Spiritualistic Experiments

m VISION OF THE CRUCIFIXION Mr W. T. Stead, of the ' Review of Reviews,' has gone to astounding lengths in spiritualistic experiments and communications with the unseen world. In the latest Borderland he out-Herods Herod, as the following extract will show : — One of the moat extraordinary cases of psychometry that has come under my notice in recent times has been that which Miss Hall reported to me. Miss Hall is a lady who, during her travels in Palestine, picked up some relics, stones from the Dead Sea, Bethlehem, and the Garden of Gethsemane, and the usual carved work that tourists buy afc the bazaars. These stones she has submitted from time to time to natural, trance, amateur and professional psychomelrists with some very astonishing results. They have described, with many variations, some of the most sacred scenes in the Scripture narrative. They have, when holding the stones from Golgotha, which were given them without any clue as to their origin, described the Crucifixion. A stone from the Dead Sea brought to the vision of the psychometrist the destruction of the cities of the Plain, while another stone brought up a vision of the Resurrection. One of Miss Hall's most treasured relics is a cup, which, in her belief, was made from the wood of tbe true cross. Here is what Mr Lees said when, under control, the cup was handed to him, with a request that he would tell Miss Hall what he saw. Holding out the cup, he said : " This has been held as a very sacred relic from very early times ; many traditions connected with it ; it has been connected with the death of an eminently bad man ; it has been connected withthe death of an eminently good man." "It has been connected with the Crucifixion of the Nazarene." " That is exactly what the other psychometrist said, and she saw it twice." " I see the whole scene, scourgirjg ? flogging ; he has fainted poor fellow (very low), hair all matted with blood— dark chestnut hair falling on shoulders — but they have tied it up high to fasten on the crown of thorna with." " Can you see his face ?" " Oh, v'es." "What is he like?" " Deeply bronzed from exposure to* all weathers. He has been very brutally treated. They won't even wash tbe blood off. He was led out at eight o'clock in the morning, I think." he said. He tried to put the cup down several times, but I kept him to it as long as I could. He said, in answer to my questions, he saw the atorm and the darkness. "That is a very sacred relic," he said, when he gave it to me back. So far Mr Lees. Some months afterwards the cup, in the presence of one of my staff, was handed to Mrs Bliss, who was under control. The following is a stenographic report o£ what passed when the cvp — in appearance an ordinary wooden egg-cup-was grasped by the psychometrist : " I see on this 1413. It is the only thing I see." [ " Turn it on the other side ; the other end." " I get the same thing, 1413, Pan! Burnett, and I believe it is the maker's name. I see a little instrument in his fingers." " Can you go back to more ancient times with that ?" " With that. I see large table ; many sitting round it ; wine in peculiar glasses ; men very, very ancient> more like Biblical type. Table being cut into pieces, and I should say that thia came out of the table of the Lord'sSupper." Miss Hall then handed Mrs Bliss a necklet of shells.

" I go very far back now," said Mrs Bliss ** to the time of the Crucifixion Of Christ." 41 What do you see r «« I see a very beautiful building ; men sitting down, dressed in garments, some trhite or dirty looking white ; others kind of blue gown, sitting down on some small tablets, and there is another— see a woman dressed in a ▼cry pale blue dress; the front and upper dress blue, white following from ■leeves. This belonged to long chain around her neck, and fastened to left wrist. Enters this large building, which is built of stone ; goes straight to one of »he people ; takes this off her neck, and gives it to a dark man, who has long hair, long beard, and moustaches. Offers it to tbe man." " How do you know that this is the Crucifixion ?" «'I saw Christ, and I believe the atone comes from the cross." «» How very nice! Tou see beautifully, Mrs Bliss." After looking at the cup again, Miss Hall returned to the shells, •aying : " Will you look at these shells once more ? I should like you to see the Crucifixion." " Now, my opinion is that this necklet was offered for sale to save, if it were possible, the death of Christ. The necklet was not handed over, and I see now the three crosses, and our Saviour in the centre ; and I see a woman, Mary, at his feet, and she is counting the shells- It appears to me that the necklet was offered for sale to defend Him or to save his life." ** Can you describe Him ? "I should describe him as a man apparently more about forty than the age, as the hair is just at the top a little grey, just at the sides, and I see Him ; His eyes are open and were what we call a blue grey of a very beautiful tint ; the face is very pale indeed, and the moustache and beard is inclined to auburn ; rather pointed beard." . " Does he appear to be suffering ? *' The face is pale, but he does not look suffering. His eyes are open." " Is he on the cross ?" *' Yes, on the cross. The crowd of the people on the back, and by their expression they are hooting at the back, but there is a cluster round about the three crosses." " Can you see the letters over the inscription?" " No, I do not see the inscription. The cross is quite black, black as that Btone (pointing to a atone) ; the centre cross is black, but the other ' crosses are of a brownish tint." " What time of day is it ? Noon V "I should say it was early morning; it looks more like early morning by the atmosphere; about 7 o'clock in the morning " Again Miss Hall handed her the cup. Mrs Bliss asked: "Has this cup been in the hands of a lady, dark, with slim features? I get her influence first. This cup iB very difficult. I am positive it is connected with the Crucifixion of Christ, either taken out of the crosß or the Supper Table." " I have been told that that is a part of the true cross," said Miss Hall. •*Can you see the Crucifixion with that, Mrs Bliss ?" f< I tell you what I get. I hear a ▼oice clairaudiently say to me, ' The egg-cup was cut out of the cross that Chris*; paid the penalty of sin upon.' I can depend upon that." I have a mass of other readings by Mr Lees, Mrs Bliss and Mrs Graddon, as well as some by friends and children, bnt for this number the above will suffice. There is no reason to doubt the good faith of Miss Hall. The üßual precautions were taken to prevent the medium knowing anything about the nature of the relic Sometimes the stone was wrapped up in paper. In all cases it was only designated by a number, yet the above was the xesult. The only explanation that can be hazarded is that the mediums received telepathically a suggestion from Miss Hall as to the character of the relic, s,ud tbat she responded to the sugges-

tion as mediums do. Miss Hall is in revolt against this suggestion. Bnt there is this mnch to be said in support of it. I have seen Mrs Bliss when under control describe as if it were an actual scene passing before her the details of a wholly imaginary incident which I had written, but had not yet printed, a short time before. I gave her no suggestion consciously. But my mind was full of the scene, and Mrs Bliss read it as if she were reading a printed page. It was the thought impression which she visualised, and visualised with an ease and exactitude which was not in the least impaired by the fact that the whole thought picture was purely imaginary. What I did unconsciously in that instance Miss Hall may may have done unconsciously in the other case. I do not say that this is so, I only point out that the telepathic hypothesis by our sub-conscious, subliminal self, offers an explanation less incredible than the theory that (1) Miss Hall's cup was actually made out of the original cross, and (2) that this wood was thereby impregnated with such power as to make the whole memorable scene live before the eyes of the psychometrist after the lapse of nearly twenty centuries. I would like to try the experiment with a psychometrist when Miss Hall was not present. Pending such a test, I hold over the results obtained in experiments with the other relics.