“Now, I cannot say that in this particular case the raps were not caused by the toe joints of the lady.  The thing that puzzles me in this theory, is as to how the toe joints happened to know the name of my friend, where she died, etc., which facts the lady herself did not know, and never had known.”

It has been the writer’s good fortune to witness practically this same experiment, performed by a very expert medium, Dr. Schlossenger, who was traveling over the country a few years ago.

I was residing at that time in Falls City, Neb., a place of a few thousand population.  For two winters I had traveled some as a magician, so when the medium came to town, and began to perform his miracles, certain members of the community suggested having me witness one of his seances, thinking I would be able to discover whether his tests were genuine, or whether they were performed by the aid of trickery.  Accordingly, one evening, a prominent physician invited me, with certain relatives and friends, to attend a seance given in his parlors.

When we arrived I was introduced to the medium, an elderly gentleman with a long white beard, and wearing glasses.  He appeared to be slightly deaf, as he placed his hand to his ear and had my name repeated.  He was introduced to the remainder of the company en masse, the names of the visitors not being given to him.

The medium soon announced that “his mission on this earth was to absolutely prove to humanity the immortality of the soul.”  He now offered to give some tests to those desiring it, and asked for a small table which was placed in an adjoining room.  He invariably held his hand to his ear, to catch what was being said, being apparently quite deaf.  He also used this same expedient when listening to the voices of the unseen spirits, and reporting their communications.

My father and another gentleman were selected for the first test, as they were considered very skeptical in such matters.  As they retired to a closed room I did not see the experiment, but will give some parts of it as reported to me, farther on.  In a short time they returned to the parlor, engaged in a discussion over the matter; and my father remarked, “I do not know how you got your information, but I feel certain it was not from my brother, or he would have given a certain point correctly.”  The medium then said, “If I will tell you where your father died, and the disease he died of, will you be convinced?” My father replied, “I suppose I will have to be, if you can do that.”

They then retired, and the medium succeeded partially in the experiment; and would have certainly succeeded entirely, had my father followed his instructions.  I will describe what was reported to me of this test, farther on.

I now offered myself for a test.  I retired to the room with the medium, and incidentally offered him one dollar and fifty cents, the same my father had given him; but he refused the money, saying:  “Your father is not convinced, and I will not take any more money.”