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{{Style P-HPB SB. Title continued |Spiritualism and Theosophy|10-570}} | {{Style P-HPB SB. Title continued |Spiritualism and Theosophy|10-570}} | ||
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the voices spoke in four languages of which the medium knew not a word. Of the Eddy phenomena, I will speak anon. | |||
One of the prettiest—I would say the most charming of all—but for the recollection of the fairy-like music—of mediumistic phenomena is the bringing of fresh, dew-begemmed flowers, plants and vines, and of living creatures such as birds, gold-fish and butterflies, into closed rooms while the medium was in no state to bring them herself. I have myself, in friends’ houses, held the hands of a medium, whom I had first put into a bag that was fastened about her neck with a sealed drawing-string, and with no confederate in the house, have had the whole table covered with flowers and plants, and birds come fluttering into my lap from, goodness knows where. And this with every door and window fastened, and sealed with strips of paper so that no one could enter from the outside. These phenomena happened mostly in the dark, but once I saw a tree-branch brought in the day-light. I was present once at a séance in America when a gentleman asked that the ‘spirits’ might bring him a heather plant from the Scottish moors, and suddenly one, pulled up by the roots and with the fresh soil clinging to them, was dropped on the table directly in front of him. | |||
A highly interesting example of the non-intelligent class of phenomena came under my notice in the course of our search after a medium to send to Russia. A lady medium, named Mrs. Youngs, had a reputation for causing a pianoforte to rise from the floor and sway in time to her playing upon the instrument. Madame Blavatsky and I went one evening to see her, and what happened was reported in the New York papers of the following day. As she sat at the piano playing, it certainly did tilt on the two outer legs—those farthest from her—and, with the other two, raised six or eight inches from the ground, move in time to the music. Mrs. Youngs then went to one end of the piano and, laying a single finger against the under side of the case, lifted the tremendous weight with the greatest ease. If any of you care to compute the volume of psychic force exerted, try to lift one end of a 7⅛ octave piano six inches from the floor. To test the reality of this phenomenon I had brought with me a raw egg which I held in the palm of my hand and pressed it lightly against the under side of the piano-case at one end. I then caused the medium to lay the palm of one of her hands against the back of mine that held the egg, and told her to command the piano to rise. A moment’s pause only ensued when, to my surprise, one end of the piano did rise without so much pressure upon the egg as to break the shell. I think that this, as a test of the actuality of a psychic force, was almost as conclusive an experiment as the water-basin and spring-balance of Mr. Crookes. At least it was to myself, for I can affirm that the medium did not press as much as an ounce weight against the back of my hand, and it is quite certain that but very few ounces of pressure would have broken the thin shell of the egg. | |||
One of the most undeniable manifestations of independent force is the raising and moving of heavy weight without human contact. This I, in common with many other investigators, have witnessed. Sitting at a table in the centre of my own lighted drawing-room, I have seen the piano raised and moved a foot away from the wall, and a heavy leather armchair run from a distant corner towards, and touch, us, when no one was within a dozen feet of either of them. On another occasion my late friend and chemical teacher, Professor Mapes, who was a very corpulent person, and two other men, equally stout, were requested to seat themselves on a mahogany dining-table and all were raised from the ground, the medium merely laying one hand on the top of the table. At Mrs. Youngs’ house, on the evening before noticed, as many persons as could sit on the top of the piano were raised with the instrument while she was playing a waltz. The records are full of instances where rooms or even whole houses were caused by the occult force to shake and tremble as though a hurricane were blowing, though the air was quite still. And you have the testimony of Lords Lindsay, Adare, Dunraven, and other unimpeachable witnesses to the fact of a medium’s body having floated around the room and sailed out of a window, seventy feet from the ground and into another window. This was in an obscure light, but I have seen in the twilight a person raised out of her chair until her head was as high as the globes of the chandelier, and then gently lowered down again. | |||
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{{Style S-HPB SB. Restored|You see I am telling you stories so wonderful that it is quite impossible for any one to fully credit them without the corroboration of their own personal experience. Believe me, I would not tell them at all—for no man desires to have his word doubted—unless I knew perfectly well that such phenomena have been}} seen hundreds of times in nearly every land under the sun, and can be seen by any one who will give time to the investigation. Despite my disclaimer, you may think that I am taking it for granted that you are quite as well satisfied as myself of the reality of the mediumistic phenomena, but I assure you I do not. I am always keeping in mind that, no matter what respect an auditor may have for my integrity and cleverness, no matter how plainly he may see that I can have no ulterior motive to deceive him—yet he ''cannot'' believe without himself having had the same demonstrative evidence as I have had. He will—because he must—reflect that such things as these are outside the usual experience of men, and that, as Hume puts it, it is more reasonable to believe any man a liar than that the even course of natural law should be disturbed. True, that assumes the absurd premises that the average man knows what are the limitations of natural law, but we never consider our own opinions absurd, no matter how others may regard them. So, knowing, as I have just remarked, that what I describe has been seen by thousands, and may be seen by thousands more at any time, I proceed with my narrative as one who tells the truth and fears no impeachment. It is a great wonder that we are having shown us in our days, and apart from the solemn interest which attaches to the problem whether or not the dead are communing with us, the scientific importance of these facts cannot be undervalued. From the first—that is to say, throughout my twenty-eight years of observations—I have pursued my inquiry in this spirit, believing that it was of prime importance to mankind to ascertain all that could be learnt about man’s powers and the forces of nature about him. | |||
What I shall now relate about my adventures at the Eddy Homestead, in Vermont, America, will tax your indulgence more than all that has preceded. For some years previous to 1871 I had taken no active interest in the mediumistic phenomena. Nothing surpassingly novel had been reported as occurring, and the intelligence communicated through mediums was not usually instructive enough to induce one to leave his books and the company of their great authors. But in that year it was rumoured that at a remote village in the valley of the Green Mountains an illiterate farmer and his equally ignorant brother were being visited daily by the “materialised” souls of the departed, who could be seen, heard and, in cases, touched by any visitor. This tempting novelty I determined to witness, for it certainly transcended in interest and importance everything that had ever been heard of in any age. Accordingly, in August of that year, I went to Chittenden, the village in question, and, with a single brief intermission of ten days, remained there till the latter part of October. I hope you will believe that I adopted every possible precaution against being befooled by village trickery. | |||
<center>(''To be Continued'')</center> | |||
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