Hours with the Ghosts or, Nineteenth Century Witchcraft: Illustrated Investigations into the Phenomena of Spiritualism and TheosophyEvans, Henry Ridgely
Religion
Hours with the Ghosts or, Nineteenth Century Witchcraft: Illustrated Investigations into the Phenomena of Spiritualism and Theosophy
Evans, Henry Ridgely
Blavatsky, H. P. (Helena Petrovna), 1831-1891; Spiritualism; Theosophy
In February, 1856, the medium joined the retinue of Count B--, a Polish
nobleman, and went to Naples with his patron. From Naples to Rome was the
next step, and, in the Eternal City, the medium joined the Romish Church,
and was adjured by the Pope to abandon spirit séances forever. In 1858 we
find Home in St. Petersburg, where he married the youngest daughter of
General Count de Kroll, of Russia, and a goddaughter of the Emperor
Nicholas, the marriage taking place on Sunday, August 1, 1858, in the
private chapel attached to the house of the lady's brother-in-law, the
Count Gregoire Koucheleff-Besborodko. It was a very notable affair, and
Alexander Dumas came from Paris to attend the ceremony. Home's spirit
power which had left him since his conversion to the Roman Catholic faith
now returned in full force, it is said, and he saw standing near him at
the wedding the spirit form of his mother. In 1862 his wife died at the
Chateau Laroche, near Perigneux, France, and the medium repaired to Rome
for the purpose of studying sculpture. The reports of the spirit phenomena
constantly attending Home's presence reached the ears of the Papal
authorities and he was compelled to leave the city, notwithstanding the
fact that he gave positive assurance that he would give no séance. He was
actually charged with being a sorcerer, like Cagliostro, an accusation
that reads very strange in the Nineteenth Century. This affair embittered
Home against the Church, and he abandoned Roman Catholicism for the Greek
Church.
After the Roman fiasco, the famous medium returned to England to give
Spiritualistic lectures and séances. A writer in "_All the Year Round_",
gives the following pen picture of the medium, as he appeared in 1866:
"He is a tall, thin man, with broad square shoulders, suggestive of a suit
of clothes hung upon an iron cross. His hair is long and yellow; his teeth
are large, glittering and sharp; his eyes are a pale grey, with a redness
about the eye-lids, which comes and goes in a ghastly manner, as he talks.
When he shows his glittering sharp teeth, and that red line comes round
his slowly rolling eyes, he is not a pleasant sight to look upon. His
hands are long, white and bony, and on taking them you discover that they
are icy cold." A _suit of clothes hung upon an iron cross_ is a weird
touch in this pen picture.
Home about this time intended going upon the stage, but abandoned the idea
to become the secretary of the "Spiritual Atheneum", a society formed for
the investigation of psychic phenomena.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account