Frank Podmore

“ Some of these incidents, no doubt, such as the episode of the red-stamped cheques in Mr. Clarke's case, readily suggest the telepathic transference of ideas latent in the sitter's mind. But in a few instances it is not merely improbable that the facts mentioned by Phinuit should at any time have been within the knowledge of any persons present at the sitting, but, as in the account just quoted, the mode of presentation of the facts and the attendant circumstances certainly lend some additional weight to an alternative hypothesis, that of spirit communication. ”

“ Piper's communications. What she does give—descriptions of the diseases, personal idiosyncrasies, thoughts, feelings, and characters of the sitter and his friends; their loves, hates, quarrels, sympathies, and mutual relationships; trivial but significant incidents in their past histories, and the like—are precisely the things on which private enquiry would find it most difficult to obtain information, and which would, further, be most difficult, when obtained, to preserve in the memory. ”

“ Piper's case we have ground for assuming that such suggestions may often be conveyed telepathically; in short, that the dramatic personalities of the so-called controls may actually be built up out of the material unconsciously supplied by the sitters, and that the intimate personal details revealed in the trance utterances may be telepathically filched from the same source. The limitations of the knowledge displayed, and the occasional disingenuousness, forbid us to accept these communications as authentic and unembarrassed messages from the dead. ”

“ Verrall has written frequently. She is conscious of the meaning of the actual word at the moment of writing, but it is forgotten almost as soon as written, and she never realises the drift of the whole passage until it is read through after completion. It is clear, therefore, that the messages so written are not composed by her ordinary consciousness. The script, as said, began with Latin, and Latin for long continued to be the chief language of the communications. Greek also appeared, but not so frequently; most of the communications now are written in English. ”

“ Mrs. Sidgwick has suggested [22] that possibly there may be communication with the dead, through the channel of the sitter's mind; that Mrs. Piper may receive telepathically such messages, as she apparently receives the impression of other contents of her visitors' minds, and reflect them back through her automatic speech or writing.
Some such hypothesis would seem to be adequate to cover the known facts. But at the present stage of the investigation it must remain an open question whether an hypothesis which involves in any form telepathy from the dead is really required. ”

“ Other cases of the kind, in which messages purporting to emanate from the dead have been given have been investigated, of recent years by the Society for Psychical Research. [9] But isolated instances possess comparatively little weight, partly because we can rarely be sure of the adequacy of the record, if it stands alone, but chiefly because of the much greater scope offered for chance coincidence, if only the successes are noted. What is desired in such cases is a full record of all the utterances of the entranced person, such as Mrs. Verrall has kept of her own automatic writing. ”

“ Piper since 1900 have been—with few exceptions—equally unproductive. The control of the entranced organism has been taken over by a band of spirits, Imperator, Rector, Prudens, etc., who proclaim themselves to be the same who directed the mediumship of the late Stainton Moses. Stainton Moses, a clergyman of the Church of England, and English Master at University College School, was perhaps the most remarkable private medium of the last generation. Of his trance utterances I have already spoken. They contain no evidence of supernormal faculty. ”

“ FROM the sporadic instances of automatic communications cited in the last chapter we will pass to consider the detailed records which have been preserved of the utterances of certain persons who have systematically practised automatism. Of these records the most valuable, from the information which it may be expected ultimately to furnish as to the nature and working of the automatic processes, is the account of her own script kept by Mrs. Verrall, Classical Lecturer at Newnham College, known also as the translator of Palisanias. ”

“ On the same day a statement was made in my script about fir-trees planted in a garden which had a meaning for Mrs. Forbes, and a special connexion with her automatic experiments, and the signature of this script, to which attention had been directed, represented partially the badge of Talbot Forbes' regiment, together with a sword. [6] As bearing on the question whether such a combination is likely to have been accidental, I may say that on no other occasion has a bugle appeared in the script, nor has there been any other reference to a planted fir-tree. ”

“ In at least two instances (the medium in one case being Mrs. Piper, and in the other Mrs. Verrall) statements have been made purporting to indicate the contents of such a letter, which have proved, when the letter was opened, to be entirely wide of the mark. [21] During the past year some sittings have been held with Mrs. Piper in England at which some communications of interest have been received. But the full report of the results is not yet ripe for publication.
The investigation into these trance phenomena will, we hope, be continued whenever opportunity offers itself. ”

“ We fellows who are eccentric are always misunderstood in life. I used to have fits of depression. I have none now. I am happy now. I want my father to know about this. We used to talk about spiritual things, but he will be hard to convince. My mother will be easier. .. [18]
In brief, between twenty and thirty persons who were friends of G. P. in life had sittings with Mrs. Piper, at which communications were given, purporting to come from the deceased. Most of these communications were accurate, relevant, and characteristic ”

“ Verrall, in December, 1900, had made the acquaintance of Mrs. "Forbes," also an automatic writer; and thenceforward their respective scripts contained many apparent allusions to each other's concerns. One of the "controls" purporting to communicate through Mrs. Forbes was her son Talbot—who had been killed in the Boer War. ”

“ No one is here now [to P.M. in New Hampshire—3 a.m. in England] . A fat person, a cook, has been here. Big man, with a dark moustache, has also been here a good while during the day, and has left his influence here. ”

“ The flying iron ["iron" used for "weapon"] will hit." Volatile ferrum (literally "the flying iron") is used by Virgil for a spear, and Mrs. Verrall recorded in her note-book that the word was probably meant to be translated "spear."
In Boston, U. S. A., on the 28th January, three days before this incident, Dr. Hodgson held a sitting with Mrs. Piper, the well-known trance medium, at which an allusion was made by the "control" [2] to Mrs. Verrall's daughter. Hodgson asked if the "control" could make Miss Helen Verrall see him (i.e., the "control") holding a spear in his hand. ”

“ The messages which she gives generally purport to pass through the mind of the chief control. Phinuit, then for a time George Pelham, and now "Rector" and Richard Hodgson, have each in turn thus professed to act as interpreter and mouthpiece for the spirits of the dead who throng round the entranced medium. In her earlier trances the utterances were mostly oral. Since 1892 they have been mainly, and of late years almost entirely, written. The strictest precautions have been taken to exclude the possibility of fraud ”

“ Their real names were revealed by Stainton Moses to one or two persons still living. Through Mrs. Piper's organism they have more than once professed as a proof of identity to give their names; but their guesses have been incorrect. Several persons have within the last few years left behind them sealed letters, containing some statement known only to themselves, in order that revelation of the contents through a medium might furnish proof of the writer's survival. In no case has the test been complied with. ”

“ Verrall was entirely unacquainted. Speaking generally the messages are apt to be incoherent, allusive, and enigmatical. Many are extremely difficult to interpret. As regards their source, in no case does the writing purport to proceed from Mrs. Verrall herself; it is apparently addressed to her, but the statements are frequently impersonal in form, and are rarely signed. ”

“ At any rate the most striking messages of this type have been obtained when the automatist is in a condition of trance, and the ordinary personality altogether in abeyance, as in the instance of Dr. Vidigal's servant cited in the last chapter. ”

“ The control asked, through the automatic writing, "Why a sphere?" and Hodgson repeated "spear." At the next sitting, on February 4th, the control claimed that he had made himself visible to Miss Verrall with a "sphear" (so spelt in the trance writing) .
It is certainly difficult to avoid the conclusion that Mrs. Verrall's script of the 31st January,—a date intermediate between these two Seances,—with its curious enigmatical allusions to "sphere" and "spear," had reference to this transatlantic experiment. [3]
In another case the message given purported definitely to come from the dead. Mrs. ”

“ The late Millbank prison was constructed on the Panopticon principle. See Wallas' Life of Francis Place, p. 104. ↑ I. e. the spirit assumed to be controlling, or speaking through Mrs. Piper's organism. The control had already claimed to have some knowledge of Miss Verrall—hence the introduction of her name in the test, instead of Mrs. Verrall's. For an account of Mrs. Piper's trance communications, see the latter part of this chapter. ↑ Proceedings, S.P.R., vol. xx., p. 214. ↑ Trans.: "Sign with the seal. The fir-tree that has already been planted in the garden gives its own portent." ”

“ Hodgson and Mr. Myers. ↑ I. e, Hodgson. who reports the incidents of the sitting. In the account which follows the statements made by the "control" are put in inverted commas (" ") ; and Hart's interjected remarks in parentheses ( ) . Hodgson's comments are in brackets [] . ↑ Proceedings, S. P. R., vol. xiii., p. 297. ↑ Proceedings, S. P. R., vol. xiii.. pp. 300, 301. ↑ The reader who has leisure and patience may possibly care to peruse the voluminous record and form his own opinion as to its merits. But he is advised first to read Dr. Hodgson's Report in Proceedings, vol. ”