SCIENTIST AT SEANCE

Gisborne Times, Volume LXVIII, Issue 10725, 24 October 1928, Page 9

SCIENTIST AT SEANCE

DR. STORY.

DEAD MAN WHO SWORE.

MASCULINE VOICE DISTINCT FROM! MEDIUM’S. ’

The claim that a series of seances havo proved the survival of human personality after death is made by Dr. R. J. Tillyard, a scientist of somo note, whose mother lives in Worthing. Dr. Tillyard is Assistant Director and Chief of the Cawthron Institute, Nelson, New Zealand, and honorary vice-president of the. National Laboratory of Psychical Research, London. He is'also a Fellow of the . Royal .Society, the Geographical So-, dbty, the Einoean 'Society, and the Entomological Society, and has™published' 150 scientific papers ' dealing with insects.' _ o Detailing his experiences at ono of the seances—they were held lit —oston (Mass.), and all were attended and controlled by him—Dr. Tillyard describes - how. a man named Walter Stinson, who died in 1912, “evinced a!personality independent of the medium, by speaking in a distinct masculine voice, whistling and swearing, ‘and also left his th|imb prints - in dental wax in the dark more quickly than an ordinary man can do them in the light. ' ' ■ ‘My own conclusion,” writes the doctor, “is' that Stinson has fully proved in 'a> scientific manner his claim that his personality has survived physical death.”. This amazing story is told by the doctor in ’ “Nature/’' a scientific journal of wide repute, in a leading article of several columns. Its. conclusions are that the evidence on which- the doctor bases his claims is not strong enough to justify them. The seance at which the fingerprints of the dead man-are alleged to havo been reproduced was held, on .Tune 1 of' this year at the house of Dr. Mark Richardson., in Boston. Besides Dr. Tillyard himself there were present in the seance room.—the medium, Mrs. L. R. C. Crandon, the wife of a doctor, and sister of the dead man, Walter Stinson, who was killed on August 8-, 1912, in a' railway accident;

Captain Fife, the finger-print expert of the U.S. Navy Yard.

MAN ON GUARD

Mr J. W. B.A. (Cantab), a young entomologist, guarded the door of the room from, the outside. A red shade was placed over the electric light. Previous to the seance a number of pieces of dental wax called “Kerr,” were, in the absence of the medium, marked secretly by Dr. Tillyard and 1 Mr Evans; a number given to each, and a piece broken on the side. Other implements for marking thumb prints were also provided'.

Describing the dead. man’s operations, Dr. Tillyard writes; “With red light frequently turned on to verify the position of the pieces of- ‘Kerr’ to remove each one from the cold water when ‘Walter’ (the dead man) reported it done, or to put a new piece into the hot. water whop, ho asked for it-, we had ai most extraordinarily quick and accurate performance by ‘Walter.’ of the technique of makimr " thumbprints. SEVEN GOOD PRINTS. “In taking Marjery’s (Airs Crandon) Capt. File’s and my own thumb prints—which I did in bright light, within a. few minutes of the end of the seance—considerable difficulties were met with, .especially owing to the wax melting too much /' if ..the. waiter were too hot.

“I timed' Captain- Fife, a fingerprint expert, taking one of his own thumb-prints, and it took him ten minutes. “ ‘Walter’ did seven good prints' in the dark in about half an hour, remarking that it was easy for him, as he ‘carried his cold, about with_ him’ one occasion ho said ‘No’ in a loud voice, as I was about to put some ‘Kerr’ into the dish. DEAD AIAN SPEAKS, “On a secopd occasion,” continues Dr Tillyard, “while. I was looking straight- at the medium he said ‘Go ahead.’ “I’noted that neither the medium’s lips nor her larynx moved at all- “ When doing the fourth print, ‘AValter’ said that it would prove to be a mirror image of his ordinary-thumb-print. This we verified as correct later. : “During the seance I Fas frequently touched and stroked '.... by... ‘AValter,s’ teleplastic terminal, and water was sprinkled over me. Altogether, “AA r alter” made seven clear right thumb-prints, all being markedly different from the thumbprints of any of those present. The ulnar area of the prints, adds the doctor, agreed exactly with the same area of, a; thumb-print found on Stinson’s razor, which he used, on the morning of the fatal accident. lIUAIOUR FROAf BEYOND. Summarising the results of two seances, Dr. Tillyard says:— “The ‘personality’ of ‘Walter’ is shown to be independent of that of jthe medium by the possession of a distinct masculine voice and. strong whistling powers, these never proceeding from the mouth or larynx of the medium; by liis alert mental powers, tendency to impatience and the use of swear words; by a marked sense of humor, a Canadian accent and -many other qualities which cannot fail to produce in, a sitter the defiinte feeling that he is dealing with an independent' personality. .? “Besides this,” he adds, “ Walter’ shows that he has the power of smell) can see in the dark, can handle delicate objects and. place them accurately in the. dark without doing any damage.”