Preliminary Report of the Commission Appointed by the University of Pennsylvania to Investigate Modern Spiritualism: In Accordance with the Request of the Late Henry SeybertUniversity of Pennsylvania. Seybert Commission for Investigating Modern Spiritualism
Religion
Preliminary Report of the Commission Appointed by the University of Pennsylvania to Investigate Modern Spiritualism: In Accordance with the Request of the Late Henry Seybert
University of Pennsylvania. Seybert Commission for Investigating Modern Spiritualism
Parapsychology -- Investigation; Spiritualism
Not long after my last interview with Mrs. Patterson it was my good
fortune to meet with an _unprofessional_ Medium, a young gentleman of
reputed honor and veracity, to whom I was introduced by a friend who had
known him from childhood, and vouched for his honesty. This young man's
Mediumistic abilities had begun to develop with the planchette, and had
reached the stage in which a drum and sundry musical instruments were
played behind a curtain where he sat entranced, with his hands tightly
bound together by a handkerchief or cord. These séances were continued
with regularity on certain nights in the week, and were confined
strictly to the family circle and to a few privileged friends. There
was, therefore, no temptation to deceive for gain. I came into the
circle as an observer, not as believer, but was impressed by the
phenomena witnessed at the first séance in which the Medium was under
Indian control. There were strange sounds, guttural tones and whoops
which really might have emanated from a wild son of the forest. A drum,
an accordion, a zither, a mouth-organ were all played upon. The
drumsticks kept time to music, rapped on the wall, appeared above the
edge of the curtain several times, brightly illuminated, as if dipped in
electric light or some phosphorescent substance. As I have said, I was
impressed, and might have ended in complete conversion, by
manifestations from so trustworthy a source, and vouched for in such
perfect sincerity, had it not, in an unlucky moment, occurred to me to
apply a little harmless test.
The test consisted simply in putting a dab of printer's ink on one of
the drumsticks at the very last moment before the séance began. The
result could not prove physically injurious to the Medium, who had
challenged investigation, nor to any one in the circle. The result was
startling. Being accorded the privilege of tying the Medium's hands, I
proceeded to do so with a stout cord, using a certain knot which I
believe has never been known to slip or come undone. This accomplished,
and while some one else fastened the Medium securely to his chair, with
his back to the instruments on the table, the ink, concealed in a
pocket-handkerchief, was applied. In this position we left the Medium,
the lights were lowered and the music began. Soon were heard the deep
breathings preceding the trance, then the 'Indian' began to manifest, at
first somewhat sullenly, as if not pleased with the conditions, some of
the instruments sounded, and at last the drumsticks began their tattoo.
At the close of the séance, when the curtains were drawn and the lights
turned up, the Medium was found in his chair with his hands still tied,
but great was the astonishment of everyone present at the marvelous
condition of the Medium's hands. How in the world printer's ink could
have gotten smeared over them while under control of 'Deerfoot, the
Indian,' no one, not even the Medium, could fathom.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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