A SPIRITUALISTIC SEANCE.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3496, 20 September 1882, Page 3

A SPIRITUALISTIC SEANCE.

There were four of us, and we had had a somewhat satisfactory table-turning the previous afternoon. Office hours were over for the day and three of the four of us were lounging in a room dedicated to ourselvep, when the fourth one of the party entered, and, in a voice betokening suppressed excitement, said: "I've got one!" Looking up from our newspapers, for the Daily Tfi-egraph had just been brought in, we all cried : " Got what?" A "A medium," he answered; "don't laugh. If you fellows will stop here I will go and tell him that you are all ready, and there is plenty of time before dinner to have a manifestation." Now that was just what we wanted. **• „ "We were all unbelievers, except, of course, ,- our enthusiastic friend, the happy discoverer of a medium. Without a medium, we were given to understand, we might be able to turn tables and such like, but we should never obtain a manifestation of spirits. Our friend was an enthusiast, or. aa he modestly called himself, " a seeker after truth." He believed in spirits, he believed that with " force " enough, force of will, force of odic power, force of call-it-wbat-you-like, you could catch stray spirits, like fish in a stream, and like the old man of the sea fix them so as to compel them to answer questions. Care, he told us, was necessary lest, by ill-timed levity, you lost the spirit; in researches of the kind it was particularly desirable to observe deferential not to say reverential language. But without a medium nothing could be done. He bad been fortunate enough to find out a gentleman in Napier who bad proved himself to be a medium, and all that appeared necessary now was for us to await his arrival. A room was accordingly prepared upstairs, where we should be free from myy terruption or disturbance. It was a little after five o'clock, and still day-light, ho the curtains were drawn ; a candle was placed on a eide table, together with writing materials, as it was intended to take a full report of the proceedings to forward to some journal devoted to spiritism. We then, all assembled in this upper chamber, but before commencing business a proposal concerning some refreshment

was unani-nously adopted. The medium bad beer. It is as well perhaps, to note this latter circumstances, because later on some of the party unduly laid stress upon that fact. I took up a position at the writing table so that I might easily detect any attempt at fraud. With the exception of our friend and the medium we were all sceptics, and we thought, in the interests of science, it would be as well to keep an eye on the feet of the practitioner?. At the small four-legged table in the middle of the room sat the others in the orthodox fashion, our friend directly facing the medium. It was then exactly /5.20 p.m. Our friend, in a solemn voice, asked the medium whether he had ever communicated with spirits. " Hundreds of times," he answered. " In what way ?" "In all sorts of ways. I have felt myself lifted in ray chair up to the ceiling." «Oh ! that's splendid. I have never been so fortunate as to be present at such a manifestation. .Were you really j carried up ?" j " Well, if I wasn't it felt like that." And he looked round with an injured air when one of the party observed tbat some men had experienced a similar sensation, such as a street rising up and striking one on the forehead. This levity was ijstantly suppressed. " If there is to be any rot of this kind we had better knock off," said our friend, and then we all pulled our faces into befitting appearance, and no other interruption occurred. Ten minutee had nearly expired from the time the seance had commenced when the medium was observed to be visibly affected. His head was wagging in a strange imbecile sort of way, tears were rolling down his cheeks, and bu eyes were closed. The table then commenced to rock, but it was plain enough to see that the oscillations were caused by the violent twitching of every muscle in the medium's body. " This is too jolly good for me. He isn't going to take me in with tbat rubbish." " Hush !" said our friend, " I have never seen anything like this before." Turnins; to me he said, " Take it all down ; don't miss anything." "Hush J" "Is there any Spirit present, and will he communicate with us. If he will favor us with any manifestation of his presence will he please signify his assent by one knock, refusal by two knocks." Dead silence. " You speak to him ; ask if there is a spirit present," appealed our friend to the medium. But by this time the medium had lifted his hands from the table, and so had broken the " contact," and he wearily asked for a pocket handkerchief to wipe his streaming eyes. " How long have we been here ?" he gasped. "Oh gosh ! its awful; its burning lead in my temples and all down the spine. Has there been any manifestation?" and be looked weak and fainting. " What made you break the contact and why did you not ask whether there were any spirits present ?" somewhat angrily asked our friend. " It is not my business to ask questions. I am the medium through wuom the answers come," he apologetically replied in low feeble tones. " This is different from what I have ever seen. Let us try it again, and I will ask the questions. Now please, all keep quiet. Be ready with your pen, because this is very interesting and instructive, and I should like a full report." Thus cautioned, silence once more prevailed, hands touched round the Liable, and business recommenced. My centre-second chronograph showed me that five minutes, six nriinutes, seven minutes, had passed, and then, exactly at 7 mine. 32£ sees., the medium began to manifest all the appearances of a person poing off in a fit of mesmerism. Now was the time! The table was vibrating, the medium was trembling like an aspen leaf, and the death-like silence was broken only by the voice of our friend : "Is there any spirit present ? If there be will he kindly manifest his presence through the medium ?" The words acted like a charm. In the twinkling of an eye the medium was fighting the air with his fists, he kicked the table over; the cbair on which be was sitting by some mysterious agency spun round on one leg, and the medium's legs and aims were all about the room, and menacing the shins aud faces of everyone. Tnen tne medium fell heavily to the floor, on which he kept up a devil's tattoo with his elbows and heels, till some of us sat upon him, and kept him down. The room was a wreik. We were divided in opinion as to whether he was in a fit, or whether he was drunk ; bis own evidence was that he did not know what had occurred ; his hands were covered with blood, and he had a nasty bruise on the temple. He had some more beer to revive himself, and then we all went away fully persuaded that it would take a good deal of spirits to make us believe in that wretched nonsense called Spiritualism.