in jail at ,gloucester accused of theft4 ,and with this discovery word was brought to ,mompesson that the drummer had openly boasted of having bewitched him4 ,this was enough for the outraged ,squire4 ,there was in existence an act of ,king ,james ,i4 holding it a felony to feed1 employ1 or reward any evil spirit1 and under its provisions he speedily had his alleged persecutor indicted as a wizard4 ,amid great excitement the aged veteran was brought from ,gloucester to ,salisbury to stand trial4 ,but his spirit remained unbroken4 ,instead of confessing1 humbly begging mercy1 and promising amends1 he undertook to bargain with ,mompesson1 promising that if the latter secured his liberty and gave him employment as a farm hand1 he would rid him of the haunting4 ,perhaps because he feared treachery1 perhaps because1 as he said1 he felt sure the drummer could do him no good in any honest way1 ,mompesson rejected this ingenuous proposal4 ,so the drummer was left to his fate1 which1 for those days1 was most unexpected4 ,a packed and attentive court room listened to the tale of the mishaps and misadventures that had made ,mompesson ,house a national center of interest2 it was proved that the accused had been intimate with an old vagabond who pretended to possess supernatural powers2 and emphasis was laid on the alleged fact that he had boasted of having revenged himself on ,mompesson for the confiscation of his drum4 ,luckily for him1 ,mompesson was not the power in ,salisbury that he was in ,tedworth1 and the drummer's eloquent defense moved the jury to acquit him and to send him on his way rejoicing4 ,thereafter he was never again heard of in ,wiltshire or in the pages of history1 and with his disappearance came an end to the knockings1 the corpse candles1 and all the other uncanny phenomena that had made life a ceaseless nightmare for the ,mompessons4 ,such is the astonishing story of the drummer of ,tedworth1 still cited by the superstitious as a capital example of the intermeddling of superhuman agencies in human affairs1 and still mentioned by the skeptical as one of the most amusing and most successful hoaxes on record4 ,to us of the twentieth century its chief significance lies in the striking resemblance between the tribulations of the ,mompesson family and the so-called physical phenomena of modern spiritism4 ,all who have attended spiritistic seances are familiar with the invisible and perverse ghost1 which1 for no apparent reason other than to mystify1 causes furniture to gyrate violently1 rings bells1 plays tambourines1 levitates the medium1 and favors the spectators with sundry taps1 pinches1 even blows4 ,precisely thus was it with the doings at ,mompesson ,house1 where many of the salient phenomena of modern spiritism were anticipated nearly two hundred and fifty years ago4 ,the inference is irresistible that a more or less intimate connection exists between the disturbances at ,tedworth and the triumphs of latter-day mediumship1 and it thus becomes doubly interesting to examine the evidence for and against the supernatural origin of the performances that so perplexed the ,englishmen of the ,restoration4 ,this evidence is presented in far greater detail than is here possible1 in a curious document written by the ,reverend ,joseph ,glanvill1 a clergyman of the ,church of ,england and an eye witness of some of the phenomena4 ,his point of view is that of an ardent believer in the verity of witchcraft1 and his narrative of the ,tedworth affair finds place in a treatise designed to discomfit those irreligious persons who maintained the opposite4,b ,it is therefore evident that his account of the case is to be regarded as a piece of special pleading1 and as such must be received with critical caution4 ,the need for caution is further emphasized by the important circumstance that of all the phenomena described1 only those most susceptible of mundane interpretation were witnessed by ,glanvill or ,mompesson4 ,all of the more extraordinary--the great body with the red and glaring eyes1 the levitated children1 etc4--came to the narrator from second or third or fourth hand sources not always clearly indicated1 and doubtless uneducated and superstitious persons1 such as peasants or servants1 whose fears would lend wings to their imagination4 ,keeping these facts before us1 what do we find8 ,we find that1 so far from supporting the supernatural view1 the evidence points to a systematic course of fraud and deceit carried out1 not by the drummer1 not by ,mompesson and ,glanvill 7as many of that generation were unkind enough to suggest71 not by the ,mompesson servants1 but by the ,mompesson children1 and particularly by the oldest child1 a girl of ten4 ,it was about the children that the disturbances centered1 it was in their room that the manifestations usually took place1 and--what should have served to direct suspicion to them at once--when1 in the hope of affording them relief1 their father separated them1 sending the youngest to lodge with a neighbor and taking the oldest into his own room1 it was remarked that the neighbor's house immediately became the scene of demoniac activity1 as did the ,squire's apartment1 which had previously been virtually undisturbed4 ,here and now developed a phenomenon that places little ,miss ,mompesson on a par with the celebrated ,fox sisters1 for her father's bed chamber was turned into a seance room in which messages were rapped out very much as messages have been rapped out ever since the fateful night in #ahdh that saw modern spiritism ushered into the world4 ,glanvill's personal testimony1 the most precise and circumstantial in the entire case1 strongly1 albeit unwittingly1 supports this view of the affair4 ,it appears that he passed only one night in the haunted house1 and of his several experiences there is none that cannot be set down to fraud plus imagination1 with the children the active agents4 ,witness the following from his story of what he heard and beheld in the oft-mentioned children's room3 ,at this time it used to haunt the children1 and that as soon as they were laid4 ,they went to bed the night ,i was there about eight of the clock1 when a maid servant1 coming down from them1 told us that it was come4444 ,mr4 ,mompesson and ,i and a gentleman that came with me went up4 ,i heard a strange scratching as ,i went up the stairs1 and when we came into the room ,i perceived it was just behind the bolster of the children's bed and seemed to be against the tick4 ,it was as loud a scratching as one with long nails could make upon a bolster4 ,there were two modest little girls in the bed1 between seven and eight years old1 as ,i guessed4 ,i saw their hands out of the clothes1 and they could not contribute to the noise that was behind their heads4 ,they had been used to it and still,c had somebody or other in the chamber with them1 and therefore seemed not to be much affrighted4 ,i1 standing at the bed's head1 thrust my hand behind the bolster1 directing it to the place whence the noise seemed to come4 ,whereupon the noise ceased there1 and was heard in another part of the bed2 but when ,i had taken out my hand it returned and was heard in the same place as before4,d ,i had been told it would imitate noises1 and made trial by scratching several times upon the sheet1 as five1 and seven1 and ten1 which it followed1 and still stopped at my number4 ,i searched under and behind the bed1 turned up the clothes to the bed cords1 grasped the bolster1 sounded the wall behind1 and made all the search that possibly ,i could1 to find if there were any trick1 contrivance1 or common cause of it4 ,the like did my friend1 but we could discover nothing4 ,so that ,i was then verily persuaded1 and am so still1 that the noise was made by some demon or spirit4 ,doubtless his countenance betrayed the receptiveness of his mind1 and it is not surprising that the naughty little girls proceeded to work industriously upon his imagination4 ,he speaks of having heard under the bed a panting sound1 which1 he is certain1 caused a motion so strong that it shook the room and windows very sensibly2 and it also appears that he was induced to believe that he saw something moving in a linen bag hanging in the room1 which bag1 on being emptied1 was found to contain nothing animate4 ,therefore--spirits again6 ,after bidding the children good night and retiring to the room set apart for him1 he was wakened from a sound sleep by a tremendous knocking on his door1 and to his terrified inquiry1 ,in the name of ,god1 who is it1 and what would you have8 received the not wholly reassuring reply1 ,nothing with you4 ,in the morning1 when he spoke of the incident and remarked that he supposed a servant must have rapped at the wrong door1 he learned to his profound astonishment that no one of the house lay that way or had business thereabout4 ,this being so1 it could not possibly have been anything but a ghost4 ,thus runs the argument of the superstitious clergyman4 ,and all the while1 we may feel tolerably sure1 little ,miss ,mompesson was chuckling inwardly at the panic into which she had thrown the reverend gentleman4 99 99 99 99 99 ,if it be objected that no girl of ten could successfully execute such a sustained imposture1 one need only point to the many instances in which children of equally tender years or little older have since ventured on similar mystifications1 with even more startling results4 ,incredible as it may seem to those who have not looked into the subject1 it is a fact that there are boys and girls--especially girls--who take a morbid delight in playing pranks that will astound and perplex their elders4 ,the mere suggestion that ,satan or a discarnate spirit is at the bottom of the mischief will then act as a powerful stimulus to the elaboration of even more sensational performances1 and the result1 if detection does not soon occur1 will be a full-fledged poltergeist1 as the crockery-breaking1 furniture-throwing ghost is technically called4 ,the singular affair of ,hetty ,wesley1 which we shall take up next1 is a case in point4 ,so1 too1 is the history of the ,fox sisters1 who were extremely juvenile when they discovered the possibilities latent in the properly manipulated rap and knock4 ,and the spirits who so maliciously disturbed the peace of good old ,dr4 ,phelps in ,stratford1 ,connecticut1 a half century and more ago1 unquestionably owed their being to the nimble wit and abnormal fancy of his two step-children1 aged sixteen and eleven4 ,it is to be remembered1 further1 that contemporary conditions were exceptionally favorable to the success of the ,tedworth hoax4 ,in all likelihood the children had nothing to do with the first alarm1 the alarm that occurred during ,mompesson's absence in ,london2 and possibly the second was only a rude practical joke by some village lads who had heard of the first and wished to put the ,squire's courage to a test4 ,but once the little ,mompessons learned1 or suspected1 that their father associated the noises with the vagrant drummer1 a wide vista of enjoyment would open before their mischief-loving minds4 ,entering on a career of mystification1 they would find the road made easy by the gullibility of those about them2 and the chances are that had they been caught in flagrante delicto they would have put in the plea that fraudulent mediums so frequently offer to-day--,an evil spirit took possession of me4 ,as it was1 the superstition of the times--and doubtless the rats and shaky timbers of ,mompesson ,house did their part--was their constant and unfailing support4 ,everything that happened would be magnified and distorted by the witnesses1 either at the moment or in retrospect1 until in the end the ,rev4 ,mr4 ,glanvill1 recording honestly enough what he himself had seen1 could find material for a history of the most marvelous marvels4 ,in short1 the more closely one examines the details of the ,tedworth mystery1 the more will he find himself in agreement with ,george ,cruikshank's brutally frank opinion3 ,all this seems very strange1 about this drummer and his drum2 ,but for myself ,i really think this drumming ghost was all a hum4 ,,footnotes3 ,b ,glanvill's ,sadducismus ,triumphatus1 a most instructive and entertaining contribution to the literature of witchcraft4 ,contemporary opinion of ,glanvill is well expressed in ,anthony a ,wood's statement that he was a person of more than ordinary parts1 of a quick1 warm1 spruce1 and gay fancy1 and was more lucky1 at least in his own judgment1 in his first hints and thoughts of things1 than in his after notions1 examined and digested by longer and more mature deliberation4 ,he had a very tenacious memory1 and was a great master of the ,english language1 expressing himself therein with easy fluency1 and in a manly1 yet withal a clear style4 ,glanvill died in #afhj at the early age of forty-four4 ,c ,used here in the sense of always4 ,d ,the ,italics are mine4 ,,iii ,,the ,,haunting ,,of ,,the ,,wesleys ,the ,rev4 ,samuel ,wesley is chiefly known to posterity as the father of the famous ,john ,wesley1 the founder of ,methodism1 and of the hardly less famous ,charles ,wesley4 ,but the ,rev4 ,samuel has further claims to remembrance4 ,if he gave to the world ,john and ,charles ,wesley1 he was also the sire of seventeen other ,wesleys1 eight of whom1 like their celebrated brothers1 grew to maturity and attained varying degrees of distinction4 ,he was himself a man of distinction as preacher1 poet1 and controversialist4 ,his sermons were sermons in the good1 old-fashioned sense of the term4 ,his poems were the despair of the critics1 but won him a wide reputation4 ,he was an adept in what ,whistler called the gentle art of making enemies4 ,though more familiar with the inside of a pulpit1 he was not unacquainted with the inside of a jail4 ,he raised his numerous progeny on an income seldom exceeding one thousand dollars a year4 ,and1 what is perhaps the most astonishing fact in a career replete with surprises1 he was the hero of one of the best authenticated ghost stories on record4 ,this visitation from the supermundane came as a climax to a series of worldly annoyances that would have upset the equanimity of a very ,job--and the ,rev4 ,samuel1 in temper at any rate1 was the reverse of ,job-like4 ,his troubles began in the closing years of the seventeenth century1 when he became rector of the established church at ,epworth1 ,lincolnshire1 a venerable edifice dating back to the stormy days of ,edward ,,ii41 and as damp as it was old4 ,the story goes that this living was granted him as a reward because he dedicated one of his poems to ,queen ,mary4 ,but the ,queen would seem to have had punishment in mind for him1 rather than reward4 ,located in the ,isle of ,axholme1 in the midst of a long stretch of fen country bounded by four rivers1 and for a great part under water1 ,epworth was at that epoch dreariness itself4 ,the ,rev4 ,samuel's spirits must have sunk within him as the carts bearing his already large family and his few household belongings toiled through quagmire and morass2 they must have fallen still farther when he gazed down the one straggling street at the rectory of mud and thatch that was to be his home2 and they must have touched the zero mark1 zealous ,high ,churchman that he was1 with the discovery that his peasant parishioners were ,presbyterian-minded folk who hated ritualism as cordially as they hated the ,pope4 ,whatever his secret sentiments1 he lost no time in endeavoring to stamp the imprint of his vigorous personality on ,epworth4 ,forgetful1 or unheedful1 of the fact that the natives of the ,isle of ,axholme were notoriously violent and lawless1 he began to rule them with a rod of iron4 ,thus they should think1 thus they should do1 thus they should go6 ,above all1 the ,rev4 ,samuel never permitted them to forget that in addition to spiritual they owed him temporal obligations4 ,in the matter of tithes--always a sore subject in a community hard put to extract a living from the soil--he was unrelenting4 ,necessity may have driven him2 but it was only to be expected that murmurings should arise1 and from words the angry islanders passed to deeds4 ,for a time they contented themselves with burning the rector's barn and trying to burn his house4 ,then1 when he was so indiscreet as to become indebted to one of their number1 they clapped him into prison4 ,his speedy release1 through the intervention of clerical friends1 and his blunt refusal to seek a new sphere of activity1 were followed by more barn burning1 by the slaughter of his cattle1 and finally by a fire that utterly destroyed the rectory and all but cost the lives of several of its inmates1 who by that time included the future father of ,methodism4 ,the bravery with which the ,rev4 ,samuel met this crowning disaster1 and the energy with which he set about the task of rebuilding his home--not in mud and thatch1 but in substantial brick--seem to have shamed the villagers into giving him peace1 seem even to have inspired them with a genuine regard for him4 ,he for his part1 if we read the difficult pages of his biographers aright1 appears to have grown less exacting and more diplomatic4 ,in any event1 he was left in quiet to prepare his sermons1 write his poems1 and assist his devoted wife 7who1 by the way1 he is said to have deserted for an entire year because of a little difference of opinion respecting the right of ,william of ,orange to the ,english crown7 in the upbringing of their children4 ,thus his life ran along in comparative smoothness until the momentous advent of the ghost4 ,this unexpected and unwelcome visitor made its first appearance early in ,december1 #agaf4 ,at the time the ,wesley boys were away from home1 but the household was still sufficiently numerous1 consisting of the ,rev4 ,samuel1 ,mrs4 ,wesley1 seven daughters1--,emilia1 ,susannah1 ,maria1 ,mehetabel1 ,anne1 ,martha1 and ,kezziah1--a man servant named ,robert ,brown1 and a maid servant known as ,nanny ,marshall4 ,nanny was the first to whom the ghost paid its respects1 in a series of blood-curdling groans that caused the upstarting of her hair1 and made her ears prick forth at an unusual rate4 ,in modern parlance1 she was greatly alarmed1 and hastened to tell the ,misses ,wesley of the extraordinary noises1 which1 she assured them1 sounded exactly like the groans of a dying man4 ,the derisive laughter of the young women left her state of mind unchanged2 and they too gave way to alarm when1 a night or so later1 loud knocks began to be heard in different parts of the house1 accompanied by sundry groans1 squeaks1 and tinglings4 ,oddly enough1 the only member of the family unvisited by the ghost was the ,rev4 ,samuel1 and upon learning that he had heard none of the direful sounds his wife and children made up their minds that his death was imminent2 for a local superstition had it that in all such cases of haunting the person undisturbed is marked for an early demise4 ,but the worthy clergyman continued hale and hearty1 as did the ghost1 whose knockings1 indeed1 soon grew so terrifying that few or none of the family durst be alone4 ,it was then resolved that1 whatever the noises portended1 counsel and aid must be sought from the head of the household4 ,at first the ,rev4 ,samuel listened in silence to his spouse's recital2 but as she proceeded he burst into a storm of wrath4 ,a ghost8 ,stuff and nonsense6 ,not a bit of it6 ,only some mischief-makers bent on plaguing them4 ,possibly1 and his choler rose higher1 a trick played by his daughters themselves1 or by their lovers4 ,now it was the turn of the ,wesley girls to become angry1 and we read that they forthwith showed themselves exceedingly desirous of its continuance till he was convinced4 ,their desire was speedily granted4 ,the very next night paterfamilias had no sooner tumbled into bed than there came nine resounding knocks just by his bedside4 ,in an instant he was up and groping for a light4 ,you heard it1 then8 we may imagine ,mrs4 ,wesley anxiously asking1 and we may also imagine the robust ,anglo-,saxon of his response4 ,another night and more knockings1 followed by a noise in the room over our heads1 as if several people were walking4 ,this time1 to quote further from ,mrs4 ,wesley's narrative as given in a letter to her absent son ,samuel1 the tumult was so outrageous that we thought the children would be frightened2 so your father and ,i rose1 and went down in the dark to light a candle4 ,just as we came to the bottom of the broad stairs1 having hold of each other1 on my side there seemed as if somebody had emptied a bag of money at my feet2 and on his1 as if all the bottles under the stairs 7which were many7 had been dashed in a thousand pieces4 ,we passed through the hall into the kitchen1 and got a candle and went to see the children1 whom we found asleep4 ,with this the ,rev4 ,samuel seems to have come round to the family's way of thinking2 for in the morning he sent a messenger to the nearby village of ,haxey with the request that the vicar of ,haxey1 a certain ,mr4 ,hoole1 would ride over and assist him in conjuring the evil spirit out of his house4 ,burning with curiosity1 ,mr4 ,hoole made such good time to ,epworth that before noon he was at the rectory and eagerly listening to an account of the marvels that had so alarmed the ,wesleys4 ,in addition to the phenomena already set forth1 he learned that while the knocks were heard in all parts of the house1 they were most frequent in the children's room2 that at prayers they almost invariably interrupted the family's devotions1 especially when ,mr4 ,wesley began the prayers for ,king ,george and the ,prince of ,wales1 from which it was inferred that the ghost was a ,jacobite2 that often a sound was heard like the rocking of a cradle1 and another sound like the gobbling of a turkey1 and yet another something like a man1 in a loose nightgown trailing after him2 and that if one stamped his foot1 ,old ,jeffrey1 as the younger children had named the ghost1 would knock precisely as many times as there had been stampings4 ,none of these major marvels was vouchsafed to ,mr4 ,hoole2 but he heard knockings in plenty1 and1 after a night of terror1 made haste back to ,haxey1 having lost all desire to play the role of exorcist4 ,his fears may possibly have been increased by the violence of ,mr4 ,wesley1 who1 after vainly exhorting the ghost to speak out and tell his business1 flourished a pistol and threatened to discharge it in the direction whence the knockings came4 ,this was too much for peace-loving1 spook-fearing ,mr4 ,hoole4 ,sir1 he protested1 you are convinced this is something preternatural4 ,if so1 you cannot hurt it2 but you give it power to hurt you4 ,the logic of ,mr4 ,hoole's argument is hardly so evident as his panic4 ,off he galloped1 leaving the ,rev4 ,samuel to lay the ghost as best he could4 ,after his departure wonders grew apace4 ,thus far the manifestations had been wholly auditory2 now visual phenomena were added4 ,one evening ,mrs4 ,wesley beheld something dart out from beneath a bed and quickly disappear4 ,sister ,emilia1 who was present1 reported to brother ,samuel that this something was like a badger1 only without any head that was discernible4 ,the same apparition came to confound the man servant1 ,robert ,brown1 once in the badger form1 and once in the form of a white rabbit which turned round before him several times4 ,robert was also the witness of an even more peculiar performance by the elusive ghost4 ,being grinding corn in the garrets1 and happening to stop a little1 the handle of the mill was turn sic round with great swiftness4 ,it is interesting to note that ,robert subsequently declared that nothing vexed him but that the mill was empty4 ,if corn had been in it1 ,old ,jeffrey might have ground his heart out for him2 he would never have disturbed him4 ,more annoying was a habit into which the ghost fell of rattling latches1 jingling warming pans and other metal utensils1 and brushing rudely against people in the dark4 ,thrice1 asserted the ,rev4 ,samuel1 ,i have been pushed by an invisible power1 once against the corner of my desk in the study1 a second time against the door of the matted chamber1 a third time against the right side of the frame of my study door4 ,on at least one occasion ,old ,jeffrey indulged in a pastime popular with the spiritistic mediums of a later day4 ,john ,wesley tells us1 on the authority of sister ,nancy1 that one night1 when she was playing cards with some of the many other sisters1 the bed on which she sat was suddenly lifted from the ground4 ,she leapt down and said1 ',surely ,old ,jeffrey would not run away with her4' ,however1 they persuaded her to sit down again1 which she had scarce done when it was again lifted up several times successively1 a considerable height1 upon which she left her seat and would not be prevailed upon to sit there any more4 ,clearly1 the ,wesley family were in a bad way4 ,entreaties1 threats1 exorcism1 had alike failed to banish the obstinate ghost4 ,but though they knew it not1 relief was at hand4 ,whether repenting of his misdoings1 or desirous of seeking pastures new1 ,jeffrey1 after a visitation lasting nearly two months1 took his departure almost as unceremoniously as he had arrived1 and left the unhappy ,wesleys to resume by slow degrees their wonted ways of life4 ,such is the story unfolded by the ,wesleys themselves in a series of letters and memoranda1 which1 taken together1 form1 as was said1 one of the best authenticated narratives of haunting extant4 ,but before endeavoring to ascertain the source of the phenomena credited to the soi-disant ,jeffrey1 another and fully as important inquiry must be made4 ,what1 it is necessary to ask1 did the ,wesleys actually hear and see in the course of the two months that they had their ghost with them8 ,the answer obviously must be sought through an analysis of the evidence for the haunting4 ,this chronologically falls into three divisions4 ,the first consists of letters addressed to young ,samuel ,wesley by his father1 mother1 and two of his sisters1 and written at the time of the disturbances2 the second1 of letters written by ,mrs4 ,wesley and four of her daughters to ,john ,wesley in the summer and autumn of #agbf 7that is to say1 more than nine years after the haunting71 of an account written by the senior ,samuel ,wesley1 and of statements by ,hoole and ,robert ,brown2 the third1 of an article contributed to ,the ,arminian ,magazine in #aghd 7nearly seventy years after the event7 by ,john ,wesley4 ,now1 the most cursory examination of the various documents shows remarkable discrepancies between the earlier and later versions4 ,writing to her son ,samuel1 when the ghost was still active1 and she would not be likely to minimize its doings1 ,mrs4 ,wesley thus describes the first occurrences3 ,on the first of ,december1 our maid heard1 at the door of the dining-room1 several dismal groans like a person in extremes1 at the point of death4 ,we gave little heed to her relation and endeavored to laugh her out of her fears4 ,some nights 7two or three7 after1 several of the family heard a strange knocking in divers places1 usually three or four knocks at a time1 and then stayed a little4 ,this continued every night for a fortnight2 sometimes it was in the garret1 but most commonly in the nursery1 or green chamber4 ,contrast with this the portion of ,john ,wesley's ,arminian ,magazine article referring to the same period3 ,on the second of ,december1 #agaf1 while ,robert ,brown1 my father's servant1 was sitting with one of the maids1 a little before ten at night1 in the dining-room which opened into the garden1 they both heard one knocking at the door4 ,robert rose and opened it1 but could see nobody4 ,quickly it knocked again and groaned4444 ,he opened the door again twice or thrice1 the knocking being twice or thrice repeated2 but still seeing nothing1 and being a little startled1 they rose and went up to bed4 ,when ,robert came to the top of the garret stairs1 he saw a handmill1 which was at a little distance1 whirled about very swiftly4444 ,when he was in bed1 he heard as it were the gobbling of a turkey cock close to the bedside2 and soon after1 the sound of one stumbling over his shoes and boots2 but there were none there1 he had left them below4444 ,the next evening1 between five and six o'clock1 my sister ,molly1 then about twenty years of age1 sitting in the dining-room reading1 heard as if it were the door that led into the hall open1 and a person walking in1 that seemed to have on a silk nightgown1 rustling and trailing along4 ,it seemed to walk round her1 then to the door1 then round again2 but she could see nothing4 ,as a matter of fact1 the contemporary records are silent respecting the extraordinary happenings that overshadow all else in the records of #agbf and #aghd4 ,in the former1 for example1 we find no reference to the affair of the mill handle1 the levitation of the bed1 the rude bumpings given to ,mr4 ,wesley4 ,there is much talk of knockings and groanings1 of sounds like footsteps1 rustling silks1 falling coals1 breaking bottles1 and moving latches2 allusion is made to the badger like and rabbit like apparition2 and there is mention of a peculiar dancing of father's trencher without anybody's stirring the table2 but the sum total makes very tame reading compared with the material to be found in the accounts written in after years and commonly utilized--as it has been utilized here--to form the narrative of the haunting4 ,not only this1 but a rigorous division of the contemporary evidence into first hand and second hand still further eliminates the element of the marvelous4 ,admitting as evidence only the fact set forth as having been observed by the relators themselves1 the haunting is reduced to a matter of knocks1 groans1 tinglings1 squeaks1 creakings1 crashings1 and footsteps4 ,we are1 therefore1 justified in believing that in this case1 like so many others of its kind1 the fallibility of human memory has played an overwhelming part in exaggerating the experiences actually undergone2 that1 in fine1 nothing occurred in the rectory at ,epworth1 between ,december #a1 #agaf1 and ,january #ca1 #agag1 that may not be attributed to human agency4 ,who1 then1 was the agent8 ,knowing what we do of ,wesley's previous relations with the villagers1 the first impulse is to place the responsibility at their door4 ,but for this there is no real warrant4 ,years had elapsed since the culminating catastrophe of the burning of the rectory1 and in the interim matters had been put on an amicable basis4 ,moreover1 the evidence as to the haunting itself goes to show that the phenomena could not possibly have been produced by a person1 or persons1 operating from outdoors2 but must1 on the contrary1 have been the work of some one intimately acquainted with the arrangements of the house and enjoying the full confidence of its master4 ,thus our inquiry narrows to the inmates of the rectory4 ,of these1 ,mr4 and ,mrs4 ,wesley1 may at once be left out of consideration1 as also may the servants1 all accounts agreeing that from the outset they were genuinely alarmed4 ,there remain only the ,wesley girls1 and our effort must be to discover which of them was the culprit4 ,at first blush this seems an impossible task2 but let us scan the evidence carefully4 ,we find1 to begin with1 that only four of the seven sisters are represented in the correspondence relating to the haunting4 ,two of the others1 ,kezziah and ,martha1 were mere children and not of letter-writing age1 and their silence in the matter is thus satisfactorily accounted for4 ,but that the third1 ,mehetabel1 should likewise be silent is distinctly puzzling4 ,not only was she quite able to give an account of her experiences 7she was at least between eighteen and nineteen years of age71 but it is known that she had a veritable passion for pen and ink1 a passion which in after years won her no mean reputation as a poetess4 ,and1 more than this1 she seems to have enjoyed a far greater share of ,jeffrey's attentions than did any other member of the family4 ,my sister ,hetty1 ,i find1 remarks the observing ,samuel1 was more particularly troubled4 ,and ,emilia declares1 almost in the language of complaint1 that it was never near me1 except two or three times1 and never followed me as it did my sister ,hetty4 ,manifestly1 it may be worth while to inquire into the history and characteristics of this young woman4 ,her biographer1 ,dr4 ,adam ,clarke1 informs us that from her childhood she was gay and sprightly2 full of mirth1 good humor1 and keen wit4 ,she indulged this disposition so much that it was said to have given great uneasiness to her parents2 because she was in consequence often betrayed into inadvertencies which1 though of small moment in themselves1 showed that her mind was not under proper discipline2 and that fancy1 not reason1 often dictated that line of conduct which she thought proper to pursue4 ,this information is the more interesting1 in the present connection1 since it contrasts strongly with the unqualified commendation ,dr4 ,clarke accords the other sisters4 ,from the same authority we learn that as a child ,miss ,mehetabel was so precocious that at the age of eight she could read the ,greek ,testament in the original2 that she was from her earliest youth emotional and sentimental2 that despite her intellectual tastes and attainments she gave her hand to an illiterate journeyman plumber and glazier2 and that when the fruit of this union lay dying by her side she insisted on dictating to her husband a poem afterward published under the moving caption of ,a ,mother's ,address to ,her ,dying ,infant4 ,another of her poems1 by the way1 is significantly entitled1 ,the ,lucid ,interval4 ,there can1 then1 be little question that ,hetty ,wesley was precisely the type of girl to derive amusement by working on the superstitious fears of those about her4 ,we find1 too1 in the evidence itself certain fugitive references directly pointing to her as the creator of ,old ,jeffrey4 ,it seems that she had a practice of sitting up and moving about the house long after all the other inmates1 except her father1 had retired for the night4 ,the ghost was especially noisy and malevolent when in her vicinity1 knocking boisterously on the bed in which she slept1 and even knocking under her feet4 ,and what is most suggestive1 two witnesses1 her father and her sister ,susannah1 testify that on some occasions the noises failed to wake her1 but caused her to tremble exceedingly in her sleep4 ,it must1 indeed1 have been a difficult matter to restrain laughter at the spectacle of the night-gowned1 night-capped1 much bewildered parson1 candle in one hand and pistol in the other1 peering under and about the bed in quest of the invisible ghost4 ,to be sure1 it is impossible to adduce positive proof that ,hetty ,wesley and ,old ,jeffrey were one and the same4 ,but the evidence supports this view of the case as it supports no other1 and1 taken in conjunction with the facts of her earlier and later life1 leaves little doubt that had the ,rev4 ,samuel paid closer attention to the comings and goings of this particular daughter the ghost that so sorely tried him would have taken its flight much sooner than it did4 ,her motive for the deception must be left to conjecture4 ,in all probability it was only the desire to amaze and terrorize1 a desire as was said before1 not infrequently operative along similar lines in the case of young people of a lively disposition and morbid imagination4 ,,iv ,,the ,,visions ,,of ,,emanuel ,,swedenborg ,in mid ,april of the memorable year #agde1 two men1 hastening through a busy ,london thoroughfare1 paused for a moment to follow with their eyes a third1 whom they had greeted but who had passed without so much as a glance in their direction4 ,the face of one betrayed chagrin2 but the other smiled amusedly4 ,you must not mind1 dear fellow1 said he2 that is only ,swedenborg's way1 as you will discover when you know him better4 ,his feet are on the earth2 but for the moment his mind is in the clouds1 pondering some solution to the wonderful problems he has set himself1 marvelous man that he is4 ,yet1 objected the other1 he seems such a thorough man of the world1 so finely dressed1 so courtly as a rule in speech and manner4 ,he is a man of the world1 a true cosmopolitan1 was the quick response4 ,i warrant few are so widely and so favorably known4 ,he is as much at home in ,london1 ,paris1 ,berlin1 ,dresden1 ,amsterdam1 or ,copenhagen as in his native city of ,stockholm4 ,kings and ,queens1 grand dames and gallant wits1 statesmen and soldiers1 scientists and philosophers1 find pleasure in his society4 ,he can meet all on their own ground1 and to all he has something fresh and interesting to say4 ,but he is nevertheless1 and above everything else1 a dreamer4 ,a dreamer8 ,aye4 ,they tell me that he will not rest content until he has found the seat of the soul in man4 ,up through mathematics1 mechanics1 mineralogy1 astronomy1 chemistry1 even physiology1 has he gone1 mastering every science in turn1 until he is now perhaps the most learned man in ,europe4 ,but his learning satisfies him not a whit1 since the soul still eludes him1--and eludes him1 mark you1 despite month upon month of toil in the dissecting room4 ,if the study of anatomy fail him1 ,i know not where he will next turn4 ,for my part1 ,i fancy he need not look beyond the stomach4 ,the wonder is that his own stomach has not given him the clue ere this2 for1 metaphysician though he be1 he enjoys the good things of earth4 ,let me tell you a story-- ,thus1 chatting and laughing1 the friends continued on their way1 every step taking them farther from the unwitting subject of their words4 ,he1 for his part1 absorbed in thought1 pressed steadily forward to his destination1 a quiet inn in a sequestered quarter of the city4 ,the familiar sounds of eighteenth-century ,london--the bawling of apprentices shouting their masters' wares1 the crying of fishwives1 the quarreling of drunkards1 the barking of curs1 the bellowing of cattle on their way to market and slaughter house--broke unheeded about him4 ,he was1 as the gossip had put it1 in the clouds1 intent on the riddles his learning had rendered only the more complex1 riddles having to do with the nature of the universe and with man's place in the universe4 ,nor did he rouse himself from his meditations until the door of the inn had closed behind him and he found himself in its common room4 ,then he became the ,emanuel ,swedenborg of benignity1 geniality1 and courtesy1 the ,swedenborg whom all men loved4 ,i am going to my room1 said he to the innkeeper1 in charming1 broken ,english1 and ,i wish to be served there4 ,i find ,i am very hungry2 so see that you spare not4 ,while he is standing at the window1 waiting for his dinner1 and gazing abstractedly into the ill-paved1 muddy street illumined by a transitory gleam of ,april sunshine1 let us try to gain a closer view of him than that afforded by the brief account of his unrecognized acquaintance4 ,the attempt will be worth while2 for at this very moment he has1 all unconsciously1 reached the great crisis of his life1 and is about to leave behind him the achievements of his earlier years1 setting himself instead to tasks of a very different nature4 ,we see him1 then1 a man nearing the age of sixty1 of rather more than average height1 smooth shaven1 bewigged1 bespectacled1 and scrupulously dressed according to the fashion of the day4 ,time in its passing has dealt gently with him4 ,there is no stoop to his shoulders1 no tremor in the fingers that play restlessly on the window-pane4 ,not a wrinkle mars the placid features4 ,well may he feel at peace with the world4 ,his whole career has been a steady progress1 his record that of one who has attempted many things and failed in few4 ,before he was twenty-one his learning had gained for him a doctorate in philosophy4 ,then1 enthusiastic1 open-minded1 and open-eyed1 he had hurried abroad1 to pursue in ,england1 ,holland1 ,france1 and ,germany his chosen studies of mathematics1 mechanics1 and astronomy4 ,returning to ,sweden to assume the duties of assessor of mines1 he speedily proved that he was no mere theorizer1 his inventive genius enabling the warlike ,charles ,,xii4 to transport overland galleys and sloops for the siege of ,frederikshald1 sea passage being barred by hostile fleets4 ,ennobled for this feat1 he plunged with ardor into the complicated problems of statecraft1 problems rendered the more difficult by the economic distress in which ,charles's wars had involved his ,kingdom4 ,here again he attained distinction4 ,yet always the problems of science and philosophy claimed his chief devotion4 ,from the study of stars and minerals he passed to the contemplation of other marvels of nature as revealed in man himself4 ,and now behold him turned chemist1 anatomist1 physiologist1 and psychologist1 and repeating in these fields of research his former triumphs4 ,still1 indomitable man1 he refused to stop4 ,he would press on1 far beyond the confines of what his generation held to be the knowable4 ,the end of the senses1 to quote his own words1 is that ,god may be seen4 ,he would peer into the innermost recesses of man's being1 to discern the soul of man1 mayhap to discern ,god himself4 ,but1 if he were scientist and metaphysician1 he was also human1 and that pleasant ,april afternoon the humanity in him bulked large when he finally turned from the window and took his seat at the bountifully heaped table4 ,he was1 as he had told the innkeeper1 very hungry1 and he ate with a zest that abundantly confirmed his statement4 ,how pleasant the odors from this dish and that--how agreeable the flavor of everything6 ,surely he had never enjoyed meal more1 and surely he was no longer in the clouds2 but was instead recalling pleasant reminiscences of his doings in one and another of the gay capitals of ,europe6 ,there would be not a little to bring a twinkle of delight to his beaming eyes1 not a little to soften his scholastic lips into a gentle smile4 ,and so1 in solitary state1 he ate and drank1 with nothing to warn him of the impending and momentous change that was to shape anew his career and his view-point4 ,conceive his astonishment1 therefore1 when1 his dinner still unfinished1 he felt a strange languor creeping over him and a mysterious obscurity dimming his eyes4 ,conceive1 further1 his horror at sight of the floor about him covered with frogs and toads and snakes and creeping things4 ,and picture1 finally1 his amazement when1 the darkness that enveloped him suddenly clearing1 he beheld a man sitting in the far corner of the room and eying him1 as it seemed1 reproachfully1 even disdainfully4 ,in vain1 he essayed to rise1 to lift his hand1 to speak4 ,invisible bonds held him in his chair1 an unseen power kept him mute4 ,for an instant he fancied that he must be dreaming2 but the noises from outdoors and the sight of the table and food before him brought conviction that he was in full possession of his senses4 ,now his visitor spoke1 and spoke only four words1 which astonished no less than alarmed him4 ,eat not so much4 ,only this--then utter silence4 ,again the enveloping darkness--frogs1 toads1 snakes1 faded in its depths--and with returning light ,swedenborg was once more alone in the room4 ,small wonder that the remaining hours of the day were spent in fruitless cogitation of this weird and disagreeable experience which far transcended metaphysician's normal ken4 ,nor is it surprising to find him naively admitting that this unexpected event hastened my return home4 ,imagination can easily round out the picture1--the rising in terror1 the overturning of the chair1 the seizing of cocked hat and gold-headed cane1 the few explanatory words to the astonished innkeeper1 the hurried departure1 and the progress1 perchance at a more rapid gait than usual1 to the sleeping quarters in another section of the town4 ,arrived there1 safe in the refuge of his commodious bed-room1 sage argument would follow in the effort to attain persuasion that the terrifying vision had been but the effect of accidental causes4 ,be sure1 though1 that our philosopher1 dreading a return of the specter if he permitted food to pass his lips1 would go hungry to bed that night4 ,that night--more visions4 ,to the wakeful1 restless1 perturbed ,swedenborg the same figure appeared1 this time without snakes or frogs or toads1 and not in darkness1 but in the midst of a great white light that filled the bed chamber with a wonderful radiance4 ,then a voice spoke3 ,i am ,god the ,lord1 the ,creator and ,redeemer of the world4 ,i have chosen thee to lay before men the spiritual sense of the ,holy ,word4 ,i will teach thee what thou art to write4 ,slowly the light faded1 the figure disappeared4 ,and now the astounded philosopher1 his amazement growing with each passing moment1 found himself transported as it seemed to another world1--the world of the dead4 ,men and women of his acquaintance greeted him as they had been wont to do when on earth1 pressed about him1 eagerly questioned him4 ,their faces still wore the familiar expressions of kindliness1 anxiety1 sincerity1 ill will1 as the case might be4 ,in every way they appeared to be still numbered among the living4 ,they were clad in the clothes they had been accustomed to wear1 they ate and drank1 they lived in houses and towns4 ,the philosophers among them continued to dispute1 the clergy to admonish1 the authors to write4 ,but1 his perception enlarging1 ,swedenborg presently discovered that this was in reality only an intermediate state of existence2 that beyond it at the one end was heaven and at the other hell1 to one or the other of which the dead ultimately gravitated according to their desires and conduct4 ,for1 as he was to learn later1 the spiritual world was a world of law and order fully as much as was the natural world4 ,men were free to do as they chose2 but they must bear the consequences4 ,if they were evil-minded1 it would be their wish to consort with those of like mind1 and in time they must pass to the abode of the wicked2 if pure-minded1 they would seek out kindred spirits1 and1 when finally purged of the dross of earth1 be translated to the realm of bliss4 ,to heaven1 then1 voyaged ,swedenborg1 on a journey of discovery2 and to hell likewise4 ,what he saw he has set down in many bulky volumes1 than which philosopher has written none more strange4,e ,with the return of daylight it might seem that he would be prompt to dismiss all memory of these peculiar experiences as fantasies of sleep4 ,but he was satisfied that he had not slept2 that on the contrary he had been preternaturally conscious throughout the long1 eventful night4 ,in solemn retrospect he retraced his past career4 ,he remembered that for some years he had had symbolic dreams and symbolic hallucinations--as of a golden key1 a tongue of flame1 and voices--which had at the time baffled his understanding1 but which he now interpreted as premonitory warnings that ,god had set him apart for a great mission4 ,he remembered too that when still a child his mind had been engrossed by thoughts of ,god1 and that in talking with his parents he had uttered words which caused them to declare that the angels spoke through his mouth4 ,remembering all these things1 he could no longer doubt that ,divinity had actually visited him in his humble ,london boarding house1 and he made up his mind that he must bestir himself to carry out the divine command of expounding to his fellow men the hidden meaning of ,holy ,writ4 ,forthwith1 being still fired with the true scientist's passion for original research1 he set himself to the task of learning ,hebrew4 ,he was1 it will be remembered1 approaching sixty1 an age when the acquisition of a new language is exceedingly difficult and rare4 ,yet such progress did he make that within a very few months he was writing notes in explanation of the book of ,genesis4 ,and thus he continued not for months but years1 patiently traversing the entire ,bible1 and at the same time carefully committing to paper everything seen and heard in the spiritual world2 for his ,london excursion beyond the borderland which separates the here from the hereafter had been only the first of similar journeys taken not merely by night but in broad daylight4 ,to use his own phraseology3 ,the ,lord opened daily1 very often1 my bodily eyes2 so that in the middle of the day ,i could see into the other world1 and in a state of perfect wakefulness converse with angels and spirits4 ,his increasing absorption--absent-mindedness1 his friends would call it--his habit of falling into trances1 and his claim to interworld communication1 could not fail to excite the surprise of all who had known him as scientist and philosopher4 ,but these vagaries1 as people deemed them1 met the greater toleration because of the evident fact that they did not dim his intellectual powers and did not interfere with his activities in behalf of the public good4 ,true1 in #agdg he resigned his office of assessor of mines in order to have more leisure to prosecute his adventures into the unknown2 but as a member of the ,swedish ,diet he continued to play a prominent part in the affairs of the ,kingdom1 giving long and profound study to the critical problems of administration1 economics1 and finance with which the nation's leaders were confronted during the third quarter of the century4 ,so that--bearing in mind the further fact that he was no blatant advocate of his opinions--it seems altogether likely his spiritistic ideas would have gained no great measure of attention1 had it not been for a series of singular occurrences that took place between #agei and #agfb4 ,toward the end of ,july in the first of these years1 ,swedenborg 7whose fondness for travel ceased only with his death7 arrived in ,gottenburg homeward bound from ,england1 and on the invitation of a friend decided to break his journey by spending a few days in that city4 ,two hours after his arrival1 while attending a small reception given in his honor1 he electrified the company by abruptly declaring that at that moment a dangerous fire had broken out at ,stockholm1 three hundred miles away1 and was spreading rapidly4 ,becoming excited1 he rushed from the room1 to reenter with the news that the house of one of his friends was in ashes1 and that his own house was threatened4 ,anxious moments passed1 while he restlessly paced up and down1 in and out4 ,then1 with a cry of joy1 he exclaimed1 ,thank ,god the fire is out1 the third door from my house6 ,like wild the tidings spread through ,gottenburg1 and the greatest commotion prevailed4 ,some were inclined to give credence to ,swedenborg's statements2 more1 who did not know the man1 derided him as a sensation monger4 ,but all had to wait with what patience they could1 for those were the days before steam engine and telegraph4 ,forty-eight anxious hours passed4 ,then letters were received confirming the philosopher's announcement1 and1 we are assured1 showing that the fire had taken precisely the path described by him1 and had stopped where he had indicated4 ,no peace now for ,swedenborg4 ,his home at ,stockholm1 with its quaint gambrel roof1 its summer houses1 its neat flower beds1 its curious box trees1 instantly became a ,mecca for the inquisitive1 burning to see the man who held converse with the dead and was instructed by the latter in many portentous secrets4 ,most of those who gained admission1 and through him sought to be put into touch with departed friends1 received a courteous but firm refusal1 accompanied by the explanation3 ,god having for wise and good purposes separated the world of spirits from ours1 a communication is never granted without cogent reasons4 ,when1 however1 his visitors satisfied him that they were imbued with something more than curiosity1 he made an effort to meet their wishes1 and occasionally with astonishing results4 ,it was thus in the case of ,madam ,marteville1 widow of the ,dutch ,ambassador to ,sweden4 ,in #agfa1 some months after her husband's death1 a goldsmith demanded from her payment for a silver service the ,ambassador had bought from him4 ,feeling sure that the bill had already been paid1 she made search for the receipt1 but could find none4 ,the sum involved was large1 and she sought ,swedenborg and asked him to seek her husband in the world of spirits and ascertain whether the debt had been settled4 ,three days later1 when she was entertaining some friends1 ,swedenborg called1 and in the most matter of fact way stated that he had had a conversation with ,marteville1 and had learned from him that the debt had been canceled seven months before his death1 and that the receipt would be found in a certain bureau4 ,but ,i have searched all through it1 protested ,madam ,marteville4 ,ah1 was ,swedenborg's rejoinder2 but it has a secret drawer of which you know nothing4 ,at once all present hurried to the bureau1 and there1 in the private compartment which he quickly located1 lay the missing receipt4 ,in similar fashion did ,swedenborg relate to the ,queen of ,sweden1 ,louisa ,ulrica1 the substance of the last interview between her and her dead brother1 the ,crown ,prince of ,prussia1 an interview which had been strictly private1 and the subject of which1 she affirmed1 was such that no third person could possibly have known what passed between them4 ,more startling still was his declaration to a merry company at ,amsterdam that at that same hour1 in far away ,russia1 the ,emperor ,peter ,,iii4 was being foully done to death in prison4 ,once more time proved that the spirit seer1 as ,swedenborg was now popularly known1 had told the truth4 ,a decade more1 and again we meet him in ,london1 his whole being1 at eighty-four1 animated with the same energy and enthusiasm that had led him to seek and attain in his earlier manhood such a vast store of knowledge4 ,and here1 as ,christmas drew near1 he found lodging with two old friends1 a wig maker and his wife4 ,but ere ,christmas dawned he lay a helpless victim of that dread disease paralysis4 ,not a word1 not a movement1 for full three weeks4 ,then1 with returning consciousness1 a call for pen and paper4 ,he would1 he muttered with thickened speech1 send a note to inform a certain ,john ,wesley that the spirits had made known to him ,wesley's desire to meet him1 and that he would be glad to receive a visit at any time4 ,in reply came word that the great evangelist had indeed wished to make the great mystic's acquaintance1 and that after returning from a six months' circuit he would give himself the pleasure of waiting upon ,swedenborg4 ,too late1 was the aged philosopher's comment as the story goes1 too late2 for on the #bith of ,march ,i shall be in the world of spirits never more to return4 ,march came and went1 and with it went his soul on the day predicted1 if prediction there were4 ,they buried him in ,london1 and there in early season1 out of his grave blossomed the religion that has preserved his name1 his fame1 his doctrines4 ,to the dead ,swedenborg succeeded the living ,swedenborgianism4 99 99 99 99 99 ,but what shall those of us who are not ,swedenborgians think of the master8 ,shall we accept at face value the story of his life as gathered from the documents left behind him and as set forth here2 and1 accepting it1 believe that he was in reality a man set apart by ,god and granted the rare favor of insight into that unknown world to which all of us must some day go8 ,the true explanation1 it seems to me1 can be had only when we view ,swedenborg in the light of the marvelous discoveries made during the last few years in the field of abnormal psychology4 ,beginning in ,france1 and continuing more recently in the ,united ,states and other countries1 investigations have been set on foot resulting in the solution of many human problems not unlike the riddle of ,swedenborg1 and occasionally far more complicated than that presented in his case4 ,all these solutions1 in the last analysis1 rest on the basic discovery that human personality is by no means the single indivisible entity it is commonly supposed to be1 but is instead singularly unstable and singularly complex4 ,it has been found that under some unusual stimulus--such as an injury1 an illness1 or the strain of an intense emotion--there may result a disintegration1 or1 as it is technically termed1 a dissociation1 of personality1 giving rise it may be to hysteria1 it may be to hallucinations1 it may even be to a complete disappearance of the original personality and its replacement by a new personality1 sometimes of radically different characteristics4,f ,it has also been found1 by another group of investigators working principally in ,england1 that side by side with the original1 the waking1 personality of every-day life1 there coexists a hidden personality possessing faculties far transcending those enjoyed by the waking personality1 but as a rule coming into play only at moments of crisis1 though by some favored mortals invocable more frequently4 ,to this hidden personality1 as distinguished from the secondary personality of dissociation1 has been given the name of the subliminal self1 and to its operation some attribute alike the productions of men of genius and the phenomena of clairvoyance and thought transference that have puzzled mankind from time immemorial4 ,now1 arguing by analogy from the cases scattered through the writings of ,janet1 ,sidis1 ,prince1 ,myers1 ,gurney1 and many others whose works the reader may consult for himself in any good public library1 it is my belief that in ,swedenborg we have a preeminent illustration both of dissociation and of subliminal action1 and that it is therefore equally unnecessary to stigmatize him as insane or to adopt the spiritistic hypothesis in explanation of his utterances4 ,the records show that from his father he inherited a tendency to hallucinations1 checked for a time by the nature of his studies1 but fostered as these expanded into pursuit of the absolute and the infinite4 ,they further show that for a long time before the ,london visions he was in a disturbed state of health1 his nervous system unstrung1 his whole being so unhinged that at times he suffered from attacks of what was probably hystero-epilepsy4 ,it seems altogether likely1 then1 that in ,london the process of dissociation1 after this period of gradual growth1 suddenly leaped into activity4 ,thereafter his hallucinations1 from being sporadic and vague1 became habitual and definite1 his hystero-epileptic attacks more frequent4 ,but1 happily for him1 the dissociation never became complete4 ,he was left in command of his original personality1 his mental powers continued unabated2 and he was still able to adjust himself to the environment of the world about him4 ,but1 it may be objected1 how explain his revelations in the matter of the fire at ,stockholm1 the missing receipt1 the message to ,queen ,ulrica1 and the death of ,peter ,,iii48 ,this brings us to the question of subliminal action4 ,swedenborg himself1 far in advance of his generation in this as in much else1 appears to have realized that there was no need of invoking spirits to account for such transactions4 ,i need not mention1 he once wrote1 the manifest sympathies acknowledged to exist in this lower world1 and which are too many to be recounted2 so great being the sympathy and magnetism of man that communication often takes place between those who are miles apart4 ,here1 in language that admits of no misinterpretation1 we see stated the doctrine of telepathy1 which is only now beginning to find acceptance among scientific men1 but which1 as ,i view it1 has been amply demonstrated by the experiments of recent years and by the thousands of cases of spontaneous occurrence recorded in such publications as the ,proceedings of the ,society for ,psychical ,research4 ,and if these experiments and spontaneous instances prove anything1 they prove that telepathy is distinctively a faculty of the subliminal self2 and that a greater or less degree of dissociation is essential1 not to the receipt1 but to the objective realization1 of telepathic messages4 ,thus1 the entranced medium of modern days extracts from the depths of his sitter's subconsciousness facts which the sitter has consciously forgotten1 facts even of which he may never have been consciously aware1 but which have been transmitted telepathically to his subliminal self by the subliminal self of some third person4,g ,so with ,swedenborg4 ,admitting the authenticity of the afore-mentioned anecdotes--none of which1 it is as well to point out1 reaches us supported by first-hand evidence--it is quite unnecessary to appeal to spirits as his purveyors of knowledge4 ,in every instance telepathy--or clairvoyance1 which is after all explicable itself only by telepathy--will suffice4 ,in the ,marteville affair1 for example1 it is not unreasonable to assume that before his death the ,ambassador telepathically told his devoted wife of the existence of the secret drawer and its contents2 if1 indeed1 she had not known and forgotten4 ,it would then be an exceedingly simple matter for the dissociated ,swedenborg to acquire the desired information from the wife's subconsciousness4 ,nor does this reflect on his honesty4 ,doubtless he believed1 as he represented1 that he had actually had a conversation with the dead ,marteville1 and had learned from him the whereabouts of the missing receipt4 ,in the form his dissociation took he could no more escape such a hallucination than can the twentieth-century medium avoid the belief that he is a veritable intermediary between the visible and the invisible world4 ,not that ,i would put ,swedenborg on a par with the ordinary medium4 ,he was unquestionably a man of gigantic intellect1 and he was unquestionably inspired1 if by inspiration be understood the gift of combining subliminal with supraliminal powers to a degree granted to few of those whom the world counts truly great4 ,if his fanciful and fantastic pictures of life in heaven and hell and in our neighboring planets welled up from the depths of his inmost mind1 far more did the noble truths to which he gave expression4 ,it is by these he should be judged2 it is in these1 not in his hallucinations nor in his telepathic exhibitions1 that lies the secret of the commanding1 if not always recognized1 influence he has exercised on the thought of posterity4 ,a solitary figure8 ,true3 but a grand figure1 even in his saddest moment of delusion4 ,,footnotes3 ,e ,the most complete enumeration of the writings of ,swedenborg will be found in the ,rev4 ,james ,hyde's ,a ,bibliography of the ,works of ,emanuel ,swedenborg1 published in #aijf by the ,swedenborg ,society of ,london4 ,including books on ,swedenborg1 this bibliography contains no fewer than thirty-five hundred items4 ,for a detailed account of ,swedenborg's life the reader may consult ,dr4 ,r4 ,l4 ,tafel's ,documents concerning the ,life and ,character of ,swedenborg1 or the biographies by ,william ,white1 ,benjamin ,worcester1 ,james ,j4 ,g4 ,wilkinson1 and ,nathaniel ,hobart4 ,of these1 the ,white biography is the most critical4 ,f ,illustrative cases will be cited in the discussion of ,the ,watseka ,wonder on a later page4 ,for a detailed explanation of dissociation the reader is referred to ,dr4 ,morton ,prince's ,the ,dissociation of a ,personality1 or ,dr4 ,boris ,sidis's ,multiple ,personality4 ,g ,this point is more fully discussed in my earlier book1 ,the ,riddle of ,personality4 ,v ,,the ,,cock ,,lane ,,ghost ,the quaint old ,london church of ,st4 ,sepulchre's could not by any stretch of the imagination be called a fashionable place of worship4 ,it stood in a crowded quarter of the city1 and the gentry were content to leave it to the small tradesfolk and humble working people who made up its parish4 ,now and again a stray antiquarian paid it a fleeting visit2 but1 speaking generally1 the coming of a stranger was so rare as to be accounted an event4 ,it is easy1 then1 to understand the sensation occasioned by the appearance at prayers one morning1 in the year of grace1 #agei1 of a young and well dressed couple whose natural habitat was obviously in quite other surroundings4 ,as they waited in the aisle--the man tall1 erect1 and easy of bearing1 the woman fair and graceful--there was an instant craning of necks and vast nudging of one's neighbor2 and long after they had seated themselves a subdued whispering bore further1 if unnecessary1 testimony to the curiosity they had aroused4 ,probably no one felt a more lively interest than did the parish clerk1 who1 in showing them to a pew1 had noted the tenderness with which they regarded each other4 ,it needed nothing more to persuade him that they were eloping lovers1 and that a snug gratuity was as good as in his pocket4 ,all through the service he fidgeted impatiently in the shadows near the door1 and as soon as the congregation was dismissed and he perceived that the visitors were lingering in their places1 he hurried forward and accosted them4 ,his name1 he volubly explained1 was ,parsons2 he was officiating clerk of the parish2 likewise master in the charity school nearby4 ,no doubt they would like to inspect the church1 perhaps to visit the school2 it might even be they were desirous of meeting the pastor8 ,he would be delighted if he could serve them in any way4 ,possibly you can1 said the man1 for you doubtless know the neighborhood like a book4 ,my name is ,knight1 and this lady is my wife4 ,we-- ,he stopped short at sight of the changed expression on the other's face1 and breesquely demanded1 ,how now1 man8 ,what are you gaping at8 ,no offense1 sir1 no offense1 stammered the disappointed and embarrassed clerk4 ,i beg your pardon1 sir and madam4 ,there was an awkward pause before the man began again4 ,as ,i was saying1 my name is ,knight and this lady is my wife4 ,we have only recently come to ,london and are in search of lodgings4 ,if you know of any good place to which you can recommend us1 we shall be heartily obliged to you4 ,whatever he was1 ,clerk ,parsons was not a fool1 and these few words showed him plainly that he was face to face with a mystery4 ,elopers or no1 such a well born couple would not from choice bury themselves in this forbidding section of ,london4 ,with a cunning fostered by long years of precarious livelihood1 he at once resolved to profit if he could from their need4 ,i fear1 sir1 said he1 that ,i know of no lodgings that would be at all suitable for you4 ,we are poor folk1 all of us1 and-- ,if you are honest folk1 interrupted the lady1 with an enchanting smile1 we ask no more4 ,her husband checked her with a gesture and a look that was not lost on the now all-observing clerk1 though it was long before he understood its significance4 ,we are willing to pay a reasonable charge1 and shall require only a bed-room and a sitting-room4 ,if possible1 we should prefer to be where there are no other lodgers4 ,in that case1 responded the clerk1 with an eagerness he could scarcely veil1 ,i can accommodate you in my own house4 ,it is simple but commodious1 and ,i can answer that my wife will deal fairly by you4 ,what think you1 ,fanny8 asked the man1 turning to his wife4 ,we can at least go and see4 ,this they immediately did1 and to ,clerk ,parsons's joy decided to make their home with him4 ,nor did their coming gladden the clerk alone4 ,his wife and children1 two little girls of nine and ten1 from the moment they saw the beautiful lady conceived a warm attachment for her4 ,her geniality1 her kindliness1 her manifest love for her husband1 appealed to their sympathies1 as did the sadness which from time to time clouded her face4 ,if1 like ,parsons himself1 they soon became convinced that she and her husband shared some momentous secret1 they could not bring themselves to believe that it involved her in wrongdoing4 ,for the husband too they entertained the friendliest feelings4 ,he was of a blunt1 outspoken disposition and perhaps a trifle quick tempered1 but he was frank and liberal and sincerely devoted to his wife4 ,for all in the household1 therefore1 the days passed pleasantly2 and when ,mrs4 ,parsons one fine spring morning discovered her fair guest in tears she felt that time had established between them relations sufficiently confidential to warrant her motherly intervention4 ,come1 my dear1 said she1 ,i have long seen that something is troubling you4 ,tell me what it is1 that ,i may be able to comfort1 perhaps aid you4 ,it is nothing1 good ,mrs4 ,parsons1 nothing4 ,i am very foolish4 ,i was thinking of what would become of me if anything should happen to my husband4 ,dear1 dear6 and nothing will4 ,but you could then turn to your relatives4 ,i have no relatives4 ,what1 my dear1 are they all dead8 ,no1 in a solemn tone1 but ,i am dead to them4 ,in a voice shaken by sobs1 she now unfolded her story1 and pitiful enough it was4 ,she was1 it appeared1 the sister of ,knight's first wife1 who had died in ,norfolk leaving a new born child that survived its mother only a few hours4 ,at ,knight's request she then went to keep house for him1 and presently they found themselves very much in love with each other4 ,but in the canon law they discovered an insuperable obstacle to marriage4 ,had the wife died without issue1 or had her child not been born alive1 the law would have permitted her1 even though a deceased wife's sister1 to wed the man of her choice4 ,as things stood1 a legitimate union was out of the question4 ,learning this1 they resolved to separate2 but separation brought only increased longing4 ,thence grew a rapid and mutual persuasion that1 under the circumstances1 it would be no sin to bid defiance to the canon law and live together as man and wife4 ,this view not finding favor with their relatives1 and becoming apprehensive of arrest and imprisonment1 they had fled to ,london and had hidden themselves in its depths4 ,surely1 she concluded1 with a desperate intensity1 surely fair-minded people would not condemn them2 surely all who knew what true love was would feel that they could not have acted otherwise8 ,this confession1 though it did not in the least diminish her landlady's regard for her1 worked indirectly in a most disastrous way4 ,whether driven by necessity1 or emboldened by the belief that his lodgers were at his mercy1 the clerk soon afterward approached ,knight for a small loan2 and1 obtaining it1 repeated the request on several other occasions1 until he had borrowed in all about twelve pounds4 ,payment he postponed on one pretext and another1 until the lender finally lost all patience and informed him roundly that he must settle or stand suit4 ,then followed an interchange of words that in an instant terminated the pleasant connection of the preceding months4 ,parsons was described as an impudent scoundrel who would be taught what honesty meant4 ,parsons described himself as knowing what honesty meant full well1 and needing no lessons from a fugitive from justice4 ,white with rage1 ,knight bundled his belongings together1 called a hackney coach1 and within the hour had shaken the dust of ,cock ,lane from his feet1 finding new lodgings in ,clerkenwell and at once haling his whilom landlord to the debtors' court4 ,a little time1 and all else was forgotten in the serious illness of his beloved ,fanny4 ,at first the physician declared that the malady would prove slight2 but she herself seemed to feel that she was doomed4 ,send for a lawyer1 she urged2 ,i want to make my will4 ,it is little enough ,i have1 ,god knows2 but ,i wish to be sure you will get it all1 dear husband4 ,to humor her1 the will was drawn1 and now it developed that the disease which had attacked her was smallpox in its worst form4 ,no need to dwell on the fearful hours that followed1 the fond farewells1 the lapsing into a merciful unconsciousness1 the death4 ,they buried her in the vaults of ,st4 ,john's ,clerkenwell1 and from her tomb her husband came forth to give battle to the relatives who1 shunning her while alive1 did not disdain to seek possession of the small legacy she had left him4 ,in this they failed1 but scarcely had the smoke of the legal canonading cleared away1 before he was called upon to meet a new issue so unexpected and so mysterious that history affords no stranger sequel to tale of love4 ,the first intimation of its coming and of its nature was revealed to him1 as to the public generally1 by a brief paragraph printed in a mid ,january1 #agfb1 issue of ,the ,london ,ledger3 ,for some time past a great knocking having been heard in the night1 at the officiating parish clerk's of ,st4 ,sepulchre's1 in ,cock ,lane near ,smithfield1 to the great terror of the family1 and all means used to discover the meaning of it1 four gentlemen sat up there last ,friday night1 among whom was a clergyman standing withinside the door1 who asked various questions4 ,on his asking whether any one had been murdered1 no answer was made2 but on his asking whether any one had been poisoned1 it knocked one and thirty times4 ,the report current in the neighborhood is that a woman was some time ago poisoned1 and buried at ,st4 ,john's ,clerkenwell1 by her brother-in-law4 ,instantly the city was agog1 and for the next fortnight ,the ,ledger1 ,the ,chronicle1 and other newspapers gave much of their space to details of the pretended revelations1 though they were careful to refer to names by blanks or initials only4,h ,these accounts informed their readers that the knocking had first been heard in the life time of the deceased when1 during the absence of her supposed husband1 she had shared her bed with ,clerk ,parsons's oldest daughter2 that she had then pronounced it an omen of her early death2 that it did not occur again until after she had died2 that1 if the soi-disant spirit could be believed1 the earlier knocking had been due to the agency of her dead sister2 and that1 in her own turn1 she had come back to bring to justice the villain who had murdered her for the little she possessed4 ,in commenting on this amazing story1 the papers were prompt to point out that the knocking was heard only in the presence of the afore-mentioned daughter1 now a girl of twelve2 and while one or two1 like ,the ,ledger1 inclined to credence1 the majority followed ,the ,chronicle in denouncing the affair as an imposture4 ,the outraged husband1 as may be imagined1 lost not a moment in demanding admission to the seances which were proceeding merrily under the direction of a servant in the ,parsons family and a clergyman of the neighborhood4 ,he found that the method practised was to put the girl to bed1 wait until the knocking should begin1 and then question the alleged spirit2 when answers were received according to a code of one knock for an affirmative and two knocks for a negative4 ,it was in his presence1 then1 though not at a single sitting1 that the following dialogue was in this way carried on3 ,are you ,miss ,fanny8--,yes4 ,did you die naturally8--,no4 ,did you die by poison8--,yes4 ,do you know what kind of poison it was8--,yes4 ,was it arsenic8--,yes4 ,was it given to you by any person other than ,mr4 ,knight8--,no4 ,do you wish that he be hanged8--,yes4 ,was it given to you in gruel8--,no4 ,in beer8--,yes4 ,here a spectator interrupted with the remark that the deceased was never known to drink beer1 but had been fond of purl1 and the question was hastily put3 ,was it not in purl8--,yes4 ,how long did you live after taking it8--,three knocks1 held to mean three hours4 ,did ,carrots 7her maid7 know of your being poisoned8--,yes4 ,did you tell her8--,yes4 ,how long was it after you took it before you told her8 ,one knock1 for one hour4 ,here was something tangible1 and ,knight went to work with a will to refute the terrible charge brought by the invisible accuser4 ,as reported in ,the ,daily ,gazetteer1 which had promised that the reader may expect to be enlightened from time to time to the utmost of our power in this intricate and dark affair1 the maid ,carrots was found1 and from her was procured a sworn statement that ,mrs4 ,knight had said not a word to her about being poisoned2 that1 indeed1 she had become unconscious twelve hours before her death and remained unconscious to the end4 ,the physician and apothecary who had attended her made affidavit to the same effect1 and described the fatal nature of her illness4 ,it was further shown that her death at most benefited ,knight by not more than a hundred pounds1 of which he had no need1 as he was of independent means4 ,altogether1 he would seem to have cleared himself effectually4 ,still the knocking continued1 and night after night the accusation was repeated4 ,he now resorted1 therefore1 to a radical step to convince the public that he was the victim of a monstrous fraud4 ,asserting that little ,miss ,parsons herself produced the mysterious sounds1 and that she did so at the instigation of her father1 he secured an order for her removal to the house of a friend of his1 a ,clerkenwell clergyman4 ,here a decisive failure was recorded against the ghost4 ,it had promised that it would knock on the coffin containing ,mrs4 ,knight's remains2 and about one o'clock in the morning1 after hours of silent watching1 during which the spirit gave not a sign of its presence1 the entire company adjourned to the church4 ,only one member was found of sufficient boldness to plunge with ,knight into the gloomy depths where the dead lay entombed2 and that one bore out his statement that never a knock had been heard4 ,the girl was urged to confess1 but persisted in her assertions that the ghost was in nowise of her making4 ,afterward1 when the knocking had been resumed under more favorable auspices1 word came from the unseen world that the fiasco in the church was ascribable to the very good reason that ,knight had caused his wife's coffin to be secretly removed4 ,i will show them6 cried the desperate man4 ,with clergyman1 sexton1 and undertaker1 he visited the vaults once more and not only identified but opened the coffin4 ,meanwhile all ,london was flocking to ,cock ,lane as to a raree-show1 on foot1 on horseback1 in vehicles of every description4 ,some1 like the celebrated ,dr4 ,johnson who took part in the coffin opening episode in ,clerkenwell1 were animated by scientific zeal2 but idle curiosity inspired the great majority4 ,the gossiping ,walpole1 in a letter to his friend ,montagu1 has left a graphic picture of the stir created by the newspaper reports4 ,i went to hear it1 he writes2 for it is not an apparition but an audition4 ,we set out from the opera1 changed our clothes at ,northumberland ,house1 the ,duke of ,york1 ,lady ,northumberland1 ,lady ,mary ,coke1 ,lord ,hertford1 and ,i1 all in one hackney coach1 and drove to the spot2 it rained in torrents2 yet the lane was full of mob1 and the house so full we could not get in2 at last they discovered it was the ,duke of ,york1 and the company squeezed themselves into one another's pockets to make room for us4 ,the house1 which is borrowed1 and to which the ghost has adjourned1 is wretchedly small and miserable2 when we opened the chamber1 in which were fifty people with no light but one tallow candle at the end1 we tumbled over the bed of the child to whom the ghost comes1 and whom they are murdering by inches in such insufferable heat and stench4 ,at the top of the room are clothes to dry4 ,i asked if we were to have rope dancing between the acts4 ,we heard nothing2 they told us 7as they would at a puppet show7 that it would not come that night till seven in the morning1 that is1 when there are only prentices and old women4 ,we stayed1 however1 till half an hour after one4 ,the skepticism patent in this letter was shared by all thinking men4 ,letter after letter of criticism1 even of abuse1 was poured into the newspapers4 ,no less a personage than ,oliver ,goldsmith wrote1 under the title of ,the ,mystery ,revealed1 a long pamphlet which was intended both to explain away the disturbances and to defend the luckless ,knight4 ,the actor ,garrick dragged into a prologue a riming and sneering reference to the mystery2 the artist ,hogarth invoked his genius to deride it4 ,yet there were believers in plenty1 and there even seem to have been some who thought of preying on the credulous by opening up a business in knocking ghosts4 ,on ,tuesday last1 one reads in ,the ,chronicle1 it was given out that a new knocking ghost was to perform that evening at a house in ,broad ,court near ,bow ,street1 ,covent ,garden2 information of which being given to a certain magistrate in the neighborhood1 he sent his compliments with an intimation that it should not meet with that lenity the ,cock ,lane ghost did1 but that it should knock hemp in ,bridewell4 ,on which the ghost very discreetly omitted the intended exhibition4 ,whether or no he took a hint from this publication1 it is certain that1 finding all other means failing1 ,knight now resolved to try to lay by legal process the ghost that had rendered him the most unhappy and the most talked of man in ,london4 ,going before a magistrate1 he brought a charge of criminal conspiracy against ,clerk ,parsons1 ,mrs4 ,parsons1 the ,parsons servant1 the clergyman who had aided the servant in eliciting the murder story from the talkative ghost1 and a ,cock ,lane tradesman4 ,all of these1 he alleged1 had banded themselves together to ruin him1 their malice arising from the quarrel which had led him to remove to ,clerkenwell and enter a lawsuit against ,parsons4 ,the girl herself he did not desire punished1 because she was too young to understand the evil that she wrought4 ,warrants were forthwith issued1 and1 protesting their innocence frantically1 the accused were dragged to prison4 ,their conviction soon followed1 after a trial of which the only obtainable evidence is that it was held at the ,guildhall before a special jury and was presided over by ,lord ,mansfield4 ,then1 the court desiring that ,mr4 ,k----1 who had been so much injured on this occasion1 should receive some reparation1,i sentence was deferred for several months4 ,this enabled the clergyman and the tradesman to purchase their pardon by the payment of some five hundred or six hundred pounds to ,knight4 ,but the clerk either would not or could not pay a farthing1 and on him and his1 sentence was now passed4 ,the father1 to quote once more from the meager account in ,the ,annual ,register1 was ordered to be set in the pillory three times in one month1 once at the end of ,cock ,lane1 and after that to be imprisoned two years2 ,elizabeth his wife1 one year2 and ,mary ,frazer1 six months to ,bridewell1 and to be kept there to hard labor4 ,thus1 in wig and gown1 did the law solemnly and severely place the seal of disbelief on the ,cock ,lane ghost2 which1 it is worth observing1 seems to have vanished forever the moment the arrests were made4 99 99 99 99 99 ,but1 looking back at the case from the vantage point of chronological distance and of recent research into kindred affairs1 it is difficult to accept as final the verdict reached by the special jury and concurred in by the public opinion of the day4 ,it is preposterous to suppose that for so slight a cause as a dispute over twelve pounds ,clerk ,parsons and his associates would conspire to ruin a man's reputation and if possible to take his life2 and still more preposterous to imagine that they would adopt such a means to attain this end4 ,of course1 they may have had stronger reasons for being hostile to ,knight than appears from the published facts4 ,yet it is significant that when the clerk was placed in the pillory he seemed to be out of his mind1 and so evident was his misery that the assembled mob instead of using him ill1 made a handsome collection for him4 ,the more likely1 nay the only defensible solution of the problem1 is that he1 his fellow sufferers1 and ,knight himself were one and all the victims of the uncontrollable impulses of a hysterical child4 ,the case bears too strong a resemblance to the ,tedworth and ,epworth disturbances to admit of any other hypothesis4 ,not that the ,parsons girl is to be placed on exactly the same footing as the ,mompesson children and ,hetty ,wesley1 and held to some extent responsible for the mischievous phenomena she produced4 ,on the contrary1 the more one studies the evidence the stronger grows the conviction that in her we have a striking and singular instance of dissociation4 ,she was1 it is very evident1 strongly attached to the unfortunate ,mrs4 ,knight1 doubtless felt keenly the separation from her1 and1 whether consciously or subconsciously1 would cherish a grudge against ,knight as the cause of that separation4 ,the news of ,mrs4 ,knight's death would come as a great shock1 and might easily act1 so to speak1 as the fulcrum of the lever of mental disintegration4 ,then1 dimly enough at first but soon with portentous rapidity1 her disordered consciousness would conceive the idea that her friend had been murdered and that it was her duty to bring the slayer to justice4 ,from this it would be an easy step to the development1 in the neurotic child1 of a full fledged secondary personality1 akin to that found in the spiritistic mediums of later times4 ,now1 for the first time1 her faculties would seem to her astonished parents to be in the keeping and under the control of an extraneous being1 a departed1 discarnate spirit2 and in this error she and they would be confirmed by the suggestions and foolish questions of those who came to marvel4 ,it needed another great shock--there being in those days no ,janet or ,prince or ,sidis to take charge of the case--the shock of the arrest and imprisonment of her parents1 to effect at least partial reintegration and the consequent disappearance of the secondary self1 the much debated1 malevolent ,cock ,lane ghost4 ,,footnotes3 ,h ,it is proper to observe that the name ,knight given to the leading actor in this singular drama rests on inference merely4 ,doubtless from a fear of libel suits1 the contemporary newspapers and magazines speak of him only as ,mr4 ----1 or ,mr4 ,k----1 there being1 so far as the present writer has been able to discover1 only one publication 7,the ,gentleman's ,magazine7 so bold as to refer to him as ,mr4 ,k----t4 ,nowhere is his identity made clear4 ,judging from the prominence of those who rushed to his defense1 he would seem to have been a person of considerable importance4 ,i ,the ,annual ,register for #agfb4 ,,vi ,,the ,,ghost ,,seen ,,by ,,lord ,,brougham ,it is comparatively easy1 when seated before a roaring fire in a well-lighted room1 to sneer ghosts out of existence1 and roundly affirm that they are without exception the fanciful products of a heated imagination4 ,but the matter takes on a very different complexion1 when in that same room and without so much as the opening of a door1 one is unexpectedly confronted by the figure of an absent friend1 who1 it subsequently appears1 is about that time breathing his last in another part of the world4 ,especially would it seem impossible to remain skeptical if there existed between oneself and the friend in question a compact1 drawn up years before in an access of youthful enthusiasm1 binding whichever should die first to appear to the other at the moment of death4 ,this1 as all students of ghostology are aware1 has frequently been the case2 and it was precisely the case with the ghost seen by the famous ,lord ,brougham1 the brilliant and versatile ,scotchman1 whose astonishingly long and successful career in ,england as statesman1 judge1 lawyer1 man of science1 philanthropist1 orator1 and author won him a place among the immortals both of the ,georgian and of the ,victorian era4 ,at the time he saw the ghost he was still a young man1 thinking far less of what the future might hold than of the pleasures of the present4 ,in fact1 it is difficult to imagine a more unlikely subject for a ghostly experience4 ,from his earliest youth1 his father1 a most matter of fact person1 sedulously endeavored to impress him with the belief that the only spirits deserving of the name were those which came in oddly labeled bottles2 and in support of this view the elder ,brougham frequently related the adventures of sundry persons of his acquaintance who had engaged in the mischievous pastime of ghost hunting4 ,added to the natural effect of such tales as these was the inherent exuberance of ,brougham's disposition and the bent of his mind to mathematics and kindred exact sciences4 ,it was at the ,edinburgh high school that he first met his future ghost1 who at the time was a youngster like himself1 and became and long remained his most intimate friend4 ,the two lads were graduated together from the high school1 and together matriculated into the university1 where1 in the intervals ,brougham could spare from his favorite studies and recreations1 and from the company of the daredevil students with whom he soon began to associate1 they continued their old time walks and talks4 ,on one of these walks1 the conversation happened to turn to the perennial problem of life beyond the grave and the possibility of the dead communicating with the living4 ,brougham1 mindful of the views maintained by his father1 doubtless treated the subject lightly1 if not scoffingly2 but one word led to another1 until finally1 in what he afterward described as a moment of folly1 he covenanted with his friend that whichever of them should happen to pass from earth first would1 if it were at all possible1 show himself in spirit to the other1 and thus prove beyond peradventure that the soul of man survived the death of the body4 ,so far as ,brougham was concerned1 this undertaking was speedily forgotten in the pressure of the many activities into which he plunged with all the ardor of his impetuous nature4 ,his days were given wholly to the pursuit of knowledge2 his nights to the pursuit of pleasure1 as pleasure was then counted by the roystering young ,scotchmen1 whose favorite resort was the tavern1 and whose most popular pastime was filching signs1 bell handles1 and knockers1 and stirring the city guard to unwonted energy4 ,under such conditions neither the death pact nor the solemn minded youth with whom he had made it could remain long in his memory2 and it is not surprising to find that with the end of college life and the removal of his boyhood's friend to ,india1 where he entered the civil service1 they soon became as strangers to each other4 ,brougham himself remained in ,edinburgh to read for the law1 and incidentally to develop with the aid of an amateur debating society the oratorical talents that were in time to make him the logical successor of ,pitt1 ,fox1 and ,burke in the ,house of ,commons4 ,he continued none the less a lover of pleasure1 some of which1 however1 he now took in the healthy form of long walking trips through the ,highlands4 ,in this way he acquired a desire for travel1 and when1 in the autumn of #agii1 an opportunity came for an extended tour of ,denmark1 ,sweden1 and ,norway1 he grasped it eagerly4 ,together with the future diplomat1 ,lord ,stuart of ,rothsay1 then plain ,charles ,stuart and the boon companion of many a pedestrian excursion1 he sailed for ,copenhagen late in ,september1 and by leisurely stages made his way thence to ,stockholm1 alive to all the varied interests of the novel scenes in which he found himself2 but encountering little that was exciting or adventurous1 until1 after a prolonged sojourn in the ,swedish capital and a brief visit to ,goeteborg1 he started for ,norway4 ,by this time the weather had turned so cold that the travelers resolved to bring their tour to a sudden end1 and to press on as rapidly as the bad roads would permit to some ,norwegian port1 where they hoped to find a ship that would carry them back to ,scotland4 ,accordingly1 leaving ,goeteborg early in the morning of ,december #ai1 they journeyed steadily until after midnight1 when they came to an inn that seemed to promise comfortable sleeping accommodations4 ,stuart lost no time in going to bed2 but ,brougham decided to wait until a hot bath could be prepared for him4 ,plunging into it1 and forgetful of everything save the warmth that was doubly welcome after the cold of the long drive1 he suddenly became aware that he was not alone in the room4 ,no door had opened1 not a footstep had been heard2 but in the light of the flickering candles he plainly saw the figure of a man seated in the chair on which he had carelessly thrown his clothes4 ,and this figure he instantly recognized as that of his early playmate1 the forgotten chum who1 as he well knew1 had years before gone from the land of the heather to the land of the blazing sun4 ,yet here he sat1 in the quaintly furnished sleeping chamber of a ,swedish roadside inn1 gazing composedly at his astounded friend4 ,at once there flashed into ,brougham's mind remembrance of the death pact1 and he leaped from the bath1 only to lose all consciousness and fall headlong to the floor4 ,when he revived1 the apparition had disappeared4 ,there was little sleep for the hard headed ,scotchman that night4 ,the vision had been too definite1 the shock too intense4 ,but1 dressing1 he sat down and strove to debate the matter in the light of cold reason4 ,he must1 he argued1 have dozed off in the bath and experienced a strange dream4 ,to be sure1 he had not been thinking of his old comrade1 and for years had had no communication with him4 ,nor had anything taken place during the tour to bring to memory either him or any member of his family1 or to turn ,brougham's mind to thoughts of ,india4 ,still1 he found it impossible to believe that he had seen a ghost4 ,at most1 he reiterated to himself1 it could have been nothing more than an exceptionally clear cut dream4 ,and to this opinion he stubbornly adhered1 notwithstanding the receipt1 soon after his return to ,edinburgh1 of a letter from ,india announcing the death of the friend who had been so mysteriously recalled to his recollection1 and giving ,december #ai as the date of death4 ,more than sixty years later we find him1 in his autobiography commenting on the experience anew1 granting that it was a strange coincidence but refusing to admit that it was anything more than the coincidence of a dream4 ,it was in his autobiography1 by the way1 that he first referred to the confirmatory letter4 ,this fact1 taken in connection with his reputation for holding the truth in light esteem and with several vague and puzzling statements contained in the detailed account of the experience itself as set forth in his journal of the ,scandinavian tour1 has led some critics to make the suggestion that his narrative partakes of the nature of fiction rather than of a sober recital of facts4 ,against this1 however1 must be set ,brougham's complete and invincible repugnance to accept at face value anything bordering on the supernatural4 ,he took no pleasure in the thought that he had possibly been the recipient of a visit from a departed spirit4 ,on the contrary1 it annoyed him1 and he sought earnestly to find a natural explanation for an occurrence which remained unique throughout his long life4 ,no one would have been readier to point out the futility of the apparition if the absent friend had really continued hale and hearty after ,december #ai4 ,and it is therefore reasonable to assume that had he wished to falsify at all1 he would have given an altogether different sequel to the story of his vision or dream1 as he preferred to call it1 though the evidence which he himself furnishes shows that he was not asleep4 ,the question still remains1 of course1 whether he was justified in dismissing it as a sheer chance coincidence4 ,if it stood by itself1 it would obviously be permissible to accept this explanation as all sufficient4 ,but the fact is that it is only one of many similar instances4 ,this was strikingly brought out only a few years ago through a far reaching inquiry1 a census of hallucinations1 instituted by a special committee of the ,society for ,psychical ,research4 ,enlisting the services of some four hundred collectors1 the committee instructed each of these to address to twenty-five adults1 selected at random1 the query1 ,have you ever1 when believing yourself to be completely awake1 had a vivid impression of seeing or being touched by a living being or inanimate object1 or of hearing a voice2 which impression1 so far as you could discover1 was not due to any external physical cause8 ,in all1 seventeen thousand people were thus questioned1 and almost ten per cent4 of the answers received proved to be in the affirmative4 ,more than this1 it appeared that out of a total of three hundred and fifty recognized apparitions of living persons1 no fewer than sixty-five were death coincidences1 in which the hallucinatory experience occurred within from one hour to twelve hours after the death of the person seen4 ,sifting these death coincidences carefully1 the committee for various reasons rejected more than half1 and at the same time raised the total of recognized apparitions of living persons from three hundred and fifty to thirteen hundred4 ,this was done in order to make generous allowance for the number of such apparitions forgotten by those to whom the question had been put1 investigation showing that the great majority of hallucinations reported were given as of comparatively recent occurrence1 and that there was a rapid decrease as the years of occurrence became more remote4 ,as a final result1 therefore1 the committee found about thirty death coincidences out of thirteen hundred cases1 or a proportion of one in forty-three4 ,computing from the average annual death-rate for ,england and ,wales1 it was calculated that the probability that any one person would die on a given day was about one in nineteen thousand2 in other words1 out of every nineteen thousand apparitions of living persons1 there should occur1 by chance alone1 one death coincidence4 ,the actual proportion1 however1 as established by the inquiry1 was equivalent to about four hundred and forty in nineteen thousand1 or four hundred and forty times the most probable number1 and this when the apparitions reported were considered merely collectively as having been seen at any time within twelve hours after death4 ,not a few1 as a matter of fact1 were reported as having been seen within one hour after death1 and for these the improbability of occurrence by chance alone was manifestly twelve times four hundred and forty4 ,in view of these considerations the committee felt warranted in declaring that between deaths and apparitions of dying persons a connection exists which is not due to chance4,j ,had ,lord ,brougham lived to study the statistics of this remarkable census of hallucinations1 he might have formed a higher opinion of his ghost2 but he would also have been in a better position to deny its supernatural attributes4 ,for1 if the ,society for ,psychical ,research has made it impossible to doubt the existence of such ghosts as that which he beheld during his travels in ,sweden1 it has likewise made discoveries which afford a really substantial reason for asserting that they no more hail from the world beyond than do ghosts that are unmistakably the creations of fancy or fraud4 ,this results from the society's investigations of thought transference or telepathy1 to use the term now commonly employed4 ,at an early stage of the experiments undertaken to determine the possibility of transmitting thought from mind to mind without the intervention of any known means of communication1 it was found that when success attended the efforts of the experimenters the telepathic message was frequently received not in the form of pure thought but as a hallucinatory image2 and what is still more important in the present connection1 it was further found possible so to produce not merely images of cards1 flowers1 books1 and other inanimate objects1 but also images of living persons4 ,thus1 as chronicled with corroborative evidence in the society's ,proceedings1 an ,english clergyman named ,godfrey telepathically caused a distant friend to see an apparition of him one night2 the same result was achieved by a ,mr4 ,sinclair of ,new ,jersey1 who1 during a visit to ,new ,york1 succeeded in projecting a phantasm of himself which was clearly seen by his wife in ,lakewood2 and similarly a ,mr4 ,kirk1 while seated in his ,london office1 paid a telepathic visit to the home of a young woman1 who saw him as distinctly as though he had gone there in the flesh4 ,in all of these1 as in other cases recorded by the society1 the persons to whom the apparitions were vouchsafed had no idea that any experiment of the kind was being attempted4 ,indeed1 there is on record an apparently well authenticated instance of the experimental production of an apparition not of the living but of the dead4 ,this occurred in ,germany many years ago1 when a certain ,herr ,wesermann undertook to will a military friend into dreaming of a woman who had long been dead4 ,the sequel may be related in ,herr ,wesermann's own words3 ,a lady1 who had been dead five years1 was to appear to ,lieutenant ,n4 in a dream at #aj4cj ,p4,m41 and incite him to good deeds4 ,at half-past ten1 contrary to expectation1 ,herr ,n4 had not gone to bed but was discussing the ,french campaign with his friend ,lieutenant ,s4 in the ante-room4 ,suddenly the door of the room opened1 the lady entered dressed in white1 with a black kerchief and uncovered head1 greeted ,s4 with her hand three times in a friendly manner2 then turned to ,n41 nodded to him1 and returned again through the doorway4 ,as this story1 related to me by ,lieutenant ,n41 seemed to be too remarkable from a psychological point of view for the truth of it not to be duly established1 ,i wrote to ,lieutenant ,s41 who was living six miles away1 and asked him to give me his account of it4 ,he sent me the following reply3 ',on the thirteenth of ,march1 #ahag1 ,herr ,n4 came to pay me a visit at my lodgings about a league from ,a----4 ,he stayed the night with me4 ,after supper1 and when we were both undressed1 ,i was sitting on my bed and ,herr ,n4 was standing by the door of the next room on the point also of going to bed4 ,this was about half-past ten4 ,we were speaking partly about indifferent subjects and partly about the events of the ,french campaign4 ,suddenly the door of the kitchen opened without a sound1 and a lady entered1 very pale1 taller than ,herr ,n41 about five feet four inches in height1 strong and broad of figure1 dressed in white1 but with a large black kerchief which reached to below the waist4 ',she entered with bare head1 greeted me with the hand three times in complimentary fashion1 turned round to the left toward ,herr ,n41 and waved her hand to him three times2 after which the figure quietly1 and again without any creaking of the door1 went out4 ,we followed at once in order to discover whether there were any deception1 but found nothing4 ,the strangest thing was this1 that our night-watch of two men whom ,i had shortly found on the watch were now asleep1 though at my first call they were on the alert2 and that the door of the room1 which always opens with a good deal of noise1 did not make the slightest sound when opened by the figure4',k ,it is also significant that1 as was made evident by the census of hallucinations1 by far the larger number of apparitions reported are those of persons still alive and well4 ,in these cases1 nobody being dead1 it is absurd,l to raise the cry of spirits1 and the only tenable hypothesis is that1 through one of the several causes which seem to quicken telepathic action1 a spontaneous telepathic hallucination has been produced4 ,now1 the experiments conducted by the society and by independent investigators have shown that telepathic messages often lie dormant for hours beneath the threshold of the receiver's consciousness1 being consciously apprehended only when certain favoring conditions arise2 as1 for example1 when the receiver has fallen asleep1 or into a state of reverie1 or when1 tired out after a long day's work1 he has utterly relaxed mentally4 ,this is technically known as deferred percipience1 and1 considered in conjunction with the discoveries mentioned1 it is amply sufficient to dislodge from the realm of the supernatural the ghost seen by ,lord ,brougham1 and every ghost that is not a mere imposter4 ,in the ,brougham case the exciting cause of the hallucination seems to have been the death pact4 ,as he lay dying in ,india1 the mind of the whilom schoolboy would1 consciously or unconsciously1 revert to that agreement with the friend of his youth1 and thence would arise the desire to let him know that the plighted word had not been forgotten4 ,across the vast intervening space1 by what mechanism we as yet do not know1 the message would flash instantaneously1 to remain unapprehended1 perhaps for hours after the death of the sender1 until1 in the quiet of the ,swedish inn and resting from the fatigues of the journey1 ,brougham's mental faculties passed momentarily into the condition necessary for its objective realization4 ,then1 precisely as in experimental telepathy the receiver sees a hallucinatory image of the trinket or the book2 with a suddenness and vividness that could not fail to shock him1 the message would find expression by the creation before ,brougham's startled eyes of a hallucinatory image of the friend who1 as he was to learn later1 had died that same day thousands of miles from ,sweden4 ,knowing nothing of the possibilities of the human mind1 as revealed1 if only faintly1 by the labors of a later generation1 it was inevitable he should believe he had no alternative between dismissing the experience as a peculiar dream or admitting that in very truth he had looked upon a ghost4 ,,footnotes3 ,j ,the committee's report will be found in the tenth volume of the ,proceedings of the ,society for ,psychical ,research4 ,k ,translation from the ,journal of the ,society for ,psychical ,research1 ,vol4 ,,iv4 p4 #bah4 ,l ,i had originally written impossible1 but a critic of my ,riddle of ,personality1 in which this point was taken up1 has convinced me that absurd is the better word4 ,the critic in question writes3 what evidence has the author that an apparition of the living is not a spirit8 ,why may not the spirit of the living person have left his body and appeared to his friend8 ,such is the view of many people1 and it coincides with certain phenomena in dreams4 ,but1 to raise only one objection3 ,if the apparition appear at a moment when the person seen is actively engaged elsewhere--it may be in writing a book1 or preaching a sermon--what is it that is seen1 and what is it that is writing or preaching8 ,is the spirit present in both places at the same time--in the shadowy apparition1 and in the living1 breathing1 busily-occupied human entity8 ,assuredly1 if it be not impossible to raise the cry of spirits in such a case1 it would at all events seem absurd to do so4 ,,vii ,,the ,,seeress ,,of ,,prevorst ,modern spiritism1 as every student of that fascinating if elusive subject is aware1 dates from the closing years of the first half of the nineteenth century4 ,but the celebrated ,fox sisters1 whose revelations at that time served to crystallize into an organized religious system the idea of the possibility of communication between this world and the world beyond1 were by no means the first of spiritistic mediums4 ,long before their day there were those who professed to have cognizance of things unseen and to act as intermediaries between the living and the dead2 and although lost to sight amid the throng of latter-day claimants to similar powers1 the achievements of some of these early adventurers into the unknown have not been surpassed by the best performances of the ,fox girls and their long line of successors4 ,especially is this true of the mediumship of a young ,german woman1 ,frederica ,hauffe1 who in the course of her short1 pitiful1 and tragic career is credited with having displayed more varied and picturesque supernatural gifts than the most renowned wonder-worker of to-day4 ,like many modern mediums she was of humble origin1 her birthplace being a forester's hut in the ,wuertemberg mountain village of ,prevorst2 and here1 among wood-cutters and charcoal-burners1 she passed the first years of her life4 ,even while still a child she seems to have attracted wide-spread attention on account of certain peculiarities of temperament and conduct4 ,it was noticed that though naturally gay and playful she occasionally assumed a strangely intent and serious manner2 that in her happiest moments she was subject to unaccountable fits of shuddering and shivering2 and that she seemed keenly alive not merely to the sights and sounds of every-day life but to influences unfelt by those about her4 ,this last trait received a sudden and unexpected development when1 at the age of twelve or thirteen1 she was sent to the neighboring town of ,loewenstein to be educated under the care of her grand-parents1 a worthy couple named ,schmidgall4 ,grandfather ,schmidgall was an exceedingly superstitious old man1 with a singular fondness for visiting solitary and gloomy places1 particularly churchyards2 and he soon began to take the little girl with him on such strolls4 ,but he discovered1 much to his amazement1 that though she listened with avidity to the tales he told her of the romantic and mysterious events that had occurred within the somber ruins with which the countryside was liberally endowed1 she was reluctant to explore those ruins or wander among the graves where he delighted to resort4 ,at first he was inclined to ascribe her reluctance to weak and sentimental timidity1 but he speedily found reason to adopt an altogether different view4 ,he noticed that whenever he took her to graveyards or to churches in which there were graves1 her frail form became greatly agitated1 and at times she seemed rooted to the ground2 and that there were certain places1 especially an old kitchen in a nearby castle1 which he could not persuade her to enter1 and the mere sight of which caused her to quake and tremble4 ,the child1 he told his wife1 feels the presence of the dead1 and1 mark you1 she will end by seeing the dead4 ,he was1 therefore1 more alarmed than surprised when one midnight1 long after he had fancied her in bed and asleep1 she ran to his room and informed him that she had just beheld in the hall a tall1 dark figure which1 sighing heavily1 passed her and disappeared in the vestibule4 ,with awe1 not unmixed with satisfaction1 ,schmidgall remembered that he had once seen the self-same apparition2 but he prudently endeavored to convince her that she had been dreaming and sent her back to her room1 which1 thenceforward1 he never allowed her to leave at night4 ,in this way ,frederica ,hauffe's mediumship began4 ,but several years were to pass before she saw another ghost or gave evidence of possessing supernormal powers other than by occasional dreams of a prophetic and revelatory nature4 ,in the meanwhile she rejoined her parents and moved with them from ,prevorst to ,oberstenfeld1 where1 in her nineteenth year1 she was married4 ,it was distinctly a marriage of convenience1 arranged without regard to her wishes1 and the moment the engagement was announced she secluded herself from her friends and passed her days and nights in weeping4 ,for weeks together she went without sleep1 ate scarcely anything1 and became thin1 pale1 and feeble4 ,it was rumored that she had set her affections in another quarter3 but her relatives angrily denied this and asserted that once married she would soon become herself again4 ,they were mistaken4 ,from her wedding day1 which she celebrated by attending the funeral of a venerable clergyman to whom she had been warmly attached1 her health broke rapidly4 ,one morning she awoke in a high fever that lasted a fortnight and was followed by convulsive spasms1 during which she beheld at the bedside the image of her grandmother ,schmidgall1 who1 it subsequently developed1 was at that moment dying in distant ,loewenstein4 ,the spasms continuing1 despite the application of the customary rude remedies of the time1 it was decided to send for a physician with some knowledge of mesmerism1 which was then becoming popular in ,germany4 ,to the astonishment of those who thronged the sick room1 the first touch of his hand on her forehead brought relief4 ,the convulsions ceased1 she became calm1 and presently she fell asleep4 ,but on awaking she was attacked as before1 and try as he might the physician could not effect a permanent cure4 ,to all his passes she responded with gratifying promptitude1 only to suffer a relapse the moment she was released from the mesmeric influence4 ,at this juncture aid was received from a most extraordinary source1 according to the story ,frederica told her wondering friends4 ,with benign visage and extended hand1 the spirit of her grandmother appeared to her for seven successive nights1 mesmerized her1 and taught her how to mesmerize herself4 ,the results of this visitation1 if not altogether fortunate1 were at least to some extent curative4 ,there were periods when she was able not merely to leave her bed but to attend to household duties and indulge in long walks and drives4 ,but it was painfully apparent that she was still in a precarious condition4 ,from her infancy she had always been powerfully affected by the touch of different metals1 and now this phenomenon was intensified a thousand-fold4 ,the placing of a magnet on her forehead caused her features to be contorted as though by a stroke of paralysis2 contact with glass and sand made her cataleptic4 ,once she was found seated on a sandstone bench1 unable to move hand or foot4 ,about this time also she acquired the faculty of crystal-gazing2 that is to say1 by looking into a bowl of water she could correctly describe scenes transpiring at a distance4 ,more than this1 she now declared that behind the persons in whose company she was she perceived ghostly forms1 some of which she recognized as dead acquaintances4 ,unlike her grandmother1 these new visitants from the unknown world did not provide her with the means of regaining her lost health4 ,on the contrary1 from the time they first put in their appearance she grew far worse1 suffering not so much from convulsive attacks as from an increasing lassitude4 ,she complained that eating was a great tax on her strength1 and that rising and walking were out of the question4 ,unable to comprehend this new turn of affairs1 her attendants lost all patience1 declared that if she had made up her mind to die she might as well do so as at once1 and tried to force her to leave her bed4 ,finally her parents intervened1 and at their request she was brought back to ,oberstenfeld4 ,here she found an altogether congenial environment1 and for a while showed marked improvement4 ,here too1 and in a most sensational way1 her mediumship blossomed into full fruition4 ,she had been home for only a short time when the family began to be disturbed by mysterious noises for which they could find no cause4 ,a sound like the ringing of glasses was frequently heard1 as were footsteps and knockings on the walls4 ,her father1 in particular1 asserted that sometimes he felt a strange pressure on his shoulder or his foot4 ,the impression grew that the house1 which was part of the ancient1 picturesque1 and none too well preserved cathedral of ,oberstenfeld1 was haunted by the spirits of its former occupants4 ,one night1 shortly after retiring to the room which they shared in common1 ,frederica1 her sister1 and a maid servant saw a lighted candle1 apparently of its own volition1 move up and down the table on which it was burning4 ,the sister and the servant saw nothing more2 but ,frederica the next instant beheld a thin1 grayish cloud1 which presently resolved into the form of a man1 about fifty years old1 attired in the costume of a medieval knight4 ,approaching1 this strange apparition gazed steadfastly at her1 and in a low but clear tone urged her to rise and follow it1 saying that she alone could loosen its bonds4 ,overcome with terror1 she cried out that she would not follow1 then ran across the room and hid herself in the bed where her sister and the servant lay panic-stricken4 ,that night she saw no more of the apparition3 but the maid1 whom they sent to sleep in the bed she had so hurriedly vacated1 declared that the coverings were forcibly drawn off her by an unseen hand4 ,the next night the apparition appeared to ,frederica again1 and to her alone4 ,this time it seemed not sorrowful but angry1 and threatened that if she did not rise and follow she would be hurled out of the window4 ,at her bold retort1 ,in the name of ,jesus1 do it6 the apparition vanished1 to return a few nights later1 and after that to show itself to her by day as well as by night4 ,it now informed her that it was the ghost of a nobleman named ,weiler1 who had slain his brother and for that crime was condemned to wander ceaselessly until it recovered a certain piece of paper hidden in a vault under the cathedral4 ,on hearing this1 she solemnly assured it that by prayer alone could its sins be forgiven and pardon obtained1 and thereupon she set herself to teach it to pray4 ,ultimately1 with a most joyous countenance1 the ghost told her that she had indeed led it to its ,redeemer and won its release2 and at the same time seven tiny spirits--the spirits of the children it had had on earth--appeared in a circle about it and sang melodiously4 ,nor did they leave her until the protecting apparition of her grandmother interrupted their thanksgivings and bade them be gone4 ,whether or no the happy ghost notified others in kindred plight of the success that had attended her efforts1 it is certain that1 if the contemporary records are to be accepted1 the few short years of life remaining to her were largely occupied in ministering to the wants of distressed spirits4 ,phantom monks1 nobles1 peasants1 pressed upon her with terrible tales of misdeeds unatoned1 and begged her to instruct them in the prayers which were essential to salvation4 ,there was one specially importunate group1 the apparitions of a young man1 a young woman1 and a new-born child wrapped in ghostly rags1 which gave her no peace for months4 ,the child1 they said1 was theirs and had been murdered by them1 and the young woman in her turn had been murdered by the young man4 ,naturally1 they were in an unhappy frame of mind1 and until she was able to send them on their way rejoicing their conduct and language were so extravagant that they appalled her more than did any other of the numerous seekers for grace and rest4 ,the dead were not the only ones to whom she ministered4 ,side by side with the gift of ghost-seeing and ghost-conversing1 and with the no less remarkable gift of speaking in an unknown tongue and of setting forth the mysteries of the hereafter1 she developed the peculiar faculty of peering into the innermost being of spirits still in the flesh1 detecting the obscure causes of disease1 and prescribing remedies4 ,strange to say1 her own health remained poor1 and gradually she became so feeble that from day to day her death seemed imminent4 ,but her parents were resolved to do all they could for her1 and at last bethought themselves of placing her in the hands of the much talked of physician1 ,justinus ,kerner1 who lived in the pleasant valley town of ,weinsberg and was said to be an adept in every branch of the healing art1 notably in the mesmerism which alone appeared to benefit her4 ,to ,kerner1 therefore1 she was sent2 and it is not difficult to imagine the delight with which she exchanged the gloomy mountain forests for the verdant meadows and fragrant vineyards of ,weinsberg4 ,kerner1 who is better known to the present generation as mystic and poet than as physician1 was justly accounted one of the celebrities of the day4 ,eccentric and visionary1 he was yet a man of solid learning and an intense patriot4 ,it was owing to him1 as his biographers fondly recall1 that ,weinsberg's most glorious monument1 the well named ,weibertrube1 was not suffered to fall into utter neglect1 but was instead restored to remind all ,germans of that distant day1 in the long gone twelfth century1 when the women of ,weinsberg1 securing from the conqueror the promise that their lives would be spared1 and that they might take with them from the doomed city their most precious belongings1 staggered forth under the burden not of jewels and treasure but of their husbands1 whom they carried in their arms or on their backs4 ,thus was a massacre averted1 and thus did the name of ,woman's ,faithfulness attach itself to the castle in the shadow of which ,kerner spent his days4 ,but at the time of which we write neither the castle nor poetry held first place in his thoughts2 instead1 he was absorbed in the practice of his profession4 ,and so1 with the ardor of the enthusiast and the sympathy of the true physician1 he welcomed to ,weinsberg the sufferer of whom he had heard much and of whom he was to become both doctor and biographer4,m ,it was in ,november1 #ahbf1 that he first met her4 ,she was then twenty-five1 and thus had been for six years in a state of almost constant ill health4 ,her very appearance moved him profoundly4 ,her fragile body1 he relates in the graphic word picture he drew1 enveloped her spirit but as a gauzy veil4 ,she was extremely small1 with ,oriental features and dark-lashed eyes that were at once penetrating and prophetic4 ,when she spoke his conviction deepened that he was looking on one who belonged more to the world of the dead than to the world of the living2 and he speedily became persuaded that she actually did1 as she claimed1 commune with the dead4 ,less than a month after her arrival at ,weinsberg1 and being in the trance condition that was now frequent with her1 she announced to him that she had been visited by a ghost1 which insisted on showing her a sheet of paper covered with figures and begged her to give it to his wife1 who was still alive and would understand its significance and the duty devolving upon her of making restitution to the man he had wronged in life4 ,kerner was thunderstruck at recognizing from her description a ,weinsberg lawyer who had been dead for some years and was thought to have defrauded a client out of a large sum of money4 ,eagerly he plied ,frederica with questions1 among other things asking her to endeavor to locate the paper of which the ghost spoke4 ,i see it1 said she1 dreamily4 ,it lies in a building which is sixty paces from my bed4 ,in this ,i see a large and a smaller room4 ,in the latter sits a tall gentleman1 who is working at a table4 ,now he goes out1 and now he returns4 ,beyond these rooms there is one still larger1 in which are some chests and a long table4 ,on the table is a wooden thing--,i cannot name it--and on this lie three heaps of paper2 and in the center one1 about the middle of the heap1 lies the sheet which so torments him4 ,knowing that this was an exact account of the office of the local bailiff1 ,kerner hastened to that functionary with the astonishing news1 and was still more astonished when the bailiff told him that he had been occupied precisely as she said4 ,together they searched among the papers on the table2 but could find none in the lawyer's handwriting4 ,frederica1 however1 was insistent1 adding that one corner of the paper in question was turned down and that it was enclosed in a stout brown envelope4 ,a second search proved that she was right1 and on opening the paper it was found to contain not only figures but an explicit reference to a private account book of which the lawyer's widow had denied all knowledge4 ,still more striking was the fact1 according to ,kerner's narrative1 that when the bailiff1 as a test1 placed the paper in a certain position on his desk and went to ,frederica1 pretending that he had it with him1 she correctly informed him where it was and read it off to him word by word4 ,although the sequel was rather unsatisfactory1 inasmuch as the widow persisted in asserting that she knew nothing of a private account book and refused to yield a penny to the injured client1 ,kerner was so impressed by this exhibition of supernatural power that1 in order to study his patient more closely1 he had her removed from her lodgings to his own house4 ,thither also1 as soon as he learned that their presence seemed to increase her susceptibility to the occult influences by which she was surrounded1 he brought her sister and the maid servant of the dancing candle episode4 ,then ensued greater marvels than had ever bewitched the family at ,oberstenfeld4 ,invisible hands threw articles of furniture at the enthusiastic doctor and his friends2 ghostly fingers sprinkled lime and gravel on the flooring of his halls and rooms2 spirit knuckles beat lively tattoos on walls1 tables1 chairs1 and bedsteads4 ,and all the while ghosts with criminal pasts flocked in and out1 seeking consolation and advice4 ,only once or twice1 however1 did the physician himself see anything even remotely resembling a ghost4 ,on one occasion a cloudy shape floated past his window2 and on another he saw at ,frederica's bedside a pillar of vapor1 which she afterward told him was the specter of a tall old man who had visited her twice before4 ,but if he neither saw the ghosts nor heard them speak1 it was sufficiently demonstrated to him that they were really in evidence4 ,the knocking1 furniture throwing1 and gravel sprinkling were the least of the wonders of which it was permitted him to be a witness4 ,once1 when ,frederica was taking an afternoon nap1 a spirit that was evidently solicitous for her comfort drew off her boots1 and in his presence carried them across the room to where her sister was standing by a window4 ,again at midnight1 after a preliminary knocking on the walls1 he observed another spirit1 or possibly the same1 open a book she had been reading which was lying on her bed4 ,most marvelous of all1 when her father died she herself enacted the role of ghost1 the news of his death being conveyed to her supernaturally and her cry of anguish being supernaturally conveyed back to the room where his corpse lay1 in ,oberstenfeld1 and where it was distinctly heard by the physician who had attended him in his last moments4 ,after this crowning piece of testimony the good ,kerner felt that no doubt of her unheard of powers could remain in the most skeptical mind4 ,judge1 then1 of his dismay and grief when he saw her visibly fading away1 daily growing more ethereal of form and feature1 more weak in body and spirit4 ,it was his belief that the ghosts were robbing her of her vitality1 and earnestly but vainly he strove to banish them4 ,she herself declared1 with a tone of indescribable relief1 that she knew the end was near1 and that she welcomed it1 as she longed to attain the quiet of the grave with her father and ,grandfather and ,grandmother ,schmidgall4 ,when ,kerner sought to cheer her by the assurance that she yet had many years to live1 she silenced him with the tale of a gruesome vision4 ,three times1 she said1 there had appeared to her at dead of night a female figure1 wrapped in black and standing beside an open and empty coffin1 to which it beckoned her4 ,but before she died she wished to see again the mountains of her childhood2 and to the mountains ,kerner carried her4 ,there1 on ,august #e1 #ahbi1 peacefully and happily1 to the singing of hymns and the sobbing utterance of prayers1 her soul took its flight4 ,but1 unlike ,kerner1 who hastened back to ,weinsberg to write the biography of this delicate flower who lived upon sunbeams1 we must shake off the spell of her strange personality and ask seriously what manner of mortal she was4 ,this inquiry is the more imperative since the doings of the tambourine players and automatic writers1 of whom so much is made in certain quarters to-day1 pale into insignificance beside the story of her remarkable career4 ,now1 in point of fact1 the evidence bearing out the claim that she saw and talked with the dead is practically confined to the account written by the mourning ,kerner1 whom no one would for a moment call an unprejudiced witness4 ,already deeply immersed in the study of the marvelous1 his mind absorbed in the weird phenomena of the recently discovered science of animal magnetism1 she came to him both as a patient and as a living embodiment of the mysteries that held for him a boundless fascination1 and once he found reason to believe in her alleged supernormal powers1 there was nothing too fantastic or extravagant to which he would not give ready credence and assent4 ,his lengthy record of facts includes not only what he himself saw or thought he saw1 but every tale and anecdote related to him by the seeress and her friends1 and also includes so many incidents of supernaturalism on the part of others that it would well seem that half the peasant population of ,wuertemberg were ghost seers4 ,besides this1 detailed as his narrative is1 it is lacking in precisely those details which would give it evidential value2 so lacking1 indeed1 that even such a spiritistic advocate as the late ,f4 ,w4 ,h4 ,myers pronounced it quite inadequate for citation in support of the spiritistic theory4 ,nevertheless1 taking his extraordinary document for what it is worth1 careful consideration of it leads to the conclusion that it contains the story not so much of a great fraud as of a great tragedy4 ,it is obvious that there was frequent and barefaced trickery1 particularly on the part of ,frederica's sister and the ubiquitous servant girl2 but it is equally certain that ,frederica herself was a wholly abnormal creature1 firmly self-deluded1 one might say self-hypnotized1 into the belief that the dead consorted with her4 ,and it is hardly less certain that in her singular state of body and mind she gave evidence not indeed of supernatural but of telepathic and clairvoyant powers on which she and those about her1 in that unenlightened age1 could not but put a supernatural interpretation4 ,it is not difficult to trace the origin of the nervous and mental disease from which she suffered4 ,kerner's account of her childhood shows plainly that she was born temperamentally imaginative and unstable and that she was raised in an environment well calculated to exaggerate her imaginativeness and instability4 ,ghosts and goblins were favorite topics of conversation among the peasantry of ,prevorst1 while the children with whom she played were many of them unstable like herself1 neurotic1 hysterical1 and the victims of ,st4 ,vitus's dance4 ,the weird and uneasy ideas and feelings which thus early took possession of her were given firmer lodgment by her unfortunate sojourn with grave-haunting ,grandfather ,schmidgall4 ,after this1 it seems1 she suffered for a year from some eye trouble1 and every physician knows how close the connection is between optical disease and hallucinations4 ,then came a brief period of seeming normality1 the lull before the storm which burst in full force with her marriage to a man she did not love4 ,from that time1 the helpless victim of hysteria in its most deep-seated and obstinate form1 she gave herself unreservedly to the delusions which both arose from and intensified her physical ills--ills which after all had a purely mental basis4 ,if ,i doubted the reality of these apparitions1 she once told ,kerner1 ,i should be in danger of insanity2 for it would make me doubt the reality of everything ,i saw4 ,it does not affect this view of the case that she unquestionably cooperated with her conscienceless sister and the servant girl in the production of the fraudulent phenomena to which ,kerner testifies4 ,their cheating was probably done for the sole purpose of making sure of the comfortable berth in which the physician's credulity had placed them4 ,hers1 on the other hand1 was the deceit of an irresponsible mind1 of one living in such an atmosphere of unreality that she could readily persuade herself that the knockings1 candle dancings1 book openings1 and similar acts were the work not of her own hands but of the ghosts which tormented her4 ,indeed1 researches of recent years in the field of abnormal psychology show it is quite possible that she was absolutely ignorant of any personal participation in the movements and sounds which caused such wide-spread mystification4 ,sympathy and pity1 therefore1 should take the place of condemnation when we follow the course of her eventful and unhappy life4 ,,footnotes3 ,m ,kerner's account of ,frederica ,hauffe is found in his ,die ,seherin von ,prevorst1 accessible in an ,english translation by ,mrs4 ,catharine ,crowe4 ,students of the supernatural1 it may be added1 will find a great deal of interesting material in ,mrs4 ,crowe's ,the ,night ,side of ,nature4 ,,viii ,,the ,,mysterious ,,mr4 ,,home ,so you've brought the devil to my house1 have you8 ,no1 no1 aunty1 no6 ,it's not my fault4 ,with an angry gesture the woman1 tall1 large boned1 harsh visaged1 pushed back her chair and advanced threateningly toward the pale1 anemic looking youth of seventeen1 who sat cowering at the far end of the breakfast table4 ,you know this is your doing4 ,stop it at once6 ,the other gazed helplessly about him1 while from every side of the room came a volley of raps and knocks4 ,it is not my doing1 he muttered4 ,i cannot help it4 ,begone then6 ,out of my sight6 ,left to herself and to silence1--for with her nephew's departure the noise instantly ceased1--she fell into gloomy meditation4 ,she was an exceedingly ignorant1 but a profoundly religious woman4 ,she had heard much of the celebrated ,fox sisters1 with tales of whose strange actions in the neighboring ,state of ,new ,york the countryside was then ringing1 and she recognized1 or imagined she recognized1 a striking similarity between their performances and the tumult of the last few minutes4 ,it was her firm belief that the ,fox girls were victims of demoniac influence1 and no less surely did she deem it impossible to attribute the recent disturbance to human agency4 ,her nephew was not given to practical jokes2 there had been nothing unusual in his manner2 he had greeted her cheerily as usual1 and quietly taken his seat4 ,but with his advent1 and she shuddered at the remembrance1 the knockings had begun4 ,there could be only one explanation--the boy1 however unwittingly1 had placed himself in the power of the devil4 ,what to do1 however1 she knew not1 and fumed and fretted the entire morning1 until upon his reappearance at noon the knockings broke out again4 ,then her mind was quickly made up4 ,look you6 said she to him4 ,we must rid you of the evil that is in you4 ,i will have the ministers reason with you and pray for you1 and that at once4 ,true to her word1 she despatched a messenger to the three clergymen of the little ,connecticut village in which she made her home1 and all three promptly responded to her request4 ,but their visits and their prayers proved fruitless4 ,indeed1 the more they prayed the louder the knocks became2 and presently1 to their astonishment and dismay1 the very furniture appeared bewitched1 dancing and leaping as though alive4 ,verily1 said one to his irate aunt1 the boy is possessed of the devil4 ,to make matters worse1 the neighbors1 hearing of the weird occurrences1 besieged the house day and night1 their curiosity whetted by a report that1 exactly as in the case of the ,fox sisters1 communications from the dead were being received through the knockings4 ,incredible as it seemed1 this report found speedy confirmation4 ,before the week was out the lad told his aunt3 ,last night there came raps to me spelling words1 and they brought me a message from the spirit of my mother4 ,and what1 pray1 was the message8 ,my mother's spirit said to me1 ',daniel1 fear not1 my child4 ,god is with you1 and who shall be against you8 ,seek to do good4 ,be truthful and truth loving1 and you will prosper1 my child4 ,yours is a glorious mission--you will convince the infidel1 cure the sick1 and console the weeping4' ,a glorious mission1 mocked the aunt1 her patience utterly exhausted1--a glorious mission to bedevil and deceive1 to plague and torment6 ,away1 away1 and darken my doors no more6 ,do you mean this1 aunty8 ,mean it1 ,daniel8 ,never shall it be said of me that ,i gave aid and comfort to ,satan or child of ,satan's4 ,pack1 and be off6 ,in this way was ,daniel ,dunglas ,home launched on a career that was to prove one of the most marvelous1 if not the most marvelous1 in the annals of mystification4 ,but at the time there was no reason to anticipate the remarkable achievements which the future held in store for him4 ,he was fitted for no calling4 ,ever since his aunt had adopted him in far-away ,scotland1 where he was born of obscure parentage in #ahcc1 he had led a life of complete dependence1 not altogether cheerless but deadening to initiative and handicapping him terribly for the task of making his way in the world4 ,his health was broken1 his pockets were empty1 he was without friends4 ,cast upon his own resources under such conditions1 it seemed but too probable that failure and an early death would be his portion4 ,two things only were in his favor4 ,the first was his native determination and optimism2 the second1 the interest aroused by published reports of the phenomena that had led to his expulsion from his aunt's house4 ,already1 although only a few days had elapsed since the knockings were first heard1 the newspapers had given the story great publicity1 and their accounts were greedily devoured by an ever-widening circle of readers1 quite willing to regard such happenings as evidence of the intervention of the dead in the affairs of the living4 ,it was1 it must be remembered1 an era of wide-spread enthusiasm and credulity1 the heyday period of spiritism4 ,so soon1 therefore1 as it became known that young ,home was at liberty to go where he would1 invitations were showered on him4 ,among these was one from the nearby town of ,willimantic1 and thither ,home journeyed in the early spring of #ahea4 ,it was determined that an attempt should be made to demonstrate his mediumship by the table tilting process then coming into vogue among spiritists1 and the result exceeded all expectations4 ,the table1 according to an eye-witness of the first seance1 not only moved without physical contact1 but on request turned itself upside down1 and overcame a spectator's efforts to prevent its motion4 ,true1 when this spectator grasped its leg and held it with all his strength the table did not move so freely as before4 ,still1 it moved1 and ,home's fame mounted apace4 ,from town to town he traveled1 holding seances at which1 if contemporary accounts are to be believed1 he gave exhibitions of supernatural power far and away ahead of all other of the numerous mediums who were by this time springing up throughout the ,eastern ,states4 ,on one occasion1 we are told1 the spirits communicated through him the whereabouts of missing title deeds to a tract of land then in litigation2 on another1 they enabled him to prescribe successfully for an invalid for whom no hope was entertained2 and time after time they conveyed to those in his seance room messages of more or less vital import1 besides vouchsafing to them physical phenomena of the greatest variety4 ,what was most remarkable was the fact that the young medium steadfastly refused to accept payment for his services4 ,my gift1 he would solemnly say1 is free to all1 without money and without price4 ,i have a mission to fulfil1 and to its fulfilment ,i will cheerfully give my life4 ,naturally this attitude of itself made for converts to the spiritistic beliefs of which he was such a successful exponent1 and its influence was powerfully reinforced by the result of an investigation conducted in the spring of #aheb by a committee headed by the poet1 ,william ,cullen ,bryant1 and the ,harvard professor1 ,david ,g4 ,wells4 ,briefly1 these declared in their report that they had attended a seance with ,home in a well lighted room1 had seen a table move in every direction and with great force1 when we could not perceive any cause of motion1 and even rise clear of the floor and float in the atmosphere for several seconds2 had in vain tried to inhibit its action by sitting on it2 had occasionally been made conscious of the occurrence of a powerful shock1 which produced a vibratory motion of the floor of the apartment in which we were seated2 and finally were absolutely certain that they had not been imposed upon or deceived4 ,the report1 to be sure1 did not specify what1 if any1 means had been taken to guard against fraud1 its only reference in this connection being a statement that ,mr4 ,d4 ,d4 ,home frequently urged us to hold his hands and feet4 ,but it none the less created a tremendous sensation1 public attention being focused on the fact that an awkward1 callow1 country lad had successfully sustained the scrutiny of men of learning1 intelligence1 and high repute4 ,no longer1 it would seem1 could there be doubt of the validity of his claims1 and greater demands than ever were made on him4 ,as before1 he willingly responded1 adding to his repertoire1 if the term be permissible1 new feats of the most startling character4 ,thus1 at a seance in ,new ,york a table on which a pencil1 two candles1 a tumbler1 and some papers had been placed1 tipped over at an angle of thirty degrees without disturbing in the slightest the position of the movable objects on its surface4 ,then at the medium's bidding the pencil was dislodged1 rolling to the floor1 while the rest remained motionless2 and afterward the tumbler4 ,a little later occurred the first of ,home's levitations when at the house of a ,mr4 ,cheney in ,south ,manchester1 ,connecticut1 he is said to have been lifted without visible means of support to the ceiling of the seance room4 ,to quote from an eye-witness's narrative3 ,suddenly1 and without any expectation on the part of the company1 ,mr4 ,home was taken up in the air4 ,i had hold of his feet at the time1 and ,i and others felt his feet--they were lifted a foot from the floor4444 ,again and again he was taken from the floor1 and the third time he was carried to the lofty ceiling of the apartment1 with which his hand and head came in gentle contact4 ,a far cry1 this1 from the simple raps and knocks that had ushered in his mediumship4 ,now1 however1 an event occurred that threatened to cut short alike his mission and his life4 ,never of robust health1 he fell seriously ill of an affection that developed into tuberculosis4 ,the medical men whom he consulted unanimously declared that his only hope lay in a change of climate1 and1 taking alarm1 his spiritistic friends generously subscribed a large sum to enable him to visit ,europe4 ,incidentally1 no doubt1 they expected him to serve as a missionary of the new faith1 and it may be said at once that in this expectation they were not deceived4 ,no one ever labored more earnestly and successfully in behalf of spiritism than did ,daniel ,dunglas ,home from the moment he set foot on the shores of ,england in ,april1 #ahee2 and no one in all the history of spiritism achieved such individual renown1 not in ,england alone but in almost every country of the ,continent4 ,it is from this point that the mystery of his career really becomes conspicuous4 ,hitherto1 with the exception of the ,bryant-,wells investigation1 which could hardly be called scientific1 his pretensions had not been seriously tested1 and operating as he did among avowed spiritists he had enjoyed unlimited opportunities for the perpetration of fraud4 ,but henceforth1 skeptics as well as believers having ready access to him1 he found himself not infrequently in a thoroughly hostile environment1 and subjected to the sharpest criticism and most unrestrained abuse4 ,nevertheless1 he was able not simply to maintain but to augment the fame of his youth1 and after a mediumship of more than thirty years1 could claim the unique distinction of not once having had a charge of trickery proved against him4 ,besides this1 overcoming with astounding ease the handicaps of his humble birth and lack of education1 his life was one continued round of social triumphs of the highest order2 for he speedily won and retained to the day of his death the confidence and friendship of leaders of society in every ,european capital4 ,with them1 in castle1 chateau1 and mansion1 he made his home1 always welcome and always trusted2 and in his days of greatest stress1 days of ill health1 vilification1 and legal entanglements1 they rallied unfailingly to his aid4 ,add again that ,kings and ,queens vied with one another in entertaining and rewarding him1 and it is possible to gain some idea of the heights scaled by this erstwhile ,connecticut country boy4 ,he began modestly enough by taking rooms at a quiet ,london hotel1 where1 his fame having spread through the city1 he soon had the pleasure of giving a seance to two such distinguished personages as ,lord ,brougham and ,sir ,david ,brewster4 ,both retired thoroughly mystified1 though the latter some months later asserted that while he could not account for all he had witnessed1 he had seen enough to satisfy himself that they could all be produced by hands and feet1--a statement which1 by the way1 was at variance from one he had made at the time1 and involved him in a most unpleasant controversy4 ,after ,brougham and ,brewster came a long succession of other notables1 including the novelist ,sir ,bulwer ,lytton1 to whom a most edifying experience was granted4 ,rapping away as usual1 the table suddenly indicated that it had a message for him1 and the alphabet being called over in the customary spiritistic style1 it spelled out3 ,i am the spirit who influenced you to write ,zanoni4 ,indeed6 quoth ,lytton1 with a skeptical smile4 ,suppose you give me a tangible proof of your presence8 ,put your hand under the table4 ,no sooner done1 than the invisible being gave him a hearty handshake1 and proceeded3 ,we wish you to believe in the-- ,it stopped4 ,in what8 ,in the medium8 ,no4 ,at that moment there came a gentle tapping on his knee1 and looking down he found on it a small cardboard cross that had been lying on another table4 ,lytton1 the story goes1 begged permission to keep the cross as a souvenir1 and promised that he would remember the spirit's injunction4 ,for ,home1 of course1 the incident was a splendid advertisement1 as were the extravagant reports spread broadcast by other visitors4 ,consequently1 when he visited ,italy in the autumn as the guest of one of his ,english patrons1 he gained instant recognition and was enabled to embark with phenomenal ease on his ,continental crusade4 ,in order to reach the most striking manifestations of his peculiar ability1 we must pass hurriedly over the events of the next few years1 although they are perhaps the most picturesque of his career1 including as they do seances with the third ,napoleon and his ,empress1 with the ,king of ,prussia1 and with the ,emperor of ,russia4 ,in ,russia he was married to the daughter of a noble ,russian family1 and for groomsmen at his wedding had ,count ,alexis ,tolstoi1 the famous poet1 and ,count ,bobrinski1 one of the ,emperor's chamberlains4 ,this was in #aheh1 and shortly afterward he returned to ,england to repeat his spiritistic triumphs of #ahee1 and increase the already large group of influential and titled friends whose doors were ever open to him4 ,had it not been for their generosity1 it is difficult1 indeed1 to see how he could have lived1 for his time was almost altogether devoted to the practice of spiritism1 and he was never known to accept a fee for a seance4 ,as it was1 he lived very well1 now the guest of one1 now of another1 and the frequent recipient of costly presents4 ,from ,england he fared back to the ,continent1 again traversing it by leisurely stages4 ,thus nearly a decade passed before the occurrence of the first of the several phenomena that have won ,home an enduring place among the greatest lights of spiritism4 ,at that time his ,english patrons included the ,viscount ,adare and the ,master of ,lindsay1 who have since become respectively the ,earl of ,dunraven and the ,earl of ,crawford4 ,they were sitting one evening 7,december #af1 #ahfh7 in an upper room of a house in ,london with ,home and a ,captain ,wynne1 when ,home suddenly left the room and entered the adjoining chamber4 ,the opening of a window was then heard1 and the next moment1 to the amazement of all three1 they perceived ,home's form floating in the dim moonlight outside the window of the room in which they were seated4 ,for an instant it hovered there1 at a height of fully seventy feet above the pavement1 and then1 smiling and debonnair1 ,home was with them again4 ,another marvel immediately followed4 ,at ,home's request ,lord ,dunraven closed the window out of which the medium was supposed to have been carried by the spirits1 and on returning observed that the window had not been raised a foot1 and he did not see how a man could have squeezed through it4 ,come1 said ,home1 ,i will show you4 ,together they went into the next room4 ,he told me1 ,lord ,dunraven reported1 to open the window as it was before4 ,i did so4 ,he told me to stand a little distance off2 he then went through the open space1 head first1 quite rapidly1 his body being nearly horizontal and apparently rigid4 ,he came in again feet foremost1 and we returned to the other room4 ,it was so dark ,i could not see clearly how he was supported outside4 ,he did not appear to grasp1 or rest upon the balustrade1 but rather to be swung out and in4 ,to ,lord ,dunraven and ,lord ,crawford again was given the boon of witnessing another of ,home's most sensational performances1 and on more than one occasion4 ,this may best be described in ,lord ,crawford's own words1 as related in his testimony to the ,london ,dialectical ,society's committee which in #ahfi undertook an inquiry into the claims of spiritism4 ,i saw ,mr4 ,home1 declared ,lord ,crawford1 in a trance elongated eleven inches4 ,i measured him standing up against the wall1 and marked the place2 not being satisfied with that1 ,i put him in the middle of the room and placed a candle in front of him1 so as to throw a shadow on the wall1 which ,i also marked4 ,when he awoke ,i measured him again in his natural size1 both directly and by the shadow1 and the results were equal4 ,i can swear that he was not off the ground or standing on tiptoe1 as ,i had full view of his feet1 and1 moreover1 a gentleman present had one of his feet placed over ,home's insteps4444 ,i once saw him elongated horizontally on the ground4 ,lord ,adare was present4 ,home seemed to grow at both ends1 and pushed myself and ,adare away4 ,the publication of this evidence and of the details of the mid-air excursion provoked1 as may be imagined1 a heated discussion1 and doubtless had considerable influence in inducing the famous scientist1 ,sir ,william ,crookes1 to engage in the series of experiments which he carried out with ,home two years later4 ,this was at once the most searching investigation to which ,home was ever subjected1 and the most signal triumph of his career4 ,sir ,william's proposal was hailed with the greatest satisfaction by the critics of spiritism in general and of ,home in particular4 ,here1 it was said1 was a man fully qualified to expose the archimpostor who had been so justly pilloried in ,browning's ,mr4 ,sludge the ,medium2 here was a scientist1 trained to exact knowledge and close observation1 who would not be deceived by the artful tricks of a conjurer4 ,it was pleasant too to learn that in order to circumvent any attempts at sleight of hand1 ,sir ,william intended using instruments specially designed for test purposes1 and which he was confident could not be operated fraudulently4 ,but ,home1 or the spirits proved too strong for even ,sir ,william ,crookes and his instruments4 ,in ,sir ,william's presence1 in fact1 there was a multiplication of mysteries4 ,the instruments registered results which seemed inexplicable by any natural law2 a lath1 cast carelessly on a table1 rose in the air1 nodded gravely to the astonished scientist1 and proceeded to tap out messages alleged to come from the world beyond2 chairs moved in ghostly fashion up and down the room2 invisible beings lifted ,home himself from the floor2 spirit hands were seen and felt2 an accordeon1 held by ,sir ,william1 played tunes apparently of its own volition1 and afterward floated about the room1 still playing4 ,and all this1 according to the learned investigator1 in a private room that almost up to the commencement of the seance has been occupied as a living room1 and surrounded by private friends of my own1 who not only will not countenance the slightest deception1 but who are watching narrowly everything that takes place4 ,in the end1 so far from announcing that he had convicted ,home of fraud1 ,sir ,william published an elaborate account of his seances1 and gave it as his solemn belief that with ,home's assistance he had succeeded in demonstrating the existence of a hitherto unknown force4 ,this was scarcely what had been expected by the scientific world1 which had eagerly awaited his verdict1 and loud was the tumult that followed4 ,but ,sir ,william stood manfully by his guns1 and ,home--bland1 inscrutable1 mysterious ,home--figuratively shrugging his shoulders at denunciations to which he had by this time become perfectly accustomed1 added another leaf to his spiritistic crown of laurels1 and betook himself anew to his friends on the ,continent1 where1 despite increasing ill health1 he continued to prosecute his mission for many prosperous years4 ,as a matter of fact1 throughout the period of his mediumship1 that is to say1 from #ahea to #ahhf1 the year of his death1 he experienced only one serious reverse1 and this did not involve any exposure of the falsity of his claims4 ,but it was serious enough1 in all conscience1 and calls for mention both because it emphasizes the contrast between his earlier and his later life1 and because it throws a luminous sidelight on the methods by which he achieved his unparalleled success4 ,when he was in ,london in #ahfg he made the acquaintance of an elderly1 impressionable ,english-woman named ,lyon1 who immediately conceived a warm attachment for him and stated her intention of adopting him as her son4 ,carrying out this plan1 she settled on him the snug little fortune of one hundred and twenty thousand dollars1 which she subsequently increased until it amounted to no less than three hundred thousand dollars4 ,home at the time was a widower1 and it was his belief1 as he afterward stated in court1 that the woman desired him to marry her4 ,in any event her affection cooled as rapidly as it had begun1 and the next thing he knew he was being sued for the recovery of the three hundred thousand dollars4 ,the trial was a celebrated case in ,english law4 ,lord ,dunraven1 ,lord ,crawford1 and other of ,home's titled and influential friends hurried to his assistance1 and many were the affidavits forthcoming to combat the contentions of ,mrs4 ,lyon1 who swore that she had been influenced to adopt ,home by communications alleged to come through him from her dead husband4 ,home himself denied that there were any manifestations whatever relating to ,mrs4 ,lyon1 whose story1 in fact1 was so discredited on cross-examination that the presiding judge1 the vice-chancellor1 caustically declared that her testimony was quite unworthy of belief4 ,notwithstanding which1 he did not hesitate to give judgment in her favor1 on the ground that1 however worthless her evidence1 it had not been satisfactorily shown that her gifts to ,home were acts of pure volition1 the presumption being that no reasonable man or woman would have pursued the course she did unless under the pressure of undue influence by the party to be benefited4 99 99 99 99 99 ,if for undue influence we read hypnotism1 we shall have a sufficient1 and what seems to me the only satisfactory1 explanation of the ,lyon episode and of the most baffling of ,home's feats1 his levitations1 elongations1 and the like4 ,for the rest1 bearing in mind the fate of other dealers in turning tables and dancing chairs1 he may fairly be regarded in the light ,browning regarded him1 that is to say as an exceptionally able conjurer who enjoyed the singular good fortune of never being found out4,n ,it must be remembered that not once was there applied to him the test which is now recognized as absolutely indispensable in the investigation of mediums who1 like ,home1 are specialists in the production of physical phenomena4 ,this test is the demand that the phenomena in question be produced under conditions doing away with the necessity for constant observation of the medium himself4 ,even ,sir ,william ,crookes1 who appreciated to the full the extreme fallibility of the human eye and the ease with which the most careful observer may be deceived by a clever prestidigitator1 failed to apply this test to ,home2 and by so failing laid himself open on the one hand to deception and on the other to the flood of criticism let loose by his scientific colleagues4 ,thus1 the apparatus used in the experiment on which he seems to have laid greatest stress1 is described as follows3 ,in another part of the room an apparatus was fitted up for experimenting on the alterations in the weight of a body4 ,it consisted of a mahogany board thirty-six inches long by nine and one-half inches wide and one inch thick4 ,at each end a strip of mahogany one and one-half inches wide was screwed on1 forming feet4 ,one end of the board rested on a firm table1 whilst the other end was supported by a spring balance hanging from a substantial tripod stand4 ,the balance was fitted with a self-registering index1 in such a manner that it would record the maximum weight indicated by the pointer4 ,the apparatus was adjusted so that the mahogany board was horizontal1 its foot resting flat on the support4 ,in this position its weight was three pounds1 as marked by the pointer of the balance4 ,before ,mr4 ,home entered the room the apparatus had been arranged in position1 and he had not seen the object of some parts explained before sitting down4 ,now1 to give this test evidential value1 the disembodied spirit supposed to be acting through ,home should have caused the registering index to record a change in weight without necessitating1 on the spectators' part1 constant scrutiny of the medium's movements4 ,but1 in point of fact1 a change in weight was recorded only when ,home placed his fingers on the mahogany board4 ,it is true1 that he placed them on the end furthest from the balance1 and the evidence seems sufficient that he did not cause the pointer to move by exerting a downward pressure4 ,but as one critic1 ,mr4 ,frank ,podmore1 has suggested there is no proof that he did not find opportunity to tamper with the pointer itself or with some other part of the apparatus by attaching thereto a looped thread or hair4 ,to quote ,mr4 ,podmore3 ,it is by the use of such a thread1 ,i venture to suggest1 that the watchful observation of ,mr4 ,crookes and his colleagues was evaded4 ,given a subdued light and opportunity to move about the room--and from detailed notes of later seances it seems probable that ,home could do as he liked in both respects--the loop could be attached without much risk of detection to some part of the apparatus1 preferably the hook from which the distal end of the board was suspended1 the ends of the thread being fastened to some part of ,home's dress1 e4g41 the knees of his trousers1 if his feet and hands were under effectual observation4,o ,moreover1 it must not be forgotten that1 barring the ,crookes investigation1 ,home's manifestations for the most part occurred in the presence of men and women who1 if not spiritists themselves1 had implicit confidence in his good faith and could by no stretch of the imagination be called trained investigators4 ,indeed1 it seems safe to say that had present day methods of inquiry been employed1 as they are employed by the experts of the ,society for ,psychical ,research1 ,home1 so far at any rate as concerned the great bulk of his phenomena1 would quickly have been placed in the same gallery as ,madam ,blavatsky1 ,eusapia ,paladino1 and those other wonder workers whom the society has discredited4 ,in the matter of the levitations and elongations1 however1 it is not so easy to raise the cry of sheer fraud4 ,here the only rational explanation1 short of supposing that ,home availed himself if not of the aid of spirits at least of the aid of some unknown physical force1 seems to be1 as was said1 the exercise of hypnotic power4 ,the accounts given by ,lord ,dunraven1 ,lord ,crawford1 and ,sir ,william ,crookes show that he had ample scope for the employment of suggestion as a means of inducing those about him to imagine they had seen things which they actually had not seen4 ,in this connection1 it seems to me1 considerable significance attaches to the following bit of evidence contributed by ,lord ,crawford with regard to the ,london levitation3 ,i saw the levitations in ,victoria ,street when ,home floated out of the window4 ,he first went into a trance and walked about uneasily2 he then went into the hall4 ,while he was away ,i heard a voice whisper in my ear ',he will go out of one window and in at another4' ,i was alarmed and shocked at the idea of so dangerous an experiment4 ,i told the company what ,i had heard and we then waited for ,home's return4 ,after it is stated that ,lord ,crawford1 not long before1 had fancied he beheld an apparition of a man seated in a chair1 it is easy to imagine the attitude of credulous expectancy with which he1 at all events1 would wait for ,home's return via the open window4 ,and the others were doubtless in the same expectant frame of mind4 ,expectancy and suggestibility will1 indeed1 work marvels4 ,i shall never forget how the truth of this was borne home to me some years ago4 ,a friend of mine--now a physician in ,maryland1 but at that time a medical student in ,toronto--occasionally amused himself by giving table-tipping seances1 in which he enacted the role of medium4 ,there was no suspicion on his sitters' part that he was a fraud4 ,one evening he invoked the spirit of a little child1 who had been dead a couple of years1 and proceeded to spell out some highly edifying messages4 ,suddenly the seance was interrupted by a shriek and a lady present1 not a relative of the dead child1 fell to the floor in a faint4 ,when revived1 she declared that while the messages were being delivered she had seen the head of a child appear through the top of the table4 ,with such an instance before us1 it can hardly be deemed surprising that ,home should be able to play on the imagination of sitters so sympathetic and receptive as ,lords ,dunraven and ,crawford unquestionably were4 ,to tell the truth1 ,home's whole career1 with its scintillating1 melodramatic1 and uniformly successful phases is altogether inexplicable unless it be assumed that he possessed the hypnotist's qualities in a superlative degree4 ,it may well be1 however1 that in the last analysis he not only deceived others but also deceived himself--that his charlatanry was the work of a man constitutionally incapable of distinguishing between reality and fiction in so far as related to the performance of feats contributing to the success of his mission4 ,in other words1 that he was1 like other historic personages whom we have already encountered1 a victim of dissociation4 ,there is no gainsaying the fact that he was of a distinctly nervous temperament2 and it is equally certain that he chose a vocation1 and placed himself in an environment1 which would tend to make a dissociated state habitual with him4 ,but this is bringing us to the consideration of a psychological problem which would itself require a volume for adequate discussion4 ,enough to add that1 when all is said1 and viewed from whatever angle1 ,daniel ,dunglas ,home1 was1 and remains1 a fascinating human riddle4 ,,footnotes3 ,n ,but a conjurer who in all probability should not be held to strict account for his deceptions4 ,on this point1 see below4 ,o ,modern ,spiritualism1 ,vol4 ,,ii1 p4 #bdb4 ,,ix ,,the ,,watseka ,,wonder ,when the biography of the late ,richard ,hodgson is written one of its most interesting chapters will be the story of his investigation into the strange case of ,lurancy ,vennum4 ,archinquisitor of the ,society for ,psychical ,research1 the ,sherlock ,holmes of professional detectives of the supernatural1 in this instance ,hodgson was forced to confess himself beaten and to acknowledge that in his belief the only satisfactory solution of the problem before him was to be had through recourse to the hypothesis that the dead can and do communicate with the living4 ,as is well known1 subsequent inquiries1 and notably his experiences with the famous ,mrs4 ,piper1 led him to the enthusiastic indorsement of this hypothesis2 but at the time of the ,vennum affair1 with the recollection of his triumphs in ,europe and ,asia fresh in his mind1 he was still a thoroughgoing if open minded skeptic2 and to ,lurancy ,vennum must accordingly be given the credit of having brought him1 so to speak1 to the turning of the ways4 ,oddly enough too1 scarce an effort has been made to assemble evidence in disproof of his findings in that case and to develop a purely naturalistic explanation of a mystery which his verdict went far to establish in the minds of many as a classic illustration of supernatural action4 ,yet1 while it must be admitted that until recently such a task would have been extremely difficult1 it may safely be declared that the phenomena manifested through ,lurancy ,vennum were not a whit more other-worldly than the phenomena produced by the tricksters whom ,hodgson himself so skilfully and mercilessly exposed4 ,to refresh the reader's memory with regard to the facts in the case1 it will be recalled that ,lurancy ,vennum was a young girl1 between thirteen and fourteen years old1 the daughter of respectable parents living at ,watseka1 ,illinois1 a town about eighty-five miles south of ,chicago and boasting at the time a population of perhaps fifteen hundred4 ,on the afternoon of ,july #aa1 #ahgg1 while sitting sewing with her mother1 she suddenly complained of feeling ill1 and immediately afterward fell to the floor unconscious1 in which state she remained for five hours4 ,the next day the same thing happened2 but now1 while still apparently insensible to all about her1 she began to talk1 affirming that she was in heaven and in the company of numerous spirits1 whom she described1 naming among others the spirit of her brother who had died when she was only three years old4 ,her parents1 deeply religious people of an orthodox denomination1 feared that she had become insane1 and their fears were increased when1 with the passage of time1 her fits1 as they called her trances1 became more frequent and of longer duration1 lasting from one to eight hours and occurring from three to twelve times a day4 ,physicians could do nothing for her1 and by ,january1 #ahgh1 it was decided that she was beyond all hope of cure and that the proper place for her was an insane asylum4 ,at this juncture her father was visited by ,mr4 ,asa ,b4 ,roff1 also a resident of ,watseka1 but having no more than a casual acquaintanceship with the ,vennums4 ,he had become interested in the case1 he explained1 through hearing reports of the intercourse ,lurancy claimed to have with the world of the dead1 the possibility of which1 being a devout spiritist1 he did not in the slightest doubt4 ,moreover1 he himself had had a daughter1 ,mary1 long dead1 who had been subject to conditions exactly like ,lurancy's and had given incontrovertible evidence of possessing supernatural powers of a clairvoyant nature4 ,in her time she too had been deemed insane1 but ,mr4 ,roff was confident that she had really been of entirely sound mind1 and equally confident that the present victim of spirit infestation1 to use the singular term employed by a later spiritistic eulogist of ,lurancy1 was also of sound mind4 ,he therefore begged ,mr4 ,vennum not to immure his daughter in an asylum2 and ,mrs4 ,roff adding her entreaties1 it was finally resolved as a last resort to call in a physician from ,janesville1 ,wisconsin1 who was himself a spiritist and would1 the ,roffs felt sure1 be able to treat the case with great success4 ,this physician1 ,dr4 ,e4 ,winchester ,stevens1 paid his first visit to ,lurancy in ,mr4 ,roff's company on the afternoon of ,january #ca4 ,he found the girl1 as he afterward related1 sitting near a stove1 in a common chair1 her elbows on her knees1 her hands under her chin1 feet curled up on the chair1 eyes staring1 looking every way like an old hag4 ,she was evidently in an ugly mood1 for she refused even to shake hands1 called her father ,old ,black ,dick and her mother ,old ,granny1 and at first kept an obstinate silence4 ,but presently1 brightening up1 she announced that she had discovered that ,dr4 ,stevens was a spiritual doctor and could help her1 and that she was ready to answer any questions he might put4 ,now followed a strange dialogue4 ,in reply to his queries she said that her name was not ,lurancy ,vennum but ,katrina ,hogan1 that she was sixty-three years old1 and had come from ,germany through the air three days before4 ,changing her manner quickly1 she confessed that she had lied and was in reality a boy1 ,willie ,canning1 who had died and now is here because he wants to be4 ,more than an hour passed in this insane talk1 as her weeping parents accounted it1 and then1 flinging up her hands1 she fell headlong in a state of cataleptic rigidity4 ,dr4 ,stevens promptly renewed his questioning1 at the same time taking both her hands in his and endeavoring to magnetize her1 to quote his own expression4 ,it soon developed1 according to the replies she made1 that she was no longer on earth but in heaven and surrounded by spirits of a far more beneficent character than the so-called ,katrina and ,willie4 ,with all the earnestness of an ardent spiritist1 the doctor immediately suggested that she allow herself to be controlled by a spirit who would prevent those that were evil and insane from returning to trouble her and her family1 and would assist her to regain health4 ,to which she answered that she would gladly do so1 and that among the spirits around her was one that the angels strongly recommended for this very purpose4 ,it was1 she said1 the spirit of a young girl who on earth had been named ,mary ,roff4 ,why1 cried ,mr4 ,roff1 that is my daughter1 who has been in heaven these twelve years4 ,yes1 let her come4 ,we'll be glad to have her come4 ,come she did1 as the greatly bewildered ,mr4 ,vennum testified next morning during a hasty visit to ,mr4 ,roff's office4 ,my girl1 said he1 had a sound night's sleep after you and ,dr4 ,stevens left us2 but to-day she asserts that she is ,mary ,roff1 refuses to recognize her mother or myself1 and demands to be taken to your house4 ,at this amazing information1 ,mrs4 ,roff and her surviving daughter ,minerva1 who since ,mary's death had married a ,mr4 ,alter1 promptly went to see ,lurancy4 ,from a seat at the window she beheld them approaching down the street1 and with an exultant cry exclaimed1 ,here comes my ma1 and ',nervie'6 the name by which ,mary ,roff had been accustomed to call her sister in girlhood4 ,running to the door and throwing her arms about them as they entered1 she hugged and kissed them with expressions of endearment and with whispering allusions to past events of which she as ,lurancy could in their opinion have had absolutely no knowledge4 ,mr4 ,roff who came afterward1 she greeted in the same affectionate way1 while treating the members of her own family as though they were entire strangers4 ,to her father and mother it seemed that this must be only a new phase of her insanity1 but to the ,roffs there remained no doubt that in her they beheld an actual reincarnation of the girl whom they had buried twelve years before--that is to say1 when ,lurancy herself was a puny1 wailing infant4 ,eagerly they seconded her entreaties to be allowed to return with them2 and1 ,mrs4 ,vennum being completely prostrated by this unexpected development1 it was soon decided that the little girl should for the time being take up her residence under the ,roff roof4 ,she removed there ,february #aa1 and on the way an event occurred that vastly strengthened belief in the reality of her claims4 ,the ,vennums and the ,roffs lived at opposite ends of ,watseka2 but the latter family1 at the time of ,mary's death in #ahfe1 had been occupying a dwelling in a central section of the town4 ,arrived at this house1 ,lurancy unhesitatingly turned to enter it1 and seemed much astonished when told that her home was elsewhere4 ,why1 said she1 in a positive tone1 ,i know that ,i live here4 ,it was indeed with some difficulty that she was persuaded to continue her journey2 but once at its end all signs of disappointment vanished and she passed gaily from room to room1 identifying objects which she had never seen before but which had been well-known to ,mary ,roff4 ,her pseudo-parents were in ecstacies of joy4 ,truly1 they said to each other1 our daughter who was dead has been restored to us1 and anxiously they inquired of her how long they might hope to have her with them4 ,the angels1 was her response1 will let me stay till some time in ,may--and oh how happy ,i am6 ,happy and contented she proved herself and1 which was remarked by all who saw her1 entirely free from the maladies that had so sorely beset both the living ,lurancy and the dead ,mary4 ,for her life as ,lurancy she appeared to have no remembrance2 but she readily and unfailingly recollected everything connected with the career of ,mary4 ,she was well aware also that she was masquerading1 as it were1 in a borrowed body4 ,do you remember1 ,dr4 ,stevens asked her one day1 the time that you cut your arm8 ,yes1 indeed4 ,and1 slipping up her sleeve1 ,i can show you the scar4 ,it was-- ,she paused1 and quickly added1 ,oh1 this is not the arm2 that one is in the ground1 and proceeded to describe the spot where ,mary had been buried and the circumstances attending her funeral4 ,old acquaintances of ,mary's were greeted as though they had been seen only the day before1 although in one or two cases there was lack of recognition1 due1 it was inferred1 to physical changes in the visitor's appearance since ,mary had known her on earth4 ,tests1 suggested and carried out by ,dr4 ,stevens and ,mr4 ,roff1 only reinforced the view that they were really dealing with a visitant from the unseen world4 ,for instance1 while the little girl was playing outdoors one afternoon1 ,mr4 ,roff suggested to his wife that she bring down-stairs a velvet hat that their daughter had worn the last year of her life1 place it on the hat stand1 and see if ,lurancy would recognize it4 ,this was done1 and the recognition was instant4 ,with a smile of delight ,lurancy picked up the hat1 mentioned an incident connected with it1 and asked1 ,have you my box of letters also8 ,the box was found1 and rummaging through it the child presently cried1 ,oh1 ma1 here is a collar ,i tatted6 ,ma1 why did you not show me my letters and things before8 ,one by one she picked out and identified relics dating back to ,mary's girlhood1 long before ,lurancy ,vennum had come into the world4 ,she displayed1 too1 not a little of the clairvoyant ability ascribed to ,mary4 ,the story is told that on one occasion she affirmed that her supposed brother1 ,frank ,roff1 would be taken seriously ill during the night2 and when1 about two o'clock in the morning1 he was actually stricken with what is vaguely said to have been something like a spasm and congestive chill1 she directed ,mr4 ,roff to hurry next door where he would find ,dr4 ,stevens4 ,but1 protested ,mr4 ,roff1 ,dr4 ,stevens is in quite another part of the city to-night4 ,no1 she calmly said1 he has come back1 and you will find him where ,i say4 ,quite incredulous1 ,mr4 ,roff gave his neighbor's door-bell a lusty pull1 and the next moment was talking to the doctor1 who1 unknown to the ,roffs1 was spending the night there4 ,with his aid1 it is perhaps worth adding1 brother ,frank was soon relieved of the spasm and congestive chill4 ,in this way1 continually surprising but constantly delighting the happy ,roffs1 ,lurancy ,vennum remained with them for more than three months1 professing complete ignorance of her identity and enacting with the greatest fidelity the role of the spirit who was supposed to have taken possession of her4 ,early in ,may1 however1 she called ,mrs4 ,roff to one side and informed her in a voice broken by sobs that ,lurancy was coming back and that they would soon have to take another farewell of their ,mary4 ,this said1 a change became apparent in her4 ,she glared wildly around1 and in an agitated tone demanded1 ,where am ,i8 ,i was never here before4 ,i want to go home4 ,mrs4 ,roff1 heartbroken1 explained that she had been under the control of ,mary's spirit for the purpose of curing her body1 and told her that her parents would be sent for4 ,but within five minutes she had again lost all knowledge of her true identity1 and seemingly was ,mary ,roff once more1 overjoyed that she had been permitted to return4 ,for some days she continued in this state1 with only occasional lapses into her original self2 then1 on the morning of ,may #ba1 she announced that the time for definite leave-taking had at last arrived1 and with evident grief went about among the neighbors bidding them good-by4 ,it was arranged that sister ,nervie should take her to ,mr4 ,roff's office1 and that ,mr4 ,roff should thence escort her home4 ,en route there were sharp interchanges of personality1 with the spirit control dominant2 but when the office was reached it became evident that she had fully come into her own again4 ,the night before she had wept bitterly at the thought of leaving her father4 ,now she addressed him calmly as ,mr4 ,roff1 called herself ,lurancy1 and said that her one wish was to see her parents as soon as possible4 ,nor1 as the ,vennums were quickly to discover1 did she return to torment and alarm them by the weird actions of the preceding months4 ,on the contrary1 they found her healthy and normal in mind and body1 completely cured1 as a result1 the ,roffs emphatically declared1 of the intervention of the spirit of their beloved daughter4 ,needless to say1 the people of ,watseka and the surrounding country had watched with breathless interest the progress of this curious affair2 but it was not until three months after the possession had ended that the public at large obtained any knowledge of it4 ,the first intimation1 outside of unnoticed reports in local newspapers1 came through the medium of two articles contributed by ,dr4 ,stevens to the ,august #c and #aj1 #ahgh1 issues of ,the ,religio-,philosophical ,journal1 one of the leading spiritist organs of the ,united ,states4 ,traversing the case in the fullest detail1 and emphasizing the fact that up to the moment of writing the principal actor had had no return of the ills from which she had previously suffered1 ,dr4 ,stevens gave it as his unqualified conviction that the spirit of ,mary ,roff had actually revisited earth in the person of ,lurancy ,vennum1 and had been the instrument of her cure4 ,this view naturally commended itself to spiritists1 but by the unbelieving it was vigorously combatted1 not a few insinuating or openly alleging that ,dr4 ,stevens's narrative was a work of fiction4 ,the veracity of the ,roffs was also attacked4 ,can the truthfulness of the narrative1 one skeptical inquirer wrote ,mr4 ,roff1 be substantiated outside of yourself and those immediately interested8 ,can it be shown that there was no collusion between the parties8 ,and another asked him1 ,is it a fact1 or is it a story made up to see how cunning a tale one can tell8 ,waxing indignant1 ,mr4 ,roff wrote a long letter to ,the ,religio-,philosophical ,journal denouncing the imputation of fraud1 giving the names of a number of men who would vouch for his integrity1 and concluding with the statement3 ,i am now sixty years old2 have resided in ,iroquois county thirty years2 and would not now sacrifice what reputation ,i may have by being party to the publication of such a narrative1 if it was not perfectly true4 ,following this there appeared in ,the ,religio-,philosophical ,journal several letters from well-known ,illinois professional men warmly indorsing ,mr4 ,roff's character1 and an announcement to the effect that the editor1 ,colonel ,j4 ,c4 ,bundy1 himself of undoubted honesty1 has entire confidence in the truthfulness of the narrative and believes from his knowledge of the witnesses that the account is unimpeachable in every particular4 ,as for ,dr4 ,stevens1 ,colonel ,bundy declared that he had been personally acquainted with the physician for years1 and had implicit confidence in his veracity4 ,after all this1 accusations of perjury and deception were obviously futile1 and1 no adequate non-spiritistic interpretation being forthcoming1 there was an increasing tendency to accept the view advanced by those who had participated in the affair4 ,such was the situation at the time of ,richard ,hodgson's advent4 ,primarily1 as will be remembered by all who have followed the work of the ,society for ,psychical ,research1 ,dr4 ,hodgson had come to this country to investigate the trance mediumship of ,mrs4 ,leonora ,piper4 ,but his attention having been called to the ,vennum mystery1 he visited ,watseka in ,april1 #ahij1 and instituted a rigorous cross-examination of the surviving witnesses4 ,dr4 ,stevens was dead1 and ,lurancy herself had married and moved with her husband to ,kansas1 but ,dr4 ,hodgson was able to interview ,mr4 and ,mrs4 ,roff1 ,mrs4 ,alter1 and half a dozen neighbors who had personal knowledge of the possession4 ,all answered his questions freely and fully1 reiterating the facts as given in ,dr4 ,stevens's narrative1 and adding some interesting information hitherto not made public4 ,in the main this bore on the question of identity and tended to vindicate the reincarnation theory4 ,it also developed that while ,lurancy had grown to be a strong1 healthy woman1 she had had occasional returns of ,mary's spirit in the years immediately following the chief visitation2 but that these had ceased with her marriage to a man who1 ,roff regretfully observed1 had never made himself acquainted with spiritism and therefore furnished poor conditions for further development in that direction4 ,appreciating the fact that ,mr4 ,roff and his family would furnish the best possible conditions for such development1 and that he must be on his guard against unconscious exaggeration and misstatement1 ,dr4 ,hodgson nevertheless deemed the evidence presented to him too strong to be explained away on naturalistic grounds4 ,contributing to ,the ,religio-,philosophical ,journal an account of his inquiry and of the additional data it had brought to light1 he described the case as unique among the records of supernormal occurrences1 and frankly admitted that he could not find any satisfactory interpretation of it except the spiritistic4 99 99 99 99 99 ,yet1 as was said at the outset1 it may now be affirmed that another interpretation is possible1 and one far more satisfactory than the spiritistic2 this1 too1 without impeaching in any way the truthfulness of the testimony given by ,dr4 ,stevens1 the ,roffs1 and the numerous other witnesses4 ,to begin3 apart from the supernatural implications forced into it by the appearance of the so-called spirit control1 it is clear that the affair bears a striking resemblance to the instances of secondary or multiple personality which recent research has discovered in such numbers1 and which are due to perfectly natural1 if often obscure1 causes4 ,in these1 it has already been pointed out1 as the result of an illness1 a blow1 a shock1 or some other unusual stimulus1 there is a partial or complete effacement of the original personality of the victim and its replacement by a new personality1 sometimes of radically different characteristics from the normal self4 ,a sufficient example is the case of the ,rev4 ,thomas ,c4 ,hanna1 for knowledge of which the scientific world is indebted to ,dr4 ,boris ,sidis4,p ,following a fall from his carriage1 ,mr4 ,hanna1 a ,connecticut clergyman1 lost all consciousness of his identity1 had no memory for the events of his life prior to the accident1 recognized none of his friends1 could not read or write1 nor so much as walk or talk1--was1 in fact1 like a child new born4 ,on the other hand1 as soon as the rudiments of education were acquired by him once more1 he showed himself the possessor of a vigorous1 independent1 self-reliant personality1 lacking all knowledge of the original personality1 but still able to adapt himself readily to his environment and make headway in the world4 ,ultimately1 through methods which are distinctively modern1 ,dr4 ,sidis was able to recall the vanished self1 and1 fusing the secondary self with it1 restore the clergyman to his former sphere of usefulness4 ,this1 of course1 is an extreme example4 ,the usual procedure is for the secondary personality to retain some of the characteristics of the original self--as the ability to read1 write1 etc4--and give itself a name4 ,in this way ,ansel ,bourne1 the ,rhode ,island itinerant preacher1 became metamorphosed into ,a4 ,j4 ,brown1 and1 without any recollection of his former career or relationships1 drifted to ,pennsylvania and began an entirely new existence as a shopkeeper in a small country town4 ,similarly with ,dr4 ,r4 ,osgood ,mason's patient1 ,alma ,z41 in whom the secondary personality assumed the odd name of ,twoey1 spoke1 as ,dr4 ,mason phrased it1 in a peculiar child-like and ,indianlike dialect1 and announced that her mission was to cure the broken down physical organism of the original self1 which remained completely in abeyance so long as ,twoey was in evidence4 ,here1 as is apparent1 we have a case almost identical with that of ,lurancy ,vennum1 the sole difference being that ,twoey--who1 by the way1 is credited with having exercised seemingly supernormal powers--did not pose as a returned visitant from the world of spirits4 ,thus far1 then1 depending on the argument from analogy1 the presumption is strong that ,lurancy's case belongs to the same category as the cases just mentioned4 ,in the one1 as in the others1 we have loss of the original self1 development of a new self1 and the enactment by the latter of a role conspicuously alien from that played by the former4 ,the one difficulty in the way of unreserved acceptance of this view is the character of the secondary personality which replaced ,lurancy's original personality4 ,here the positive claim was made that the secondary personality was in reality the personality of a girl long dead1 and by way of proof vivid knowledge of the life1 circumstances1 and conduct of that girl was offered4 ,but on this point considerable light is shed by the discovery that in a number of instances of secondary personality in which no supernatural pretensions are advanced there is a notable sharpening of the faculties1 knowledge being obtained telepathically or clairvoyantly2 and by the further discovery that it is quite possible to create experimentally secondary selves assuming the characteristics of real persons who have died4 ,in this the creative force is nothing more or less than suggestion4 ,there is on record1 indeed1 an instance of mediumship in which the medium1 an amateur investigator of the phenomena of spiritism1 clearly recognized that his various impersonations were suggested to him by the spectators4 ,this gentleman1 ,mr4 ,charles ,h4 ,tout1 of ,vancouver1 records that after attending a few seances with some friends he felt a strong impulse to turn medium himself1 and assume a foreign personality4 ,yielding to the impulse1 he discovered1 much to his amazement1 that without losing complete control of his consciousness1 he could develop a secondary self that would impose on the beholders as a discarnate spirit4 ,on one occasion he thus acted in a semi-conscious way the part of a dead woman1 the mother of a friend present1 and the impersonation was accepted as a genuine case of spirit control4 ,on another1 having given several successful impersonations1 he suddenly felt weak and ill1 and almost fell to the floor4 ,at this point1 he stated1 one of the sitters made the remark1 which ,i remember to have overheard1 ',it is father controlling him1' and ,i then seemed to realize who ,i was and whom ,i was seeking4 ,i began to be distressed in my lungs1 and should have fallen if they had not held me by the hands and let me back gently upon the floor4444 ,i was in a measure still conscious of my actions1 though not of my surroundings1 and ,i have a clear memory of seeing myself in the character of my dying father lying in the bed and in the room in which he died4 ,it was a most curious sensation4 ,i saw his shrunken hands and face1 and lived again through his dying moments2 only now ,i was both myself1 in an indistinct sort of way1 and my father1 with his feelings and appearance4 ,all of this ,tout explained correctly as the dramatic working out1 by some half conscious stratum of his personality1 of suggestions made at the time by other members of the circle1 or received in prior experiences of the kind4 ,in most instances1 however1 the original self is completely effaced1 and no consciousness is retained of the performances of the secondary self2 but that an avenue of sense is still open is sufficiently demonstrated by the readiness with which1 in hypnotic experiments1 seemingly insensible subjects respond to the suggestions of the operator4 ,here1 therefore1 we find our clue to the solution of the mystery of ,lurancy ,vennum4 ,a victim of a psychic catastrophe1 the cause of which must be left to conjecture in the absence of knowledge of her previous history1 she was placed in precisely the position of the adventurous ,mr4 ,tout and of the inert subjects of the hypnotist's art4 ,that is to say1 having lost momentarily all knowledge and control of her own personality1 the character her new personality would assume depended on the suggestions received from those about her4 ,yet not altogether4 ,dr4 ,stevens's detailed record contains a reference which indicates strongly that the spiritistic tendency manifest from the onset of her trouble was to some extent predetermined4 ,a few days before the first attack she informed the family that there were persons in my room last night1 and they called ',rancy1 ,rancy6' and ,i felt their breath on my face2 and the next night1 repeating the same story1 she sought refuge in her mother's bed4 ,these fanciful notions1 symptomatic of the coming trouble and possibly provocative of it1 would act in the way of a powerful autosuggestion1 and would of themselves explain why there resulted an inchoate1 tentative1 vague personality1 instead of the robust1 definite personality that assumes control in most cases4 ,at first1 the reader will remember1 she sought vainly and wildly and wholly subconsciously--it cannot be made too clear that she was no longer consciously responsible for her acts--for a satisfactory self of ghostly origin4 ,the aged ,katrina1 the masculine ,willie1 and other imaginary beings were tried and rejected2 principally1 no doubt1 because her thirteen-year-old imagination was unequal to the task of investing them with satisfactory attributes4 ,from her relatives she obtained no assistance in the strange quest4 ,they1 disbelieving in spirits1 persisted in calling her insane--a comfortless and far from beneficial suggestion4 ,but with the intervention of the ,roffs and ,dr4 ,stevens everything changed4 ,not questioning the truth of her assertions1 they confirmed her in them1 and offered her into the bargain a ready-made personality4 ,here at last was something tangible1 a starting-point1 a foundation-stone4 ,mary ,roff had had a real existence1 had had thoughts1 feelings1 desires1 a life of flesh and blood4 ,and ,mary1 they assured the poor1 perturbed1 disintegrated self1 could help her regain all that she had lost4 ,very well1 let ,mary come1 and the sooner she came the better4 ,for knowledge of ,mary1 of her characteristics1 her relationships1 her friends1 her earthly career1 it was necessary only to tap telepathically the reservoir of information possessed by ,mary's family2 and there would be available besides a wealth of data in chance remarks1 unconscious hints1 unnoticed promptings4 ,she had been too long in search of a personality not to grasp at the opening now afforded4 ,focused thus by suggestion1--that subtle1 all-pervasive influence which man is only now beginning to appreciate1--the basic delusional idea promptly took root1 blossomed1 and burst into an amazing fruition4 ,banished were the spurious ,katrinas and ,willies4 ,in their stead reigned ,mary1 no less spurious in point of fact1 but so cunningly counterfeiting the true ,mary that the deception was not once detected4 ,mark too how suggestion sufficed not only to create the ,mary personality but to expel it and restore the hapless ,lurancy to perfect health4 ,if the responsibility for the creation rests on ,dr4 ,stevens and the ,roffs1 to them likewise belongs the credit for the cure4 ,their insistence on the fact that ,mary's spirit could and would be of assistance1 was itself as powerful a suggestion as could be hit upon by the most expert of modern practitioners of psychotherapeutics2 and in unconsciously persuading the spirit to set a limit to its time of possession they made another suggestion of rare curative value4 ,to the suggestionally inspired fixed idea that she was not ,lurancy ,vennum but ,mary ,roff was thus added the fixed idea1 derived from the same source1 that in ,may she would become ,lurancy ,vennum again1 and a perfectly well ,lurancy4 ,it was as though the ,roffs had actually hypnotized her and given her commands that were to be obeyed with the fidelity characteristic of the obedience hypnotized subjects render to the operator4 ,when the time came the transformation was duly effected1 though1 as has been seen1 not without a struggle1 a period of alternating personality1 with ,mary at one moment supreme and ,lurancy at another4 ,but this is a phenomenon that need give us no concern4 ,exactly the same thing happened in the last stages of the ,hanna case4 ,nor do the fugitive recurrences of the ,mary personality signify aught than that ,lurancy was still unduly suggestionable4 ,note that these recurrences1 according to the available evidence1 developed only when the ,roffs paid her visits2 and that they ceased entirely upon her marriage to a man not interested in spiritism1 and her removal to a distant part of the country4,q ,,footnotes3 ,p ,in his ,multiple ,personality4 ,q ,it is proper to add that since the recent publication of this paper as a contribution to ,the ,associated ,sunday ,magazine1 the charge of fraud has been revived in connection with the ,watseka ,wonder4 ,it is asserted by a resident of ,watseka that although ,lurancy ,vennum unquestionably was a sufferer from nervous trouble1 she consciously impersonated the spirit of ,mary ,roff1 her motive being a desire to be near one of the ,roff boys1 with whom she imagined herself in love4 ,x ,a ,,medieval ,,ghost ,,hunter ,the name of ,dr4 ,john ,dee is scarcely known to-day1 yet ,dr4 ,dee has some exceedingly well-defined claims to remembrance4 ,he was one of the foremost scientists of the ,tudor period in ,english history4 ,he was famed as a mathematician1 astronomer1 and philosopher not only in his native land but in every ,european center of learning4 ,before he was twenty he penned a remarkable treatise on logic1 and he left behind him at his death a total of nearly a hundred works on all manner of recondite subjects4 ,he was the means of introducing into ,england a number of astronomical instruments hitherto unused1 and even unknown1 in that country4 ,his lectures on geometry were the delight of all who heard them4 ,in ,elizabeth's reign he was frequently consulted by the highest ministers of the crown with regard to affairs of ,state1 and was the confidant of the queen herself1 who more than once employed him on secret missions4 ,he was interested in everyday affairs as well as in questions of theoretical importance4 ,the reformation of the calendar long engaged his attention4 ,he charted for ,elizabeth her distant colonial dominions4 ,he preached the doctrine of sea-power1 and1 like ,hakluyt1 advocated the upbuilding of a strong navy4 ,he was1 in some sort1 a participant in ,sir ,humphrey ,gilbert's scheme for ,new ,world colonization4 ,in a word1 ,dr4 ,john ,dee was a phenomenally many-sided man in an age that was peculiarly productive of many-sided men4 ,even yet1 the catalogue of his interests and accomplishments is by no means exhausted4 ,indeed1 his chief claim to fame--and1 paradoxically enough1 the great reason why his reputation practically died with him--lies in the fact that he was one of the earliest of psychical researchers4 ,at a time when all men unhesitatingly entertained a belief in the overshadowing presence of spirits and their constant intervention in human affairs1 ,dr4 ,dee resolved to prove1 if possible1 the actual existence of these mysterious and unseen beings4 ,to encourage him in his ghost-hunting zeal was the hope that the spirits1 if actually located by him1 might reward his enterprise by unfolding a secret that had long been the despair of all medieval scientists--the secret of the philosopher's stone1 of the precious formula whereby the baser metals could be transmuted into shining gold4 ,with the heartiest enthusiasm1 therefore1 ,dr4 ,dee went to work1 and although the spirits with whom he ultimately came into constant communication brought him no gold but many tribulations1 he remained an ardent psychical researcher to the day of his death4 ,just when he began his explorations of the invisible world it is impossible to say4 ,but it must have been at a very early age1 for he was barely twenty-five when a rumor spread that he was dabbling in the black arts4 ,two years later1 in #aeed1 he was definitely accused of trying to take the life of ,queen ,mary by enchantments1 and on this charge was thrown into prison4 ,for cellmate he had ,barthlet ,green1 who parted from him only to meet an agonizing death in the flames1 as an arch-heretic4 ,dee himself was threatened with the stake1 and was actually placed on trial for his life before the dread ,court of the ,star ,chamber4 ,but he seems to have had1 throughout his entire career1 a singularly plausible manner1 and a magnetic1 winning personality4 ,he succeeded in convincing his judges both of his innocence of traitorous designs and his religious orthodoxy1 and was allowed to go scot free4 ,elizabeth1 on her accession to the throne1 naturally looked on him with favor1 as one who had been persecuted by her sister2 and with the more favor since it was widely reported that he was on the eve of making the grand discovery for which other alchemists had ever labored in vain4 ,a man who might some day make gold at will was certainly not to be despised2 rather1 he should be cultivated4 ,nor was her esteem for ,dee lessened by the success with which1 by astrological calculations1 he named a favorable day for her coronation2 and1 a little later1 by solemn disenchantment warded off the ill effects of the ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields incident1 when a puppet of wax1 representing ,elizabeth1 was found lying on the ground with a huge pin stuck through its breast4 ,as a matter of fact1 however1 ,dee was making headway neither in his quest for the philosopher's stone nor in his efforts to prove the existence of a spiritual world4 ,in vain he pored over every work of occultism upon which he could lay his hands1 and tried all known means of incantation4 ,year after year passed without result1 until at last he hit on the expedient of crystal-gazing4 ,as every student of things psychical is aware1 if one takes a crystal1 or glass of water1 or other body with a reflecting surface1 and gaze at it steadily1 he may possibly perceive1 after a greater or less length of time1 shadowy images of persons or scenes in the substance that fixes his attention4 ,it was so with ,dr4 ,dee1 and not having any understanding of the laws of subconscious mental action he soon came to the conclusion that the shadowy figures he saw in the crystal were veritable spirits4 ,from this it was an easy step to imagine that they really talked to him and sought to convey to him a knowledge of the great secrets of this world and the next4 ,the only difficulty was that he could not understand what they said--or1 rather1 what he fancied they said4 ,the obvious thing to do was to find a crystal-gazer with the gift of the spirit language1 and induce him to interpret for ,dr4 ,dee's benefit the revelations of the images in the glass4 ,such a crystal-gazer was ready at hand in the person of a young man named ,edward ,kelley4 ,among the common people1 as ,dee well knew1 ,kelley had the reputation of being a bold and wicked wizard4 ,he had been born in ,worcester1 and trained in the apothecary's business1 but1 tempted by the prospect of securing great wealth at a minimum of trouble1 he had turned alchemist and magician4 ,it was rumored that on at least one occasion he had disinterred a freshly buried corpse1 and by his incantations had compelled the spirit of the dead man to speak to him4 ,there was more truth in the report that the reason he always wore a close-fitting skull-cap was to conceal the loss of his ears1 which had been forfeited to the ,government of ,england on his conviction for forgery4 ,of this last unpleasant incident ,dr4 ,dee seems to have known nothing4 ,at any rate1 with child-like confidence1 he sent for ,kelley1 told him of the properties of his magic crystal--which the now thoroughly infatuated doctor represented as having been bestowed on him by the angel ,uriel--and asked ,kelley if he would interpret for him the wonderful words of the spirits4 ,kelley1 as shrewd and unscrupulous a man as any in the annals of imposture1 readily consented1 but on pretty hard terms4 ,he was to be taken in as a member of ,dr4 ,dee's family1 retained on a contract1 and paid an annual stipend of fifty pounds1 quite a large sum in those times4 ,on this understanding he went to work1 and day after day1 for years1 regaled the credulous ,dee with monologues purporting to be delivered by the spirits in the crystal4 ,everything ,kelley told him1 ,dr4 ,dee faithfully noted down1 and many years later1 long after both ,dee and ,kelley had been carried to their graves1 these manuscript notes of the seances were published4 ,the volume containing them--a massive1 closely printed folio entitled ,a ,true and ,faithful ,relation of ,what ,passed for ,many ,years ,between ,dr4 ,john ,dee and ,some ,spirits--is one of the great curiosities of literature4 ,a copy of the original edition is before me as ,i write1 and ,i will quote from it just enough to show the character of the revelations vouchsafed to ,dee through the mediumship of the cunning ,kelley4 ,wednesday1 #ai ,junii1 ,i made a prayer to ,god and there appeared one1 having two garments in his hands1 who answered1 ',a good praise1 with a wavering mind4' ,god made my mind stable1 and to be seasoned with the intellectual leaven1 free of all sensible mutability4 ,e4 ,k4 said ',one of these two garments is pure white3 the other is speckled of divers colors2 he layeth them down before him1 he layeth also a speckled cap down before him at his feet2 he hath no cap on his head3 his hair is long and yellow1 but his face cannot be seen4444 ,now he putteth on his pied coat and his pied cap1 he casteth one side of his gown over his shoulder and he danceth1 and saith1 ,there is a ,god1 let us be merry6' ,e4 ,k4 ',he danceth still4' ',there is a heaven1 let us be merry4' ',doth this doctrine teach you to know ,god1 or to be skilful in the heavens8' ',note it4' ,e4 ,k4 ',now he putteth off his clothes again3 now he kneeleth down1 and washeth his head and his neck and his face1 and shaketh his clothes1 and plucketh off the uttermost sole of his shoes1 and falleth prostrate on the ground1 and saith1 ,vouchsafe1 oh ,god1 to take away the weariness of my body and to cleanse the filthiness of this dust1 that ,i may be apt for this pureness4' ,e4 ,k4 ',now he taketh the white garment1 and putteth it on him4444 ,now he sitteth down on the desk-top and looketh toward me4444 ,he seemeth now to be turned to a woman1 and the very same which we call ,galvah4' ,side by side with the esoteric and transcendental utterances which ,kelley credited to the spirits1 he cleverly introduced sufficient in the way of references to the elixir of life and the transmutation of metals1 to keep alive in ,dee's breast the hope of ultimately solving the crucial problems of medieval science4 ,all the money ,dee could procure was spent on ingredients for magical formulas1 and to such lengths did his enthusiasm carry him that before long he was reduced to poverty4 ,he became so poor1 in fact1 that when1 in the summer of #aehc1 the ,earl of ,leicester announced his intention of bringing a notable foreign visitor1 ,count ,albert ,lasky of ,bohemia1 to dine with ,dee1 the unhappy doctor was compelled to send word that he could not provide a proper dinner4 ,leicester1 moved to pity1 reported his plight to the queen1 who at once belied her reputation for niggardliness by bestowing a liberal gift on the ,sage of ,mortlake1 as ,dee was now styled at the ,court4 ,the dinner accordingly took place1 and was a tremendous success in more ways than one4 ,lasky turned out to be an exceedingly excitable and impressionable man1 and his curiosity was so aroused by the occult discourse of his host that he begged to be admitted to the seances4 ,always alert to the main chance1 ,kelley1 after a few preliminary sittings of unusual picturesqueness1 inspired the spirits to predict that ,lasky would one day be elected ,king of ,poland4 ,it needed nothing more to induce the happy and hopeful count to invite both ,dee and ,kelley to return with him to ,bohemia4 ,he would1 he promised1 protect and provide for them2 they should live with him in his many turreted castle1 and want for nothing4 ,here1 indeed1 was a pleasant way out of their present poverty1 and ,dee and ,kelley readily gave consent4 ,nor did they leave ,england a moment too soon4 ,scarcely had they taken ship before a mob1 roused to fury by superstitious fears1 broke into the philosopher's house at ,mortlake and destroyed almost everything that they did not steal--furniture1 books1 manuscripts1 and costly scientific apparatus4 ,of this1 though1 ,dee for the moment happily knew nothing4 ,nor1 for all his long intercourse with the spirits1 was he able to foresee that he was now embarking on a career of tragic adventure that falls to the lot of few scientists4 ,at first1 however1 all went well enough4 ,lasky entertained his learned guests in lavish fashion1 and1 assuming their garb of long1 flowing gown1 joined heartily with them in the ceremonies of the seance room4 ,but as time passed and their incantations redounded in no way to his advantage1 he gradually lost patience1 and broadly hinted that they might better transfer their services to another patron4 ,whereupon1 closely followed by the irrepressible ,kelley1 ,dee removed to the court of the emperor1 ,rudolph ,,ii1 at ,prague4 ,he had dedicated one of his scientific treatises to the emperor's father1 and in his simplicity firmly believed that this would insure him a warm and lasting welcome4 ,but ,rudolph1 from the outset1 showed himself far from well-disposed to ,dee1 ,kelley1 and their attendant retinue of invisible spirits4 ,when ,dee grandiloquently introduced himself1 in a ,latin oration1 as a messenger from the unseen world1 the emperor curtly checked him with the remark that he did not understand ,latin4 ,and the next day a hint was given him that1 at the request of the papal nuncio1 he and ,kelley were to be arrested and sent to ,rome for trial as necromancers4 ,before night-fall they were in full flight1 to remain homeless wanderers until another ,bohemian count1 hearing of their presence in his dominions1 took them under his protection on the proviso that they were to replenish his exchequer by converting humble pewter into silver and gold4 ,in this1 of course1 they signally failed1 and the next few years of their lives were years of the greatest misery4 ,this1 at any rate1 so far as ,dee was concerned4 ,kelley1 with pitiless insistence1 drew his pay regularly1 and when funds were not forthcoming1 refused to act as crystal-gazer and spirit interpreter4 ,on one of these occasions ,dee tried to replace him by training his son1 ,arthur ,dee1 as a crystal-gazer2 but1 try as he might1 the boy said he could see in the crystal nothing but meaningless clouds and specks4 ,had ,dee not been thoroughly infatuated this might have disillusioned him1 and convinced him that ,kelley had simply been preying on his credulity4 ,but the old man--he was now well advanced in years--saw in his son's failure only proof of ,kelley's superior gifts1 and by dint of great sacrifices contrived to find the money necessary to persuade him to return to his post4 ,at last a day came when money could no longer be found1 and then ,kelley definitely determined to break the partnership4 ,according to one account1 he informed ,dee that1 for the sake of his immortal soul1 he could no longer have dealings with the spirits2 that they were spirits not of good but of evil1 and ,mephistopheles was their master2 and that1 did he continue to traffic with them1 ,mephistopheles would soon have him1 body and soul4 ,another version--given by the astrologer1 ,william ,lilly1 who is said to have been consulted by the friends of ,king ,charles ,i4 as to the best time for that unhappy monarch to attempt to escape from prison--says that one fine morning ,kelley took ,french leave of ,dee1 running away with an alchemically inclined friar who had promised him a good income4 ,whatever the facts of his final rupture with his long-suffering master1 it is certain that1 after a romantic career1 in which he gained a ,german baronetcy1 ,kelley was clapped into prison on a charge of fraud1 and broke his neck while trying to escape4 ,dr4 ,dee1 in the meantime1 a sadder if not a really wiser man1 had found his way back to ,england1 where he essayed the difficult task of retrieving his ruined fortunes4 ,elizabeth smiled on him as graciously as ever1 and at ,christmas time sent to him a royal gift of two hundred angels in gold4 ,but he needed more than an occasional bounty2 he needed the assurance of a steady income1 and the chance to pursue again his scientific studies undisturbed by the phantoms of gnawing want4 ,so1 in a memorial1 written with tears of blood1 as he himself put it1 ,dee begged the queen to appoint a commission to investigate his case and review the evidence he would produce to prove that his services to the nation warranted a reward4 ,promptly the commission was appointed1 and as promptly began its labors4 ,this led to what ,isaac ,disraeli1 perhaps ,dee's best biographer1 has described as a literary scene of singular novelty4 ,let me depict it in ,disraeli's little known words3 ,dee1 sitting in his library1 says ,disraeli1 received the royal commissioners4 ,two tables were arranged2 on one lay all the books he had published1 with his unfinished manuscripts2 the most extraordinary one was an elaborate narrative of the transactions of his whole life4 ,this manuscript his secretary read1 and1 as it proceeded1 from the other table ,dee presented the commissioners with every testimonial4 ,these vouchers consisted of royal letters from the ,queen1 and from princes1 ambassadors1 and the most illustrious persons of ,england and of ,europe2 passports which traced his routes1 and journals which noted his arrivals and departures2 grants and appointments and other remarkable evidences2 and when these were wanting1 he appealed to living witnesses4 ,among the employments which he had filled1 he particularly alluded to a 'painful journey in the winter season1 of more than fifteen hundred miles1 to confer with learned physicians on the ,continent1 about her majesty's health4' ,he showed the offers of many princes to the ,english philosopher1 to retire to their courts1 and the princely establishment at ,moscow proffered by the czar2 but he had never faltered in his devotion to his sovereign4444 ,he complained that his house at ,mortlake was too public for his studies1 and incommodious for receiving the numerous foreign literati who resorted to him4 ,of all the promised preferments1 he would have chosen the mastership of ,st4 ,cross for its seclusion4 ,here is a great man making great demands1 but reposing with dignity on his claims2 his wants were urgent1 but the penury was not in his spirit4 ,the commissioners1 as they listened to his autobiography1 must often have raised their eyes in wonder1 on the venerable and dignified author before them4 ,their report was terse1 direct1 and wholly favorable1 inspiring the queen to declare that ,dee should have the mastership of ,st4 ,cross1 and that immediately4 ,but days passed into months1 and months into years1 and ,elizabeth's immediately still belonged to the future4 ,for some reason she soon lost all interest in the returned ,sage of ,mortlake4 ,again and again he memorialized her1 once with a letter vindicating himself from the accusation of practising sorcery4 ,her sole reply was to grant him finally the uncongenial post of warden of ,manchester ,college1 from which he retired after some mortifying experiences with the minor officials4 ,nor did he fare better at the hands of ,elizabeth's successor4 ,steadily he sank lower in the scale of society1 until at last he was forced to sell his books1 one by one1 to buy bread4 ,and still1 for all his poverty1 he pressed constantly forward in his adventurings into the invisible world4 ,if his friends deserted him1 he would at least have the companionship of angels4 ,as his hallucinations grew1 his youthful buoyancy returned4 ,he would leave ,england1 would fare across to the ,continent1 and there seek out men of a mind like unto his own4 ,joyfully1 he made ready for the journey2 but1 even while he packed and planned1 the call came for another and a longer voyage4 ,in the eighty-first year of his age1 #afjh1 the aged dreamer became in very fact a dweller in the spirit world4 ,of his place in the history of mankind1 it is not easy to write with any degree of finality4 ,there can be no doubt that he was utterly swept off his feet by the domination of a fixed idea4 ,and it is not possible to point to any specific contributions which he made to the advancement of learning1 worldly or otherwise4 ,still1 it is equally certain that he was anything but a negative quantity in an age resplendent for its positive men4 ,he played his part1 however mistakenly1 in the intellectual awakening that has shed such luster on the times of ,elizabeth2 and1 if only for his overpowering curiosity1 and his intense and unfailing ardor to get at the truth of all things1 natural or supernatural1 he merits respect as a forerunner of the scientific spirit which in his day was but feebly striving to loose itself from the bondage of bigotry and intolerance4 ,,xi ,,ghost ,,hunters ,,of ,,yesterday ,,and ,,to-,,day ,psychical research1 of which so much mention has been made in the preceding pages1 may be roughly yet sufficiently described as an effort to determine by strictly scientific methods the nature and significance of apparitions1 hauntings1 spiritistic phenomena1 and those other weird occurrences that would seem to confirm the idea that the spirits of the dead can and do communicate with the living4 ,it is something comparatively new--and like all scientific endeavor is the outgrowth of many minds4 ,but so far as its origin may be attributed to any one man1 credit must chiefly be given to a ,cambridge ,university professor named ,henry ,sidgwick4 ,at the time1 ,sidgwick was merely a lecturer in the university1 a post given him as a reward for his brilliant career as an undergraduate4 ,he was a born student and investigator1 a restless seeker after knowledge4 ,philosophy1 sociology1 ethics1 economics1 mathematics1 the classics1--he made almost the whole wide field of thought his sphere of inquiry4 ,and after awhile1 as is so often the case1 his learning became too profound for his peace of mind4 ,he had been born and brought up in the faith of the ,english ,church1 and had unhesitatingly made the religious declaration required of all members of the university faculty4 ,but little by little he felt himself drifting from the moorings of his youth1 and doubting the truth of the ancient doctrines and traditions4 ,honestly skeptical1 but still unwilling to lose his hold on religion1 he turned feverishly to the study of oriental languages1 of ancient philosophies1 of history1 of science1 in the hope of finding evidence that would remove his doubts4 ,but the more he read the greater grew his uncertainty1 especially with respect to the vital question of the existence of a spiritual world and its relation to mankind4 ,while he was still laboring in this valley of indecision1 ,sidgwick was visited by a young man1 ,frederic ,w4 ,h4 ,myers1 who had studied under him a few years earlier and for whom he had formed a warm friendship4 ,myers1 it seemed1 was tormented by the same scruples that were harassing him4 ,it was his belief1 he told ,sidgwick1 that if the teachings of the ,bible were true--if there existed a spiritual world which in days of old had been manifest to mankind--then such a world should be manifest now4 ,and one beautiful1 starlit evening1 when they were strolling together through the university grounds1 he put to his old master the pointed question3 ,do you think that1 although tradition1 intuition1 metaphysics1 have failed to solve the riddle of the universe1 there is still a chance of solving it by drawing from actual observable phenomena--ghosts1 spirits1 whatsoever it may be--valid knowledge as to a world unseen8 ,gazing gravely into the eager face of his companion1 and weighing his words with the caution that was characteristic of him1 ,sidgwick replied that he had indeed entertained this thought2 that1 although not over hopeful of the result1 he believed such an inquiry should be undertaken1 notwithstanding the unpleasant notoriety it would entail on those embarking in it4 ,would he1 then1 make the quest1 and would he permit ,myers to pursue it by his side8 ,long and earnestly the two friends talked together1 and when their walk ended1 that ,december night in #ahfi1 psychical research had at last come definitely into being4 ,in the beginning1 however1 progress was painfully slow and uncertain4 ,our methods1 as ,myers afterward explained1 were all to make4 ,in those early days we were more devoid of precedents1 of guidance1 even of criticism that went beyond mere expressions of contempt1 than is now readily conceived4 ,it was realized that no mere analysis of alleged experiences in the past would do2 that what was needed was a rigid scrutiny of present-day manifestations of a seemingly supernormal character1 and the collection of a mass of well authenticated evidence sufficient to justify inferences and conclusions4 ,earnestly and bravely the friends went to work1 and before long had the satisfaction of finding an invaluable assistant in the person of ,edmund ,gurney1 another ,cambridge man and an enthusiast in all matters metaphysical4 ,at first1 to be sure1 ,gurney entered into psychical research in a half-hearted1 quizzical way1 expecting to be amused rather than instructed4 ,and he derived little encouragement from the investigations carried on by ,sidgwick1 ,myers1 and himself in the field of spiritistic mediumship4 ,fraud seemed always to be at the bottom of the phenomena produced in the seance room4 ,but his interest was suddenly and permanently awakened by the discovery1 following several years spent in patiently collecting evidence1 of facts pointing to the possibility of thought being communicated from mind to mind by some agency other than the recognized organs of sense4 ,at once he made it his special business to accumulate data bearing on this point1 his labors ultimately leading him into an exhaustive examination of hypnotism1 as he found that the hypnotic trance seemed peculiarly favorable to thought transference1 or telepathy4 ,meantime1 the example of this little ,cambridge group had been followed by other investigators2 and in #ahgf1 before no less dignified and conservative a body than the ,british ,association for the ,advancement of ,science1 the proposal was made that a special committee be appointed for the systematic examination of spiritistic and kindred phenomena4 ,the idea was broached by ,dr4 ,w4 ,f4 ,barrett1 professor of physics at the ,royal ,college of ,science1 ,dublin1 and was warmly seconded by ,dr4 ,alfred ,russel ,wallace and ,sir ,william ,crookes1 two distinguished scientists who had already made adventures in psychical research and were destined to wide renown as ghost hunters4 ,for some reason nothing was done at the time2 but five years later ,professor ,barrett renewed his suggestion1 asking ,myers and ,gurney if they would join him in the formation of such a society4 ,that1 they replied1 they would gladly do1 provided ,sidgwick could be induced to accept its presidency4 ,having long before realized that the field was too extensive for thorough exploration by any individual1 however gifted1 ,sidgwick willingly gave his consent4 ,and accordingly1 in ,january1 #ahhb1 the now celebrated ,society for ,psychical ,research was formally organized1 its first council including1 besides ,sidgwick1 ,myers1 ,gurney1 and ,barrett1 such men as ,arthur ,j4 ,balfour1 afterward ,prime ,minister of ,great ,britain2 the brilliant ,richard ,hutton2 ,prof4 ,balfour ,stewart2 and ,frank ,podmore1 than whom no more merciless executioner of bogus ghosts is wielding the ax to-day4 ,unfortunately1 the first council also numbered several avowed spiritists1 notably the medium ,stainton ,moses2 and the society's birthplace was in the rooms of the ,british ,national ,association of ,spiritualists4 ,these two facts created a wide-spread suspicion that the society was actually nothing more than an adjunct to the spiritistic movement4 ,nor was confidence wholly restored by the hasty withdrawal of the spiritistic representatives as soon as they learned that strictly scientific methods of inquiry were to prevail2 or by the accession1 as honorary members1 of national figures like ,w4 ,e4 ,gladstone1 ,john ,ruskin1 ,lord ,tennyson1 ,a4 ,r4 ,wallace1 ,sir ,william ,crookes1 and ,g4 ,f4 ,watts4 ,to the scientific as well as the popular consciousness1 the society was little better than an assemblage of cranks1 with strangely fantastic notions1 and only too likely to lose its mental balance and help ignorant and superstitious people to lose theirs4 ,conscious1 however1 of the really serious and important nature of their enterprise1 and cheered by ,gladstone's comforting assurance that no investigation of greater moment to mankind could be made1,r the members of the society applied themselves zealously to the business that had brought them together4 ,sensibly enough1 they adopted the principle of specialization and division of labor4 ,while one group carried on experiments designed to prove or disprove the telepathic hypothesis1 another engaged in a systematic examination of the alleged facts of clairvoyance4 ,a third1 in its turn1 under the skilful guidance of ,gurney1 investigated the phenomena of the hypnotic trance1 with results unexpectedly beneficial to medical science4 ,a special committee was also appointed to collect and sift evidence as to the reality of apparitions and hauntings1 making whenever possible personal examinations of the seers of the visions and the places of their occurrence4 ,finally1 there were various subcommittees of inquiry into the physical phenomena of spiritism1--the knockings1 table turnings1 production of spirit forms1 and similar marvels of the ,dunglas ,home type of medium4 ,from the outset1 these subcommittees demonstrated the value of psychical research1 as a protection to the interests of society1 by exposing1 one after another1 the fraudulent character of the pretended intermediaries between the seen and the unseen world4 ,in this region of inquiry no one was more successful than a recruit from distant ,australia1 by name ,richard ,hodgson4 ,hodgson1 unlike ,sidgwick and ,myers and many others of his associates1 had not engaged in psychical research from the hope that the truths of the ,bible might thereby be demonstrated4 ,his motive was that of the detective eager to unravel mysteries4 ,from his boyhood he had had a singular fondness for solving tricks and puzzles of all sorts2 and when1 in #ahgh1 he came to ,england to complete his education at ,cambridge1 he naturally gravitated into the company of ,sidgwick1 ,myers1 and ,gurney1 as men busied in an undertaking that appealed to his detective instinct4 ,he was radically different from them in temperament and point of view--not at all mystical1 full of animal spirits1 fond of all manner of sports1 and interested in occult subjects only so far as they furnished working material for his nimble and inquiring mind4 ,the ,cambridge trio1 however1 took kindly to him1 invited him to join the ,society for ,psychical ,research1 and two years after its formation were instrumental in sending him to ,india to investigate the methods of ,madam ,blavatsky1 the high priestess of the theosophic movement which was then winning adherents throughout the civilized world4 ,from this inquiry he returned to ,england with an international reputation as a detective of the supernatural4 ,with the aid of two disgruntled confederates of the theosophist leader1 he had demonstrated the falsity of the foundations on which her claims rested1 and had shown that downright swindling constituted a large part of her stock in trade4 ,with redoubled ardor he now plunged into the task of exposing the spiritistic mediums plying their vocation in ,england1 and for this purpose enlisted the assistance of a professional conjurer1 ,s4 ,j4 ,davey1 who was also a member of the ,society for ,psychical ,research4 ,davey1 after a little practice1 succeeded in duplicating by mere sleight of hand many of the most impressive feats of the mediums2 doing this1 indeed1 so well that some spiritists alleged that he was in reality a medium himself4 ,hodgson1 for his part1 by clever analysis of the ,davey performances and of the feats of ,davey's mediumistic competitors1 brought home to his colleagues in the ,society for ,psychical ,research a lively sense of the folly of depending on the human eye as a detector of fraudulent spiritistic phenomena4 ,his crowning triumph came with his exposure of ,eusapia ,paladino1 the ,italian medium who is still enjoying an undeserved popularity on the ,european continent4 ,but in time even ,hodgson met his ,waterloo4 ,sent to the ,united ,states to investigate the trance phenomena of ,mrs4 ,leonora ,piper1 he was forced to confess that in her case the theory of fraud fell to the ground1 and as is well known he ended by developing into an out and out spiritist4 ,a few days before ,christmas1 #aije1 he suddenly died in ,boston2 and1 if reports from the spirit world may be accepted1 the once-renowned ghost hunter has himself become a ghost1 visiting in especial two of his ,american colleagues1 ,prof4 ,william ,james and ,prof4 ,james ,h4 ,hyslop4,s ,to return1 however1 to the early days of the ,society for ,psychical ,research4 ,valuable as were the results obtained by ,hodgson and his associates on what may be called the anti-swindle committees1 they had a distinctly negative bearing on the supreme object of inquiry--proof of the existence of a spiritual world in which human personality exists after the death of the body4 ,some enthusiasts did not hesitate to proclaim at an early date that such proof had actually been secured1 basing this assertion on the seemingly supernatural facts brought to light by the committees on telepathy1 clairvoyance1 and apparitions4 ,but the society1 under the leadership of the cautious ,sidgwick1 who was its president for many years1 steadily refused to countenance this view1 and insisted that before any definite conclusions could be reached far more evidence would have to be assembled4 ,thus the first ten years of the society's existence were marked by few positive results1--the most important being the statement of the case for telepathy and of its possible relationships to apparitions and hauntings1 as well as to the purely psychical phenomena of spiritualism4 ,indeed1 the society formally expressed its acquiescence in the telepathic hypothesis as early as #ahhd1 in the words1 ,our society claims to have proved the reality of thought transference--of the transmission of thoughts1 feelings1 and images from one mind to another by no recognized channel of sense4 ,but to no other dictum did it commit itself until ten years more had passed when1 following the so-called census of hallucinations1 it gave voice to its belief that between deaths and apparitions of the dying person a connection existed that was not due to chance4 ,and since then the society has contented itself with steadily accumulating evidence designed to throw light on the causal connection between deaths and ghosts1 and to illumine the central problem of demonstrating scientifically the existence of an unseen world and the immortality of the soul4 ,individuals1 of course1 have been free to express their views1 and from the pens of several have come striking and suggestive analyses of the evidence assembled in the course of the society's twenty-five years4 ,in this respect1 beyond any question1 primacy must be given the writings of ,myers4 ,even before the organization of the society1 his personal researches had led him to suspect that1 whatever the truth about the life beyond the grave1 there was reason for radical changes of belief regarding the nature of human personality itself4 ,in the light of the phenomena of the hypnotic trance1 clairvoyance1 hallucinations1 and even of natural sleep1 it seemed to him that1 instead of being a stable1 indivisible unity1 human personality was essentially unstable and divisible4 ,and as the years passed and he was enabled to coordinate the results of the investigations carried on by the different committees1 he gradually became convinced that over and beyond the self of which man is normally conscious there existed in every man a secondary self endowed with faculties transcending those of the normal wake-a-day self4 ,to this he gave the name of the subliminal self1 and1 in the words of ,professor ,james1 endowed psychology with a new problem1--the exploration of the subliminal region being destined to figure thereafter in that branch of learning as ,myers's problem4 ,not content with this1 he gave himself1 with all the earnestness that had originally drawn him into activity with ,sidgwick1 to the formulation of a cosmic philosophy based on the hypothesis of the subliminal self and its operations in that unseen world of whose existence he no longer doubted4 ,here he laid himself open to the charge of extravagance and transcendentalism1 and undoubtedly exceeded the logical limit4 ,but for all of that his labors--cut short by death six years ago1 and only a few months after the death of his beloved master1 ,sidgwick--have been little short of epoch marking1 and amply suffice to vindicate the existence of the once despised1 and still by no means venerated1 ,society for ,psychical ,research4 ,sir ,william ,crookes1 ,sir ,oliver ,lodge1 and ,mr4 ,frank ,podmore are other members of the society who have granted the outside world informative glimpses of its workings and discoveries4 ,sir ,william ,crookes1 of course1 is best known as a great chemist1 discoverer of the element thallium1 and inventor of numerous scientific instruments2 while ,sir ,oliver ,lodge's most striking work has been in electricity1 and more particularly in the direction of improving wireless telegraphy4 ,but both have long been actively interested in psychical research1 and perhaps most of all in those phases of it bearing on the telepathic hypothesis1 their great aim being to discover just what the technique of telepathic communication from mind to mind may be4 ,mr4 ,podmore1 on the other hand1 like ,richard ,hodgson1 has chiefly concerned himself with psychical research from the detective1 or critical1 standpoint4 ,he began his labors late in the '#gj's1 associating himself with the ,cambridge group1 and has consistently maintained the attitude of a skeptical1 though open minded1 investigator4 ,to-day1 to a certain extent1 he may be said to occupy the place so long filled by ,henry ,sidgwick as a sane1 restraining influence on the less judicial members of the society1 who would unhesitatingly brush aside all objections and embrace the spiritistic hypothesis with all its supernatural implications4,t ,of course1 psychical research has by no means been confined to the ,english organization4 ,all over the world investigators are now probing into the mysteries of the seemingly supernormal4 ,but1 as a general thing1 their methods scarcely reach the strict standards set by the organized inquirers of ,england1 and as a natural consequence they are more easily deceived by tricksters4 ,this is particularly true of the ,european ghost hunters1 whose laxity of procedure1 not to say gullibility1 was clearly shown by the ease with which ,hodgson exposed the pretensions of ,eusapia ,paladino after ,continental savants had pronounced her feats genuine4 ,and it is even more strikingly exhibited by the pathetic fidelity with which they still trust in her1 notwithstanding the ,hodgson exposure1 and the fact that they themselves have on more than one occasion caught her committing fraud4 ,in the ,united ,states1 however1 psychical research worthy of the name took root early1 owing to the establishment of an ,american branch of the ,english society under the capable direction of ,dr4 ,hodgson4 ,a year or so ago1 after his death1 this branch was abandoned4 ,but in its place1 and organized along similar lines1 there has arisen the ,american ,institute for ,scientific ,research1 the creation of ,prof4 ,james ,h4 ,hyslop4 ,until a few years ago occupant of the chair of logic at ,columbia ,university1 ,professor ,hyslop is unquestionably one of the most conspicuous figures in psychical research in this or any other country4 ,like ,professor ,sidgwick1 he first became interested in the subject through religious doubt1 and forthwith attacked its problems with the zeal of a man whose principal characteristics are intense enthusiasm1 resourcefulness of wit1 and intellectual fearlessness4 ,as everybody knows1 his experiences with ,mrs4 ,piper led him to unite with ,hodgson and ,myers in regarding the spiritistic hypothesis as the only one capable of explaining all the phenomena encountered4 ,but he is none the less able and eager to expose fraud wherever found1 and if only from the police view-point his society will undoubtedly do good work4 ,associated with him are many of the ,american investigators formerly identified with the ,english society2 some of whom1 notably ,prof4 ,william ,james of ,harvard1 the dean of psychical research in the ,united ,states1 also keep up their connection with the parent organization4 ,summing up the results of the really scientific ghost hunting of the last twenty-five years1 it may be safely said that if the hunters have not accomplished their main object of definitely proving the existence of a spiritual world1 their labors have nevertheless been of high value in several important directions4 ,they have exposed the fraudulent pretensions of innumerable charlatans1 and have thus acted as a protection for the credulous4 ,they have shown that1 making all possible allowance for error of whatever kind1 there still remains in the phenomena of apparitions1 clairvoyance1 etc41 a residuum not explainable on the hypothesis of fraud or chance coincidence4 ,they have aided in giving validity to the idea of the influence of suggestion as a factor both in the cause and the cure of disease4 ,they have given a needed stimulus to the study of abnormal mental conditions4 ,and1 finally1 by the discovery of the impressive facts that led ,myers to formulate his hypothesis of the subliminal self1 they have opened the door to far-reaching reforms in the whole sociological domain1--in education1 in the treatment of vice and crime1 in all else that makes for the uplifting of the human race4 ,,footnotes3 ,r ,gladstone's words were--,psychical research is the most important work which is being done in the world--by far the most important4 ,s ,for details of the ,hodgson manifestations the reader may consult ,professor ,hyslop's recently published book ,psychical ,research and the ,resurrection--particularly ,chaps4 ,v-,,vii4 ,t ,a new work by ,mr4 ,podmore is announced for immediate publication1 with the characteristic title of ,the ,naturalization of the ,supernatural4 ,it is said to contain a detailed analysis of the work of various well-known mediums4 ,up-,to-,date ,books on ,great ,subjects ,,science ,,and ,,immortality ,by ,,sir ,,oliver ,,lodge1 ,f4,r4,s4 ,in this able and intensely modern work1 the distinguished author sums up the states of science1 faith and theology in their bearing1 separately and collectively1 upon religion and immortality2 and it constitutes1 therefore1 an extremely valuable contribution to the literature of the present important crisis in modern thought4 #hvo4 #b4jj ,,net4 ,,postpaid #b4bj 999999 ,,religion ,,and ,,medicine ,by ,drs4 ,,worcester1 ,mc,c,o,m,b and ,,coriat ,this is the celebrated ,official ,book of the celebrated ,emmanuel ,movement4 ,its effect upon the thought and the religion of its age is already probably greater than that of any book published for many years4 ,it is a clear1 non-technical statement of the principles it stands for4 ,it is unquestionably the most widely discussed book in ,america4 #abmo4 #a4ej ,,net4 ,,postpaid #a4fe 999999 ,,the ,,living ,,word ,by ,,elwood ,,worcester1 ,d4,d41 ,ph4,d4 ,for the past generation1 says ,dr4 ,worcester in his ,preface1 men have been groping for a theology which should approach the old mysteries1 ,god1 evil1 the soul and immortality from the point of view of modern scientific and philosophic thought4 ,the old static aspect of the universe has been supplemented by the dynamic4 ,the old transcendent conception of ,god has yielded to the immanent4 ,the thought of ,god as mere ruler and judge is no longer sufficient for men's religious needs4 ,science has discovered ,god at work1 and religion also craves a spiritual and an active ,deity who works through laws and through us4 #abmo4 #a4ej ,,net4 ,,postpaid #a4fc 999999 ,,moffat1 ,,yard ,,company1 ,,new ,,york ,the latest voice of modern scientific investigation4--,,chicago ,,daily ,,news4 999999 ,,the ,,riddle ,,of ,,personality ,by ,h4 ,,addington ,,bruce ,,author ,,of ,,historic ,,ghosts ,,and ,,ghost ,,hunters 999999 ,,contents ,,chapters ,i4 ,early ,phases of the ,problem ,,ii4 ,the ,subliminal ,self ,,iii4 ,pioneers of ,france in the ,new ,world ,,iv4 ,american ,explorers of the ,subconscious ,v4 ,the ,evidence for ,survival ,,vi4 ,the ,nemesis of ,spiritism ,,appendices ,i4 ,d4 ,d4 ,home and ,eusapia ,paladino ,,ii4 ,the ,census of ,hallucinations ,,iii4 ,hypnotism and the ,drink ,habit ,,iv4 ,hypnoidization ,v4 ,spiritism vs ,telepathy ,,vi4 ,hints for further reading ,a singularly well balanced judgment is needed to succeed in the task set for himself by ,mr4 ,h4 ,addington ,bruce in his discussion of men's latent powers4 ,but he has distinctly proved that he is possessed of that rare gift4444 ,the book is one of great value and written in a style that will bring enlightenment to many readers4--,the ,outlook4 ,a volume of genuine value and one that will be read with profit by those who are interested in and have followed the arguments and experiments of curious delvers into the mysteries of the human mind4 ,it is a clear1 logical and impartial presentation of the whole subject from a scientific point of view1 in which is set forth all that can be absolutely classed as fact regarding the latent faculties of man1 revealed by study1 accident1 personal observation and experiment4--,boston ,evening ,transcript4 #hvo4 #a4ej ,,net4 ,,postpaid #a4fb 999999 ,,moffat1 ,,yard ,,company1 ,,new ,,york ---------------------------------------- ------------------------------ ,transcriber's ,note3 ,puctuation errors 7e4g4 commas used instead of periods1 incorrect quotation marks7 have been corrected without note4 ,unusual spellings 7e4g4 accordeon1 breesquely1 roystering7 have been retained4 ,the following corrections were made3 99p4 #ade3 litttle to little 7clergymen of the little ,connecticut village7 99p4 #aeg3 oustide to outside 7how he was supported outside7 99p4 #aha3 ignoance to ignorance 7professing complete ignorance7 ,for this ,,ascii version1 the following diacritic marks were changed3 99dieresis removed 7#bnd 'e' in preeminent2 #bnd 'o' in cooperated1 coordinate2 #bnd 'e' in reemerged1 reenter2 'i' in naively7 99o umlaut changed to oe 7,goeteborg1 ,loewenstein7 99u umlaut changed to ue 7,wuertemberg7 99circumflex removed 7'o' in role2 'a' in chateau7 99circumflex 7#ast 'e'7 and grave accent 7#bnd 'e'7 removed 7,salpetriere7 99grave accent removed 7'a' in ,anthony a ,wood's7 99acute_/aigu accent removed 7#ast 'e' in seances1 seance2 'e' in ,barre1 cure7 ---------------------------------------- ------------------------------