TWO STORIES OF THE UNKNOWN

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 82, 3 October 1936, Page 29

TWO STORIES OF THE UNKNOWN

Dr. Alexander Cannon, student of the occult and collector" of mysterious happenings, is a firm believer in the ancient rites and ceremonies of the East, says a writer in the "Sunday Express." A Harley Street mental specialist, he was on the London County Council mental hospitals staff, but resigned last year. He has held important appointments in the East. Dr. Cannon tells some uncanny stories, which he claims have all been authenticated. ■ Many people on visiting a place for the first time have experienced a feeling that the new scenes are quite familiar to them. Dr. Cannon suggests that this experience is a demonstration of reincarnation. Here is one story which he tells in his book, "The Power of Karma." A young lawyer of Budapest had recently married and set off for his honeymoon trip along, the Danube. The bride had never visited. the locality. But arriving at Passu, where they changed steamers, she displayed considerable uneasiness and declared that every scene was familiar. As they proceeded further, she described the curious landscape, and even the meadows hidden from view by the hills. ■ She told of a castle some distance away, describing the place accurately, and in order to: calm his bride the husband made inquiries. The castle' existed exactly as the girl had said, and the pair visited it. The bride was able to guide the care^ taker round the place, r and told him that- in a certain part was a room which had remained locked for years. The caretaker admitted the' existence of the room, but declared that the keys had been lost. The bride, however, was able to ten

him where the keys were hidden, and they were found as she had said. On entering the room she exclaimed, "There are two bodies in there.". The skeletons of two people were found in the room, and by the side of one a rusty dagger. "It is the room in which I was murdered," she exclaimed, and then fainted. -

Dr. Cannon says: "It is scarcely necessary to add that the medicalmen (who attended the bride in hospital) were quite unable to account '■ for the phenomenon."- : ..■■•. ; . Here is a strange story of magic.

In 1918 an Arab living in Algeria was causing a deal of trouble by his strange magic. The French decided to put him to the test, to shatter the natives' belief in his supernatural powers. Accordingly, the District Commissioner took a party of soldiers and priests to the magician's tent. Captain Labriffe, who was in charge, ordered the Arab magician to make the river, which was in flood, stop flowing, light a fire in the middle of the river's bed, and cooi a meal for the guests.

"Is that all," queried. the Arab, in surprise. "I was afraid you would want something difficult." He picked up a pebble and threw it into the river. Immediately the river ceased flowing, and the bed was dry. Then, scrambling down he lighted a fire, cooked a meal of coucous and partridge, "seeming to take the fuel and the food from the air." And the French mission ate the meal, and at its conclusion the river, at a word from the wizard, began to flow again. Dr. Cannon declares that the record -of the strange happenings can be verified from the Archives Department,- Government of Algeria.