Legend
An Anglo-Indian’s Spiritualistic Experiences in London
Sir,—I am rather an inquirer than a propagandist in reference to Spiritualism, so I offer my experiences to others in the same frame of mind, on the Christian principle of doing as I would be done by; not in the expectation of making converts. I like to hear what other people have seen when, I am sure, they are giving me truthful accounts, so others may be glad of my report.
I was at home for some months a few years ago, and had previously had little to do with this subject. The first person I saw at Charing-cross Station was an old friend who had come to meet me, and almost the first thing he told me was that he had, to his own amazement, become a partial believer in Spiritualism, In his own drawing-room, with none but members of his family about, except a medium whom he had held the whole time, chairs and other things had been moved about the room in an unnatural manner, &c. He formed no theories, but felt convinced there was “something in it.” I may add that my friend is a man of culture and some literary reputation—a Saturday Reviewer, and so forth. I was soon drawn into the vortex, and became deeply interested. My friend’s family and my own form a large connected group. We held repeated seances amongst ourselves. Many of these failed absolutely; at some we received faint raps and movements of tables, which we believed ourselves not to have produced in any ordinary way. Some of the communications spelled out by raps or tilts were coherent, though none were of a nature to be worth recording as evidence. Some other phenomena were once observed which I will speak of directly. My acquaintance rapidly spread through Spiritualistic society. I went to many public and semi-public stances of professed mediums. Not to speak of raps and movements of objects in the dark, which are not in the least impressive at the houses of professional mediums, I saw on two or three occasions some partial “materialisations” which were very extraordinary. They happened in this way. Four or five of us, i.e., of the family group above referred to, were sitting in the dark on one occasion at the rooms of the well-known medium Williams, no other stranger being present. We saw what are called “spirit lights” flitting about. These lights appeared like little sparks which travelled through a short course, and then disappeared as a rule. Suddenly one of them, instead of disappearing, paused in mid air above the table and our heads, and expanded into a little luminous cloud, which at once assumed the appearance of a face. Expanding downwards, there came shoulders, covered with some sort of white garment. The head was covered with a white turban. The face became perfectly distinct and self-luminous. When I saw it nothing was visible below the shoulders, but the head and shoulders moved about without any reference to what was underneath; that is to say, being at one moment at the further side of the room, at the next it would advance to within a foot or so of me, and remain suspended above the table. At another seance of a similar kind, which my wife and other nembers of our family attended, but at which, I regret to say, I was not present, the same face appeared in the same way, and the materialization went a step further. Arms and hands developed. The “spirit,” said to be “John King,” shook hands with my wife, and spoke to her and others. Of course, if this had taken place at our own house, the phenomenon would have presented itself to our minds, irresistible as to what it professed to be; but occurring at a professional medium’s house, one’s suspicions go hunting round and round the circumstances in search of some possible explanation on the assumption of imposture. However, I have never been able to work out any theory of that kind. The effect could not have been produced by any magic lantern apparatus, nor by the simple machinery of “Pepper’s Ghost,” which has impressed your not very scientific, though ever-delightful London correspondent. For myself, I may remark that natural science has always been my hobby from a boy, and <... continues on page 10-268 >
Editor's notes
Sources
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London Spiritualist, No. 390, February 13, 1880, pp. 81-3