Legend
Spiritual Manifestations Inside a Sealed Box
The following letter, by Mr. Robert Cooper, late of Eastbourne, is published in Mind and Matter, a new weekly Spiritualistic journal just started in Philadelphia:—
At the commencement of autumn of the present year some remarkable experiments were made through the mediumship of Mrs. Thayer, the celebrated flower medium of Boston, a full account of which has not yet been published. I now propose to give a detailed account of the experiments referred to, for I consider that such well-authenticated and conclusive phenomena should not be allowed to escape the notice of the public, but should be added to the facts, multitudinous and varied in their character, that are daily occurring, and on which the superstructure of the glorious spiritual philosophy is based.
The phenomena peculiar to Mrs. Thayer's mediumship consist principally of the production of flowers in a closed room. Of the reality of this fact hundreds of intelligent persons have become satisfied. The idea occurred to me that it might be possible for the power that brought the flowers into a closed room to go a step further, and introduce them into a closed box. The importance of this is obvious, inasmuch as the suspicion of confederacy on the part of others, and of secreting the flowers by the medium, would be entirely done away with. With this idea in my mind I proposed to Mrs. Thayer to make the trial, and with her usual willingness to oblige, she readily consented, at the same time remarking that she was not at all sure it could be done.
Accordingly, I bought a box at a store—an ordinary square packing case. It was made of three-quarter inch pine board, being nailed together with strong nails. Its dimensions were a little over a foot on all sides, I had the lid hung with hinges, and had a piece of glass securely fixed in it, so that the inside of the box could be seen without opening it. Thus prepared, I invited several intelligent and reliable persons to be present, in order to witness the trial. Mr. and Mrs. Holmes, the well-known mediums, being in Boston, kindly offered the use of their rooms, and it was there the company met—fourteen in number.
After an examination of the box, and everybody being satisfied there was nothing in it, it was closed. I then took from my pocket a padlock, which I had bought for the purpose, and which had never been out of my possession, and secured the lid. As an additional security, a strip of gummed paper was stuck on the top and thence to the side, a seal being attached to either end of it. A gentleman also stuck a strip of court plaster in a similar position on another part of the box. Everything being ready, the light was about to be turned out, when Mrs. Thayer said she had forgotten to bring her handkerchief that she usually places on the top of her head during the manifestations. This she uses to protect her head from the electrical influences that prevail, and which are apt to produce subsequent pain. Thereupon, a gentleman took from his wallet a packet of Japanese paper handkerchiefs, and offered one to Mrs. Thayer, who remarked that as it was not silk it was of no use, and it was placed on the table and the light turned out. The company, thus seated around the box in darkness, commenced singing, which was continued with intervals of cessation for about half an hour, and nothing having apparently occurred, except occasional raps on the box and on the table, it was resolved to strike a light and see if anything had taken place. On looking into the box, something was discovered, which, in the dim light, was supposed to be flowers, but which, on the box being opened, proved to be the paper handkerchief which had been left lying on the table, the red pattern of which had been mistaken for flowers. It will be noticed, in this case, that the handkerchief was not taken from the owner's pocket until the box had been “fixed” and was seen inside before it was opened. The box was then I removed, and the light again extinguished, when, in a very short time, a large branch of a fir tree, several lilies, and other flowers were found on the table. They were all apparently freshly gathered and were covered with cold dew, though the room was uncomfortably hot and the medium had not been out of it for at least an hour and a half. At the conclusion of the seance the following certificate was unhesitatingly signed by those present, none of whom appeared to entertain the slightest doubt but that they had witnessed a most conclusive instance of the passage of one material substance through another: “This is to certify that we, the undersigned, were present at a seance at No. 8, Davis-street, on the evening of August 24th, 1878, when the phenomenon of matter passing through matter was conclusively demonstrated in the presence of Mrs. Thayer, the flower medium, by a paper handkerchief being passed into a sealed and locked box.—Robert Cooper, Charles Houghton, J. L. Newman, D. D. Densmore, John Wetherbee, Edna R. Houghton, J. Nelson Holmes, Jennie W. Holmes, F. E. Crane, L. H. Ross, Mrs. Augustus Wilson, Mrs. A. B. Lawrence, Mrs. A. C. Sylands, J. Martin.
It was claimed by the spirits that operate through the Holmeses that it was by their agency the handkerchief had been introduced into the box. Be this as it may, there is no doubt of the fact that the phenomenon occurred. An excellent account of the seance was published in the London Medium and Daybreak, by Mr. John Wetherbee.
Well satisfied with our success, although the full object in view had not been attained, it was determined to make another trial. After the lapse, therefore, of a week or so, a few persons were invited to be present at Mrs. Thayer’s residence in Washington-street, the time chosen being three o’clock in the afternoon. The box having been duly inspected and sealed as before, and the light extinguished, we had not long to wait for results, for in the midst of the singing in which we were engaged, a loud noise was heard, suggesting the idea that the box was broken to pieces; but on a light being procured it was found to be perfectly intact and the seals unbroken, and through the glass could be discerned several objects, the principal of which were flowers. It was thought advisable not to open the box, but to submit it for inspection as it was; and for this purpose it was taken to the Banner of Light store, where it remained on view for two or three days, and where at length it was opened in the presence of several persons, who examined the box thoroughly and were all assured that it was no trick-box, but, as has before been stated, an ordinary packing box, of the simplest character. The contents are given in the following certificate, which was signed by all who witnessed the seance: —
“At a seance held at 833, Washington-street, Boston, September 3rd, 1878, Mrs. Thayer medium, the undersigned, who were present, hereby certify that a copy of the Banner of Light and the Voice of Angels, a photograph, several tiger lilies, a piece of fern, roses, &c., were found introduced into a locked and sealed box, besides several flowers on the table.—Robert Cooper, Laura Kendrick, Jonathan M. Roberts, J. N. Holmes, Jennie W. Holmes, G. A. Bacon, Mrs. Anna L. Reilly, Richard Hart (of London), Mrs. I. Floyd.”
The flowers on the table referred to came after the box manifestation. They were principally red roses, and the largest of them was found on the head of the medium. None of the objects, with the exception of the photograph, were, so far as is known, on the premises at the time; the photograph had been placed in a trunk in an adjoining room.
A few weeks after the above occurrences Col. H. S. Olcott, president of the Theosophical Society of New 'York, happened to be in Boston, and it was thought desirable that he should witness a box stance. Accordingly a few friends of Mr. Charles Houghton, at whose residence Col. Olcott was staying, were invited by that gentleman to his residence in Jamaica Plain to meet Mrs. Thayer. The seance was unsuccessful, for just as the manifestations were commencing the arrival of fresh guests disturbed the proceedings, and the seance was not continued. The following night, however, Mrs. Thayer held her regular public circle, and after most of the visitors had departed it was resolved to make a trial with the box, in order that Col. Olcott, who was present, might witness it. The box at this time had been further secured by having a strip of gummed paper, with a seal at each end, placed on every angle, and Col. Olcott impressed his signet ring on the seals that secured the lid. Results had not long to be waited for, for in a short time the box was found nearly half full of beautiful flowers and a large piece of trailing plant, all fresh and perfect, as if that moment gathered where they grew.
Such is a plain statement of tire facts of these remarkable seances. They involve not only the transporting of objects from one place to another, but the still more inexplicable fact of one material substance passing through another. The passage of matter through matter is of frequent occurrence at spiritual seances, and very few Spiritualists doubt the fact of it occurring; but I am not aware that such an unique and striking example of it has ever occurred as I now describe, and I have therefore deemed it advisable to place these seances on record in a somewhat detailed form. The witnesses to the facts are persons of more than average intelligence, and their probity unimpeachable, and not one of them, I believe, has seen occasion to alter the opinion formed at the time of the seances; indeed, it is rare for facts, of the character in question, to be so well attested and the verdict pronounced on them so unanimous and unequivocal.
Boston, U.S., Dec. 29th, 1878.
Captain Burton's "IFS."
Sir,—Captain Burton's series of little “ifs” are summed up by and contained within those two larger ifs of the Hebrew prophet quoted in my last letter—‘‘If the Lord be God, worship Him; and if Baal be God, worship him but until the greater ifs are understood, and the commands following them are obeyed, there is small hope of solid good resulting from his suggestions. Substituting for “the Lord” the words Moral Law, and for “Baal,” Political Economy, and using neuter instead of masculine pronouns, the sentence becomes, I trust, acceptable to the less “superstitious” among us.
To make my meaning perfectly plain, I take the words of the greatest intuitional philosopher who ever lived for my definition of the principles of moral law, and for my definition of the principles of political economy I take the words of the President of the Glasgow Social Science Congress, spoken in 1874; placing them in opposition:—
“Ye are all brethren; ye are all one.” “Thou shalt Jove thy neighbour as thyself.” “Give to him that asketh thee, and of him that would borrow of thee turn thou not away.”
To the same effect I might quote Buddha, or Plato, Cicero, Jerome, and Carlyle; but what saith utilitarianism?—
“Man has been defined to be an animal that exchanges. It will be seen, however, that he not only exchanges; but, from the fact of his belonging in part to the order carnivora, that he also inherits to a considerable degree the desire to possess without exchanging; or, in other words, by fraud and violence, when such can be used for his own advantage, without danger to himself. ... In order, therefore, to prevent or put a stop to a practice which each would object to in his own case, and which, besides, would put a stop to production altogether, both reason and a sense of justice would suggest the act of exchange as the only proper mode of obtaining things from one another.”
I ask those who are really desirous that the world be made more divine to examine, in the light of the old-world teaching, Captain Burton’s “ifs.” To examine anything in the Egyptian darkness of modern political economy would require the carnivorous clairvoyance of that nation's cat-beaded god of vengeance, who, by-the-by, is strangely related to Baal. This, I trust, they do not possess; and having so examined, they will, I think, find that every suggestion that makes for bitterness is utterly useless until men first acknowledge the unchangeable character of moral as well as physical law. You cannot teach <... continues on page 8-135 >
Editor's notes
Sources
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London Spiritualist, No. 336, January 31, 1879, p. 56