Part 3 (2/2)

A very sprightly spirit came briskly up to Mrs. Fay, extending her hands, and leading her up to the cabinet, where they conversed for some time. This was followed by what claimed to be Bertha. She came very lively, greeting me cordially. The form was very like, and the expression of character a.s.suring, but, owing to the unusually poor light and hasty interview, I prefer to withhold conclusions for the present. More decided in its character was another spirit that followed soon after. There was a centre-table between me and the cabinet. This spirit, instead of coming into the middle of the room, pa.s.sed to the left, moving the table out, and coming directly to me. This brought her more in the light, where I had a better opportunity of seeing her. Both of these spirits appeared to be the exact counterparts of those who had come to me so often at Mrs. Fay's, but who at other places exhibited a great deal of variation. Was the close resemblance due to the fact that Mrs. Fay was sitting by my side? The question is an interesting one, suggesting further experience.

It may be well to state here that every opportunity was granted for examining the cabinet, which I did to my entire satisfaction. I also obtained from the builder a certified statement that it was constructed of kiln-dried lumber, tongued and grooved, nailed, screwed, and glued together in such a way as to render it impossible to remove the boards, or for a confederate to enter it except through the door in the audience-room, in the presence of the visitors. All were permitted to inspect it before the medium took her seat. There could be no question but that the cabinet and its surroundings were above suspicion. This left me free to study the manifestations purely as materializations, or personations by the medium. I know that the forms that came to me were distinct individual beings, and in no instance was I able to discover any indications that would lead me to suppose that the medium personated any of the forms.

At the next seance which I visited, on Sept. 15, the weather was again oppressive, so much so that the seance would have been abandoned had it not been that some of the visitors, who had come from another State, were unwilling to give it up. Notwithstanding the excessive heat, the seance proved a very interesting one.

While little Maud was standing at the curtain talking, there was a remarkable show of hands and arms above her head. Sometimes six of them would be moving back and forth outside the curtain at once. About eight feet from the cabinet, and directly in front of me, so near that I could have touched it without moving from my seat, appeared a very delicate little hand and arm. Like a bird that hovers around some object that it dare not approach too closely, this hand and arm dallied and played before me for several minutes, visible to all present. On the left side of the room, more than six feet from the cabinet door, a form materialized in full view, and came forward and shook hands with a lady on my right.

While engrossed in these things, I had almost forgotten that my princ.i.p.al object in being there was to study the form of Bertha as compared with her appearance at other places. I was aroused from my meditations by an involuntary shock that almost always warns me of what is coming. Turning quickly around, I saw what appeared to be Bertha, gliding from the cabinet. She pa.s.sed rapidly to the left side of the room, moving the centre-table and coming directly to me. Throwing her arms around my neck, she greeted me with, ”I love you,” and then, with a frightened expression and half hysterical laugh, she retreated to the cabinet. This was totally unlike Bertha, who, in her perfectly confiding and childlike bearing toward me, never felt it necessary to express her feelings in any such bold declaration. Knowing that there are phantoms that can take on almost any form they choose, the outward resemblance of these beings has no weight with me, in the absence of mental characteristics.

At a seance held by Mrs. Sawyer, Sept. 29, there were present twenty-five persons, most of whom received more or less attention from the spirits. Little Maud was very lively and full of witty, playful remarks. Near the close of the seance, she asked me to come into the cabinet and try to quiet the medium, who was exhausted in consequence of having watched with a sick friend the previous night. On entering the cabinet, I found that Mrs. Sawyer was not entranced, and took hold of both her hands, endeavoring to give her all the mesmeric strength I could.

While thus situated, conversing freely with the medium and little Maud (who was evidently pleased to have me there), a spirit materialized and went out among the audience. After it returned, another materialized, and taking my left hand while Mrs. Sawyer held my right, we all three walked out into the room, some distance from the cabinet, in full view of all present. This was a new experience for me. To suppose that the twenty-five honest, intelligent persons who witnessed this were deceived, or that the appearance of the form was due to a confederate, is simply absurd. I know it materialized in the cabinet, within reach of where I sat.

What was claimed by the manager to be Bertha came out, and I gave her a test to be used by her at another seance.

In following the role of strict investigation, and in honestly relating what has come to me at these seances, I am forced to state that the form that appeared on this occasion was not Bertha, and that there was, as subsequent events proved, an attempt to deceive me. Mrs. Sawyer is a gentlewoman and a strong medium, but she is surrounded by a coa.r.s.e magnetism, the baleful influence of which she seems powerless to resist.

CHAPTER VII.

SeANCES WITH MRS. FAIRCHILD.

The mediums.h.i.+p of Mrs. Fairchild differs from that of others inasmuch as she stands outside of the cabinet, under the influence of one of her controls, managing the seance with great skill and judgment, thus eliminating from her seances all chance of transfiguration or personation by the medium, forcing the skeptic or investigator to the conclusion that the forms are either genuine materializations or confederates.

The position of her cabinet, placed as it is between two rooms, is certainly open to criticism. A thorough examination of it, however, revealed no possible chance for the concealment of draperies or the entrance of a confederate.

In order to meet the objections which have been made to this arrangement, she has drawn a light curtain across the corner of the room. Backed as it is by solid walls, the forms that come from this temporary cabinet cannot be confederates, and the skeptic may answer as best he can the question, What are they?

This cabinet, however, is only used occasionally, and the average visitor sees only what comes from the main cabinet. If this temporary arrangement is so successful, and I know it is, there is some force in the objection made against using the other. Every medium is in justice bound to give to visitors the best conditions possible. Mr. Whitlock thus describes seances held with Mrs. Fairchild, Sept. 12 and 19:--

”The medium was controlled in a few moments by 'Cadaleene,' a very interesting spirit, who managed the seance with perfect nonchalance, selecting with ease and correctness the persons whom the spirits desired to come to the cabinet, thereby fulfilling the double office, with Mrs. Fairchild, of medium and manager.

”During this seance the medium was outside, and in view of the audience, except on one or two occasions, when she went into the cabinet for a moment; and at the last, when her control, Cadaleene, who had promised to materialize, came out so perfect in action and voice that I shall never forget her grateful attentions as she knelt at my side. Time after time more than one form was out of the cabinet at the same moment, and in one case five persons, including a child.

”One of the most convincing proofs of materialization was the following: A lady, whom we understood to be a relative of Col.

Bailey, called him up to the cabinet and kissed him; and while he was standing with both arms around her, talking, she dematerialized. This occurred fully three feet from the cabinet, in sight of the audience, a dozen of whom must have been within six feet of the form, and some of them as near the cabinet.

”The following Sat.u.r.day, Sept. 19, we again attended her afternoon seance. At this seance we found Mrs. Isabella Beecher Hooker, of Hartford, Conn.; Mr. Thomas Hazard, of Providence, R.

I.; Mr. John Wetherbee, of Boston, and many other well known persons, were present.

”What we have already written in reference to Cadaleene and her control of the medium, is equally applicable to this seance; also the expressions of confidence in reference to the cabinet.

I had expressed to a friend, whom I met in the office of the _Banner of Light_, that while, to the best of my knowledge, after an examination, I believed Mrs. Fairchild's cabinet to be all right, still I would like to see the same results in a cabinet made by hanging a curtain across the corner of the room.

Judge of my surprise when, after the seance had commenced, Cadaleene said, 'Mr. Facts-man, I heard what you told the brave, and you see we have the curtain across the corner, to show you what we can do.'

”The seance continued in the regular cabinet, as usual, for about an hour and a half. The light was good, and many spirits manifested their presence, among which the following interesting experience occurred: A gentleman, who does not choose to have his name mentioned, had a communication the day before from a spirit-friend, in writing, through his own hand, promising to materialize at this seance. He told me that this spirit had not only fulfilled this promise, but had told him things that no other person knew but himself, and that he recognized her fully.

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