Apparitions and thought-transference: an examination of the evidence for telepathyPodmore, Frank
Philosophy
Apparitions and thought-transference: an examination of the evidence for telepathy
Podmore, Frank
Apparitions; Telepathy
February 18th, 1893, 8 P.M. Mrs. H., Miss B., Mr. and Miss M.
present, in addition to Mr. Green, and Messrs. S., W., and Buttemer.
Mr. Green, as usual, operated Planchette, and on this occasion sat
with his back to all the other persons present.
_Q._ (from Mr. M.): What was I doing this afternoon?
_A._ i. ---- the sun ---- (all else illegible). ii. Enjoying the
fresh air of heaven.
_Q._ What was Mr. Rogers doing in Cambridge?
_A._ i. (Irrelevant, or possibly connected vaguely with the
question.) ii. Ask another, but Mr. Rogers came up on important
business connected with the Lodge. (Correct.)
_Q._ Where has Mrs. M. gone?
_A._ i. (Irrelevant.) ii. Far, far away, but more next time. iii.
Her mother has gone to--oh, what a happy place is London! iv.
All change here for Bletchley. (Mrs. M. had possibly passed this
station on her journey.)
_Q._ Who has won the Association Match to-day?
_A._ i. (Illegible.) ii. O ye simple ones, how long will ye love
simplicity? Why, Oxford, of course. [This fact was known to some
persons in the room, but not to Mr. Green.]
One of the company then suggested the attempt to get the name on
a visiting card transmitted, and the question was written, "Write
name on card." Mr. Green did not know that this experiment was
about to be tried, and the card was picked from a pile at random.
The name was John B. Bourne. A sentence was written by Mr. Green,
which proved to be, "Think of one letter at a time and then see
what will happen." We did so.
_A._ i. J for Jerusalem, O for Omri, H for Honey, and N for
Nothing. ii. B for Benjamin, O for Olive, U for Unicorn. (The
remaining letters were given incorrectly.)
_Q._ How many of the Society's books are here? (There were two
volumes of _Proceedings_ on the table.)
_A._ i. (Irrelevant.) ii. The answer is 100-98.
_Q._ What is 2 × 3?
Two irrelevant answers were given, possibly owing to a slight
disturbance in the room. The third answer was--"When that noise has
ceased and S. has finished knocking the lamp over, I say 6."
A trial shortly after this, February 19th, gave no results, and the
power of automatic writing appears to have entirely left Mr. Green
for the present. (_Proc. Soc. Psych. Research_, vol. ix. pp. 61-64.)
In this, as in Mr. Newnham's case, the mode of expression is again
characteristic of the automatic consciousness. It is explained by Mr.
Buttemer that when two or more answers are given, the operator had been
simply told to write again, after the first irrelevant answer, without
being shown the question.
_Table Tilting._
No. 26.--By the AUTHOR.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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