The Missing Link in Modern SpiritualismUnderhill, A. Leah (Ann Leah)
Religion
The Missing Link in Modern Spiritualism
Underhill, A. Leah (Ann Leah)
Fox family; Spiritualism
"MEDIUMSHIP OF A BABY.--H. D. Jencken, Barrister-at-Law, of 53
Brompton-Crescent, Brompton, has had further disturbances in his house,
in consequence of the mediumship of his little boy, aged two months.
"Last Friday Mr. Jencken and Mrs. Jencken (Kate Fox) went to the great
scientific _soirée_ at the Crystal Palace, and that same evening, about
nine o'clock, their housemaid, Elizabeth, went up-stairs to the front
drawing-room to turn down the gas burners. As she approached the door
she saw its handle turn round and she cried out, 'Who is that?' The door
then opened, and a veiled figure looked out at her. She only saw a part
of the face, because the white drapery about it hid the rest, and she
fancied that the eyes had an evil look. She ran down-stairs and gave the
alarm to the cook and sempstress, saying that she thought thieves were
in the house.
"Just after this occurred on the first floor, the nurse, Mrs. Macarthy,
who was watching the baby in a room near the top of the house, heard
footsteps outside; the door gently opened, and a short woman, young and
pleasant-looking, robed in white, entered, and returned quickly, twice.
At first the nurse thought that a joke was being played upon her; but,
upon searching the adjoining room and landing, she could not find
anybody. She then went down-stairs and joined the three servants below,
who had previously heard footsteps going up-stairs from the drawing-room
to the nursery.
"The cook then went for a policeman, and the other three servants went
up to the nursery, where they heard rapping noises and voices; the
latter were not sufficiently distinct to be intelligible. They also
heard footsteps going right up to the top of the house. When the police
arrived they searched the house and found nothing. Just as they were
going away, some footsteps followed them down the stairs. One of the
policemen turned round and said that the noises must be caused by a
ghost.
"Three days previously the housemaid had seen a figure in the
drawing-room. It suddenly disappeared. This form, she said, was covered
with a shawl, like that worn by Mrs. Jencken before she left the house.
Was it Mrs. Jencken's 'double,' present there in consequence of her
constant thoughts about the baby?
"The nurse says she has seen hands making passes over the baby, and has
heard raps at the head of the child's bedstead, and once the pillow was
pressed down by an unseen hand. On another occasion, a gold ring was
seen knocking against the iron rail at the head of the bedstead. Last
Sunday we questioned the nurse and housemaid on all these points. They
were in a very nervous state about the whole matter, and evidently
deeply impressed by the circumstances, since they knew nothing about
Spiritualism, until these phenomena forced themselves upon their
attention.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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