The Shadow World

ts. The power unaccountably weakened. Miller and several others of the circle believed these

said: "The atmosphere of the place is not good." By which she meant that the associations of the office, with

d, "is this: we're now getting do

e, square knot, and finally a long brass tack was driven down through both strands of the tape into the chair-arm. This was in reality as secure as a

. Howard, Mrs. Quigg, and Miss Brush dropped out before the sitting was over. Only Brierly and myself met the psychic at the Camerons' on the following Thursday. Again we sat patiently for long hours, with only th

ists were tied and tacked, as before. Again we nailed her dress to the floor and covered her knees with a newspaper, and Miller and I held threads which were knotted to her wrists. Nevertheless, under these conditions the table moved while no one touc

to twist and sigh, and "Maud" complained that her mamma had been injured by the jerking of the thread by Professor Miller, and said that the sitting would have to stop. We lighted up an

with a knowledge of the wonderful deceptions of somnambulists and hysterics, I began to doubt. I urged Miller to try one more sitting. He consented, and we met at Brierly's house. Nothing ha

, and to take the cone apart and put the smaller end upon the table. I did as she requested, and drew the psychic's chair and table

her, and, drawing both ends of the tape into my left hand, I passed them under the tip of my forefinger in such wise that I could feel

ng flesh-and-blood person, and all the time I held to my tapes, carefully noting that no movement, beyond a slight tremor, took place in the psychic's arms. Just before each movement of the cone she shivered convulsively and sighed, but while the cone moved she was deathly still. Each time as the cone left the table it seemed to rock to and fro as though a hand were trying to gras

ler. "But the circles have been too often changed," he asserted, "and the places have not been well chosen. All must be unhurried and harmonious," h

g. I held Mrs. Brierly's hands, and controlled (by means of my tightly stretched tape) the movements of the psychic, and yet the megaphone was lifted, handled, used as a mouthpiece by "spirits." I felt that if at the moment I had been able to turn on

verybody dropped away but Mr. and Mrs. Fowler, Dr. Towne, Brierly, and myself. They were

here and there, we finally settled upon a series of afternoon sessions in Fowler's own house. This was the twenty-sixth sitting of the series, and Cameron's Amateur Psychical Socie

d. "I never sit now without a feeling that perhaps my power is gone forever. This Eastern climate is so harsh for

part," I said, with

t give up,"

Grant, or some other obstinate person. "I recognize the truth of what you complain about, but I am sure

ceived us at the appointed hour with quiet cordiality, and suggested

, though Brierly insisted that, as the house belonged to Fowler, it would be more convincing if he were not con

down through both tape and doubled sleeve. Not content even with this, Fowler put a second tape about each wrist, to add further security and to take off the strain in case of any unconscious movement. Another tape was carried across Mrs. Smiley's dress about four inches below her knees, and pinned there. Next the ends were drawn tight and tied to the back rung of her chair. By this we intended

he psychic's right hand, while Fowler sat at her left. Brierly and Mrs. Fowler were opposite Mrs. Smiley. The room was lighter than at any other of our si

iller and Harris and their attitu

to plod patiently and to wait uncomplainingly for hours at a time will not go far.' I confess that the half-heartedness of our members has disappointed me. I told them at the outset not to expect entertainment, but they did. It is tiresome to sit night after night and get nothing for one's pains. It seem

t of a table, or even of the trumpet, seems rather tame, as compared with the doings of 'Katie King'; but, after all, a single genuine case of telekinesis should be of the

ler believed in he

ly, who had not been present

until her whole arm began to thresh about like a flail in a most alarming way. The action became so violent at last that she called upon me for aid. I found it exceedingly difficult to subdue her agitation and silence her rebellious limb, but I did finally succeed. Nor was this all.

he said. "He loves to jump in and seize upon some one'

e!" Mrs. Fowler shu

erly. "It is actually no worse t

-became entranced, and proceeded to impersonate lost souls, 'earth-bound spirits,' in the manner of our friend Mrs. Harris, and wailed and wept and moaned in most grewsome fashion. How

he calls hysteria," put in Brierly. "I

y end," said I, regretfully. "Of the original number, only Brierly remains. Wouldn't ou

responded. "I feel th

way you should feel. If you are at

We have plenty of time. You've

fluidic double," of which the Continental philosophers have much to say. If not convinced, I was at least under conviction that the liberation of the astral self was

of leaving your body when in trance," I s

a little to one side of my material self, to which I am somehow attached. I can see my body and what goes on around it, and yet,

on of a physical connection be

ning threads went out from me and those in the circle, and sometimes these threads meet and tw

of M. Meurice's phenomena. Here also seemed to be an unconscious corroboration of Albert de Rochas's experiments in the "externalization of motivity," as he calls it. The "cobwebby feeling" of the finger

spirit land," I suggested. "You some

that unites my spirit with my body and holds me fast. Once when I had resolved never to return, that little band of light began to tug at me, and, although it broke my heart to le

us about it mo

e no words in which to describe it. All I can say

l of a fawn. It's all 'material' for him. Now, I am nothing but a mild-mannered editor. I have all the facts I require concerning the spirit world. I am busied with trying to make people happy here on this earth. But these scientific 'sharps' are avid for any fact wh

with the scientific method. And as for my treatment of Mrs. Smiley, I am following

responded the devo

vered over her while she slept. "Mitchell" healed her if she were ill. "Maudie" comforted her loneliest hours. These voices, these hands were an integral part of her world-as necessary and as dear to her as those of her friends in the flesh. As she talked on

seemed to lower herself at will, or upon the suggestion of those in the circle. I had adopted the theory that in the lighter trance she spoke unconsciously and wrote automatically. In the second, and deeper, trance she became the somnambulist possessed of diabolic cleverness, when, with the higher senses in abeyance, she was able to dec

hirty sittings, and had developed (apparently) the power to throw her into trance almost instantly. A few moments of monotonous humming, intoned while my hand rested upon hers, generall

her arms. Her fingers grew hot, and seemed to quiver with electric energy. Ten minutes later all movement ceased. Her temperature abruptly fell. Her breath grew tranquil, and at last appe

or: "I can tell by your tone t

or convincement, but I'd like t

sked: "What is the most conclusive phenome

t at the moment I think the playing of a closed piano, which

he playing of a closed

where and have a sitting.' The plan pleased me, and, after some banter pro and con, we made up a party of six or eight people, and adjourned to the home of the chairman of the lecture committee, a certain Miss Halsey. I want to emphasize the high character of Miss Halsey, as well as t

sitting are concerned, they have very little value, for they took place in the dark and the medium was not closely guarded. It was only toward the end o

e for some time, and writing had apparently taken place on the pads in the middle of the table. But all this was inconclusive, for the reason that Mrs. Smiley was not fastened as she is now. I took it all with a pinch of salt. My mental reservations must have reache

e the piano

s only a confused jangle made answer. I was unable to secure any orderly succession of notes. 'Can't you keep time while I whistle?' I insisted, with intent to show that intelligence guided these sounds. The 'spirits' twanged three times in the affirmative, and when I began to whistle 'Yankee Doodle' the invisible musician kept perfect time, playing accordi

I may say I have had many experiments quite as convincing, but never a repetition of this peculiar phenomenon. It is useless to talk about secret wires, or a mo

in a full light an accordion playing b

or in the home of some one who knew her, I might have suspected fraud-but it did not! It happened in the study of one of the most respected women in the city, a student who did not believe in psychic phenomena. Furthermore, my own hand was on the lid of the piano. I was so convinced of Mrs. Smiley's possession of some occult force that I

merely trying to find out what your best experiments

e are, must be an agitation of what we call 'molecules of matter,' and is to that extent physical. I have no patience with th

oice of "Maudie" issued from the darkness, saying: "Mr. Mitchell wants Mr. Garland to change places

s the threads fastened to mama's wrists. He wants you and Mr

while I retained the other. I then called the attention of Brierly to the fact that the table was seventeen inches from the feet of the psychic,

a chalk mark about it, numbering it "Position No. 1." Immediately after his return to his seat the table was strongly pushed away fr

magnet on a pile of iron filings? How can a thought in the brain of man contract a set of muscles and lift a cannon-ball? At bo

tion in your thread

a faint quive

, and yet the

ainst me!" called Mrs. Fo

se movements of the table-generally to the left. The present experiment did not stand alone. You must remember also that the table was at this time more than two f

ncerned in this movement of the table," I said. "The

," answer

declare

himed in M

of phantoms. I confess that when I read it first I smiled with the rest, for his description of the process was not very poetic. He declared that he saw a white vapor steam from the side of the psychic, like vapor from a kettle, forming a little cloud, and from this nebulous mass various phantasms appeared, ranging from a little child to a

f, her struggles being over, her flesh-free spirit were at large in t

do not make a movement now without warning me of your intentions. Keep the circuit closed." Here I addressed "Wilbur": "Let's see if you can handle the cone under strictly test conditions. Come now,

n, while I took note of the convulsive tremor which swept from time to time over the psychic. It was exactly as if she were a dynamo generating some unknown electrical energy, which, after accumulating

me over her did the horn move. So intense was the silence each time that we could hea

of the psychic. We must look to subtler causes for this phenomenon. Perhaps Maxwell's theory that some magn

nd yet I assert there was nothing to indicate that the psychic shared in these movements. She lay as still as a corpse. Nothing but a minute continuous tremor in the thread told that she was still alive. I was enormously impre

t work, a sentient entity in the air about us. There is the same precision in all this which Lombroso observed. It really seems that the medium has the faculty of using her senses at a distance. To say that she is handling that co

interest, of course, but no bewilderment. My mind was perfect

in pain, and at last the little voice of "Maudie" anxiously a

ense of my plan was disturbing her and interfering with our experiment. To remove the uneasiness, I replied: "No, I am going to stay; for I think '

do the best he can for you. He says go down-stairs now and get yo

nded to make the sitting less conclusive. As I followed my hostess down the stairs I shared her remorseful pity of poor Mrs. Smiley, bou

ular tastes. If she is doing it to advance the cause of spiritualism, s

posed to cut corners. "Well, Garland, what do you intend to do with the facts obtained this afternoon? You have plenty of authority behind which to she

r grant the objectivity of phantasms, merely because we have proved the movements of a particle of matter from A to B without a known push or a pull, for such admission is far-reaching. If Maxwell is right, these phenomena-even the most complicated of them-are metapsychical, but perfectly normal. For example, he says: 'A movement without contact was forthcoming this afternoon. I placed a table upside down on a linen sheet. M. Meur

nded Mrs. Fowler, "if Dr. Ma

was often ill after his experiments, and felt nausea and a disturbing weakness in the solar plexus, as though h

d at the Villa Carmen in Algiers? What will you do with the photographs of the spectre

hey? That's

cs would have done. He saw a helmeted soldier leave the séance cabinet and walk about. He clasped his hand, he affirmed, and found it warm and jointed (perfectly real), and he secured the breath of this phantom in a tube of baryta so unmistakabl

o nail his psychic down, as we have done. He was the on-looker, after all-not the experimenter he should have been and wished to be. Really his ph

his report in my li

though issuing from a trap-door, appeared B. B., born, so to speak, out of the flooring outside the curtain, which had not stirred. He tries, as it seems to me, to come among us, but he has a limping, hesitating gait. A

u reading fr

iving and walking being, cannot seemingly be produced by any trick. On the day after this experiment I minutely examined the flagstones [which made up the floor of the séance room], and also the coach-house and stable immediately unde

de of no value by the confession of a coachma

stand, and Richet still defends both himsel

that, in spite of all his proof, he will not

cult times to report the history of "Katie King." I do not believe I have been deceived. I am convinced that I have been present at realities, not deceptions. Certainly I cannot say i

r day, who has been trained in scientific ways, is willing to be answerable for. However, the most extraordinary story I have ever read is that of Archdeacon Colley, Rector of Stockton, Warwickshire, who declared in a public lecture-and many times since, over his signature-that he saw the miraculous issue of phantoms born direct

nd reassumed our positions. The table, which was quite out of reach of Mrs. Smiley's hands, now stood with its end toward the th

ce, and I for one felt that the sitting was over. I was perfectly certain that nothing could hap

delivered through it while Mrs. Smiley, mentally normal, took part in the conversation. M

e individuality of the phantom voices is very characteristic. This ended the sitting. The voices had not been as strong as we had hoped for, but as we threw on the light we found a number of messages written upon the sheets of paper which Fowler had put in the middle o

while the horn is in the air, or while the

ke any test you please. I feel that

gain," I said, t