OCCULT INFLUENCES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18873, 28 May 1923, Page 5

OCCULT INFLUENCES

SIR A. CONAN DOYLE AND LORD CARNARVON. EVIL ELEMENTAL,?. SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHS AT THE CENOTAPH. IDENTITY OF “MRS KING.” \From Ode Own Correspondent.) LONDON, April 13. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's statement that Lord Carnarvon's death might have been due to the activities of an evil elemental has caused a storm of protest in some quarters. In addition, his photographs taken at tne Cenotaph and purporting to show the spirits of the departed at the time of .the two minutes* silence ” have been the cause of protest. Interviewed in Now York, Sir Arthur was inclined to support the view that Lord Carnarvon died from occult or other spiritual influences. ”An evil elemental.” he said, “ may have caused the fatal illness. One docs not know what elementals existed in those days, nor what their form mieht he. ’ There was once a mummy in the British Museum which it was believed was guarded by one of those elementals, for everyone who came in contact with it came to grief. This was the mummy of a queen, and o-ven one of my dear friends, a journalist, who investigated the misfortunes that befell those who handled the mummy, was himself stricken with typhoid fever and died. The eon of ae friend of mine, Sir William Ingram, found Ihe mummy while hunting in Somaliland. Inscribed on the mummy’s breast were the _ words; ‘ May the person who unwraps me die rapidly and may his bones lio unburied.’ This young man was drowned r. few days later in a watercourse, and his body was never found. POUNDED MUMMY AS MEDICINE. Another theory put forward was that poison may have been secreted in Tutankhamen’s tomb, and that Lord Carnarvon had received his Tr-tal- disease from this. Iho Westminster Gazette remarks with regard to this theory: “No poisons have ever yet been found in an Egyptian tomb; and tho pro r liability of their secretion in or about a mummy is discounted by the rather unpleasant recollection that mediaeval medicine recognised pounded mummy as a curative substance, and employed it with no evil effects. The theory that the ‘Kn,’ or spirit of a dead Pharaoh; hovers restlessly about to protect from indignity the body on which it depends for its ultimate admission to whatever was the paradise of the Egyptians demands still less consideration. There were tomb-robbers in Egypt probably before Tutankhamen was born, arid their activities are never likely to cease so long as tho tombs contain anything of value; but no 'Ka ’ seems to have been able to interfere with their activities or to cause them any serious discomfort.” NOT SUPERSTITIOUS. On receipt of the news of the ill-health of Mr Howard Carter, who has long been engaged in research work of great interest in Egyptologists, and who was Lord Carnarvon’s right-hand coadjutor, Sir Rider Haggard hoped that it Would not give a fillip to superstitious belief.' Sir Rider is ft determined opponent of those who profess to sec in tho death of Lord Carnarvon tho workings of some malignant influence. ” If,” he has said. ’’ men are to be at tho mercy of elementals or evil powers of an undefined nature, their lot is indeed wretched. Life would be one long terror. Man lias enough to contend with, enough miseries to face and overcome, without being the victim of all sorts of ghosts «nd goblins, who, if they take offence for this cause or that, can bring death, disease, or disaster upon him. If we suppose that the opener of the tomb of Tutankhamen was a victim of the work of such a creature, it would be nothing less than a disaster lo mankind. For what can happen in one case can happen in all. It is for this, reason that I say that the promulgation of ideas of this nature is most dangerous. They work upon" a certain class of mind, and, perhaps, produce the very evils they prophesy.” HE —KMISTICE DAY PHOTOGRAPH. According to a New York correspondent, tense scenes occurred at Sir A. Conan Doyle’s lecture when he showed what ho claimed to be “ the greatest spirit photographs ever taken.” Those were taken at the Cenotaph in Whitehall during the “Great Silence ” on Armistice Day. When they were thrown on the screen faces, in such a mass as to resemble a cloud hank, were seen above the hared heads of the crowd. These •faces. Sir Arthur declared, were the spirits of dead soldiers which had returned to participate in that solemn ceremony. Women in the audience sobbed. One of them shrieked out: " Oh! don't you see them ? The spirits! The Spirits!” „ Many others showed strong emotional excitement. IMPRESSED EVEN SCOFFERS. The New York Times states that the pictures pere “ so eerie, so weird, so supernatural, that they impressed even scoffers.” It was explained that the pictures were taken by Mrs Dean, an English medium, but that a group of mediums had been placed in the crowd to attract the psychic forces, and the camera was focussed just above their heads. The first picture, a photographic snapshot, showed _in tho foreground a small blur, which Sir Arthur said was the psychic forces gathering strength. A second photograph taken with a two minutes’ time exposure showed tho foreground almost obscured by “ectoplasmatic” matter. The crowds bent in prayer were, however, visible in the background, while a cloud above was studded with a great number of heads of men with grim, strained expressions, some of them faint, some marked out distinctly. Only the heads appeared. Sir Arthur claims that the nlates were developed under conditions which’raade fraud impossible. There are widespread differences as to the genuineness of these cenotaph photographs. Sir Arthur promises to show some further spirit pictures oven more startling. Believers who saw the Cenotaph photographs say that the heads above the crowd might well be those of soldiers just passing through death, because of their grim, determined appearance as of men going through a new ordeal. MRS LYTTELTON A MEDIUM. Under the pseudonym of “Mrs King,” the Hon. Mrs Alfred Lyttelton has been acting, as a medium for spiritualist messages. This fact is disclosed by -tho Society for Psychical Research. Mrs Lyttelton adopted this assumed name after the death of her husband, the eminent statesman and athlete, in 1913, when she began to get into touch with the other world, and received “script” messages from him. Mrs Lyttelton, on the disclosure of tho identity of Mrs King, said: “I much prefer to keep silent. It is true, as the Proceedings of the society, which have Just been issued, stated, that I have been known as ‘Mrs King,’ So many charlatans and impostors claim to be occupied with psychical research that I was asked by tho society to disclose my identity. This I did, never thinking it would bring such a large number of letters and massages from all parts of the country, as the disclosure has done. It was after tho death of her husband that Mrs Lyttelton began to get “impressions,” and she was encouraged by Mr Gerald Balfour to persevere with her "script,” which is mostly cryptic in character. She would not talk of this or kindred subjects, and remarked: "I must leave the matter as outlined in the Proceedings, having my own particular views upon the subject. I must go on with mv work and carry on my mission." “Mrs King” is said to have read in script in 1013 messages foretelling tho war. One of these messages read: “There is only ono thing—lest wo forget—the drums and fifes. A bog of stars. In Ireland there is bloodshed under the moon. ’