1936 - Apr 29 - Nov 12

1936

Apr 29 - Nov 12


April 29, 1936.

Following the regulars sitting, and following the "Kitty" incident in which T. G. H. tells us of Kitty's death in British Columbia, the Master again appears - Isabella passes into the cataleptic state; breathing is imperceptible, body musculature intensely rigid, arms in the form of a cross.  Face takes on the beauty and dignity of death.  Her voice, which is now a voice of moving power, speaks softly, "I will again walk with men."

                
"... April:

Medium and L. H. sit alone.  Medium passes quickly and quietly into trance.  Awakens and says she has had a "great time".  She went to a foreign country of some kind - and My!  It was hot!  So hot!  She came to a strange temple.  Then she went up on to an elephant - a white elephant.  She had a ride on it.  The heat was hard to bear. [Symbolism: perhaps "Foreign Lands" again.  White elephant sacred elephant in some countries - not clear what was meant here.]

Medium when normal after trance, Lillian alone present, sees a tall thin man standing beside the door - he is in his bare feet.  He is thin and dark - not very strong.  He has a pencil in his hand.  She hears him say "It is not what you want to do but what you must do".

In big sitting, medium in trance throughout - Walter places her in Poole's old place.  Poole controls her and is very, very like her living self - bossy, determined, hustling, jolly and joking - shakes hands with everybody - kisses Bessie and Harold - sticks up for "Doctor" when John King pretends to be molesting him - altogether so like Poole in trance and out of it that everyone present very much impressed by evidence of her control.  Following this, Walter makes Isabella hiss like steam engine.  Says he has got her going.  Intimates that she is potentially a great medium.

[It is interesting to note that the first Executive Committee of the British Society was the logical outcome of an earlier group known as the "Cambridge Ghost Society", whose founder had been E. W. Benson, later Archbishop of Canterbury, with colleagues Bishops Lightfoot, Westcott, and Professor Hart, all leading churchmen of their day.  And Sidgwick and Myers, along with Dr. Guerney, were all sons of the manse, so that the early B.S.P.R. had a distinct flavor of the ChurchUniversities, and by the work of Dr. Soal and his colleagues in England, a more sympathetic attitude has prevailed.  By 1950 Dr. Rhine had lectured on his work, at the invitation of various universities in Britain and in Europe.  His published reports are  "Extra-Sensory Perception" (1936);  "The Reach of the Mind" (1946) and 'New World of the Mind  (1935).]

[My mother resumed and carried on with the help of our regular group members, under the able and watchful eye of the late Dr. Bruce Chown.  The next stage of the work closed when the group disbanded in 1936.  Occasional meetings resulted in production of further phenomena until 1944.]


April, 1936.

[From Psychic Science - April, 1936]

A Remarkable Materialization
By H. A. V. Green, Q.C.

[The experiment here recounted in full detail is so remarkable that I think readers of Psychic Science will be glad to see it.  Physical phenomena are not the highest type - but they are the only ones that cannot be referred to "the subconscious mind." - Editor - DeBrath.]

The late Dr. T. Glen Hamilton was well qualified by temperament, training and learning for practical investigations of a scientific character.  He was a graduate in medicine of Manitoba University and a member of the American College of Surgeons.  He had been President of the Manitoba Medical Association and a member of the executive of the Canadian Medial Association.  He became a lecturer in clinical surgery at his Alma Mater, he was a skillful operator, and in addition to his work in the public wards of the Winnipeg General Hospital, he engaged in a large private practice.  He had an inventive mind, and this with his manual dexterity, resulted in an aptitude for handicrafts, which enabled him to make the apparatus required for any experiments upon which he determined.  Photography was his hobby, and by its means he would record those things which delighted or amazed him and those material phenomena which he thought worthy of further study.        

Dr. Hamilton was of Scottish ancestry, but his own boyhood was spent on what was then an isolated homestead in the fertile, but in winter frigid, North West Territories of Canada.  In his manhood he was Chairman of the Winnipeg Public School Board and a member of the Manitoba Legislative Assembly.  Thus, to his inherited caution, there was added the toughness which comes to pioneers, who, day in and day out, confront the forces of nature and the skepticism engendered by experience in public affairs.  He was an elder of his kirk, and a man, modest, moderate and self-reliant.

As might be expected of such a man, Dr. Hamilton's observations in the field of psychics were always careful and exact.  He published records of some of his experiments, but left unpublished a vast collection of records and notes of phenomena which he had observed.  It had been his intention to arrange and publish these latter, but death suddenly defeated the project.  Amongst the many series of important experimental sittings, which were recorded but have never yet been printed, there is one which is outstanding on account of the beauty of the resultant phenomenon.  It was my fortune to be associated with Dr. Hamilton in his researches during a number of years, and, while the written records on which this paper is based were not made by me, the main facts are still fresh in my memory.  This paper would not be written if the notes made at the time failed to coincide with my own recollection of the procedure and the result.

At the time of the experiments in question, Dr. Hamilton was assisted by three female sensitives, all markedly mediumistic.  These sensitives are known in the history of his experiments as Elizabeth M., Mary M., and Susan M.  Mary M. and Susan M. are related by marriage, but until they met at Dr. Hamilton's house, Elizabeth M. was a stranger to the other two.  In addition to the mediums, a small group of men and women were consistently present at the experimental sittings.  These comprised Dr. Hamilton's wife, his brother, J. A. Hamilton, M.D., H. A. Reed, an electrical engineer and traffic superintendent of the Manitoba Telephone System, Miss Ada Turner, M. A., a Winnipeg High School Teacher, W. B. Cooper, now residing in Toronto, but then a well-known Winnipeg insurance man, W. E. Hobbes, then a Manitoba Government Surveyor, and myself. Mr. Hobbes acted as recorder.

In my experience, major psychic phenomena occur neither haphazard nor in response to demands.  They are apparently the product of planned work, though the status of the workers may be in doubt.  Patience, as in all scientific mattes, is a virtue in psychical research, and the group which met at Dr. Hamilton's house, if they did not have patience before, acquired it there.  In this case the acquisition was not their only reward.

The sittings took place at Dr. Hamilton's house, 185 Kelvin Street, Winnipeg, in an apartment set aside for the purpose.  At one end of this room there was, and still is, a three sided plain wooden erection.  It is about six feet high.  It has no top, no floor and no front, just two sides and a back.  In the space between the two sides it was customary for one of the sensitives to be seated.  Otherwise the room was furnished with about a dozen plain wooden chairs - whose innocence of upholstery was forced upon the attention by a prolonged sitting - a number of cameras placed upon wooden supports at different heights and angles in relation to the medium's chair, flashlight apparatus, an electrically operated gramophone, and an electrically operated fan.  The two windows were permanently covered over.  There was a red light in the center of the ceiling, and Dr. Hamilton carried a small red flashlight.  (See diagram, Psychic Science October, 1932)

After the group were seated, the lights were extinguished; but from time to time during a sitting one or other of the lights was turned on as required, for the purpose of examining the mediums or the cameras.

The sittings extended over many weeks, during which period, "Walter" - the entity purporting to speak through the medium Mary M., chatted and joked in the manner to which previous conversations had accustomed us, but always insisted he was engaged upon a work of major importance.  In this connection it may be explained that "Walter" had described himself on another occasion as a mechanic, skilled in the operation of producing ectoplasm.  That this was not an idle statement, preceding experiments, some of which have already been recorded in this Journal, had demonstrated beyond dispute.

Detailed reference to the earlier sittings is unnecessary.  The writer was present at them and can truthfully affirm that they were as boring as most seances.  Good work, the sitters were assured, was being done, but no phenomena occurred to stimulate interest nor any happening to excite imagination.  Night after night the sitters solemnly entered their name in the record book, took their seat, and for an hour or two waited for something which never happened.

"Walter," however, had proved so truthful and so adept in the production and manipulation of ectoplasm, that the group believed him when he assured them that they would get something worth waiting for.  In this belief they endured the chairs and the hymn singing, which some of the communicating entities declared they enjoyed.  "Walter" never asked for hymns.  From time to time he would bid the sitters sing songs with a good swing to them, be the words what they might.

Presumably for a reason of his own, "Walter" bestowed nicknames on each of the group.  Dr. T. G. Hamilton was always "Old Ham," Dr. James A. Hamilton became "Hamish," mispronounced "Ham-ish," Elizabeth M. became "Ellen" or, when "Walter" was in romantic humor, "Ellen of the Rosebuds," Mary M. was "Dawn" and Susan M. "Mercedes."  One of the men "Walter" called "Sun Yan," another "Victor" and a third "Ewan" pronounced "E-wan."  The reasons, if any, for some of these names have never been clear.


March and April, 1936

'I saw angels.  Why are they bowing to me?  They are in white.  So tall.  Are those wings?  Their robes are long and, oh, so white.  I can see them floating.  It is bright - very bright.'

Third Vision: (Lillian and I downstairs alone) Medium in trance:

'I see Jesus.  The heavens are open.  I see Him.  He is lovely - His face it so kind.  He is holding out his hands to the world.  They need Him.' [No memory on recovery] [Stigmata - on shoulders]

Fourth Vision: [Impression: Tells Lillian while normal and going about her work that she feels as if something were bound lightly about her forehead.  At times this pressure hurts her.  She cannot understand it.  Lillian finds nothing physical troubling her and makes light of this subjective sensation]

Fifth Vision:  Easter Sunday.  Sitting in living room beside fire.  Bessie and Harold and Ian present.  Also Lu.  Isabella and Bessie both in trance.  Usual controls.  R. L. Stevenson comes - then Walter.  R. L. Stevenson purports to speak through Isabella.  Greets them all.  Says he has been very busy.  Walter comes and is his old joking, domineering self.  Puts Isabella through "her paces".  She goes into the deep sleep from which she cannot be roused.  Sitters leave and Lillian takes charge of Isabella, sitting beside her chair and holding her hand throughout.  Asks Isabella(?) to return.  Still she sleeps.  She speaks: "Do you know about Moses?  He went up a hill, did he not?"

LH: "Yes."

Medium: "The heavens opened!"

[Falls forward and begins to sob.]

'Oh, Jesus, am I a bad girl?  Oh why are you so disappointed?  What can I do for you?  (Said with great solemnity and wonder and awe)

[Profound slumber for another ten minutes or so and then return to normalcy.  When she is fully recovered a stigmata is found on her left hand - three small wounds, two of which are bleeding.  They appear to have been made by three small nails.  The same mark, but one showing five nail-wounds, is found on her shoulder.  This beginning to heal.]

"...My dears, you will see why I am so at a loss to understand all this?  Glen looked at the wounds on her hand and unhesitatingly pronounced the marks to be wounds of some kind - in fact, he at once used the word 'stigmata' to describe them.  This was before I told him what had happened.  I saw that he was greatly impressed.  He definitely stated they were not made by bites or scratches.  They were clean-cut round small holes in the skin and looked exactly as if someone had taken fine, round, shingle-nails and had deliberately driven them into the skin of the hand and shoulder.  They were not on the palm of the hand but on the back of the hand.  The one on the shoulder - which Isabella had noticed herself but did not know what had caused it - was beginning to heal over by Sunday night.  I believe now that they must have come after the Wednesday vision.

"... The history of stigmata you know, of course, has long been associated with saints and martyrs and devout Catholics.  Often, and usually with cases of ecstacy, where there has been long hours of prayer and meditation; but with our little medium this was not the case. She is a healthy, normal child, as you know - happy as a lark all the time; and so far as one can judge from outside appearances, not at all religious in the ordinary meaning of that term.  To show you how little she is inclined in this direction, let me say that she went to church Sunday evening to a musical service of an Easter type and was quite bored, complaining that it was so long that she nearly went to sleep in the middle of it.  She is, however, the most self-less creature I have ever met.  Self simply does not enter into the picture with her.

"... She has, too, absolute faith and trust in us here and great joy in being allowed to take part in the work, as we all call it.  It may be that she really has been chosen to be the recipient of these pictures and influences representing Christ's Passion as a reminder to us all that know of these things, that He really Lives.

"... I, myself, have been greatly stirred by this new and wholly unexpected revelation.  What my duty will be in this connection I cannot say.  It is all in Higher Hands and one can only go on and do what comes next.  Through Mercedes, some time ago, they said that "it was destined that Isabella should come here". If one can only remain humble - that will be my test.

They are also beginning to use her to predict things - and successfully.  I'll tell you about these again.  But one can be mentioned now: Through her, Monday evening, they said that Myers would be back through jack.  They wanted me to know.  Along with R. L. Stevenson he had, as you know, been our greatest inspiration.  And I am glad that you are delving into him.  More and more you will grow to love his mind and his way of looking at things.  I believe that he is in a sense a fore-runner of many things that are yet to come.

[P.S.  Sterge says he was "homesick" for you.  I told him you would be home this summer, and he said "That will be our greatest happiness".]


May 1, 1936

One other interlocking piece in this case remains to be pointed out.  The Spurgeon entity manifesting to Mercedes also seemed to have a part in this step-by-step unfoldment.  Kitty's mother, Mrs. Christina Alder, was also one of our previous sitters and was present during all the 1928 and 1929, experiments wherein various teleplasms were photographed, among them the four so-called Spurgeon teleplasms, in each of which a face is seen that is the representation of a living face strongly resembling C. H. Spurgeon as he appeared in life.  (See Psychic Science, October, 1929).  Mrs. Alder, who has lived in Vancouver for some years now, writes  (her clairvoyant faculties are well established) that she believes that she has contacted this same personality both when she is alone and when she is in attendance at certain sittings held in that locality.  None of us knew this at the time of his alleged presence with Kitty during the experiment now under consideration; and when I wrote to Mrs. Alder for further particulars about her daughter's death, I did not mention this incident to her.  Her letter, which she has kindly given me permission to quote, strangely enough discloses that a parallel incident had occurred with her - Spurgeon again the comforter, but now for the mother.


[Excerpts from letter from Mrs. C. Alder]

"Dear Mrs. Hamilton: I cannot say how glad I was to get your letter and to know that my Kitty is being watched over by the dear friends, especially Doctor.  No one but Kitty and myself could realize what a wonderful friend and adviser he was to us at all times.  Spurgeon, too, is always a great friend and comforter.  He comes and talks with me alone sometimes and he also speaks to us at our sittings.  I have Kitty's baby and we are giving him all the love and care it is possible to give ... Her passing was a terrible shock to me.  If only we had known how poorly equipped that country hospital was we would have brought Kitty into the city.  I was permitted to see her arrival on the other side, but did not know until several hours later whose passing I had witnessed ... I do hope and pray that Kitty will find rest and peace and will not grieve over the earth cares ..."

                                        Yours sincerely,
                                         
                                                (Signed) C. Alder.



May 1, 1936.                                                 Friday

"... The evidence continues to grow.  Wednesday night at the big sitting T. G. H. came and told us that Kitty Alder had died at the Coast giving birth to a baby boy; that the boy was living and that Kitty was with him.  We none of us knew whether this was true or not; and yet today I learn from most unexpected sources that she died two weeks ago in B.C., exactly as he said!  It is truly extraordinary.  I will send you the full report ,which is very, very convincing, Kitty herself speaking to us through two mediums, and Daddy also.

"... Then again (Wednesday) Isabella went into the cataleptic state following the large group sitting and again seemed to have a vision of Christ - and again she had a wound print - this time a deep and partly punctured bruised area on her shoulder.  Through the deep part of the trance a Voice spoke and said: "I will again walk with men".  I cannot understand it - I can only wait developments and later explanations.

        Uncle Fletcher is mentioned.

"Uncle Jack Leggat's cousin, a Dr. Rutherford - tells stories of riches and coffee plantations in Columbia.  He wants Glen to come down with him."

Dr. Rutherford is in ill health.  Nervous collapse.  Several paragraphs.  Then:

"... It would be an adventure anyway, and away from war at any rate."
Mention of Jim's possible hiring as assistant to a physics professor by the name of Dr. Pat Donaldson.

        Some more personal news.

"... Another three chapters pretty well lined up - I think I will send them all along together - They are not long and you can soon rattle them off.

"... Did I tell you that Walter said T. G. had rung the bell and was so pleased with himself?  And, yes, when the board (ouija?) told you Dad was here - he was - with Isabella - but not Walter.  Robert said through Isabella: "I love the wee dark lassie - tell her".  He's just the same sweet soul through her as with Jack."

[Mrs. Allison is calling for me - so must leave]


May (3?), 1936.

[Transcendental Vision.  Excerpt from notes of May 3, 1936.]

L. H. was at a party at Mrs. A. H. Brown's until 11:45 p.m.  Returns home to find Isabella asleep on the couch in the living room and slightly entranced.  Lillian insists that Isabella come to bed.  In a dazed condition Isabella walks upstairs but is so near trance that Lillian places her on her own bed.  Deep trance supervenes, the medium showing slight rigidity and the following manifestation takes place.  Medium speaks in a high-pitched, childish voice, totally unlike her own.

Voice: "Why do they bow to me?"

L. H.: "Ask them  why they bow to you.

Voice: "Because I bring Light to Life.  See the Man with the lantern in His Hand.  He holds it up.  He is tall and lovely.  See the angels.  They bow to me.  Why is that?"

L. H.: "Who are you?  Tell me."

Voice: "I am Helper."

Medium seems to come to her normal self: "Do I have to come back?  It is so peaceful here."

L. H.: "Yes, you must come back.  I need you."

Medium: "It is so peaceful here.  I see them  - the angels, their lovely wings.  They are tall."

R. L. Stevenson speaks for a moment, then T. G. H., and the medium comes out of trance having no memory of that curious experience.


May 3, 1936.

Mr. and Mrs. F. Campbell; L. H.; and Isabella.

Isabella falls suddenly into trance beside the fire and Kitty Alder appears.  She is in great sorrow.  We try to comfort her.  Mrs. Poole,  R. L. Stevenson,  D. Licingstone, and others speak.  Medium is placed on the couch and trance grows deeper.  Voice speaks:

"Keep the medium pure for this work.  It is very important."  Catalepsy comes on.  Dr. Glen Hamilton is present.  He examines Isabella; finds her skin anesthetic.  Reflexes cannot be obtained; the body being too rigid.  Arms are fixed in the form of a cross.

Voice: "I will come again.  I will walk and talk with men.  It is for you and all men.  The gates are open.  Ask and it will be given to you.  I will soon return."

Medium returns to normal consciousness and laughs at vision of a 'cubbyhole' (evidential to L. H.).  No memory of visions or message regarding Christ.

(The 'cubbyhole' was a small, dark cupboard under the stairs in my childhood home where my mother often put us when we were naughty.  I am certain Isabella had never heard of this at this date.)


May 4, 1936.

Jack MacDonald; Mr. Hobbes; Isabella; and L. H.

R. L. Stevenson and T. G. H. speaks through Jack.  Then a communicator claiming to be Imperator.

Imperator (through Jack MacDonald) - "Be sure of this.  Before He came there was a Precursor.  And when He comes there will be a Precursor ... and prophecy ... may be read anew, and these words will awake from slumber and be living speech and the dead prophets shall fall.  And great will be the fall of those prophets that are dead, for they shall be caught in the chaos.  Clutched in the carnage of the shattered idols, their forms shall be as dust.  But all shall hear the Voice and shall have ears.  And there shall be those who hear not and those who hearing, heed not.  And He shall come - the Living Word.  So was it spoken by the ancients; so was it written by those who heard.  So was it read by you who read; and so heard by those who listen.  But he who, reading, remembers not; and he, who hearing, believeth not; him also doeth he cast himself out ..."

"I am the Redeemer and the Life, saith the Lord God.  Whosoever believeth on me shall everlastingly live.  Everlasting life is that which goes on from higher to higher to Most High; and death is that that goes on from lower to lower to oblivion."

"And he who came of old as a precursor shall come again; and coming, bring the prophetic to fulfillment."

Richard Hauptmann attempts to speak.  The controls attempt to get him to confess his sins.

Isabella becomes rigid.  Speaks - "Call on me and I will follow you.  I am thy servant, O Lord."

The voice: "I shall feed My flocks ... I am not  far away ... I am near."

Castell (an associate of Imperator) speaks and gives directions.


May 6, 1936.

Full group, plus W.A. Wither.

Usual controls.  Ask the cabinet walls be sponged with cool water.  L. H. is asked to sponge down the walls after sunset each day.  Meeting lasts sixty minutes.


May 13, 1936.

Full group.

Isabella in trance, and cataleptic.  Cold water used to bring her out of trance.


May 27, 1936.

Bell rings.  Positive plans made for bell signal to open cameras.  John and Katie prepare to get a mass at next meeting.


June 3, 1936.

The same group.  Final preparations.  Cabinet walls have to be washed with cool water.  Room too hot. Ewan works with Mr. Wither and Isabella.


June 4, 1936.

Vision of Christ at Lillian Hamilton home.

Medium: "The temple, the people, moving, walking, singing,"

The Voice: "I am the Lord Jesus Christ.  I am come to wash thy feet in oil."

Medium: "There is the camel, a desert, a hut, and now a white star."


June 8, 1936.

Vision of Christ.  At Ada Turner's home.  Her group present.


June 8, 1936.

Full group, with Jack MacDonald added.

8:30 p.m.        Circle in.

Ewan and Jack MacDonald stay outside the séance room, according to previous instructions.

8:30 p.m.        Ewan and Jack MacDonald enter.  Ewan in trance.  Dawn describes a light over Ewan's head, like a miner's lamp.

Ewan: "Let the big fellow here.(Reference to Wither)."  Isabella in trance.

Imperator/Isabella: "I am come to say to you I am known as Imperator.*What has been said to you of the olden times will be made manifest in this room tonight.  You have been promised great things.  They shall be given to you in full; and those who have walked on earth in the flesh, they shall make themselves known unto you.

(Bell rings during this).  

Prophecy is no more.  The future is the present."

"Great power I give unto you - power from him, not from myself.  That which many have spoken of will be fulfilled.  Peace I give, abounding, searching, soothing, uplifting piece.  All the loveliness of quiet I give unto you, and all the joys of first visions."

9:10 p.m.        Ewan: "There was great unrest when Imperator came, but all is quiet now.  Your mediums are in good condition.  Have you your instructions?"

Bruce Chown: "Three bells to open the cameras."

Ewan: "Let us all keep quiet."

9:15 p.m.        Singing.

9:35 p.m.        Singing for Katie.

Ewan: "If you wish to take a look at Dawn, do so now."

Bruce Chown: "Dawn is in the cabinet; one hand at either side."  He passes his hand over her face, mouth and hair."

Dawn: "You had better give the signal when the time comes."

10:00 p.m.   Ewan: "I can't give the signal!  I have all I can do."

Dawn: "You must!"

John/Ewan: "This is John King speaking.  A Captain of His Majesty's Ship.  A commander of the island of Jamaica, in King Charles' name!"

Katie/Mercedes: "Command him to take this photo if he is so good."

John/Ewan: "I will give the rings and then the signal, in the King's name.  Let the bell ring in the King's name!"

Nothing happens.

Dawn: "Give them instructions now, quickly, before you go too far!"

Katie/Mercedes: "I am here.  He will give 1  -  2  -  3  -  fire!.  I can't hold Mercedes much longer."

Ewan: "One - Two - Three - Fire!" (Under great stress).

Bruce Chown flashes twice.

Ewan: "I can't do anything more tonight.  I think you've got a good one."

10:20 p.m.   Sing softly a verse and then go. Good night, Katie."

Katie/Mercedes: "Good bye, Dawn.  I hope you've done your work well.  Did you hear what my father said.  You have a good picture.  It is good to meet my father here.  Good night."
Imperator/Isabella: "I come again to tell you of what I have spoken.  No camera could get all that was there ... a great conglomeration of persons.  But there is a figure dominant.  I do not know whether the nebulosities were recorded or not; but the rest is."

"Now close."


Vancouver, May 9th.

The main facts of the case are before us:
        Two mediums received the same impact the same evening; one knew kitty intimately; the other had not heard of her.  Both get her name in full.

They function in separate rooms.

Taking their work together five facts are correctly indicated: 
  
1).         Kitty is dead.   
2.)          She died in childbirth    
3.)          The child is living 
4.)           The child is a boy.    
5.)           The death occurred suddenly.

Both mediums take on the same emotional reactions - the profound sorrow of the young mother.

T. G. H. claims to be present and gives the bulk of the information.

Through medium Two in Room C he gives irrefutable proof that he is aware that he has communicated through medium One in another parts of the house.

Other discarnate personalities seem to have knowledge, also, of this event.
        
What theory can we call to our service to explain this case?  Telepathy from the mind, say, of the mother, somehow picked up by Dawn and in turn relayed to Faith, both mediums manifesting this in dramatic form, and along with this, subconsciously creating not one but two communicators who seemingly made these facts known to us? 

Or,

Telepathy between the minds of a surviving T. G. H. and Kitty Alder, and the minds of the mediums, the information delivered by psycho-hypnotic processes operating upon the subconscious minds of these mediums during the narrowed consciousness of trance?

For the writer, who has for many years now observed many forms of metapsychical phenomena, and found the evidence cumulative and definitely on the side of survival, the latter is the more reasonable and scientific hypothesis.




[ Photo  of Bruce Chown experiment ]



[ Photo  ]



[ Photo  ]


June 11, 1936.        

(At Victoria Beach)

Isabella and  L. H. are in bed.  Spontaneous clairvoyance highly evidential of Arthur Hamilton.  A very bright light appears above the foot of the Isabella's bed.  L. H. sees it clearly; for the night is very dark outside.  Isabella is entranced and the Voice speaks:

Voice: "I am Thy Lord and Thy Master."

L. H.: "What is your counsel to me and to all men?"

Voice: "Love your neighbors even although it is hard.  Yield not to temptation."

[Imperator appeared through Stainton Moses in the seventies.  It is now known that Imperator also claimed to be one of the prophets.]


June 18, 1936

[From LIGHT magazine                          Thursday ]

[A Journal of Spiritualism, Psychical, Occult and Mystical Research - Founded in 1881]

[Although this writing is dated June 18, 1936, there is reason to believe that some of the information contained in it dates at least parts of it to a much later date - even after 1944]

"Elizabeth M."

The Wonderful Story of Dr. Glen Hamilton's First Medium

Uneducated, illiterate, but loved by all who knew her well, for her sunny gaiety, her warm kindliness, her loving and childlike heart, there died in Winnipeg recently (July 4th, 1935) the first Medium with whom the late Dr. T. Glen Hamilton, of Winnipeg, Canada, experimented on any extensive scale - Mrs. Elizabeth Poole, the little Scots lady who, above all others, first opened the door for him to that world we call "psychic"; the one who, above all others, prepared the way for the coming of those later manifestations, the face-bearing teleplasms, which to the end of his life were so deeply to hold his interest and scientific attention.

One further significant aspect of the T. G. H. manifestations must be pointed out.

In his experimental work with various mediumships functioning more or less simultaneously, Dr. Hamilton had come to regard cross-evidence as a highly satisfactory method of establishing the independent identity of the trance-communicator.  In connection with the  T. G. H./Dawn scripts, cross-evidence came to light from a most unexpected source.
The facts are simple but significant.  

A young woman who had been my mother's companion in 1936 and 1937, and who possessed a remarkably sensitive psychic faculty, had left Winnipeg to live in Vancouver, on the West Coast of Canada.  She was completely unaware of the writing-phenomena which were taking place, yet in 1944 she wrote a short letter to my mother, signed her name 'Isabella', and then, as if suddenly falling into trance, inscribed: 'Hallo, Lillian.  T. G. H.'

The salutation 'Hallo, Lillian', which occurs in almost every 'letter' through Dawn, had a particular meaning to us as a family.  During his lifetime my father used my mothers' name, Lillian, so frequently that it became somewhat of a family joke, and we teased both of them constantly about it!  As for the use of his initials 'T. G.' - this, too, merited more than passing notice, for my father was known within our home and beyond its walls as 'T. G.'

To my mother, to his brothers, and to his close friends, he was always simply 'T. G.'; to his many nieces and nephews, 'Uncle T. G.'; to his patients, as 'Dr. T. G.'  Whenever he wrote to us from any distant point (and he traveled extensively) his letters were always signed  'T. G.' or 'T.  G.  H.'   Therefore we feel, with considerable assurance, that my father's repeated use of my mother's name and of his own initials, coupled with the unexpected cross-evidence from a point three thousand (this is an unintended exaggeration) miles west of Winnipeg through a young medium who knew nothing of the Dawn activities at this time, are to be regarded as purposive and deliberate efforts on his part to identify himself to us.

One more note about T. G. H. before we pass on to his scripts.  

That  T. G.  H., in life, loved Christ deeply, and through service to humanity sought to serve his Master, those of us who knew him intimately, realized completely.  Deep within him ran the mystic urge to seek for higher things, for truth, and thus, for God.  That he found intimations of high and holy things in the New Life need not then surprise us.

Following my father's death in 1935 a young woman, Isabella Farquahar,  had been my mother's companion in 1936 and 1937.  She was highly psychic; and through her clairvoyance and trance we received many bits of evidence of a personal nature not only from my father but from other communicators.  In 1940 she left Winnipeg for the city of Vancouver on Canada's west coast; there she married and raised a family, which meant putting aside entirely any practice of her mediumship.  She was quite unaware of the writing-phenomenon through Dawn in these years, but in 1944 my mother received a letter from her, signed 'Isabella', and underneath her name, she read these words: 'Hello, Lillian, 'T. G. H.'  

My mother felt strongly that the appearance of this completely unexpected little bit of cross-evidence from a point some two thousand miles west of Winnipeg, and through a young sensitive who had no way of knowing about the Dawn writing activities, was another deliberate act on the part of our communicator.  And when the Isabella-writing was compared with the Dawn-scripts, the Vancouver  'T. G.' bore a marked resemblance to the Winnipeg  'T. G.' through Dawn.

And going back to the statement 'What is written, is written again', as with the earlier writers in this series, so too with the  T. G. letters; when they were finally completed and carefully studied, they too were found to contain quotations, re-worded sentences, and to embody ideas which had been 'borrowed' from earlier writings: in this case, after much research, found to be in the book 'Letters From A Living Dead Man', which had been put through the automatic writing of Miss Elsa Barker of New York in 1928, which my parents had read early in the 1920's, and which my mother had re-located in 1944.  Again I wish to emphasize that as far as could be discovered by adroit questioning, Dawn revealed no knowledge of the existence of such a book; and she had no awareness of, nor was she ever told, of the inner phenomenon of re-writing which occurred again and again in the  T. G. letters.

Nor had we any idea of what the  T. G. letters might contain; and, except at one point, no suggestions were ever made regarding any topic.  During my father's experimental work his attitude had been: "We will supply the conditions; if phenomena are possible, let the unseen operators produce them; let us wait and see, and then let us observe facts."   These feelings still prevailed; we felt that if proof of his identity were possible, T. G.  himself would find the means to bring it forward.  Dawn lent her hand for his purposes, not ours, and the  T. G. letters were the result.

To prepare this manuscript, I have had to go over the T. G.  letters yet once more, and compare them with the book "Letters From A Living Dead Man".  I must admit that I am most deeply impressed by the skillful manner in which T. G. has made quite deliberate use of certain portions of the earlier book to describe various aspects of the new life in which he now finds himself.  And the more thoroughly one studies the two sets of writing, the more apparent it becomes that what T. G. has achieved is not so much editing as a skillful adaptation of the earlier writing to underline certain truths he has discovered in his new experiences.  But more than that, into his narrative  T. G. has cleverly woven references to his own experiences as a researcher, and has incorporated certain personal psychic experiences of my mother and myself which supplied to us irrefutable internal evidence of genuineness.

One more contact was to come from T. G.


July 31, 1936                                                  Friday

[Letter from Mrs. Hamilton to Margaret:]

"... I'm so glad you brought up the question of the suitability of what so far has been assembled - do not say exactly written - for assembling, that's literally what it was.  And I feel it was a mistake - it is too long winded - too detailed - and will never interest much of the public.   All along I've been - except for the introduction - religiously using former articles and tidbits of writing of Daddy's gathered from here and yon; and, as a result, it is not his output exactly - and neither is it mine.  It has no characteristic punch.  I intend to scrap the whole thing and do it my own way - that is, if you approve.  And please, say what you think.  All along I've wanted to make it a book dealing primarily with the teleplasms.  That's what made him famous and that's what the public - lay and scientific alike - want.  Poole's mediumship I would sum up as preliminary findings prior to going into the main phase of the work.  It could all be dealt with in a fairly long but well subdivided chapter - one moving rapidly and conclusively and touching only the high spots.  Then plunge right into the teleplasms along T. G.'s own lines and using his articles freely.  They stand and have already borne the brunt of the public eyes.  This will be an easy and a glorious task for me and I shall love it, and, I think, do it well.

"... I would call the book (also with your approval  "Teleplasms and Their Bearing on the Question of Survival" - or some such wording.

"... I suggested this procedure to T. G. many times but he would not hear of it!  Everything must go in - careful and detailed.  It will not go over and perhaps he's now seeing it.  Details re the materialization - yes - but no long drawn out reports on telekinesis.

"After the book number one is off the press  - then ... I will start in as ... book ... in all the ... through all the mediums he has used ... Still other small reports can follow.  What do you think?  I so like your approval, for I do feel this decision is the right one.  To be true to T. G. I must, I feel, go against what he might have wanted had he still been with us and carrying the same ideas.  His beloved analysis I have showed and could be used in an R. L. Stevenson work - but not here with teleplasms.  Let's keep the decks cleared for action!

"... By the way, Miss Walker tells me there is a remarkable medium in Kitchener - A Mr. Lacey - 36 King St., Kitchener, who produces direct voices - sittings only fifty cents - you and Jim drive over and hear them.  She thinks he's genuine - spiritualists, of course, feel honest ... the voices are very fine.  It's very hot today - I'm in my nighty - writing."

                
July, 1936.                                         Thursday

        [Letter from Mrs. Hamilton to Margaret:]

"... Well, all our visitors have gone and the old order is once more in play.'

        Mentions Miss Walker and her arrival.

"... We were talking on the back balcony about 10:00pm when Isabella, who was sitting with us, suddenly went into trance.  I took her into Daddy's room, placed her on the bed, and to my surprise all her usual controls and communicators immediately came through - Poole, R. L.     Stevenson, Livie, the Great Control and the Presence - also a control who gave his name as Jack and said he was Miss Walker's brother.  Miss Walker seemed to be greatly impressed, especially with her alleged brother's manifestation, neither Isabella or myself knowing that she had a deceased brother called Jack or the fact that he persistently appears through every medium she happens to sit with - that is, genuine mediums.  The phenomenon of the Presence, of course, was to her, as it is to us, wholly inexplicable.

"... That was Monday's major events.  Tuesday I arranged a little luncheon for her at Moore's - just Mr. and Mrs. Wither, Dr. Bruce Chown, Miss. Walker and me.  Mr. Wither took us driving in the afternoon.  Wednesday evening Jack gave us a sitting which Miss. Walker seemed to enjoy very much - T. G. H. and Sterge both manifesting; Thursday night we had tea with Aunt Jessie and then all went over to Edna Sutherland's for the evening (very pleasant); Friday Miss Walker took Isabella and I to a show and to dinner up-town; Saturday was the best day of all - which I will not tell you about.        

"... Friday the whole gang - Uncle Bill and Mattie, Tom and Jess, Fletcher and Lu, along with all the young ones, including Jean, and as well, all the best girls, went down to Lac du Bonnet to spend the week-end at a very nice camping ground called Silver Plains, where you can get quite well-furnished log cabins for rent - eighteen in all.  Glen drove Miss Walker and I down on Saturday to join them.  We had lunch and then the whole gang went bathing and swimming - also motor boat riding and aqua-planing - the latest sport due to the presence of Langtree Thompson who kindly supplied the boat and the plane and did all the driving.  Allison, Neal, and Fraser and even Uncle Bill all tried it and did fairly well.  Hughie was quite the star - a good swimmer and quite daring.

"... But this was not all.  Eleanore asked Miss Walker and I and Glen and Isabella to her house for lunch (they have taken a cottage for the summer), or rather, tea, and I did enjoy being there.  They are a sweet family ...

"... we had tea and then a short sitting with Mercedes.  Our guest left via CNR Monday at 9:30am - and so routine work again.

"...I must tell you about  (to me) one important event which occurred at the close of the Sunday night sitting.  The usual controls had appeared - Spurgeon, (Miss Walker is not interested in his form of preaching - that I could see) Walter, T. G.  H., Lucy, and others, and then Miss Walker asked us to bring her out of trance and allow her to use her clairvoyance.  We did, and immediately after Isabella began to function.  Took on the cataleptic form of trance and for some minutes lay on the floor stretched in the rigid form you have seen her in.  Mercedes began to describe what she saw: "I see", she said, "a form lying over Isabella's.  It is very faint.  It seems to be very "spiritual".  I can just make it out.  It is a male form.  I cannot see the face but I can see the hair.  It is very dark hair, worn long and it has a slight curl in it.  This form holds a light in the form of a lantern in its hand."  Following this Isabella spoke as the Presence: "I am Thy Lord" and gave the Name.  When she recovered consciousness, which was some time after the sitting was over, she remembered having seen the Presence which she described exactly as Mercedes had described it.  I have no explanation to offer.  Miss Walker also has none - She advises carrying on, allowing no interference, but in the meantime say nothing, absolutely nothing about it to anyone outside of the group - a procedure I have already marked out for ourselves.

"... I have had still other interesting experiences.  Yesterday I spent at the Victoria Beach Inn with Aunt Edith - and a glorious day I had -  lovely weather and charming company.  We lay on the sand, and, of course, talked and talked ... Twelve o'clock home and now still in bed (10:00am) writing to you.

"...Glen is still talking of  S. A. Rutherford, is still waiting for one of those illusive messages of his - which never seem to come.  He's a deep one all right, and Glen is getting a bit suspicious of his standing.  At any rate, he's not burning his bridges behind him but is going to keep on the office for two months until he sees what is what.  No one sees Aunt Billy or Grace any more - their whole universe revolves around this long-lost cousin now.  Dime-novelish, eh what?

"... And now - guests gone and holidays - for me - over, I start definitely back to work again.  I must get the book in shape this fall and winter.  I do wish Jim could work with me.  He would be such a help.  Miss Walker thinks he is very brilliant - both as a writer and a scientist - that is, for his age.  She looks to him, she says, to be the next great researcher.  If we can obtain more materializations she will finance us for a full infra-red equipment - what do you think of that?  But it is all in higher hands.  We can only work - and pray and hope.

"... I have still some other interesting items of news for you but will send them along in my next."

[P.S.  Deepest love to Jim - and also my very best to Jim's mother]


[L.H. - DR. BRUCE CHOWN SERIES   - 1935 - 1936   Page 13]

(Copy of writing through Mrs. A. Forsyth and her daughter, Mrs. S. V. Johnson, of Cape Town, by the glass and letters method of communication)

An Essay From R. L. Stevenson entitled      

A Verdict from Samoa on the Sophistication of the Savage


September 2, 1936.

At a great distance from Caithness lies the remote island of Samoa, remote, that is, in the days of which I write.  Today it lies on a regular steamship route, but then it was verily off the beaten track.

I do not need to recapitulate here the reasons which drove me so far from my native heath; suffice it to say it was primarily on account of my health, though various disappointments combined to harden my originally tepid inclination to find a home in a more temperate climate; and I can only think of Samoa with feelings of the deepest affection and gratitude that I was vouchsafed a share in the beauty and peace that were then singularly its own.  This is how I came to go to Upolu onboard a dirty and malodorous tramp steamer.


September, 1936.

"I think perhaps I told you, Margaret, about my own perturbed state of mind in this connection, and how phenomena appeared that seemed to have been designed to give me faith that these things were based on truth.  Naturally, with T. G. H.'s great scientific work still not fully reported, and myself largely the custodian of this work, it seemed hazardous to the scientific standing of the whole output were I to reveal to any outside of our immediate and closest friends the nature of the strange communications.  What was I to do about it?  If it was true, then I must believe, and at least record the manifestations faithfully; and some time, let it be known. If it was not true - that is; if it was all the product of subconscious uprisings of some kind possibly instigated by undesirable forces; and I knew, or at least believed I knew, that they existed, then I must close the door on this type of phenomenon for all time.  Believing in the efficacy of prayer I prayed for help; in fact, prayed earnestly that I, like those of old, I might be granted a sign: in other words, be given cross-evidence of some kind of an experimental nature that would show from which source this unfoldment came.  The answer came swiftly and from a most unexpected quarter.  On the evening of September 15, Harold and Ada Turner were out for dinner.  During the course of the evening (Harold told me later) he suddenly and inexplicably felt deprived of power, almost fainting from a clear feeling of loss of energy.  When they returned to their flat (the third floor of 255 Wellington Crescent) they found a two-year-old Free Press which had not been in their home previously, lying in the pillow of his bed.  In it was a picture of Christ the Good Shepherd which was used to illustrate Dickens' Life of Christ, then running in the paper.  They could not think how it came to be there; for so far as they knew, no one had entered the room in their absence.  Harold passed into trance; his control David appeared and said "Telephone Mrs. Hamilton.  She will understand.  It is for her."  They telephoned me the next day.  I understood.  An apport had been produced in Harold's home as a sign that my request had been heard; and in it Christ was represented as the Good Shepherd.  Following this I did not doubt, but felt at last convinced that the phenomena were indeed supernormal and that their origin was within the Good.

"I have made this confession and told my little story here fully for the first time.  The proof seems almost as convincing as that given in several cases to Paul in his days of doubt following hard on the episode of the manifestation on the road to Damascus.

        "The gates were indeed opening."


September 16, 1936.

Vailima is a good long way from Upolu a distance of about 20 miles over winding hill paths.  To get there one took a bullock cart and a more uncomfortable journey could hardly be conceived.  So it was that I arrived at my destination in as feeble and agonized a condition as I ever found myself in at any stage of my complaint and thought that I had verily come all that way to lie down and die; but by the kindly intervention of beneficent providence, heaven was spared my presence for many years to come and suffered no pangs thereby, I'll be bound, while the fair Isle of Samoa having all too many pests of its own had to bear an additional one until the day of my death.


September 30, 1936.

To one fresh from the London hubbub I came into the atmosphere of primeval paganism.  Vailima itself was nothing but a hotbed of contradicting creeds and religious practices and as a rule even the converted native was little better than the unredeemed heathen.


October 31, 1936

Letter from Stanley De Brath to Mrs. Hamilton:
                
"... I am glad to hear that Dr. Glen's work is being put into order by you: his experiments are meticulously careful, and should revive the interest in physical phenomena which has somewhat faded out here in England. They are, to my mind, the undeniable foundation of the supernormal for average men and women, and therefore of fundamental importance.  My own work has proceeded on different lines.  You will see its results in the article "Farewell" which I send you herewith.   I think that the surviving soul IS the etheric body, and its mind that which we ordinarily call  "the subconscious".  This has been told me by the Teacher brought by my unseen friend, and by many communications from her.  It seems to explain the very various levels of development in communicators, and supplies an inference which appeals to many men and women more than the idea of a subconscious mind associated with the material body.

"... All progress in physical science has been made by using each noun in one sole single sense; and while men use 'Soul' in various senses as "the sum of physical faculties", as the conscious Ego apart from the spirit, and in various allied senses, we shall make no definite progress.

I am much interested in the charming little photograph, and in what you tell me of "Faith" and her mediumship.  You are doubtless doing the right thing in keeping her as normal as possible.  It is, as you say, a new development in mediumship that she should be unaware of this connection with Christ.  And you are also right in keeping careful notes of the case before printing anything about it.  I confess I have but little sympathy with hysterical saints like Therese Neumann, though I freely admit that they produce great, if transitory, effects.  My whole life-work is concerned with the consistency of Spiritualism; and I think that this will, in the end, prove to be its greatest value to mankind.  It may be that this little medium will show that the abiding influence of Our Lord is on the subconscious, and produces the sweet and busy disposition that you describe.  I gather that the "stigmata" are subcutaneous: they are possibly given merely as physical evidence.  Her trance-conversation would be worth taking down.

"... I am sure the British College will gladly send you any blocks you may require.  They should certainly be freely used in the book - people see so very much more in a photograph than they get from any description, and some of the plates are most remarkable, more especially the miniatures.  In Europe we are in a parlous state - all nations arming to the teeth and preparing gas-shelters, which can be but very partial protection against the truly diabolical plan of poisoning the air.  I shall be truly glad to be gone from this scene.  My children are in South Africa, I am glad to say.  It seems to me that humanity has gone insane!  You are fortunate in being in America.

[Handwritten note at bottom of page: -   Mr. De Brath died during the late summer of 1937 and spoke to me through "Faith", giving practically conclusive proof that his full memory of life had carried on. - L.H.] 


November 5, 1936.                                         Thursday

Letter from Mrs. Hamilton to Margaret:

"... I told Sterge last night about your playing and he said he'd be there to help.

"... I'm up early today - for me - getting Jim off to University.  Isabella's reactions after a deep trance sitting are so profound that she has to sleep in the next day till noon.  The house is warm and still and so hence my sitting down this very minute and writing to my one and only.

"... Did you get Jim's letter last week: He had another letter from Dr. Rhine who thinks, apparently, that we might not be quite scientific enough for him.  I have written to him, very tactfully.

"... However, Jim's answers take care of that, I think.  His work in telepathy, though, is fine and if he can really get these things going in University circles - even more power to his elbow, says I."

Mentions that cannot make it for Xmas - train fares too high - Glen spent too much on his trip and lost patients over the three weeks' absence.

"... I have been working very, very hard to finish "Stevenson";  Livingstone and Stead are off my hands - so also most of the ectoplasm chapters - in the rough - still to be polished.  But "...." was terrible - too much ground to cover - so hard to analyze and group in classifications.

"But I stuck to it.  Finally I made it very simple and I think convincing and interesting.  Made it all lead up to one point.  Show that telepathy - between incarnates and discarnates - was a fact and giving one example (out of 470) for each main class - Visions that showed the communicator to be able to do this that and the other things: 

        (a)         Show a main memory stream!  
        (b)         an associative memory stream; 
        (c)         take the place of a character; 
        (d)         watch his own characters;  
(e)         make use of symbols - indirect and so on in his work,   psychologically, is amazing; 

"It is probably too erudite for the popular reader but arresting to the student.  Anyway, here it is and  must be refuted somehow.  Right after this I'll send you MSS to look over or criticize.

"... About the sittings: I am amazed and a little bewildered.  Can it all be true?  Mrs. Withers is developing fine.  We have much cross-evidence in little things but no real proof yet - unlimited promises - They are calling for the ... now.

"... The Presence comes nightly.  He gives us all names - Jessie is "Matthew", Bessie is Hope, I am "Mary"; Harold Shand is "Andrew"; Mr. Withers is "Peter"; we are his new disciples meeting in an upper room.  Isabella and Mrs. Withers - both - see him independently - Doyle, Stead, ... T. G., Walter, Lucy, John ... Lucy - are all said to be back and helping - for what?  They insist that Christ is coming to earth "in many forms".  Our group love the sittings - Wednesdays and Sundays again - even Glen is coming in at times.  He has been named "Paul".  My, I wish you could be with me.  Whether we ever get objective proof or not, spiritually they are very impressive and very wonderful.


November 12, 1936.                                         Tuesday

        [Letter from Mrs. Hamilton to Margaret:]

Mentions black pumps - too small for Isabella - so sending them on to Margaret.  Isabella wearing Margaret's old red dress.

"... Yesterday I went to Miss Clare's luncheon at the Fort Garry for Eugene Ormandy - the noted guest conductor of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra.  He was a most interesting, charming and human man.  Witty and sincere.

"... I saw lots of your friends, but hurried away before the meeting was quite over as I had to meet Isabella at the hair dresser's at 2:30pm.  I have not been paying Isabella regular wages since last April, but get her things as she needs them.  On the whole she costs me around $8.00 a month.  She is very saving and doing her best to keep things as low as possible.  She won't even as a rule get her hair waved; but this time I had her do it as her hair was getting so long that she looked untidy.

"... Jim went to the Symphony last night with his Peggy.  Her father's and mother's season tickets - his presence and Aunt Jessie's car.  He enjoyed it very much.  Funny that he is not as musical as Glen but more interested in the classics.  I find his whole general taste is fairly high and growing.

"... Glen has his car all paid for so's he now on the up and up.  He paid out the last check yesterday and was very happy about it. 

"... Mrs. Brown is failing rapidly.  Dr. Hart said they might expect a stroke any day.  But she is as bright as ever ...

"... More bits of personal evidence coming through Isabella.  After the sitting Sunday as the people were going out she was sitting looking at Lu's new shoes  (Low heeled broad blue suede) and heard T. G. H. distinctly say "Well, Lu, those are the most sensible shoes you ever had on." - so like him!

"... Funny how a little thing like that  (for me at any rate) just sweeps over you as the thing to make you feel they are really there.  Then, during the sitting, Jack Barnes spoke through Jack and mentioned it being near the  "anniversary" or something to that effect.  We thought he meant Armistice Day but Margaret Edward phoned to tell me a few minutes ago that she had just looked it up and it was Jack's anniversary -his death date.  Interesting, was it not?

"... But that was not all.  Isabella, after her trance was over, told me she had seen a lovely young Englishman with a very girlish complexion and not very tall.  That I knew was not Jack Barnes who was tall and rather dark.  Margaret tells me that it was probably "Bobs" his great friend, who was killed in action at about the same time.  This lad was a young Welshman and had pink and white skin - a real girlish complexion.  Isabella, of course, never heard of him.  And so they do not pass apparently, but live.

"... Darling, I must back to my work.  Oh, if only I did not have so much to take up my time and attention - I've just got too many lovely friends - I'll have to hide.  Somebody phones me about every two hours regularly.  Still, I'm getting on bit by bit.  By the way, Harold's at last beginning to get the independent voice.  Also one or two predictions through him have been fulfilled.  His new book (a horror story of black magic) is well written and quite fascinating.  I do hope it sells.

"... Remember! No Grandmother business for me.  Mother Lillian, if you please.

"... I'm enclosing a clipping that will explain itself.  Do try to see the exhibition if you have not already done so.  Not only because he is undoubtedly a very great artist at last coming into his own, but as well because he now claims to speak through Harold - is in fact one of his now more or less constant controls.  I have talked to him thus twice and found him a most astonishing personality.  If Harold could assume such a role voluntarily he would be a very great actor indeed.  He speaks with the heavy guttural pronunciation one associates with the Dutch; is very expletive; (is that how one spells it) is very, no, terribly in earnest over his love of color and life and art - so dynamic that he leaves you almost weak after his departure.  Harold, I know, feels that, much as he has come to love him, that he takes almost too much energy away for his own good.  Then, as well, he claims, or pretends (shall we say) to be a very great admirer of the "ze soul - ze personality" of your mother - simply makes me blush all over, he makes such more or less violent protestations of affection for my humble self.  Altogether, I found him a most intriguing personality.  So go and see his work and think, "Well, likely he's right here with me now."  I'll bet if he ever came in contact with you through some medium I would fade out into the background and my small daughter would take my place "Such ze personality - such ze musik - such ze charm"  and so on.

"... Glen is fairly busy - no - more than fairly.  His work is gradually picking up again.

"... The sittings are tremendously interesting - even if we never get any more objective proof, the subjective is excellent.  Constant cross-evidence between them all.  Bessie is developing very fast and Walter through Mrs. Wither and Bessie last night was simply a scream - same old gory stories and chaff that we used to have so much with Ewan and Dawn.  They are, of course ,trying to "build" up something.  But what?"


"... The Presence!  Oh, for more faith.  I can understand now the prayer "Help Thou my unbelief". I want so much to believe and yet the doubting Thomas creeps in.  It seems so incredible.  But He speaks and speaks and says that he will come in many forms - again and again this is repeated in other parts of the world.  Not here, I gather.  Here is to be the spiritual descent and prophecy, seemingly.  Then Stevie came last night through Isabella.  So like himself there, too.  Limited vocabulary but the same whimsicality peeking through.  He named (in fun) some of the group last night after the sitting was over.  Lu is Rambling Rose, Jess is Blue Bell  (if she will tinkle). Bessie is Heather, and so on.  Just plain nonsense, but his usual delightful nonsense ..."