Preliminary Report of the Commission Appointed by the University of Pennsylvania to Investigate Modern Spiritualism eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 225 pages of information about Preliminary Report of the Commission Appointed by the University of Pennsylvania to Investigate Modern Spiritualism.

Preliminary Report of the Commission Appointed by the University of Pennsylvania to Investigate Modern Spiritualism eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 225 pages of information about Preliminary Report of the Commission Appointed by the University of Pennsylvania to Investigate Modern Spiritualism.

The Medium:  Now, Spirits, will you rap on the floor?

Thirty seconds here elapsed with no response, when one glass was heard to click against another, and the Medium exclaimed, “Oh.”

The Medium (repeating):  Will you rap on the floor?

Thirty seconds now elapse without any demonstration.

The Medium (aside):  It seems to be a failure.  They have done it.

Another click of the glasses, which passes without comment.

Mr. Sellers:  We will have to set down the result of the experiment on glass tumblers as negative.  It may be well to try it later.

The Medium (evidently reluctant to abandon the test):  Suppose now, as we have gone so far, we kind of form a chain.

The company retained their positions with hands joined, and the Spirits were repeatedly requested to make their presence known—­Mr. Pepper, at the suggestion of the Medium, asking the Spirit of his friend, Henry Seybert, to manifest its presence by one rap—­but all efforts to elicit such response proved ineffectual.  The glasses were then removed and the requests were again reiterated, but with a like negative result.  The Medium finally remarked that she had rarely known of failures with the glass tumblers, but it had been a long time since she had tried them.  She suggested that this branch of the investigation might be deferred until later.

The Committee acquiesced in the suggestion and returned to the pine table, where, with the Medium, they resume their original positions.  The Stenographer is seated at the table in the rear of the company.

Mr. Sellers:  Now we have returned to the table.  Can you indicate on the table your presence, Mr. Seybert?

An interval of sixty-four seconds here followed.

The Medium:  Ask some questions that would interest him in life.

As Mr. Sellers was repeating to Mr. Pepper the suggestion made by the
Medium, three raps were heard.

Mr. Sellers:  There is now a communication that he is present.

Mr. Pepper:  Harry, would you like to know something about this investigation of Spiritual manifestations, which you had so much at heart while living?

Three raps—­prompt and decided.

Mr. Sellers:  Do you, Mr. Seybert, at the present time, see the persons present?  Are they visible before you?

Two raps—­noticeably slow.

Mr. Sellers (aside):  He says “No, they are not.”

The Medium (interpreting):  Well, that would be too—­’partially.’

Dr. Koenig:  What would that mean—­that he only sees some of us, or that he sees none of us entirely, but only partially?

The Medium:  That he sees us, but not clearly.

Mr. Sellers:  Will you please rap the number of the members of the
Committee who are present at this time?

Three raps.

Mr. Sellers:  Now, say how many.

Three raps.

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Preliminary Report of the Commission Appointed by the University of Pennsylvania to Investigate Modern Spiritualism from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.