1941
January 2, 1941.
"The question of death appeals to every mind; its processes, the sensations which they cause in the human being - body and mind; what it brings to humanity - consciousness or oblivion? What, if anything, lies beyond?
"These are all contained in one profound inquiry: What is Death? On this subject many and varied illustrations have ... (been given?) of the significant processes and revelations of death in the experience of different human beings. This series will reveal the truth ...
O. J. L."
January, 1941.
R. L. Stevenson
"Those who believe, will, of course, say that they know that the future life is a fact."
February 15, 1941
[Letter from "Mother" - Mrs. Lillian Hamilton - to James D. Hamilton.]
"I am writing to enclose that criticism of your MMS from Freeman, which you might let Miss Elliott see some time soon, if you think she needs to know more about its real value. She is interested in psychics, but really does not know anything very much about the scientific side of things.
"It might be a good idea to write to Dr. Richardson and get him to write a good strong letter of approval as an experienced researcher. He has long been prominent in the A. S. P. R.. I would say he is the best informed man living today, in regard to teleplasm - or 'teleplastics' as Sudre and other French savants term it. It would seem a pity to turn down Mr. Cross's(Cross'?) amazing offer. Do write to him too; give him some warm thanks, even if the book is not published, he has done his bit.
"The rest of my letter I will take up mostly with giving you some idea of the nature of the Dawn trance-writings which I have received since you left, and which I regard as unquestionably from some discarnate source.
"You will recall that before you left, this form of phenomenon had started. From the first - to use your phrase - intention was strongly in evidence. Stead purported to speak to me: said he wanted to write; or rather, the group of which he was a member. Would I co-operate? I said I would. He then gave out his instructions: no other sitters but Dawn and myself. Red light might be used; the writing table and material were to be ready always; this material was to be kept covered between sittings; Dawn's hands to be placed on the table and a pencil put into her hand after she had entered the trance state.
"He said that two main difficulties lay ahead: could they get her into the type of trance that would, as far as possible, eliminate her own subconscious activities (mental); and could they make her spell words correctly for them? Her lack of education constituted a real handicap from this point of view. As a start, that same evening he wrote:
" ... It gives me great pleasure to be able to start with this writing. For long I have waited for this opportunity, and now it has been given to me. Automatic writing is a wonderful work and a true way of testing the mediumship.
(signed) W. T. S ..."
"When Dawn recovered from trance she did not appear to know what her hand had written, and I did not tell her. However, she did recall seeing Stead and R. L. Stevenson standing near her, but seemed to have no notion why they had taken up this position.
"This was the first experiment. Then came what was a complete surprise to me; writing done in her own home which revealed that she was unquestionably under the influence of some outside intelligence of an unusually high order, and certainly much greater than her own.
"Dawn was to come to me on the afternoon of November 19 for a sitting, but at the last moment phoned to say she could not make it. "How about trying to get something by herself?" I agreed. She came over the next day: said she had gone into her room and sat alone with some writing material before her; that she must have "gone to sleep", for when she awakened she saw there was writing on the table, but she could not read much of it, and what had been read she could not understand:
"The work of the English Society for Psychical Research is well know the world over. The chief interest of this Society, for a number of years, has been a detailed study of the automatic writing of certain mediums such as Mrs. Forbes, Mrs. Pyper, Mrs. Holland and others.
" ... It may be appropriate to being our study of the psychological principles underlying ..." (Writing breaks off)
"... Direct personal evidence known as .... cross-correspondence ..." (Writing breaks off) "... Doubtless to the orthodox or materialistic kind of person ..." (Writing breaks off.)
" ... Psychic investigation is less general in Germany than in France ..." (Is this true or not true? L.H.)
" ... The spectacle of 200,000,000 human beings rushed to their doom with no definite knowledge of what that doom may be!..."
"Take the first bit. Do you know, Jim, who Mrs. Pyper and Mrs. Forbes were? Did you know that it is quite true that the English P. R. S. did, many years ago, devote much time to a study of their automatic scripts, especially those that revealed the Myers cross-correspondence; which, above, our communicator had in mind, which broke off unfortunately. Only a person who had definite knowledge of this past work could have composed this sentence. Mrs. Holland lived and wrote in India; Mrs. Pyper in Boston; Mrs. Forbes in England.
"R. L. Stevenson also purported to communicate at this time by giving this one, but highly poetic, short sentence.
"... The hissing rain is blown into the darkness to burst, a cloud of rose, over their graves ..."
(Signed) R. L. S..
"Is this original? Is it a quotation? I do not know. Does he use this to symbolize the thought that death, which to us seems so terrible, turns to beauty when we understand it rightly?
"But do your own interpreting. Wherever it comes from, it is a beautiful thought.
"More was to come later. On this dame day (November 20) Dawn and I sat in our little room downstairs. She passed into deep trance. I kept the red light on all the time, so as to watch her facial expression, which at times was that of a deeply sleeping woman; also to let me change the sheets of paper as quickly as possible. The writing lasted about half an hour. After it was over Walter spoke to me and said that Sir Oliver Lodge had been one of the communicators who had used Dawn's hand in her own home. If you know his writings as well as I do, you would know how characteristic that sentence was of him; - also how those few broken sentences seemed to be carrying on the same theme. Walter also gave out some new instructions from the group: (those on the Other Side): He said that they were pleased to find the medium so responsive when she was alone; but she must not try to write except when she felt strongly urged to do so, for otherwise, much of what came would be the product of her own subconscious, and harmful both to the phenomenon and the mediumship. (The hypnotic processes which we have suspected, seems to be suggested here once more.) "After Dawn had gone home I turned to the scripts and found them most interesting:
"... How happy I am to be with you again and to write of some of my experiences sojourning here among my friends.
"When death comes to the earth plane, it is just like emptying the contents of a box ... the box is no longer of use ... After the spirit leaves the frame, the shell is of no use, so we commit it to the earth. We work for our new frame. Often it takes many years before this is accomplished. But spreading the truth while we are here will help us to find our way.
"A great sorrow hangs over your world today. The conflict has awakened many of those who came over many years ago. It has caused a great deal of unrest on our plane: so many are anxious to get back again; and when we try to help them, they don't understand. Your friend Ham will tell you of some of his experiences when the door opened and closed on him. This is Robert Nicol writing ..."
"Who is Robert Nicol? I do not know; but Mrs. Allison suggests that he may be Robertson Nicol who was a well-known editor in England some years ago, and would likely have known Stead, who was also a noted newspaper writer and journalist. An interesting thought, which may, or may not be confirmed later.
"Then, during the latter part of December and the first part of January, Oliver Lodge again tried to use the medium's hand while she was in trance alone in her bedroom. And even you, I think, will admit that some of the sentences are worthy of him, supposing him to be living, and to be able thus to make his thoughts impress the sensitive.
June 17, 1941
[Letter from unknown author to Dr. Mark Richardson.]
... received your letter ... unlike you ... surprised ... not accustomed to scientific bodies giving credence to rumor.
"It may be, however, that the informant to the American Society for Psychical Research has some facts regarding Dr. Glen Hamilton's qualifications for research which we are not aware of. It would be well then, if we could secure a clear statement regarding that "rumor current for some years that Dr. Hamilton has been, at least in part, "taken in". A rumor can be much more damaging than a carefully worded statement of criticism, and with your permission to use your correspondence and your advice I should like to ask Mrs. Whitehead for the following information:
What, explicitly, is the nature of the rumor, and on what facts is it founded?
Who made this statement of rumor?
Did this person know Dr. Hamilton personally, and, if so, with what degree of intimacy?
"... at least in part taken in." Which part?
"The remarks regarding the difficulty to prove authenticity are, of course, sheer impertinence.
"I am sorry that we are so helpless to do anything further ourselves towards getting the report accepted for publication. Our indebtedness to you in this regard is growing steadily."
July 4, 1941
[Letter from James D. Hamilton to Mrs. Eleanor B. Whitehead - Secretary - The American Society for Psychical Research - 40 East 34th Street - New York City, N.Y.]
"I have recently received the enclosed correspondence between yourself and Dr. Mark Richardson in connection with my report on the researches of Dr. T. Glen Hamilton
"Your letter indicates that your society does not hold the same opinion towards Dr. Hamilton's work which it once had. During the years of 1931-1935 Dr. Hamilton published several papers in the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research. Acceptance for publications in this scientific journal is, presumably, a recognition of the authenticity of the work reported. That the A. S. P. R. continued to hold a view of good faith towards Dr. Hamilton until as late a date as 1935 is shown in the obituary notice of his death in the May Journal of that year. Still, in spite of this policy of several years standing, the Board of Trustees now refuses to recognize Dr. Hamilton's scientific prestige; and, apparently, gives as its reason that "rumors have been current for some years that Dr. Hamilton has been taken in, at least in part".
"It may be that the informant of the Board of Trustees is in possession of facts regarding Dr. Hamilton which I do not have possession of at the present time. For my own information I should very much appreciate a statement regarding the following:
What, explicitly, is the nature of the rumor and on what facts is it founded?
Who made this statement of rumor and with what degree of intimacy did this person know Dr. Hamilton?
To which part of the phenomena observed by Dr. Hamilton does the phrase "... at least in part taken in" refer?
"It is a pleasure to me to note that you write Dr. Richardson that you have personally found something of interest and value in this report."
August, 1941
After an interval of eighteen months, during which time very few sittings were held, and no scripts received, in August, 1941, Dawn saw (clairvoyantly, we must suppose) standing by her bed a tall dark-eyed man. She heard him say "I am Frederick William Myers. I have come to ask you to go on with your work" - although what this "work" was to be he did not indicate.
Four days later at a sitting in our home, Stead, through the deeply-entranced Dawn, spoke of the many difficulties 'they' would encounter before 'they' would be able to take full control of the medium's mind-centers and thus make it possible to express their messages in their own vocabulary and phraseology. Nevertheless 'they' were succeeding, and writings would 'begin shortly'.
Nor was this all. At a subsequent sitting the "Walter" - control (gifted 'unseen director' of the teleplasmic phenomena) stated that Oliver Lodge was present; when the deep-trance script was examined it was found to contain still another intimation of intention to write. Here the wording was so amazingly like Lodge's phraseology, and manifested such a Lodge-like outlook, that one felt certain that, for a few moments at least, inspiration from a Lodge-like mind had dominated the mind of the sleeping automatist. This introductory script reads as follows:
"...Which is more essential - spirit or body? Is spirit permanent and the body transitory? Is the body the important thing and the soul and mind more ephemeral? The question of death appeals to every mind - its processes - the sensations which they cause
One day in August, 1941, Dawn telephoned my mother to tell her that the night before, soon after she had retired, she had had a clairvoyant experience: standing near her bed she had seen a tall dark-eyed man, whom she took to be Robert Louis Stevenson. She said: "What can I do for you, Robert Louis?", to which the man in the vision replied: "I am not Robert Louis Stevenson. I am Frederick William Myers, and I have come to aks you to go on with the work". Then he vanished.
This appearance had obviously made a deep impression on Mrs. Marshall, for at once she offered to sit for this new work, whatever it was to be. My mother, needless to say, was delighted at this turn of events, and lost no time in arranging with Mr. Reed and Mr. and Mrs. Wither for a new series of sittings. A few days later the little group assembled; and this time it was Stead who spoke through Dawn, urging her to go on with her work, and making it plain that 'they' planned to continue with the writings, provided 'they' (the communicators) could be sure of two things: her willing co-operation; and a trance-state sufficiently profound to allow their thought and phraseology to be clearly expressed. These two things were emphasized at the next sitting by this automatic script:
"For a long time I have waited for this opportunity, and now it has been given me ... Automatic writing is a wonderful work and a true way of testing mediumship ..."
(Signed) "W. T. S."
Nor was this all. At a regular sitting in late December, 1941, Walter stated that Oliver Lodge was present. When my mother studied the trance-writing of this date, she found that it too contained a further statement of intention to write. Written in a style so far removed from Dawn's usual straight-forward mode of self-expression, so Lodge-like in choice of vocabulary, in its noble-sounding phrases and in its concepts, this writing immediately created in us the very strong conviction that here, for a few moments at least, inspiration from a Lodge-like mind must surely have dominated that of the sleeping automatist. It was this:
"Which is more essential, spirit or body? Is the body the important thing and the soul and mind mere ephemera? The question of death appeals to every mind, its processes, the sensations which they cause in the human being, body and mind, what it brings to humanity - consciousness or oblivion; what, if anything, lies beyond. These are all contained in one profound inquiry: What is death? This series will reveal the truth ..."
(Signed) "O. L."
