A few particular instances, as samples, it may be allowable to notice: Not
many years since, Joseph Cook made his memorable tour around the world. In
Europe he met the famous German philosopher, Professor Zöllner. Mr.
Zöllner had been carefully investigating the phenomena of Spiritualism,
and assured Mr. Cook of the following occurrences as facts, under his own
observation: Knots had been found tied in the middle of cords, by some
invisible agency, while both ends were made securely fast, so that they
could not be tampered with; messages were written between doubly and
trebly sealed slates; coin had passed through a table in a manner to
illustrate the suspension of the laws of impenetrability of matter; straps
of leather were knotted under his own hand; the impression of two feet was
given on sooted paper pasted inside of two sealed slates; whole and
uninjured wooden rings were placed around the standard of a card table,
over either end of which they could by no possibility be slipped; and
finally the table itself, a heavy beechen structure, wholly disappeared,
and then fell from the top of the room where Professor Zöllner and his
friends were sitting.
In further confirmation of the fact that real spiritualistic
manifestations are no sleight-of-hand performances, we cite the case of
Harry Kellar, a professional performer, as given in “Nineteenth Century
Miracles,” p. 213. The séance was held with the medium, Eglinton, in
Calcutta, India, Jan. 25, 1882. He says:—
“It is needless to say that I went as a skeptic; but I must own
that I have come away utterly unable to explain by any natural
means the phenomena that I witnessed on Tuesday evening.”
He then describes the particulars of the séance. An intelligence,
purporting to be the spirit of one Geary, gave a communication. Mr. Kellar
did not recognize the name nor recall the man. The message was repeated,
with the added circumstances of the time and particulars of a previous
meeting, when Mr. Kellar recalled the events, and, much to his surprise,
the whole matter came clearly to his recollection. He then adds:—
“I still remain a skeptic as regards Spiritualism, but I repeat my
inability to explain or account for what must have been an
intelligent force which produced the writing on the slate, which,
if my senses are to be relied on, was in no way the result of
trickery or sleight-of-hand.”
Another instance from “Home Circle,” p. 25, is that of Mr. Bellachini,
also a professional conjuror, of Berlin, Germany. His interview was with
the celebrated medium, Mr. Slade. From his testimony we quote the
following:—
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