Witchcraft of New England Explained by Modern SpiritualismPutnam, Allen
Religion
Witchcraft of New England Explained by Modern Spiritualism
Putnam, Allen
Spiritualism; Witchcraft -- New England
6. "_While in the prison in the clear daylight there was seen in her arms
... a little child ... which, at the officer's approach, ran and
vanished._" _Vanished_; that word intimates that it was a spectral or
spirit child--perhaps her own departed one. By whom was it seen? By an
officer of the prison, and therefore by one not likely to be her
confederate in attempt at imposture. Not by him only; for a chambermaid
also saw the little one, and was made sick by the sight; which effect
argues against her having had any complicity in a trick. That testimony to
such occurrences was given in court, is vouched for by Winthrop, and must
have been, or surely should have been, read by subsequent historians.
Their adroitness at leaving certain classes of facts in undisturbed
obscurity, nearly rivals the cunning of agents to whom they impute the
origin and production of witchcraft manifestations.
The visible presence of that evanescent child shows very clearly that Mrs.
Jones was endowed with some of the rarer and exceptional properties of
mediumship--that she possessed those special elements in the midst of
which spirits could be robed in such materialized encasements, that
material eyes could discern them. Angels looking and acting like men (Gen.
xviii.) were seen by Abraham and Lot. One was seen (Judg. xiii.) by Manoah
and his wife. Another by Tobias, son of Tobit (Apoc.); another by
disciples who were walking toward Emmaus (John xx.); others also by
thousands of individuals in various ages and nations, sporadically.
To-day, distinct perception of materialized spirits in the presence of
Mrs. Andrews at Moravia, N. Y., around Dr. Slade of New York city, and
many others are reported almost weekly, and are well attested. In these
modern instances, generally, some special, though simple, pre-arrangements
are made to facilitate such manifestations; but we may very reasonably
doubt whether anything of the kind was resorted to by Mrs. Jones, because,
being in prison charged with the awful crime of witchcraft, the
presumption is imperative that she must have lacked both means and
opportunity to command tangible apparatus either for helping on a genuine
spirit manifestation, or producing an optical illusion upon her keepers.
_Mortal._ "How do spirits materialize?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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