He was a good
looking young man, and said he had met some of those present in
Australia, but no one seemed to recognize him. He was succeeded by a
male figure, who had materialized on the previous occasion. As he passed
through the curtain, a female figure appeared beside him, bearing a very
bright light, as though to show him the way. She did not come beyond the
_portière_, but every one in the room saw her distinctly. On account of
the dress and complexion of the male figure, we had wrongly christened
him "The Bedouin;" but my son, Frank Marryat, who is a sailor, now found
out he was an East Indian by addressing him in Hindustani, to which he
responded in a low voice. Some one asked him to take a seat amongst us,
upon which he seized a heavy chair in one hand and flourished it above
his head. He then squatted, native fashion, on his haunches on the floor
and left us, as before, by vanishing suddenly.
"Joey" now announced that they were going to try the experiment of
"_showing us how the spirits were made from the medium_." This was the
crowning triumph of the evening. Mr. Eglinton appeared in the very midst
of us in trance. He entered the room backwards, and as if fighting with
the power that pushed him in, his eyes were shut, and his breath was
drawn with difficulty. As he stood thus, holding on to a chair for
support, an airy mass like a cloud of tobacco smoke was seen on his left
hip, his legs became illuminated by lights travelling up and down them,
and a white film settled about his head and shoulders. The mass
increased, and he breathed harder and harder, whilst invisible hands
_pulled the filmy drapery out of his hip_ in long strips, that
amalgamated as soon as formed, and fell to the ground to be succeeded by
others. The cloud continued to grow thicker, and we were eagerly
watching the process, when, in the twinkling of an eye, the mass had
evaporated, and a spirit, full formed, stood beside him. No one could
say _how_ it had been raised in the very midst of us, nor whence it
came, but _it was there_. Mr. Eglinton then retired with the new-born
spirit behind the curtains, but in another moment he came (or he was
thrown out) amongst us again, and fell upon the floor. The curtains
opened again, and the full figure of "Ernest" appeared and raised the
medium by the hand. As he saw him, Mr. Eglinton fell on his knees, and
"Ernest" drew him out of sight. Thus ended the second of these two
wonderful _séances_. Thus published reports of them were signed with the
full names and addresses of those who witnessed them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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