Do the Dead Return? A True Story of Startling Seances in San FranciscoAnonymous
Religion
Do the Dead Return? A True Story of Startling Seances in San Francisco
Anonymous
Future life; Seances -- California -- San Francisco
"I saw Dr. Schlesinger in company with the other gentlemen named, and I
saw wonderful things which I am wholly unable to explain. The phenomena,
manifestations, or things that occur in the medium's presence are not only
interesting, but marvelous. I went possessed of something like eight or
ten slips of paper, on each of which I had previously written (at my
office) a name of some person I had known--some living, some dead. Not a
soul ever saw the slips, for I was alone when I wrote the names.
Furthermore, they were so folded that no one could possibly have read a
single name. Dr. Schlesinger at once picked out the names of living and
dead persons, while the slips were held between my fingers and when I did
not know what person's name was on the particular slip that I held. He
pronounced every name correctly while I held the pellet, or as it lay
untouched on his table.
"To say that what he did was by the aid of wires or batteries would be to
impart to wires and batteries more intelligence than the greatest
philosophers have ever possessed. This is no explanation; nor has any one
ever been able to explain to me how these things were done. I do not
believe it was mind-reading (a term that conveys no intelligent idea to me
anyhow), for I did not know the name on the slip under question--not until
I afterwards unfolded it and corroborated the Doctor's readings. You
understand that the entire bunch had been thoroughly shuffled in a hat
before any slip was picked up.
"To come to specific instances, let me give a few cases as they occurred.
On one slip I had written my mother's maiden name, which was not known to
anybody in San Francisco. It was placed among eight or ten other names of
women--some married, some unmarried, some wholly fictitious. All slips
were folded alike and placed in a hat under the table, which I held in my
hands. Dr. Schlesinger asked me to pick out the pellets, one at a time and
hold them between my finger and thumb. He would say, 'That is not the
name, throw it aside;' and so on, until he hesitated at one pellet and
said, 'That is your mother's maiden name; it is Emily J. Laumann.'
"The answer was correct, and in a similar manner he read other names and
told me all about the persons. I had written the name of Dick Foster on
one slip. Foster had died of consumption at the old Bella Union Theater,
on June 21st. The medium did not read his name, but wrote a message
backwards--that is, from left to right--very rapidly, and when I held it
up to the light with the written surface from me, I could read the
following:--
_I am glad to be here, and if I can obtain the appropriate conditions
I will show my identity._
_DICK FOSTER._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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