The Lock and Key Library: The Most Interesting Stories of All Nations: Real Life
Science
The Lock and Key Library: The Most Interesting Stories of All Nations: Real Life
Detective and mystery stories; Fiction; Parapsychology
This was most assuredly a lady, if appearances go for anything.
Her hands were quite small, and were warm and lifelike, as several,
including myself, can testify, having been permitted to shake hands
with her. At last she started to the cabinet, and, as she went,
appeared to grow shorter, until, as she disappeared between the
curtains, she was not much taller than the table. The manager now
explained that the spirit had remained out rather too long and came
near dematerializing before she reached the cabinet. Now came the
spirit of a young man, dressed in a light suit of clothes, who gave
his name and said his mother was present. She was, and had a few
words of conversation with him when he disappeared into the
cabinet. The lady said that it was unmistakably her son; but there
was SOMETHING that was not as he had been, but what it was she was
unable to describe.
The next spirit to present itself was my son Eddie. He came out
from the cabinet calling "Papa, papa." The manager asked "Who is
your papa?" and he replied, "Mr. (Smith)." All this time he stood
between the table and the cabinet, and only his head and shoulders
could be seen. The manager told him to step out where he could be
seen, when he came around to the front of the table.
It was rather dark, but I could swear it was my son. He was just
the right size, with long flaxen hair and a very pale face. He
wore a light-colored waist and darker knee-breeches and stockings,
with a large black bow at his throat, Just as I remember seeing him
last in health.
While Eddie was still standing in front of the table a large man
came out and took him by the hand. Eddie spoke, saying:
"Must I go back, grandpa?" The form turned toward me, saying:
"My son, this is a great pleasure to us, but we must not long
remain, as it is our first attempt at materializing." He turned to
go when the manager said to him:
"If the gentleman is your son you ought to give him your name."
"The name of the child is Eddie, and my own is J. A. Smith,"
replied the form, as they vanished into the cabinet.
The manager suggested that it would be well to examine and see
whether the medium had been out or not. The cabinet was examined
and everything found satisfactory.
Spirit after spirit came from the cabinet, one or two at a time for
an hour; some of them came to friends, and others were "controls"
of the medium. Many of them were recognized by different ones of
the sitters in the room. I, for one, could swear to the identity
of my own son Eddie, while my father was plainly recognizable. . . .
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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