1933
Oct 13 - Nov 12
October 13, 1933
[LIGHT - Friday - October 13, 1933]
Has C. H. Spurgeon Returned?
Has the Rev. C. H. Spurgeon "returned"? Read the following story and weigh up the evidence for yourself. The writer, Dr. T. Glen Hamilton of Winnipeg, Canada, has won a world-wide reputation as a careful and reliable scientific investigator of psychic phenomena. In an article published in LIGHT last week, he described how the "sittings" were conducted in his own house and the measures he took to record accurately what occurred. These included frequent flash light photographs, which revealed teleplasmic phenomena in the form of recognizable human faces, including that of C. H. Spurgeon. Below, Dr. Hamilton describes and analyses the phenomena.
What the cameras revealed and the "voices" described.
By T. Glen Hamilton, M.D.
October 13, 1933
[Letter from Dr. Hamilton to Dr. Suggs:]
"... I have your inquiry of 4th inst. with reference to 'Margery' in the Scientific American. I may say that I have sat eighteen times with Margery and am convinced absolutely that the mediumship is genuine. On two of these occasions the sittings were held in my own house in Winnipeg and on another in the house of a prominent lawyer of this city. Her psychic powers are quite beyond dispute.
"The fingerprint episode, of course, as set out in the Bulletin issued by the Boston Society for Psychical Research, was very damaging; but it was not final, for we have to admit that, while in terms of legal evidence, if the details in that report were true they created only strong suspicion. But the possibilities of truth were not finally established.
"... I have it from Dr. Crandon and from Mr. Button, President of the New York Section of the A. S. P. R. that the rebuttal evidence and argument which has been prepared by one Dr. Thorogood who has acted as research officer for the Society upon the Margery mediumship, is now ready for publication in a volume of considerable size. This will be forthcoming shortly and should clear up the matter. Although I have not the details, I understand that the fingerprints presented constitute a large group not only made by the several fingers of the hand of the gentleman whose prints were said be those of Walter but the corresponding finger prints of Walter produced supernormally.
"... Our work in Winnipeg was very greatly handicapped last year but is starting with better prospects for the forthcoming winter. The Psychic Science Journal of London for October 1st will contain an excellent article and the October issues of LIGHT, three or four in number, will also contain articles under my own name.
"... I am sorry to hear that the Psychic Science Quarterly is likely to suspend publication on account of financial difficulties. This is greatly to be regretted as it is undoubtedly the best publication of its kind in the world today. If you are following the progress of this work in Paris under Dr. Osty you will have noted the splendid results in establishing "psychic substance" through the physics of the photo electric cell in connection with infra-red light. It has been referred to on several occasions, once in the New York Journal for Psychic Research and also in connection with the Chicago Herald and Examiner of October 1st, and, I think, subsequent issues where it is referred to in connection with parallel experiments by one Harry Price of London who conducts the National Research Laboratories in that city.
October 20, 1933
[Letter from Dr. Hamilton to Mr. Theodore Besterman - London - England:]
" ... Your note inquiry ... delayed answering ... whether or not our work would be going forward this season. Of this, however, we are still in doubt.
"... Last season's experimental work was very badly upset for various reasons: seven months of bi-weekly sittings resulting in the appearance of two major manifestations only - one in January and one in April, Miss May Walker fortunately being present to witness the last. Naturally every one participating became very weary, with patience almost worn out. Out mediums particularly were very much disheartened. The results to date - we have been holding weekly sittings since the end of September - have been negative so far as teleplasmic manifestations are concerned. With such a prospect it does not seem at all encouraging for you to come so far. It may be that later we will secure more satisfactory results and in such case I would be delighted that you should be with us to observe the phenomena which is indeed, when abundant, extremely interesting.
"... For the forthcoming winter I have gone to much trouble to instal pneumatic control of all cameras and have also secured equipment for taking infra-red photographs. I am naturally anxiously waiting for the opportunity to use them.
Questions asked by Dr. Frank Suggs
Q1. Does your quartz lens camera get more details of the ectoplasm than the others?
A1. A quartz lens appears to register photographically with more actinic effect. The quartz does not give the fine sharpness of detail, and therefore one would prefer the use of the rapid rectilinear or anastigmat. On very rare occasions the quartz might register features that were (missed) by a glass lens.
Q2. Would it get ultra violet rays in red light or even in darkness from the ectoplasm?
A2. No, I think not, unless it were ectoplasm of the self-luminous variety or if it were illuminated by ultra-violet light as obtained through a wood's filter.
Q3. Have you personally seen in anyone's daylight photographs, "extras" appear on the plate?
A3. Have seen such alleged pictures but such has not been my personal experience.
Q4. Will hypnotized subjects do as well or better in such ectoplasmic work as mediums?
A4. No, I think they would be useless unless mediumistic, and then only if of the physical type.
Q5. Does "Walter" use the independent voice with your mediums?
A5. Yes, with one of them.
Q6. I have some finger prints of a deceased (Dr. Maxwell) who is desirous of proving himself. Please ask Walter to contact and help him.
A7. I will do so. Would suggest that you make this proposal to Dr. Crandon of Boston.
Q8. Why is a cabinet needed in such experiments.?
A8. A cabinet appears to be suited for these experiments partly because the wood it contains seems to be a storage place for some form of energy involved in the production of these phenomena. It is also a convenient way of guarding the medium who may be seated in it against any possibilities of interference from without. The cabinet also is a convenient guard in table levitations and others types of phenomena of a physical nature.
Q9. Have you ever tried to get moving pictures of the formation and disappearance of the teleplasmic mass?
A9. The nearest we have had to moving pictures is disclosed in those photographs taken after a period of two minutes or so from a first photograph. These show a residue remaining. We have not as yet tried to get moving pictures but hope to do so by a series of rapid flashes and later by a continuous flash.
October 20, 1933.
J. MacDonald (medium); Lillian Hamilton; Margaret Hamilton (recorder).
7:02 p.m. sitting commences
7:47 p.m. sitting closes.
Sitting for about three minutes when Sterge speaks. Seems to find difficulty in getting medium under adequate control.
In about three minutes Robert speaks, keeping the medium's head down between his knees: "I'm doing better than the French lad at the controls ...
"I think we'll deal with the writer's eyeglasses. He must have several kinds: the first kind is the kind he uses when he discovers his story and his plot; they are a sort of rosy-tinted with very long perspectives. And then there's the author's eyeglasses, in which we have enormously thick lenses, and they are for magnification, and once you take the rosy glasses off and put the thick-lensed spectacles on the bridge of your nose ye'll find that there are words, situations, and characters whose every fault cries out to high heaven. (But ye will not notice them until you get on the thick critical glasses). And then ye have another kind - a very peculiar kind - that lets the light in but ye canna look out of them very well, and that's the reader's glasses. And so ye've got all three pairs in your waistcoat pocket ..."
"Now the writer must see situations through all the types of lenses that we have mentioned.
"Disregarding for the present time any dissertation on the uses of the first pair, we pick up the second. They are the critical glasses and undoubtedly the most useful and the less delightful of all the three. Now, let's look at the story we have here.
"We'll suppose a theft has been committed and that there are several known facts about it. The article that was stolen was hidden in the library, well hidden; one could only find it after much thoughtful search. Nevertheless, the article has been stolen. We view the library. We see on the floor a bookmark right, perhaps, by the desk, and we'll notice it very carefully; it's on the floor. It's a leather bookmark. Ye'll notice it doesna lie level on the carpet, it's all twisted up as though it had been twisted in someone's hands; its edges are all curled. (Now we'll leave this little fact). Now, there are perhaps four or five people in the house who are under suspicion - Jones, Smith, Brown, Black, and Gray. Quite a colorful gathering, eh?"
"Now we'll take and we'll look over their characteristics. Perhaps Jones' main feature as we watch him for a day is his appetite. Smith is fond of reading. Brown is a very nervous individual. Black is a very hale-fellow-well-met type. Gray is very silent, perhaps rather shy. Now, there is sufficient of their characteristics just put down there. They should be more fully expanded of course, but with these simply as a skeleton of an outline, whom would we suspect of the crime? Jones? There's nothing there to lead one to think of a crime, is there? Appetite? Now, Smith is fond of books. We can ponder over this a little. The thing took place in the library and Smith is fond of books. We'll set Smith aside. Brown is very nervous; anything there we might think of? If a person is nervous there must be some cause for it. Something seems to be bothering him; he is excited about something. Perhaps he breaks matches between his fingers or twists his pipe-stem. Perhaps he's continually twisting things. We'd better put Brown aside. The other men Black and Gray, it seems one is quiet and unassuming and the other hale-fellow-well-met. There seems to be little suspicion, although one might be hiding something under a robust exterior and the other under a quiet exterior.
"Now, we have Smith and Brown set apart.
"Now, what was found in the library? A bookmark, twisted. Now, what possible way could a book marl be twisted and thrown on the floor? By the hands, and by someone who is nervous. Then we have a clue to Brown.
"Now, we'll leave the hypothetical clue there for I am not going to solve the crime just now.
"Now, for the story itself.
"How would we narrate it? We are assuming that Brown is guilty although we are not telling the reader that. But if we talk of Brown's nervousness from the beginning we are going to make the reader suspicious. There is a better way: "Brown sat at a desk rubbing his finger along the top"; "Brown was continually twisting the bowl of his pipe"; or "Brown was continually twisting around in his chair". You don't say "he was nervous", you only intimate his nervousness by various subtle earmarks. You earmark Brown as a nervous individual, and the solution will not be apparent to the reader, for you're hiding it, and yet you build it up all the time.
"Telling of the nervousness is not so effective as making a drama of it. You picture Brown chewing the end of his pencil, but you don't say anything. To make this thing go over forcefully you've got to put drama into it.
"And that's what you've got to do with your critical spectacles - go over all situations and make them as dramatic as possible. And this links up with what I said before: in writing your characters' conversations, you put it at a higher pitch than normal. This has to do with the same thing; they are bound together. Put your characters into characteristic actions and put it dramatically, not as a statement, but as an action. That is, it is better to have your characters live and act than to have you standing over them saying "this is so." Keep yourself, the all-powerful author, out of it; the reader is not interested in you but in your characters. It's no use making a straw figure and putting signposts all over it ..."
"Stevenson stops his dictation at this point, saying that his control over the medium is lessening and "slipping". He goes, and Sterge returns to close the sitting.
October 24, 1933
[Letter from John Kuiper - University of Kentucky - request for photographs promised and with an offer to pay all costs.]
October 27, 1933
LIGHT magazine
Has C. H. Spurgeon Returned?
[In articles published in LIGHT (October 6th and 13th) Dr. T. Glen Hamilton told how, in a series of experimental sittings in his own home in Winnipeg, Canada, objective evidence was given of the presence of someone claiming to be C. H. Spurgeon, the famous London preacher of a by-gone day. This objective evidence - obtained under conditions as strict as scientific caution and knowledge could make them - consisted of hand-writing characteristics, some earth-life memories (these through two different mediums, Elizabeth Poole and Mary Marshall) and finally, and most important of all, four separate representations of Spurgeon's face by means of the mystery-substance teleplasm. In the following article Dr. Glen Hamilton deals with the subjective aspect of what he calls the "C. H. Spurgeon Case," and readers will find what he has to say of great importance and compelling interest.]
Efforts to "Put Through" Religious Teachings from the "Other Side"
By T. Glen Hamilton, M.D.
In the purely subjective manifestations, we are required to consider what appear to be efforts to "put through" what would seem to be original sermons and religious teachings in the old vein but from a new viewpoint - the "other side of life."
I do not say that this is so; I only say that it appears to be so - for, obviously, such things take us into a region where experimentally we cannot follow; and, were it not for the incontrovertible establishment of the teleplasmic likenesses, along with the conclusive establishment of the Mary M. trance intelligences as supernormal beings, I should not regard this type of subjective evidence as of very much value. As things now stand, however, the statements of the Mary M. trance directors and the Spurgeon/Mary M. are worthy of our careful attention. Like witnesses in a court of law, whose integrity and intelligence have been tested and proved, we must at least give them a hearing.
The facts then are these: not only shall we find the apparently surviving Spurgeon proclaiming Christ and His teachings and things generally of a religious nature with the old fervor, but we shall also find the various controls assisting in this testimony by telling us of the work and character as these things now stand in their new state of being.
Testimony of the Controls
We shall deal first with the testimony of the controls. Insisting that we accept the teleplasmic forms, the predictions, the pre-reading of the photographic plates, etc., as the modern miracles which prove that they, the workers, speak with authority, they have proceeded to tell us many things of their great and beloved friend. For instance, they tell us that he had crowds on earth and that he still has crowds to speak and preach to in that non-material world in which they now move and live and have their being; that he has great power of prayer; that, due to this great gift of intercession, "celestials" came to guard the various experiments in which his face was successfully manifested in a quasi-physical medium. These "celestials," they insist, are "they who have come out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." The controls also tell us that he said he would live on and that now he does great work helping those who are "passing through"; that he is busy on the mission fields of earth and on the mission fields also of their new sphere of existence; that he is still lifting up the weary, the fallen, the broken-hearted. He is a great and good man.
Nevertheless, in common with all humanity, Spurgeon had certain things to unlearn and undo. For instance (and this statement was made on the evening of December 23 shortly after the second face had manifested), he must now preach a different damnation. When on earth, he preached everlasting punishment when he knew that love without fear was the divine principle: he was not true to his convictions; this has to be undone. "We learn here to do the work of the Master. It has to be done. It is so difficult, so beautiful, so bright. This applies to preachers as well as to everyone else."
Spurgeon's Own Testimony
But as time went on and Mary M. became not only a teleplasmic medium of steadily growing power, but also a trance-speaking medium of not inconsiderable gifts, the alleged C. H. S., through the gateway of deep trance, began to speak for himself and tell us of these things.
His voice (or rather, the medium's voice, under the domination of the C. H. S. personality) took on, on these occasions, an entirely new timbre - loud and compelling, stern and denunciatory, tender and beseeching by turns. Whether these inflections were truly reminiscent of the great preacher we could not say, for no one in our group had ever heard him speak during his lifetime; but certainly the Spurgeon/Mary M. voice was a deeply impressive phenomenon. No mere reporting can furnish a fully adequate idea of its power, force, and strangely moving quality.
As I have already stated, the burden of all these communications was the same - the abiding love of the Central figure of Christianity for mankind. "'I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me.' Oh, how He longs to draw all men unto Him, now, at this time, when you on earth are celebrating the birth of the child Jesus, your elder Brother! The Babe! If you will but lift Him up you will draw all men unto Him!" This at a sitting which chanced to fall two days before Christmas.
And on another occasion this: "Love casteth out fear. God is love. I know and I feel Jesus lives! He loves me still! I am going right home to the camping ground, right over Jordan. down the mountainside with my Savior I would go ..." This note of confidence, and of certainty, the directing controls would have us believe, due to Spurgeon's new experience, to his new knowledge obtained from the "other side" of life.
October 27, 1933.
J. MacDonald; Lillian Hamilton (recorder).
8:00 p.m. sitting commences.
8:45 p.m. sitting ended.
After Sterge's initial appearance, Robert gave the following:
"The dialogue is the most important thing in the story. When you begin to write a story you must have a definite object and you must be careful enough to lay this objective before your reader very early in your story. That is, we've got to instill in the reader's mind the fact that the characters in the story and the story itself are going from somewhere to somewhere else ... for the reader's pleasure and stimulation. He must begin with a suggested objective and either bring the characters to this objective definitely, or definitely not to it. That is, the writer must ask himself thusly: "Will Halliburton is trying to find the means of purchasing a fishing smack, and rights for net-sites in a certain portion of the fishing grounds. Bloody Bill Boulder, a villain of the deepest dye, is anxious to thwart our hero's desires, and will go to any length to beat him out of his ambitions. Of course, there is a reason. It may be he and Will are rivals in love, that he may desire these sites for other purposes, or that he may be seeking revenge for some fancied wrong! The main thread of the narrative should show whether or not our hero can succeed in his ambitions in spite of the opposition put up by Bloody Bill. Our story, the narrative, must, when completed, state definitely he can or he cannot. The other part of the interest, the love, or the hate, or what have you, is a side interest, apart from the main one, a foil to it, to strengthen the thread of the narrative.
"There are several types of stories: there is a story of situations, the story in which the whole thing is the complications; and there is a story in which everything depends on action. And there are stories of setting, stories perhaps, which have tremendous psychological features, my own story, "Markheim" perhaps being one of these.
"Stories of action are always far more melodramatic than life. Their characters must leap and run, where a life they might hop and walk. We must feel force behind, fear must mount to clammy heights and horror sink(?) to dizzy depths. Speed must run out from the author's pen, the lines must leap and lift the reader; they must be a marshal that swings him into action, and have him swashbuckling with the striving hero, regardless of the desperate odds, laughing in the teeth of death. We must write a story as it be a story."
Following this, the medium falls forward and sings "O God, Our
Help in Ages Past", apparently under the influence of Robert. Sings in tune, which medium normally is not capable of doing. Then speaks as follows:
"O God of sweet and swift comfort, draw Thy hands close to the sealed eyes of Thy blind child.
"Hear my plaint, O God of man, draw near to me as I kneel in that eternal darkness in which I wander.
"Life to me is light denied, save that light that came from Thee, and through which I may see all things.
"O God of Grace, place a cool finger on my forehead and let me
feel Thy healing hands. Touch Thou my eyes as Thou hast touched my heart. Cleanse, O God, this sealing night which encompasses me. With Thy strong arms, for mine are weak, draw forth for me from its scabbard the sword of faith and cleave the shameful curtains drawn around me, as when Thou didst make the lame walk, the dumb speak, the deaf hear, and the blind to see. Bring to this Thy child the light of vision.
"Faith I have, O God, but I lack Thy magic touch which is Thine to give.
"Draw aside the veil of darkness and let me see the light!"
October 31, 1933
[Letter from Dr. Hamilton to Mrs. E. Lebedeff-Pavlovitch - Belgrade:]
"... I have to ... photographs of the exhibition in Belgrade ...
" ... great distance made it very problematic ... reach you in time ... Judging from the photograph ... excellent presentation of our work.
"... There seems to be a great need for public enlightenment and interest among the better thinking classes, not only on account of the importance of this field of research but also to offset the very regrettable imposition perpetrated upon the gullible by commercializing imposters."
October 31, 1933
[Letter from Dr. Hamilton to Hon. McKenzie King - Laurier House - Ottawa:]
"... After this long delay in writing during which I had hoped to have completed additional photographic copies of interest, I dare not further continue my negligence in thanking your for the gift of the splendid book "Nerves and personal Power" written by your late brother. It deals with the matter which through thirty years of medical practice has given me a great deal of interest and certainly provides much food for thought. Not only is it a branch frequently ignored in medical research but it is one also much overlooked in the training of the young practitioner.
"... I have to thank you also for the return of the Daily Sketch. These it was intended you should keep, but I suppose Mr. MacDonald did not make it clear to you.
"... Under separate cover I am mailing to you two issues of LIGHT, October 6 and 13, in which you will find the first and second instalments of an article dealing with the "Spurgeon Case". Judging from reports we have received in private letters, it is creating much interest in the Old Land.
"... There is enclosed also a copy of the presidential address delivered by Dr. Rennie Swan to the Winnipeg Medical Society entitled "Immortality" - An Adventure in Faith", which has been very favorably received. Not only was it published for free distribution to the medical profession, but in addition many hundreds of copies were distributed to the public at large through Knox and Westminster Churches, - an interesting sign of the times.
"... Recently my time has been closely engaged in completing equipment to bring about pneumatic control of the cameras, the object of which is to control the cameras promptly from a small switchboard, thus enabling me to take several exposures within the limit of a few seconds and thus secure a series of photographs of teleplasm which will register its varying morphology. My other photographic work has had in the meantime to stand by, but I hope within the next fortnight to have completed this and I will then be able to forward you several more photographs of particular interest.
"... We realize more and more how great are the difficulties that confront us in this work. Nevertheless we are equally impressed with its supremely vital importance and the necessity of presenting these matters from time to time in such form as may seem practical to the public at large.
"... Again sincerely thanking you for your kind interest and words of encouragement ...
November 3, 1933
The C. H. Spurgeon Case - November 3, 1933
[In previous articles, Dr. T. Glen Hamilton, of Winnipeg, Canada - whose methods of Psychical Research are strictly scientific - described the various objective and subjective features of the manifestation of C. H. Spurgeon, the famous London preacher. These included teleplasmic representations of Spurgeon's face, which were repeatedly photographed. In this article, Dr. Hamilton concludes his remarkable story.]
[In this issue, Dr. T. Glen Hamilton concludes his description and analysis of the evidence accumulated in the course of his Winnipeg experiments of the "return" of C. H. Spurgeon, the famous London preacher, and we commend his summing-up to the very earnest consideration of readers who may not yet be completely convinced of the possibility of proving survival by experimental means. Dr. Hamilton himself says he can see but one hypothesis which can reasonably account for the "long series of interwoven events" he has described - and that is "to postulate the existence of C. H. Spurgeon in a meta-ethereal world." As outlined by Dr. Hamilton, all the evidence - objective and subjective - follows severely unemotional lines, and is therefore all the more convincing. By itself it is, indeed, sufficient to rebut completely M. Sudre's assertion that there is no scientific evidence for survival, for it is in every respect scientific.]
November 4, 1933.
Present: J. MacDonald; T.G. Hamilton; Lillian Hamilton; Margaret Hamilton (recorder).
Sterge controls and manifests in about a half minute. Says he was prepared to come through quickly and that it was not hard to get the medium. He also says he had a "little fight" with Walter, who was also trying to get through, explaining that Walter follows T. G. H.
Control changes. Medium's head down.
Robert: "I'm here now. Good evening. The French lad was helping me a bit to get better control and then he'll go away and I'll talk myself. The lad's much better the night."
"I suppose the letter's still growing and growing. I think we'll add a few hands to its stature, a few more inches to it.
"You know, I've been speaking a lot of dialogue, because I consider it one of the most important, if not the most important, feature of the actual writing. What I'm going to say now (medium's head up) is a few observations regarding the writing of dialogue that rings true, that conveys shades of emotion and that gives you the delicate nuances of fleeting thoughts.
"Perhaps one of the first mistakes a writer can make if he is writing a story with normal characters as his central figure, is, while he pitches the dialogue in a higher key than normal conversation for the purpose of achieving a stronger effect on the mind of the reader, is that he allows himself to be swayed dangerously near the abyss of smartness. There is a tendency when one strives to raise the pitch of the normal dialog of normal human beings, to acquire that higher and much-to-be-desired pitch by imparting genius to the character speaking. The idea, I think, is an erroneous one, and while genius exhibited in and through the conversation of a character has its place with some characters, and in some types of storytelling, yet to follow this process and to hold to it as an ideal strikes falsely, I believe, and rings not truly to the ear of the reader.
"Honore Balzac may be taken as an example of the man who loaded tupenny guns with six penny powder. Every character which he created, gentleman and lackey, sewer-digger and King, delivered their speeches as a genius, and with all the rich coloring that leaps from the lips and tangles from the tongue of the genius. Balzac's characters were too richly clothed in conversation and the supercargoes of genius swept aside illusion, giving a sense of unreality and too much blazing color from the pen of the writer. Things such as these are, to me, at least, when done poorly, among the cardinal sins of the craft.
"To me, at least, it is not genius upon which my mind plays with so much interest, as upon other forms of abnormality; subtle by-play of incidents on some main abnormal trait of character which will produce a change in that character, while undoubtedly more abnormal, is doubly fascinating. Genius is in itself is a form undoubtedly of abnormality; else, normality is an abnormal, or a normal form of genius, I know not which.
"But in a story, I think great strength can be achieved by first of all illustrating the character of your main individual concerned. Show him in some form of action with physical incident after incident playing upon his abnormal trait of character, each incident a little stronger than the other, and each one giving slight impetus to the movement of the story which, in its fundamental analysis, is a study showing the progress or retrogression of this trait and its ultimate effect upon the individual, and possibly the individuals concerned with the central character..."
(R. L. Stevenson remarks that T. G. H.'s presence helps to give considerable power).
"... Of course, in a story of the type I have outlined above there are other features which, besides this abnormal development, and the physical incidents which, although they may not always incubate it, at least nourish it, there is an almost all-important and indispensable element - the credulity of your reader. In a story portraying abnormality to its bitter or its sweet end, one must walk dangerously in the eye of the reader. Everything must appear reasonable, logical, and most of all, inevitable.
"One of the author's best weapons is setting. Create a setting that brings your reader part of the way with you and you've indirectly handed yourself considerable license which will enable you to play upon his credulity.
"... Oh, I better not go much further. I'm tiring him... I'm going now ... good night."
A new control manifests, boisterous and noisy.
Walter: "The sure thing. I'm here. Queen always bets on the sure thing. She should have bet it wasn't Walter. By damn! I'll have a picture for you! I'll be badly disappointed if I don't get it. It's there! Big as life and twice as natural ... I've got a picture for you, Ham; it's being set up and made ready. It'll go all right if the people come and we'll do our best to put it through; and if I don't, it's going to be a surprise to me. I can put the picture through in a flash, but it takes work to build it up ..."
(Sotto voice to L. H.). We've got to kid the old boy along; he's got a lot of toys here and he'll be disappointed if he doesn't get a chance to use them. If we don't get a picture we can make bombs and turn revolutionary and bomb the house. We could say that we materialized a ton of gunpowder made by the Chinese and kept in cold storage a thousand years, and that it was exploded by an electric spark from the tail of a materialized cat rubbing his back on a materialized post (medium's head down).
"Yes, I've got a picture ready as ready can be. And barring hurricanes, winds, and accidents of God, the picture will come through. Of course, you know what a great man I am for change, but there'll be a damn big reason if I'd miss it. Now, Ham, don't expect too much."
T. G. H.: "Oh no, I'll just put the air pressure on the pump."
Walter: "All right, but don't put on any blood pressure. Remember no blood pressure. These are my final instructions, but not by last words."
"I'm getting the devils down. I'm doing much better than before. How did you like what we did last week?"
T. G. H.: "Fine."
Walter: "It's good all around. I like everybody to be happy, and I want no cross-currents of personal hate. But that's all disappearing, and I'm getting some of those men in a sweat, and I'll soon have both of them clean out! Well, that's all. Yours truly, F. Y. M."
Sterge returns, staying only long enough to bring the sitting to a close.
November 6, 1933
[Letter from investigation officer of the Society for Psychical Research - London.]
Mention of Hamilton's letter of October 20 - also expresses disappointment at the results of Hamilton's experiments in the last little while - nothing much has been happening in the Hamilton circle - that is true also for the Society.
"You may be interested to know that after much investigation we have succeeded in making use of infra-red Kinematography."
November 7, 1933.
Gordon Chown; Ewan; Mercedes; Dawn; Ada Turner; J. A. Hamilton; D. H. Turner; Mr. Reed; L. H.; T. G. H.; E. Muir, guest.
[On Tuesday and Wednesday, the seventh and eighth of November, 1933, when I was bathing the body of "Dawn" preparatory for a sitting, I again noticed the presence of red blotches such as I had observed previous to former pictures. For the first time the marks were under the right breast (heart?). They were of a vivid red in color, about the hue of a ripe raspberry. They were semi-circular in shape, and in size ... larger than the palm of my hand. One crescent formation was found on the body directly under the heart (breast?). The corresponding half was on the underside of the heart (breast?) and rested on the first. There was no pain when I touched the marks, but Dawn said that she felt pain when the marks appeared the Sunday before; and when she put her hand under her heart (breast?) it was covered with moisture when she withdrew it.]
signed: Ada E. Turner.
November 9, 1933
[Letter from Dr. Hamilton to Mr. Stanley De Brath - Surrey - England:]
"... We are delighted that your financial difficulties have been surmounted for the time being and that your valuable magazine will appear as usual.
"... You ask whether the face in Plates in 1, 2, and 3 is not Katie but Mercedes. Two faces are visible in these records - the medium Mercedes' face which stands out distinctly with closed eyes and surrounded by masses of long wavy supernormal hair; and the Katie face (so-called) lying on the couch close to the medium's right cheek but partly obscured by folds of the crisp supernormal veiling. There is absolutely no doubt about the presence of this second face, for it is visible in the findings of all eight cameras and in the views obtained by the two stereo and the two rectilinear cameras. Its visibility is excellent.
"... Examining the former by means of a stereoscope and in good bright light, one sees that this face presents a foreshortened or flattened appearance, the lips, cheeks and eyes, the latter closed, being distinctly discernible. In a copy of one of the rectilinear views taken from a considerable height, which I am enclosing, you will readily see a white, oval area immediately to the left of the medium's nose and mouth underneath the veils. This is the Katie face which the stereoscope so clearly reveals; and if you will examine it in very bright light aided by a magnifying glass I feel confident that you will have no difficulty in making it out. I would say that this is a partial materialization, similar in aspect to those two-dimensional faces observed by Geley, as he says, with his own eyes in red light. The supernormal process thus revealed in this instance is, in my opinion, of the highest scientific value.
"... Should you care to use this extra view you are at liberty to do so, substituting it for Plate IV or using it as an additional one, whichever you think best.
"... You speak also of the fact that Mercedes' own hair is short. This is true, a fact which I neglected, I think, to mention in the text, but which I have referred to in the new illustration notes enclosed. Mercedes' hair was not only cut short to the angle of the jaw as on the occasion of the first Katie experiment (see Plate 4 in "Psychic Science", January, 1933) but it was also quite straight. The supernormal hair is therefore different in all its aspects from the medium's.
"... Like you, we very much regretted the fact that the directing intelligences were unable to reveal Katie's face more fully in this instance; but they were stressing, they insisted, a presentation of other unseen realities connected with the Katie personality - her hair, her veils and her shining garments; and the amazing thing to me is that they succeeded to such an extraordinary degree, although there is no doubt that this success was displayed at considerable sacrifice to the presentation of the Katie countenance. In other words, evidence bearing on the identity of the Katie intelligence in this instance has been superceded by evidence bearing on the actuality of Katie's alleged objective aspect in the unseen state of existence in which she is said to live.
"... In plates 5 and 6 the face is the face of Lucy, Mercedes' senior control, photographed a year previously, you may recall under extremely rigorous conditions. This manifestation, however, is, from our point of view, to be classified as a Katie materialization: first, because Katie was apparently the chief worker back of its coming; and second, because the supernormal veils are similar in appearance to those shown in the two previous manifestations. I would again say that the chief object which the supernormal directors had in view was again to reveal some inkling regarding the processes which they have at their command, here seen in the fact that the "form" was seemingly designed to do double duty, first, a projection of Lucy's face, and second, a projection of Katie's face. They succeeded, however, only in the first part of their program. The last Katie manifestation, that of April of this year, has brought to light the extraordinary aspect - and nature - of these so-called forms - new facts which I hope to make clear to your readers in the not too distant future.
November 10, 1933.
J. MacDonald; Lillian Hamilton; Margaret Hamilton (recorder), James Hamilton.
Medium, partially entranced, is heard whispering: "So softly to the ear ... music comes swiftly from the trembling string ..."
Sterge: (Jokes and talks). "I am playing for fun so that I can talk better ... Some man came first to recite poetry but I did not want him to come before me. I want to keep an upper hand and keep control. The boy's brother is with him now ..."
Robert now manifests, greeting us in turn: then speaks of control and of taking control of a medium: "It's much like shrugging your shoulder into a wee bit tight coat; and then we have to button it up and then we are all right. There, that's fine! And we got in even without cracking a seam! I've got to move myself around and shift my body around to fit in. My control is not as good as it should be, but it's coming along. My conversation is developing and I'm building up from the odd ten-word sentences to ten-line sentences. I was very proud about last time; for there, for the first time, I really got on my soap box and waved my arms around without any trouble.
"I'm going to talk the night on that literary John Gilpins. Gilpin, you remember, was out to run the horse and the horse ran him.
"There are, in the world of fiction, writers and citizens of more or less credit and renown who, by the virtue of their rides down to Edmonton with their stories, may be known as literary John Gilpins. I refer in point to the writer who, with a definite story-picture in mind, saddles, bridles, and mounts it to drive it down to Edmonton; but, due to the weakness of an unrestrained and undirected imagination, allows the story to take the bit in its teeth, put its tail in the air, and dash madly away, helter-skelter, away from the main road, down bridle paths, over hedges and across the fields and through the forests, perhaps ending by depositing their rider at the last jump. Sometimes they do get to Edmonton, most times they dinna. The nag with the bit in its teeth runs in a circle and goes back home.
"Perhaps this rude, ignoble illustration may serve in its humble way to bring out the point that I'm trying to illustrate for your benefit. A plot is conceived in the mind of the writer. It begins to grow; he knows what he wants it to arrive at, and he sits down to write it; but as he writes, his imagination is struck by certain situations, and like flint to steel, he strikes off sparks, and is set on fire with other grand, magnificent, and rovingly imaginative ideas. He feels greatly and his emotions leap and run in the lines. He forgets he is the cold technician with an object in view and forgets his humble prosaic but really important bride in the face of the galaxy of disquieting beauties that he sees. And so eventually, by devious ways and means, the writer finds himself at the end of the story. To him, reading the story, he feels it is good; he is delighted with the wealth of imagination displayed and with a well-developed ideas conceived by his mind, and he is satisfied with the story unfortunately because it appeals to the imagination within him.
"But the story does not satisfy, at least, it will not satisfy the reader, simply because, in the beginning of the story, the writer pointed out definitely, and in numerous ways, that he was going to ride down to Edmonton, and that his character was going to go there. And the reader expects, however and whatsoever should happen, that he will arrive at Edmonton; and hence there is a great dissatisfaction within him when he learns that we have gone to New York instead. The writer, reading that story, may never see the error he has committed technically; the reader, not knowing story technique, does not recognize the error, although he feels dissatisfaction and finds the story fall short of great strength. We must, you and I, state or have it known, or suggest where we are going and we must go there, however delightful other circumstances and other attractions may be. Let us not allow our unrestrained and undisciplined imagination, because of its playfulness, destroy the power emanating from one single strong stroke or effect with a straightforward bearing, ever climbing towards the dramatic heights.
"That's that! I got my similes and metaphors mixed up a wee bit but we can put on the number four sieve and sift them out.
"Of course we can consider other features of the Gilpin family:
"John Gilpin had a lovely wife;
O'er joyed was he too find
That when she was on pleasure bent (?)
She had a frugal mind."
"Ye ken we can do a we bit o' thinking about John Gilpin's advisers, too; for undoubtedly they had a lot to do with the mishaps of his ride.
"Often when a great dramatic effect has been built up and drama is pungent and every line, the crisis is imminent, some writers pause and turn aside. They cannot face horror or ugliness or terror or any primeval emotion. They shrink from it; there is a frigidity, and they lose the whole effect by shrinking away. They are frightened and they are literary cowards. Of course, I realize they do not like to have people's hands cut off - the humane human shrinks from it, but the technician will cut out the heart to get his effect ...You cannot be frightened of drama and you cannot turn aside from the strongest issue. Put your chest out and march right on it. That's when you get your drama, when you're marching on it.
"Ye'll often find, like Gilpin's wife, when you've passed on manuscripts for criticism, that you will have Mistress Gilpin as your critic and she will suggest frugality and confidentiality and will try, often unconsciously, to delete from your work that which to you is the greatest drama. It seems to me that the critic can only touch the outer form, the skeleton of the story; he cannot, I feel, do much, as a surgeon operating on the flesh, since the story is conceived as an entirety in the mind of the author; and any external operations seldom do good and generally leave a scar. A critic can, however, attend to the skeleton and leave the laying on of the flesh to the creator himself.
"It's a wee bit hard to say this as I haven't got quite as good control as I had last time. I'm not satisfied, ye ken, but ... it's just me."
Robert now stops speaking and proceeds to give one of his dramatic characterizations. Medium stands very erect and speaks in a firm deep tone with great authority and power.
"I am Chevalier DuVal ... my sword! (Slaps right leg). Madame! (breathes deeply and heavily; puts hands out as if he had a big chest, big stomach and thick neck.)
L. H.: "Are you a big fat man?"
Medium slaps her hand to signify yes.
L. H.: "He is clasping his hands in front of him to indicate his large size."
The characterization changes; medium becomes excited and speaks quickly with voice pitched higher: "I am a prisoner. DuVal's prisoner, Chevalier DuVal's prisoner. (In pantomime shows L. H. he is fastened by chains around his neck and wrists.)
"I am small! I am not big like him. I am small and slim .. he is a plenipotentiary of the government. I am a soldier ..."
Medium now becomes quiet. Sterge speaks:
"That was a picture the long-haired gentleman gave you. He put on a little play for you with two characters and he acted them both. I was not helping him quite so much. There were people about and I was adjusting conditions. I think it would be better for you to come up here, for you would be uneasy for fear you are doing damage in the other room. When in doubt do this, and I will look after conditions."
L. H.: "You were very successful last night. Dawn saw you."
Sterge: "I know, and my friend got through, too! I was there. You are going to get another message from Stevenson through the same channel and he is again going to mention the same thing. I have to be around there because I'm doing a little work, not only with Stevenson but with that other control we are hoping will come through."
A different control tries to manifest. Medium stands, breathing heavily and quickly. Puts hands on L. H.'s and my head. Tries very hard to speak and finally succeeds in saying "My Children". Pats our heads and hands and says: "One, two". We feel that whoever it is is very anxious to speak, and yet does not succeed, in spite of all we can say in encouragement. This goes on for three or four minutes.
Sterge: "It is a lady. I don't know who it is. She is gone now. Now we'll just talk."
L. H.: "Sterge, tell us what you are doing with your work."
Sterge tells us he is going on with his creative musical work and speaks of vibrations:
"Everything known in nature response to a vibration and has within itself a natural vibratory period, only over here we deal in pure vibrations. You see, when the piano string is struck it wiggle-waggles, and creates this vibration which is a definite note, but this note reaches your ear and creates an effect. Over here we deal with the latter part only, the effect, and that in itself is pure vibration. All the process of the pressing of the key, the striking of the string, and the sounding of the note are transformances of the energy to the ear of the listener, to his mind, and finally giving a spiritual effect. We have the transference of a purely physical to a purely spiritual action; where you leave off we begin, and our music, and all musical study here, is based on a study of these higher vibrations. It is possible, and it has been the attempt of musicians for centuries, to conceive the thing; to see it first, to create it within themselves, and to translate it for others. It is like going through a series of transformers. We know that the desire of the musician to paint tone-pictures and create emotional effects is a true desire, and that it is based intuitively on facts ... Oh, I see it all so clearly but I cannot express it. The difficulty lies with me. I know these things yet I cannot tell you what I know. My understanding is incomplete else I could express it to you. In view of the fundamental importance of music it is of vital importance to know."
I remarked that probably Brahms is near the Earth as his centenary is being celebrated and that perhaps the thoughts of the people would bring him.
Sterge: "The musicians and the poets are freer. Controls are (.......) writers, musicians, or poets, or of the simplest type of mind because they are absolutely unhampered. The mind or spirit of the poet, musician or painter is something that seems to transcend all difficulties and flow through things. I would suggest that his intuitive sensitivity to vibrations has developed when with you."
L. H.: "What of Christ? Is He not a great medium?"
Sterge: "I know beyond all shadow of doubt that Christ was and is the Great Spirit. This has been confirmed by the prophets, by our own intuitive knowledge, by the very words and experiences of the man Himself. He said things on earth which have been taken down by his associates and which have been translated for us in the Gospels; and I'm sure in the knowledge I have that little He said pertained to the physical world. Of course, living in the spiritual(physical?) world, He did deal with it, but His great teachings have to do with the spirit.
"His experience with the fallen woman should show us how little the physical meant to him. It did not concern Him that she had polluted her body; He looked within to her soul. I'm not saying he sanctioned what is known to be unjust, immoral and unspiritual. Things are immoral because they are unspiritual and defeat your spiritual development. I could say above all that He is the center, and His teachings represent, as near as possible as one can get on the physical plane, to the higher teachings. Undoubtedly, He is the greatest spirit that has been - He came from God. I believe it and I think when we speak and when we teach that we can use no other foundation than His teachings on the spiritual. He knew ... It is so hard for me to have so much at my fingertips and to falter like a schoolboy when I deliver it.
"I think you wanted to know whether we regarded Him as the center of spirit teachings. There are other great leaders and teachers, but He is the greatest, I know. There have been undoubtedly other great spiritual leaders and other great religions have been founded by their teachings and they have undoubtedly been great spiritual lighthouses for humanity, each in their way. I think their teachings have fallen short of Christ's teachings. Christ is the great teacher and His message is far fuller and more penetrating. His followers perhaps fortunately, were guided by those who had near association with Him, besides being in a more fortunate position than some of the other religions in as much as the religion was born in a land where scholarship was a much more common thing than in the land where the other prophets came, and intelligence was of a much higher order where Christ's teachings were spread than in the Euphrates and in the marches(marshes?) of China."
Sterge now has to go and bids us goodnight.
Winnipeg,
November 10, 1933.
Dear Mr. deBrath,
"... Two faces are visible in these records - Mercedes' face stands out distinctly with closed eyes and surrounded by masses of long wavy supernormal hair - and the Katie face (so called) lies on the couch close to the medium's right cheek, but partially obscured by folds of the crisp supernormal veiling. There is absolutely no doubt ..."
Travel (deep) is sensory deprivation. In this state the subject is open to telepathic emissions of images selected by the sender.
"Charles ( Hornton?) devised a type of sensory deprivation. Then a selected person - a normal human being - chooses a "picture", studies that, and when the subject is in a dream state he is awakened and asked to describe his dream. Frequently enough the subject describes accurately a mental image projected by the sender.
"Let us compare this method with the genuine deep trance. "Mrs. Poole goes into a deep-trance sleep - she is amnesiac,
she does not react to pin pricks - she is unconscious - when returned to normal waking state, she has no memory of what has taken place in the séance room. She has made no physical response to touch, pinpricks or questions put to her - no answers to sounds - it can be said that she is in a state of sensory deprivation.
November 12, 1933.
Ethel Muir; W. Barrie; T. G. H.; Mr. Reed; L. H.; Harold Turner; Ewan; Ada Turner; Dawn; J. A. Hamilton; Mercedes; Margaret L. Hamilton, Secretary.
Statement:
Lucy/Mercedes
There is no face in the teleplasm.
There may be a hand.
(A teleplasm overcovering the lower part of Dawn's face and in it a materialized finger and part of a hand obscured by teleplasm.)
The statement:
?/Florence
There is a face in the cabinet. (See face in teleplasm of December 20, 1933.)
8:50 p.m. All in séance room. Sing "Unto the Hills". Mercedes, entranced, gives the following:
Mercedes: "I am going to call James to go walking up on the hill. He'll take his dog and go up there. I am going up, up, with James ... we are friends ... we are going up there together ..."
9:01 p.m. Group number in order. Sing "Jingle Bells", "Golden Slippers". Sing for ten minutes.
9:10 p.m. Gramophone turned on.
Ewan ( half muttering to himself): "Tell the sitters to get a jolly, jocund expression on their faces. Tell them to talk about something. Tell them to talk about the weather ... I've got a duty to perform here ... Somebody's got some of that snow over there. Ham, did you bring some in and pour it down ...?
Group continues to sing lustily. Various mediums go through energetic muscular exercises, stamping feet and swinging arms in time to music.
Dawn ( to Ewan) "Could you go and bury your head?"
Ewan: "Be quiet!"
Dawn: "I won't be quiet! He's got a mission, to convert you ..."
Ewan: "Silence. Silence is golden. I wanted to say, keep your golden silence. You couldn't be quiet for five minutes!"
9:24 p.m. Ewan stands up over Dawn and silences her.
Group sings "When He Cometh."
9:26 p.m. Ewan: "Katie will speak to you if you will speak to your medium, Mercedes. She's not quite getting through."
Mercedes: "Good evening. I am just come to say to you that you will just have to ignore the little interruptions. Sometimes you sing things that bring crowds to see you. (We had been singing "Three Blind Mice"). You have sung that one before, but your conditions are not as excellent as they sometimes are. There is a lot of work being interrupted, and it is very difficult sometimes to fit in your vibrations with ours. You sometimes hit on things that raise up the proper vibrations. It is just for me to say that we are helping in your work."
T. G. H.: "Would you ask Walter if Mrs. Hamilton could move over beside Ewan.
[Harold Turner given the name "Norman" at the previous sitting. His main control is a doctor - "David".]
Katie/Mercedes: "Walter is so busy I am afraid to interrupt him. But make the change and then Walter can fix it up later. There is a lot of new power in your circle which we can use to your advantage."
9:30 p.m. L. H. has moved one chair over to her left. "Jingle Bells" is sung.
Katie Mercedes. "I haven't yet given up hope of doing what I want with this medium. I am staying with her and trying to influence her to stay away from new contacts. I hope to use her someday for a materialization. You must warn her that there are things she does that work on her physical strength ... The only way to recuperate strength is by rest."
Ewan (to Harold?): "Keep quiet, my boy; don't let yourself get excited. You will go further down. Go on, you're going beautifully ... I'm going to use Dawn ..."
9:35 p.m. L. H.: "Ewan is in very deep trance."
9:38 p.m. Walter/Dawn: "Examine Ewan, Dawn, and Mercedes."
T. G. H.: "Mercedes' and Dawn's hands are held. Mercedes is quite rigid; so is Dawn. There is nothing on Mercedes' face; her jaw is quite stiff. So also with Dawn. Her right hand is holding Ewan's left, who is reaching down, his head between his knees. All three are in deep trance."
9:40 p.m. Dawn: "Sing! Sing!" All sing "When He Cometh/"
9:42 p.m. Dawn: "Let Lucy speak."
Lucy/Mercedes: "We just want you to sing quietly, and something soft. Don't make a noise, and don't get tense... The mediums are in very deep trance so that nothing will disturb them .
(We sing "Wonderful Words of Life".)
Lucy/Mercedes: "Yes, that's nice."
9:45 p.m. Walter/Dawn: "Good evening, friends. I hope you will not be too disappointed if you do not get a picture."
T. G. H.: "But Walter, Dawn won't be able to come again for ten days. If you can give what you can we would be very grateful."
9:47 p.m. Ewan breathing very heavily, groaning.
Walter/Dawn: "Well, what do you think?"
Lucy/Mercedes: "Do it, do it, yes! He wants it for his cameras ... Here are two who will give power, no matter if they are dead afterward! Get back! Get back! You can't see what's going on! (Norman is under stress, sobbing). Easy on your instrument, David! (Ewan is now calmer.) Have you all your signals arranged?"
9:49 p.m. T. G. H.: "No, none at all."
Walter/Dawn: "You can do that." (To Lucy)
Lucy/Mercedes: "I can't see clearly enough. There are too many people around."
Walter/Dawn: "A little more life! Don't all go to sleep! Dawn stamps vigorously on the floor.
9:54 p.m. Walter/Dawn: "Have you your cameras ready?"
T. G. H.: "Yes. I can take one picture, and a second one if you like."
Walter/Dawn: "You should be thankful to get one."
Ewan: "Come quickly."
9:55 p.m. Ewan: "Don't let anybody get excited."
Dawn: "Fire!"
T. G. H. fires.
Lucy/Mercedes: "Are you ready for another?"
T. G. H.: "Just a moment." (Turns red flashlight on and taps the wall-board and gets ready for a second flash). "All right."
Lucy/Mercedes: "Fire!"
Second flash is fired approximately 10 - 15 seconds after the first one.
Ewan falls forward onto the floor.
Walter/Ewan: "I think you got a good one the second time."
Lucy/Mercedes: "There was somebody there who seemed to get in the road ..."
Ewan: "Take Ewan ..."
9:58 p.m. Lucy/Mercedes: "You must keep the medium's hands ... You are to ask that little friend of yours what she has to tell you."
T. G. H. speaks to Mrs. Muir, who is partially entranced. She tries to speak, but without success.
10:01 p.m. L. H.: "Ewan is very much prostrated."
Lucy/Mercedes: "Harold's control is also wishing to speak."
T. G. H.: "David, have you anything to tell us? Come, speak."
Harold, entranced, mutters unintelligibly.
Lucy/Mercedes: "I think they have been used too much. Just when we were about to give the picture, quite a crowd came in front. It was very confused to me. I got the signal from Walter through Ewan. He spoke to me. Dawn was being used exclusively for the picture."
T. G. H.: "Was Walter operating both Dawn and Ewan?"
Lucy/Mercedes: "Oh, yes."
T. G. H.: "Is there a face in the picture
(teleplasm)?"
Lucy/Mercedes: "No, I don't think so. There may be a hand in perhaps the first one, if the proper one was given at the right time."
T. G. H.: "You couldn't say whose hand it was?"
Lucy/Mercedes: "No. I don't think so. It would not be permitted by Walter. It is a privilege reserved for himself. It isn't perhaps as good as if we had had more time. But it will be a test of your instruments ... I think you should go now. Walter is too exhausted to speak. He is fixing up his machinery now and making ready for the next time."
T. G. H.: "Ask him if I can use a little red light in the room; and if it would hurt to take a flash light of the cameras?"
Lucy/Mercedes: "No, friend."
10:06 p.m. Benediction is spoken. Circle closed.
[Photo - Katie finger in teleplasm]
[L. H., Ewan, Dawn, Mercedes, Norman, Florence, T. G. H. (behind cameras)]
[Note: highlights - here "in reverse" as if the finger (said to be Katie's) were "reflected" in the teleplasm.]
[ Photo of the Katie King finger teleplasm ]
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