1926 - Jan 3 - Feb 25

1926

Jan 3 - Feb 25


January 3, 1926.  

R. L. Stevenson. Professor William Trent and Dedications to CGV.

First trance script:

Script: 

"Professor William Trent did the piece of work admirably ... and grant heaven who may have as good nurse in need ..." (2 separate memories.)

First trance vision: 

"... He was right in front of me the night, looking at me ... R. L. Stevenson.  I am in a place with him and another gentleman. Stevenson spoke to me and put his hand on my head.  I can't recall the name of this other gentleman; it was a short name.  Stevenson was showing this gentleman some work he had done, and then he came and put his hand on my head ..."

Verification: 

Plainly manifested here is awareness of a certain letter where the events that took place after R. L. Stevenson's death are noted.  

Professor William Trent, Columbia University, aided Mr. Hellwon and Mr. H. H. Harper, in editing "New Poems" by R. L. Stevenson, which were first published in 1915 by the Bibliophile Société of Boston, and then later published by Wm. Heinemann, Ltd. 

For full story, see Steuart, volume 1, page 113, 114, 115.

Comment:

This vision clearly indicates that Professor Trent is associated in the mind of R. L. Stevenson with some of his literary work.  The books, "New Poems", and the "Boston Bibliophile Publication", were a gift from Mr. Russell, a newspaper reporter in Minneapolis, Minnesota, who never knew Lillian Hamilton personally, but who had a deep interest in Psychic Research, and in the life of R. L. Stevenson.

The second section in the script is yet another reference to the Dedication to "A Child's Garden of Verse."


January 7, 1926.        

A regular sitting, the R. L. Stevenson script gave a condensed excerpt from "Dedication to Underwoods".  The script showed the Skerryvore home (where the Dedication was written ). 

R. L. Stevenson.

"Began to manifest ... delighted ... cons ... cy of co... inductive ... filled the whole lit ... er.te - (tries to speak) Writes more slowly: Dr. Brand Royal, Dr. Wakfield of Nice."
"Dr. Chapnell made it pleasure to be ill ... Skerryvore ... my favorite place."  (See "Dedication to Underwood".)
Vision: 

"Away in favorite place ... Skerryvore ... in a good sized house ... R. L. Stevenson there ... Saw the lighthouse plainly ... went away in another place ... saw some men ... they were doctors ... he seemed quite happy with the last gentleman.

David Livingstone does not appear.

E.M.  went home, very tired from the sitting.  She went to bed, but after  about 4 a.m. she found herself awake, saw David Livingstone standing in front of her.  She felt he wanted her to write.  She got out of bed, found pencil and paper, and wrote:

"Hot wind on the desert.  States of atmosphere.  Reached Litubaruba.  Cave of Lepelole ... superstition."  (There were no punctuation marks.  This was true of all E.M. scripts.)  She said that while writing she had the feeling of walking in sand, of sinking in it; of it being "awfully hot"; of seeing naked "folk" drawing something, and then a breeze springing up."

She phoned L.H. at 9 a.m. of January 8, and she described this experience; she brought to L.H. the script, in the afternoon.

Verification: 

"... Occasionally, during the very dry season ... a hot wind blows over the desert ... It feels as if it came from an oven ... When this hot wind is blowing, the peculiarly strong electrical state of the atmosphere causes the movements of a native in his kaross to produce therein a stream of small sparks ... Near the village there exists a cave named Lepelole ... no one dared to enter the cave, for it was a common belief that it was a habitation of the Deity ..." ("Missionary Travels", page 108-9.)

A psycho-hypnotic impact originating with David Livingstone is strongly indicated.

Verification: 

"... on the 31st of December, 1852, we reached the town called Litubaruba.  Near the village there exists a cave named Lepelole ..."
Comment: 

In this experience the sensory impressions are as strong and as evidential as those that appear in the séance.  

This suggests that normal sleep appears to be a gateway to trance, into which E.M. probably passed while writing.  When questioned, she said she could not remember whether she had "slept" while writing.

She was more overcome with seeing David Livingstone in her room.  But this was likely a hallucination, a subjective experience.  This suggests also that dreams, all through the ages, may at times be based on external stimuli.  Primitive people may well have been correct in assuming that their dead friends lived on and often spoke to them in this manner.

Also raps spelled out intelligent messages claiming to come from W. T. Stead, who had insisted that we carry out certain photo-plate experiments under his direction. 


January 8, 1926.          

David Livingstone.  (4:00 a.m. in E.M.'s home).  The Lepelole Cave near Latubaruba.


January 10, 1926.

Compound Trance.

R. L. S.        3 intervals

1        -         writes
2        -         attempts to speak
3        -        writes

9:32pm.    Began Sitting.   Song: "Unto the Hills" , "O God of Bethel", "The Lord's My Shepherd"

9:41pm.   Deep Trance - medium very quiet and still.

9:43pm.   Began writing.

R. L. Stevenson.  Dining in the garden at Grez.  

First writing:

A.        "... the delighted ... of Grez ... the flowers ... in hill-meed ... the rec ... n.r ... meals in the cool harbour ... fluttering leaves ..."

Poem: "Fled the sea of my sins."

[R. L. Stevenson tries to speak.]

9:48pm.  Medium trying to speak ... muttered "Stevenson" ... coughed violently and muttering something softly.

9:30pm.  Began writing.

Second writing:

B.        "Fled the seas of my sins ... I will not labour ..."

(See biography re Grez ... Poem 38 - page 135.

9:52pm.  Trance off.

9:52pm.  Medium speaks - feels fatigued.

"In a nice watering place ... dinner down near the water ... table is set in a cool place ... saw flowers ..."

Complains of throat.

First trance vision:

"Saw Stevenson sitting in room while in trance.  She was away ... had dinner outside ... (Medium did not eat) ... did not know the others.  Lost the picture ... saw lots of flowers ... was in another place ... can't say where ... place was warm ... wasn't in a house ... had a meal in open air."

"Stevenson was at table and left the table.  He was in another group. Man asked him to do something, he refused ... was never there before".

Singing: "All People That On Earth Do Dwell",  "Rock of         Ages."

10:08pm.        Trance developing - singing softly.

10:10pm.        Medium gets up - goes to door - knocks - Dr. Hamilton invites her to speak.  Medium tries to speak. [too hard to decipher.]

Second trance:

David Livingstone. Eye diseases of natives; native eye doctors. 

Climate near Kalahari Desert.

Second trance vision:

"I saw all kinds of people ... a lot of sick people, women and children in the funniest little square tents.  The women are dark and the babies were not just dark but pretty near it ... I don't know what plague of trouble was there, but a lot were sick.  There were two or three different tents for the babies.  The tents are not very high but square tops ... I saw some kiddies ... not black but color and very curly hair.  The beds seemed made of wood with canvas.  They sure were awful looking places ... not clean.  Some were lying just on the ground.  They took some of the babies to the side and washed them in a stream of water.  I saw one mother, she got up and took the baby to the water and washed it and she rolled a small strip of (......)  around it.  She had big earrings in her ears and a dress with some colors ... just a colored piece of cloth.  It pretty well covered her."

Flash light of levitated and inverted table

Plate-negative (non-light experiment)
(This likely an experiment of Stead's - W. D. F)


At the sitting of January 17, 1926, 

the sitters were Mrs. Poole, Dr. Hamilton, Mr. and Mrs. Cummings, Mrs. MacMillan, Dr. J. A. Hamilton.

[The notes taken were a mess.  WDF]

[Sitting at 9:30 p.m. - Notes by Edith Lawrence]

1st Trance           R. L. Stevenson - 2 intervals

1 - R. L. S.        writes

2 - R. L. S.        tries to speak.

2nd Trance            D.L. speaks.

(Trance 1).

R.  L. Stevenson.  

First trance script: 

"Dedication to Underwoods."  

Vision not complementary.

Singing:    9:30 p.m. to 9:40 p.m.   

Trance begins - medium appeared to be trying to speak.

R. L. Stevenson. tries to speak - violent fit of coughing.

"He is the flower of civ ... l ... ion ... is what done ... only remember ... my material ... in his story ... to be spared ... the defeat.

9:45 p.m.,        singing continued.

Then medium began to write in a decided and forcible manner.

9:47 p.m.        medium began to cough very hard.

9:48 p.m.        medium stopped coughing.

Dr. Hamilton: "Who is this?"

Medium seemed tired and breathed with difficulty.  

When she regained  consciousness, Dr. Hamilton asked:
"Have you a cold?"

"No."

Mrs. Poole: 

"He is here ... in front of me ... don't you see how clear he is? He was in a ball of light.  

9:50pm.

Dr. Hamilton: 

"Where do you see him now?"

"He is gone."

Dr. Hamilton heard Mrs. Poole say "Good-bye."

Dr. Hamilton: "How large was the ball of light?"

Mrs. Poole: "Larger than a cup."

Dr. Hamilton: "His face was not whole front?"

 Mrs. Poole: "I was in two or ... three places tonight ..." 

Mrs. Poole re vision:

"Where is Clineton?  He wanted me to go to Clineton.  I saw a lamp lighter lighting a lamp ... Then I went in an iron gate.  I saw houses ... I passed them and went away on up to a white house ... of stone. Covered with thatch."  

"It was (kalonumed?).  He was in a chair at the front door. (R. L. Stevenson).  He must have been sick.  He had a cover over his knees.  He was twenty or more."   

"I saw a young woman reading a book.  Her head was down ... she just gave us a glance when we went up.  Her hair was dark, and rolled either in front or on the top.  She had a light dress on.  R. L. Stevenson had been reading.  He wanted me to go to a place."

Second version of the vision:        

"Wanted me to go to Clinton - (Colinton?)."  In a place sees a lamplighter come with ladder and light the lamp - then enters a big iron gate - opens in two parts - goes into house - second  house appears - white-washed, thatched, R. L. Stevenson sits on a chair at the door - he has been reading - a rug is over his knees - a young woman, dark, sits near - "he asks me to go some place.  He is young."

Dr. Glen: "Whose face was in the ball of light?"

Mrs. Poole ( Not in trance now):  "Stevenson's."

Mrs. Poole: "See that light there?"

Dr. Hamilton: "Who is it?"

Mrs. Poole: "It is a girl - Her head is up against you Dr. Jim.  She is young again."   

10:01pm.  

Mrs. Poole: "She has a very nice forehead.  It is your own sister - Sand(?)."  Her hair is parted on the forehead.  There is a string of small beads down to the second or third button of her dress ... They are very shiny ... between brown and black in color.  There she is ... just in front of me ... blue eyes ... Janinie is a lot like her ... She is gone."

10:05pm.   Mrs. Poole begins to go into trance again.

10:07pm.  In deep trance.  Complete - silence until 10:10pm.  Then she rose quickly, crossed the room and knocked loudly on the door between (the hall door).

Trance 2.

David Livingstone.

Dr. Hamilton: "Good evening, what have you to tell us tonight?"

DL/E.M.: "Discovery of Zambesi  River, 1857. A fever - trouble.  Chief ... chief - brought ... Mrs. Livingstone back.  Gone."
"(Secheles) was the name of the chief."

Mrs. Poole:  "I am all in."

Dr. Hamilton: "She is perspiring heavily."

Mrs. Poole: 

"I saw his wife.  He was with her and the three kids.  I saw a man all decorated with feathers, also. Slaves or people were lying in the open - half naked.  There was something wrong with them. Mrs. Livingstone had on a linen dress ... right down to her feet ... and a three cornered shawl."

Mrs. Poole:   "What does Stevenson want here?"   

10:01pm.  Here is Stevenson."  She begins to cough again.  

10:19pm. " He is gone"

Dr. Glen: "What did you see?"

Mrs. Poole: 

"Mrs. Livingstone's shawl was light-colored (..... ).  There is a lot of light.  The (...... ) dresses were right down to their feet.  They were carrying bundles ... It was like a prairie but there were nice trees.  I was afraid to walk in fear I'd step on some of them.  Why do they live out like that in the open.  I saw some nice houses.  I heard (...... ) talking.  There must have been some plague.  They were all packed up ... as if they were going."
    
10:25pm or earlier.

Got (.........).

The shutter  of the camera was opened.  The camera was focused to about 3 feet - toward cabinet.

Mrs. Poole's left hand with Dr. J. A. Hamilton's right hand,  Mrs. Hamilton's left hand in back of camera.

From 10:30pm - 15 minutes had been (........)for preparation. The circle was completed and singing began.

Mrs. Poole.  "Trust in Him."

Singing went to 10:45pm

Dr. Glen: " Will you rap three when you are ready?"   (3 raps came - 10:47pm)

Time 11:00pm.  Arrangement made for a flash.

Singing began. The hands over table - the table began to move - then all hands off except Mrs. Poole's left hand, which was checked by Dr. Hamilton's right hand.

11:05pm.   Table began to move.
During Mr. Poole's left hand on the table, the table rose.

When the table rose,  Dr. Hamilton took a photo.

Camera was opened and plate taken out.   

Dr. Hamilton went to get the film developed.

1st         photo exposure.          Negative
2nd         photo exposure.          Negative.


January 20, 1926.        

R. L. Stevenson.  Fleming Jenkins ... Heine ... teacher.

Stevenson:

"... Lamb ... Heine ... wrote ... Scottish accent ... wife of Fleming Jenkins.  You don't need to be drunken with pride.

See Biography re Prof. Jenkin

Vision: 

"Stevenson about twenty ... In some kind of school room ... another man there with his wife ... they talk to Stevenson and write ... picture on the wall ... one is of Livingstone."

David Livingstone speaks.
At the sitting of January 24, 1926, the sitters were Mrs. Poole,  Dr. and Lillian Hamilton,  Mrs. Shand,  Mrs. Cummings,  Mr. Reed and Dr. J. A. Hamilton.

Trance I.

R. L. Stevenson.  Dedication to Underwoods.  Lloyd Osbourne.  


"When from school-boy-stepson-Lloyd Osbourne - he had dreamed anemensue discovery ..."
"af...marr ...e. - appetite.  Lively Lit.r.e" ("A Gossip on Romance")
"Gratitude is but a lame sentiment - Thanks when it ..."
(See Dedication Underwoods)

Time: 9:55pm.   Singing began.

10:03pm.  Medium began to go into trance.

10:05pm.  Medium in deep trance.

Paper placed on table in readiness for writing.

10:09pm.  Writing began.  It was rather (steadier) than the usual first trance writing, but had the same forcible dash at the end of each line. 

Writing continued until 10:11pm.

Medium began to cough and continued for about one minute.

Dr. Hamilton: "Are you alright, Mrs. Poole?"   "Yes"

10:13pm.

Mrs. Poole: "I see Stevenson."

Dr. Hamilton: "Where is he?"

Mrs. Poole: "On my right hand ... in front" ... "He is gone"

Dr. Hamilton: "What did you see?"

Mrs. Poole:  "Wait ... a minute now ... until my throat gets better."

10:15pm.

Mrs. Poole: 

"I was away at a new house ... down by the foot of the hill ... there is a stream that comes down on my left side.  I walked on and came to a school house ... I think I walked on a piece until I met with R. L. Stevenson and the boy.  They sat down on a stone near the school house."

"That guide was him.  He had (nothing) on his head and a kind of blouse ..." 

"The boy was in his teens ... long pants ... R. L. Stevenson had on dark clothes.  He had a (thin coat) ... (lustre) ... I think.  He had on a hat.  It was a peculiar make,  sort of square with a narrow brim ... soft hat."

They were talking.

Dr. Hamilton:  "What was the black man doing?"  

Mrs. Poole:  "Just standing."

Dr. Hamilton: "How far were you from Mr. Stevenson?"   

Mrs. Poole: "About as far as here to Hespeler."  (The street near the Hamilton house running perpendicular to Kelvin street - now Henderson Highway - and going to Redwood Bridge.)

The boy had books and was explaining something to R. L. Stevenson.

Dr. Hamilton: "What were you particularly drawn to?"

Mrs. Poole: "The boy."

Dr. Hamilton: "Was R. L. Stevenson speaking to you?"   

Mrs. Poole:  "Yes"
Dr. Hamilton:"What did he say?"

Mrs. Poole: "I don't remember."

10:25pm.        Singing began.  Singing continued until 10:30pm.

At 10:30pm - Deep trance.

Table was moved out of the way by M.

10:32pm.

Trance II.

Mrs. Poole stamped on the floor, rose and walked over to the door and knocked on the door.

Dr. Hamilton: "Spell."

David Livingstone.  In the Makalolo Country.  

"Level dry land and hills ... no ant hills. Leeches.  Wild animals in the N... country."

"Presents - beer, milk cheese - guards."

Dr. Hamilton: "You come sit with me."

Mrs. Poole: "OK, alright."

10:35pm.  Mrs. Poole returned to seat with Dr. Hamilton

Just a half minute before the moving of Mrs. Poole, Mrs. Shand saw a form just behind Dr. Hamilton.  A dark form.

Dr. Hamilton said he felt someone.

Mrs. Poole reports on second trance vision: 

"I was away and tramped on a lot of little hills, and there were a lot of little crawlers.  I saw houses shaped like a stack of hay and the roof was done with little sticks."

"There seemed to be earth at the bottom."

"The sticks were all tied together to make the roof.  They stuck up a yard beyond where they were needed.  They were sitting on a lower part of earth and wood, but instead of wood going up and down - it went around."

"I saw a lot of children with curly hair.  Very curly, but  no clothes on.  I saw two or three people that I didn't know.  The children seemed to be getting away from something."

Another version of the second trance vision:

"I was away ... it must a been on a prairie.  I tramped on little hills and little crawlers came out.  I saw houses before just shaped like a stack of hay and the roof seemed to be done with small sticks and beneath were as earth and wood.  I went all round but could find no door.  It was tied around with something and full a yard of sticks stuck out and earth and wood was around the lower part.  It was sitting on wood.  At the lower part the sticks went round ... I saw a few children ... awful curly hair but no clothes.

"The people seemed to be moving."

"I saw two or three white people ... I did not know them ... no one spoke to me." 

Flash light - prepared.

10:50pm.  Circle completed in readiness for flash - Mr. Reed and Mrs. Cummings bridging a space with their hands.

Mrs. Poole sees a figure behind Dr. Hamilton.

Table began to creak.  Table went up suddenly.

Dr. Hamilton fired the flash.

Then the light was turned on and the table was found to be upside down in the air and it came down in that position.

Comment: 

At the sitting of January 24, 1926,  T. G. H. photographed E. M. in the deeper part of her deep trance sleep. (See photograph of January 24 in the files).  
E.M. was invited to stay at 185 Kelvin and sleep overnight, as she was very tired.  E.M. remained overnight - nervous, pale and exhausted.

Lillian Hamilton remained awake to watch for psycho-physical reactions to the experience of the flash light during the séance.  E.M.'s muscles twitched a little, and she appeared restless, but did sleep soundly for several hours.  

Retired at midnight, about 4:00a.m., E.M. was heard making "blowing" sounds, and the usual actions that precede trance - excitement stage, brief catalepsy, quiet sleep, writing (given pencil and paper): 

"You, Cummie, my first wife and mother ..." 

E.M. awakens and says sleepily: "I saw R. L. Stevenson here and that little fair woman."  

In the morning she remembered the picture, but she had no memory of her hand having written.

Another version of the night:

As the medium looked "done out" following the sitting of January 24, 1926, and as we wished to see if the flash had any affect upon her nervous system, we prevailed upon her to remain for the night.  

She slept with  Lillian Hamilton.  
We retired about 12:30 a.m.  Mrs. Poole complained of feeling "queer from head to toe", and as she dozed,  L. H. observed her displaying numerous muscular twitching and sudden starts.  

Lillian finally fell asleep, only to be a wakened by Mrs. Poole's saying "There is Stevenson!"  Her hands were making a pushing movement away from her face; and she was making the sh-sh-sh-ing noise always observed in the initial stage of her trance. 

Lillian Hamilton watched these proceedings in absolute amazement.

The deep sleep of trance quickly followed; for about three minutes she lay in profound slumber with her hands thrown above her head. 

Then the right hand began to grope here and there; Lillian took a pencil which happened to be on the bed-side table, reached for a book (lacking any paper), and placed these on the medium's pillow.  

The hand seized the pencil and began to write.  When the writing finished the medium rapidly regained consciousness.

Lillian questioned her: "Did you have a dream, Poole?"

Mrs. Poole: "There was someone with me.  It was Stevenson;
he is so pleased about something.  He had a little stout fair woman with him.  I feel much better ... He helped me."

Lillian then got up, turned on the light, and read the script:

(January 25, 1:15am)   "It you, Cummie, my first wife - my mother ..."  (Trance while sleeping)

The following morning  Lillian asked Mrs. Poole: "Were you awake last night when you saw  R. L. Stevenson?"

Poole: "Oh yes, I was awake, all right!"

She did not seem to be aware at all that she had been entranced.

High-speed flash light of levitated table was taken at this sitting.


[ Photo of - Exhibit - table levitation and inversion - stereo photo ]


January 25, 1926.        
R. L. Stevenson also shows that normal sleep can be used as a gateway to deep trance.
January 26. 
R. L. Stevenson.  (At home of Mr. and Mrs. Shand, E.M.'s daughter).  E.M. writes of Cummie.
"You my Cummie ... wish ... no ... not ... every ... (Shand's) child ... should ... become as dear as you."
January 28, 1926.
Mrs. Mary Marshall present.
R. L. Stevenson.  Learning to write.
"He sat down at last ... simultaneously bidding him what he wanted and able to do it ..."
(Lloyd Osbourne in picture)
David Livingstone does not appear.


January 31, 1926.         


R. L. Stevenson.

First trance vision: 

"I was away in a place I think I was before.  I saw them doing nothing but drawing pictures, but it was done with a thick black pencil.  I saw a lot of things; I saw a dead corpse, old, stretched out, an old man, a corpse with white robes on him.  I saw a man, R. L. Stevenson, drawing the pictures.  He was drawing on an easel."  
"And then I went away to an island.  I saw sailors fighting.  And I saw one with a crutch strike another one with it.  He took a crutch and struck another one on the back."  

"They were not on the boat.  They were on land.  One of these men was dark and had side-breezes (whiskers)."  

"The corpse had nothing to do with the sailors.  I have seen this man before ... with Stevenson.  I knew he was a corpse by the way he was dressed."

First trance script: 

"Tribute ... Memorial sketch he gave to the world at that time, Thomas Stevenson dead where were thrilling the world Hyde and Jekyll and Treasure Island where he hit the sailor square on the spine."

Verification: Basic facts:        

1.  Treasure Island published in book form December, 1883,          at once became  world-famous.        

2.  Jekyll and Hyde published in 1886 and also became             world-famous.

3.  R. L. Stevenson's father, Thomas Stevenson, died May,            1887.  He had lived long enough to see his only son win           fame in the literary world.        

4.  In June, 1887 (one month after his father's death) R. L.             Stevenson published a Memorial sketch, "Thomas                  Stevenson, Civil Engineer" in the Contemporary Review.        

5.  Crutch scene, from Treasure Island:

"...And as for you, John Silver, long you've been a mate of mine, but you're a mate of mine no more.  If I die like a dog, I'll die in my duty.  You've killed Allan, have you?  Kill me, to, if you can, but I defies you!"

"And with that the brave fellow turned his back directly on the cook, and set off walking for the beach.  But he was not destined to go far.  With a cry, John seized a branch of a tree, whipped the crutch out of his armpit, and sent that uncouth missile hurtling through the air.  It struck poor Tom, point foremost, and with stunning violence, right between the shoulders, in the middle of his back.  He gave a sort of gasp and fell." (Treasure Island", Chapter XIV.)

Comment: Here the many inter-related incidents are confused - factual and imaginative, but all are equally real to E.M.

R. L. Stevenson remembers how Treasure Island and Jekyll and Hyde brought him fame, and how the father lived to enjoy that fame.  R. L. Stevenson also recalls in his "Memorial Sketch" at the time that all of these things occurred - fame, and his own father's death.  R. L. Stevenson  recalls precisely the actions of the famous Crutch Scene from "Treasure Island", but in new words "square on the spine".

The imagery has been very well planned.  The corpse is the father.

The picture of R. L. Stevenson sketching a picture is really a play on the word "sketch" while the black pencil suggests funeral ideas.  And there is no sense of confusion or incongruity in the way the medium moves from the drawing and the corpse to the sailors fighting on the island.  

Both pantomime and representative imagery are used with equal felicity and with most impressive effect.

Once more the work shows careful planning.

Trance II. 

David Livingstone speaks: 

"Good evening. Ba-ma-wa-ova name tribes Africa Makia, 1816; one hundred and ten years ago ..."

Second trance vision: 

"I was in a wilderness.  There were funny looking folk and funnily dressed.  It must have been the year one.  They had slips on just like night shirts.  They were talking ... I don't know what kind of language.  I saw a white person.  It was Livingstone.  He came after I had seen these things."
Verification:

"The use of the personal pronoun 'they' Ba-ma, Wa, Va or Na, Am-ki prevails very extensively in the names of the tribes in Africa ..." 

"We find  traces of many ancient tribes in the country in individual members of tribes now extinct - as the Batau 'they of the lion', the Bunoga 'they of the serpent'."

Comment: 

It is truly amazing how David Livingstone transmits these unknown letter-groups. E.M.'s comment "the year one" or, olden time, clearly and cleverly conveys the idea of bygone tribes from whose language these personal pronouns have sprung.  ("Missionary Travels", page 12).

R. L. Stevenson and David Livingstone have given marvelously well-controlled tremendous outpourings of memories, and of apt imagery.

Q.        "Will you give us your initials?"   (3 raps)

Dr. Hamilton calls over the alphabet.  Soft blows are heard when the following letters are reached:    W. T. S.   (Purports to be W. T. Stead)

Séance closes:        


February 4, 1926.        

Lillian Hamilton at a church meeting - not present.

R. L. Stevenson.

First trance script: 

"Sedulous Ape: Hazlit, Wordsworth, Sir Thomas Brown, Defoe ...  Haghthron (Hawthorne) ... he did not ...  monkey business ..."        (See "College Magazine.")

First trance vision: 

"I don't know where I was but R. L. Stevenson was lecturing to some men ... I think it was about writing because he had different books and he put his hand down on each one.  He was about twenty.  He had on a velvet coat.  He didna speak to me; he wasna going to notice me ..."

Verification: 

Methods of learning to write.  (See "College Magazine.")

Trance II. 

David Livingstone speaks:

"Good evening.  Dr. Cowan, Donovan, 1808, Sechele married three daughters ... blood relation ..."

Second trance vision: 

"I saw two funny old men ... awful funny ... all dressed up in colors ... it must have been the year one.  I saw girls, three anyway.  I saw a square ... earth on the floor, earth all around.  The doctor speaks to me."

Verification: 

"His (Chief Sechele's), great-grandfather, Mochoasele, was a great traveler, and the first that ever told the Backwains of the existence of the white man.  In his father's life-time white travelers - Dr. Cowan and Captain Donovan passed through the country (1808) ... Sechele married the daughters of three of his underchiefs, who had, on account of their blood relationship, stood by him in his adversity."  ("Missionary Travels", page 12, 13).


February 7, 1926.

R. L. Stevenson.

First trance script: 

"In 1890, Samoan Island ... the hill overlooking Apia ... four years (in) place ..."

First trance vision: 

Of  R. L. Stevenson and wife and stepson walking in the hills.  R. L. Stevenson writing.

Raps spell:  "Have hands free."        

Greenland's Icy mountains.

Trance  II. 

Speaks: 

"Hari ... Western family consists of Bourolong, Backwain, Bakarus."

D. Livingstone.  Tribe names of the Bakalahari.  (Trance 2).

Second trance vision: 

"I saw a big family and the men tried to tell me the names.  Only this family and  D. Livingstone were there.  There were a great many of them.  I remember some of the names started with a "B".  I was drawn to the names of this family.  The people were copper-colored and have broad faces."

Verification: 

"The Bakalahari, or Western branch of the Bechuona family, consists of Baralong, Bahurutses, Bakuena, Bangwaketse, Bakos, Batuana ..." ("Missionary Travels", page 176.)


February 11, 1926.  

R. L. Stevenson.


First trance script: 

"A naked moor, a shivering pool before the door, a poplar tree at the garden foot, the garden bare of fruit and flowers, bare without; such a place I live in."        

"Throughout immature years followed the example of many teachers ..."        

Verification:

Refers to R. L. Stevenson's method of learning to write 

"... my writing in the style of early Masters of English - the 'sedulous' ape already referred to in his earlier work with E. M., and reported in his essay "A College Magazine."  

A slightly condensed version of the poem "The House Beautiful"

"A naked house, a naked moor,
A shivering pool before the door,
        A garden bare of flowers and fruit
And poplar trees at the garden foot.
Such is the place that I live in,
Bleak without and bare within"  

("Underwoods", page 101)

Comment:

One stands amazed at the creation of imagery in a cinema form that paralleled precisely the movement of ideas.  The bare moors and bare guard  R. L .Stevenson's barren results during his early period.        

1.  The efficacy of the method of learning to write is              questioned by the argument in the house (beautiful?)        

2.  The moor in poem and vision.          

3.  A few trees on the moor.  The second verse of poem has a         few trees:

"Yet shall your ragged moor receive
The incomparable pomp of eve,
And the cold gloriousness of the dawn
Behind your shivering trees be drawn."

4.   Bare garden in both poem and vision.        

5.  One change: the pool before the door is now a stream on           the moor.

We note a growing control of the psycho-hypnotic method of communicating.  Apparently E.M. responds to every change of thought, so long as it somehow can be pictured.  This is a method of intercommunication no doubt as old as humanity itself.

First trance vision: 

"I was in a house and I saw R. L. Stevenson there and two or three more men.  They were arguing over something.  I came out of there with them and went to a moor by a few trees and a stream running past; it came down a hill over stones.  

And then I went into a garden there, not much in it but bushes, but it had been a garden.  There were two pictures, they were with me in the first, and in the second I was alone.  R. L. Stevenson was over 30 anyway.  He spoke to me.  He had on a tweed suit with a Norfolk coat."

Trance II. 

In the Bolondo Country. (Good)

D. Livingstone speaks: 

"Good evening. Monoco ... lent ... roof of houses grow mushrooms ... 1854."

Second trance vision: 

"I was away and looking down on the ground.  I saw mushrooms on the top of some little mounds.  I saw a few natives."

Verification: 

In January, 1854, D. Livingstone penetrated still further among the natives of the interior of Africa.  While traveling they came on "great quantities of mushrooms"... and in many of the villages, when we decided to stay for the night, the inhabitants lent us the roofs of their huts ..." ("Missionary Travels", page 249.)

Comment: The imagery emphasizes a single idea - the mushrooms.

289a         "...throu...out immature years he followed the example of ... many Tea..." (interval)

See "College Magazine", 56 & 57.

289 b.        A naked moor,
A shimmering pool, before the door,
A poplar tree at the garden foot
The garden bare of fruit and flowers
Such a place I live in (poorly written)
And bare without - bare without,
Such a place I live in.
(See "Underwoods", 101)

Second trance vision of garden, moor and river.

Table levitated.  Good photograph secured.

"I will arise with thee"

        
February 14, 1926.

R. L. Stevenson.  Travels in Europe, with mother and Cummie.  (See Rosalind Masson, page 42.  True.)

First trance script:

"He and his mother made first hand acqu...nce with one another and went ... he ... remember?  his ..."

"He and his mother made first-hand acquaintance with one another."

(See biography)

First trance vision:   

(very bright) Of small Louis traveling on train - mother and nurse accompany him.

Another version of first trance vision:
"I had a beautiful trip the night.  I was in the old town (Edinburgh) and went on a train.  There was quite a lot of luggage.  He was only a boy; he might have been in his teens.  One of the ladies was his nurse and the other was his mother.  It was a beautiful picture.  I could see gardens from the train window.  As soon as I sat down the night R. L. Stevenson was here with me in this room ... he seemed to put his hand on my forehead.  He had on a tweed suit and a Balmoral cap."

Second trance script: 

"September 15, 1846.  Osland went on banks of Limpopo ... Buffaloes, water bucks, two (......) into the shoulder."

Second trance vision:

"I saw some wild animals ... buffaloes ... quite a young man, Livingstone, and another British one with him ... I don't know the names of the animals ... The two gentlemen were ... one was riding on an animal like a buffalo ... they were at a kind of resting place and rested and talked.

The picture was not nearly so clever as the Stevenson picture. 

Another version of second trance vision: 

"I saw wild animals ... some buffaloes, and then I saw a young man with Livingstone.  He was riding on an animal like a buffalo.  That picture was not nearly as clear as the Stevenson picture."
Verification: 

"15th of September, 1846, Osland (Oswald?) and I were riding this afternoon along the banks of the Limpopo, when a water-buck started in front of us ... I was following it through the jungle ... when three buffaloes got up ... a ball from a two-ouncer crashed into his shoulder ..." ("Missionary Travels", page 123.)

Comment: 

D. Livingstone did not take part in this incident.  It is only a play, with a bit of fun - one riding on a buffalo.

Two levitations were photographed.  

Red light on for a few minutes between the flashes.  This does not appear to endanger the "power."        


February 18, 1926.  

R. L. Stevenson.  

First trance script: 

"Long John Silver hit the sailor square in the spine with his crutch."

"Long John Silver when he hit the sailor square in the spine ... his crutch ... English."

(See "Treasure Island", Chapter 14.)

First trance vision: 

R. L. Stevenson reading and talking to E.M.

"I did not see or hear much ... I don't know where I was but he was reading out and telling us something ... from a book.  He told me something about hisself ... I felt his hand on me ... Two other men were with him."

Mrs. Marshall - some of the words:

                Be courteous
                Honorable men
                Obey them that have the rule over you
                Do not speak.

                Swear not at all
                Let all bitterness and evil speaking be put away from you.

                Honor prefer one another and do unto others as you would they would do to you.

"That is some of the reading that the gentleman was giving to the company."

"Besides the three men there was one lady but it was not his wife.  There is something he wants me to do.   R. L. Stevenson wants me to do something.  There was a glass box built on the center of the table and in the box a light - blue placed there by a lady ... very fair ... eight pieces of glass ... made the box.  There was no cover.  It looked square and the lady placed it there piece by piece and she put a division in the box.  She was very fair ... bright blue eyes ... and hair copper color ... she was not in material garments and she left the room after she placed the box on the table."

David Livingstone.

Second trance script:

"The Dutch clergymen bought a fountain ... government, 500, 200 pounds."

Second trance vision: 

"They were counting out a lot of money ... not dollars.  I saw a beautiful dish like a fountain.  There were a few people there.  I saw a minister too.  I know D. Livingstone but I don't know who the minister is.  They were gathered around the table and then this fountain put in and then they were counting out a whole lot of money.  D. Livingstone spoke to me."

Verification: 

"The Dutch clergy are not wanting in worldly wisdom.  A fountain (spring) is bought and the lands which it can irrigate are parceled out and let to the villagers.  As they increase in numbers the rents rise and the church becomes rich.  With 200 pounds per annum in addition from the government, the salary amounts to 400 or 500 pounds a year."  ("Missionary Travels", page 29, footnote.)

Comment: Very ingenious symbolism.


February 21, 1926.

R. L. S. 

First trance script: 


"His official biography refers to an opera entitled the "Baneful Potato" ... has been printed."
See Balfour, page 56.

"It was (this or his) disc ..."
        
        Professor Fleming Jenkins.

First trance vision:

Of  R. L. Stevenson, first as a child about twelve and then as a young man.  As a child he is writing on a piece of paper and wishes his mother and nurse to "do something with it" - as a young man he is at a sea-side resort talking to two older men.

Another version of the first trance vision:

"I was in the old place and I saw my little boy.  He might be 10 years or 12.  His mother was there, quite young, and his nurse.  He was writing in a book.  He wanted them to do something with the papers he had."  

"Then later I was away in a watering place.  The sea was on my left side.  R. L. Stevenson was a young man.  He had a white cap with a scoop (peak).  He had on white pants and white shoes.  His hair hung down on one side.  Needing a cutting as usual.  No one spoke to me.  I was enjoying it.  It was summer there."

Verification: 

When he was 14 he developed a facility for extemporizing doggerel rhymes, and composed a libretto on an opera called "The Baneful Potato", of which only the names of two characters survive: "Dig-him-up-o" the gardener, and "Suck-him-out-o" the policeman, and the first line of an aria sung by the heroine: "My dear casement window."  (See Balfour, volume 1, page 65.)  Balfour,  R. L. Stevenson's cousin, was R. L. Stevensons's official biographer.  "The Baneful Potato" has not been published.

Second trance script: 
"Distance ... Lube ... Leambye ... many hunters ... dried hippopotamuses and buffaloes."

Second trance vision: 

"I saw a lot of wild animals.  I saw him cutting up a great big hippopotamus.  They killed it with a kind of spear and hung it away up in a tree.  There were some killed animals all around.  They lifted them up on trees and hung them up.  No one spoke to me but Livingstone took my right hand.  It was in an open place.  The sun was beating down."

Another version of the second trance vision:

"I saw a lot of wild animals ... I saw him sitting up ... great big hippopotamus ... they killed and hung it away up in a tree.  They killed it with a kind of spear they put through.  There were some killed animals seemingly all around.  They lifted them up onto trees and hung them up.  Then they came to the hippopotamus; four men were doing the lifting to hang it up.  They put them up in the tree; the big thing was the worst.  They seemed quite well pleased with the job ... no one spoke to me, but Livingstone took my hand ... my right hand.  My time was in an open place ... the sun was beating down ... they cleaned the animals ... they were cleaned and there they put the ... I don't know.  The sun was beating down ... I saw no flies.  I saw four whites and a large bunch of niggers.  The Negroes were doing the dirty work ... supervised by the whites.  It was negroes lifted the big animal to hand it up.  I saw no houses.  I saw one ... something covered with straw.

Verification: 

"... A short distance below the confluence of the Lieba and the Leomabyes, we met a number of hunters belonging to the Mamboue  tribe.  They had dried flesh of hippopotami, buffaloes and alligators."  ("Missionary Travels", page 418.)

Comment: 

"Note that we see the action of preparing dried meat.  Very ingenious use of imagery.

Table levitated and photographed.

Flash photograph of table and one of the sitters as arranged for levitation.


February 25, 1926.  

R. L. Stevenson.

First trance script: 

"This is proficiency ... tempted ... acquired practice ... learn to write ... wager ... like other men ..."

First trance vision:

Built on idea of whittling.

"I was away in a place and there were two or three men there beside himself, and they were peeling all the bark off sticks.  I don't know what they were going to make of them.  They had a real argument over something.  ( R. L. Stevenson' method of learning to write?)  I saw R. L. Stevenson look at me.  I did not speak to him.  I got kind of lost ..." 

Verification: 

"It was not so much that I wished to be an author (though I wished that too) as that I vowed that I would learn to write.  That was a proficiency that tempted me; and I practiced to acquire it as men learn to whittle, in a wager with myself..." ("A College Magazine", page 55, 56.)

Comment: Peeling the bark off sticks is near the idea of whittling - meaning to make something.

Second trance script: 

"Reptile ... hits his prey with hi tail and drags it with him and drowns it.  Many children are carried away annually ..." 


December, 1853."

Second trance vision: 

"I saw a whole lot of creeping things.  It killed something with its tail, then took it away to the water and drowned it.  It was something like a serpent.  It killed by lashing with its tail.  I saw them carrying children.  It seemed to have feet at front.  It was a good size.  It carried away the children ... little dark ones."

Verification: 

"... They ascended the Leeba on December 28, 1853 ... the number of alligators is prodigious and in this river they are more savage than in some others.  Many children are carried off annually at Secheki and other towns.  The reptile is said by the natives to strike the victims with its tail, then drag him in and drown him.  ("Missionary Travels", page 221-2.)

Table moves without contact.  Reverend E. G. D. Freeman stands to the right of the cabinet, and guards E.M.'s right hand, T. G. H. her left hand.


February 28, 1926.  

R. L. Stevenson.

First trance script: 

"He is the flower of civilization, such as it is ... in his story he will have little of the defects of his period." (to doctors).

Another version of first trance script:

"He is their flower such as it is ... the civ..ation ... when this stage of man is done ... only to be remembered? and marveled at ... in his story he will have little of the defects of the period."

(See "Introduction to Underwoods.")

"Do your bit and find the thanks ..."

First trance vision: 

"He was talking and he had a lot of papers on the table ... There were a good many young men there and they were all talking.  R. L. Stevenson had on light knickerbocker pants.  He was on about 30.  He had not his hair cut.  He wears some hair that hangs down at one side and it almost comes down to one ear."

Another version of first trance vision:

R. L.  Stevenson about thirty - talking to a lot of young men ... all writing ... he needs a hair cut.

Second trance script: 

"I shouldered my rifle with the intention of aiming at his forehead."

"Such welcome with such gay dress, July, 1855."

Second trance vision: 

"I saw David Livingstone and he had a rifle and was shooting.  Then I went to a town and I did some sights!  I saw a whole lot of women and they were dancing and had some kind of colored skirt affair.  And such music!  And it was real hot there; oh, my, it was hot!  It was the men who made the music."

Verification: 

David Livingstone arrived at Lilirta (Libanta?).  On the way shoots a buffalo. Welcomed with joy.  His men dress gaily.  ("Missionary Travels", page 417, 420.) 

Excerpt: 

"I cocked my rifle with the intention of giving him a steady shot in the forehead ..." July 27, (1855).  We reached the town of Liboata and were received with demonstrations of joy such as I had never witnessed before ... my men decked themselves out in their best ... suits of European clothing, which being white, with their red caps, gave them rather a dashing appearance."

Another version of the second trance vision:


Medium complains of sore throat.