Mrs. Piper & the Society for Psychical Research

ons by Professor William James of Har

is first sitting Mrs Piper felt very strange thrills, and thought she was going to faint. At the following sitting Mr Cocke put his hands on her head. She felt at once that she was on the point of losing consciousness. She saw a flood of light, as well as unrecognised human faces, and a

mmunicated by her means in the earlier days. Phinuit, who later took almost sole possession of Mrs Piper's organism, was far from being alone at first; his place was disputed. The first controls, if they t

fined himself to diagnosing and giving medical

w what they did, but it is certain that from that time Dr Phinuit became so much the principal control that he had almost sole possession of Mrs Piper's organism for years. As we shall see, he ce

first recognise all the importance of the Piper case. No shorthand report of the sittings was made, and he did not even take complete notes. However, he assured himself that fraud had nothing to do with the phenomena, but without taking all the minute precautions which others have since taken. He satisfied himself that here was an interesting mys

ich she believed were unknown outside her family. On the day following Professor James's sister-in-law went in her turn to see Mrs Piper, and obtained even better results than her mother. For example, the inquirer had placed a letter in Italian on the medium's forehead. It must be observed that Mrs Piper is entirely ignorant of that language

uld not know his name or intentions beforehand, he went and asked her for a sitting. Intimate details, principally about Mrs James's family, were repeated. Others even more circumstantial were given. What was the least easily obtained was just what could have been learned with the greatest facility if Mrs Piper had acquired these details fraudulently or by normal means, namely, proper names. Professor Ja

hinuit repeats the name thus several times, and very often only succeeds in giving it exactly after several attempts. It

Giblin. Professor James had lost a child a year before. He was mentioned, and his name, Herman, was given as Herrin. But the

wife's families intimately, she must be possessed of supernormal powers. In short, his first scepticism was shaken, and he had twelve further sitt

me examples of Phinu

nk-book. At a sitting held soon afterwards Phinuit was asked if he could he

companied by Mrs James, "Your child has a boy named Robert F. as a playfellow

ld, haven't they? But Phinuit made a mistake about the sex; he said it was a boy." Mrs Ja

hat one of her daughters, mentioned by name, had at the time a bad pain in he

re the arrival of any telegram, the death of their aunt, which had just

t killed a grey and white cat with ether. The wretched animal spu

d announced, had written her a letter warning her against all kinds of mediums. And

on end. His remarks are frequently incoherent, and often also obviously false. But, at the very least, in the good sittings, truthfulness and exactitude much preponderate, whatever may be the source from which Phinuit obtains his facts; whether he gets them from di

persons about whom he is consulted. He feels the objects, and says at once, "I feel the influence of such-a-one

nowledge of Mrs James's family. Now, there were no members of the family in the ne

eral features of the phenomena. I shall be able in future, while reporti

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