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
The communication from Marie St. Clair, which accompanied these
envelopes, runs thus:--'To H.H. Furness. Your kindly nature has often
drawn the Spirit of Marie to your side. I consider myself indebted to
you for certain acts which you will understand. Not that the poor
inanimate thing which you have so kindly treated, is of itself of much
account, but your kindness has often drawn me to your side in moments
when you little dreamed I were near. Had I met in material existence one
like yourself my past might have been far different. In this beautiful
life, the sources and courses of all earthly misfortunes and sins appear
to us like a figure seen in a dream. The lowest plane of Spiritual life
is as much superior to earthly existence as sunlight is superior to
starlight. From Marie St. Clair. Please inform Mrs. Martin why you so
carefully preserved the skull, and where you obtained it, and all you
know about it, and oblige yours truly, E.A. Martin. There is an acrostic
upon your name waiting for you here from Marie.'
If the fair and frail Marie appears somewhat cautious in direct
allusions to her skull, and to her 'earth-life,' it is certainly to her
credit that she seems to have retained no taint of mercenary greed. She
made no demand or reference to a fee, and a second letter had to be sent
to her Medium to learn the amount of my debt. This is her reply:--'Your
kind favour came duly to me, and as your message to your Spirit Friend
was delivered previously, that is, as soon as it was written, I had no
further effort to make than to convey the following to you:
'Amants, heureux amants, voulez-vous voyager! Que ce soit aux rives
prochaines.
Patience, je n'en ai pas quand je suis si près et si loin de vous.
Ah! tout ce qu'il y a dans le coeur de crainte, de douleur, de
desespoir, j'ai tout deviné; tout souffert, je puis tout exprimer
maintenant surtout la joie. Adieu! Marie St. Clair.'
Here end my investigations into the power of Spirits to answer sealed
questions.
In every instance the envelopes had been opened and reclosed; it is
therefore scarcely necessary to add that every instance has borne the
stamp of Fraud.
There is yet one other dark chapter, perhaps the darkest of all, which
my duty compelled me to read.
I began with Dr. Mansfield, in Boston; let me end with him there.
In addition to the answering of sealed letters sent to him by mail, this
Medium exercises his Mediumistic powers on questions propounded to him,
or rather to the Spirits through him, at his own home.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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