SPIRITUALISTIC EXPERIMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 9991, 30 November 1895, Page 2 (Supplement)

SPIRITUALISTIC EXPERIMENTS.

♦— MR. STEAD'S LATEST SENSATION. J VISION OF THE CRUCIFIXION. i Mr. W.T. Stkad, of the Review of Reviews, lias gone to astounding lengths in his j spiritualistic experiments and communi- , cations with " the unseen world." In the | latent Borland he, out-Herod's Haoy, A3 the following extract will showi-r 0110 of tho most extraordinary cases of ' psycliomctry that has come under my notico 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 tho Dead Sea, . Bethlehem, and the Garden of Gethsoinano, ' and the usual carved work that tourists J buy in the bazaar?. These stones she has 1 submitted from time to time to natural, < trance, amateur and professional psycho* j metrics with somo very astonishing result?. ' They have described, with many varh- 1 lions, some of the most sacred scenes ip 1110 £ Scripture narrative. They have, when t holding tho stones from Golgotha, which \ were given them without any cluo as to « their origin, described the Crucifixion. A 1 stone from the Dead Sea brought to the i vision of tho psychometrist- the.destruction i of tho cities of the Plain, while another s stone brought up a vision of the Resurrec- 1 tion. One of Miss Hall's most treasured 1 relics is a cup, which, in her belief, was [ made from the wood of the true cross, t Here is what Mr. Lees said when, under ] control, the cup was handed to him, with a j request that he would tell Miss Hall what i he saw. _ _ I Holding out the cup, he said : " This has 1 been held as a very sacred relic from very early times; many traditions connected ; with it; it has been taken from a tree used j for executions; it has been connected with i the death of an eminently bad man ; it has been connected with the death of an eminently good man." : " It has been connected with the Cruci- i fixion of the Nazarene." i "That is exactly what the other psychometrist said, and she saw it twice." ! " I see the whole scene, scourging, flog- 1 cing ; he has fainted poor fellow (very lew], I hair all matted with blood—dark, chestnut I hair failing on shoulders—but they have < tied it up high to fasten 011 the crown of < thorns with.'' i "Car, you fee hi? face!" ; "Oh, yes." f " What is he like?" " Deeply bronzed from exposure to all weathers. He has been very brutally treated. Tiiey won't even wash tho blood c off. He was led out at eight o'clock in the t morning, I think," he said. lie tried to t put the cup down several times, but I kept c him to it as long as I could. He said, in t answer to my questions, he saw the storm I and the darkness. _ < "That is a \erv sacred relic," he said, ' when he gave it to me back. v So far Mr. Lees. Some months after- s wards the cup, in the presence of ono of my s staff, was handed to Mrs. Bliss, who was c under control The following is a steno- c graphic report of what passed when the cup r —in appearance an ordinary wooden egg- c cup—was grasped by the psychometrist: f " I see on this 1413. It is the only thing « . see." 1 " Turn it on the other side; the other 1 end." a " I get the same thing, 1413, Paul Bur- S nett, and I believe it is the maker's name. c i sec a little instrument in his fingers." t " Can you go back to more ancient times s with that?'' r " With that. I =ee large table; many r sitting round it; wine in peculiar glasses; i 1 men very, very ancient, more like Biblical c type. Table being cut into pieces, and I r should say that this came out of the table i of the Lord's Supper." f Miss Hall then handed Mrs. Bliss a neck- 1 Ist of shells. "I go very far back, now," said Mrs. t Bliss. " To the time of the Crucifixion of r Christ." " What do you see?" c "I see a very beautiful building; men sitting down, dressed in garrqencs, some white or dirty-looking white; others kind | of blue gown, sitting down on some small j tablets, and there is another— a woman i dressed in a very pale blue dress ; the front ] and upper dress bluo, white following from , sleeves. This belonged to long chain j around her neck, and fastened to ieit wrist. , Enters this large building, which is built of . stone; goes straight to one of the. people ; , tabes this off her neck, and gives it to a j dark man, who has long hair, long beard, < and moustaches. Offers it to the man." _ j "How do you jknow this is the Craei- , fixion?" ' < "Isaw Christ, and I believe the stone j comes from the cross." . How very nice! Yon see beautifully, j Mrs. Bliss." , . ] After looking at the cup again, Misn Hall , returned to the shell. ll , saying: ( " Will you look at these shells once more ? j I should like you to see the Crucifixion." , "Now, my opinion is that this necklet \ was offered for »ale 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, Alary, at Hi 3 , feet, and she is counting the shells. It , appears to me that the necklet was offered for sale to defend Him cr to save His life." , "Can yon describe Him?" "■I should describe Him a? 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 .Uim; His eye 3 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 ? 1 " The face is pale, but He does not look Buffering. 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 stone (pointing to a stone); the centre cross is black, but the other crosses are of a brownish tint." " What time of day is it? Noon ?" "Ishould gay 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 slitn :caturcs? I get, her influence first. This :up is very difficult. I am positive it is :onnected with the Crucifixion of Christ, sillier taken out of the cross or the Supper Table." "I have beon told that that, is a part of the true cross," said Miss Hall. " Can yon see the Crucifixion with that, Mrs. Bliss?" "I tell you what I get. I hear a voice dairaudiently say to mc, 'The egg-cup was cut out of t,ho cross that Christ 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 somo by friends and children, but for this number the above will suffice. There is 110 reason to doubt the good faith of Miss Hall. The usual precautions were taken to prevent the medium knowing anything about I ho nature of the relic. Sometimes the stone was wrapped up in paper. In all capes it was only designated by a number, yet the above was the result. The only explanation that can be hazarded is that the mediums received telepathically a suggestion from Miss Hall its to the character of the relic, and that sho responded to the suggestion as mediums do, Miss Hall is in revolt against tins suggestion. But there is this much to be said in support of it. I have seen Mrs. Bliss who" under I control describe as if 10 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 an exactitude which was not in tho least impaired by tho fact that the whole thought picture was purely imaginary. What I did unconsciously in that instance Miss Hall may have dono unconsciously in the other case;' I do nob say that this is 'so, I only point out that the telepathic hypothesis' by our sub-con-seiouß, subliminal self, offers an explanation ■

leas incredible than tho theory that (1) Miss HJalla cup was • actually made out t of the original and (2) tljat tibia wpp4 wa* thereby impregnated with such po\ver. as to make the whole memorable;, scene live 1 before the"eyes "of- tli'e'psychometrist' after tho lapse of nearly twenty centuries. I would like to try the experiment with a gyrchqmetrisb when'Miaa Hall was not present. such te's€pl**li6hl" oyer flip' results obtained in "experiments" with , the other relics. * ' J-**-'* " (