1935
May 19 - Sept 6
May 19, 1935.
Final Norman sitting.
Voice excellent. R. L. Stevenson loathe to say goodbye. Room warm. T. G. H. has very weak control.
May 22, 1935. Wednesday.
Group meets, minus recorder. (Gordon Chown). Harry Green is back. One outstanding point:
Mercedes (in trance) in a small voice: "I've gone to see him", and she describes T. G. H. and his surroundings. Later, downstairs, Bruce questions her. She remembers quite clearly going away with T. G. H. and looking down on the circle, even seeing her own body amongst the sitters.
[Handwritten note in margin: "An OOB (Out of Body) experience for Mercedes.]
May 22, 1935.
Ewan sitting. Full group.
Dawn shows supernormal knowledge of Bell-box lid being too tight. Dawn and Mercedes both cataleptic near end of sitting. Through Ewan, T. G. H. gives personal evidence to L. H. "Great Presence" is said to have come to the sitting.
T. G. H. says future discoveries in biology will throw light on the nature of cell growth re psychics.
May 25, 1935. Thursday
[Letter from Lillian Hamilton to Margaret:]
"... Busy is not the word for it - this old house is too much work when it comes to cleaning and painting, etc. And the dust!! No rain and Hespeler Avenue is roaring down on me all the minutes of the 24 hours. So if you pop in on us and find dust in your old home knee deep, don't be surprised. I dust once a day and let it go at that.
"... Have just come in from seeing Betty ... excellent exhibition.
"... Glen and Jim and Isabella are having a battle with soldiers up in the North Room. Glen still likes to play at being a little boy now and then.
Mention of going to the beach and of some jokes that have been enjoyed by someone.
"... Do let me know right away what your plans are. I am bound I'm going to be free of all other guests when you are here. Your old room is all freshened up and I have a lovely studio couch in the North Room for Jim if he wants it. May the winds be favorable to your coming.
"... About the Walter message. It is most remarkable. Jim tested the transmitter and found that the pilot light was not working as he said. Jim declares it was working the last time he looked at it. Also, Dad purported to be here through Isabella at this time - he claimed - or approximately so. They seem to be coming nearer all the time. Dad speaks to me several times a week - often through Isabella - always through Jack or occasionally through one of the others. Last night, for the first time, directly through Dawn. He said, "Lillian - Jim has left us. He has gone on to entirely different work. Bob is here". I understand what it is. I suppose having no close ties he has not been held back. T. G. is very happy and getting more and more used to things, he says. Oh, I have so much to talk over with you that paper does not make easy - our tongues will wag, no doubt. Through Isabella, Myers has asked me to read his book over again this summer. I propose to do so as soon as the pressure is over.
May 28, 1935.
Bessie and Harold Shand; Harry Green; L. H.; Lu Campbell; Langtry Thompson; Mercedes; Dawn; Gladys Chown, recorder.
T. G. H./Mercedes: "I want to speak through Mercedes. I want to say that I have seen Lucy. It was not as I expected. I had thought of her as a personal friend; but to see her in her glorious brightness I was taken aback. I wish that you could have seen Lucy as I beheld her. She came in my room. She was so bright that I could hardly look upon her. I had a long talk with her about to work. Do not think that Lucy is not an important helper in this work. I want to explain the progression the controls have made, and the different stages. Lucy has progressed through love. It has made it possible for her to come and talk and sing to you. With Katie it has been a different matter. She has made a rapid progression through power and strength. I have seen John at a distance. He is not very bright. I will explain again (in future) his excellent control of Ewan. I could not keep you out of the joy of knowing her (Lucy)! It is too wonderful even to speak of. I have a strong cord attached to Dawn."
Bruce Chown: "Are you getting multiple control?"
T. G. H./Mercedes: "Not the same as Walter." (Group sings.)
Walter/Dawn: "That's good (re singing). Vibrations are good."
Discussion follows on light and colors. Colors are dull, and all colors look alike to Walter. Bantering between Bruce Chown and Walter.
Bruce Chown: "Would you tell a lie, Walter?"
Walter/Dawn: "No, except when the truth doesn't fit. Why can't you be straightforward and say 'I don't like your cooking!' ... Kind thoughts are the best - things can spread around ... I step aside."
Ewan: "I come."
Katie/Mercedes: "We are going to get away (to a start). Throw out your very best thoughts to these three subjects. We can bind them closer and make them one. Then there will be a grand finale. It is not easy to understand, my friends. You are but lookers-on."
Walter/Dawn: "He's got bats in his belfry."
Bruce Chown: "Nice soft bats?"
Ewan: "Make a bigger space." (Group pushes chairs back.)
Walter/Dawn: "How is the light?" (Bruce Chown turns on light). "Count six after it's on. There is a lady anxious to give a bouquet of violets to Langtry. She says: 'Lizzie sent them '."
Ewan: "Good night. You would have gone and seen the doctor. He came and took his place in the cabinet ... Katie has control of Dawn. She has control of both Dawn and Mercedes ... quite good ... don't disturb them ... I'm going to put Ewan away ... he's away now."
Dawn speaks to someone on the Other Side: "Raise him ... that's fine! Don't put the light on."
Mercedes: "There is eight or ten people gathered around an object. One says it will photograph; one says that it won't. Katie and John think it is complete. Walter says 'No'."
[Conflict again between Walter and John and Katie.]
Bruce Chown: "Remember the ship? John thought it was ready, but it wouldn't photograph."
Mercedes: "We are all very busy. T. G. H. is the busiest looking."
L. H.: "I saw Katie's light on Mercedes' left."
Lu Campbell: "I've got the shivers!"
Ewan: "I'm going to put Mercedes once more quite far down."
Silence for some time. "Who gives you your orders?"
Bruce Chown: "Walter."
Dawn: "John."
Ewan: "Look at her, you fool!"
Bruce Chown: "Are you referring to me?"
Ewan: "Look at her and see who gives her her orders!" Bruce examines her and says "She is bent over with hands down ... cold ... okay."
Ewan: "Now I will let her go back". (Ewan at foot of couch). "Look at her again."
Bruce Chown: "She is standing up. Arms out. Rigid. Head down .... standing a foot in front of the cabinet."
Ewan: "I'll give her some real power." (Vigorous rubbing follows.)
Mercedes: "It has been very successful. Katie is going now."
Ewan: "Take no notice of her. She is a shadow. Good night, my daughter."
Katie/Mercedes: "Good night, John. All have left but my father and me."
Ewan: "We will give you the photo at the next sitting. I have commanded Walter to give it to you. Katie has taken a lot of energy from this woman tonight."
Circle closes.
[Tribute from Wm. Lyon MacKenzie King, (Prime Minister of Canada]
... Though we had met but once, and had shared but little in the way of correspondence, I felt a very close attachment to him, and was profoundly interested in his work of Psychical Research. I have looked upon him as one of the great pioneers in that field of thought and discovery. I now feel that not only our country, but science, and even civilization itself, has lost one of its greatest servants. His work will go with even greater effect, though it may take time to disclose this fact."
Wm. Lyon MacKenzie King
June 2, 1935.
9:05 p.m. Circle in.
9:10 p.m. Dawn (normal): "The doctor is here. Dr. Jim is here .... when Dr. J. A. Hamilton came he had on a gray cloak, hanging from his shoulders. That's the first time I've seen him since the church. He came over to Dr. Chown."
9:25 p.m. Dawn: "Did anyone see a flash like lightning?"
All: "No."
Dawn (in trance, unknown control): "It is not dark where I am. You will not need any sleep here. You will also be well. You will not have patients here; but you still work on the material (plane). Those who have made the change centuries ago are still working. The drones do not make progress. I am a spectator in your midst. I step aside."
9:45 p.m. L. H.: "I see lights near Dawn."
Mercedes: "Where night comes not. An endless day, a golden shore. 'Tis of my country, I speak. A country for which we are all preparing - a land of bounteous love - shining streets of morning sun. I come to speak to you, my children (on the material plane) of the time when you shall sit beside me on that shore; the glories of that land to witness with me; that land with which you familiarize yourselves .... One who has been near and dear to you (Reference to T. G. H.?) ... he has progressed more than you think, my friends .... Your work is being viewed by many who have not been in your Upper Room before. To them it is a matter of great importance that your work shall travel to the far corners of the material plane. The real life is one that he who called himself the Son of God, went to prepare for you. He prepared a mansion for his children who believe in Him ... He was crucified - he rose on the third day ... I am one of the medium's guides."
10:05 p.m. Ewan: "Good night. Have you got everything ready?"
Bruce Chown:" Oh, yes!" (L. H. and the Shands remark on the cold. Bruce Chown turns on red ceiling light on request."
Dawn: "I told you not to keep your cameras open. I will give you lots of warning to open them . You must sit. You can't leave now. You must sit until the outer shell of the form is prepared for your cameras."
Langtry Thomson: "We explained two months ago that we could not keep your medium after November. She's going away."
Walter/Dawn: "We don't count time as you do. The rest of you can come, can you not? It is important that you sit for the outer form. We can hold what we have, but not after we start to cover it with the substance for photography."
Bruce Chown: "Dawn will be away for two sittings."
Walter/Dawn discusses sittings and says "John will talk now."
Katie/Mercedes: "Spread out."
Bruce Chown: "Welcome, Katie."
Katie/Mercedes: "I must get this medium on her feet before I can talk to you. We've done fairly good work. Not as much as we expected. There's one on our side who has not been present. My advice is to go on as usual without Dawn. We'll do our best until she comes back. Three sittings would complete our work ... It's too bad you do not have clairvoyants to see the work progressing. Someday we will make Ewan see. John has one last instruction to give you."
10:30 p.m. Ewan: "The materialization comes from Katie ... the inner shell ..."
Bruce Chown: "Where is the outer covering derived from?"
Ewan: "From Dawn. Ewan gives energy. He gives the driving power.!"
Walter/Dawn: "Everyone contributes."
Ewan: "Not like my mediums. I could break you all with the power!"
Katie/Mercedes: "It is time to go."
Ewan: "There is one ..."
Katie/Mercedes: "Keep this room cool at all times. Remove everything from her couch. The cushion is all right. She must be comfortable."
Ewan: "If you have time, say good bye; but they can't get exhausted when I give them power."
Walter/Dawn: "Good night. So long!"
Katie/Mercedes: "You can go. I will see that this friend will go peaceably."
Circle closes and members file out.
Katie/Mercedes: "You can send them all but this boy."
Ewan: "Dawn can stay until I give the word. Take your place."
Mercedes: "I WON"T be called a creature!"
Ewan: "Girl."
Mercedes: "I am Naida."
Ewan: "Come here, doctor, and look at them ."
Bruce Chown: "Mercedes is on her knees. Dawn is bowed down, too."
Mercedes: "He is my Master. I acknowledge him."
Ewan: "Speak, woman!" (Dawn shudders.)
Bruce Chown: "It is time to close."
Dawn: "Release me now."
Mercedes: "I want to speak to you."
Ewan: "Come back until I give you the command! (Shouting). I am greater than John King! I have no glory from this; it is but a demonstration."
(Dawn and Mercedes both kneeling again.)
Mercedes: "Do you see this man?"
Bruce Chown: "No."
Mercedes: "He comes into your room and fights against the spirit people. He is no exception. The tie is too strong. Good night."
Mercedes is led out, saying she is all right, and mumbling something about the Gypsies. Dawn comes some time after the recorder. Harry Green and Bruce Chown later.
[Note: This Zoroastrian monk and slave, Naida, have appeared before. The man is very forceful, and the slave very slavish."]
June 3, 1935. Monday
[Letter from Mrs. Hamilton to Margaret:]
"... Such lots to tell today. Where shall I start? First of all, that vision of Jim's seems to have been based very definitely on some outside influence: for, believe it or not, for the first time in all our years of sitting with Jack the seance started at 10:00 or, to be more precise, one minute to ten. When the letter arrived, and I read about it, I thought "Well, that time cannot possibly be correct for we always sit early with Jack." But the unexpected happened and it came about wholly through events over which we had no control.
"... At 7:15pm Mrs. Pitblado phoned to ask if she and Isaac could come over to see me, and said that they had called once before but I was out. Under the circumstances what could I say but tell them to come. They said they would be over in about half an hour, but it was an hour before they arrived, Jack in the meantime, resting and reading on the balcony, waiting until their visit would be finished.
They were so interested in hearing about Daddy's coming through and what he had to say that they stayed until 9:40pm. In the meantime I never thought of your letter and Jim's vision-placard, and it was not until I was getting Jack a cup of tea in the kitchen to waken him up for the sitting that the prediction flashed into my mind. I regard this incident as quite definitely supernormal, and indicative of Jim's undoubted potentialities. We talked to T. G. about it and he said they were delighted with the success. He does not know how he knew we were to sit at 10:00pm - it could only be described as a "hunch" on his part. He is going to try and find out how they, on their side, get these impressions. Jimmy (James Bach?) is psychic, he says, but his mediumship will travel along lines, they think, quite different from anything we have yet had. You are just to let it grow spontaneously - don't force it yet in any way, he says. And don't worry about whether his visions are evidential or otherwise - let them come - keep tab on them and sift the wheat from the chaff - little by little the wheat will grow in volume and importance.
"... Then about Daddy's own coming. He still appears at every sitting, but seems now to be much more poised and accustomed to the separation from us all. He is seemingly giving most of his attention to the materialization attempt now pending. Both he and Uncle Jim came last night and were seen by Dawn. The did not speak - in fact there was very little speaking of any kind. A sort of High Priest, however, came through Mercedes while the latter was in very deep trance and said our "loved one" had progressed and progressed far beyond our expectations. This, curiously enough, tallies with what Dad said through Jack the night before, when he claimed to be on the fifth sphere with Stead and Myers, but did not know whether he would remain there or was present only as a guest. R. L. Stevenson was there part of the time, he said. His scientific training and purity of heart and purpose would bring this about. He also, through Jack, wrote his resignation to the Winnipeg Psychical Research Society - and was it well worded! And in T. G.'s usual dignified and slightly wordy style. While we cannot, of course, establish a thing like this, I regard it as characteristic, decidedly. The handwriting was, of course, still Jack's, but smaller, and the pencil was held in the typical T. G. H. style. Mr. and Mrs. Wither were present and he took it home. Says he is going to put it in the minute book - highly unscientific but interesting thing to do. Through Jack, also, Daddy has said that now he is surer than ever that the Universe is an Idea Universe - "differentiated thought".
"... Mrs. Bach phoned me yesterday and tells me that she is writing to you. Her affairs seem to be pretty well cleaned up - all except the piano. I wish I had the money to buy it for you - wouldn't that be swell. But, alas, not enough for that I'm afraid.
"... You will be relieved to know that our Eldorado is sold and that we made some profit - and saved our securities. Fletcher is quite pleased about it. After the American NRA "bust-up" Eldorado went away down but our "stop loss" automatically sold ours out. Aunt Ella wants me to buy some back again, but I think not. We will have about 1000 mining shares from Uncle Jim's estate and they are enough to play about with; although at present they are worth very, very little, it is said that they may, like Eldorado, yet be valuable.
"... Mrs. Freeman was asking about you but had not known about Mr. Bach's death.
Something about a new cat and giving away Peter - three cats too many in one house. Walter Woggs is the new cat.
Planning a trip by car to see Margaret - Glen would like to see Chicago - plan to go by that route - any advice on where to stay overnights? This might be last week in June or just after.
"Just as soon as Mrs. Sissler's "mat" is over. That is really what will fix the time and the Stork, of course, is boss there.
"... This afternoon I am going to have tea with Mrs. J. B. Mitchell - and what a day! Raining. Blowing, and cold. But good for the country."
Mentions cleaning out Dr. Hamilton's old offices on Saturday - Glen's expenses will be lower since part is being used by Dr. Tony Gorron from today. An enlarged photo of Daddy to hang in the offices.
[P.S. Your notice of sitting just arrived. Splendid. Will send ocegaboard (Ouija board?) right away.]
July 2, 1935
Elizabeth Poole's last visit with Lillian Hamilton.
July 4, 1935.
Mrs. Elizabeth Poole died.
July 5, 1935. Friday
[Letter from Mrs. Hamilton to Margaret:]
"... What news we have both ways - dear little Mrs. Poole died last night at 8:30pm - undressing to go to bed - fell forward and she was gone - gone into that other world she has seen so long and into which she opened the door in a way that no one else has done - her visions of our dear "Stevie" being absolutely unique in all the long history of psychical research. Not long ago R. L. Stevenson said how warm her welcome would be and that he would be there to greet her, and I verily believe his promises will be kept. I'm so glad I had that little visit with her last Tuesday - I told you in my last, I think, that she had come in and stayed to tea. Dr. Allison is taking the service tomorrow at 3:30pm after he attends Helen Chesnut's wedding at 2:30pm. (Mr. Patten is away) Already the Tribune has rung me up to find out a little about her work with Daddy - Allison is going to say that her name will to down in history and I'm sure it will. I'm going over in a few minutes to get a wreath for her and I will order a little one for you - I know you would want to do that for your "second mother", for there is no doubt she loved you well and long. If she asked once after you the other day, she asked at least ten time - "Well, how is Margaret? She has gone home - hasn't she?"
"... Are you pleased about our news, Goggie?"
"... I knew Jim had it in him. If only he doesn't work too hard; but he is able to relax between times so that is a great help. I shall be down just as soon as possible. Every hour we are waiting for the phone to ring and say that Mrs. Sissler needs the doctor. A week after that is over, we head east. If the call does not come soon I am thinking of taking the train down. Fares are down - $48.00 - not bad at all. If I do this we will still take the motor trip in August - so that I would get two trips in, then, and we would be able to take Jim along. He finishes his French course August 12. However, I shall wait a few days and then decide. If I decide to come by train, I'll telegraph so that you will know exactly where we both are at ...
"... Life is full of changes, is it not. More and more I believe that all things work together for good toward those who love the Good; to those who do their best to be good and do good."
P.S. "... Dr. Allison says to write at once to Carlyle Apt. 2, Six Park Place, Montreal and ask him to help you in the matter of getting a flat. Dr. Allison says flats are very, very hard to get in Montreal just now. Both he and Mrs. Allison are thrilled to think you will be there with Reta and Carylele (He is night editor of the Montreal Gazette) and they will be able at once to make nice and interesting contacts for you.
June 6, 1935.
Gordon Chown; Bruce Chown; Mercedes; B. and H. Shand; Lou Campbell; L. H.; H. Green; Langtry Thomas and Dawn absent.
9:05 p.m. Circle in.
9:10 p.m. Circle of members number, and Ewan and Mercedes in trance.
Mercedes: "Good evening. You're not all here. Ewan is dead asleep. I think he is very modest. There is someone else here who is disappointed that he didn't hear the machines click last time."
Bruce Chown: "Tell him to pep Walter up. Walter told us to keep things cool; so we've had snow and everything. (Medium flat on her back). Have you seen William Crookes?"
Mercedes: "He was here last time."
Bruce Chown: "We've never had a picture without Dawn."
Mercedes: "Now Dawn's back, we are back at our old work ... a picture without a physical medium."
Bruce Chown: "Let's do that!"
Mercedes: "Do you prefer an ectoplasmic picture .... We should be able to get along with the material at our disposal."
Bruce Chown: "It would be a great thing to get a photo with Dawn absent."
Mercedes: "Get a picture with either one or the other, or both."
Bruce Chown: "That would be good. You were able to do some preliminary work along that line. Would these pictures be as difficult to get as the others?"
Mercedes: "Maybe Ewan's control could tell you what sort of pictures these would be."
Bruce Chown: "This is a good subject to discuss when we are standing by."
L. H. reports that Ewan is kneeling beside the bed.
Bruce Chown: "Would you explain the methods of the photographic process of building up photos?"
Ewan: "It is a framework. Remember the framework of the ship. Remember the girl - the shell - that was the way. Build the form and cover it with teleplasm. These forms are directed rays of energy and kept in place. We can do nothing without the physical medium."
Bruce asks questions re measuring energy.
Ewan: "You can't measure the energy; when released, the structure will collapse ... You are not accustomed to energy in the same form. You don't recognize it. It is not material energy; it is more concrete than that. The form is getting built up all the time."
Bruce Chown: "Could these forms be built up without Dawn, and then have her in for the last two or three sittings?"
Ewan: "Oh, yes. I don't think you could do as Mercedes' controls say: forms without physical mediums ... Come here! (Shouts) Put your hand on Mercedes' head. Take her feet."
Bruce Chown: "Mercedes is sitting up. Her feet are straight out. Ewan lifts her legs up to her forehead."
Ewan: "You try it now."
Bruce Chown: "She is Jack-knifing. Foot is about eighteen inches from her head. Her hands are held as for a dive. I can't pull them apart. She's quite rigid; her elbows at her side. (Bruce's efforts moves them only a half inch from her side.) Her chin is straight forward and up. Her head can't be moved."
Ewan: "We can get a lot of energy from her to get the form built up. The medium's self can leave her body."
Bruce Chown: "Could we photograph that?"
Ewan: "One day we can get the astral body coming away from the medium. It must be some form that can be recognized. Your eyes are unaccustomed to see ... all energy is perceptible. We will try to have her leave the body. It is common to have part of the medium leave. It is easier to get it when she is not lying down. Mercedes is easier than Dawn. Dawn is tied to her body. We will try to make her a little colder. Do not touch; keep well away from her." (Ewan works continuously, rubbing his arms.)
9:50 p.m. Ewan: "Now, if you will ask her to go away. She can come back and tell you."
Bruce Chown: "Go to Gunn's house. Go into the living room and tell me what is on the north wall. Describe pictures, which I don't know. On the right as you go in."
Mercedes whistles in her teeth and stutters.
Ewan: "Give her time."
Mercedes: "He said 'pictures'?"
Bruce Chown: "Yes."
Mercedes: "I see pictures - more than one. I see one large picture. It seems to take a prominent place in the home ... This is extremely difficult ... There are so many books around. Someone is careless where they are set. Not our friend .... it is his good lady who does most of the reading. I see many things that would be in anyone's home."
Gordon Chown: "How about color?"
Mercedes: "Color is difficult to get. I'm in a blue mist, which may color objects in the room. Are you sure the medium has not been here, or is familiar (with this place?)
Ewan: "She must go away again."
Mercedes: "It is a difficult task."
Ewan: "Be quiet. You will go away!"
Mercedes draws a deep breath. Knocking is heard.
Bruce Chown: "Come in!"
Mercedes: "All right. No, I won't touch anything. (Seems confused.) The medium will try to tell you, when she is normal."
(Questioned later, Mercedes said it was not as clear an experience as the previous one with Dr. Hamilton. A blue haze covered all. She had the impression of a woman - thin - smoking cigarettes and reading, in the first one, a grate, and a chesterfield in the second.)
10:10 p.m. Bruce Chown: "What about physical de-materialization?" At Crandon's, they report extraction of a solid physical object from a box."
Ewan: "It requires a great deal of energy. The energy of material objects must be broken down - all matter is stable energy .... It is a difficult operation. It is easier to come to a large gathering than a small concentrated space."
Bruce Chown: "I'd like photos of before and after."
Ewan: "Perfume is a simple form. You have a liquid .... We have never ... anything more than the breaking down of matter and concentration of .... in a simple form. You want it broken down, and given back its old form."
Bruce Chown: "Not necessarily."
Ewan: "When we produce teleplasmic manifestations they are more or less in an amorphous condition. This structure we are making ... the first experiment was the ship, constructed on those lines, and not successful. There is a difference between creation of energy with thought, to an amorphous but material condition of energy, to the actual condition of energy itself ... constructive lines. It is in the first case like taking a mirror which gives back the forms thrown on it to the other and a direct representation of the figure."
Bruce Chown: "Mirror sculpture?"
Ewan: "Not quite the same, but close enough ... Do you know that every thought you have gives rise to a form in the universe. You have thought a man can be alone. He can't ever be alone. All around him are the conditions of his own willpower expressed in thought."
10:20 p.m. Bruce Chown: "Most interesting and enjoyable; but we must close."
L. H.: "Give them five minutes."
Lucy/Mercedes: "Good evening, my friends. This is Lucy. We decided to let these experiments go on tonight hoping they would be of interest. There has been no loss and it's standing up very well. Our good friend is not in his accustomed place. He has been sent to visit one who left the earth a long time ago - who is not as high as he is. It may be his mother. She is not so far advanced. He has been allowed to go and pay her a visit. He might give you his ideas of the visit to the sphere. Dr. Jim came. The control who spoke has come before, but never gave his name."
Ewan: "Come, now, you are going away."
Lucy/Mercedes: "Good night."
Ewan: "This is a greater control than these two. It is not Katie."
Mercedes: "You have left the door shut. Sometime we will come back. Adieu."
Group says the Mizpah and goes out.
All: "May the Lord watch between me and thee while we are absent one from the other."
Bruce Chown tells the controls to leave.
Ewan: "You do not know what you are asking."
Recorder and mediums leave.
June 9, 1935. Sunday
[Letter from Mrs. Hamilton to Margaret:]
"... I'm quite lonesome for my one and only this evening - just came over me all of a sudden - no Margaret to come dashing in and say "Hallo mom - what do you think?" ... Just silence. No sitting and no Daddy. Just have to get used to all these changes just as you will, and everyone, sooner or later."
Mentions a day at Aunt Lottie's - a rug being completed for Margaret.
"... Well, I've some real news for you: Phyllis and Glen are engaged officially - ring and all. He seems to be deeply in love with her and is quite sure that she is the girl for him. Now that we know her better we like her very much - there is a fine personality there - one that will grow, I think, in many ways as time goes on and life does its developing work. Anyway, he, or better they, seem to be very happy about it. The ring is something like yours - dainty and good.
"... Then I have other news for you: Phyllis is coming with us on the motor trip. She has never been east and is keen to come along and will pay her share of the expenses, she says. She is a good driver. Glen is pretty thin and tired. Jimmy went to the beach today so as to have his holiday over in time to be here with Elna while we are gone.
"... About the Ouija board: I could not find it until yesterday - hunted everywhere - things not any too tidy yet and still somewhat out of place - hence the difficulty. I will get it off very soon.
"Did I tell you about Mrs. DC's silver wedding celebration last night ...?" Mentions more on this.
"... About Daddy. Mercedes in deep trance at the last sitting said that he had gone on a visit to his mother who was not as far advanced as he was. They are going to ask him, the controls said, to give us his impressions of the sphere where she is. They said also that he had advanced far beyond our expectations, agreeing with his own claim, through Jack, that he had been taken to the fifth sphere with Myers and Stead but did not know whether he was a guest or would remain. How difficult it is to understand, but I believe back of all these statements truth is present to some degree at least. He wanted you to know that he was asking for you and Jim. Sterge also, as usual, sends his fondest love. Louis has not come of late but promises to speak next time. "
Mentions a number of cats - Boots, Matthew, Greypaws and Fritz - Walter Woggs, also.
June 18, 1935.
All present, except Gladys Chown.
8:30 p.m. Sitting started. Usual start. Ewan after a time, stamped, and Bell box shook so that the weight on top caused it to ring continuously. Langtry was told to fix it after the sitting, so that it would ring easily, but not ring on jarring.
Walter/Dawn said one full ring or trill would mean "Open cameras."
After some argument it was agreed that a signal for photo would be "One, Two, Three - Fire!"
It would, if possible, be given by John through Ewan; but if not possible, then through Mercedes by Katie. Both Walter/Dawn and Katie/Mercedes said it was better from their point of view to have John give the signal, as Katie giving it caused a rupture; but it would depend on how well they could control Ewan.
John/Ewan and John/Dawn then went off into a blood-thirsty description of buccaneer days. John/Ewan worked himself into a violent state and collapsed, kneeling with his head on Mercedes' knees. (Mercedes lying on couch). Katie then explained that as completion of the picture approached, John returned so close to the earth plane that his memories became very vivid, and hence he became violent.
Sitting closed.
The others having left, John bade an affectionate farewell to Katie; said she was now full of power."
June 24, 1935. Monday.
Mercedes and Langtry absent. Bessie Shand and Bruce Chown held up in a mud hole until 9:30 p.m.
Sitting started without them . Bruce Chown, recording.
"Ewan went into trance but Dawn did not, and after some time she called out in rather an angry and frightened voice that she "... wouldn't sit in this seat no longer; she would not go under control in this seat!"
Ewan at once agreed, changed places with her in the cabinet; and she was calm at once.
Later T. G. H. and Lucy spoke through Ewan. I asked T. G. H. about Spirit broadcasting. He said he had not done anything about it. It would require a medium of peculiar fluidity to pass the impressions from side to side. She would not be a transformer in the ordinary sense, since the types of energy on the two sides were so different. We made no progress on this line, but were promised further discussion.
T. G. H. was eager for a suggested sitting with Ewan, Jack MacDonald, L. H., and myself. We promised to arrange this as soon as possible. Walter said he thought two more sittings with Mercedes, Dawn and Ewan, would put things right for the photo.
[In spite of the bad start sitting was quite good. - Bruce Chown.]
June 25, 1935. Wednesday
All present except Gladys Chown. (the well known medium!)
Stead controlled Mercedes and said his work on the present task was completed. "Just like a small boy's fireworks, ready for a match to touch it off." He said he was working with Myers.
8:53 p.m. Dawn (not in trance) saw Barney cross to his old seat. Mercedes was placed alone in the cabinet for the last twenty minutes of the sitting, and we were instructed to have Ewan alone next time, then Dawn, and all three.
[After the sitting Mercedes said she had seen Barney, Stead and Myers. Also a full rigid form and an apparatus behind it, such as Crookes' apparatus of the Dumert circle. In the discussion, the fact that Doyle had said in London that Crookes was working here with apparatus, came out. - Bruce Chown.]
[The Canadian Medical Association Journal]
Obituary of Dr. Hamilton - June 1935
By Dr. Bruce Chown
[Most of this obituary re-states earlier information but it also has these observations:]
"For several years he represented Elmwood on the Winnipeg Public School Board, and served as Chairman of the Board, 1912 and 1913. He was the first Chairman of the Winnipeg Playgrounds Commission ...
... What shall I say of this man, this elder, this excellent physician, this soul, honest and unaffected, and friendly, enduring and courageous? His was no easy fight. He had faced derision and ridicule and calumny and, smiling, turned their thrusts upon his sword of truth. The first address I heard him give on his psychic experiences was some eight years ago before the Winnipeg Medical Society, at a time when he had already been investigating these phenomena for several years. The crowd before the meeting were derisive. "Come on Glen! Bring on your ghosts!" He smiled at them and, unruffled, spoke. He mentioned no ghost, nor spirit, nor personality; but he talked about a table, a table that moved at request, that rushed across the room, that leapt in the air, that defied the efforts of strong men to hold it. And as he talked he showed photographs of these actions. And because we knew Glen, we knew these things were true. He offered neither explanation nor theory, simply facts; we might interpret them as we would. That night he had many converts.
A month ago I sat one evening in the Hamilton's living-room, waiting as one by one the other sitters gathered for a seance. The fire crackled. All was pleasant and friendly. It was almost the hour to go up before the Doctor came in from the hospital, yet to have his supper. But there was no haste. Jests and smiles of easy affection greeted him "Late again, T. G.! What will your disembodied friends say for keeping them waiting?" He laughed them off, and sat down to tea and toast and jam. Unhurriedly he ate, jesting with these friends with whom he shared his search for truth. And then at last we went up. It was the fourth evening within the week he had spent studying psychic phenomena; two hours a night of hard work under strain.
This is not the place to discuss these investigations in themselves, though it will be for these that he will be known to history. From table rappings he passed to observations on the apparent animation of dead things, to trance speech and writing, to the photography of masses extruded from the bodies of mediums, masses at first amorphous, later molded in the likeness of the known dead. These phenomena were all genuine. The yellow fog of doubt that hangs about all mediumistic doings was dispelled by the character of the man. Day after day, week after week, year after year, when the ordinary day's work was done, he observed, recorded, analyzed. I often wondered how he had the patient stubbornness to persist. There lived a quality of mind rare in any age, even in the man who is a professing scientist; an endurance and an eagerness to carry this, his heart's work, on top of a great load of professional and social duties showing forth a man of powerful character. Now he is gone from this world of solid flesh. To but a few that strong and steady personality shall again become phenomenal; for the rest of us his spirit alone remains."
The Work of Dr. T. Glen Hamilton
An appreciation by the Editor
The article contains the following:
To Dr. Hamilton falls the great distinction of having retained the fullest respect of his medical colleagues in face of his courageous pursuit of psychical and metapsychical investigation - a subject which has too often excited the prejudice and hostility of the medical profession. In this respect he achieved a real triumph: for he not only conquered that prejudice but even created a lasting interest among the doctors in the study of metapsychical phenomena.
There is a very fine tribute to him in the Canadian Elmwood Herald for April 11th, 1935 by Dr. Ross Mitchell, a Past President of the Manitoba Medical Association who says as follows:
"The qualities that won him the friendship of many were honesty and sincerity, equanimity, fairness and public spirit. He had that rarest of gifts, common-sense, to a high degree. There is probably no subject which has aroused more bitter controversy than psychic research; yet even those who could not follow Dr. Hamilton to his conclusions never doubted his sincerity or ceased to admire his determination to investigate psychic phenomena along scientific lines. It was these qualities of mind and heart that made him internationally famous in this field, and won him the friendship of some of the most distinguished men and women of the day."
Dr. Hamilton approached the subject of psychical enquiry in an entirely critical spirit. At first he was far from having any disposition towards a belief in the reality of metapsychical phenomena as popularly claimed: nevertheless, he at all times held an unshakeable conviction of the survival of the human personality after death. This conviction strengthened as his experimental work developed. His aim, to discover proof of the continuity of the life of the soul in order to convince those who doubt the validity of human instinct and religious belief, and to demonstrate the truth of this conviction. His friend Reverend Dr. Paton said, "Curiosity was not his motive. His approach was that of a devout man of science." His studies in telekinesis began about the end of the year 1918 and continued pari passu with the duties of a busy medical practitioner until his final illness. Never content to employ the services of a professional medium for his work, he set himself to train and develop the latent psychical powers of a group of amateur sensitives selected from among his own friends and domestic helpers. In this he soon obtained an extraordinary measure of success. Those who have followed the publication of his results in the English Quarterly of Psychic Science for October, 1932, January, 1933 and January, 1934 will be aware of the extraordinary physical results which his carefully organize experiments have produced. His researches were characterized by exceptional scientific ability and by a most careful elimination of all possibilities of error. He was especially careful in his choice of a group of investigators of known sincerity and well-defined position in public life. Several of these persons themselves developed mediumistic faculties at his sittings. It is understood that as many as eight became subjects for psychical development, but of these not less than three ripened into full power of mediumship.
July 16, 1935
[Letter from Stanley De Brath to Mrs. Hamilton:]
"... I must reply to your letter of July 2nd if only to say how we know that even the most prefect knowledge cannot much mitigate the blank left by the departure of one who is so dear to those left behind. I am only too pleased to have been instrumental in helping him towards a position which was earned by his thorough and scientific presentment of his facts. To my mind the very greatest importance attached to the impeccability of the conditions, and this makes it possible to found our theories on a sure basis.
"... Your committee will of course bring this clearly out in the book you are contemplating. If you want any of the blocks we have in stock you know, of course, that you have only to ask for them. One of the most valuable facts brought out is that the images, given in Psychic Science of January, 1933, stand out from the back-ground as seen in the stereoscope. This is a new fact in psychic photography and deserves very special mention. The shadows that are thrown by the images, especially in Plate 2, "The Wreck of the Hesperus", show this conclusively as well as the 'strut' which appears to support the structure in Plate 4. This is conclusive evidence of the objectivity of the image.
"... The great fault in almost all records of a physical nature is that the conditions are not fully stated, so that inferences cannot be drawn with certainty. That was not the case with Dr. Hamilton's, and this should be very clearly brought out. I do not doubt that you, his wife, and his son, and Dr. Bruce Chown will do this, but you will not mind my expressing this. I would even venture to suggest that it might be worthwhile to devote a chapter to making this clear from the outset, for it is exceptional. I have just been writing a review of a book "Open the Door!", by Wilfred Branson, transcribed by Edith Ellis, published by Alfred A. Knopf, New York, with an introduction by Claude Bragdon, which purports to be automatically given by Wilfred Branson. It is devoted to the cause of Peace on Earth and contains admirable counsel to those who wish to see Psychical Research take higher ground than physical phenomena. It contains one astounding statement, - "We are lacking three of the senses, touch, taste ,and smell." (P.5) This is at issue with much that others have said or implied. Various phenomena of scents, flowers touched, and the like seem to contradict that statement. It would be worthwhile to refer it to individual guides. I did so, and this is the reply: "I have all my senses. I believe some senses leave us or are in abeyance for a time. I doubt if he really does remember his past incarnations; he has probably read much and has a vivid imagination and likes to feel so. He is probably thinking just as far as he has mentally explored. You need not be worried - it is in the mind of the medium that mistakes are made, not in what actually gets through. We have all our senses intensified; we are more alive here - he has got it wrong."
"... This should not divert attention from the purpose of the book, which is to show that Morality in its widest sense is the development that determines our position in the next life. In that I entirely agree, and the main aspect of Morality is avoidance of all gambling. Our Corn and Iron and Stock Exchanges are mere nests of gamblers who don't add one penny to the national wealth and are mere hangers on of legitimate commerce.
"... I hope that in due time your younger son may find a post as Psychical Research Officer, when Psychical students are agreed that physical phenomena are partly due to the medium and partly (or chiefly) to the discarnates. At present there is so little sound theory that there is no money in it; and even a research officer has to live!!
"What we want most of all is a consistent and reasonable account of the life on the Other Side. The book I have mentioned gives it to a considerable extent; but is seriously damaged by the statement alluded to above. My own communicator brought me a Teacher whose message I printed in Psychic Science for October, 1933. (P.199). It seems to me fundamental to our concept of the human being, and has cleared up many of my difficulties. I would say that our world consists of Matter, Energy, and Life. If I were younger, I would take Sir Oliver Lodge's "My Philosophy" as my groundwork and examine all the reliable automatic writing from that point of view, drawing my inferences from facts alone. Of course the great difficulty is to determine what are facts apart from the subliminal sources of error. If you look up that issue of Psychic Science, you will see what I mean.
I much liked the Appreciation of Dr. Glen that you sent me. You will have seen what I said in the Obituary of the last issue.
Yours with kindest remembrances
Stanley De Brath
July , 1935.
[Psychic Science - July, 1935]
[P. 138 Obituary of Dr. Hamilton]
The Obituary includes the following:
"... Those who have followed the reprints of his work in Psychic Science of October, 1932, January 1933, and January 1934, will be aware of the extraordinary physical results which his carefully organized experiments have produced. Physical mediumship is necessarily at the base of all Spiritualism, because when the results are unquestionably genuine, it affords evidence that cannot be referred to the "sub-conscious mind" - that bugbear of all who are convinced of survival. It is for that reason that unexceptionable physical experiment is so specially valuable. ..
"... Two things should be said today. Among those that knew him and were in touch with his experiments, his integrity was never in question. No suggestion of fraud at any time appeared. Secondly he had an unshakable conviction, intensified as his experiments went on, that there is survival of personality after death." ...
"... We are met," he said, "In a church he loved. He was one of its first members. He was an elder in the congregation for twenty-eight years. He was one the three trustees and one of the men who gave the land where the church now stands." ...
"...The qualities that won him the friendship of many were honesty and sincerity, equanimity, fairness and public spirit. He had that rarest of gifts, common sense, to a high degree. There is probably no subject which has aroused more bitter controversy than psychic research, yet even those who could not follow Dr. Hamilton to his conclusions never doubted his sincerity or ceased to admire his determination to investigate psychic phenomena along scientific lines. It was these qualities of mind and heart that made him internationally famous in this field, and won him the friendship of some of the most distinguished men and women of the day ..."
Editor, Psychic Science
August ?, 1935.
[See page 3, September 27, 1935.]
Notes on how the trance-mechanism operates.
[R. L. Stevenson? or Sterge? or T. G. H.?]
The trance medium lowers cargo from the upper level to the lower, or raises similar cargo from the lower to the upper - by virtue of the fact that he is trained to hold what has been given, and has sufficient power to lift it up and let it down. I do earnestly say that the untrained medium's responses are like to a wind-swept water, and can easily be whipped into a fury, which may wreck their own personality. (This could not occur) with a circle governed by sound judgment and conditions ... There are those on our side, of extremely low intelligence, whose spiritual quality is definitely inferior, whose spiritual and mental awakening has not yet come, whose personality, whose stream of consciousness has developed abnormally. They wait for these untrained 'sensitives', stand there crying "Let us through!" The untrained medium attempts to let them through, responds to them and becomes simply a vessel tipped this way and that. The more I see of conditions over here, the more I am confirmed in my former opinion that mediumship should only be practiced under the best-known conditions and circumstances. On no account should anyone open his door to those on our side who knock and say "Let us in". They are visitors without knowledge or sensibility; and it is rarely any kindness to admit them.
Sitting:
September 3, 1935.
Sterge opens the sitting, speaking only for a moment. T. G. H. speaks to L. H., telling her of an experiment he would like to make later on, in which he will attempt a few telepathic experiments, using tests on his part to read her mind, or else read things she has written, or duplicate designs she has made. These would not only be tests for her, but for himself, to see how far he had advanced ..." I am beyond a telepathic definition, but I am in a hyperconscious state of sensitiveness, where the projection or interprojection of thought waves may be registered, and translated once again to you - thought waves to show I have received what you're sending, and through your medium I acknowledge receipt of same, and repeat or duplicate as evidence of last receipt."
"You recall what I spoke of last week, regarding the external influence of extra vibrations on the trance condition of the medium; and how the externalization of the teleplasm permits further bombardment of the sensitive by the controlling entities, through these same externalized ectoplasmic vibrations.
In other words, while a deep trance is generally necessary for ectoplasmic production, yet the externalized product itself is a factor in the deepening of the trance condition.
"I believe that ectoplasm is found in every human body. It is not, however, kept in the same condition in different individuals. In other words, the component parts necessary to a final product are oft-times kept in a static condition by being combined separately with other compounds in the body; but this varies with the individual. While apparently made up of the component parts of the body, while apparently consisting of body cells, ectoplasm, differing from any other - no - not any other - differing from other parts of the body, can be said to contain the life. It seems to me it is linked with us, almost sex-linked. I have observed little teleplasm in a sterile individual. Whether that is a rule, I cannot say. I would not go so far as to state that."
Sterge close sitting. Medium tired.
September 4, 1935. Thursday
[Letter from Mrs. Hamilton to Margaret:
"... And now for some news - first psychic.
"... Yes, I do want some more R. L. Stevenson booklets. Funny how T. G. knows the little things that are in my mind some times. Your letter came in and was not yet read - Eileen McTavish and her sister - the nurse from Fort William being present for afternoon tea, and as we were talking she spoke of the R. L. Stevenson poems and how much she liked them. I thought to myself 'My, I wish I had a copy for myself' - all gone - gave the last one to May Walker. I have a few scattered leaves but no complete unit. I left one with you - one we prepared for the Pitblados. Anyway, I never found it after we came home.
"... Then we had a sitting on Wednesday with Jack. Most remarkable things happened.
"... First, in the afternoon, Isabella resting on a couch on the balcony went into trance. R. L. Stevenson spoke and asked me to sit alone with Jack. Said he wanted to "put a wee verse through" and as well put him into deeper trance than usual. Why, he did not say.
"... Then the deeper trance (good cross evidence and why?) They claimed to bring a living man to speak to us, Victor from Toronto! He said he was asleep in his home in a big chair - that he had his shirt off and was trying to contact me. He was afraid he would not remember when he wakened up. Isabella, in trance, said he would. He spoke of a number of things which I will not mention at this time - nothing much, but we'll see. Jack thinks it can't be true - thinks he must have been mistaken - feels, of course, afraid to believe that such a remarkable thing could happen through him. But this much evidence we did get. Isabella, who did not know who Victor was (and does not yet) described Victor perfectly - dark mustache - small; hair, thin and back, turning grey; weight about 150, dark circles under his eyes - needed more sleep she said (all in trance) , in a chair and with the upper part of his body bare. The description, as far as it went, was accurate.
"... Then, another thing. No one knew - not a soul, that I had asked you to ask Barney and Eva about Dr. R, and yet this was part of his message to me - without my even remembering at first that I had asked you? Would he (P.S. "... If you see Barney, make some tentative inquiries, but do not tell him anything - yet.) ... at this date have heard from you re this? If not, then we have evidence of still more supernormal cross currents going on.
"... But more was to come.
"... Sterge promised to show himself to Isabella and he did, downstairs, afterwards.
"... Jack came out of trance and then Isabella went deeper. Crookes and Katie were said to be present and there were many signs that materialization work was going on. She breathed at times stertorously, gasped and seemed to be choking as if something were coming from her mouth; and finally Jack was sure he smelt a cadaverous odor such as is often reported in these cases. I, however, did not smell it. But I did see a very, very bright Katie light - probably clairvoyantly - a phase of limited mediumship that has lately opened up to me. It lasted for a good five minutes, and when it disappeared the medium's reactions were again very strong - very similar to those noted with Dawn and Mercedes.
"... But still there was more. Isabella still asleep but now in a much lighter state of trance, we raised the window blind (we were sitting in the top-story north room) and in the bright light coming in from the street both Jack and I repeatedly saw small disk-like lights moving rapidly toward us and when near, fade out. A dozen or more must have come into view. We could find no normal explanation for them and therefore are tentatively presuming them to be the beginning, perhaps, of Crookes lights which for so long he is said to have been working on. We shall see, but in the meantime I wanted to tell you, supposing anything comes of it. It's very significant, but you remember that Victor was Crookes's special medium and I was just wondering if his coming - or alleged coming, had anything to do with the attempted materialization. Again, we shall see.
"Isabella said to me 'Mrs. Hamilton, I see a man as if inside my head in a picture. He has a large head - and a high forehead - his hair is quite grey - and brushed back like a musician's who had forgotten to cut it. Now he's leaning forward (here Isabella took up a position exactly like a man crouched over the key-board of a piano) and looking down. He is very much in earnest over what he is doing. I feel that if he stood up he would not be much taller than I am. His shoulders are very thick.'"
"... Remarkable, wasn't it? What about the grey hair? Changed apparently. I know all the mediums see my brother Art with grey hair now. Raymond, you remember, looks older.
"... I forgot to say that Isabella also saw Arthur Junior the other day on the balcony just before she went into trance. She saw him sitting on a chair and he was so life-like and so like Jimmy that she said it gave her a great start. He was reading a book. His hair stuck out at the sides more than Jim's, she said, and seemed to be curlier - true also, probably.
"... Will write again tomorrow as I have to go now to get ready to go to Grace Moss' new home over in Norwood - Isabella and I and Aunt Jessie and Lu and Billie and all. Will likely come for Xmas. If there are not too many storms."
September 6, 1935.
[Conversation with T. G. H. through medium Jay.(Jack MacDonald)]
Speaking of his new environment: "The maximum of enjoyment with a minimum of pain."
"I desire to speak of the process leading to the externalization of teleplasm ... I do not think that what so many of your clairvoyants see as a "glowing light" - and various other luminous phenomena - are really externalized forms or vibrations emanating from ectoplasmic products of a more ethereal type than the common ordinary garden-variety, so to speak, of physical ectoplasm.
"For every physical thing there is a certain correspondence, having a much higher vibratory plane than the physical substance. This highly etherealized ectoplasm is the product partly of your circle, but partly also the product of ours. It is extremely thought-plastic. It is, as it were, a thought-thing; and it creates faces, letters, provides a screen for scenes, indicates physical conditions of health; and as applied to the human atmosphere, also wounds or cuts. The denser type of the substance, in a static condition, resembles smoke. It is difficult to say that it is in a static condition, for it is continually responsive to any passing influence. The concentration of power is definitely shown, by this extremely light condition, round about that spot, that is due to the concentration of the etheric product."
