"I cannot determine how probable it is that the medium, knowing
she was to have a sitting with you in Cambridge, or rather a
number of them, took pains to prepare for the tests by
carefully working up the family history of your friends. If she
had done this for thirty or so persons, I think she could,
though with some difficulty, have gained just the kind of
knowledge which she rendered. She would probably have forgotten
that my wife's brother's given name was Legh, and that of his
mother Gabriella, while she remembered that of Mary and
Charles, and also that of a son in Cambridge, who is called
Waller. So, too, the fact that all trouble on account of the
missing will was within a fortnight after the death of Mr Page
cleared away by the action of the children was unknown. The
deceased is represented as still troubled, though he purported
to see just what was going on in his family.
"I have given you a mixture of observations and criticisms; let
me say that I have no firm mind about the matter. I am
curiously and yet absolutely uninterested in it, for the reason
that I don't see how I can exclude the hypothesis of fraud,
and until that can be excluded no advance can be made.
"When I took the medium's hand, I had my usual experience with
them--a few preposterous compliments concerning the clearness
of my understanding, and nothing more."
Among those who have made a careful study at first hand of Mrs Piper's
clairvoyance besides Dr Hodgson and Professor James are Sir Oliver
Lodge, the late Frederic Myers, Mrs Sidgwick, Walter Leaf, Professor
Romaine Newbold, and Professor J. H. Hyslop, and all of these have
recorded their conviction that the results are not explicable by fraud
or misrepresentation.
Another account which sheds light on what occurs at Mrs Piper's séances
is furnished by Professor Estlin Carpenter, Oxford. It is dated 14th
December 1894:
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.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account