SAVAGE SPOOKS

NZ Truth, Issue 860, 13 May 1922, Page 7

SAVAGE SPOOKS

1 Scrimmages At Seances Strange Stories Told By Spiritualists. New Zealand's recent visitor, 6ir Arthur Conan Doyle, has published a book with the title, "Wanderings of a Spiritualist," describing his experiences m Australia and New ZealandThere is no doubt whatever that Conan Doyle is still an interesting writer, but it is just as certain that if he had applied one-tenth of the acumen which Sherlock Holmes devoted to his problems, Sir Arthur would have rejected as (preposterous most of the "eyewash" with which he was plenteouslly supplied m this country. He seems to have swallowed the tall tales of the 'toiedium" as readily as a down-for-the-show yokel swallows the yams of the generous gent, with the rich uncle m Fiji. Sir Arthur deals at length with psychic matters, and gives personal estimates of various "mediums' 1 whom he met. Most of the book, though, seems to consist merely of' "things told," or, m plain, words, hearsay. However, as the author of ; the: famous -series of detective stories has provided endless entertainment for^ peopQe, nobody will object to Sir An--' th'ur Cbnan Doyle listening" to', other folks' stories m the evening of his life. In ordinary matters, spiritualists are as normal as other people. On their pet subject, though, they are THE MOST CREDULOUS PEOPLE under -the sun. The gullible punter m his search for "stable information" is" not a circumstance to them. A typical instance of this readiness to ..believe the unbelievable occurs m the December- Issue of: "The Harbinger of. Light," a Melbourne journal 1 devoted to psychology; occultism, arid spirituall philosophy. Under the arresting heading,' "An Impressive Incident," there is an account of a seance m which M. Bozzaho, an Italian scientific investigator, says he took part. The facts were not published during the lifetime of the person chiefly concerned. His identity is even now disguised under the initial X. The description of the seance ds -concise and racy: At the beginning of this particular sitting the medium's usual "con-, trol," Luigi, failed to. appear, but the. medium showed signs of terror, and was apparently being attacked and pursued by an Invisible force. The helpless sitters called unitedly for Luigi;. who managed to gain control of his medium just long enough to explain breathlessly that he could not cope with the enemy, and m the midst of an exhortation to close the seance at once, (he was cut short by being violently, dispossessed. : Here iwe may pause to Inquire how "Luigi" could "explain breathlessly?" We have heard of "breathing spirits"; where do the spooks -get lungs from? Maybe, though, -it is A MERE FIGURE OF SPEECH, ." like the "attacked and pursued" touch. " Pursued " presupposes that someone is running . aiway, and as the l account proceeds it will be seen that the "medium" did not run away, tout "-collapsed suddenly." The description' continues m a breezy (way: . The invading Spirit was one of a furiously , vindictive nature, who acted Qike a wild beast desirous of. seizing its prey, and this prey was one of the sitters, the Mr.. X. referred to. The spirit, happily, was. not In too great a, hurry to omit the reproach, m which he declared that ihe had been a soldier m the R;N. t and had met with his death m Oporto at the hands of Mr. X. "At last I have found thee, coward 1 Now I will revenge myself and strangle thee!" With these words, he leaped ■upon X., and? so nearly made good the threat that the victim's eyes and tongue, were protruding before the other sitters, going m a body to the rescue, were able to get him outside the room. "This is hard to believe," as incredulous judges sometimes remark to iwitnesses. Even if we swallow the reference to ■..-.. "THE WILD BEAST SPIRIT" half choking the mysterious Mr. X., will someone please .te/11 us why did not this "furiously vindictive" spook finish the job? Furthermore, ihow could the victim be "rescued" from something that could not be seen", touched, or handled? In any case, no determined spook, bent on the busi-. 1 ness of murder, would have . baulked at going "outside the room." What was to have prevented this energetic spirit from lying m wait for Mr. X., both ibefore and after the seance? In any case, there must have been "something doing" m spirit land whenMr. X. went west to join the spooks. The "impressive incident" was not yet ended: Even then a fearful scrimmage continued nvitih the baffled spirit, until they happily remembered the remedy, and once more earnestly called for Luigi> At the word the medium collapsed suddenly oh to the ground. Being picked up and .put on a couch, Luigi came, and m a weak voice informed them that the wholething had been permitted by God AS A WARNING TO THEM, and that it would be advisable to: have no more sittings for a time, to disinfect the cabinet and room: with plenty of fresh air, sunshine, and, incense, and to purify their minds, at the same time. ■ •■. ; As the article says naively, "the circumstances were certainly dramatic." Bozzano says he ascertained later on that Mr. X. murdered a brother officer" years before, and had been court-mar-tialled and dismissed from .the army, Evidently the ghost wanted to get even with the murderer. The writer of the "Harbinger" article proceeds to relate an incident which he says happened at the late Mr. T. W. Stanford's Melbourne Circle, when a . judge of the Supreme Court was present: In the course of the proceedings the usual controls were thrust 1 aside and the medium taken possession of v by a spirit of much pcfvver and violence. He was handled with great roughness, began to rage and. fume, •and was thrown ruthlessly about the' cage m which he had been securely ■fastened. •It was obvious at once that something Very unusual was taking place, and no littte consternation was manifested by some of the sitters. ...'.. ... Mr. Stanford tried again and again, by magnetic "passes," and: speaking m peremptory, tones to induce THE USURPING SPIRIT to leave the medium, but the vindictive exclamations and wild gesticulations continued, and it was some little time before the rightful controls could get the upper hand and order was restored. It was then explained by the leading control that what had really happened was this: This was the first occasion upon which the learned judge had been iprosent, and a number of those whom he had sentenced to death desired to take advantage of the opportunity of "getting even" with him. Hence the frantic efforts of the revengeful entities to .get the medium out of .the cage. They were bent on doing personal injury to the objecs of their wrath, but were overpowered and eventually compelled to leave. . - It will no doubt be comforting to vindictive people to be assumed that, whilst they cannot safely take risks; on this earth, they will be able to polish off their enemies without hin-.