CHAPTER I -- Inter-Relationship of the Two Worlds

THE reality of an invisible world surrounding the physical world is for
many difficult to comprehend, since the mind sphere is often limited to the
visible and tangible; however, it requires but little thought to realize the
constant change of matter as it occurs in three forms, solid, liquid and
gaseous, in its range back and forth between the visible and invisible.

Visible nature is but the invisible, the Real, made manifest through a
combination of its elements; science informs us that fully ninety-five per
cent of vegetation is derived out of the air, or atmosphere. Is not mankind
living at the bottom of an invisible ocean, the atmosphere, which is even
more important to physical existence than any of the visible physical
substances, since life can continue but a few moments out of it?

Nitrogen gas, constituting the greater bulk of the atmosphere, enters
vitally into vegetable and animal growth and existence. Hydrogen and oxygen
gases are constantly changing from a state of invisible vapor to visible and
solid form. Carbon offers another example of similar transformation. Sounds,
odors, the thermic law of heat and cold. and multitudes of other phenomena,
ranging from the infinitesimal electron to the energy which moves the planets
and suns, are all intangible, invisible factors.

All activities, whether chemical, vital or mental, operate invisibly, as
observed in chemical affinity, in energy, in plant life, in animal life, in
intelligence and mentalization. So in every department of our manifest
physical nature it is evident that all elements have their root and permanence
in the invisible. The invisible is the source of the visible.

Thus when we realize that the objective is only a combination of
invisible substances and forces, the existence of an unseen world is readily
comprehensible. Considering the wonderful advancement of science into the
field of nature's finer forces, it is inconceivable that any thinking mind can
fail to recognize

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the rationale of the independent existence of the human spirit apart for the
physical body. No subject has been better authenticated through the ages and
in all literature than that of spirit existence and a future life.

Fiske, the historian, says: "Among all races of men, as far as can now be
determined, ancestor worship" (contact with the spirits of the departed) "was
the earliest form of worship. . . . prevailing in Africa, Asia, China, Japan,
among the Aryans of Europe and the American Indian tribes."

Allen, in his "History of Civilization" writes: "Rude tribes the world over
are found to have ideas of a human soul, a spirit world, and generally a belief
in immortality. Savages consider the next life simply a continuation of this;
they also recognize an other self which has mysterious powers. Death is the
abandoning of the body by this mysterious other self, which is conceived of
as still existing in the near neighborhood. The loves and hates of this world
are transferred to the spirit world."

Confucius said: "Bemoan not the departed with excessive grief. The dead
are devoted and faithful friends; they are ever associated with us."

The writers of classic times-Socrates. Herodotus, Sophocles, Euripides,
Plato, Aristotle, Horace, Virgil, Plutarch, Josephus, Maximus of Tyre-
repeatedly refer to spirit existence as a well known fact. Cicero wrote: "Is not
almost all heaven filled with the human? Those very gods themselves had
their original here below, and ascended from hence into heaven."

That early Christianity recognized spirits is too well authenticated in the
writings of St. Anthony, Tertullian, Origen and their contemporaries to
require emphasis.

The Bible is replete with references to spirit existence. "We also are
compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses." Heb. 12:1. "Beloved,
believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God." 1 John
4:1. "The spirits of just men made perfect." Heb. 12:23. "There is a natural
body and there is a spiritual body . . . First that which is natural, and
afterward that which is spiritual." 1 Cor. 15:44, 46. Many other similar
biblical citations might be given.

Swedenborg contributed volumes on this subject. Dr. Samuel Johnson
said: "I do not believe in spirits-I have seen too many of them."

John Wesley wrote in "The Invisible World": "It is true that the English
in general-indeed most of the men of learning in Europe-have given up all
accounts of witches and apparitions as

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mere old wives' fables. I am sorry for it, and I willingly take this opportunity
to offer my solemn protest against this violent compliment which so many
that believe in the Bible pay to those who do not believe it. Such belief is in
direct opposition, not only to the Bible, but to the suffrage of the wisest and
best of men in all ages and nations. They well know that the giving up of
witchcraft is in effect giving up the Bible."

That psychic phenomena occurred at the house of Mr. Samuel Wesley,
father of Rev. John Wesley, at Epworth, and continued with noises and
disturbances of various kinds for many months, is well known.

Shakespeare, Milton, Wordsworth, Tennyson, Longfellow, and many other
poets wrote with profound understanding of the continued existence of man.

We are all familiar with the convincing results of the psychical
research work of modern scientists, philosophers, ministers, physicians,
psychologists and other investigators-Prof. Crookes, Alfred Wallace, Sir
Oliver Lodge, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Rev. R. J. Campbell, Archdeacon
Colley, Rev. Newton, Rev. Savage, W. T. Stead, Camille Flammarion, Dr.
Baraduc, Dr. Janet, Prof.Richet, Cesare Lombroso, Dr. Hodgson,
Dr. I. K. Funk, Prof. James, Prof. Hyslop, Dr. Carrington and many others.

Dr. Thomas J. Hudson, author of "The Law of Psychic Phenomena,"
wrote: "The man who denies the phenomena of spiritualism today is not
entitled to be called a skeptic, he is simply ignorant."

The Rev. Dr. George M. Searle, Rector of the Catholic Church of St.
Paul the Apostle, New York City, said: "The reality of the existence of
spirits in modern spiritism is no longer an open question, even among 
scientific men who have examined the subject. Any one who considers 
the manifestation of them as mere humbug, trickery or delusion, is
simply not up to date."

"In our times no one denies the real existence of spiritualistic facts,
except a few who live with their feet on the earth and their brains in
 the moon," wrote G. G. Franco, S. J., in "Civilta Cattolica." 
"Spiritistic phenomena are external facts which fall within the range 
of the senses and can easily be observed by all, and when such facts
are attested by so many well informed and credible witnesses, it is
useless, as well as foolish and ridiculous, to fight against proved evidence.
The facts remain assured, even for reasonable men."

The spiritual world and the physical world are constantly intermingling;
the spiritual plane is not a vague intangibility but

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is real and natural, a vast zone of refined substance, of activity and
progress, and life there is a continuation of life in the physical world. On the
physical plane of expression the soul obtains knowledge through experience
and contact with objective things, and intelligence finds itself by manifesting
through physical organs; in the spiritual plane progression of the individual
continues, the mind unfolding along lines of reason, through spontaneity of
service, the attainment and appreciation of high ideals and an ever broadening
conception of life's purpose.

The change called "death,"-the word is a misnomer-universally regarded
with gloomy fear, occurs so naturally and simply that the greater number,
after passing out of the physical are not aware that the transition has been
made, and having no knowledge of a spiritual life they are totally
unconscious of having passed into another state of being. Deprived of their
physical sense organs, they are shut out from the physical light, and lacking,
a mental perception of the high purpose of existence, these individuals are
spiritually blind and find themselves in a twilight condition-the "outer
darkness" mentioned in the Bible-and linger in the realm known as the Earth
Sphere.

Death does not make a saint of a sinner, nor a sage of a fool. The
mentality is the same as before and individuals carry with them their old
desires, habits, dogmas, faulty teachings, indifference or disbelief in a future
life. "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." Prov. 23:7.

Assuming spirit forms which are the result of their thought life on earth,
millions remain for a time in the earth sphere, and often in the environment
of their earth lives, still held by their habits or interests. "Where your
treasure is there will your heart be also. Matt. 6:21.

Those who have progressed to the higher spirit world ever endeavor to
enlighten these earthbound spirits, but the latter, due to preconceptions
concerning the hereafter, labor under the delusion that the departed are
"dead," or are "ghosts," and often refuse to recognize their friends or to
realize their own condition.

Many are in a state of heavy sleep, others are lost or confused; troubled
minds may be haunted by fear of the strange darkness, those conscience
stricken suffer in anguish or remorse for their, earth conduct; some, impelled
by selfish or evil inclinations, seek an outlet for their tendencies, remaining in
this condition until these destructive desires are outgrown, when the

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soul cries out for understanding and light, and progressed spirits are able to
reach them and aid them.

Lacking physical bodies through which to carry out earthly propensities
many discarnated intelligences are attracted to the magnetic light which
emanates from mortals, and, consciously or unconsciously, attach themselves
to these magnetic auras, finding an avenue of expression through influencing,
obsessing or possessing human beings. Such obtruding spirits influence
susceptible sensitives with their thoughts, impart their own emotions to
them, weaken their will power and often control their actions, producing great
distress, mental confusion and suffering.

These earthbound spirits are the supposed "devils" of all ages; "devils" of
human origin, by-products of human selfishness, false teachings and
ignorance, thrust blindly into a spirit existence and held there in a bondage of
ignorance.

The influence of these discarnated entities is the cause of
many of the inexplicable and obscure events of earth life and of a
large part of the world's misery. Purity of life and motive, or
high intellectuality , do not necessarily offer protection from
obsession; recognition and knowledge of these problems are the
only safeguards.

The physical conditions permitting this impingement are varied; such
encroachment is often due to a natural and predisposed susceptibility, a
depleted nervous system, or sudden shock. Physical derangements are
conducive to obsession, for when the vital forces are lowered less resistance
is offered and intruding spirits are allowed easy access, although often neither
mortal nor spirit is conscious of the presence of the other.

This encroachment alters the characteristics of the sensitive, resulting in a
seemingly changed personality, sometimes simulating multiple or dissociated
personalities, and frequently causes apparent insanity, varying in degree from
a simple mental aberration to, and including, all types of dementia, hysteria,
epilepsy, melancholia, shell shock, kleptomania, idiocy, religious and suicidal
mania, as well as amnesia, psychic invalidism, dipsomania, immorality,
functional bestiality, atrocities, and other forms of criminality.

Humanity is surrounded by the thought influence of millions of
discarnate beings, who have not yet arrived at a full realization of life's higher
purposes. A recognition of this fact accounts for a great portion of unbidden
thoughts, emotions, strange forebodings, gloomy moods, irritabilities,
unreasonable

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impulses, irrational outbursts of temper, uncontrollable infatuations and
countless other mental vagaries.

The records of spirit obsession and possession extend from remotest
antiquity to modern times. Dr. Tyler, the noted English Anthropologist, in
his "Primitive Culture," says: "It is not too much to assert that the doctrine
of demoniacal possession is kept up, substantially the same theory to
account for substantially the same facts, by half the human race, who thus
stand as consistent representatives of their forefathers back in the primitive
antiquity."

In Muller's "Urreligionen" we find: "The general belief of the barbaric
world today is that such attacks as epilepsy, hysteria, delirium, idiocy and
madness are caused by some demon gaining control of the body."

Homer referred repeatedly to demons and said: "A sick man pining away
is one upon whom an evil spirit has gazed." Plato held that demons obsessed
mortals. Socrates speaks directly of demons influencing the possessed
(insane). Plutarch wrote: "Certain tyrannical demons require for their
enjoyment some soul still incarnate; being unable to satisfy their passions in
any other way, incite to sedition, lust, wars of conquest, and thus get what
they lust for." Josephus says: "Demons are the spirits of wicked men."

Obsessing or possessing spirits are frequently mentioned both in the Old
and New Testaments. In I Samuel 16:23, we read: "David took an harp, and
played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit
departed from him."

So common was the belief in spirits and spirit obsession in the time of
the apostles that the ability to cast out evil spirits was considered one of the
most important signs of genuine discipleship, and it must be admitted that a
considerable portion of the work accredited to Jesus was the casting out of
demons.

A few quotations from the New Testament will suffice. "Jesus gave his
twelve disciples power against unclean spirits, to cast them out." Matt. 10:1.
"'Jesus preached . . . and cast out devils." Mark 1:39. "A certain mad which
had devils long time . . . Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out
of the man ... He that was possessed of the devils was healed." Luke 8:27,
29, 36. "Vexed with unclean spirits." Luke 6:18. "The evil spirits went out of
them." Acts 19:12.

"Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit ...
And he asked his father: How long is it ago since this

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came unto him? And he said, Of a child ... Jesus rebuked the foul spirit,
saying unto him, Thou deaf and dumb spirit, I charge thee, come out of him,
and enter no more into him. And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came
out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead.
But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose." Mark 9:17,
21, 25-27. (Similar occurrences are not at all uncommon in psycho-
pathological research.)

Among the writers of early Christianity we find that St. Anthony says:
"We walk in the midst of demons, who give us evil thoughts; and also in the
midst of good angels. When these latter are especially present, there is no
disturbance, no contention, no clamor; but something so calm and gentle it
fills the soul with gladness. The Lord is my witness that after many tears
and fastings I have been surrounded by a band of angels, and joyfully joined
in singing with them." Tertullian with authority challenged the heathery to a
trial of superiority in the matter of casting out demons. Minucius Felix, a
Roman advocate and apologist, wrote in "Octavius": "There are some
insincere and vagrant spirits, degraded from their heavenly vigor . . . who
cease not, now that they are ruined themselves, to ruin others."

Dr. Godfrey Raupert, of London, who several years ago was especially
delegated by Pope Pius X to lecture to Catholic audiences in America on
Spiritualism, said in substance: "It is no longer possible to put the subject
of psychic phenomena aside. The scientific men all over the world have
recognized spiritism as a definite and real power, and to shelve it is a
dangerous policy. Consequently the Pope has asked me to tell Catholics the
attitude to take toward the subject ... The Church admits the reality of these
spiritistic phenomena and their external intelligences, in fact, it has always
admitted their reality. The problem at present is to discover the nature of the
intelligence. We are now on the borderland of new discoveries which may
revolutionize the world. It is not the time yet for an explanation of all the
phenomena. We must suspend our judgment until the subject is better
known. The study of spiritism is a new one and therefore dangerous . . . A
partial knowledge of the subject may cause grave dangers." (Resulting in
obsession or possession.)

"There is no doubt about the fact of diabolical obsessions in the olden
time. That the Church (Catholic) recognizes the possibilities is evidenced by
the rules prepared for exorcising," is

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the quoted statement of Monsignor Lavelle, Rector of St. Patrick's Cathedral,
New York.

Julian Hawthorne wrote, in one of the leading newspapers: "Thousands
of evil-minded and evil-acting men and women die every day. What becomes
of their souls, or spirits? They want to get back here . . . the increasing
boldness and frequency with which they take advantage of their
opportunities is illustrated in many ways. . . Two acts of defense are open to
us. We may stop the source of supply of these undesirable visitors and we
may close the doors."

Dr. Axel Gustafson', who publicly acclaimed his views regarding the fact
of spirit obsession, in quoting cases which had come to his attention, said:
"The spirits of the revengeful have power after death to enter into and
possess the living under certain conditions."

Prof. Herbert L. Stetson, of Kalamazoo College, Michigan, stated, in a
lecture at the University of Chicago: "Demon obsession is no myth; illness is
often due to demoniacal possession.

Belief in demons is widespread."

"I often see the spirits who cause insanity," is the statement of Dr. E. N.
Webster, of the mental section of the American Medical Association. "At
times I even hear their voices. Insane persons who are spoken of as
hopelessly insane are frequently lost under the overwhelming control of a
spirit or crowd of spirits. We frequently find by post-mortem examination
that no physical disorder exists in the brain or nervous system of such persons."

Prof. William James wrote in "Proceedings S. P. R.": "That the demon-
theory will have its innings again is to my mind absolutely certain. One has
to be 'scientific' indeed, to be blind and ignorant enough to suspect no such
possibility."

Prof. James H. Hyslop, while editor of the Journal of the American
Society for Psychical Research, wrote: "There is growing evidence of the fact
of obsession which lies at the basis of much insanity and can be cured. The
medical world will have to wake up and give attention to this problem or
materia medica will lose control of the subject."

In one of Prof. Hyslop's latest books, "Contact with the Other World,"
we find the following: "The existence of evil spirits affecting the living is as
clearly taught in the New Testament, and implied in the Old Testament, as
any doctrine there expounded. . . . The term obsession is employed by
psychic researchers to denote the abnormal influence of spirits on the

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living....The cures effected have required much time
and patience, the use of psychotherapeutics of an
unusual kind, and the employment of psychics to
get into contact with the obsessing agents and
thus to release the hold which such agents have,
or to educate them to voluntary abandonment of
their persecutions. . . . Every single case of
dissociation and paranoia to which I have applied
cross-reference has yielded to the method and
proved the existence of foreign agencies
complicated with the symptoms of mental or
physical deterioration. It is high time to
prosecute experiments on a large scale in a field
that promises to have as much practical value as
any application of the scalpel and the microscope."

In "Modern Psychical Phenomena," Dr. Hereward Carrington states: "It
is evident . . . that spiritual 'obsession' is at least a possibility which modern
science can no longer disregard, while there are many striking facts in its
support. This being so, its study becomes imperative-not only from the
academic viewpoint but also because of the fact that hundreds and perhaps
thousands of individuals are at the present moment suffering in this manner,
and their relief demands some immediate investigation and cure. Once grant
the theoretical possibility of actual obsession, and a whole vast field of
research and investigations is opened up before us which demands all the
care, skill and patience which modern enlightenment and psychological
understanding can furnish."

Never before in the history of medical science has there been such
widespread interest, by the public at large, as well as by medical men and
public officials, in the subject of the cause, treatment and cure of nervous and
mental diseases. Statistics show that insanity is increasing with alarming
rapidity everywhere, yet medical experts differ widely as to the causes of
mental deterioration, and science is not yet in possession of knowledge of the
exact etiology of functional insanity. "The whole world will go mad before
long," declared Dr. Winslow of England.

The greater number of neurologists and alienists entertain the belief that
the active and underlying cause of insanity has its origin within the deranged
nervous system, but very little as yet is actually known of the true cause.

Dr. W. M. L. Coplin, Director of the Bureau of Health and Charities,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, said- "Insanity, in most cases, is unaccompanied
by any perceptible change in the brain structure. The brain of the patient,
when examined under a

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microscope, shows absolutely nothing which differs in any way from the
appearance of the brain of the perfectly sane person. It is therefore evident
that the insanity might be due to toxemia, the effect of some subtle organism
in the nature of bacilla.... Something causes insanity but what it is, we do not
yet know."

Dr. Britton D. Evans, Superintendent of the Morris Plains, New Jersey,
Insane Asylum, stated: "Brain tumor or brain fever may not affect the
mind.... A man may have trouble of the brain and still have a normal mind."

Dr. Th. Ziehen, a noted German alienist, and an authority on hysteria,
wrote: "For many functional neuroses there is as yet no accurate limitation
and definition. As pathological anatomy does not aid us, no uniform and
exclusive cause for hysteria can be demonstrated."

. Dr. William Hanna Thomson, physician to the Roosevelt Hospital and
Professor of the Practice of Medicine and Diseases of the Nervous System,
New York University Medical College, in referring to Tuke's Dictionary of
Psychological Medicine, asserted that: "The contributors to this great
encyclopedia are from the most eminent professors, experts, and
superintendents of insane asylums in Great Britain, the United States,
France, Germany, Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland and Russia. In
the articles by the writers on kleptomania, dipsomania, chronic mania, etc.,
there is not a word about the pathological anatomy, (because none can be
found). Just so it is in the article on melancholia, puerperal insanity,
katatonia, circular insanity, homicidal insanity or epileptic insanity; in none
of these is there a word about pathological anatomy, for the sufficient reason
that not one of these forms of insanity shows any pathological or diseased
condition in the brain different from the sound brain of a healthy man killed
in an accident."

He also said: "It is high time that we now look in the direction of toxemia
(or blood poisoning) for the explanation of the insanities which produce
no changes whatever in the brain."

Recent announcement was made that a large percentage of cures reported
by the New Jersey State Hospital for the Insane at Trenton were effected by
the removal of diseased teeth, tonsils or affected organs. In a resume of the
Trenton method, Dr. R. S. Copeland wrote: "The hypothesis upon which
this treatment is founded is that insanity is a toxemia or poisoning due to
germ infection in some part of the body. If this is true it follows that removal
of the infected tissue, when the case has

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not gone too far, will be followed by disappearance of the mental disturbance."

When statistics compiled by the United States Government, as well as
by others, show that the increase in the number of the insane is
proportionately greater than the increase of the general population, it seems
incongruous to credit decayed teeth and diseased tonsils as being primary
causes of mental unbalance at this time when dental and surgical attention is
so general, whereas, the facts are that when dentistry was little known and
practiced, and people went about with all conditions of decayed teeth,
insanity was less prevalent than now.

Without attempting to discredit the Trenton reports, it may be stated
that our experience has shown that in many cases of mental derangement,
although the patient had badly decayed teeth, mental balance was fully
restored by dislodging the obsessing spirit before any attention was given to
the teeth.*

Since it has been found that obsessing spirits are sensitive to pain, I am
constrained to suggest that such cures as announced by the Trenton Hospital
may, at least in part, be due to the fact that intruding spirits were dislodged,
by dental or surgical interference.

To the investigator in Abnormal Psychology on the spiritistic hypothesis
much of the symptomatology of the "War Neurosis'' or shell shock,--
excepting cases of malingering-as recorded by Dr. F. E. Williams, Acting
Medical Director, National Committee for Mental Hygiene, New York City,
suggests obsession or possession by spirits of dead soldiers, unconscious of
their transition, as the exciting cause. This is indicated by "delirium,
hallucinations, anxiety states, functional heart disorders, paralysis, tremors,
gait disturbances, convulsive movements, pain, anesthesia, hyperesthesia,
blindness, disorders of speech, etc."

The spirit hypothesis regarding War Neurosis is further evidenced by the
rapid recovery of patients under severe electrical treatment- (driving out
obsessing entities?)--"as instituted by Dr. Vincent who, Dr. Williams stated,
would cure in a few hours Patients that had been in the care of other
psychiatrists for months, and would have them walking about and climbing
ladders."

The above theory is also favored by Dr. Williams' further statements
that: "This neurosis is rare among prisoners who have been exposed to
mechanical shock . . . as well as among

See Chap. 5, Patient-Mrs. SI., Page 116.
Chap. 7, Patient-Mrs. R., Page 161.

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wounded exposed to mechanical shock.... Severe injury to the central
nervous system and brain is not accompanied by symptoms found in shell
shock.... Success attends the therapeutic measures employed for the
psychological rather than the mechanical side. . . . Diagnosis should be made
and treatment begun at once before the shell shock"-- (obsession) --"becomes a
fixed psycho-neurosis."

Newspapers recently reported the case of a young man, Frank James, a
boy thug of New York City, who, after a fall from a motorcycle when ten
years old, changed from a cheerful, affectionate and obedient child into a
surly, insolent boy, developing into a confirmed robber and criminal. After
several terms in the reformatory and five years in Sing Sing prison he was
declared hopelessly insane, and sent to the State Insane Asylum. Frank
James, however, escaped, and when pursuers attempted his capture, was hit
on the head with a club, and falling unconscious, was taken to a hospital.

The next morning the boy awoke, extraordinarily changed; he was gentle
and deferential, showing no further indications of an unbalanced mind, and
from that time exhibited not the slightest impulse to commit crime of any
kind. The article concludes: "Just what happened to the mechanism of the
boy's brain is not entirely understood by medical men."

How explain such a case on the toxemia theory? Could a blow on the
head eradicate the supposed toxemia and restore mental balance? The simple
explanation from our viewpoint would be that, following the shock of the
boy's fall, an obsessing spirit criminal had taken control of the boy, and that
the blow from the club on the man's head, with its accompanying pain,
caused the obsessing entity to become dislodged.

The success credited to hydrotherapy as practiced in institutions for the
insane, especially when a strong stream of water, or a continuous bath, is
used, can also be accounted for by the dislodgment of obsessing entities, who
object to the discomforts incident to such treatment.

Dr. Prince, in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, wrote: "If we are to
establish sound principles underlying the mechanism of the mind we must
correlate the findings of all methods of research, experimental as well as
clinical, and give due consideration to the results obtained by all competent
investigators."

After careful elimination of all superstitious notions and absurdities
adherent to the subject of Normal and Abnormal Psychology, excluding also
febrile and idiopathic psychoses or idiosyncrasies, as well as all

12

neuro-pathogenic psychoses, there still remains a residuum
of abnormality in a majority of cases of mental aberrations.

That alienists of renown and the foremost authorities widely disagree as
to the cause of insanity is sufficient reason for thinking men to investigate
any theory which promises to lead to results, regardless of personal or
popular prejudice. The situation which confronts us is a serious one, and
nothing but the broadest toleration and liberality can cope with it. Since
insanity is chiefly a manifestation of mental or psychological disturbance-a
Psychic neurosis-the symptomatology therefore should offer a guidance in
ascertaining the etiology, and assist as well in arriving at a solution of the
mental pathology.

This proposition, however, necessitates not only research and study of
Normal and Abnormal Psychology but, in order to have a complete premise,
also implies the recognition of the duality of man-matter and spirit, physical
and spiritual.

Insanity is not a stigma; the public attitude toward this affliction should
be one, not of aversion but of understanding, and a realization of the close
inter-relationship of the visible and invisible worlds.

Spirit obsession is a fact--a perversion of a natural law--and is amply
demonstrable. This has been proven hundreds of times by causing the
supposed insanity or aberration to be temporarily transferred from the
victim to a psychic sensitive who is trained for the purpose, and by this
method ascertain the cause of the psychosis to be an ignorant or mischievous
spirit, whose identity may frequently be verified.

By this method, and without detriment to the psychic, it has also proven
possible to relieve the victim, as well as release the entity from its condition
of spiritual darkness through an explanation of the laws governing the spirit
world, which the experiences to follow will demonstrate.

Inter-communication between the visible and invisible worlds is a natural
privilege and is established through a person of a certain psychic
constitution, capable of acting as an intermediary, through whom discarnate
intelligences can readily come en! rapport with the physical plane. Of the
various phases of contact the most valuable for research purposes is that of
unconscious trance, whereby direct communication may be established with
the invisible world and the mental condition of discarnate intelligences, either
advanced or ignorant, may be ascertained.

Ignorant psychic experimentation may prove injurious when

13

dabbled in by those who neglect the necessary precautions and lack
understanding of the laws which govern the subject, just as ignorance and
disregard of the laws governing everyday life may prove dangerous. The
misuse of a thing is no argument against its use.

Psychical Research belongs especially to the domain of science; common
sense and discrimination are essentials in all such experimental work, as well
as a thorough mastery of the laws involved. Under these conditions scientific
research becomes an invaluable factor in the investigation of Spiritual Science.

14

PSYCHICAL Research contains elements of the greatest importance to
humanity, and has already become a vital factor in the social life of the world
at large. It is undoubtedly true, however, that the various branches of
research are endeavoring to classify their findings on purely
psychophysiological bases.

The Psycho-Analyst advances the theory that many of the psychoses
have their seat or origin in some psychic lesion, or trauma, either concealed or
forgotten. The Analytical-Psychologist, by mental measurements and
intelligence tests, is making the segregation and classification of mental
defectives possible. So also the Neurologist and Psychiatrist are diligently
seeking to isolate the etiological factors in the various neuroses,, mental
aberrations and insanities, and to ascertain the best methods of prevention
and treatment.

While these branches of research are loath to accept the hypothesis of
discarnate intelligences as contributing, exciting factors in many of the
psychoses and aberrations, they are nevertheless rendering important service
in uncovering and bringing to light the unstable qualities in the neurotic, the
susceptible and those predisposed to mental unbalance.

Psychical Research presents two general phases for investigation: the
Normal and the Abnormal.

The Normal phase, from the standpoint of the physician, as well as the
minister, deals, among other issues, with the question: What becomes of the
Dead? This problem is of vital interest to the patient who lingers on the
borderland of transition, doubtful of the future, or perhaps trembling in fear
of his probable condition after the tomorrow of death. Should it not be the
noblest part of the physician's calling, in such situations, to be in a position
to assure his patient from actual knowledge, that there is no death, but a birth
into new fields of activity and opportunities in the higher mental spheres?

In the Abnormal phase of Psychical Research there is demand for
broadest Possible knowledge on the part of the physician pertaining to the
mysterious functioning of minds, discarnated as well as incarnated. Research
in Abnormal, as well as Normal psychology, indubitably indicates, not only the

15

existence of spirits, but also unquestionably demonstrates that such entities
play an important role in the various psychoneuroses and insanities.

The physician, undoubtedly, comes in more intimate touch with the
consequences of promiscuous dabbling in Psychical Research, so frequently
resulting in mental aberrations, than any other person, for he is usually the
first one to be called into consultation, and upon his decision depends largely
the disposal of such an unfortunate victim. For this reason, if no other, it
should surely be not only the privilege, but also the urgent duty of the
physician to become thoroughly acquainted with the various phases of
Psychical Research, particularly its dangers in the hands of thoughtless
investigators, especially the predisposed psycho-neurotic.

The alarming results often occurring in connection with Psychical
Research prompted me to follow up a line of investigation to ascertain the
underlying causes thereof, for these also concern the physician.

The serious problem of alienation and mental derangement attending
ignorant psychic experiments was first brought to my attention by the cases
of several persons whose seemingly harmless experiences with automatic
writing and the Ouija Board resulted in such wild insanity that commitment
to asylums was necessitated.

The first of these cases was that of Mrs. Bl., whose attempts at
automatic writing led to mental derangement and altered personality.
Normally she was amiable, pious, quiet and refined but became boisterous
and noisy, romped about and danced, used vile language, and, claiming she
was an actress, insisted upon dressing for the stage, saying that she had to be
at the theatre at a certain time or lose her position. Finally she became so
irresponsible that she was placed in an asylum.

Another case was Mrs. Bn., who, through the practice of automatic
writing, changed from an artist and a lady of refinement to an altogether
different and violent personality. Screaming at the top of her voice she
continually rubbed her temples and exclaimed, "God save me! God save me!"
Rushing into the street she knelt in the mud, praying, and refused food,
declaring that if she should eat before six o'clock P.M. she would go to hell.

Mrs. Sr., who had followed the same practices, also became mentally
deranged and violent, necessitating police interference. Rising in the night she
posed in the window of her millinery

16

shop as Napoleon, whom she presumed herself to be, and after committing
many other irresponsible acts, requiring restraint, was sent to the Detention
Hospital.

In like manner, Mrs. Wr. became obsessed with hallucinations that God
was constantly talking to her and condemning her for wrong acts of which he
accused her; after attempting suicide at the request of this so-called God she
was taken to the asylum.

Many other disastrous results which followed the use of the supposedly
innocent Ouija Board came to my notice and my observations led me into
research in psychic phenomena for a possible explanation of these strange
occurrences.

My wife proved to be an excellent psychic intermediary and was easily
controlled by discarnate intelligences. In answer to her doubts concerning the
right of "disturbing the dead" these intelligences asserted that a grievously
wrong conception existed among mortals regarding the conditions prevailing
after death.

They stated that there is in reality no death, but a natural transition from
the visible to the invisible world, and that advanced spirits are ever striving
to communicate with mortals to enlighten them concerning the higher
possibilities which await the progressive spirit. But death--the freeing of the
spirit from the body--is so simple and natural that a great majority do not, for
a longer or shorter period, realize the change, and owing to a lack of
education concerning the spiritual side of their natures, they continue to
remain in their earthly haunts.

They maintained that many such spirits were attracted to the magnetic
aura of mortals-although the spirit, as well as the mortal, might be
unconscious of the intrusion-and thus, by obsessing or possessing their
victims, they ignorantly or maliciously became the cause of untold mischief,
often producing invalidism, immorality, crime and seeming insanity.

The risk of interference from this source constituted, they said, the
gravest danger to the unwary novice in psychic research, but to be in
ignorance of these facts was an even greater risk, especially in the case of the
susceptible neurotic.

These intelligences also stated that by a system of transfer, that is, by
attracting such obsessing entities from the victim to a psychic intermediary,
the correctness of the hypothesis could be demonstrated and conditions
could be shown as they actually exist. After this transference of psychoses
the victims would be relieved, and the obsessing spirits could then be
reached by

17

the advanced spirits, who would care for them and instruct them regarding
the higher laws of life.

They claimed they had found my wife to be a suitable instrument for
such experimentation and proposed that, if I would cooperate with them by
caring for and instructing these ignorant spirits, as they allowed them to take
temporary but complete possession of my wife's body, without any injury
to her, they would prove their assertions were correct.

Desirous of learning the truth or falsity of such important claims, which,
if true, would have a great bearing on the cause of much that is otherwise
baffling in criminology, as well as in psycho-pathology, we accepted what
seemed a hazardous undertaking.

In order to carry out their purpose the Guiding Intelligences allowed
many manifestations to take place, often very unexpectedly, and some of
these occurred while I was pursuing my early medical studies.

One day I left home without any intention of immediately beginning my
first dissecting work, therefore my wife's subconscious mind could not
possibly have taken any part in what transpired later.

The students were required to dissect a lateral half of a body; the first
subject was a man about sixty years of age and that afternoon I began
dissecting on a lower limb.

I returned home at about five o'clock and had scarcely entered the door
when my wife was apparently taken with a sudden illness, and complaining
of feeling strange, staggered as though about to fall. As I placed my hand on
her shoulder she drew herself up and became entranced by a foreign
intelligence who said, with threatening gesture:

"What do you mean by cutting me?"

I answered that I was not aware of cutting any one, but the spirit angrily replied:

"Of course you are! You are cutting on my leg!"

Realizing that the spirit owner of the body on which I had been
operating had followed me home, I began to parley with him, first placing
my wife in a chair.

To this the spirit vigorously objected, saying that I had no business to
touch him. To my answer that I had a right to touch my own wife the entity
retorted:

"Your wife! What are you talking about! I am no woman --I'm a man."

I explained that he had passed out of his physical body and was
controlling the body of my wife, and that his spirit was here

18

and his body at the college. When he finally seemed to realize this I said:

"Suppose I were now cutting on your body at the college that could not
kill you, since you yourself are here."

The spirit admitted that this seemed reasonable, and said:

"I guess I must be what they call 'dead,' so I won't have any more use for
my old body. If you can learn anything by cutting on it, go ahead and cut
away."

Then he added suddenly: "Say, Mister, give me a chew of tobacco."

I told him that I had none, and then he begged for a pipe, saying:

"I'm dying for a smoke."

This request was, of course, also refused. (The fact that Mrs. Wickland
has always abhorred the sight of any one chewing tobacco precludes the
possibility of her subconscious mind playing any role in this episode.)

After a more detailed explanation of the fact that he was actually so-
called "dead," the spirit realized his true condition and left.

Subsequent examination of the teeth of the cadaver indicated that the
man had been an inveterate tobacco user in life.

Upon another occasion, when I had been appointed assistant
demonstrator for a class of students in dissecting, the body of a colored man
had been selected as a subject but the body had not yet been disturbed when,
one evening, Mrs. Wickland became entranced and a strange spirit, speaking
through her, exclaimed:

"You ain't goin' to cut on dis colored man, Boss!"

I told him that the world called him dead; that he was not in his old
body, but was now controlling a woman's body. He would not believe this
and when I showed him my wife's hands, saying they were not colored but
white, he replied:

"I'se got whitewash on dem; whitewashin' is my business."

This spirit proved to be very obstinate, offering a variety of excuses and
explanations rather than accept the truth, but he was finally convinced and
departed.

Another incident will still further demonstrate to what a seemingly
unbelievable degree spirits may cling to their earthly bodies through
ignorance of their transition, or so-called death.

In the dissecting room was the body of a woman, about forty years of
age, who had died at the Cook County Hospital, Chicago, the previous June.
In January, seven months after her death, a number of students, myself
included, were assigned this subject for dissection. I could not be present the
first evening but the

19

others began their work. Nothing was ever said to me of what occurred
during those few hours, but for some reason, unknown to me, the other
students never touched that subject again.

The next day there was no school in the afternoon so I began to dissect
alone, working on the arm and neck. The dissecting room was in the rear of a
long basement and very quiet, but once I distinctly heard a voice say: "Don't
murder me!"

The voice sounded faintly, as from a distance, but since I am not in the
least superstitious and not at all inclined to credit small incidents to the
actions of spirits, I concluded that it probably came from children in the
street, although I had not heard any playing nearby.

The following afternoon I was again working alone when I was rather
startled by a rustling sound coming from a crumpled newspaper lying on the
floor, a sound something like that produced when a newspaper is crushed,
but I paid no particular attention to it and did not mention these occurrences
to my wife.

The episodes had quite passed out of my mind until a few days later. We
were holding a psychic circle in our home and our invisible co-workers had
already departed when I noticed that my wife still remained in a semi-
comatose condition. I stepped up to her to ascertain the reason when the
controlling spirit rose suddenly, struck at me angrily and said:

"I have some bones to pick with you!"

After a period of struggle with the stranger I asked what the trouble was.

"Why do you want to kill me?" the entity demanded.

"I am not killing any one," I answered.

"Yes, you are-you are cutting on my arm and neck! I shouted at you not
to murder me, and I struck that paper on the floor to frighten you, but you
wouldn't pay any attention."

Then, laughing boisterously, the spirit added with great hilarity:

"But I seared the other fellows!"

It was necessary to explain at great length the actual situation of the
spirit, who said her name was Minnie Morgan,* but finally she understood
and left, promising to seek a higher life.

The ease with which spirits assume control of the psychic intermediary,
Mrs. Wickland, is so perfect that the majority of them at first fail to
comprehend the fact that they are so-called dead and are temporarily
occupying the body of another.

Those intelligences whose reasoning faculties* are alert can

*See Chapter 8, Page 168. Spirit: Minnie Morgan.

20

generally be made to realize that their situation is unusual when attention is
called to the dissimilarity between their own former bodily features, hands
and feet, as well as clothes, and those of the psychic. This is especially so
when the spirit is a man, for the difference will then be more readily noticed.
Following the statement that the body which is being controlled belongs to
my wife, spirits usually retort: "I am not your wife," and a great deal of
explanation is required before they can be brought to a recognition of the fact
that they are in temporary possession of another's body.

On the other hand, there are spirits, fixed and rooted in obstinate
skepticism, who stubbornly refuse to understand that they have made the
transition out of the physical. These will not listen to reason and fail to be
convinced of their changed condition, even when a mirror is held before them,
declaring that they have been hypnotized, and prove so obdurate that they
must be forced to leave, and are taken in charge by the invisible co- workers.

The transference of the mental aberration or psychosis from a patient to
the psychic intermediary, Mrs. Wickland, is facilitated by the use of static
electricity, which is applied to the patient, frequently in the presence of the
psychic. Although this electricity is harmless to the patient it is exceedingly
effective, for the obsessing spirit cannot long resist such electrical treatment
and is dislodged.

Induced by our invisible helpers the spirit may then entrance the
psychic, when it becomes possible to come into direct contact with the
entity, and an endeavor is made to bring him to a realization of his true
condition and of his higher possibilities. He is then removed and cared for by
the advanced spirits and Mrs. Wickland again returns to her normal self.

In many cases remarkable evidence that discarnated entities were the
offending cause of aberration has been obtained by a system of experimental
concentration in a psychic circle. Obsessing spirits have been dislodged from
victims frequently residing at a distance, conveyed to the circle by the co-
operating intelligences and allowed to control the psychic. Such spirits often
complain of having been driven away, yet are ignorant of being spirits, or of
having controlled or influenced anyone.

But the similarity between the actions of the controlling spirit and the
symptoms of the patient, as well as the relief obtained by the latter through
this removal, indubitably prove the 'spirit to have been the cause of the
disturbance. In many cases the identity of the spirit has been
unquestionably authenticated.

21

After this transfer and permanent dislodgment of the obsessing
spirit, the patient gradually recovers, although there may be a
number of spirits requiring removal from the same patient.

It may be asked why advanced intelligences do not take charge of
earthbound spirits and convert them without having them first control a
psychic intermediary. Many of these ignorant spirits cannot be reached by
the intelligent spirits until they come in contact with physical conditions,
when they are compelled to realize their own situation and are then started
on the road to progression.

While the control of the Psychic by an ignorant spirit in a circle generally
brings the spirit to an understanding and is of interest to the investigator, at
the same time groups of other spirits in darkness are brought to profit by the
lesson conveyed through the actions of the controlling spirit.

Many controlling spirits act as if demented and are difficult to reason
with, this condition being due to false doctrines, fixed ideas and various
notions imbibed in physical life. They are often unruly and boisterous, when
it is necessary to control them by holding the hands of the psychic to keep
them in restraint.

Upon realizing their true condition many spirits experience a sensation
of dying, which signifies that they are losing control of the psychic.

Other spirits, again, are in a sleepy stupor, wishing to be left alone, and
severe language is at times required to arouse them, as will be observed in the
records following. In these records reference is often made to a "dungeon" in
which refractory spirits may be placed, and controlling spirits sometimes
complain of having been kept in a dungeon.

Due to a certain psychic law, intelligent spirits have the faculty of
placing about an ignorant spirit a condition simulating a prison, an
impenetrable, cell-like room from which there is no escape. Herein stubborn
spirits must stay' seeing nothing but the reflection of their own personalities,
their past actions appearing before the mind's eye until they become
repentant and show a willingness to adapt themselves to the new condition
and to conform to the spiritual laws of progression.

The nature of Mrs. Wickland's psychism is that of unconscious trance;
her eyes are closed and her own mentality is held in abeyance in a sleep state
for the time being. She herself has no recollection of anything that transpires
during this period.

Mrs. Wickland is not subject to any negativism between these
experiences; she is at all times her rational self, clear minded

22

DURING thirty years of indefatigable research among the "dead" such
startling conditions have been revealed that it seems incredible intelligent
reasoners along other lines of thought could have so long ignored the simple
facts, which can so readily be verified. There is utter impossibility of fraud in
these experiences; foreign languages, totally unknown to Mrs. Wickland, are
spoken, expressions never heard by her are used, while the identity of the
controlling spirits has again and again been verified and corroborations
innumerable have been made.

On one occasion I conversed with twenty-one different spirits, who
spoke through my wife, the majority giving me satisfactory evidence of being
certain friends and relatives known to me while they were incarnated. In all,
they spoke six different languages, while my wife speaks only Swedish and English.

From one patient, Mrs. A., who was brought to us from Chicago,
thirteen different spirits were dislodged and allowed to control Mrs.
Wickland,* and of these, seven were recognized by the patient's mother, Mrs.
H. W., as relatives or friends well known to her during their earth lives.

One was a minister, formerly pastor of the Methodist church of which
Mrs. H. W. was a member, who had been killed in a railroad accident nine
years previous, but was still unconscious of the fact; another was her sister-
in-law; there were also three elderly women, family friends for years, a
neighbor boy and the mother-in-law of the patient--all entirely unknown to
Mrs. Wickland.

Mrs. H. W. conversed at length with each one, as they spoke through
Mrs. Wickland, verifying innumerable statements made by the spirits and
assisted in bringing them to a realization of their changed condition, and of
the fact that they had been obsessing her daughter. This patient is today
entirely well and actively occupied with social, musical and family affairs.

Another case will show clearly the transfer of psychosis from patient to
intermediary, and the impossibility of either "sub

*See Chap. 11, "Materialism," Page 256, Spirit: Frank Bergquist. Patient: Mrs. A. Chap.18,
"Orthodoxy,". Page 343 Spirit: J. 0. Nelson. Patient: Mrs. A.

24

conscious mind" or "multiple personalities" playing any role as far as the
psychic is concerned.

One summer evening we were called to the home of Mrs. M., a lady of
culture and refinement; she was a musician of high rank and when the social
demands made upon her proved too great she suffered a nervous breakdown.
She had become intractable and for six weeks had been in such a raving
condition that her physicians had been unable to relieve her, and day and
night nurses were in constant attendance.

We found the patient sitting up in her bed, crying  one minute
like a forlorn child, and again screaming in fear: "Matilla!
Matilla!" Then suddenly fighting and struggling, she would talk
a wild gibberish of English and Spanish, (the latter a language
of which she had no knowledge).

Mrs. Wickland immediately gave her psychic diagnosis, saying the case
was unquestionably one of obsession, and this was unexpectedly confirmed
when Mrs. Wickland, who was standing at the foot of the bed, with wraps
on ready to leave, was found to be suddenly entranced. We placed her on a
davenport in the music room, where for two hours I talked in turn with
several spirits who had just been attracted from the patient.

There were three spirits--a girl named Mary, her suitor, an American,
and his Mexican rival, Matilla. Both of the men had vehemently loved the
girl and as fiercely hated each other. In a jealous rage one had killed the girl,
and then in a desperate fight the two rivals had killed each other.

All were unaware of being "dead," although Mary said, weeping
wretchedly: "I thought they were going to kill each other, but here they are,
still fighting."

This tragedy of love, hatred and jealousy had not ended with physical
death; the group had unconsciously been drawn into the psychic
atmosphere of the patient, and the violent fighting had continued within her
aura. Since her nervous resistance was exceedingly low at this time, one after
the other had usurped her physical body, with a resulting disturbance that
was unexplainable by her attendants.

With great difficulty the three spirits were convinced that they had lost
their physical bodies, but at last they recognized the truth and were taken
away by our invisible co-workers.

Meanwhile the patient had arisen, and speaking rationally to the
astonished nurse, walked quietly about her room. Presently she said: "I am
going to sleep well tonight," and returning to bed, fell asleep without the
usual sedatives, and rested quietly throughout the night.
25

The following day, attended by a nurse, she was brought to our home; we
dismissed the nurse, discarded her medicines, and after an electrical treatment,
the patient had her dinner in the general dining room with the other patients,
and that evening attended a function given in our social hall.

Another spirit was removed from her the next day; this was a little girl
who had been killed in the San Francisco earthquake, and who cried
constantly, saying she was lost in the dark. It is needless to add that she was
comforted and promptly cared for by spirit friends, who had been unable to
reach her while she was enmeshed in the aura of a psychic sensitive.

After some months of treatment, rest and recuperation, the patient
returned to her home and resumed her normal life again.

One of our early experiences in Chicago occurred on the 15th of
November, 1906. During one of our psychic circles, Mrs. Wickland,
entranced by a strange entity, fell prostrate to the floor, and remained in a
comatose condition for some time. The spirit was at last brought to the front,
and acted as though in great pain, repeatedly saying:

"Why didn't I take more carbolic acid? I want to die; I'm so tired of
living."

In a weak voice the spirit complained of the dense darkness all about,
and was unable to see an electric light shining directly into her face. She
whispered faintly: "My poor son! " and when pressed for information said
that her name was Mary Rose, and that she lived at 202 South Green Street,
a street entirely unknown to us at that time.

At first she could not remember any date, but when asked: "Is it
November 15th, 1906?" she replied: "No, that is next week." Life had been a
bitter disappointment to her; she had suffered constantly from chronic
abdominal ailments, and finally, resolving to end her miserable existence, she
had taken poison.

She could not at first realize that she had succeeded in destroying her
physical body, for, like most suicides, she was in total ignorance of the
indestructibility of life and the reality of the hereafter. When the real purpose
of life, experience and suffering had been made clearer to her she was
overcome with repentance and offered a sincere prayer for forgiveness.

Then her spiritual sight opened slightly and she saw dimly the spirit
figure of her grandmother, who had come to take her to the spirit world.

Subsequent inquiry at the address given by the spirit proved her
statements to be true; a woman by the name given had lived at this house, she
still had a son living there, and we were told

26

that Mrs. Rose had been taken to the Cook County Hospital and had died
there the week before.

Upon investigation at the hospital we found further verification of the
facts and were given a copy of the record of the case: Cook County
Hospital, Chicago, Ills.

Mary Rose.

Admitted November 7th, 1906. Died
November 8th, 1906.

Carbolic Acid poisoning.
No. 341106.

Another case will show that identification of a spirit is often possible.

Mrs. Fl., a patient who had been declared incurably insane by several
physicians, was a refined lady of gentle disposition, who had become very
wild and unmanageable, swearing constantly, and fighting with such violence
that several persons were required to restrain her.

She was also subject to coma states, again to fainting spells, would refuse
food, announce that she "had been married above by celestial powers," and
used extraordinarily vile language; these various phases alternated constantly,
but no full proof of obsession was evidenced until one day when Mrs. Fl.
lost all power of speech, and, mumbling idiotically, simulated perfectly a
deaf and dumb person.

At this time a gentleman from an adjoining state came to the house to
visit a patient and, shortly after his arrival, the nurse who attended Mrs. Fl.
reported that the patient had again changed and was talking like a little child.
So striking was this alteration that the gentleman was asked to step into the
room to observe the patient. He was a total stranger to her but as he entered
the room she pointed to him and said, in a high childish voice:

"I know that man! He used to put bows on my shoulders. And he pulled
my toofies! He took me to a gypsy camp too! He lived right across the
street from me, and he used to call me Rosebud. I'm four years old."

The astonished gentleman corroborated every statement, saying that he had
known such a child in his home town in Iowa, but that she had died the year
before. He explained that he was very fond of children and had on several
occasions taken the child to a gypsy camp, and that whenever he bought
taffy-on-a stick for the little girl, he would tug at the stick while she was 
eating the candy and playfully threaten to pull her teeth.

It was evident that affection had attracted the spirit child to

27

her friend, and that she found in Mrs. Fl. a vehicle through which she could
make her presence known to the gentleman.

The patient was relieved of this spirit and gradually of other obsessing
influences, and several months later was pronounced entirely competent to
sign' legal papers, being declared normal and sane by a judge and jury.

Another case in point was that of Mrs. 0., who was a cook in a
restaurant. She had observed a waitress acting queerly, laboring under
delusions and hallucinations, and brought her to my office. After an electrical
treatment the patient declared she felt greatly relieved and returned to her home.

But that night Mrs. 0. herself became disturbed by an unaccountable
condition which prevented her from sleeping, and her restlessness continued
until ten o'clock the following morning, when, in the midst of her
preparations for dinner, she suddenly became wild, tore her hair, and
threatened to harm herself.

I was sent for and arriving, found Mrs. 0. raving in a demented condition,
complaining of being chased here and there and being unable to find a resting
place. Suspecting the presence of an invisible entity, I placed Mrs. 0. in a
chair, pinioned her arms to prevent a struggle, and after several remarks the
entity declared it was a man, but denied being dead, or obsessing a woman.

The spirit said his name was Jack, that he was an uncle of the troubled
waitress, and that he had been a vagabond in life. After reasoning with the
intelligence he began to realize his situation, and, promising to cause no
further annoyance, left. Mrs. 0. then immediately became her normal self and
returned to her work without any further disturbance.

It was later ascertained from the waitress that she had had an uncle
named Jack, who had been a vagabond, and that he was dead. In this
experience Mrs. 0. had acted as the psychic intermediary to whom the spirit
obsessing the waitress had been transferred.

A number of years ago Dr. Lydston wrote in the Chicago papers of a
patient who, although having no knowledge of French or music sang well the
"Marseillaise" in French when placed under the influence of an anesthetic.
Dr. Lydston, denying the continued existence of the ego, explained this
phenomenon as one of subliminal consciousness, or unconscious memory,
comparing it with the case of the uneducated domestic, who, in delirium,
recited classic Latin as perfectly as her former employer, a Professor of
Latin, had done during his life.

28

I replied, in a newspaper article, that such phenomena were frequently
met with in psychic research, and stated that, despite the classification of
materialistic scientists, these cases clearly proved the posthumous existence
of spirits and their ability to communicate through mortals. I added that if the
truth were known about these two cases, we would find that the man who
sang French was a psychic sensitive and had at the time been controlled by
some outside intelligence, while in all probability the domestic who recited
Latin was obsessed by the spirit of the former professor.

Shortly after this the gentleman alluded to by Dr. Lydston called on me,
having read my article, and said: "I don't know anything about French, but I
do know that I am bothered to death by spirits."

In the study of cases of "Multiple Personalities," "Dissociated
Personalities," or "Disintegrated States of Consciousness," modern
psychologists disclaim the possibility of foreign intelligences on the ground
that these personalities give neither evidence of supernormal knowledge, nor
of being of spiritistic origin.

Our experience, to the contrary, has proven that the majority of these
intelligences are oblivious of their transition and hence it does not enter their
minds that they are spirits, and they are loath to recognize the fact.

In the case of Miss Beauchamp, as recorded by Dr. Morton Prince, in
"The Dissociation of a Personality," reporting four alternating personalities,
no claim was made that any outside intelligences were responsible for the
various personalities, and yet "Sally" (personality 3) insisted that she herself
was not the same as Miss Beauchamp (Christine), that her own
consciousness was distinct from that of Miss Beauchamp, and told of Miss
Beauchamp's learning to walk and talk. "When she was a very little girl just
learning to walk ... I remember her thoughts distinctly as separate from mine."

Similarly in the case of Bernice Redick of Ohio, the young school girl
who constantly changed from her normal self to the personality of "Polly,"
an unruly child, every indication is given of the influence of a discarnate
spirit, probably ignorant of being dead, controlling Miss Redick.

That such "personalities" are independent entities could easily be proven,
under proper conditions, by transference of the same to a psychic
intermediary, as similar experiments have so' abundantly demonstrated.

Any attempt to explain our experiences on the theory of the

29

Subconscious Mind and Auto-Suggestion, or Multiple Personalities,
would be untenable, since it is manifestly impossible that Mrs.
Wickland should have a thousand personalities, and since it is so
readily possible to cause transference of psychosis from a
supposedly insane person to Mrs. Wickland, relieving the victim, and
in this way discovering that the disturbance was due to a discarnate
entity, whose identity can often be verified.

Individuals who are clairaudient suffer greatly from the constant
annoyance of hearing the voices of obsessing entities (the "auditory
hallucinations" frequently observed by alienists), and when such a
person is present in a psychic circle where the spirits are dislodged
and transferred to the psychic intermediary, interesting developments
occur.

An illustration is the case of Mrs. Burton, a clairaudient patient
who was constantly combating obsessing spirits, and who, while
attending our circle, was relieved of her unwelcome companions. In
the following records the conversation of the spirits through the
psychic, Mrs. Wickland, will elucidate the characteristics of the
several entities.

Spirit: CARRIE HUNTINGTON
 Patient: MRS. BURTON.

Doctor Tell us who you are.

Spirit I do not wish you to hold my hands.

Dr. You must sit still.

Sp. Why do you treat me like this?

Dr. Who are you?

Sp. Why do you want to know?

Dr. You have come here as a stranger, and we would like to know
who you are.

Sp. What are you so interested for?

Dr. We should like to know with whom we are associating. If a
stranger came to your home, would you not like to know his name?

Sp. I do not want to be here and I do not know any of you.
Somebody pushed me in here, and I do not think it is right to force
me in like that. And when I came in and sat down on the chair you
grabbed my hands as if I were a prisoner. Why was I pushed in here?
(Brought in control of psychic by guiding intelligences.)

Dr. You were probably in the dark.

Sp. It seems somebody took me by force.

Dr. Was there any reason for it?

30

Sp. I do not know of any reason, and I do not see why I should
be bothered like that.

Dr. Was no reason given for handling you in this manner?

sp. It has been a terrible time for me for quite a while. I have
been tormented to death. I have been driven here, there and
everywhere. I am getting so provoked about it that I feel like giving
everything a good shaking.

Dr. What have they done to you?

Sp. It seems so terrible. If I walk around I am so very miserable. I
do not know what it is. Sometimes it seems as if my senses were
being knocked out of me. Something comes on me like thunder and
lightning. (Static treatment of patient.) it makes such a noise. This
terrible noise-it is awful! I cannot stand it any more, and I will not either!

Dr. We shall be glad if you will not stand it any more.

Sp. Am I not welcome? And if I am not, I do not care!

Dr. You are not very particular.

Sp. I have had so much hardship.

Dr. How long have you been dead?

Sp. Why do you speak that way? I am not dead. I am as alive as I
can be, and I feel as if I were young again.

Dr. Have you, not felt, at times, as if you were somebody else ?

Sp. At times I feel very strange, especially when it knocks me
senseless. I feel very bad. I do not feel that I should have this
suffering. I do not know why I should have such things.

Dr. Probably it is necessary.

Sp. I feel I should be free to go where I please, but it seems I have
no will of my own any more. I try, but it seems somebody else takes
possession of me and gets me into some place where they knock me
nearly senseless. If I knew it, I never would go there, but there is a
person who seems to have the right to take me everywhere, but I feel
I should have the right to take her. (Referring to patient.)

Dr. What business have you with her? Can't you live your own life?

SP. I live my own life, but she interferes with me. I talk to her. She
wants to chase me out. I feel like chasing her out, and that is a real
struggle. I cannot see why I should not have the right just as well as
she has.

Dr. Probably you are interfering with her.

SP. She wants to get rid of me. I am not bothering her. I only talk to
her sometimes.

Dr. Does she know you talk to her?

31

Sp. Sometimes she does, and then she chases me right out She
acts all right, but she gets so provoked. Then, when she gets into
that place, I am knocked senseless and I feel terrible. I have no power
to take her away. She makes me get out.

Dr. You should not stay around her.

Sp. It is my body, it is not hers. She has no right there. I do not
see why she interferes with me.

Dr. She interferes with your selfishness.

Sp. I feel I have some right in life-I think so.

Dr. You passed out of your body without understanding the fact,
and have been bothering a lady. You should go to the spirit world
and not hover around here.

Sp. You say I am hovering around. I am not hovering around, and
I am not one to interfere, but I want a little to say about things.

Dr. That was why you had the "thunder" and "the knocks." Sp. That
was all right for a while, but lately it is terrible. I must have
understanding.

Dr. You will have it now.

Sp. I will do anything to stop that terrible knocking.

Mrs. B. (Recognizing the spirit as one who had been troubling
her.) I am mighty tired of you. Who are you, anyway?

Sp. I am a stranger.

Mrs. B. What is your name?

Sp. My name?

Mrs. B. Have you one?

Sp. My name is Carrie.

Mrs. B. Carrie what?

Sp. Carrie Huntington.

Mrs. B. Where do you live?

Sp. San Antonio, Texas.

Mrs. B. You have been with me a long time, haven't you? (It had
been a number of years since Mrs. B. had been in San Antonio.)

Sp. You have been with me a long time. I should like to find out
why you interfere with me. I recognize you now.

Mrs. B. What street did you live on?

Sp. I lived in many different plates there.

Dr. Do you realize the fact that you have lost your own mortal
body? Can you remember having been sick?

Sp. The last I remember I was in El Paso. I do not remember
anything after that. I went there and I do not seem to remember when
I left. It seems that I should be there now. I got very sick one day
there.

32

Dr. Probably you lost your body then.

Sp. After El Paso I do not know where I went. I went some
distance. I traveled on the railroad and it was just like I was nobody.
Nobody asked me anything and I had to follow that lady (Mrs. B.) as
if I were her servant, and I feel very annoyed about it

Mrs. B. You worried me to death because you sang all the time.

Sp. I had to do something to attract your attention, because you
would not listen to me any other way. You traveled on the train and
it took me away from my home and folks, and I feel very much hurt
about it. Do you understand?

Mrs. B. I understand you far better than you do me.

Dr. Can't you realize what has been the matter with you?

Sp. I want to tell you that I do not want those knockings any
more. I will stay away.

Dr. Understand your condition; understand that you are an
ignorant, obsessing spirit, and that you have no physical body. You
died, probably at the time you were sick.

Sp. Could you talk to a ghost?

Dr. Such things certainly do happen.

Sp. I am not a ghost, because ghosts cannot talk. When you are
dead, you lie there.

Dr. When the body dies, it lies there. But the spirit does not.

Sp. That goes to God who gave it.

Dr. Where is He? Where is that God?

Sp. In Heaven.

Dr. Where is that?

Sp. It is where you go to find Jesus.

Dr. The Bible says: "God is Love; and he that dwelleth in Love
dwelleth in God." Where will you find that God?

Sp. I suppose in Heaven. I cannot tell you anything about it. But I
know I have been in the worst hell you could give me with those
knockings. I do not see that they have done me any good. I do not
like them at all.

Dr. Then you must stay away from that lady.

SP. I see her well now, and I can have a real conversation with her.

Dr. Yes, but this will be the last time.

SP. How do you know it will?

Dr. When you leave here you will understand that you have been
talking through another person's body. That person is my wife.

33

Sp. What nonsense! I thought you looked wiser than to talk such  nonsense.

Dr. It may seem foolish, but look at your hands. Do you recognize them?

Sp. They do not look like mine, but so much has taken place
lately, that I do not know what I shall do. That lady over there, (Mrs.
B.) has been acting like a madman, and I have taken it as it came, so I
shall have to find out what she thinks of doing, and why she does
those things to me.

Dr. She will be very happy to be rid of you.

Mrs. B. Carrie, how old are you?

Sp. You know that a lady never wants to tell her age.

Dr. Especially if she happens to be a spinster.

Sp. Please excuse me, you will have to take it as it is. I will not tell
my age to any one.

Dr. Have you ever been married?

Sp. Yes, I was married to a fellow, but I did not care for him.

Dr. What was his name?

Sp. That is a secret with me. I would not have his name mentioned
for anything, and I do not want to carry his name, either. My name is
Carrie Huntington, because it was my name, and I do not want to
carry his name.

Dr. Do you want to go to the spirit world?

Sp. What foolish questions you put to me.

Dr. It may seem foolish to you, but, nevertheless, there is a spirit
world. Spiritual things often seem foolish to the mortal mind. You
have lost your body.

Sp. I have not lost my body. I have been with this lady, but she
does one thing I do not like very well. She eats too much. She eats
too much and gets too strong, then I have no power over her body,--
not as much as I want to. (To Mrs. B.) I want you to eat less. I try
very much to dictate to you not to eat that and that, but you have no
sense. You do not even listen to me.

Mrs. B. This is the place I told you to go to, but you would not go
by yourself.

Sp. I know it. But you have no business to take me where I get
those knockings. I do not want to stay with you if you take those
awful knockings.

Dr. They are in the next room. Do you want some?

Sp. No, thank you. Not for me any more.

Dr. Listen to what is told you, then you will not need any more.
You are an ignorant spirit. I mean you are ignorant

34

of your condition. You lost your body, evidently without knowing it.

Sp. How do you know?

Dr. You are now controlling my wife's body.

Sp. I never saw you before, so how in the world can you think I
should be called your wife? No, never!

Dr. I do not want you to be.

Sp. I don't want you either!

Dr. I don't want you to control my wife's body much longer. you
must realize that you have lost your physical body. Do you recognize
these hands? (Mrs. Wickland's hands.)

Sp. I have changed so much lately that all those changes make me
crazy. It makes me tired.

Dr. Now, Carrie, be sensible.

Sp. I am sensible, and don't you tell me differently, else you will
have some one to tell you something you never heard before.

Dr. Now Carrie!

Sp. I am Mrs. Carrie Huntington!

Mrs. B. You listen to what the Doctor has to say to you.

Sp. I will not listen to any one, I tell you once for all. I have been
from one to another and I do not care what becomes of me.

Dr. Do you know you are talking through my wife's body?

Sp. Such nonsense. I think that's the craziest thing I ever heard in
my life.

Dr. Now you will have to be sensible.

Sp. Sensible? I am sensible. Are you a perfect man?

Dr. No, I am not, but I tell you that you are an ignorant, selfish
spirit. You have been bothering that lady for some time, and we have
chased you out by the use of those "knocks." Whether you
understand it or not, you are an ignorant spirit. You will have to
behave yourself, or else I will take you into the office and give you
some more of those "knocks.

SP. I don't want those knocks.

Dr. Then change your disposition. Realize that there is no death;
when people lose their bodies they merely become invisible to
mortals. You are invisible to us.

SP. I will have nothing to do with you!

Dr. We want to help you and make you understand your condition.

Sp. I don't need help.

Dr. If you don't behave you will be taken away by intelligent
spirits and placed in a dungeon.
35

Sp. You think you can scare me! You will find out what will
happen to you.

Dr. You must overcome your selfish disposition. Look around;
you may see some one who will make you care. You may see some
one who will make you cry.

Sp. I don't want to cry. I like to sing, instead of cry.

Dr. Where is your mother?

Sp. I haven't seen her for a long time. My mother? My mother!
She is in Heaven. She was a good woman, and is with God and the
Holy Ghost, and all of them.

Dr. Look around and see if your mother is not here.

Sp. This place is not Heaven,-far from it. If this is heaven then it is
worse than hell

Dr. Look for your mother; she will put you to shame.

Sp. I have done nothing to be ashamed of. What business have
you to give me those knocks and have me put in a dungeon? That
lady and I made a bargain.

Dr. She made a bargain to come here and get rid of you. You have
been fired out by electricity. You have lost your company.

Sp. Yes, for a while they all left me. I can't find them. (Other
obsessing spirits.) Why did you chase that tall fellow away?

Dr. This lady wants her body herself; she does not want to be
tormented by earthbound spirits. Would you like them around you?

Sp. I don't know what you mean.

Dr. Can't you realize that you bothered that lady and made her life
a perfect hell?

Sp. (To Mrs. B.) I have not bothered you.

Mrs. B. You woke me up at three o'clock this morning.

Sp. Well, you have no business to sleep.

Dr. You must live your own life.

Sp. I will.

Dr. That will be in a dark dungeon if you do not behave yourself.

Sp. How do you know?

Dr. You cannot stay here. You had better be humble and ask for
help-that is what you need. My wife and I have been following this
work for many years, and she allows all sorts of spirits to use her
body, so they may be helped.

Sp. (Sarcastically) She is very good!

Dr. You ought to be ashamed of yourself. Do you see your
mother?

36

SP. I don't want to see her. I don't want to call her away from Heaven.

Dr. Since Heaven is a condition of happiness she could not be in
any "Heaven" with a daughter like you,--she could not be happy.
Suppose you were in Heaven, and had a daughter, would you like her
to act as you do?

Sp. I do not act contrary. What is the situation? Tell me that!

Dr. I have already told you the situation. You are controlling my
wife's body.

Sp. How do I do that?

Dr. Because of higher laws, and because you are a spirit. Spirit
and mind are invisible. You are so selfish that you do, not care to
understand.

Sp. This is not Heaven.

Dr. This is Los Angeles, California.

Sp. For God's sake, no (An expression never used by Mrs.
Wickland.) How did I come here?

Dr. By staying around that lady. That is how. She had to, take
those "knocks" to get you out.

Sp. She's a fool to do it.

Dr. She wants to get rid of you and she will get rid of you.

Sp. I will not have those knocks any more.

Dr. Higher spirits will show you something you do not like, if you
do not behave yourself.

Sp. (Shrinking from some vision.) I don't want that!

Dr. It is not what you want; it is what you get.

Sp. Is that so!

As nothing could be done to bring the spirit to an understanding,
she was taken away by intelligent spirits.

Upon a later occasion, when the patient, Mrs. Burton, was in the
circle, another spirit was removed from her and, controlling Mrs.
Wickland, spoke in a very individualistic manner.

Spirit: JIMMIE HUNTINGTON
Patient: MRS. BURTON.

The spirit kicked off both shoes, and seemed greatly disturbed.

Dr. What seems to be the trouble? Have you been in an accident
of some kind? (Holding psychic's hands firmly.) You have no shoes on.

SP. I took them off.

Dr. Tell us who you are.

37

Sp. I don't know whether I want to.

Dr. Tell us where you came from.

Sp. I don't know that I have to do that.

Dr. We would like to know who you are. What seems to be the
trouble? You don't seem to be comfortable.

Sp. I am not.

Dr. What have you been doing lately?

Sp. I haven't been doing anything. I have just been walking
around.

Dr. And what else?

Sp. Why, nothing in particular. It seems that I have been shut up
somewhere. (In patient's aura.)

Dr. In what way?

Sp. I don't know how it is, but I couldn't get out.

Dr. How would you explain that?

Sp. I can't explain it in any way.

Dr. Did you hear any talking?

Sp. Yes, many people talked.

Dr. What did they say?

Sp. One said one thing, one another. They all think they are so smart.

Dr. Did you ever have any chance to say anything?

Sp. Yes, but I got so mad, because there was always a woman
there; she knew all I wanted to say. I felt that some, times I should
have a chance. Whenever they talked, that woman talked. A man has
no chance to say anything when a woman begins to talk.

Dr. You must have been a married man.

Sp. Why yes, I am married.

Dr. Was it a success, or a failure?

Sp. I don't know what it was-an excuse anyway. I was not so very
happy. Women always talk too much. They can't leave a fellow alone
a minute at a time.

Dr. What did they talk about?

Sp. It's that woman, she talks and talks and talks. (Patient, Mrs.
Burton, who talked constantly.) She never can keep still very long at
a time. I felt sometimes like shaking her good. We just had some new
company come in. They talk and talk. It makes me sick; they make me
get out. They are the worst I ever saw.

Dr. Did anything happen at all?

Sp. Lightning played around my head, until I didn't know where I
was. (Electrical treatment given patient.) I thought

38

it was far distant, but, my God and Stars in Heaven, how it hit me!

Dr.. What did you want to do at such times?

Sp. I wanted to get hold of that lightning and try to stop it hitting
my head, but the lightning strikes every time-it never misses.
Lightning used to be different; it didn't always strike, but now it
never misses. I never saw anything like it. There are stars before your
eyes, and it feels terrible, but even while the lightning strikes that
woman keeps right on talking. (Patient talked throughout treatment.)

Dr. What does she talk about?

Sp. Nothing. She wants to be boss, and I want to be boss; so
there we are.

Dr. What does she say?

Sp. You know how it is with women-they talk and talk, but there is
never anything to it.

Dr. Does the lady address you?

Sp. She torments me all the time. I feel like shaking her, but I don't
seem to have any power any more. Then there is another woman, and
she goes right at it too. It makes me sick. What can you do with a
woman to make her stop talking? If you can get any woman to stop
talking, you'll have a pretty hard time to do it.

Dr. What is your name?

Sp. It's a long time since I heard it.

Dr. Where did you come from? Are you in California?

Sp. No; I'm in Texas.

Dr. What did your mother call you when you were a boy? Sp. James
was my name, but they always called me Jimmie. Gosh! I don't know
what is the matter with me. That lightning gets on my knees and feet,
then from my head to my feet, but what I can't understand is, it never
misses its aim.

Dr. How old are you?

Sp. I will say that I am a man about fifty years of age, but I want to
say that during all my life, I never saw such lightning before, and
what I can't understand is that nothing ever catches fire from it.
Gosh! Yesterday I got into a regular nest; it was the worst I ever saw
in my whole life. I think every one was a devil. (Obsessing spirits.)
There's another one standing over there, and that came yesterday.

Dr. How long have you been dead, Jimmie?

Sp. What do you mean?

Dr. I mean, how long is it since you lost your body?

SP. I haven't lost it yet.

39

Dr. Don't you realize that you are in a strange condition?

Sp. I have been that for a long time.

Dr. Did you ever work in the oil business in Texas?

Sp. I don't know where I have been working; things are
very queer.

Dr. Where did you work?

Sp. In a blacksmith shop.

Dr. Do you know what year it is?

Sp. No, I don't.

Dr. How are you going to vote this Fall? For whom will
you vote for President?
Sp. I don't know yet.

Dr. How do you like the present President?

Sp. I like him; he is pretty good.

Dr. Do you know anything in particular about him?

Sp. He's all right; there's no flies on Roosevelt.

Dr. Is he President?

Sp. Of course he is. He just got in. McKinley was also a
good man, but you know, Mark Hanna had an awful influence
over him. It is a long time since I bothered with politics. I
have been shut up a long time, but, my God and Stars in Heaven,
I'm nearly crazy from that woman talking all the time.

Dr. What woman is it that talks so much?

Sp. Can't you see her?

Dr. She might not be here
.
Sp. Oh, yes, she is, it's that woman. (Indicating patient.)

Dr. What does she talk about?

Sp. Nothing but nonsense. She makes me sick.

Dr. What does she say in particular?

Sp. Nothing; she has not sense enough. She mocks me
every once in a while. I'm going to get her some day! Stars
in Heaven, she's terrible!

Dr. Now, friend, I want you to understand your condition.
You have lost your physical body, and are now a spirit.

Sp. I have a body. If only that woman would keep still.

Dr. This is not your body.

Sp. Stars in Heaven, whose body is it?

Dr. My wife's.

Sp. Stars in Heaven and the Heat from the Sun! I'm not
your wife. How could I be your wife when I'm a man? That's funny!

Dr. You are an invisible spirit.

Sp. Spirit? Do you mean a ghost? For Heaven's sake, talk
United States.
40

Dr. Ghosts and spirits are the same thing.

Sp. I know ghosts and I know spirits.

Dr. They both mean the same thing. (Taking hand of psychic.)

Sp. Say, it's not nice for a man to hold another man's hand. If you
want to hold hands, get hold of some lady's hand and hold that. Men
don't hold each other's hands,--that's cold joy.

Dr. Tell us what that woman says.

Sp. She just talks and says nothing.

Dr. Is she young or old?

Sp. She's not so very young. I get so mad at her.

Dr. I am telling you the fact when I say you are a spirit.

Sp. When did I die then?

Dr. It must have been some time ago. Roosevelt has not been
President for many years. He is a spirit like yourself.

Sp. Just like I am? Why, he's dead then.

Dr. So are you.

Sp. When I am here and listening to you, I can't be dead.

Dr. You have lost your body.

Sp. Say, don't hold my hand. It's such cold joy.

Dr. I am holding my wife's hand.

Sp. Well, you can hold her hand, but let mine alone.

Dr. Do you recognize this hand as yours?

Sp. That isn't my hand.

Dr. It is the hand of my wife.

Sp. But I'm not your wife.

Dr. You are using my wife's body only temporarily. You lost your
own body a long time ago.

Sp. How did that happen?

Dr. I don't know. Do you know you are in Los Angeles,
California?

Sp. God, and Stars in Heaven, how did I come to California? I had
no money. You know, there are two women here. One doesn't talk so
much. She looks to me like she was sick. (Another spirit obsessing
patient.) She doesn't say much, but I suppose she is so annoyed
because that other woman talks so awful. Please don't hold my hand;
I like 'to feel free. If I were alone with a lady, and I could hold her
hand, that would be a different story. Aren't you satisfied to hold
just one hand?

Dr. I have to hold both because you will not be quiet. Now, let us
not lose any more time.

SP. I wish sometimes I didn't have so much time on my hands.

Dr. We will give you something to do.

41

Sp. You will? That's good. If you can give me some work of some
kind, I shall be very glad. Do you want me to fix horses, shoes? I used
to shoe horses.

Dr. In what state?

Sp. Texas. That's a big state.

Dr. Did you roam around a good deal?

Sp. Yes, quite a little. I was in Galveston, Dallas, San Antonio,
and many other places. I traveled everywhere I wanted to go. I went
to Houston and other cities.

Dr. You are a spirit and have been allowed to control my wife's
body for a short time. We do not see you.

Sp. Say, just look at those devils there, limping around like a
bunch of little imps. (Obsessing spirits.) They are all around that
woman. (Mrs. B.)

Dr. You take them all with you when you leave.

Sp. Not much I won't. (Touching necklace.) What in the world is this?

Dr. That is my wife's neck ornament.

SP. Your wife?

Dr. You have been brought here for enlightenment. You were
fired out from that other lady.

Sp. Yes, with lightning. For the life of me, I never saw anything
like it. There used to be thunder and lightning storms in Texas, and in
Arkansas, but lightning did not strike every time as it did on me.

Dr. You will not have that thunder and lightning any more.

Sp. I will not? That's good.

Dr. Was your mother living in Texas?

Sp. Certainly, but she is dead. I should know, because I was at her
funeral.

Dr. You were at the funeral of her body, not her spirit, soul or mind.

Sp. I suppose she went to Heaven.

Dr. Look around and see if you can see her.

Sp. Where?

Dr. She might be here.

Sp. What place is this anyhow? If I am your wife I have never
seen you before.

Dr. You are not my wife.

Sp. You called me your wife.

Dr. I did not say you are my wife. You are temporarily using her
body.

Sp. For God's sake in Heaven and hell, how can I get out of your wife?

42

Dr. Be sensible. What do those imps say?

Sp. They say they are going to stay, but I say, and say it strong,
that they are all going to go.

Dr. Do you want them to go with you?

Sp. I should say I do.

Dr. You can help them a great deal by reforming them and making
them understand their condition. They need help. You are all
ignorant spirits and have been bothering that lady. I am the one who
gave you "lightning" and chased you out. You can all 90 to the
spirit world and learn how to progress.

Sp. Is that woman going too? There is a whole lot, a gang, but I
haven't seen any of them until lately.

Dr. Can you see anybody you know? Just sit quietly -for a
moment and look around.

Sp. (Excitedly) Why, here comes Nora! (A spirit.)

Dr. Who is Nora?

Sp. Nora Huntington; she's my sister.

Dr. Ask her if your name is Jimmie Huntington.

Sp. She says it is, and that she hasn't seen me for such a long
time. (Suddenly puzzled.) But-she's dead.

Dr. Let her explain the situation.

Sp. She says: "Jimmie, you come home with me." Where shall I
come ?

Dr. What does she say?

Sp. She says: "To the spirit world,"--but I don't believe her.

Dr. Was your sister in the habit of lying to you?

Sp. No.

Dr. If she were honest before, would she lie now?

Sp. She says she has been hunting for me for years and she didn't
know where I was.

Dr. Where has she been?

Sp. Why, she's dead. I was at her funeral, and I know well that
she was not buried alive.

Dr. You went to the funeral of her body, not her spirit.

Sp. This is her ghost then?

Dr. She is probably an intelligent spirit. We do not need to argue
about that any more. Let her explain.

Sp. She says: "Let us go, Jimmie, and take the 'gang' with us." She
says she is a missionary and helps everybody she can; she says she
helps unfortunates. I have been unfortunate too.

Dr. Tell this lady, this other spirit you have been talking about, to
go with you.

SP. She says if she leaves she has no body.

Dr. Tell her she has a spirit body. She doesn't need a physical

43

body. Tell her that they will teach her how to progress. You take
the imps along too.

Sp. I can't carry them all with me. How do you know they all want
to go with us?

Dr. They will go if you can show them anything better than they
have now. Probably they never had any chance in life.

Sp. I never thought of that.

Dr. We cannot blame them altogether. Show them the better way
and they will follow.

Sp. Where am I now?

Dr. In California.

Sp. Where in California?

Dr. Los Angeles.

Sp. If you are in California, it doesn't mean that I am there too.

Dr. How could you be anywhere else, since you are here?

Sp. Of course, that is reasonable, The last I remember, I was in
Dallas, Texas, and the first thing I knew I was struck on the back of
my head. I was shoeing a horse when I was struck. Did he kill me?

Dr. He evidently chased you out of your body. Nobody ever
dies. If you don't go soon, your sister will become tired of waiting for you.

Sp. I'll go with her, if you'll let me, but I'll have to walk.

Dr. How are you going to walk? With my wife's body? You will
have to learn a new lesson. Just think yourself with your sister and
you will be there instantly. You will have to travel by thought.

Sp. Stars in Heaven, that's a new wrinkle!

Dr. Now, friend, you can't stay any longer.

Sp. That's a nice way to talk to me!

Dr. I don't want you to use my wife's body any longer.

Sp. What body will I get hold of when I get out from here?

Dr. When you leave this body you will have your spirit body.
That is invisible to us.

Sp. Can I jump from this body into a spirit body?

Dr. Your sister will explain. Just think yourself with your sister.
You do not need any physical body for that purpose.

Sp. I am commencing to get sleepy.

Dr. Go with your sister and follow her instructions; you will learn
many new lessons in the spirit life. Take all the gang and the little
imps with you.

Sp. (To spirits) Now you come along with me, all of you, the
whole lot of you.

44

Dr. Will they all go with you?

Sp. Now we are going. Come on, the whole gang of you.
Goodbye.

----

On a subsequent date a spirit "Harry" was brought to the circle
for enlightenment, and, controlling Mrs. Wickland, maintained an
interesting conversation regarding another spirit that had been
troubling Mrs. Burton.

Spirit: HARRY.

Dr. Where have you come from?

Sp. I don't know where I am, and I don't know what is the matter
with me.

Dr. Would you care to know what is the matter?

Sp. I don't know what is the matter.

Dr. Did something happen to you?

Sp. That is what I should like to find out.

Dr. What have you been doing lately?

Sp. I don't know.

Dr. Tell us who you are. Do you know?

Sp. Well, I should say-well, I think I do.

Dr. Where do you think you are?

Sp. I don't know.

Dr. Yes, you do.

Sp. No, I don't know. Everything is so queer, and it just seems to
me I don't know what's the matter.

Dr. Can't you look back and see whether something happened to you?

Sp. I can't look back, I have no eyes in my back.

Dr. I mean, think back.

Sp. Think of my back?

Dr. No, think of your past. Just use your thinking faculties.

Sp. I don't know anything.

Dr. You must not be so mentally lazy.

Sp. What can a man do?

Dr. This is a woman sitting here. Are you a man or a woman?

SP. I am a man, that fellow is a man, and the others are women. I
have always been a man. I was never a woman, and never will be.
You know I am a man.

Dr. Look at your hands; where did you get them?

Sp. Those are not my hands.

Dr. Look at your feet.
45

Sp. They are not mine, either. I never was a woman, and I don't
want women's hands and feet, and I don't want to borrow any one's
body now.

Dr. Are you old ?

Sp. Well, I'm not a young kid.

Dr. You are probably old in years but not in knowledge.

Sp. No, I don't know that I have so much knowledge.

Dr. If you had knowledge you would not be in your present
position.

Sp. That has nothing to do with knowledge.

Dr. Knowledge is just what you lack. Tell us what your name is.
Is it Mary?

Sp. Have you ever heard of a man being named Mary? That's
ridiculous.

Dr. Then tell us what your name is. I can only guess.

Sp. For goodness sake alive, man, it is a man's name, not a
woman's.

Dr. Introduce yourself.

Sp. What in the devil do you need my name for?

Dr. You are well versed in English. Did you have white hair as
you have now? (Referring to hair of psychic.)

Sp. I had gray hair.

Dr. Did you wear curls as you are doing now?

Sp. No, I don't like them.

Dr. Did you wear a comb?

Sp. Did you ever know of a man wearing a comb?

Dr. Where did you get that wedding ring?

Sp. I didn't steal anything. I don't want a woman's hand.

Dr. John, where did you come from?

Sp. I'm not named John.

Dr. What did your wife call you? What did your mother call you?

Sp. She called me Harry. I was not married.

Dr. What is your other name?

Sp. I do not need to tell my name to a lot of women.

Dr. There are some gentlemen present.

Sp. How in the world did I get into this crowd of women? I hate women.

Dr. You must have been disappointed in love. What was the trouble?

Sp. I'd be a big fool to tell my secrets to a lot of women.

Dr. Why did she marry the other man?

Sp. Who?

Dr. The girl who jilted you.

46

to stick around a woman like you do. Now, come along with me! you
see, they come. I'll look after them all right. Goodbye.

During another circle "Frank," one of the spirits interfering with
Mrs. Burton, left her, and controlled the intermediary, exhibiting little
trace of memory in any form.

Spirit: FRANK. Patient MRS. BURTON.

Dr. Where did you come from?

Sp. I don't know.

Dr. Do you know any one here?

Sp. I don't see anybody I know.

Dr. Don't you know where you came from?

Sp. I don't know myself. How can I answer questions when I don't
know?

Dr. How long have you been dead?

Sp. Dead! The idea! Say, what's the matter with me? I think it
looks very funny to see you all sitting around here. Are you having a
meeting, or what is it called anyhow?

Dr. Yes, it's a meeting. Try to tell us who you are.

Sp. I don't know why I should tell you that.

Dr. You are a stranger to us.

Sp. I don't know whether I shall stay here or not. I am always
peculiar among strangers, you know.

Dr. Tell us where you came from.

Sp. For my dear life, I don't know myself, so how can I tell you?
Say, why do you hold my arm? I'm a strong man, and can sit still by
myself.

Dr. I thought you were a woman.

Sp. God above! Why do you think I'm a woman? You'll have to
look again, because I am a man, sure enough, and I've always been a
man. But things are funny, and I don't know; it has been so peculiar
with me for some time. You know, I was walking along and then I
heard some singing, so I thought I would peek in, and before I knew
it I was feeling fine. You know I have not been feeling well for some
time; everything has seemed unusual. (After becoming enmeshed in
aura of sensitive.) I don't know what is the matter with me anyhow.
Somebody said to me that if I came in where the singing was, I would
find out what is the matter with me. I have asked everybody I saw,
but everybody passed by; they were so stuck up they wouldn't talk
to a fellow any more. The people all looked like wax to me. Dear life!
I've been talking and talking,

51

SP. She bothers me too.

Dr. Try to understand your condition. Cannot you realize that you are
so-called dead? At this time you are a woman. Look at your clothes. You
say you are a man and yet you are wearing the clothes of a woman.

Sp. For God's sake, I don't want to be a woman any more! I'm a man and
I want to be a man. I used to be a man all the time, but I- cannot, for dear life,
know how I can get out of this condition. That woman says to go, and I try
to get out, but I cannot. (Suddenly recognizing Dr. W.) You are the one that
gave me that fire! Praise the Lord! I want to get rid of you. I don't like you
with all those fires you give me. I don't want to have anything to do with you.

Mrs. B. How long have you been with me?

Sp. With you? You always chase me out. What did you do with that
woman that was with me? (Another spirit* obsessing the patient, dislodged
previously.) She sang for me. We have lost her. I have been hunting and
hunting for her. Can you tell me where she is?

Dr. She left that lady and controlled this same body as you are doing
now. After that she went to the spirit world. That is where you are going
when you leave here.

Sp. That woman (Mrs. B.) has no business to scold me like she does. I
haven't done her any harm.

Dr. Suppose you were a lady and some spirit bothered you would you
like it?

Sp. Certainly I would not like it very well.

Dr. You bothered her. You are a spirit and she is a mortal. She wants to
get rid of you.

Sp. She bothers me with all those needles. They hit her on the head and
it seems like the needles are hitting my head.

Dr. She is in her mortal body, but you are a spirit, invisible to us.

Sp. What do you mean?

Dr. Just exactly what I say. Your mind is invisible to us. You are
temporarily controlling my wife's body.

Sp. Why, I never saw your wife, and I do not want to. I Will tell you one
thing, I am a man, and will never be anything else, and I don't want to be
married to you.

Dr. You may be a man, as you claim, but I want you to recognize the
fact that you are invisible to us. This is my wife's body.

See Chap. 3. Page 30, Spirit: Carrie Huntington.

53

Sp. For God's sake, sure I am a woman! (Noticing clothes of psychic.)
For the land's sake alive, when did these clothes come on me?

Dr. They have been on you quite a while. How did you get here ?

Sp. Somebody said: "You go in there and- you will get understanding,
because you do not need to wander as you are doing." And now I am a
woman!

Dr. Only temporarily. Try to understand what I am telling you. You
lost your body, perhaps a long time ago.

Sp. That woman (Mrs. B.) is the fault of it.

Dr. You have been bothering that lady, probably for many years,, and
you may have been troubling others. What is your name?

Sp. I can't think.

Dr. You lost your own body and have been wandering around in that
outer darkness which is described in the Bible. Were you a religious man?

Sp. I don't want to have anything to do with the churches. I am sick and
tired of them all. They all say, if you do not do so and so you will go straight
to hell, where you will bum forever. They teach and preach damnation, you know.

I was quite a young man when a minister told me I would go to that
terrible hell, and they did not want me in the church any more because I did
not do as they said I should. I did not believe any of it. I was not such a very
bad man.

After I left that church I thought I would try another. For dear life, I got
into the same hell and damnation, and I was tired of it all.

They talked of God and holy things. They said I should give my money
to God. They said I should give my tobacco to God. I could not see why
God should need my tobacco, and what little money I had. I could not see
things that way, so I left that church. I went to another church, and they
talked and talked to me. After awhile they said that the devil was after me,
because I would not give my money to the church.

One time I had been out with the boys for a while. I never drank too
much, but I drank enough that time to be lively. I thought, now I will go right
straight up to the front and sit down, so I did. They tried to save my soul for
God, so they told me. The minister said that the devil was right after me, and
I got pretty seared. He said: "And he is going to get you!" I thought I would
look behind and probably I might see him, but I didn't. He said: "Come up,
come up, and we will save your

soul from hell; come and be saved. Come to the front and be converted. You
will be born again."

I was a little contrary for a while, and then I, got up, and went right up
to the front, as I wanted to see what they would do. The minister said:
"Now you kneel down there." So I knelt down. He put his hands on my
head and they all sang and sang, and they prayed and prayed for me. They
said: "Be converted now."

I thought it was grand, all the girls putting their hands on me and singing
and praying for me. Then the minister came again, and he said: "You will
have to pray, or the devil will get after you." I could not be a hypocrite, so I
told him, if I was a sinner I would have to stay one. "I don't believe the devil
is a person, anyhow," so I told him, and he was angry. He thought I was a
bad pill. They tried all they could to convert me, but it was no good, so I
finally went away. After I left there, some men came after me, so I ran as
hard as I could, then somebody struck me on the head and I had great pain.
I fell down, but I got up again. I wanted to give that man a push down the
hill, but he pushed me and I rolled and rolled down that hill. There were lots
of people around me after I stopped rolling, and all at once I felt all right again.

Dr. That was probably the time you lost your physical body. You died.

Sp. I did not die.

Dr. What place was it, where you rolled down the hill?

Sp. It was down in Texas. I walked and ran and tried to talk to people,
but they would not answer me; they seemed like sticks. I felt so queer in my
head. I asked them if they could tell me where my home was. I felt that pain.
Once in a while I could get away. I then came to a lady, and she said: "Come
along," and before I knew it we had a crowd around us, and she used to sing.
(Evidently, the spirit, Carrie Huntington. The Patient, Mrs. B., had often
been annoyed by the singing of spirits.) I talked to her once in a while, and
then, all at once, she disappeared, and after that I got the needles. (Came
more fully into control of patient, and felt electrical treatments more keen- I
felt them pretty bad.

Dr. You are a spirit and are now using my wife's body.

Sp. How in the world did I get into your wife's body? Do You like your
wife to be all kinds of tramps?

Dr. Yes, long enough to give the spirits an understanding regarding the
invisible side.

Sp. Are these your wife's clothes? Did I borrow them for

a while? Did your wife dress me? I am sorry to show myself like a woman
and not like a man. What will these people think -that I'm crazy? (Laughter.)
It isn't funny.

Dr. You are an ignorant spirit, in outer darkness. Intelligent spirits have
brought you here to control this body temporarily, so that you can
understand your condition. Also, they took you away from that lady. (Mrs. B.)

Sp. Will she get those awful needles again?

Dr. Are there any more persons where you came from? Or are you the
last one?

Sp. The woman and the other man. went; then you gave me the needles.
I kicked like a steer to get out, but I could not. How could you expect me to
do any better? I thought of the minister that talked about hell.

Dr. That hell was not like this. There are spirits here who will teach you
how to progress in the spirit world; they will help you. Is your father living?

Sp. I don't know. I haven't seen my father for about twenty-five or
thirty years. Mother is dead, but I don't know whether father is or not. I
don't know any of my relatives.

Mrs. B. Did I meet you last November?

Sp. Yes, I have been ill ever since that time. I was not the one that was
with you close; that was the young lady. My head is hurting me terribly.

Dr. What year do you think it should be?

Sp. I should think about 1888 or 1891.

Dr. It is 1920 now.

Sp. I think there must be something the matter with me.

Dr. You have been in outer darkness for some time.

Sp. I have been walking and walking, and I got with that lady over there.
(Mrs. B.) I wanted to go. I kicked and she kicked, and we had regular
kickings. Oh, look there! See! My Mother! Oh, Mother! Can you forgive
me? I was not as you wanted me to be. Mother, will you take me? I am so
tired; I need your care and help. Will you take me? Oh, my Mother!

Dr. What does she say?

Sp. She calls me. She says: "Yes, Frank, you will come with me. I have
been looking for you a long time." I am getting weak; I feel so tired. Mother
says: "Frank, we had not the understanding of the real life, because we were
not taught what we should have been taught, so that we did not learn to
know God's wonderful universe. Religion is a long way from the real life.
The ministers all teach that we should just believe and then we are saved.
No, no; belief is only a setback.

56

Get knowledge of God. We do not do that."

"Frank, we will help you to learn what a beautiful world there is on the
other side when we have understanding. You have to make your own efforts
to learn to understand the Golden Rule of God's beautiful teaching of life,
and be of help and service to your fellowman."

"Now, Frank," she says, "you have been very mischievous in your life. I
know you were a good boy, but you always were too lively. You were
ignorant of the real life and went away from home when I died. The home
was broken up; you went one way and the rest went another. I did not
know, Frank, what things were, but I wish the truth could be taught."

She says: "Now come with me to the spirit world, where we have
understanding. There we have love, harmony, peace and bliss, but we have
to live for one another. You have to go to school and learn. You must not
bother any one any more, as you have done. Come, Frank, and we will go to
a beautiful home in the spirit world."

Thank you, and Goodby!

----

Several weeks later the last intruder left Mrs. Burton, and, through Mrs.
Wickland, inquired for the companions who had preceded her, resenting
having been held captive.

Spirit: MAGGIE WILKINSON
Patient: MRS. BURTON.

Dr. Good Evening, friend; who are you? (Taking psychic's hand.)

Sp. Don't hold my hand! Don't touch me!

Dr. What is your name?

Sp. My name is Maggie.

Dr. Maggie what?

Sp. Maggie Wilkinson.

Dr. Do you know that you are in Los Angeles? Where did You come from?

SP. I came from Dallas, Texas.

Dr. How did you reach Los Angeles?

SP. I am not in Los Angeles, I am in Texas. I have been kicking and
kicking all the time.

Dr. Why did you do that?

SP. I have been kicking because I have been in a prison. (Victim's aura.)
There were several of us, but they have all disappeared. (Other obsessing
spirits, previously dislodged from patient.) They have all gone but me, and I
don't like it.

57

Dr. Would you like to go where your friends have gone?

Sp. I don't care. I really don't care for the others, anyway. They
always wanted to have everything, and I was always behind.

Dr. Don't you realize that you are in a strange condition? Tell us
how long you have been dead.

Sp. Dead! Why is that woman with me all the time? (Patient.) She
always gets fire. She gets the worst kind of things. She gets up on
something, puts something over her head, and then fire comes!
(When Mrs. Burton seated herself upon a platform beside the
static machine, she covered her head with a woolen blanket to
make the electricity more effective.)

Dr. Do you feel that you are in the right place?

Sp. Where shall I go?

Dr. To the spirit world.

Sp. What is that?

Dr. That is where people go, after passing out of their bodies,
when they have understanding. Don't you realize that something
strange has happened to you?

Sp. If you could get that blanket from being put on my head, and
that fire, I should be all right. It seems that I was knocked to pieces.
How in the world can anyone stand being shot at like that?

Dr. That was done to chase you out. Do you not feel free now?
What have you been doing since you last had those shots"?

Sp. I am glad I was chased out, for I feel better now than I have
for some time.

Dr. Do you realize that you are controlling my wife's body? Sp.
Thank God, I am not.

Dr. This body, which you are using, belongs to my wife.

Sp. Your wife, nothing!

Dr. Do you recognize the clothes you are wearing?

Sp. That's nothing to me.

Dr. Where did you get them?

Sp. I'm no thief! I am going to have you arrested for calling me a
thief. The first police station I find, I shall swear out a warrant against you.

Dr. Maggie, what is the color of your hair?

Sp. Brown-dark brown.

Dr. (Touching psychic's hair.) This hair is not brown. These
clothes belong to my wife.

Sp. I don't care whether they are my clothes or not; I never asked
for them.

58

Dr. Tell us how long you have been dead.

Sp. I'm not dead. One time you say one thing, and another time
you say another.

Dr. I mean, when did you lose your body?

Sp. I haven't lost my body; it's not in the grave.

Dr. Were you ever sick, and did you suddenly become better?

Sp. I was very sick, and when I got better, I was in a prison. I was
moving around and some woman bothered me. There were lots of us,
but they all got so seared of the fire that they left.

Dr. When did you come to Los Angeles?

Sp. I'm not in Los Angeles; I'm in Dallas, Texas. If I am in Los
Angeles, how did I get here?

Dr. You must have come with a lady who has red hair. (Mrs. B.,
seated nearby.)

Sp. She had no right to bring me here.

Dr. She also came from Texas.

Sp. What became of the others?

Dr. They were brought to an understanding and went to the spirit
world. That is where you should be. Why should you hover around
that woman?

Sp. Hover around-nothing! I have been in a prison, but I could
not help it. I did what I could to get out. Those people I saw said they
would help me out, but they didn't. I made quite a disturbance, and
they went away from me.

Dr. Probably they brought you here.

Sp. All I see is people sitting around.

Mrs. B. Did you come out here with me? What do you want to
bother me for?

Sp. I have nothing to do with you. Oh! you're the one that kept
me in the prison!

Mrs. B. What was the name of that girl friend of yours You used
to be with? (Referring to another spirit that had been troubling Mrs. B)

Sp. Where? In Texas?

Mrs. B. Yes.

Sp. Her name was Mary, and there was another one, Carrie.

Mrs. B. Did Carrie come with you?

Sp. Yes, of course. Say, what did you keep me closed up for?
Why didn't you let me out?

Mrs. B. I kept telling you to get out.

SP. I know you did, but you didn't open the door so I could go.

59

Dr. All you had to do was to think yourself free from that lady.

Sp. I can't think myself free.

Dr. Intelligent spirits can think themselves anywhere; it is only
ignorant spirits who cannot.

Sp. (To Mrs. B.) Say, what did you keep me around you for?

Dr. You were an uninvited guest.

Mrs. B. I'm glad to get rid of you.

Sp. I'm glad too. I'm mighty glad to get out of that prison. Why
didn't you let me out? I knocked and knocked, but you kept me there.
(To Dr. W.) You gave me those fire things, then I got out, and I'm
glad of it.

Dr. Did you get out after the last treatment?

Sp. You call that a "treatment"?

Dr. If you got out of that lady, I should call it a good treatment.

Sp. You don't know how I suffered from that fire, especially the
shooting. You are the one that gave me that fire, and I don't like you!

Dr. I had to give the lady those treatments to get you out.

Sp. You think that devil-machine is a little god. You want me to
go-where?

Dr. To the spirit world.

Sp. Where is that?

Dr. A place where the discarnated spirits go to get
understanding. You have lost your physical body but do not
understand it, and you have been bothering that lady. (Mrs. B.)

Mrs. B. When once I get you and the others out, I shall keep the
door closed, and closed so tight that none of you can get in.

Dr. Think yourself free and you will not be in a prison. Mortals
cannot travel by thought, but spirits can. You are invisible to us. You
are temporarily using the body of another; this body, belongs to my wife. 

Sp. You have told me that before.

Dr. Can't you see you are in a strange condition?

Mrs. B. Do you know Maggie Mackin? (Another spirit whose
presence Mrs. B. had clairaudiently been aware of.)

Sp. Yes, and I know Mary too.

Dr. How old were you when you passed out of your body? Can
you recall something of your past?

Sp. I remember being out riding and the horses ran away,
59

played any part in this case, nor could the theory of auto-suggestion be
maintained, for Mr. Hesselroth was entirely unknown to every one in the
room with the exception of his friend, Mr. Eckholm, and this friend held the
opposite idea regarding the sale of the store.

Many years later this spirit returned to us in California, speaking again
through Mrs. Wickland.

EXPERIENCE, SEPTEMBER 29,1920
Spirit: MR. HESSELROTH

Spirit I have come in to say just a few words, for I have been helped out
of darkness, and have become a helper in the Band of Mercy.

Doctor Who are you, friend?

Sp. I am one of the helpers here. I come around sometimes, and I came
tonight to say a few words to you. I was once in a very dark condition, but
now I am one of your Band. I thought you might like to know. If it had not
been for you, I would probably still be in the dark. Many years have passed.
I have quite an understanding of life now, through you, and through this little
circle of the Band of Mercy. It was not here, it was in Chicago that I was helped.

I am very much pleased to be here with you tonight. I should like to give
you my name, but I seem to have forgotten it, because I have not heard it for
so long. It will come to me, and then I will give it.

Do you remember an old gentleman you used to know-Mr. Eckholm? He
was not so very old either. He was a very dear friend of mine, and through
him I came to see you.

Dr. At some meeting in Chicago?

Sp. Yes. I had a drug store in Chicago. My name is Hesselroth! I could
not think of my name for a moment. I am one of your helpers here. Mr.
Eckholm is with me, and he also does all he can. He is very happy to help
with your work here. He was heart and soul with it during his earth life. I
also feel that I have to do all I can to help, because if you had not helped me,
I should have been in that drug store yet, selling medicine.

For a whole year after I passed out, I attended to the business as I did
when on earth, only I did-not feel that I was sick any more. I took sick in the
store, and was sent to the hospital, and I passed out in the hospital. They
took my body to the undertakers, not to my home.

63

You know, it says in the Bible: "Where your treasure is there will your
heart be also." When I woke up from the sleep of death, I thought of my
store, and there I found myself. I saw that everything was going on all right,
but it seemed so strange that I could not talk to any of my customers. I
thought that during my sickness I had lost my faculty of speech, so I did not
think much about it.

I attended to business, and I impressed my clerk to do things I wanted
done. I was running the store and the clerk was managing it for me. I did not
realize that I was dead until I came to this gentleman (Dr. W.) in his little circle.

When burglars got into my home I thought of the revolver that I always
kept in a drawer. I went there, and tried and tried to get it, but my hand went me.

I commenced to see things. I saw my spirit father and mother. Then I
thought I must be a little out of my head. So I thought I had better go up to
see my friend, Eckholm. I always thought he was just. a little off, because he
believed in Spiritualism. I wanted to see Eckholm to ask him if ghosts could
come back-and there I was a ghost myself!

Then I came to this circle and I found I could talk, and after a while the
door opened, opened to that beautiful land beyond.

I wish you could see the reception I had. My relatives and friends all
opened their arms to me, and said: "Welcome to our home in spirit! Welcome
to that everlasting life! Welcome to an understanding of God!"

Such a reception cannot be described until you see it for yourselves and
are with us. That is happiness; it is "Heaven."

I will not take any more of your time, but I am glad that I could come and
talk tonight. It was about fifteen years ago that I first came here.

Eckholm says he feels proud of this work, and he sends love to all of
you here.

Now, Good Night!

----

Pathos and tragedy are often the grim accompaniment of the sufferings of
earthbound spirits. The spirit of the following narrative was taken from a
patient who was subject to doleful spells of crying and afflicted with intense
head pains, all of which ceased after the spirit was removed.

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EXPERIENCE, JANUARY 15, 1918
Spirit: MINNIE DAY. Patient: MRS. L. W
Psychic: MRS. WICKLAND

Spirit (Crying piteously) Oh, my head hurts so badly! I don't like those
needles (electrical treatments given patient), they hurt me so. My head
hurts! I am lost, I don't know where I am at. There were thousands and
thousands of needles; I had to cry.

Doctor Where do you live?

Sp. I don't know,

Dr. Where did your parents live?

Sp. I don't know.

Dr. Aren't you a little child?

Sp. I am only little, I am Minnie Day.

Dr. Where did you live? How old are you?

Sp. I don't know. Ask Ma.

Dr. Don't you know what city you lived in?

Sp. In St. Louis. Oh! my father is coming! He hit me on the head! And
there's Willie.

Dr. Who is Willie?

Sp. He's my brother. Here's my father, and I'm afraid! He says to come
with him. Oh, Ma, my head hurts! My Ma says for me to go with her 'cause
she has a new home for me and Willie.

Dr. You will go to her home in the spirit world.

Sp. What is the spirit world? What does that mean?

Dr. That is the invisible world around the earth. Do you know that you
are dead?

Sp. What do you mean?

Dr. I mean that you have lost your physical body. What have you been
doing recently?

Sp. I have been running all over trying to find somebody. Mama died a
long time ago when I was a little girl. After Ma died Papa was so mean to me
and Willie, and he hit me so many times. I feel so bad, and my head hurts. I
have been to so many places and my Ma is dead, and I don't know where to go.

Dr. You were in such mental distress that you did not realize your
condition. You have lost your physical body and your friends would call
you dead.

Sp. Did I die? Sometimes I feel as if I were in a box. We were a big crowd
(spirits obsessing the patient) and they Pushed and pushed, and there was
one big man and he was so
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mean to us. He chased us one way, then another, but one day we lost him.
(This tormenting spirit had been attracted from the patient two days
before.*) I felt so glad he was lost and I thought I could be quiet, but I got all
those needles.

Dr. You were influencing a lady and making her cry.

Sp. What do you mean?

Dr. You are a spirit, and were in the aura of that lady. When she had an
electrical treatment you felt it and left her. You are using my wife's body
now. Look at your hands; do they belong to you?

Sp. Oh, look! I have a ring! But that is not mine, and I have not stolen it.
(Excitedly) Take it away! I didn't steal that ring!

Dr. This is not your body, and that is not your ring. It is very likely that
you died when your head was hurt. The spirit lives after the body dies.

Sp. But I have been alive.

Dr. You were living, but without a physical body, and came in touch
with a sensitive, a lady, who is now in the other house. She acts just as you
do, and complains of her head hurting in the same place yours hurts you. She
has been acting like an insane person, but it is all due to spirit influence.

Sp. The man was so mean that we had with us, but now he is lost, and
we are so glad. We were all seared of him, but we could not run away from
him. He was awful mean; he bit and scratched and would fight.

Dr. He was very obstinate. He was controlling this body a short time ago,
just as you are now. We have circles like this where spirits may come for help.

Sp. Spirits? I don't know anything about them. My head hurts me.

Dr. The body you are using belongs to my wife, and she has no pain in
her head.

Sp. Those needles hurt me so much.

Dr. When the lady had a treatment today you evidently were able to get
away and are now allowed to control this body So that we can help you. A
short time ago you said that your father and mother were here; are they here now?

Sp. Don't you see Mama? She's standing right there.

Dr. Wouldn't you like to go with your mother?

Sp. But she's dead.

Dr. You are "dead" also. There is no "death" really. We

*See Chap. 5, Page 96. Spirit: John Sullivan; Patient: Mrs. L. W.

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only lose our physical bodies. Spirit is invisible.

Sp. Oh, take me away! Take me away! My father is coming, and I'm
afraid! He'll strike me again! Take me away!

Dr. Your father probably comes for forgiveness. You understand, he
cannot progress in the spirit world until you forgive him. Ask him what he
has to say to you.

Sp. He doesn't say anything; he's crying. He comes up to Mama now.

Dr. Doesn't he look sorry?

Sp. He says he is so sorry for what he did.

The child spirit was removed and the distressed father took control of the
psychic. Crying in anguish he fell on his knees, with his arms outstretched.

Spirit: William Day

Spirit Forgive me! Forgive me! I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't
mean to kill you, Minnie. I was very nervous and the children made such a
noise. I was so sad because my wife had died. Give me a chance! Just give me
one more chance! 1, too, have suffered. If I had only lived! I have been in the
dark so long and cannot be helped, and I cannot come near my child, she is so
afraid of me. I have tried to reach her to ask for forgiveness, but she is so
seared when I come near her that I cannot reach her.

Don't any of you ever strike a child, else you will suffer for years and
years. I did not mean to hurt her; I loved her, but I killed her. If there is a
God, lift this trouble and sorrow away from me! Give me some light and
comfort, in my suffering! I cannot restated have no peace. I can only see my
work that I did in anger. Try to control yourself if you get angry, else you,
will suffer as I have. God help me! Oh, God! Give me one more chance-just one!

Dr. Do you realize that you are dead?

Sp. No; I ran away when I killed my child. Somebody got after me and
ran very hard, then something hit me in the neck, and I fell down. (Evidently
killed.) I got right up and -ran, and I have been running so long it seems years.
Many times I have seen my wife, accusing me for killing my child. I did kill
her, God help me! I have tried to find just a little comfort and light.

Dr. You cannot find light until you have understanding.

Sp. God give me light and understanding! All I see is that poor child's
head, split open where I struck her. I tried to ask

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Minnie for forgiveness, but she shrank from me and I could not get
near her, and there was my wife, always accusing me for what I had done. 

Dr. She will not accuse you any more.

Sp. Will she forgive me?

Dr. Yes. What is your name?

Sp. William Day.

Dr. Can you recall what year it is?

Sp. My brain is in such a turmoil. I have been running and
running for so long, trying to get away from that crowd of people
that were after me. Everybody I saw, I ran from, knowing that they
too would accuse me for killing Minnie. At nights my wife has stood
by me accusing me, and then there was the child, with her head all
split open, and the blood pouring out. I have had hell. It could not be
worse. Is there no help for me? I prayed and prayed, but it did no good.

Dr. Do you know that you are in California?

Sp. California? When did I get here? Did I run all the way from St.
Louis to California?

Dr. Do you understand that you are a spirit controlling the body
of a mortal?

Sp. Do you mean that I am dead?

Dr. You have lost your physical body.

Sp. Won't I have to stay in the grave until the dead rise?

Dr. You are here now; how did you get out of the grave?

Sp. I have had no rest for I don't know how long.

Dr. There is no such thing as "death." When you pass out of
your physical body you lose your five physical sense organs, and
unless you have understanding of the spirit life, you are in the dark,
and can only see when coming in touch with some mortal.

Sp. The people are hounding me until I am tired out.

Dr. Now you must try to become reconciled with your wife and child.

Sp. Do you think they will ever forgive me? Please, forgive me,
wife! I was not worthy of you. You were an angel and I was such a
brute. Will you please forgive me? If you will only give me just one
chance, I will try so hard. I have suffered so much. Carrie, Carrie! Is it
really true that you will forgive me? Is it true? You were such a patient
woman and tried so hard to help me, but I was no good. I loved my
children, but I had such a bad temper. I really killed my wife by letting
her sew just to keep the family together. I made good money, but
there were always men around, telling me to come

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with them, and I did not know anything until my wages were all gone,
and I went home feeling like a devil.

Dr. Perhaps the trouble was not all yours, for you might have
been obsessed. When you leave here with your wife, you will find a
wonderful spirit world.

Sp. I am not worthy to go with my wife, but I will try to do good. I
don't want you to go away from me any more, Carrie! (Crying) Minnie,
can you forgive your Papa? My dear child, I killed you, but I did not
mean to. Forgive your Papa. Will I wake up after a while and find
myself in darkness again? Am I asleep or dreaming? Minnie, don't go
away from Papa! Please, forgive me!

Dr. You are neither asleep nor dreaming, but are beginning to
realize your condition.

Sp. Did they kill me when they hit me in my neck and head? They
shot me.

Dr. We can't say certainly, but they probably did.

Sp. If I can just have one more chance I will do my level best to
keep my family together.

Dr. There is something else you can do, also, after you acquire
understanding-it will be your duty to help poor, unfortunate spirits
who are obsessing mortals, making devils of some. of them. When
you had your own body you may have been obsessed by some spirits.

Sp. I did not care for drink; I hated the very sight of it. But when
once I got just a smell of it, something took hold of me and made me
feel like a devil and I could not resist it. I could not do anything with
myself. God help me and give me just a little comfort.

Dr. When you leave here you will be reunited with your family.

Sp. Are you sure about that?

Dr. Positive; but you must do as the advanced spirits instruct you.

Sp. If there is anything I can do to help you, I will do it, because
you have reunited me with my family. I came home drunk and you
don't know how I felt when I realized that my wife was dying. I was so
drunk that I did not fully realize things until the next morning when I
woke up, and there was my wife-dead! I could not understand it.
What was I to do? What could I do with the children? My wife dead!

My wife and Minnie say they will both forgive me, and now I
have my wife and two children, and I am going to start all over

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again. God bless you all for what you have done for me and my family.

The confusion and mental suffering existing on the earth plane is
vividly portrayed by the spirits who are brought to our circle for help.

EXPERIENCE, MARCH 9,1921
Spirit: MR. MALLORY. Psychic: MRS. WICKLAND

The controlling spirit came in while we were singing "That
Beautiful Shore" and laughed uproariously.

Doctor Have you found the "Beautiful Shore"? Tell us what you
know about it.

Spirit It's all humbug.

Dr. Is that so?

Sp. Yes. (Laughing hilariously.) It's silly to believe in such a thing.

Dr. You are on the other side of life; tell us something about it.
Have you found nothing? If you do not believe in a hereafter, tell us
why. Explain yourself. If you are a skeptic, tell us your belief.

Sp. Belief? Gosh! (Laughing.)

Dr. Tell us what you are laughing about.

Sp. You might just as well laugh as cry; one is just the same as the
other. You were singing "That Beautiful Shore," and while you are
singing that, you know you are lying.

Dr. Do you imply that life does not mean anything at all?

Sp. It most certainly does not. There is nothing in it. It is just a lie.
The whole thing is nothing but a pack of lies both life and religion-the
whole humbug, life, religion and everything connected with it.

Dr. Have you tried to understand your own life-the mystery of it?

Sp. My own life? Humbug, nothing but humbug! (Laughing.)

Dr. How do you know it is humbug? You are laughing at your
own ignorance.

Sp. I might just as well laugh as cry, one is no worse or better
than the other. It is all lies-damned lies. I had my troubles.

Dr. Where? Over there, or here?

Sp. Everywhere! (Laughing.)

Dr. Are you happy?
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Sp. Happy? Such nonsense. There is no such thing, there never
was, and there never will be.

Dr. Do you really know anything about it? Did you seek for truth
when you had your own body?

Sp. I prayed to God and all that nonsense. Gosh!

Dr. And you found it all a humbug. What has that to do with the
actual facts of life?

Sp. Once I tried to be some one. Then the thought came to me that
everything was humbug, humbug, nothing but humbug. As a man,
you know what I mean. You are talking to a man and you know all
about it.

Dr. You are invisible to us. Have you ever seen intelligence?

Sp. What kind of talk is that? I don't believe in nonsense any
more. You can have faith, and believe that you can walk on water, but
you fall through, just the same. I said, "I have faith that I can walk on
water," but I fell through.

Dr. Because you left reason out.

Sp. Reason? You can't walk on water with reason.

Dr. It was not intended that we should walk on water. Water is for
drinking and bathing.

Sp. Why are you holding my hands?

Dr. I am holding my wife's hands.

Sp. You don't know what you are talking about. Do you believe that?

Dr. I know that I am holding my wife's hands.

Sp. I used to have faith like that.

Dr. How did you happen to lose faith?

Sp. It is all humbug.

Dr. Life is the beginning of knowledge.

Sp. I haven't had any knowledge yet.

Dr. You will have before you leave here.

Sp. I had faith, and I believed, and then what?

Dr. What next?

Sp. Yes-what next? I worked like a slave for a "minister of God." I
do not work for him now; that was some time ago. I went away from
there. He cursed me, and I had my cares and troubles. I swore to God
that there is no such thing as God if he could be so mean as to call
such a man his "minister." And I lost faith.

Dr. What has that to do with the facts of life and the hereafter?

Sp. When you die you are dead.

Dr. Then why didn't you stay dead when you died?

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Sp. Stay dead? I haven't died yet.

Dr. You "died" as far as your body is concerned.

Sp. I have been running away from those hypocrites. In the first
place, they took all the money I made. If there is a God, then, for
God's sake, why does he always want money? They always say you
must have faith; have faith and pay your money to the church, and
you should work for God. My work was hard. I worked from six
o'clock every morning until late every night-all for God. I worked for
God, and often I did not get enough so that I could get along.

Dr. Tell us where you came from.

Sp. All I want is my freedom.

Dr. Won't you tell us where you came from?

Sp. Look at all those devils down there? (Invisibles.) Hear how
they curse and laugh. They say: "I know you! I know you!" Look at
that one sitting over there. Look at them all. Hear them laugh. They
say I should tell you that they want you to pray for them, for they are
in darkness.

Dr. We want to help them to a better understanding.

Sp. Oh, listen to them cursing!

Dr. You must show them charity. You do not seem to know what
charity is.

Sp. God! Look at that man! They say when you give charity they
don't like it.

Dr. I do not mean money. Give them a chance to help themselves.
Do you know what year it is now?

Sp. I don't care. I don't care if it is a hundred years from now. I've
lost faith in God, humanity and everything and everybody. I used to
have faith. Then a "servant of God" took my wife and children away
from me, and yet I worked for God from six in the morning to twelve at
night.

Dr. But you did not add understanding to your faith.

Sp. I had faith in the Holy Ghost and the Spirit.

Dr. Why did you not add understanding to your faith?

Sp. I had faith enough to move mountains. We were taught to just
have faith in the Holy Spirit. Just look at them all, (spirits) sitting
there. Look at that one! Here you, Calango! He and I have fights,
once in a while, but I always get the best of him. I can talk better now
than I have done for a long time. Here, you, Calango, sitting there like
a fool! They told me to go in there, so I came in. I think you were
afraid of me at first, but I came in just the same.

Dr. How did you come in?

Sp. In here? How did I come in? I don't know.

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Dr. Where did you get that hand? (Touching Mrs. Wickland's hand.)

Sp. That hand? I suppose it is mine. It doesn't belong to any body
else. Here Calango, you sit here. Now I can talk to you fellows.

Dr. Now stop talking.

Sp. Do you think you are the boss here?

Dr. Yes.

Sp. I have no faith in you, nor any one else.

Dr. I want you to understand that you have lost your physical
body. You are controlling my wife's body, yet you are invisible to us.
You talk about those men sitting there,--we cannot see them. We are
in mortal bodies, but you have lost your physical body.

Sp. Can't you see me?

Dr. We cannot see spirits. You are controlling my wife's body.
Intelligent spirits have brought you here.

Sp. You asked me to come. All those in darkness came in too. You
invited us. (During a concentration for all, earthbound spirits.)

Dr. I said you should listen to intelligent spirits around you who
would help you. You are all in darkness.

Sp. Yes, but you invited us in and here we are. I want to tell you,
if you don't want us, I won't talk.

Dr. You were invited by intelligent spirits to come here and
allowed to control my wife's body, so that we could help you
understand that you no longer have a mortal body. The church has
not the right understanding of God. You found humbug in the
church, so you think everything is humbug. You lost your body
probably a long time ago. My wife is a psychic sensitive and you are
temporarily controlling her body. Look about; perhaps you can see
some one you know.

Sp. I can see Calango.

Dr. You must realize that life means something.

Sp. I have had faith, and enough of it too. I sacrificed my money
and my wife, and you see where I am.

Dr. What has that to do with the facts of life? Did you ever study
the wonders of Nature?

Sp. I do not believe in God,--there is no such thing.

Dr. God has nothing to do with humbug. Did you understand the
Bible at all? The Bible says: "God is Love." Humbuggery has nothing
to do with universal life. We want to help you understand better things.

Sp. No one ever helps me.

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Dr. Do you know you are in Los Angeles, California?

Sp. No.

Dr. Try to understand what the real life means; it means something you
do not know of. Did you ever make a flower? Can you make grass grow, or
suspend life? Did you ever study vegetation?

Sp. That's God's Nature.

Dr. Can ignorance produce intelligence? Did you ever study the
marvelous things of God? Break an egg, and you do not find life in it. Take
another egg, keep it warm for twenty-one days and a chicken comes out of it.

Sp. That's natural.

Dr. What produces the chicken? We must add knowledge to our faith.
The Bible says: "God is spirit: and they that worship him must worship him
in spirit and in truth." You do not find that in the churches. They only have
blind faith.

Sp. I sure had faith.

Dr. The Bible says: "Know the truth and the truth shall make you free."
Although the Bible is not a "Holy Book" it contains some wonderful truths.

Sp. I don't believe it. (Laughing.)

Dr. You're laughing at your own ignorance. My wife allows ignorant
spirits to control her body so that we can bring them to an understanding of
their condition. She wants you to know that life exists on the other side. We
do not know where you came from, but we allow you to control my wife's
body. Where was your home?

Sp. My home? That was in Canada, near Montreal.

Dr. I was there in 1881. Are you a French-Canadian?

Sp. My great grandfather was.

Dr. Do you remember your name?

Sp. I can't remember things.

Dr. Now we want you to understand things.

Sp. I was a slave.

Dr. That is all in the past.

Sp. I only see the -past and it makes me crazy. Instead of crying as many
do, I thought I would laugh at everything. Whenever I got so mad I did not
know what to do with myself, I started to laugh. I guess I felt a little better
for laughing instead of crying.

I had my heart sorrows; they took my wife, my home went, my children
went. My wife was a very pretty girl. One day I came home from my work,
and I had worked very hard. My wife and children were gone.

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But after a while that "minister of God" did not want my wife any more;
then she commenced to go back on him, but by that time I had gone down. I
said, no church for mine; that if one of "God's ministers" can break up my
home and take my wife and children, then there is no God. I went clear down
to hell for that fellow. I went down and down, but even down there in the
gutter you find friendship and love for each other. If you are down, they, too,
are down with you. All the other people look down on you, but, believe me,
these others are true friends. They will help you and divide whatever they
have with you. No matter how -down you are, if you haven't a cent, you will
find they will help you.

One day-I will never forget what I saw, never forget! God!-if there is a
God-why in the name of the devil does he allow such things? One day I met
my wife. Where was she? She had gone down to the gutter. I found her in one
of those fine houses you hear about, where that filthy devil had put her when
he was through with her. I looked at her, and she looked at me.

"You here!" I said.

And she said: "You here!"

"Why are you here?" I asked.

"What are you here for?" she asked.

I said: "I came here, probably of my own free will."

She said she had been put there by that glorious "minister of God" to
hide his own shame. To hide his own dirty work and not have people ask her
questions, he put her in a fast house and let her stay there, and she did not
care for anything. We were both down, all because of that devil.

I have never gone to church since. I cursed that man and all religious
cranks. My wife wouldn't have anything to do with me, and I wouldn't have
her. She was lying there, full of disease. There is not an animal living that
goes so low as a woman when she goes to the dogs. Can any one believe in a
God that would let a woman like my wife suffer as she did through no fault
of her own? Why should such things exist?

Dr. Why didn't you use the reason God gave you?

Sp. There are hundreds of people living low down, and they don't care
where they go.

Dr. Now you are going to care. Let me talk now. You went to church and
adopted a blind faith,-that you admit.

Sp. I wanted to be a good man.

Dr. Didn't you feel a desire for something higher? You

merely had faith and did not add understanding. God gave you
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sense, he gave you intelligent reasoning faculties, but you adopted a blind
faith and clung to it. That was not God's fault. To our faith we must add
knowledge and that will make us free. God did not write the Bible.

Sp. It is a Holy Book. That is what they say.

Dr. It was written by man. Did you ever analyze the marvels of the
human mind? I am talking of facts now. Did you ever realize how wonderful
the human body is, or how the invisible mind is able to control the material
body? Did you ever see the wonders of Nature?

Sp. All that has nothing to do with my misery.

Dr. If you had used your own faculties you would understand that love
and mind are invisible.

Sp. Didn't that devil love my wife?

Dr. That was not love. You did not use your faculties. You joined the
church in blind faith, without using your reason. We do not see you; you are
invisible to us and are using my wife's body temporarily. We are interested in
the condition of the so-called dead and many of them are brought here to be
enlightened. You have been brought here by intelligent spirits so that you can
learn to understand your true condition. You have an opportunity to
progress in the spirit world, but you must forget your hatred. You lost your
physical body. Do you know what year it is? It is 1921, and you are in California.

Sp. How did I get here? I never was in California.

Dr. How does spirit travel? You spoke of other people here,-we do not
see them. We do not see you. You are using my wife's organism. Can't you
see how wonderful life is?

Sp. Why aren't we taught those things?

Dr. Because "the truth is not in the people." You will have to judge for
yourself between the facts of life and the creed of the church. Churches are
man-made things; God is Spirit, and you must worship him in spirit and in
truth-in spirit. and in truth. We have aspirations for a higher life, but that
does not give us knowledge. God is Spirit, invisible Intelligence. He manifests
himself in all the wonders of the Universe.

Sp. All these people here (invisibles) have had disappointments as I
have, but all have different stories. We sit and talk to each other from time to
time, all telling of the past. All have their troubles.

Dr. God has nothing whatever to do with that. The Universe is God's
Temple and our souls are His Manifestations. Think of the marvelous things
in the Universe. You speak of your friends being here, yet we cannot see them.

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Sp. They want to know if you can help them all from their troubles.

Dr. Yes, we can. Tell them that life means something. Look around and
you may see intelligent spirits who will help you.

Sp. There are six of us and we have all had the same trouble and
disappointment, but each has a different story.

Dr. Tell them that none of you need be in the condition you are in.

Sp. There's one group called "The Laughing Fools"; there's another called
"The Cursing Fools"; there's another called "The Swearing Fools"; there's
another called "The Singing Fools." They sing and pray from morning until
night. You get sick and tired of hearing them.

Dr. The Bible says: "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." Religious
fanatics are the worst. They have not added understanding to their blind
faith. We all have faculties but do not use them. Is that God's fault?

Sp. I have not worked for a long time. Sometimes none of us have any
food. We have done without it so long that now we do not seem to need it.

Dr. The spirit does not need food.

Sp. We are starving, starving.

Dr. Spiritually starving.

Sp. We are all starving for something, but we don't know what it is. We
are all anxious to know. We all say that our souls cry out for something, but
we don't know what it is. None of us want to pray. For my part I cannot. I
had faith and prayed, but here I am, in all this trouble.

Dr. God has given each one of you reasoning faculties.

Sp. Would you help us all? They all say they are hungry for happiness.
All we can see is our past, and we all want something higher. All I can see is
my wife as I saw her last-down, down.

Dr. So far as your wife is concerned, it was only her body that was
diseased, not her spirit.

Sp. When we saw each other we both cried.

Dr. After you have understanding, you can all do a great work in helping
others. Listen to the invisible friends who are around you. All be quiet a
moment, and your eyes will open to undreamed of things.

Sp. Do you think my wife can get help? She was as pure as a lily. I loved her.

Dr. You can love her still. We must all try to find ourselves.

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As we grow out of our ignorance we see the higher things of existence,
both here and in the spirit life. If we were born into a perfect condition, we
would not appreciate it. You have seen "hell," and when you progress you
will see "heaven' " You will find a beautiful condition and you will appreciate
it. You will then be enthusiastic helpers, eager to serve others. You must all
open your hearts for higher things.

Sp. I love my wife. (To the invisibles.) No, boys, don't go yet; wait a
little while longer.

Dr. The Bible says: "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall
find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."

Sp. (With heartfelt solemnity.) If there is a God, help me! Help my poor
wife! We loved each other. Oh, God! Help us all! We are starving for something.

Dr. His messengers will help you. You will see many who will gladly
help you all.

Sp. God help us all!

Dr. If you will look around, you will see spirits who will help you.

Sp. There's my boy-my own little boy, Charlie! You are my boy! You
died many years ago, but you are my boy Charlie. Have you come to help
your old Dad, my boy? Your poor Dad has suffered hell, my boy. Help your
mother, boy, help your mother, poor mother! (Suddenly amazed.) Why-
that's my little boy, Charlie, but he's a man now! Charlie, my little boy, can
you forgive your old Dad? I tried so hard to have faith and I tried to be good.

If there is a God, open my eyes to see! God help me! (Gazing at some
vision, then speaking in a hushed voice.) Now we can all see the glory of
God, and we will all go with Charlie. (Astonished.) You! Are you here also?
Clara! Come to me, oh, Clara! I forgive you. I forgive you, Clara. I know it
was not your fault. It was that devil; he took you away from me. I love you
and always have loved you. Come, Clara, come with us, and let us go with
Charlie. He will probably forgive you.

Dr. What does he say?

Sp. He says: "Come with me to my spirit home, where all is lovely,
where you will be happy. It was because of sorrow and suffering that you
looked at life as you did."

Dr. Don't you realize there is something beautiful ahead of you ?

Sp. Is it Heaven? Why, look there! There's 'my mother and sister Emma.
Are you both here too? Can you forgive

78

Clara and me? I thought you were in Heaven, mother, you were
so good. You always loved me.

Dr. Do you realize now that there is something higher than your past?

Sp. Yes. Now I know there is a God. I do believe in God
now, for I know His glory. I see and feel His glory.

Dr. After you have understanding you must help the others you were
talking about.

Sp. They are all coming with me. I want them all to come, for I cannot
leave them. You-- have helped all of us. Now, we will go; come on, boys. We
had names for each other, but they were not our own. In our hatred, and
because we laughed, we were called "The Laughing Fools." Most of our time
was spent in talking over our past. Now we have all found God; we have
found Him in His glory, in His happiness, in the spirit world. We do not
need to believe, for we know. He will help us all. Mother, father and sister,
all are here.

Come on now, boys. We all listened to what this man said, and you see
where it brought us. Today I call you our savior, because you have saved us
from darkness, and brought us to glory. You saved us all. Not only myself,
but the others have opened their eyes to see the glory of God, and not a God
of hatred and envy.

Dr. You can thank my wife, who allows her body to be used so that
spirits may be helped.

Sp. I will never forget you. You have given me happiness that I have not
known for years and years. You say it is 1921. Is that true? I thought it was 1882.

Dr. Can you tell us your name, friend?

Sp. My name? Yes, it's Mallory. They called me a Laughing Fool. We
thank you all for your patience. I was full of hatred when I came, but that
has all gone now. God bless you all. I have to call you my savior, because
you have saved us from that dark condition and brought us to a beautiful
place. Clara, you come too, for I love you dearly. You are well now.

Dr. You will now become useful spirits. Find God and forget the past.

Sp. The last time I saw Clara, she was very sick and was taking
morphine all the time. Come to me, Clara, I forgive you. See, Charlie is with
us. Can't we help Clara? She seems dazed.

Dr. She is probably still under the effects of the opiate. Your love will
bring her to you.

Sp. I never could hate her, she was so pure. Clara, wake up! You are not
dead. Forget the past, and live in the new life.

79

Thank you all for bringing me happiness, and also for bringing God to
me in my heart. I never properly understood Him before. I found Him in the
glory of Nature too. Look at all those beautiful flowers! Is this Heaven?

Dr. It is the spirit world.

Sp. Now I'm always going to be with my loved ones in the spirit world.
We will go. Goodbye.

A communication of a different type was received from the spirit of a
young man, son of one of the members of our circle. The young man had
passed over two months before, but having been unbiased and open-minded
was readily enlightened by his spirit friends.

In his short visit to our circle, he gave an interesting description of
conditions as he observed them in both the earth sphere and the spirit world.

EXPERIENCE, APRIL 14, 1920
Spirit: W. Y.
Psychic: MRS. WICKLAND.

Spirit Well Dad, I'm here again. The spirit friends gave me the privilege of
coming and talking first. Dad, it's queer that I should go so quickly, but my
time had come. I am glad the door is not shut for me. I have seen many
heartbroken spirits who go to their relatives and friends, and the door is
closed in their faces. (Through skepticism and unconsciousness of the
presence of spirits.)

I have much to be thankful for, because it's hard for them. 

Grandpa B. and Uncle C. stood right beside me when I woke up
from the sleep of death. It was queer. It was like an electric
shock going through my body.

Life is queer. If each one of you could see the experiences gone through
by those who go into the sleep of death!

Dad, I had a little knowledge of the next life, not much, but a little, and it
helped. I could realize that the change of death had taken place. I recognized
my relatives and friends.

Uncle F.* says I should tell you that I was much better off than he was
when he passed to the other side, and that now his work is to help the
unfortunate ones who do not understand the real life.

Dad, wasn't it queer that I should wake up to the new birth
80

of life on my earthly birthday? Now I have my spiritual birthday on the
same day as my earthly birthday.

Dad, it's glorious! Tell E. so, and B. and mother; tell all of them that I am
happy in the thought that I can come to them and that the door is not closed
to me. Tell my little son that I am not dead; that I am not in the grave but am
with him, and I will learn the laws governing so that I can guide him through
life. Let him have an understanding that I am there with him and that I have
more strength and power to help him than before.

Thank God that I also had understanding so that I did not come too close
to my dear wife; otherwise, I would have gotten into her magnetic aura and
might have caused trouble. My dear little wife,-I am glad that I did not make
trouble for us both.

I have seen much of the work done among those who have passed out
and do not realize it. They go home to their relatives and friends, and want
to stay there rather than go on.

Dad, I'm so glad you could come here again, and I'm glad, so glad, that
there is no wall between us.

Mr. Y. (Father of spirit.) I am glad too, that I had an opportunity of
being here again.

Sp. I feel now that there is no parting. It is only that I have gone to
another country, but I am with you all. I am with you when you are all
together and talk about me. I do not feel that I have gone.

Tell mother and my dear little wife not to mourn for me, but to feel glad.
that I can be with them. It was very hard that we should have to part when
everything looked so bright for us in our little home, but it was my time to
go, and when our time comes to go from this earth life, we have to go. We do
not go away, as people think we do; we are here with our loved ones, only
our bodies are not visible.

I wish you could see how Uncle F. works in the dark earth sphere to
help and to serve the unfortunate ones there, to prevent them from obsessing
any one. He is so anxious to have everybody know the real truth on the
other side, and it is a pity that so much dogma and creed are the
stumbling blocks. The little time I have been gone I have learned so much.

I thank you, Dad, that you and mother did not force any strong dogma,
or religion, or creed, upon my mind. I was free. Thank you for it.

Mr. Y. It's pretty hard, sometimes, to know exactly what to do regarding
religion in bringing up children.

Sp. I wish all could have been as free as I was, then there would not

81

be so much sorrow and doubt. Dad, I'm so glad I can come to you again.

The other day, Uncle F., Uncle C. and I went to the earth sphere-not to
our home, but to the condition that exists on the lower plane. That is more of
a hell than anybody can describe. It's worse than an insane asylum, where
one is crazy in one way, and another in another way. You can't imagine what
a hell it is.

One has one creed, one another, and they are all in the dark. They are all
hypnotized in their creeds and beliefs and you can. not get any sense
whatever into them. You have to put some object lesson before them to
attract their attention. At times music will make them realize their condition.
If you can attract their attention, you can sometimes reach the real spirit, but
dogmas and creeds are so planted in their minds that they cannot see anything.

If you want to realize in part what the condition of the earth sphere is,
go to the worst ward in an insane asylum, and you can then have some
realization of the condition on the invisible side when they have no
knowledge of the next life.

Imagine a spirit of that character coming in contact with a person's
magnetic aura and acting through him, as is often the case. They call that
person insane and send him to the insane asylum where there are a lot of
other lunatics, both of earth and the spirit side of life. It is terrible to know
that such a condition exists and that selfish creeds And dogmas are the cause
of it all.

I have to thank you and mother again for not forcing any dogma on me;
what little knowledge I had was the real truth of life.

Uncle C. took me, at another time, to different conditions. He said,
"Come, we will go," and we went to some place in spirit life. We came to a
place which I cannot describe. I can't describe my feelings, I can't describe the
conditions, because the music was so sublime, so different from anything I
have ever heard. I felt so light; I felt I was lifted up. Such people as were
there! I cannot describe them.

Imagine, if you can, a place where there is the most beautiful music,
where there is a grand orchestra of masters, all playing in one grand unit of
music. Can you imagine what it would be?

I enjoyed it,-but Oh I could not realize its full import, because I wanted
you and my dear little wife to hear it. I could not enjoy it alone. I wanted to
open the door to you all at home, ,so that you could all listen to it-then I
should have felt satisfied.

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I thought and thought, and an old gentleman came up to me and patted
me on the shoulder, and said: "Young man, I receive your thought. Do not
worry. Soon the time will come for which we are all working, when an
instrument will be invented on earth, through which all who wish can hear
the grand masters in the spirit world. Not yet, but in time."

Dad, my work is to learn to help others less fortunate than myself, and
also to learn to be a help and not a detriment to my dear wife and little boy
and to you all. I am learning my lessons, and after knowing them I will come
to you.

Don't think I am not with you all, but think I am there, for I am, and in
that way I can be much closer, especially when you have music, because
music brings us much closer to those we love.

Goodbye, and tell my dear wife I send her best love.

With exquisite grace and courteous inquiry came the spirit of one,
formerly a famous actress, whose friends had tried in vain to waken her from
the "sleep of death."

EXPERIENCE, JULY 7, 1922
Spirit: LILLIAN R. Psychic: MRS. WICKLAND

Doctor Good Evening, friend! Where have you come from?

Spirit Somebody told me to come here, but I do not know what I should
do. My condition is so strange that I cannot understand it. I do not realize
where I am.

Dr. You are in Los Angeles, California.

Sp. No! There are many here who wanted me to come, but I cannot
understand why. I do not know any of you here.

Dr. You were brought here to be helped.

Sp. I do not know that I need any help. Things look so confusing to me.

Dr. That is because you do not understand your condition. Where do
you think you should be?

Sp. Where my home is.

Dr. What state did you live in?

Sp. Of course, most of the time I was in New York, but at times I was in
London and other places.

Dr. Cannot you see any one you know, or the one who brought you here?

Sp. Oh! (Disturbed greatly by pain in limb.)

Dr. Were you in some accident? Were you traveling? What is the last
thing you remember?

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Sp. I was very sick; I had such pain.

Dr. Probably that was your last illness. Did you become well suddenly?

Sp. No, it seems to me that I have been sleeping, and in some way or
another, I am just waking up. Everything looks so queer.

Dr. You do not understand your condition. You do not need to have that
pain. If you say: "I will not have that pain," it will disappear. Will you do that?

Sp. Yes, but it seems very hard to say. You are a Christian Scientist, are
you not? I looked into Christian Science, but I certainly could not say my
pains were imagination.

Dr. You are in a different condition now. Do you ever see any of your
friends around you?

Sp. Yes, I sometimes see many of my particular friends that have gone
before, and then I think to myself that I have gone crazy. My friends are
around me, and some one says: "Wake up!" But I cannot see. I do not want
to see them.

Dr. That is because you do not want to understand. Were you afraid of
them when they were living?

Sp. No, I was not.

Dr. Then why should you be afraid of them when they have lost their
mortal bodies?

Sp. I am afraid and very nervous, and I do not want them to come near
me. Why don't my lovely friends come?

Dr. To your earthly friends you are dead, but to your spirit friends you
are not dead.

Sp. I was sick, but I cannot remember that I died. I went to sleep but I
cannot remember that I failed to wake up. Several of my friends just came
and called me to go with them.

Dr. Do you know why they told you to wake up? To your spirit friends
 you are only sleeping.

Sp. Why do they call me?

Dr. To help you and make you understand.

Sp. I do not know you.

Dr. I am Dr. Wickland. Who brought you here?

Sp. Anna H. (an actress well known to the spirit during earth life) told me to come.

Dr. She spoke to us once as you are doing now.*

Sp. She came to me but I knew she was dead and gone.

Dr. She is not dead. We do not see you, we only hear you talk. You do
not see me, you only see my body. Mind is invisible; there is no death.

*See Chap. 12. Pages 285, 289.Spirit: Anna H.

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Sp. So many people have come to me and want me to wake up, and start
in my work again.

Dr. If you do not mind telling us, we should like to know who you are.

Sp. Don't you know me? I was an actress. I was known as Lillian R. I am
not dead. William Stead came to me, and also the late King Edward. I was his
favorite actress. I cannot understand why I came here. They say I was
brought here for you to awaken me.

Dr. We are interested in life's problems and in the question, "What
becomes of the Dead."

Sp. I studied some, but only understood slightly the phenomena. I
studied, but at the same time my life was so busy, so much taken up with
others, and I was also trying to live the best I knew how. I am very tired and
sleepy.

Dr. What was the nature of your sickness?

Sp. They told me so many different things until at last I do not know
what it was. I had such dreadful pains down this way (from the knee down).
I was unconscious for a time. I cannot remember things very clearly; in some
way I seem to have lost my memory. I cannot recollect anything of the past.
I feel different, as if I had nothing to look forward to in the future. I am not
unhappy, but at the same time I am not happy.

Dr. We will explain matters to you. You do not need to worry.

Sp. My friends came and I would not have anything to do with them.
They said, "Come along," but I said, "No, no, no! I am not ready yet. I do
not want to go."

Dr. You had already gone, but did not understand it. Your friends came
to help you, but you did not understand it. Do you know where you are
now? This is my wife's body you are using. She is sleeping. You are not
talking through your own body.

Sp. (Noticing another invisible, formerly a friend.) John J. A.* is here.

Dr. This lady is a psychic. She is my wife and allows spirits to control
her so that we can make them understand their condition. Mr. John J. A.,
Mr. Stead and Anna H. could not make you understand.

Sp. I was afraid of them.

Dr. This is a "Clearing House" for just such conditions as yours. You are
a spirit and are controlling a mortal body. We

*See Chap. 12, Page 281. Spirit: John J. A.
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on the mortal side can talk to you because we are in our mortal bodies. You
have lost your physical body, but have a spiritual body. When you passed
away you only went to sleep, and you are just now waking up. You awaken
and find yourself in this twilight.

Sp. Someone seemed to give me an electric shock and I seemed to come
to life, but still I am dazed. There is a room full of faces, people whom I have
known in life, but who have passed on. They have been around me trying to
talk to me, but I would not listen.

Dr. That was your mistake.

Sp. Does the -spirit still live?

Dr. Certainly it does. We are mortals, but these others whom you see are
spirits.

Sp. They are just as real as you are.

Dr. They are more real than we are, because they are free, and we are in a
dream state.

Sp. I feel that my being well is just a dream and that I will wake up in pain.

Dr. When you leave here you will go with the others.

Sp. Do you mean I can go with them?

Dr. As soon as you cease to resist them.

Sp. Here comes one, then another, and they say they want me.
Dr. Don't you remember that Longfellow said: "Life is real! Life is
earnest! And the grave is not its goal; Dust thou art, to
dust returnest, Was not spoken of the soul."

Sp. What beautiful things I see! Are they not beautiful! This is not a
dream.

Dr. They are showing you some of the things on the spirit side of life.

Sp. Just look at those beautiful homes on that hillside! Look at those
lovely walks, beautiful lakes and hills, lovely flowers that bloom
everywhere! Isn't it beautiful! Can I go there?

Dr. There is nothing to hinder you except your own unwillingness and
resistance.

Sp. I was -an actress in life, still in my heart I believed in a God. You
know the church always looks down on actresses. I always liked to give the
world the best there was in me. I wanted to show what we can do to help
amuse people.

Dr. You can do the same thing now in your new life.

Sp. In a way, many would say that I was not a Christian.

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In my own way I believed in being good and doing good for others-that was
my belief. At times I went to church, but at times I did not feel at home in
that atmosphere. I always tried to do my best.

Dr. The reason you did not feel at home in church was because the spirit
of truth was not there.

Sp. Look at the lights! Are they not beautiful! they are singing and
vibrating into different shades and tunes. The colorings are wonderful.

I will try to do there what I could not do here. I should, many times,
have liked to give the world more than good and happy thoughts. I knew at
times that life must have a greater purpose than is generally realized. I was
true to myself, in my own heart.

Such beautiful things I can see! Is that Heaven?

Dr. Yes, but not the Christian "Heaven." Not the "Heaven of Salvation,"
but the spirit world surrounding the earth world. Jesus taught the existence
of spirits and a spirit world, and Paul says: "There is a natural body and
there is a spiritual body ... first that which is natural and afterward that
which is spiritual."

Sp. Anna H. says she is different now from what she was when I knew
her. She says I do not know her now. She is serving and helping the
unfortunate ones. She says she wanted to do what she could to wake me up.
May I ask what you are doing here?

Dr. This is an Institution for research and the obtaining of knowledge
concerning what becomes of the dead. This is also a Spiritual Clearing House.

This lady you are controlling is my wife; she is a psychic intermediary
and you are allowed to use her body and brain to convince you of your
present condition. You are using a body not your own. (Raising Mrs.
Wickland's hand.) This is not your hand.

Sp. No, it is not. It is queer.

Dr. The queer part is the human ignorance on these points.

Sp. The church does not teach these things.

Dr. The church limits itself to faith alone, and does not desire to add the
required knowledge regarding the natural continuation of the spirit after death.

The Bible says that to our faith we must add knowledge and Jesus
taught: "Know the truth and the truth shall make you free."

If you had understood these truths you would have accepted

87

the spirit friends who came to you when you awakened.

Sp. It is all so beautiful that I should like to go with them. They say that
when I am stronger I shall finish my work over there. How will they take
care of me? I am very weak.

Dr. You will not be so weak when you leave this body. "As a man
thinketh in his heart, so is he." You will be received with love and taken to a
beautiful home. You will be so overjoyed with your new condition that you
will not have time to be weak.

Sp. Will I not go into a sleep again?

Dr. When you were sick and in great pain you were probably given
opiates and they may have had a stupifying effect.

Sp. Thank you. Now they are calling me and I feel that I want to go. I
feel such gratitude to you for helping me, and for being the means of my
understanding, and also for helping me to reach my friends so that I may
know how to go to them, instead of shutting the door against them and
leaving myself in the dark.

I thank you all that I had the opportunity of. being awakened to such a
beautiful condition as I now see. I was only in the darkness of my own
consciousness. They call me, and keep on calling me, and they all say they
are glad to invite me to their home in the spirit world.

There is one thing they want me to say, but I do not know whether I am
strong enough.

One gentleman says: "I was King Edward in life, but I am an ordinary
person now. I wanted to wake you up, because I have been awakened from
the life I led. My mother was a ,Queen, but she is a Queen no longer. She has
to serve others more than she did when she was on earth.

"My mother knew of spirit phenomena and she also knew of spirit
return, but she did not know what her duty was, and she was waited on all
her life. She was never allowed to do anything or have any real responsibility.
She serves here and there. Now I have to serve and help until I understand the
real life."

This gentleman says that is the message he wished to send. He came to
say this because you probably thought he was still a King. He is here only as
a man. He wants to help you as the others are doing. He is not of noble or
royal blood any more.

All my friends have come to shake hands and they all seem to be one family.

I want to say Good Night, but how will I go?

Dr. "Thought is the solver of Nature's problems." Think

88

of your friends over there and you will be-with them. You will have to fix
your mind from here to there. Think, "I am actually there."

Sp. I certainly want to thank you for the opportunity of coming here
and for awakening me so that I can be with my friends over there.

The organism of every human being generates a nervous force and
magnetism which surrounds him with an atmosphere of vital emanations and
psychic light known as the Magnetic Aura. This aura is visible as a light to
earthbound spirits in their condition of darkness, and they may become
attracted to persons peculiarly susceptible to their encroachment.

Such spirits are often unable to leave this psychic atmosphere and in the
resulting state of confusion- ("confusional psychosis"?) -although struggling
for freedom, they find themselves living the life of the psychic with him,
resenting his presence and bewildered by a sense of dual personality.

After a number of spirits had been taken from a patient who was very
unmanageable at first, we had the following experience, which clearly shows
the suffering that spirits may endure when enmeshed in the aura of a mortal.

EXPERIENCE, JANUARY 23, 1918
Spirit: EMILY JULIA STEVE. Patient: MRS. L. W
Psychic: MRS. WICKLAND

Doctor Tell us who you are. We are interested in all spirits who are in
darkness. Tell us how long you have been dead.

Spirit I guess something happened to me.

Dr. Do you realize that you have passed out of your own body?

Sp. I don't want my hands held. I am a lady of means (an expression
often used by the patient) and want to be shown the courtesies and respect
due a lady.

Dr. Did they call you "Mrs." or "Miss"?

Sp. I am a lady of means, and I am not used to this kind of questioning. I
just feel like giving you a piece of my mind.

Dr. What seems to be your trouble?

Sp. You,' it seems, have such a way of giving me all kinds Of strange
things in my back, (static treatment of patient) and cannot see why you
should do so. You have also kept me in

89

prison. It must have been you that put me in prison. Who are you, anyway?

Dr. I am a friend, and I want to talk to you.

Sp. In the first place, I don't know you, and in the second place I have
nothing to talk to you about. Who are you? Tell me your name.

Dr. I am Dr. Wickland.

Sp. I really didn't mean to ask your name, for I'm not at all interested to
know it.

Dr. Wouldn't you like to go to the spirit side of life?

Sp. I do not like to hear about such. things. I am no spirit.

Dr. Look at your hands; do they belong to you?

Sp. You are the means of my having been kept in prison so long, and now
you are trying to show me things that are not true, and so I will not listen to you.

Dr. How did you happen to come here?

Sp. I do not know myself. It is very curious. I seemed to be in prison and
before I knew anything, I was here. I do not see how I came. There were a
whole lot of us, and somehow I have been left alone. I have been in prison but
I do not know what I have done.

Dr. Where were you, when you had those others with you? Where were
you staying? (Referring to obsessing spirits in patient's aura.)

Sp. I was staying where I belonged. There were a lot of us, all bunched
together, men and women. We had a home, but we could not get out of it.
Sometimes we were in warm quarters. For a time I have been by myself and I
have been in a dark place. Before I was in prison we could talk one at a time
(control the patient) but now I am all alone. You have no right to put all those
burning things on me.

Dr. That kind of electrical treatment is very good for earthbound spirits--
ignorant ones.

Sp. Ignorant! How dare you talk like that to me? How dare you ?

Dr. Don't you know that you have passed out of your mortal body? You
have lost your physical body.

Sp. How do you know I have?

Dr. Because the body you are talking through is not your own. It is my
wife's body.

Sp. I never saw you before you put those sharp things in me.

Dr. You were not using this body at that time.

Sp. What does it all mean?

Dr. It means that you have been using another person's body.

Sp. Well, that explains many things, in a way. Sometimes I felt that I did
not belong where I was, then once in a while I felt I was myself again. There
was one big old man, a big fool, but we had to do just as he said. (Another
spirit* obsessing patient, previously removed.)

I did not feel like doing as he said, because I had all the money I wanted,
so why should I bother with such a rascal? I felt I had to do what he said,
and yet I could not see why I should. I was not in my own home, and yet I
had to be there, and I never could understand why I could not get away. He
kept several of us with him.

Dr. Did the electricity help you to get away?

Sp. Yes, it did, but it hurt like fury. It seems as if it tore the life out of me.

Dr. The electricity liberated you, just the same.

Sp. We could not get away from that man. We had to do as he said. He
ran and ran all the time, (the patient often ran away) and we had to do the
same. There was a little girl, and she cried all the time. (Obsessing spirit,**
previously dislodged from same patient.) At times I was free, and at times I
was in such misery. Some times I felt I could float from one place to another.

Dr. At such times you were a free spirit.

SP. Don't say that word. How I do hate it. I do not have any use for
anything of that kind.

Dr. You do not recognize the fact that when you pass out of the mortal
body, you do not die, but that you live; you then become a spirit.

Sp. You know I am not dead. Cannot you understand that I am talking to
you, and that I can move my hands and arms?

Dr. My friend, while you are talking, we cannot see you. We can only
see my wife. You are talking through my wife's body. This is Mrs. Wickland
sitting here. What is your name?

Sp. I am Mrs. Emily Julia Steve. I was married, but my husband died
some years ago.

Dr. Do you know that you are in California?

Sp. I have never been there. I went first to Chicago, and from there to St.
Louis. (The patient had also lived in St. Louis and had there first developed
her aberration.)

Dr. Where did you live in St. Louis?

See Chap. 5, Page 96, Spirit: John Sullivan; Patient: Mrs. L. W.
See Chap. 4. Page 65. Spirit: Minnie Day; Patient: Mrs. L. W.

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Sp. I was traveling, I did not live there. I did once live on La Salle
Avenue, Chicago, but I was there for a little while only. It was near La Salle
and Division. From there I went to St. Louis, and from there-well, I really
don't know where I went. I do know that my head was bothering me a great
deal. (Patient complained similarly.)

Dr. Do you remember being sick?

Sp. I cannot recall much of anything. (Suddenly greatly excited.) No! No!
I think there is something the matter with me. Do you think I am going
crazy? Look! Look! There is my husband! No, no! He is a ghost. Just look at him!

Dr. We are talking to a ghost when we talk to you, and we are not afraid.

Sp. There is my child, too! There is my little baby! I am losing my mind.
My Lily, my little Lily! Oh, my Lily! Hugo, my husband! I know I am
losing my mind. Why, there's my mother! I know my mind is giving way. I
am afraid-they are all coming toward me! Hugo, my husband, is it really you?
My little Lily, how I do love you! I am so afraid.

Dr. Understand that you have lost your physical body and are now a
spirit. Try to realize this.

Sp. Please explain why Hugo, my mother and Lily are around me. Are
they not happy in Heaven? Why don't they stay there?

Dr. Do you know anything about Heaven?

Sp. Heaven is above, where Christ and God are.

Dr. Jesus said: "The Kingdom of God is within you." The Bible says:
"Ye are the Temple of God and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you." Again:
"God is Love, and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God." God is above,
God is below, God is everywhere.

Sp. Don't you believe in a personal God?

Dr. God is Spirit. God could not be only in one place.

Sp. I am getting so tired that it is hard for me to understand what you
say. If there were only a place where I could rest, I would gladly go. I cannot
describe to you what misery I have been in. I have no home anywhere that I
can go to, no place to rest my weary head. I went from one place to another,
and I could not find home or peace. I have prayed that I might find rest for
just a little while, but somebody always comes and disturbs me. There were
so many around, each crowding the other, and I probably was mean myself,
but I could not help it. I felt as if a wild beast had gotten hold of me, and I
fought everybody like a tiger, and when I was through I was weak for

92

days and, days. I suffered terribly. That horrible man was always after us,
and that poor little child was crying all the time, she was so crowded.

I wish I had a little home of my own where I could go, and not have that
man around me again. He was terrible-you have no idea. He was such a
rascal, but he went away and we have not seen him for quite a while.

The little girl who cried so much has also gone. She always had trouble
with her head. I did not mean to be a bad woman, but that man tormented us
all so much that we did not know what to do.

Dr. Wouldn't you like to go with your husband and mother and little girl,
and have them all take care of you, so that you can rest? Try to realize that
you have lost your physical body.

Sp. When did I lose my body?

Dr. We cannot tell you that.

Sp. Sometimes I have felt I was a big woman, and I could fight
everybody, and then I would seem smaller, and it was very confusing.

Dr. That may have been caused by your influencing different people.
You can be free from that condition.

Sp. Then will I have a rest? Will I wake up and find that I have only had a
dream, and then have that horrible man and that crying child around me? I do
not want to ever see that man again. He used to fight those women as if he
were a demon, and he was so angry, and he treated the little girl very badly.
She was afraid of him.

Dr. Now try to forget what has happened, and live for the future. Go
with your husband and he will explain the beauties of the spirit world to you.

Sp. My husband, Hugo! I love him so dearly, and after he died life was
not worth living to me. My dear child went to him just a month afterward.
She was a child three years of age. Hugo, my husband, was my life. I did not
care what became of me after he left. When my husband lived, we traveled a
great deal. We went everywhere. We went to Alaska and there he took cold
and had pneumonia, and my little child got very sick. It is hard to live all that
over again.

Dr. Why go all over that again, when your people are here to take you
away with them?

Sp. I want to go with them but I am afraid, because they are dead. Hugo
says he has been looking for me for years and years, but he could not find me,
and I cannot tell him where I have been. When Hugo and Lily died, I took
very sick, and the

93

doctors said I was a nervous wreck. I grew very much worse, and I remember
them taking me to a place called Elgin (probably an asylum). I have just a
faint recollection of that. When I grew better (evidently died) I went to St.
Louis, because I had a sister there. Since I began to talk I feel different, and
now I want to go with all my people. Just look at that beautiful bed. Now I
can rest, and with Hugo I shall not have worries any more.

God bless you all and help you. Hugo says to tell you he is so pleased
he found me at last and to say we shall be reunited and never part again. God
bless you, each and all.

96

Sp. I don't know.

Dr. Did you come here with somebody you were attached to?

Sp. I was only attached to myself.

Dr. Where have you been recently?

Sp. I have been in darkness. I got away from my home, then I
could not see anything. It seemed as if I was blind.

Dr. Were you not in a strange condition when you were in that
place you call home?

Sp. It wasn't my real home, but it was just like it.

Dr. Did you become disgusted sometimes and then act queerly?

Sp. Sometimes I did not know where I was and then I acted up all
the time. Once in a while we had a big fight. There were several
people around, but I will get them some day.

Dr. Who were they?

Sp. Why, I don't know; all kinds of people.

Dr. Were there any women?

Sp. There were so many you could not rest. Women! Some day I
am going to get hold of the rest of them and shake them up.

Dr. I don't see why you should want to harm others.

Sp. One woman would come at me one way, and one another, and
it made me mad, but what can a fellow do when he has a whole lot of
women around? (Other obsessing spirits in patient's aura.)

Dr. Where do you think you are now?

Sp. Where? I don't care where I am.

Dr. Where have you been living?

Sp. We have been living at different places. We have been from
one place to another, until I am plumb disgusted with everything. I
feel like running away so nobody can find me.,

Dr. You could not get away from yourself.

Sp. I have had nothing but women around me, women, women,
until I am sick and tired of women. I got one woman down and I bit
and kicked, and still she clung to me. (The patient, Mrs. L. W.) She
has no business to hang around me like she does. Some day I shall
kill her.

Dr. Do you know what you have been doing?

Sp. I don't care what I have been doing. I took a chunk out of her
wrist one day, but she clung to me just the same. Then I pulled her
hair out as much as I could, but still she clung. I couldn't get rid of her.

Dr. Friend, wouldn't you like to know what you have been doing?

Sp. I don't care to know, but it makes me so mad, because

97

since I got those needles in me I don't seem to have any power.

Dr. Where is the woman now?

Sp. I haven't seen her for a while.

Dr. What harm did she ever do you?

Sp. She has no business to hang on to me like she does.

Dr. Suppose we reverse matters, and say that it is you who have
been hanging on to her.

Sp. She has no business to dress me up in woman's clothes and
put woman's hair on my head.

Dr. How long have you been dead?

Sp. Dead! I'll show you that I'm not dead, and I will also show you
that you are not strong enough to hold me either! Talk about me
being dead! (Laughing harshly.)

Dr. Do you not realize that you have been in a strange condition
for some time?

Sp. It's the worst I have ever been in. Keep your hands off me,
for they are like fire, they are so hot.

Dr. Has it ever occurred to you to ask how that woman could
"dress you up?" Don't you think you have been very selfish?

Sp. Selfish? Selfish? She's the selfish one.

Dr. Suppose you were an ignorant spirit hovering around the
woman?

Sp. Me, hang around a woman? Not me, no sir!

Dr. Such things happen, just the same. Did you ever read your
Bible? Do you remember how they cast out spirits in olden times?
You are also a spirit, such as they had to deal with.

Sp. There were devils, and I'll show you I'm no devil !

Dr. You have been tormenting a woman and I chased you out with
electricity.

Sp. Well, now I've caught you! (Attempting to fight.) I'll bet you
are the one who put me in the dungeon. Now I will get that woman
and bite her to pieces! That woman hung on me all the time and I
want to get rid of her.

Dr. You were hanging on to her. She is rid of you now. Try to
understand that you are a spirit and come to your senses. I am telling
you the absolute truth.

Sp. I wish I could get hold of that woman. I will smash her up
good, and I will smash her face again.

Dr. Why should you want to do harm to the woman? She is not
bothering you.

Sp. I would like to get after you too!

Dr. If you don't behave yourself you will get more of the
electricity.

Sp. I would rather stay here, but you hold me too tight.

98

Dr. You tell us you are a man, but we can't see you. We can only
see a woman.

Sp. Haven't you got any eyes? Don't you know I am a man ?

Dr. You have woman's clothes on.

Sp. I tore them off, but she put them on, and I tore them off.

Dr. You have lost the woman that you say has been bothering
you and are now controlling another woman.

Sp. What do you mean by that?

Dr. You are an ignorant, earthbound spirit, hovering around the
earth plane bothering a woman. You are now using my wife's body.

Sp. I'm not using anybody's body but my own. Why did that
woman hang, on to me?

Dr. You were doing the "hanging on." Since you have been taken
away from her, the woman is getting along nicely.

Sp. Did you put me in that dungeon?

Dr. No, intelligent spirits put you there. You are very selfish-
selfish to the last degree. Don't you think you should try to realize
your condition ? If your record were written, would you care to have
everybody read it?

Sp. I don't care. I get so mad to think I should have a woman
hanging on to me, and then have her dress me in woman's clothes. I
hate women.

Dr. That lady has been brought here because she has been
bothered by foolish spirits. We realized that it was obsession, and we
drove you away with electrical treatments. We are now trying to bring
you to your senses.

Sp. If  I could just get hold of that woman I would bite her to
pieces. I will bite her arms too!

Dr. Try to be sensible, then you will have understanding and be
able to progress and be happy.

Sp. There is no happiness.

Dr. Have you ever tried to understand God, or the real question of life?

Sp. There is no God or there would be no misery.

Dr. If there is no Supreme Being how do you happen to be? How
do you exist? Can you explain how it is possible for you to talk to us
through my wife's body?

Sp. Is it your wife that is hanging on to me all the time?

Dr. You were bothering a lady who came here for help. I chased
you away from her, then intelligent spirits put you in a dungeon. Now
you are using my wife's body for a time.

SP. Why in the world should I be bothering women when I hate
them? I will smash every one I can.

99

Dr. Friend, if you ever expect to be happy, you will have to
change your attitude. You have lost your own body and are hovering
around the earth plane obsessing people. Selfish spirits always do
that. The insane asylums are full of obsessed people. You have
tormented this woman for three or four years.

Sp. How in the devil could I get hold of that woman? I hate
women, and why in the world should I have a woman hanging on to
me all the time? I wouldn't hang on to a woman for love or money, for
I hate women. I would like to crush every woman; they are all
deceitful creatures. God never made such a thing as a woman. They
are the most selfish creatures in the world. If you treat them to all
kinds of nice things, they are all right, but when you turn your back,
they stab you. They get all the money they can out of you.

I swore revenge on all women, and I will have that revenge. I
could have had a good home once if it hadn't been for a woman.
Revenge is sweet and I will have it.

Dr. Now the time has come when you must stop and consider the
question of life more seriously. Don't you think you have made many
mistakes yourself? Examine your past life and see whether you have
been perfect.

Sp. No one is perfect.

Dr. Don't you think that perhaps you had many faults?

Sp. No man is perfect, but I am as good as the average man.

Dr. Try to understand the mystery of life. You have probably
been dead many years. Intelligent spirits are here now to help you
and they will teach you many wonderful things. You have been
allowed to come here and use my wife's brain and body that we might
try to help you.

Sp. She's a fool to allow it.

Dr. She allows it because she has charity for such as you. All
women are not false.

Sp. My mother was a very good woman. If it was not for her, I
would kill every woman I come in contact with. But she has been
dead forty or fifty years.

Dr. You are dead, too, as far as the body is concerned. You are a
spirit now. Look around and tell us what you see,--be honest now.

Sp. I see my mother, but I'm afraid of her.

Dr. We are not afraid of you.

Sp. Well, my mothers a ghost.

Dr. She's a spirit like yourself. What does your mother say to you ?

Sp. She says: "John, I have been hunting for you for
100

years." But I am afraid of her.

Dr. Does she appear ghostly?

Sp. No, but I am afraid. Why, here's my father, too! And there's
Lizzie! Don't you come near me; I don't want you either. Don't you
come near me! I don't want you, Lizzie, you snake!

Dr. Probably she has come to ask you to forgive her for something
she did.

Sp. I will never, never forgive her.

Dr. Sometimes mistakes happen. There may have been a
misunderstanding. You may have taken for granted things that were
not true.

Sp. I hate her, and I don't want her near me!

Dr. Try to put hatred out of your heart and be sensible.

Sp. Lizzie, you go away, or I will kill you! You acted like a snake! I
don't want to listen to you. You are as false as they make them. I don't
believe what you say. Don't you come here with all kinds of excuses,
for I don't believe you. I am mad at you and I will stay mad. You are a
big liar!

Dr. What does the spirit say to you? Who is she?

Sp. That's Lizzie, who made all my trouble, and she says all the
trouble was caused by jealousy. But I was not jealous!

Dr. Listen to what she has to say.

Sp. (Listening.) That's a fine story! We were going to be married
and she was a nice girl. She says I looked at everything the wrong
way, and that I was jealous.

Dr. You were probably stubborn and hot-headed.

Sp. (To Lizzie.) You're a liar. You went with that other fellow, you
know you did. She says that when she went home that evening she
happened to meet that fellow on the street car. He only walked a block
with her, and I happened to see them walking together. I went home
and stabbed myself.

Dr. That was certainly a brave act. I suppose you committed suicide.

Sp. I wish I could have died, but I could not. I would have been far
better off, but I'm going to have revenge on women.

Dr. Why don't you try to be sensible and forgive the girl?

Sp. Say, do you believe her story? I suffered a great deal from that
stab I gave myself, and I did wish I could die. There's Lizzie walking
around and she's crying.

Dr. Listen to your own conscience.

Sp. I loved that girl and what did I get from her?

Dr. I think your mother spoiled you when you were a boy.

Sp. My mother thought the world of me and gave me every

101

thing I wanted, so that I could have a good time. No, Mother, don't come
near me! There is no help for me.

Dr. The first lesson you must learn is to crucify self. Jesus said: "Except
ye become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven." I
don't think you understand what that means. All you cared for was self, and
your mother spoiled you.

Sp. Mother says she is very sorry now. Here's Lizzie again. I don't
believe her, because she did go with that fellow.

Dr. Suppose she did; what of it? You must have had a very jealous disposition.

Sp. She says she did not go with him, and that she has told me what she did.

Dr. Do you know that she is dead?

Sp. She is not. If she Is, is she a ghost?

Dr. You say she stands there. Does she look like a ghost?

Sp. No, she doesn't. My mother says: "John, be reasonable and sensible.
Your own conscience accuses you." It is hard, when you love a girl, to see
her with another fellow. -What I suffered on account of Lizzie! After seeing
her with the other fellow, I went home and stabbed myself, just a little bit, to
try and scare her. I thought if I did that she would come to me.

Dr. You committed suicide but you do not realize that you are a spirit
and have been troubling a lady, and obsessing her. She is a patient of ours.

Sp. What do I care for her? I hate women and she won't leave me alone.
All I wanted was revenge, and I got it.

Dr. That lady has done all kinds of wild things because you were
obsessing her.

Sp. Mother and Lizzie both stand there crying, but nobody cares for me,
so what's the use?

Dr. What name did you have beside John?

Sp. John Sullivan.

Dr. I should think you would feel ashamed to have bothered that lady.

Sp. I'm not any more ashamed of myself than you are!

Dr. Do you think you loved this girl? Or was it only selfishness on your
part? You simply wanted her, that's all.

Sp. She could have been mine, but I made her suffer. My love turned to
hate. No, Lizzie, you don't need to cry. I shall never forgive you, if you ask
me a hundred times.

Dr. If your mother had given you a few thrashings you would not be in
the condition you are now. Try to forgive Lizzie, and by doing so you will
be helped yourself.

102

Sp. I shall never forgive her. The women were all crazy after me. I was
considered a good looking man.

Dr. That was your trouble. If you had been homely you would have had
some sense. You must try to be sensible now, because you are using my
wife's body.

Sp. Well, take your wife! I don't want her. Say, Mother, it's no use you
and Lizzie standing there and crying, for I shall never forgive her.

Dr. If you don't forgive when you have this opportunity you will find
yourself in a dark dungeon when you leave here, and there you will stay until
you repent. Try to understand that the wrong is within yourself.

Sp. I'll not forgive. I loved my mother and I always had plenty of money.

Dr. What city did you live in?

Sp. St. Louis.

Dr. Do you know you are in California?

Sp. I know where I am. I am in St. Louis, and it's winter. It's about
nineteen degrees below zero.

Dr. What year do you think it is?

SP. 1910.

Dr. It is the 13th of January, 1918.

Sp. I do hate to see women cry. Mother, stop crying. To see a woman
cry always distresses me.

Dr. Doesn't your conscience trouble you at all?

Sp. What's the use of worrying about things?

Dr. Listen to what your mother says, then she can help you.

Sp. Mother, I'll tell you,-if you had spanked me more when I was a little
boy and not given in to me so much, I might have been a different fellow
from what I am now. It is too late in life to change, and what's more, one
never gets anywhere by changing.

Dr. You still have more misery ahead of you unless you are willing to forgive.

Sp. I don't care to be in that dungeon you speak of. Why do parents give
their children all they want? You see, Mother, what nice work you have
done. Aren't you proud of your son? You brought me to this. This is your work.

Dr. You pretend to love your mother, but you have no charity or
sympathy for anybody.

Sp. I hate the word sympathy. My father says I shall have to change. I
am too old to change now. (Frightened and shrinking from something.) Take
that away! Take me away! I'm sick!

103

Dr. You must be serious and honest.

Sp. My mother says she knows that she raised me wrong. Don't let me
go in that dungeon! I'll forgive Lizzie--I'll do anything! I am tired of life, and
tired of everything.

Dr. When you reach the spirit side of life you must try to be of service
to others, instead of a detriment. Try to undo the wrong you have done by
obsessing this lady.

Sp. She tormented me and I hate women. I got revenge. I took a slipper and
pounded her face. I did it for revenge on women, for I hate them all.

The spirit could not be brought to realize his situation and he was taken
away to be' placed in a "dungeon" until he could overcome self and his hatred
toward humanity.

Several years ago, a friend of ours complained of the peculiar and erratic
actions of a business associate, Mr. P., who had suddenly become extremely
irritable and despotic to those in his employ, highly unreasonable, impossible
to please, and subject to violent attacks of swearing.

As obsession seemed indicated we concentrated for the gentleman in
question, and after several weeks an irate spirit spoke through Mrs. Wickland
and frankly admitted having tormented this man, wanting revenge for
attentions which he claimed the 'latter had been paying to his wife. (The
situation had existed during his life but he did not discover this until after his death.)

The spirit gave the name of a man prominent in local business circles; he
had passed out some time before but was not aware of the fact. He said that
he had been sick for a long time, but could now go where he pleased without
any trouble, for he had become well.

He could not understand why his wife would no longer speak to him, or why
 his child, who had always been so affectionate, was now so cold toward him.

He declared that some of his friends were false to him and had for some
time been paying attention to his wife, sending her gifts and flowers, but that he
would have revenge on them as soon as he was through with his present victim.

The spirit said that he could not think very clearly, but supposed that
was because he had recently taken an anaesthetic, which he thought also
accounted for the peculiar lightness of his body, and a feeling of having no weight.

He was puzzled by the fact that whenever he thought about any persons
he immediately found himself with them and involved in their affairs.
Recently he had been around Mr. P. but

104

could not get away from him; this had exasperated him exceedingly, he had
"done a lot of swearing," kept the man awake, made him go to work "early,"
and had annoyed him in every way possible.

After many explanations the spirit finally realized that he had "died,"
although this was at first difficult for him to comprehend, for he "had always
thought death ended all, and that was all there was to it."

Being assured that activity and progression awaited him in the spirit
world, and that matters would there be explained to him to his entire
satisfaction, he left.

The following day there was such a remarkable improvement in the
conduct of Mr. P., and his behavior was so wholly normal that the entire
office force noticed the change, although Mr. P. himself never knew of the
experimental effort which had been made in his behalf.

A patient, Miss R. F., was intermittently seized by impulses to -run
away, and at such times became greatly agitated, but shortly after entering
our Institute she was relieved of the instigator of these wanderings.

EXPERIENCE SEPTEMBER 15, 1920.
Spirit: EDWARD STERLING. Patient: Miss R. F.
Psychic: MRS. WICKLAND.

An intelligence took control of the psychic, and, rising, attempted to run
away, becoming very indignant when restrained.

Doctor Won't you sit down?

Spirit No!

Dr. Where are you going?

Sp. Home.

Dr. Home? Where is your home?

Sp. I want to go to find it. (Struggling for freedom.)

Dr. What a nice lady you are, to act like this.

Sp. Lady? Lady? I'm no lady, I'm a man !

Dr. Where did you come from?

Sp. That doesn't make any difference. I'm going home.

Dr. Where is-your home?

Sp. Wherever I can find it. I know I am not going to sit here any longer.
I'm going, I'll tell you that!

Dr. (Recognizing the phraseology of the patient.) Why did

you cut off your hair? (The patient, under an irrational impulse, had
cut her hair short.)

Sp. Do you think I want to wear long hair like a woman? No, sir, I
don't! I'm going, yes, sir! I'm going, I tell you.

Dr. Where will you go? You have no home.

Sp. I won't stay here; I'm going.

Dr. How long have you been dead?

Sp. I'm not dead. I'm going! I don't want those awful things put
into me, all over my body. (Referring to static electrical treatment
applied to patient.) It's just like sticking sharp things into me, real
sharp things.

Dr. You felt the electricity I gave to a patient.

Sp. I tried twice to run away, but I was brought back.

Dr. Why did you make that lady cut off her hair?

Sp. I didn't make anybody cut their hair off. It's my body, and I
can cut my hair off if I want to. I went to sleep and when I woke up
my hair had grown so long that I did not know what to do. I went to
sleep and I slept a long time, and after waking up, I found I had long
hair, and I wasn't going to have that so I would look like a woman. I
could not go to a barber shop, 'cause I was too ashamed to be seen
on the street, so I cut it off myself.

Dr. You did not cut your own hair, you cut off the hair of the lady
you were controlling.

Sp. It was my own hair I cut. Why do you keep me here like this? I
haven't done anything to you or anybody else.

Dr. You have been disturbing a lady and doing her a great wrong.
You say you are a man, and yet you are wearing lady's clothes. How
do you account for that?

Sp. I couldn't get any man's clothes.

Dr. Shouldn't that fact open your eyes and show you that there is
something the matter with you?

Sp. Can't I sit down?

Dr. 'Yes. if you will sit quietly. Should you not try to find
out what is the matter with you? 

Sp. I don't want to stay here; I'm going home.

Dr. If you will sit still and listen, I will explain your situation. You
are so-called dead.

Sp. I am not dead, I'll have you know. Stop holding me!

Dr. I am not holding you, I am holding my wife. You must realize
that- you are in a strange position. You passed out of your mortal
body but do not understand your situation.

Sp. Let me go; I want to get out of here. What are you holding my
hands for?

106

Dr. I am not holding your hands; I am holding my wife's hands.

Sp. Your wife's hands! I never saw you before, and I'm not your
wife. Do you think a man marries another man? I never heard such talk!

Dr. What I tell you is true, just the same. You are an ignorant
spirit and do not understand your condition.

Sp. You let me alone. I want to go home.

Dr. Did you ever stop to think what happens to a person when he dies?

Sp. I am not dead. I just went to sleep.

Dr. That was the sleep of death.

Sp. I slept so long that when I woke up my hair had grown long.

Dr. Not only had your hair grown, but you also had on woman's
clothes. How did you get them?

Sp. I'm not dead, just the same.

Dr. You have lost your physical body. When you lose that, you
are supposed to be "dead."

Sp. If I was dead I would go to the grave and stay there until the
last day. You stay there until Gabriel blows his horn.

Dr. That is only ignorant belief. You were too lazy to understand
life's mysteries.

Sp. I was taught that when I died, if I believed in God and Christ,
and that Christ died for our sins, I would go to Heaven.

Dr. Why did you not go to "Heaven" when you died? You have
"died" so far as the world is concerned. You are here, and yet we
cannot see you. I see only my wife's body.

Sp. I have never seen your wife and I don't know her.

Dr. Have you ever heard about mediums?

Sp. Yes, but I don't believe in them.

Dr. You are speaking through a medium now. You claim to be a
man and yet you are using a woman's body to speak through.

Sp. Lies, nothing but lies!

Dr. It is true, nevertheless. You have woman's clothes on. You
know there is something strange about your condition. You probably
do not know that you are in Los Angeles, California.

Sp. No, I am not.

Dr. Where should you be?

Sp. I have been on the go for some time, traveling.

Dr. Look at your hands; they are not yours.

Sp. I never saw you before you put all that electricity into me, and
I feel like giving you a good licking. What do you think

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of any man doing such a thing to another man? It goes right through
you. You don't know how it hurts. I'm not going to stand for any more
such nonsense. I stood it for a long time, then I went. When I left, a
great big Indian (spirit) got hold of me and put me in prison. I got
loose after awhile and came here.

Dr. You have been bothering a woman who was a patient of ours,
and electrical treatments given to her dislodged you.

Sp. What is the matter with me? I have felt so crowded.

Dr. Can't you understand that you are in a strange situation? You
were probably a big man and you felt crowded because you were
occupying a body smaller than your own physical body. Why don't
you open your mind and learn the facts?

Sp. There's nothing to learn.

Dr. It has probably been a long time since you lost your body.
What year is it?

Sp. I had a good long sleep and I don't know.

Dr. Shouldn't your present strange condition cause you to ask
questions? We cannot see you, we can only hear you talk.

Sp. What sense is there in talking to a person when you don't see him?

Dr. This lady is a psychic, and you are a spirit talking through her body.

Sp. I don't believe you.

Dr. This is my wife's body. Are you my wife talking to me?

Sp. I'm not your wife! I'm a man!

Dr. I drove you away from the woman you were controlling. You
made her act like an insane person. How did you come here ?

Sp. You tell me how.

Dr. You are an invisible spirit; you do not understand your
situation. The lady you have been bothering happened to be in a
nervous condition and susceptible to spirit obsession, and you
obsessed her. You made that lady do many insane things. What do
you think of such actions?

Sp. I wouldn't say it was anything very grand, but I don't even
know any woman.

Dr. You influenced her to cut off her hair and to run away.

Sp. What did I want with long hair? I went to sleep and when I
woke up my hair had grown too long, so I cut it off that's all.

Dr. That was the woman's hair you cut.

Sp. It was too long.

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Dr. That is her business. Just reverse things. Suppose you had
your own body and somebody cut your hair off-would you like it?

Sp. No, I wouldn't, but she couldn't help yourself.

Dr. Don't you think that you were very selfish?

Sp. I don't know. Say, if, as you say, I'm dead, why is it that I'm
not in Heaven or hell?

Dr. There are no such places.

Sp. I haven't seen God or Christ or the devil, yet you tell me I am dead.

Dr. You are not "dead."

Sp. Why, just a little while ago you said I was.

Dr. You are dead to the world.

Sp. You said I was dead.

Dr. I said you were so-called dead; you lost your physical body.

Sp. You said I was dead.

Dr. Now listen to reason, or I will have to take you into the office
and give you more electricity.

Sp. I don't want that; it makes you feel like you were burning up.

Dr. We wanted to get you out, and we succeeded.

Sp. What business is it of yours if I stayed there?

Dr. We wanted that lady to be rid of you.

Sp. You had no right to get me away from her.

Dr. Do you think it was right of you to control her and disturb her life?

Sp. A fellow has got to have some place to live.

Dr. Suppose it had been your mother and a selfish spirit were
controlling her and making her act as if insane; do you think that
would be right?

Sp. I was not insane, and I did not make her insane either.

Dr. It was an insane act for her to cut off her hair and run away.

Sp. How would you like to have your hair long, if you were a man ?

Dr. It was the lady's body and the lady's hair, not yours. Now you
have been driven from the lady's body, and you must change your
conduct. If you are not careful you will be put into a dungeon. You
said a short time ago that an Indian "got hold of you"; you had better
be careful or another Indian will get hold of you.

Sp. I will fight him if he does.

Dr. Listen to me. My wife is a psychic and she allows such

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spirits as you to control her body to bring them to a realization of their
condition. You should appreciate the privilege. There are thousands of spirits
who would be glad to be in your place at this moment. You know that you
are in a strange condition. Perhaps some of your kindred are here. They will
take you with them to the spirit world. You must behave yourself and
understand and be sensible.

Sp. What shall I do?

Dr. Understand that there is a spirit world, and that you should strive to reach it.

Sp. You mean Heaven?

Dr. The Kingdom of Heaven is within one.

Sp. Don't you believe that Christ died for your sins?

Dr. He did not die for mine. Don't you understand that something is
lacking in such a belief? Jesus taught us how to understand, life; he did not
die for the sins of any one. Those who believe that Christ died for their sins
lack the right understanding of His teachings.

It is a sin against God to teach such a doctrine. If it were true, it would
mean that God had made a mistake and was forced to provide an intercessor
as an offering of atonement for His own mistake.

Now friend, you must leave my wife, and you must also leave the other lady alone.

Sp. What are you talking about? I never saw your wife.

Dr. You are temporarily controlling my wife's body. We cannot see you.
If you do not come to your senses pretty soon, we shall have to force you
out, and then you will be in the "outer darkness" which the Bible speaks about.

Sp. It is not right that God should treat me as he has. I prayed and
prayed and prayed. I went to church and paid a whole lot of money to the
church, because they said if I did not give money I would go straight to hell
when I died. and I thought when I paid my money I should get my money's worth.

Dr. What did Jesus say? "God is Spirit and they that worship him must
worship him in Spirit and in truth." God is Spirit, not a spirit. The Bible
says: "God is Love, and He that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God." Where
will you look to find such a God except within your own self ? "Ye are the
temple of God, and the spirit of God dwelleth in you." What is Heaven? It is
a condition of your own mind, attained when you understand life's purpose.

Sp. Isn't Heaven a place? It says so in the Bible; it says Heaven is paved
with golden streets. Isn't that so?
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Dr. That, like many other statements in the Bible, is symbolical of great
truths of life.

Sp. You said a short time ago that Jesus did not die for your sins. What
do you believe?

Dr. I recognize that we are all spiritual beings in mortal bodies while on
earth. When we pass out of our mortal bodies with understanding, we will
not waken in darkness, but our spiritual eyes will be open, and advanced
spirits will help us to progress in the spirit world. Some kind spirit friends of
yours may be here now. Do you not realize that some change has taken
place with you?

Sp. I can talk more than I could. You said I was talking through your
wife. How can I talk through her?

Dr. My wife is a psychic who is so developed that spirits can talk
through her, and intelligent spirits have allowed you to control her. However,
you will not be able to stay long.

Sp. I think I will stay here. I feel better. I feel pretty good now.

Dr. You will feel still better after you realize the beautiful condition in
the spirit world. You will have to become as a little child, then you can "enter
the kingdom of Heaven." Do not merely believe, but try to understand. What
is your name?

Sp. Edward.

Dr. And your other name?

Sp. I don't know.

Dr. Where did you live? Do you know that you are in Los Angeles,
California? Do you know what year it is?

Sp. No, I don't know.

Dr. Why don't you know?

Sp. I have no memory. I can't think. I don't know anything any more.
(Such a state of bewilderment suggests that the cause of amnesia conditions
found in certain patients is probably possession by confused spirit
intelligences.)

Dr. That is because you have been in the outer darkness, and, being a
wandering spirit, you drifted into that lady's aura, controlled her and made
her act as if insane.

Sp. I wanted to have a good, quiet home.

Dr. Is it right to do the things you have done?

Sp. When you have been walking in darkness for a long time, and you
see a light, don't you want to stay?

Dr. That is not the right kind of light. You need the spiritual light of understanding.

Sp. Then do you think I ought to go to church and sing, and pray to
God, and read the Bible?

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Dr. Did you ever make a thorough study of the history of the Bible to
learn who wrote it?

Sp. It was God's inspired book.

Dr. God did not write the Bible; the book is man-made. Could one credit
God with having written certain things in the Bible, many of which are unfit
to be read in respectable society?

Sp. Who wrote the book?

Dr. It was compiled from many sources, during different periods, mainly
for the purpose of keeping people in subjection through fear of an imaginary
devil and hell. The Bible is a collection of poetry, history, allegories and
philosophy, of contradictions and truths.

But humanity believes that every word of the Bible is inspired, and
insists upon interpreting it literally, instead of accepting what is reasonable.

The Bible states that: "The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life," and
"Spiritual things . . . are spiritually discerned." Hence, religion is a process of
mental discernment. The teachings of Christ contain wonderful truths, but the
allegories have been taught as historical facts by the church, and dogma,
doctrine and creed have obscured their underlying spiritual significance.

SP. Don't you believe that God made the earth in six days and rested on
the seventh?

Dr. No; that is only an allegorical statement. The seven days are
symbolical of the seven principles in Nature. "God is at once the Creator and
the Creation"; if God should rest, all would be at an end. We should
understand life as it is, not merely believe what is told us.

Now it is getting late and you cannot stay any longer. See whether some
one is here whom you know.

Sp. Oh! There's my mother! It's a long time since I saw her. But she died
when I was a kid.

Dr. Listen to her; she can help you.

Sp. Oh, mother, will you take me I Take me, mother, I'm so tired. Oh,
mother, take me with you!

Dr. Of course she will take you with her, but you will have to rid
yourself of all your foolish beliefs and acquire understanding.

Sp. Let me go! (Rising to walk away.)

Dr. You will have to think yourself with your mother. You can't take
this body with you because it belongs to my wife. Just think yourself with
your mother, and you will be there instantly.

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Sp. I'm so tired and weary-so tired. Let me go with my mother. I see her
coming; she went away for a while.

Dr. Now go with your mother. God gave you intelligence to think, and
you must be reasonable and let your mother and others teach you.

Sp. Mother says I must ask you to forgive me for being so rude, and she
also says I must ask that lady to please forgive me for bothering her.

Dr. Can you tell us where you came from?

Sp. I can't remember.

Dr. What year do you think it is?

Sp. It should be 1901.

Dr. That was nineteen years ago. Who is the President?

Sp. McKinley.

Dr. He was shot on the sixth of September, 1901, and died on the
fourteenth. This is 1920 now.

Sp. Where have I been all that time? Sleeping? The winter of 1901 1 was
awfully sick, and it seems hard to remember anything else after that. It was
around Christmas and I caught cold, and I was very sick.

Dr. Where were you when you were taken sick?

Sp. I was working in the woods. I worked in a lumber town at lumbering.
I remember something hitting me on the head, and that's all I remember. My
mother says my name is Sterling; yes, that's it!

Dr. Can your mother tell what place you came from before you took up lumbering?

Sp. I was born in Iowa, mother says, but when I got hurt, I was working
in the woods in Northern Wisconsin. I used to live in Iowa.

Dr. Can you remember the name of the town?

Sp. No, I can't.

Dr. Well, friend, try to obtain an understanding of life, and be of service
to humanity, instead of a detriment. You have been bothering a lady and she
is not yet entirely free.

Sp. I was not the only one bothering her; there are two more just as bad as
I am.

Dr. When you have understanding you must help this lady to get well,
and take the other spirits away from her.

Sp. I will try. Thank you! Goodbye I

Haunted houses are often frequented by spirits who seek revenge for
wrongs suffered by them during life.

While Mrs. Wickland and I were in Wisconsin, we held. a

113

circle in the home of friends and Mrs. Wickland was controlled by the spirit
of a man who said he had been murdered by the owner of a near-by stone
quarry, but that he was still alive in his house at the side of the quarry.

He laughed spitefully and said: "He killed me, but I am having my
revenge! I haunt him!'

Although we explained to the spirit the existence of a higher life, he
stated that he was not yet ready to leave his old haunts, and refusing to
progress, departed.

Our friends then told us that they had known this man in life; that ten
years before, the quarry had been owned by three men, one of whom,
desiring to own the quarry himself, had bought the holdings of the second
man, but the third man, who lived in the house by the quarry, had refused
to sell.

A few days later the third man was found dead, and, although there was
no proof as to the identity of the murderer, there was a strong suspicion in
the neighborhood that the first partner was the perpetrator of the crime.

As time went on the owner of the stone quarry developed a strange
reluctance to work the quarry, and rumor said that he was haunted by his
dead partner. It became common report that the house nearby was haunted,
and when our friends had driven there a year before to pick berries they had
had an unusual experience.

After placing the horse in the empty barn, they noticed some berries in
the yard and returned to the barn for a basket, when the horse began to rear
wildly and neighed in terror.

Stopping in amazement, our friends heard a coarse laugh and looking
about saw a grinning man standing in the doorway of the deserted house. It
was the man who had died several years before; they had known him in life
and recognized him now.

The man laughed and vanished, and our friends rushed to the barn, took
the horse out and drove away in great haste.

We had a series of letters from Mrs. G. G., who resided in a village in
New York; she was a psychic and clairvoyant whose house was haunted by
a band of evil spirits.

She wrote that she had been in the best of health when she had moved
into this house but had soon become afflicted with a strange ailment of the
arms and legs which no doctors could relieve.

Spirits who claimed to be her guides advised her to have a psychic circle
every evening and "sit" for half an hour, saying

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they could help her in this way. They explained that she was being injured
by the spirit of the woman who had built the house and that she could free
herself by having a certain friend of hers attend the next circle.

This friend came and the spirit said she would leave with this woman.
When the latter reached her home she was taken with the same sickness with
which Mrs. G. G. had been troubled, while Mrs. G. G. recovered.

But disturbances of various kinds continued in the house; even the
orchard was haunted, and spirits were heard to say that Mrs. G. G. could
not live if she remained there, for they would kill any one who came into that house.

The G.'s sold the house and moved away without telling the purchasers
anything of their mysterious experiences. The new owners took possession
of the house and the mother, an elderly lady, went to bed the first night
apparently well, but in a short time screamed that two men had come into her
room threatening to kill her, and before morning she was dead.

Mrs. G. G., however, continued her circles, but was unable to rid herself
of spirit influences and finally wrote to us for aid.

"There is no one I can go to or depend upon. I joined the New Thought
Society to be helped; they claimed to send out vibrations but I failed to get in
on the wave. No one prays more earnestly for help than 1, or tries harder to
do right. Tell me, if you can, how to get relief."

We concentrated for the lady, as well as the house, and a number of
spirits were brought from both.

One of the first declared that he did not know he was obsessing Mrs. G.
G. Another spirit was Harry Harris, who had so brutally mistreated his wife
that she had shot herself. How his life had ended we did not learn. He
insisted that he was not dead, but was living in an old house with a band of
outlaws (spirits) and that they would kill any one who dared to move into
their house.

Another evening four spirits were brought from the haunted house; first
two women, then "Pete," who had been a dexterous pickpocket in life, and a
woman named Kate, who had been killed by Pete and had "hounded" him
ever since.

To conceal himself Pete was hiding with others in a house that
"belonged" to them, and to no one else. "We kill any one who comes in," he
said, speaking through Mrs. Wickland.

He admitted having troubled Mrs. G. G. "I stayed with her to get my
grub," he said.

While Pete was speaking, Kate took control of another medium
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who was in the circle, and Pete was terror-stricken, while Kate
attempted to escape from him. Each thought the other was a ghost, and
neither was aware of controlling a psychic.

It was some time before they realized that both had died. Finally Pete
sank on his knees and begged Kate to forgive him; a reconciliation followed
and both left, promising to reform.

Later, Mrs. G. G. wrote that she had greatly improved.

In answer to an urgent appeal for help, Mrs. Wickland and I called at the
home of Mr. and Mrs. C., in Pasadena, where nightly rappings and noises
were keeping the family awake for hours.

Mr. C. had purchased this house from the children of an elderly lady
who had died some time before. (A fact not known to us until later.) The
house had been moved to Mr. C.'s lot, remodeled there, and the C.'s had then
moved into it, only to be disturbed by noises of all kinds. Every night,
between twelve and four, the door of a closet between two bedrooms was
shaken and rattled loudly, and rappings and "crackings" kept the family awake.

While we were seated in one of the rooms of the C. home, discussing the
situation, Mrs. Wickland became unexpectedly entranced by a spirit who
complained of intense rheumatism, and stormed at the C.'s for living in "her house."

"This is my house," she declared peremptorily, "and these people have
no business in it! I will chase them out!"

The controlling spirit proved to be the former owner-of the house and
later inquiry bore out the statement that she had suffered severely from rheumatism.

She could not realize that she was dead but insisted that she was still
living in her own house, although troubled by intruders.

"If I am dead, why am I not in Heaven?" she asked.

Many explanations at last resulted in understanding and a penitent
departure, and in a letter written several months later Mr. C. stated that all
noises had entirely ceased in the house.

That spirits often play a serious part in domestic disturbances and break
up many homes we have had ample evidence.

A patient, Mrs. SI., who was brought to us from a Northern state, was
the second wife of a Dakota farmer. After the birth of her first child -she
developed a tendency to wander away at random and when brought back and
questioned she could only give vague answers, but always insisted that her
husband, a steady, reliable farmer, was faithless to her.

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When the obsessing spirit was transferred to Mrs. Wickland we found
that -it was none other than the first wife, who indignantly accused her
husband of being faithless to her, and said that she was determined to get rid
of her "rival."

After passing out of the physical body she had remained on the farm,
but she was unaware of her death, and did not realize that her "rival" was her
husband's second wife.

The spirit, after due explanation and enlightenment, left, and Mrs. SI.,
restored to herself, returned to her Dakota home.

We had a similar experience with an acquaintance of ours, a gentleman
whose first wife had died, leaving him to care for their small son.

Later he married again, but before long we noticed that the family life was
becoming unhappy, and the culmination came one Sunday morning when the
second wife angrily left the house.

The husband desolately came to our home, followed presently by the
little boy, and although they had never visited us before, they remained for
some hours.

In the evening the boy returned, and while Mrs. Wickland was
conversing with him and a group of friends, she became controlled by the
spirit of a woman who said she was the boy's mother.

She had no knowledge of her death and craved longingly to caress her
small son, saying: "I want my boy! I want my boy!"

Then she burst forth into a jealous denunciation of her successor and
declared she would drive her out of the house.

"I chased her away this morning!" she exulted.

She, too, was finally made to understand the true situation, and,
regretting the suffering she had caused, promised to do everything possible to
make amends.

The second wife returned home again, and, during the ten years which
have elapsed since this episode, no further disturbances have occurred in the
family.

Miss L. was the young fiancee of a widower who had formerly, with his
wife, occupied a flat in the same building in which the Young lady lived, and
the two women had been intimate friends.

The wife died very suddenly and some time after her death the gentleman
became engaged to the young lady. Soon after this the latter began to show
mental abnormalities which continually grew worse.

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In her normal condition she esteemed the man highly, but when she came
to us she had a violent dislike for him, and asserted that she would rather die,
or go to an insane asylum, than marry him. She had made several attempts to
end her life but had each time seemed to come to herself at the last moment
and called for help.

At the time the patient entered the Institute Mrs. Wickland clairvoyantly
saw the spirit of a woman of the brunette type possessing the patient, who
was a decided blond. This spirit was so interblended with the patient that it
was difficult for Mrs. Wickland to determine, from the transfiguration,
whether the patient was light or dark.

When Mrs. Wickland described this spirit the patient's mother and fiance
both recognized her as the man's former wife.

The patient proved very obdurate; screaming spells alternated with
obstinate, stubborn moods, and she could not be left alone at any time. She
declared herself insane and scoffed at being cured, and insisted that she
wanted to die, for if she lived she would have to marry "that man."

One day, during a treatment, she entered a semi-trance condition and a
spirit intelligence expressed itself forcefully.

" He shall never marry her! He shall never have her! I will drive her to an
insane asylum, or I will kill her, but he shall never have her !'

Immediately following this, the spirit of a child spoke defensively as if
protecting a mother. The patient's sister, who was present, recognized in the
latter intelligence the deceased thirteen year old son of the dead wife.

The climax came a few days later. The patient had been unusually
obstinate and unruly, and very contemptuous to her fiance when he called.
After a strong treatment was administered, the patient became quiet and slept
well that night.

However, during the night Mrs. Wickland was greatly troubled by the
presence of a spirit who annoyed her until four o'clock in the morning, when
she became completely entranced by the spirit of the man's former wife.

After considerable effort I induced the spirit to talk, but she was with
difficulty convinced of her real situation-that she was a spirit and controlling
Mrs. Wickland's body. She strongly censured both her former husband and
our patient for their treachery to her, and repeated her threats against the girl.

"I will send her to the asylum! I will kill her!" she declared.

A great deal of argument and persuasion were needed to

118

bring the spirit to repentance, but this was at last accomplished. Upon being
asked if her son was with her she said that she had seen him at times, but
that he was dead and she did not want to have anything to do with him.

The spirit was urged to leave the young woman whom she was
tormenting and go with other spirit intelligences to a higher life, of which she
showed herself entirely ignorant. Although repentant, she still longed to
remain on the earth plane, but finally consented to leave and to cease
troubling the patient; then she suddenly became weak and declared she was
dying. (This sensation often occurs when spirits realize their actual situation;
sometimes they again experience the physical conditions under which they
passed out of their earth bodies.)

Chills and violent attacks of coughing added to the spirit's distress and
after a painful pseudo-death struggle she left. These symptoms were
recognized by her husband and the patient's mother as corresponding exactly
with those manifested by the man's wife at the time of her death from pneumonia.

After this the patient recovered rapidly. She was soon able to leave the
Institute, is now well and happily married.

A peculiar case was that of Mr. Me., a well known man in Chicago,
whose family name is one of highest social prominence.

This man suddenly began to act strangely; he shunned the members of
his family, and told his wife and relatives that he wished to live on a higher
plane and wanted nothing more to do with them. Then one day he packed his
trunk and left home, going to live in a small room which he had rented in the
lowest section of the city.

We had never seen this gentleman, but a relative of his, who knew of our
work, asked us to concentrate for him at our next psychic circle; we did so
and a spirit was brought who controlled Mrs. Wickland. After some
solicitation she gave her full name, confessing that she had been the first wife
of Mr. Me., and she then told her story.

She had met Mr. Me. in Chicago during the World's Fair and, for a time,
they had lived together without the formality of marriage until his relatives
discovered the situation and compelled them to marry. The girl was accepted
in society but rebelled at the restraints of conventional life, and, being of a
vain and restless disposition, could not live happily with her husband.

She finally left him and went to the "west side," where she entered a
house of ill-repute. Although at times she regretted

119

the folly of her conduct, she continued her mode of living, became a morphine
addict and finally committed suicide.

After her death she had returned to her husband, and when he married
again she felt angrily aggrieved, and at last influenced him to leave his wife
and child, to go to quarters where she herself felt more at home.

We convinced her of the great wrong she was doing in controlling her
former husband in this manner, and after she had obtained an understanding
of the progress awaiting her in the spirit world, she promised to leave,
wishing to attain a higher condition.

When next we saw the relative of Mr. Me., who had asked us to
concentrate for him, we told her of the story related by the spirit, and in
amazement she admitted it was true in every detail; that the name given was
correct and that Mr. Me. had been married before, but that the unfortunate
episode had been regarded by the family as a skeleton in the closet and was
never mentioned.

She later reported that Mr. Me had returned to his home, normal and
sane, and was again living happily with his wife and child.
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HABITS, desires and inclinations are rooted in the mind and remain
with the individual after he is freed from his physical body, until
they are eliminated by the will.

The spirits of many criminals, murderers, those who were executed or
are seeking for revenge, remain indefinitely in the earth sphere and often
endeavor to continue their former activities and to carry out their evil designs
through controlling the bodies of mortals who are sensitive to their influence.

In many cases of revolting murder investigations will show that the
crimes were committed by innocent persons under the control of
disembodied spirits who had taken complete possession of the murderer.

There is little doubt that the murder of Stanford White by Harry K.
Thaw in 1906, at Madison Square Roof Garden, New York, was due to
spirit influence.

Harry Thaw was a psychic sensitive and had shown evidence of this fact
all his life, and whatever personal grievances he may have had when he killed
Stanford White, he was unquestionably obsessed by avenging spirits who
desired retribution for real or fancied injustice done to themselves or kindred.

Harry Thaw was largely only the psychic subject and the physical
instrument through which was enacted a terrible drama by the invisible
world, the actors being ignorant, revengeful spirits.

On July 15, 1906, several weeks after the tragedy occurred, a strange
spirit controlled Mrs. Wickland during a psychic circle and fell prostrate to
the floor. Placing the form of my wife in a chair I began questioning the
controlling intelligence.

The stranger strenuously objected to being touched, brusquely
demanded to be left alone, and called out:

"Hey there, waiter! Bring me a drink"'

"What kind of drink do you want?"

"Bring me a whiskey and soda, and be quick about it!"

"Who are you?"

"None of your business who I am."

"Where do you think you are?"

"In Madison Square Roof Garden, of course."

"What is your named?"

"Stanford White."

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Holding one hand on the back of his head, on the right side, and clutching
at his chest and abdomen as if in great pain, he cried:

"Have a waiter bring me that whiskey and soda!"

I was about to ask further questions when the spirit's attention was
attracted to some invisible, and he began to tremble with fear.

"Are you seeing dead people?" I asked.

He nodded his head violently, then shouted, "They are after me!" and,
jumping from the chair, ran -to a corner of the room in an effort to escape.

His agitation was so great that he lost control of the psychic and was gone.

Immediately another spirit took possession of the psychic and in great
excitement began to walk back and forth, exclaiming exultantly:

"I killed the dog! I killed the dog! There he lies!" pointing at the floor
toward the spot where White had lost control. "The dog! I have been looking
for a chance to kill him for several years, and I got him at last! The dog!"

I forced the spirit to sit down and learned that his name was Johnson.

"I killed Stanford White," he boasted. "He deserved death. He had trifled
too long with our daughters."

He was very pronounced in his denunciation of society men.

"They steal our children from us and put fine clothes on them, and the
parents do not know what becomes of them."

I asked the spirit whether he was aware of being dead, but he laughed at
the idea and said:

"How could a dead person talk? The doctor said I had consumption and
would die soon, but I didn't die. I never felt better in my life."

When asked to carefully examine his hands, feet and dress he demanded to
know how he, a man, became possessed of a woman's body. Lengthy
argument finally convinced the perplexed spirit of the fact of his transition,
and he departed, thoroughly penitent.

He was followed by a third entity, but this intelligence was aware of
being a spirit, temporarily controlling a borrowed body.

"I am Harry Thaw's father. Save my boy! Save my boy! He is not guilty.
Harry will not be electrocuted." (Later events proved this to be true.)

"He is sensitive to spirit influence and has been all his life.

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He was always erratic and so excitable that we were afraid to correct him for
fear he would become insane. But I see our mistake now. I did not understand
the cause of Harry's queer actions while I was in the physical, but now, from
the spirit side of life, I can see that Harry has been a tool in the hands of
selfish, earthbound spirits most of his life.

"He was obsessed by revengeful spirits when he killed Stanford White. I
have tried to reach the external world by every possible avenue, to tell the
people that Harry is not insane, but that he is a psychic sensitive."

"Save my boy! Save my boy!" he begged repeatedly.

"What would you have us do ?"

"Please write to my wife, and to my attorney, Mr. Olcott." (We did not
then know that Mr. Olcott had been Mr. Thaw's attorney, but verified the
fact afterward.) "Tell them your experience and what I have said to you, and
urge them to recognize and understand Harry's condition.

We promised to comply with the wish of the spirit and he then departed.

The following evening, July 16th, another spirit came; he seemed at first
to be looking for some one, then asked:

"Where did the other fellows go ?"

This spirit also condemned high society in general, and denounced young
girls in particular for their foolishness.

"The rich take our girls to their dens; they put them on the stage and the
girls disown their parents. They deserve licking!" he declared, and
emphasized his words with suitable gestures.

This spirit was laboring under such great mental excitement that he
suddenly lost control before I could ascertain any particulars.

On February 10th, 1907 the spirit of Mr. Thaw returned, and reiterated
his statement that Harry was a psychic sensitive who was frequently subject
to the influence of mischievous spirits. He also urged upon humanity the
great need for inquiry into the subject of spirit influence, saying that a proper
understanding would prevent untold misery to both spirits and their
unfortunate mortal victims.

That Richard Ivens, hung for the murder of Mrs. Bessie Hollister in
Chicago, 1906, was a victim of foreign influences was so evident that
alienists, criminologists and psychologists alike declared their belief that
Ivens was innocent, and that he had

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confessed the crime under the hypnotic suggestion of some unknown person.

Ivens would alternately confess his guilt, saying, with a strange, trance-
like stare, that a "big man" had compelled him to commit the deed, and then
again wildly deny it.

Hugo Munsterburg, M.D., Professor of Psychology, Harvard
University, wrote in June, 1906:

"It is an interesting and yet rather clear case of dissociation and auto-
suggestion. . . . The witches of the seventeenth century were burned on
account of similar confessions, and the popular understanding of mental
aberrations has not made much progress since that time."

Professor William James of Harvard wrote: "Whether guilty or not, Ivens
must have been in a state of dissociated personality. . . . He was not his
natural "self" during those fateful first days, but the victim of one of those
rare alterations of personality either suggested or spontaneous, which are
now well known to occur in predisposed subjects."

We present a sequel to this tragic story.

EXPERIENCE, MARCH 7, 1907
Spirit: RICHARD IVENS. Psychic: MRS. WICKLAND

When the spirit assumed control the psychic fell to the floor apparently
lifeless, and only after half an hour of strenuous effort was the intelligence
brought to consciousness.

"Leave me alone," he moaned, "do you want to hang me again?"

He complained of having great pain in the neck and begged to be left
undisturbed, saying he wanted only to sleep.

"What is the trouble with your neck?"

"It is broken. They hanged me and I am dead. I want to remain dead; if
you bring me to life they will hang me again."

"What is your name?"

"Richard Ivens."

"Were you guilty of the murder of Mrs. Hollister?"

"I do not know. Others said I was. If I did it I do not know it."

"Why did you plead guilty at times and then again deny your confession."

"I pleaded guilty because those three fellows (spirits) made me. The big
man stood over me with a knife and threatened to kill me if I would not plead
guilty. When the big man was

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not there I told them that I did not know whether I killed the lady or not. I
told it to the police; I told it to the jailer and to everybody that questioned
me, but they would not believe me when I told them the truth.
"0h, I have suffered so much! Why did you call me back when I was dead?
Why didn't you let me sleep? They will arrest me and hang me again!"

Suddenly the spirit shouted with fright: "Don't you see? There is that big
man again! He has his knife and the two short fellows are with him. Oh!"

Clutching his knee he cried: My knee! He has driven the knife through
my knee-and through the other leg! My leg! My leg! He is the devil! He has
stabbed me!"

The terrified spirit was gradually made to understand that his tormentors
were spirits, that he was free from his physical body and beyond the power
of bodily harm.

"You are using a body not your own and need now to free yourself from
all mental delusions. Do you not see other spirits beside your enemies?"

"Why-yes, there are others now; they seem to be friendly, and there-
there's Mrs. Hollister !"

"Ask the man with the knife why he hounds you," I suggested.

"He only grins."

"Ask him why he wanted to kill the lady."

"He says, because he hates women-" he stopped abruptly, and,
breathless, seemed to be watching a scene of great disturbance.

"They have taken those devils away ! It was a lively fight, but they got them!"

Calming himself he said: "I feel better now. I am so glad that terrible man
is gone."

Asked to recall what he could of the Hollister tragedy, he said: "When I
saw the woman that night I also saw the big man. My head began to feel very
strange; I was grabbed by the throat and lost consciousness. When I came to
myself again the big man said that I had killed the woman.

"I had known the man for about a month, but I did not know he was a
spirit. He has been hounding me ever since.

"Why didn't they give me a chance to live, even if I would have been in
prison? Oh, the shame I have brought upon my family! I feel so sorry for my
poor mother; if she could only know the truth. If I could only speak to her
and tell her that I could not help it-that I did not do it! Nobody had any sympathy

for me, and nobody would believe me when I told them about the big
fellow standing over me with the knife. He made me plead guilty.

"If I committed the crime I am sorry for it, but I don't know that I have
done it. Why did they kill me?"

After I had explained the continuity of life and progression into higher
spiritual realms, he eagerly asked:

"If they did not kill me, is the lady still alive also?"

"Certainly; doubtless she has come here to forgive you. Although you
destroyed her physical body you were not responsible for the act; you were
merely used by wicked spirits who hypnotized you."

With this new understanding the weary spirit was taken in charge by
invisible helpers, who told us that the "Big Man" and his accomplices had in
earth life belonged to a band of "White Caps" which had operated
extensively for some years in England and America, mutilating and killing
many women in their criminal mania.

Several months later the spirit of the "Big Man" himself was brought to our circle.

EXPERIENCE, JUNE 6, 1907
Spirit: CHARLES-THE-FIGHTER. Psychic: MRS. WICKLAND

The spirit seemed stupefied by drink, and when finally aroused was so
pugnacious that the aid of several persons was required to quiet him.

"I'm Charles-The-Fighter, and I'll have you all shot!" he shouted.

Turning to some other invisibles he cursed them for having lured him to
this place and commanded them to help him, instead of standing idly by.

Subdued at last, Charles-The-Fighter was compelled to listen to an
elucidation of his real situation. In an endeavor to convince him that he was
controlling the body of another he was asked to examine the hands of the psychic.

Seeing the hand of a woman he shrank back, terror-stricken, and cried:
"Take that hand away! Take it away! I don't want to see it any more."

Questioned regarding the story of the hand he declared: "I shall never
tell! I would rather die. Oh! There is her face too! And the hand that I cut off
to get the diamond ring! They haunted me all this time."

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Looking about in horror he seemed to see a vast gathering of specters.

"See all those faces! Have I killed all those people? Have they come to
accuse me? There! There is that boy! He was hung once, but he seems to be
after me too. (Ivens.) I killed the woman, but I made him confess to save my
own neck. But just wait, you devil, you! I will fix you when I get out of
this. I will cut you all to pieces!"

But at last Charles-The-Fighter realized that further resistance was
useless and that his days of robbery and murder were over. He told of his
hideous career of crime and said that he murdered for revenge, stole to buy
whiskey, and drank to drown his conscience and to' escape the specters
which constantly haunted him.

In early childhood he had been happy under the care of his own mother,
but after her death his stepmother had abused him so mercilessly that he
often rushed sobbing to his room and, on his knees, prayed to his dead
mother for help.

This roused the stepmother to a jealous fury and, regardless of the
protests of a weak father, she had beaten him angrily, forbidding him to ever
mention the name of his mother again.

Her abuse grew into such a cruel tyranny that the boy had developed an
over-powering hatred for her and revengefully vowed that when he was
grown he would kill every woman possible.

Consistently he had carried out his ghastly purpose and had given his
entire life to plotting and perpetrating atrocities and crimes, generally
victimizing women.

He had died in 1870, during a wild fight with his companions, but he had
not been aware of the loss of his physical body. He boasted that for many
years he had continued his crimes, always eluding the police.

"Once, in Boston, I wanted to kill a policeman, but when I sneaked up
behind him and hit him on the head with a club, the club went right through
him and never hurt him. He didn't even turn around."

The spirit thought himself now in the hands of authorities but declared
that he was willing to give himself up to escape the haunting faces of his
many victims.

"I would be glad to go to hell to get away from this torment."

While listening to an explanation of the law of cause and
effect and the conditions prevailing in the spirit world, Charles
saw his own mother standing before him. The sight of her had
an overwhelming effect; the hardened criminal cowered in his

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seat and wept piteously while his mother pleaded with him to come with her
and learn to expiate his crimes.

I Crushed by guilt and remorse he cried abjectly: "I cannot go with you!
Dear mother, don't ask me to go with you! You must go back to Heaven and I
must go to hell, where I belong. I must be cut to pieces and burned in the fires
of hell."

But maternal love prevailed and the spirit, humble and penitent, followed
his mother.

in 1894 Harry Hayward, a handsome reprobate with a weakness for
beautiful women and a life of gaiety, hired a villain to murder his sweetheart
in Minnesota and was hanged.

While he was in prison awaiting execution he maintained his debonair
attitude to the last, played cards with his jailer with the utmost nonchalance,
and ordered ice cream, his favorite dish, whenever possible.

"When you come to hell, where I am going," he told the jailer, "I am going
to treat you to ice cream."

During this time I anonymously sent him a book and several papers
relating to the spirit world, but otherwise had no connection with him.

On February 27, 1908, a nurse asked us to concentrate for Mrs. McA.,*
a patient whom she was attending, and whose case strongly suggested
psychic invalidism, chronic illness and lassitude due to spirit obsession.

The nurse was a psychic sensitive herself and surmised that many of the
uncontrollable notions of her beautiful patient were caused by spirit
obsession, and had several times endeavored to order any intruder away.

One day Mrs. McA developed an intense desire for homemade ice cream,
although ordinarily she did not care in the least for it. But she insisted that
her whim be satisfied at once, putting her maids to a great deal of inconvenience.

When the nurse entered the room with the ice cream she had a sudden
feeling that some one had rushed upon her and the next instant was seized by
so strong a feeling of choking that she was forced to leave the room. Upon
recovery she returned and, convinced of the presence of a spirit, flung a
window open and silently ordered any foreign entity present to leave the
house.

This nurse and Mrs. McA.'s maid attended our circle that evening, and
the controlling spirit at once complained of pain in

*See Chap. 9, Page 206. Spirit: Grace Brusted; Patient: Mrs. MCA.

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the neck, readily explaining that his neck had been broken when he was
hung, and said his name was Harry Hayward.

"Can't you give me some ice cream? I have tried and tried to get some
and today I could almost taste it, but I couldn't quite get it. I was chased
away by a woman-she threw me out of the window! I don't like to be
thrown out of a window by a woman!"

Hayward realized that he was hovering around the earth as a spirit, and
when we inquired how he had learned about spirit life he replied that while
he was in jail he had read of it in some literature which had been sent him by
an unknown person.

He complained that no matter where he went no one would take any
notice of him; when he took a seat in a train some one would come along and
sit down on his lap, and he would be powerless to move.

He was very pleased to be able to converse with people again and asked
many questions about the various persons concerned with his trial and
execution, inquiring particularly about the guard with whom he had spent a
great deal of time playing cards.

I was under the impression that this guard had died some time before and
informed the spirit so, suggesting that possibly he might be able to see him
in the spirit world.

He was silent a moment, endeavoring to trace his former friend, then said
emphatically: "No, that man is not dead. I see him playing cards at his son's
home in Minneapolis."

Hayward was readily enlightened concerning the higher life and left,
expressing a willingness to progress in the spirit world.

The psychic invalid showed marked changes for the better after this, and
subsequent correspondence proved Hayward's statement about the old guard
to be true. The latter was living, and on the evening of our experience with
Hayward had been playing cards in his son's home.

Ten years later, after the spirit of another murderer, who was hung, had
been in our circle, Hayward returned and told something of his earth life.

EXPERIENCE, SEPTEMBER 21, 1918
Spirit: HARRY HAYWARD. Psychic: MRS. WICKLAND

I think I should like to come in and say something, for I feel I have been
in the same boat as the fellow who preceded me--I mean, on the same
platform. I feel but little better than he. I had a little more understanding
than he had, and therefore my

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punishment was a little harder. I had education and all the money I needed,
but I wanted more.

I also want to tell you that since I have come to the spirit side of life I
have wished I could go on every street corner and shout a message to mothers
not to raise their children in the wrong way.

Mothers say they love their children; they worship them, and they let
them go astray because they cannot say "No" to them.

Do not raise children without discipline. Train children as you train
animals, as you train flowers. If you plant a flower in your garden you don't
want it to grow up wild, but you train it so that it will grow successfully, and
have graceful flowers. But how little does humanity think of the children's
growth and training; children are not trained to become blossoms for humanity.

I tell you, if my mother-I do not condemn her by any means-had trained
me properly, so that she could have said "No" to me, instead of worshipping
me and letting me have all the money I wanted, and if she had punished me
when I did wrong, I would have been different.

No, I would not have been hung if my mother had taught me the
beautiful lesson of living for others, and of loving my fellow man as myself.

If mothers would think of their children's welfare and raise them in the
beautiful thought of living for others, they would all be better.

I lived a very sporty life. Nobody taught me any other. I had a very good
time and I liked the girls pretty well, but there came a time when I spent more
money than my father allowed me to have. I was only a young man and I
should have been made to work. My misfortune was that my mother and
father were rich. Work was a disgrace for me, they thought. It would have
been far better if they had put me to work instead of giving me money each
time I asked for it.

I  commenced to gamble. You know when you get into that game it is hard to
quit. Money came too easy for me. I met a young lady whom I liked. Young
girls always were sweet to me and I was able to have whoever I wanted. The
young lady liked me, and I liked her for what I got from her, so we decided
that she would insure herself for $10,000 in my name.

I had a scheme. If somebody killed her, I would not get the blame, but I
would get the money. I laid a bold scheme. I hired a man to kill her. At the
time the deed was to be committed 
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I took another girl to the theater, because I thought that, whatever
happened, blame could not then be attached to me.

I hired a man to take her for a buggy ride out to Lake Calhoun and he was
to kill her. When they got to the woods, the man killed her, and came home.
Being in the theater, the girl I was with could testify I was not at the scene of
the killing, but, you know, I was so crazy to get hold of the insurance money
that I never thought how it looked to go to the insurance office so soon after
the death, and they became suspicious, and finally caught me.

If I had only waited a week or two they would never have surmised
anything about me. I was arrested. My mother loved me so much that she
tried to put the blame on my -other brother. He was married and had two
children. The trial cost my parents a whole lot of money, and lasted months
and months before they could make any headway. They could not decide
whether it was Eddie or I that should be hung for the deed.

One day, while I was in jail, there came a little pamphlet for me, and
some papers, all about the spirit world. I knew I had to go, for finally I had
been sentenced to be hung. I realized my trouble. The papers interested me
very much, and I thought I should like to know what the spirit world was. I
believed in it in a way, and in another way, I didn't. The doctrine was better
than the church had taught, but for a while I treated it more as a joke.

I talked about it quite a little to the watchman, but when the time came
for me to be hung, I shrank from it. It is a very strange sensation when you
think you are going to the gallows and your life will be snapped out-you
cannot imagine how it feels.

You cannot imagine the sensation you have when you realize that you
have only a few hours to live. Still, the little message which had been sent to
me gave me a little courage, and I thought probably only my body would be
destroyed and not my spirit. So at the last moment I kept up my courage
and felt that I wanted to see What the hereafter was.

I have to thank the one who sent me that pamphlet, because it was a
bright, cheerful spot to me at the last of my days.

When I realized that I had passed out of my body, my first thought was:
"I am not dead." I went to my mother, and I spoke to her, and she felt my
presence. I still clung to my body, however, and I felt I could not leave it. I
got out of it quickly, but I went back to it again. When my body was
cremated I stood by and saw it burned.

131

After that I walked around, but I could not find the spirit world. I
walked and walked, from one place to another. I still had my feeling for nice
pretty women, so I traveled. In a way, I realized that I was dead, yet I did
not fully realize it.

One time I felt I would like to take a journey and I wanted to travel by
train. I went to the ticket office to get a ticket, but I had no money. I thought
I would talk to the agent nicely and he would give me a ticket, but he paid no
attention to me. So I thought, "All right; I'm going on the train anyway," so
on I got.

I sat down on one of the seats, and, before I knew it, a great, big, fat man
sat right down on my lap. I got real mad. I tried to push him off, but I could
not, and I could not get up either. I had to let that man sit on me until he was
ready to get off the train!

I had not learned the power of thought, to think myself away; I had only
learned to walk. I had not yet learned the little thought lesson to think
myself in a place in order to be there.

Before long I came to a beautiful lady (Mrs. McA.), and I commenced to
like her. Before I knew it, I was in her magnetic aura and I could not get
away. She wanted to be in bed all the time, and there I was!

Once I heard some one say: "You must leave this lady and go away; if
there is any spirit around her, it must leave and go away." I was there, however.

I was very fond of ice cream, and I wanted some, so I impressed the lady
to ask for it. When it was brought in, I wanted it. I seemed to come in
contact with the lady who was carrying it, and I felt that if I could only get a
good hold of her I would get the cream.

All at once I was a lady myself, and when I tried to get that
ice cream I had the same sensation that 1, had when I was hung.
But the lady, who was carrying the ice cream had such power
that, before I knew it, she had thrown me out of the window-
bodily, mind you.

I have to thank you for delivering me from all that trouble and also want
to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the sermon you gave me at
that time, which helped me to an understanding of the beautiful world beyond.

I wish again that I could stand on every street corner and tell the mothers
to raise their children to be good men and women, and when necessary,
punish them while they are little, and not spare the rod and spoil the child.

132

If mothers raised their children properly, there would not be the
selfishness there is in the world.

I have a nice little home in the spirit world now, and I have much to do,
for my work is not yet done. I am trying to extend help to all those who
wish help.

I thank you for enlightening me in the first place. Good Night.

The "Car Barn Murderer," of Chicago, was a criminal of a different type,
a victim of his environment, and was brought to our circle some time after his
execution, when he followed a girl, formerly a family neighbor, who came to
visit Mrs. Wickland.

He returned several times after that, to tell his story and to bring
earthbound spirits of similar experiences to an understanding.

EXPERIENCE, SEPTEMBER 21,1918
Spirit: PETE NEIDEMEYER. Psychic: MRS. WICKLAND

I want to come here tonight to tell you that I also am one who is very
thankful to you, although you probably do not care whether I come again or
not. But I do know you helped me to something like happiness which I
thought never could be mine.

I was nothing but a wild beast in earth life, but still, when you do not
give children proper training, how can you expect to have good men? I had no
training at all. My mother was very wild and did not care what became of her
children. She thought: "Let them take care of themselves."

So you go out in company with others and get into first one game then
another. Sometimes you go to church. I didn't believe in that old story about
Christ. I could not believe it, and I thought there. was no such thing as what
they taught about Christ, and if there was, what did I care?

I walked in the path of evil from the time I was a little boy until I got
where I could not live any longer, whether I wanted to or not.

I will tell you, if you have children, please give them an understanding
when they are little. If they take anything from a person, make them take it
back where they got it. Don't let them get the idea that you will take it from
them and think it is all right., If they steal once, they will again, if not
properly taught.

When I stole, my mother thought I was a smart boy. I

133

kept on going from bad to worse. I belonged to a gang of about a dozen boys.
We got so bold and desperate that we did not care what became of us. We
got into all kinds of hold-ups and the more we got into, the better we liked it.
At last we held up and killed people. The result was, that we were caught
and hung.

I am Neidemeyer, and here I am.

Years ago I was brought to this circle through our neighbor girl. I liked
that girl very much. One day she went away from home and I thought I
would go with her.

I did nut realize that I had been hung. I did not realize that I was dead. I
had gone home and had stayed there for a long time, but I did not know that
I was dead.

My mother was a strange woman, but from what I have seen since I
came to the spirit side of life, I realize that she was obsessed. Nobody could
do anything with my mother. My father and my brother were very good
people, but my mother and I were the black ones.

This neighbor girl was good, and she always tried to do the best for me
that she could. The day I followed her, she went to this man's house (Dr. W.)
and she went into a little room and spoke with the psychic through whom I
am talking now,, and I saw things that day that I had never seen before. I did
not know what they meant. Somebody seemed to keep me there, and I could
not get away.

Before I knew much I was sitting in a little meeting; I heard singing and
before I realized it I was full of life again. I could talk and my throat did not
hurt me any more. I began to wonder what had happened to me.

You talked to me so kindly that it helped me. You talked to me about the
real life on the other side. You helped me to an understanding of life-not what
the church and ministers taught, that we should pray to God and believe in
the blood of Christ, and that Christ died for our sins, and that if we believe
that we will go to Heaven.

I was not the kind that could go on that straight road, because I felt that
was too easy, and I couldn't believe that we could get to Heaven without any
effort on our part. I knew I was bad, yet I felt in my heart that I should do
something to try and be good, and do good for what I had done bad. The
thought of that seemed to be more reasonable than that of jumping from my
bad condition right into Heaven. I thought I would not be a very good
example either.

You commenced to talk to me about the philosophy of God

134

in a way I had never heard before, and it appealed to my sense. I hope
somebody will talk in that way to my fellow men who are in the condition I
was. It would touch their hearts.

There are many of them who are not bad, but nobody cares for them.
The majority of them do not believe in the Jesus Christ story. As they are
now, they are going to the dogs.

Since I came to this little circle the first time and received help, I have
had my struggles. It is years since I made my first appearance here.

I want to tell you what I have to do since my mother passed out. I have
tried and tried to bring her to an understanding of the truth, but she will not
listen. I hope some day to be able to awaken her to a higher condition.

As we progress we go from circle to circle. If I believed that Christ died
for my sins, that belief and creed would keep me out of the higher spirit world.

When I had passed out of my body, you told me that I should look for
spirit friends who would help me, and that my first lesson would be to serve
others. I have had a very hard time.

The first thing I had to do was to conquer self, and it is very hard to
conquer selfishness when you have never thought of anything else but
selfishness. We must conquer that before we can do any work at all in the
spirit world.

The best way is to be put in a dark room-we sometimes call it a dungeon-
where we see nothing but ourselves and our acts of the past. One after
another these acts come crowding in. The good ones are so few that they
hardly count for anything. When we do see a good act, it seems as if it
belongs to some one else. We have to stay there until our hearts and eyes are
opened. When we seek to overcome our bad habits and to live for others then
we get out of the selfish state.

My heart was very hardened, but finally I cried out: "Not my will any
longer, but thine."

The first thing to be done is to help serve the, very lowest we come in
contact with. I felt that I did not want to assist with this or that, but I had to.
I had to learn patience. When we can serve without grumbling and do it for
the love of our fellow man, it does not seem so hard.

So I have gone on and on, from one thing to another, always learning, and
through learning I have stepped into a more beautiful condition. In the
invisible world we advance by stages, but only through learning.

I want to thank you tonight for the help you have given me.
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I have a beautiful little home in the spirit world by this time, and I am
happy, but my work is not done yet.

My work is to keep on helping those who need help, and to try to
influence the boys on earth not to do the mischief they Are planning, but to
try to be good, and do the very best they know how for their fellow men.

Goodbye.

EXPERIENCE, AUGUST 30, 1922
Spirit: PETE NEIDEMEYER. Psychic: MRS. WICKLAND

I should like to come here tonight to say a few words. I want to thank
you for helping me to the higher life.

I had gone down, down, and had only hatred and selfish thoughts. I was
down as far as I could go. My mother was obsessed. She had a great deal of
influence over me. She was down on the world and made me do things to the
neighbors that I should never have done. My father and brother were good
people and were looked up to.

I am Pete Neidemeyer. I want to thank you for having helped me, and
now I want to ask you to send good thoughts to my mother. She has passed
out but I cannot reach her. She was obsessed by a very evil spirit; she sent
evil thoughts to me, and I was very sensitive to them.

You did a Christian act for me which no one else had ever done. I was
shunned by all. When you are in a large city, with all its temptations, and
have not learned anything about the higher things, you get in bad company.
You get so wrapped up with things that are bad that you think everything
belongs to you just as much as it does to the other fellow.

Jealousy, selfishness and ignorance are three things that we should all try
to conquer. When they get hold of you, they are the devil in you. You feel
jealous of everybody that has more than you. You are selfish. You don't want
to give anything away, you just want to keep it all for yourself. You want
everything that belongs to others. You feel that if there is a God he should
have given you a chance as well as the rest of them.

In that atmosphere I was brought up. Mother was selfish and jealous.
Nobody in, the neighborhood liked her; she did not have one friend. I was her
pet and I could have anything.

Father told me not to do bad things, but mother said not to mind what he
told me, but to go ahead and do as I pleased. I went out and stayed out nights
in bad company. We got a gang together. I did not mean to get into

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 the gang as I did, but I was forced into it by the club.

You understand, they have clubs, secret clubs, those fellows, and when
you join you have to do just what they say, because you are in their power.
If you try to withdraw you cannot because they will squeal on you. They
watch you and somebody follows you all the time. The new beginners are
the ones who do the dirty work. The leaders very seldom get caught.

There is a school and the new beginners learn to do bad things. Some of
the leaders are in the finest society in big cities, and they get to know where
we can find people to rob. You may sometimes wonder how we know where
to go to find jewelry and money. Our leaders know all- about it. They are in
fine society all the time. They have money so it wouldn't do any good to
squeal on them.

If I should tell you the names of some of our leaders who are in society
in Chicago, you would not believe me. You would say that it is not so. If you
would tell on them they would at once squeal on you and say you robbed
such a house. What could you do? You just have to keep still. That is what
the underworld is doing. The "upper world" uses the underworld when it
suits its purpose. What we steal in one city, they send off to another city.

Always you will find our leaders in the finest society, but we do not dare
say anything. When you once join their club-what I would call the Devil's
Club-you can't say anything. You are in their claws, and our leaders are
worse than devils, they are so mean. If we should kill, we are the ones who
suffer, but they get the money.

I came here tonight to thank you for having helped me. Nobody ever
gave me a helping hand before.

In that car barn murder I did not kill any one. I was with the gang, but the
one who did the work did not get hung; he got away. We four were hung,
because we were there. I was innocent. My work was to watch, which I did,
but I did not murder. I was hung for it.

If you have any influence at all, do not hang people. Let them have
another chance, because sometimes you will find they are innocent. Keep
them in the pen; give them another chance.

If they are hung, then where are they? All they have in their hearts is
hatred. They go back to earth life and do more mischief. They control people
and obsession steps in.

I had hatred when I was hung and said if there is life again I will get even
and fight for revenge.

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You remember Tillie, who lived next door to me? I told you about her
before. She used to come to your circles. I followed her once and through her
influence I came into your circle and was converted to the higher life.

Tillie always had a good influence over me and sometimes she wanted to
talk to me, but mother Was always jealous and didn't want her to talk.
Mother was very mean to Tillie's people. She got so mad at the time I was
hung that she tormented all her neighbors. She tore up all the fences and
closed up all the stable windows on their side. She tried to shoot every body
she could. If my father had had the gun loaded, mother would have been in
great trouble.

Tillie was my guardian angel, and through your circle I got over my
hatred. Now I try to help others with the light you gave me. My mission is
to help the unfortunate ones, like this fellow who came before me.

I try to influence people to be more just. If you have a chance to hang
any one, don't do it, but give him another chance. You have no right to kill.
Nobody should kill another person. We are all God's children. We all make
mistakes, and the strong should help the weak.

When one person murders another, no justice is shown, no mercy. The
judge and the jury-what mercy do they show a fellow when he has murdered?
Why should they kill him instead of giving him another chance? Why don't
they give a good word to the poor ones? Why don't they go to the prisoners
and teach them of the higher life, and also have psychic circles and try to help them?

As soon as you stop capital punishment you will not have so much
killing. When persons are hanged, they have revenge and hatred in their
hearts, and all they want to do is kill, kill, kill. So they influence sensitive
mortals and make them commit all kinds of crime.

I want to say again, if you have any influence, stop capital punishment.
This is a Christian country and nobody has a right to kill another. As they
killed Christ, so they kill boys who have been murderers, instead of teaching
them while they are young. Isn't is right that they should be taught to do
better, and to live better lives?

The time will come when the world will have to understand that it must
overcome selfishness. There will be lots of trouble before that time comes.
There will be much destruction, but after that, things will be better.

I am now doing my work in the spirit world, and I thank

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you for bringing me to a realization and waking me up. I have little meetings
here and there. I give little thoughts of cheer to those in darkness.

I am up against a very hard condition, and that is, to get my mother to
understand. I wish you would all send good, kind thoughts to her, because
she only had hatred and selfishness and jealousy in her heart. She was so
wrapped up in herself that now she will not listen to any one. Help me to
wake her up and realize the true condition of life.

Oh, how I thank you for helping me! At heart I was not a murderer, yet I
was hung for murder. I was not with the gang that was doing the work; all I
did was to watch. I was there with them and that was enough for the jury--I
had the name.

Now I am trying to do my part, but I have much to learn. I was very
ignorant of the real life. My father wanted me to go to Sunday School.
Mother told me I didn't need to go, but I went, and I didn't find anything
there that appealed to me, so I quit going.

I know now that God is everywhere and that I am a part of God. I had a
hard time getting rid of selfishness, jealousy and ignorance; they are the root
of all evil. When they are gone, love, kindness and sympathy take their place.
Get an understanding of the higher life and you will be happy. All should be
brothers and sisters on earth, as we are in the higher life.

In the spirit world our real eyes are opened. You cannot progress until
you have learned the lessons of life. You know, a school boy cannot go to
University until after he gets through his school books. He must go to
Kindergarten before he can enter the University, and he has to get there step
by step.

So it is in the spirit world. It is the world of happiness. We cannot
appreciate it until we have it before us. Everybody should know these things
before they step over the Borderland. We cannot go to the spirit world until
we have an understanding of it. When we are one with God then we have
happiness.

I do not know much, and I cannot say much, because I have seen so little
of it. I have much work to do before I go on.

The spirit world is like going into a garden and seeing one beautiful flower
here and another there. The flowers all stand up so straight and look at you
and seem to say: "Please take me." This one has a certain odor, and that one
another, but all are beautiful and fragrant.

The spirit world is like a flower bed, all is beauty and harmony-I mean
there is no selfishness. One shines more than

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A GREAT NUMBER of unaccountable suicides are due to the obsessing
or possessing influence of earthbound spirits. Some of these spirits are
actuated by a desire to torment their victims; others, who have ended their
physical existence as suicides, find themselves still alive, and, having no
knowledge of a spirit world, labor under the delusion that their self-
destructive attempts have failed and-continue their suicidal efforts.

When these intelligences come in contact with mortal sensitives, they
mistake the physical bodies for their own, and impress the sensitives with
morbid thoughts and instigate them to deeds of self destruction.

The fate of a suicide is invariably one of deepest misery, his rash-act
holding him in the earth sphere until such time as his physical life would
have had a natural ending.

One suicide case which we contacted was the spirit of a woman, Mrs.
X., who had been my Sunday School teacher when I was a boy in Europe,
but of whom Mrs. Wickland had never heard.

This lady had been intelligent and spiritual, an earnest church member,
happily married and the mother of several children. Without any warning,
while apparently happy and contented, she had suddenly hung herself, and
the horrified husband and children could in no way account for the tragedy.

One winter day ten years later, when Mrs. Wickland and I were alone in
our home in Chicago, Mrs. Wickland was unexpectedly controlled by a spirit
who gasped for breath and seemed to be strangling. This spirit, like so many
others, was unconscious of controlling a body not its own, and upon
contacting matter, again experienced its last death struggle.

After much questioning I learned, to my great surprise, that this was the
spirit of my former friend, who had ended her physical life by hanging
herself. She was still bound to the earth sphere and related the indescribable
mental hell she had been in during all those years.

"As soon as I found myself out of my body, I saw at once the cause for
my rash act. Evil spirits, who had been attracted to me by the jealous
thoughts of other persons, were standing near, grinning with devilish
satisfaction at their work.

"They had influenced me to end my life; I had no occasion to

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There I stood at his side, wishing with all my power that I could have that
body again, but I could not. There were my two little children weeping for
me, and I could not help them.

I did not know what was the matter until I saw some evil spirits standing
near, laughing at us. They had gotten hold of me and made me kill myself,
because they wanted to break up our happy home.

My husband could never forget the sight of my body hanging in the
shed. My children were small and needed my help, but the responsibility of
raising them was thrown on my husband. It should have been my duty to
have shared that responsibility,

Although I had been influenced to do what I did, for ten long years I
could see nothing before me but what I had done. I could see how much the
children needed me, but I could do nothing for them, and oh, how I suffered!
My poor, poor children!

One day, a very cold day, I felt that I had come to life again; I felt a new
warmth. I did not know where I was, but I felt* that I had come to life. I
found myself talking to Dr. Wickland. He told  me what had happened, and
explained that I was only temporarily controlling Mrs. Wickland, and that
friends would take me to the spirit world.

After this I felt somewhat better, and I thank you for having helped me
to the beautiful condition I have now.

But oh, how I suffered during those ten, long years! All I could see was
my body hanging before me, and the children's need of me. My husband and
children! How they needed my care-but I was powerless to help them.

I want to warn anybody who is thinking of trying to get out of the
physical body.

Do not do it under any circumstances.

You do not know, you cannot realize, what a hell you will find yourself
in. You cannot step into your body again after you once leave it, and you
cannot do your duty to others.

Think of my children always having the thought that their mother
committed suicide! Neither my husband nor children can ever really forgive
me. Even though I was controlled when I did what I did, I have had to suffer.

If you had an understanding of the laws of the spirit side of life, you
would not commit suicide, knowing the results. Overcome any thoughts of
taking your life. Be happy on this earth plane until the time comes for you to
go to the spirit world.

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The ten years that I suffered was the time I should have remained on
earth before passing to the spirit side of life. After my ten years had expired I
should have left my body, for my life would have been lived out, but during
that time I could have given help to my husband and children.

I should not have reached the spirit side of life before my allotted time ,
and my punishment was to constantly see my body hanging before me for
ten years. All that time I could realize that my husband and children were in
great need of my help.

Now I am as happy as I can be until my family is reunited, and I am
doing all I can to help my children.

I want you to send my love to my dear husband. He feels that he is all
alone. I am with him but I can do nothing to comfort him in his loneliness.

Goodbye!

----

On November 20, 1904, while Mrs. Wickland and I were visiting with
friends in Chicago, a circle had been formed for a psychic demonstration
when Mrs. Wickland heard some one say: "I am in the dark."

She inquired who had made the remark, but no one in the room had
uttered a word; however, the gentleman sitting beside Mrs. Wickland
declared that he too had heard the voice.

A moment later Mrs. Wickland became entranced and fell to the floor,
the spirit clutching at the throat and crying: "Take the rope away! Take the
rope away! I am in the dark. Why did I do it? Oh, why did I do it?"

When the excited spirit had been somewhat quieted, she told us that her
name was Minnie Harmening, that she was a young girl and had lived on a
farm near Palatine. As she was speaking brokenly, between sobs, it was
difficult to distinguish her words, and I understood her to say that she came
from "Palestine," which seemed rather strange.

The spirit was in great grief because she had hung herself, and thought the
body of the psychic was her own, and that the rope was still about her neck.

She said that on October 5th, without any cause or premeditation, she
had been overpowered by a desire to take her life, and when alone had gone
to the barn and hung herself.

"A big man with a black beard made me do it." (Spirit.) "He met me in the
barnyard and hypnotized me, and made me hang myself to a rafter, but I
don't know why I did it.

"My brother John found me and cut me down, and my parents

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were almost beside themselves. But I am not dead. I am at home all the time
and I talk to my mother and father. I try to comfort them and make them
know that I am not dead, but they do not notice me and do not answer me.
My folks all sit around the table crying, and there is my empty chair, but no
one answers me. Why don't they answer me?"

We could not at first convince her that she was expressing herself
through the body of another, but after a lengthy conversation, she was
somewhat enlightened and comforted, and left with spirit friends.

Previous to this incident neither Mrs. Wickland nor I had heard of the
Harmening suicide mystery and we did not know that such a girl had ever
existed.

Several days later, a reporter-from one of the Chicago dailies came to
interview us regarding our research work, and I related our recent experience
with the Harmening girl.

In great surprise he said that he himself had been the reporter on the
Harmening case and that the girl had lived in Palatine, Cook County, Illinois.
The dead body of the girl had been found hanging in her father's barn, but no
one knew of any cause for suicide, although the girl had always been peculiar.

There was a suspicion of murder because the clothes about the chest had
been torn, and the neck badly scratched, leading the authorities to believe
that a crime had been committed and the body hung up to avert suspicion.

On Thanksgiving Day, November 24th, the spirit of Minnie Harmening
came to us again, still grieving because of the suffering of her parents, and the
intolerant attitude assumed toward her family by the villagers and church
members, who considered the family disgraced.

The girl had been a devout member of a German Lutheran Church, but
because she had died a suicide the pastor had refused to allow the funeral
service to be held in the church, nor would the congregation permit the body
to be buried in the consecrated ground of the churchyard.

Minnie said that the funeral service had been held at the home of her
parents, but the minister had considered the viewing of the body such a
sacrilege that he had stepped outside the house while others paid their last
tribute, and this had added still more to the grief of her already distracted
parents. (These statements I found corroborated in the papers afterward.)

I asked the spirit why her clothes had been torn, and she answered: "I
did that myself. The big man (spirit) with the
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beard told me to hang myself, but as soon as I had kicked the box away
from my feet, I felt the rope tightening around my neck and came to my
senses. I clawed at the rope and tried to loosen it, but I only tightened it and
scratched myself.

Fourteen years later the spirit of Minnie Harmening spoke to us again.

EXPERIENCE, OCTOBER 20,1918
Spirit: MINNIE HARMENING. Psychic: MRS. WICKLAND

I want to thank you for all the help you have given me.

When I committed the act which took my life I was only a young girl of
sixteen. I had so much suffering afterwards and was very, very miserable. I
could see my father and mother sitting at the table, crying, and I could not
help them.

When the time came for my body to be buried the minister would not
take it into the church, and would not bury it, because, he said, I had
committed a sin in taking my own life. He also said that I could not be buried
in the graveyard because of my act, and he would not even look at the funeral
as it passed by.

I did not do the deed myself. I was obsessed. It was very hard for my
father and mother and sisters. The minister would not even come into the
room where my body lay, but spoke from another room; he was too holy to
be where the body was. This made it much harder for my parents.

Do not think that by taking your own life you can bury yourself in the
hereafter. I was obsessed when I took my life and did not know what I was
doing, but I am suffering because my father and mother are still mourning for
me. Very often I go to see my poor old mother, and she is very old now.

I am the girl who lived at Palatine. You remember me, don't you ?

The neighbors made it still harder for my folks because they told mother
what a disgrace it was for the family. I feel very badly about the matter.

I want to thank you for the help I received here. It was through you that I
received light and understanding. I am happy in a way, but not real happy,
because I feel the grief my father and mother have.

When I lived I did not understand obsession. After I had hung myself I
saw a man beside me, staring at me. Just when the rope was around my neck
I came to; I tried my best to get

146

it off my neck, but I had kicked the box from under myself and my whole
weight was in the rope and I could do nothing. I scratched my body in an
effort to free myself, but it was no use.

If one takes his own life he goes through a bitter experience, and suffers
greatly-yes, suffers greatly.

I thank you very much for the light and understanding I have received,
for it has been a great help to me.

Another experience, illustrating the power exercised over sensitive
mortals by malignant, earthbound spirits, occurred in Chicago.

Mrs. Wickland and I were resting on a bench in Lincoln Park, on July
12th, 1906, when an elderly gentleman seated himself beside us. Mrs.
Wickland at first saw two men on the bench, but upon looking again, noticed
only one.

A conversation ensued which drifted into occultism, and when the
stranger, Mr. F., expressed an interest in psychic phenomena, we invited him
to call at our home.

On the following evening Mr. F. called upon us, and later Mrs. Wickland
became entranced by the spirit of a man who was greatly agitated. He called
Mr. F. by name, saying he was his friend, Mr. B., of Cleveland, who had
been with him in Lincoln Park the previous week, and had had an
appointment to meet him there again on that very day.

Mr. F. was greatly startled by this communication, for his friend had
committed suicide in his club at Cleveland the preceding Sunday.

Mr. B. had lived in Cleveland and had come to Chicago the week before
to close a real estate deal, but before final negotiations were completed, had
returned for a week-end visit to Cleveland.

He was in a cheerful frame of mind when he left his home on Sunday
morning, but after conversing with a group of friends at his club, he had gone
into an adjoining room, placed carbolic acid in his glass of wine and drinking
it, had fallen dead.

Mr. B. had been a man of wealth and position, to all appearances
singularly fortunate and happy, and there seemed no reason for his suicide.

The spirit of Mr. B. was greatly troubled and bewildered, and asked his
friend what was the matter with him.

"I go home to my wife and children, but they do not seem. to see me or
hear me. I have been with you for several days, but you will not talk to me.

What is the matter?"

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Calming the spirit, we finally made him realize that to the world he was
"dead," and after explaining the suicide to him, we asked why he had taken
his life.

"I did not take my life. I went to the club and was talking to my friends,
then I went into another room, but I do not know what happened after
that. The next thing that I remember is that I saw my body lying on the floor
and a man (spirit) watching me and laughing."

After learning more of his condition the spirit urged his friend to write
to his wife and tell her that in reality he was not dead at all.

On the evening of the 16th, Mr. F. called again, when the spirit of Mr. B.
came a second time, still greatly disturbed, and asked his friend why he had
not written to his wife, and urgently begged him to do so.

"I know now that I was influenced to commit suicide by evil spirits who
were opposed to my carrying out that real estate deal. Rather than see my
purpose accomplished they determined to kill me. Please tell my wife the
truth and warn all the world to be wiser."

While the trial of a young man, who was accused of killing a college girl,
Marion Lambert, was in progress in Waukegan, Illinois, the spirit of the
murdered girl was brought to us, on June 17th, 1916, entrancing Mrs.
Wickland.

She was weeping uncontrollably and in such distress that she was at first
unable to speak, then suddenly cried out: "I did it! I did it! Nobody can help
me now. If I only could tell them and make them understand-but they will
not listen. I am in the dark and can see only the past and everything foolish I
have done. Oh, what a foolish girl I was!"

"What is your name?"

"Marion Lambert."

"Where do you think you are?"

"I do not know. I am not acquainted with any one here. (Crying.) They
talk of hell, but that could not be as bad as what I have gone through, just
because of my foolishness. I would like very much to get out of all this trouble.

"I took my own life. I didn't mean to kill myself-I only meant to take
enough cyanide of potassium to scare him.

"And now they blame him for my death! I would so like to do something
to make them understand he is not guilty. Oh, but they will not believe me! I
talk to the different people at the

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court house but they take no notice of me, and will not listen to me.
Everything is so strange, I don't know what to do.

"I was such a foolish girl. Oh, my poor father and mother! I'm half crazy
with trouble and worry. If I could only go to the court house and show them
that I am not dead, but that I am alive"

"Why don't they listen to me? I go to the court house but nobody will
speak to me, and I have spoken to so many people. I am in such agony, I
don't know what to do.

"If I had had more sense I would never have done what I did, but it's no
use saying that now-it is too late. I wish I could be in my body again. I
studied a great deal, but I was so foolish it did me no good, and now I am
suffering. Everything is so dark and I am in such trouble."

The spirit was so hysterical that it was exceedingly difficult to make her
understand that she could best help by keeping away from the court house,
go with kindly intelligences to the spirit world and learn the higher purposes
of life.

In July, 1919, the interest of the American public was centered in a
"murder" case in Los Angeles, in which Harry New was accused of killing his
sweetheart, Freda Lesser.

The tragedy had taken place on July 4th in Topanga Canyon, where
Harry and Freda had driven late in the day. Near the crest a shot was fired
which ended the girl's life, and Harry New was arrested on a charge of
murder. The girl had been expecting motherhood, and this fact was used in
the trial as a motive for the crime. Harry New was convicted of second degree
murder and sentenced to San Quentin for ten years.

During the trial we had an interesting experience which would have thrown 
new light on the case, could it have been accepted as evidence in court.

EXPERIENCE, JANUARY 7,1920
Spirit: FREDA LESSER. Psychic: MRS. WICKLAND

The controlling spirit was crying pathetically, and seemed bewildered.

Doctor What is the matter with you?

Spirit Oh, I feel so bad!

Dr. What seems to be the trouble?

Sp. Lots of trouble.

Dr. Possibly we may be able to help you.

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