CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
SÉANCE HELD IN A GARDEN

We had now reached the stage where all our sittings were held in red light, so that sitters and medium I could see one another. We had to avoid the light shining directly on my wife.

The first sitting, held under this new condition, for a woman and her friend, surpassed all expectations. We anticipated some difficulty for new spirit communicators to master the conditions. We would not have been disappointed had they failed, for we realised how hard it was to have the direct voice under any conditions. It was, therefore, with much pleasure that we heard the woman’s husband speak loudly and clearly. He spoke to his wife for ninety minutes without a break, discussing everything relating to her daily routine.

I suggested I might try an experiment. I told him that I was astounded by his success, having regard to ‘the fact that he was, apart from our controls, the first to communicate under the new conditions. Would he try to speak if I in-creased the intensity of light? I had a rheostat attached to the light, controlled from the table on which I made my notes. I was using a sixty-watt lamp.

The spirit speaker said, “Carry on.” As he engaged in conversation with his wife, I gradually increased the light until it reached maximum intensity. Never once did the spirit voice falter. When I told him the light was at its fullest, he replied, “Well, sir, you can’t fade me out,” much to our amusement. When the light was full on, everything in the room was plainly visible.

We have heard spirit voices in all kinds of places and in daylight, white, red and subdued light. Sometimes we have been amused, but there have been embarrassing happenings. There was the occasion when my wife and I went to a cinema. We sat in the front row of the balcony. A variety act was featuring “Bonnie Prince Charlie and Flora Macdonald.”

As the artists were singing, Flora put in appearance. “Och, this is great,” she said. “A wee bit o’ Scotch.” My wife and I looked at one another in surprise, wondering whether the people in the adjoining seats had heard. Our embarrassment was increased when Flora joined the artists in singing Bonnie Mary of Argyle. The people around us heard all right, for they commented on there being someone Scottish in the front seats.

On another occasion when we went to see Cavalcade, Belle called to me to sing up when some of the war songs were being played. “You know them,” she said. I politely told her to be quiet, but laughingly she urged me to sing.

One afternoon my wife and I, going through a West End store, stopped to admire a display of Catholic ornaments and statues. “The Light of the World” took our fancy. It was a beautiful piece of work, and we thought how well it would look on the little altar in our séance room.

Just as I said that we could not afford to have it, Belle, whose voice sounded above our heads, chimed in: “Ask the man what it costs. Go on. It is pretty.” I called the assistant and asked the price of the figure. He told me, but before I had time to reply, Belle exclaimed: “Get it. It will be home tomorrow.” The assistant looked at me and I at him. At that moment, Belle again called out, “Get it.” As her voice appeared to come well above our heads, I had to conceal my amusement when the assistant looked in that direction. To save further embarrassment and explanations, I hurriedly gave orders for the figure to be sent to our home address.

When we walked away from the counter I glanced round. I noticed the assistant’s bewildered expression. I venture to suggest that never before or since bad he heard an order given by a spirit entity. Probably he thought it was some kind of ventriloquism. As we were going down the main staircase, Belle, in a bantering tone, repeated: “We’ve got it. It will be home tomorrow.” In order not to attract the attention of people, I asked Belle to keep quiet.

We have heard spirit voices under all kinds of conditions and circumstances. There are three outstanding events which I propose to record. Here is one of them described by Mr. J. Curr:

“I heard thirty spirit voices, all of them speaking in white light. We had met in the house of a friend, eight of us, to have a social evening. Mr. Perriman was playing the piano and we were all singing, when suddenly a male voice was heard saying, ‘Hello,’ from the vicinity of the door. We greeted the voice, which was followed by others, until each member of the company spoke to ‘dead’ friends.

“The climax was reached when a voice said, ‘I am so glad to get through,’ and gave a message for his wife. This man had been one of the ushers at the Aeolian Hall experiment. He passed on four months afterwards. Every spirit spoke to us in light. There were two lamps, one a hundred-watt and the other sixty-watt. All the voices were identified by people in the room as belonging to ‘dead’ relatives or friends.

“The voices ranged in intensity, some so loud that they could be heard above the singing, while others spoke in modulated whispers. On one occasion, while I was talking to Mrs. Perriman and she was replying, I heard a spirit voice speaking at the same time as she did, but from a point that seemed to be six inches behind her neck. One communicator spoke in Polish and was recognised by a sitter as his mother.

“I watched Mrs. Perriman when the spirit voices spoke to us, but there was no visible contact with the medium. If they used her larynx, how was she able to speak at the same time? The impromptu séance lasted for nearly two hours and a half, with spirit voices coming and going during that time. Some of the conversations were so intimate that I cannot possibly record them. It was touching to witness the reunions between families who had lost the physical presence of their loved ones.”

Another outstanding happening occurred when we were visiting friends in the country and it was casually suggested we should have a sitting that evening. We agreed to try the experiment in the garden.

When it was dusk, with our three friends, we went to the bottom of the garden. We took rugs, as it was chilly. An umbrella was fixed to keep out, as much as possible, lights from passing traffic. Before long it was found that too much light was being reflected from the headlights of cars and from neighbours’ windows, so we moved to a more shaded spot. Even then there was some light, but the séance went on.

We noticed that the medium appeared to be covered with some luminous substance. We could see her quite clearly in spite of the gloom. The voices spoke apparently from the air, Belle being the first. Then came the father of one sitter. He gave very good evidence, mentioning family names and telling of incidents which were at once recognised.

There was remarkable evidence for a woman sitter. A child’s voice gave its name, but the sitter did not recognise it. Eventually, as the child went on talking, the sitter realised that she was talking to the “dead” daughter of a great friend. The conversation was a surprise to her, especially in view of the fact that she had never before experienced anything of this nature.

Then came the Rev. Dr. Coulthard. He gave a lengthy address, and spoke to his son. My wife had a talk with her brother who was killed at Zeebrugge, and I had a short talk with my mother.

The séance was remarkable, having regard to the close proximity of the garden to a main London road with its continual stream of motor traffic. During the séance, psychic lights flitted around our feet.

The other outstanding happening occurred one New Year’s Eve when we had a friend visiting us for the evening. We had promised another friend that we would telephone just after midnight with our New Year’s wish. The three of us were in the room when I put through the call. We did not bother to switch on the electric light. As I was talking over the telephone, Belle called out, “A Happy New Year, Mrs. S—.” I held the receiver to my ear.

“Why, that’s Belle!” said our friend. “A Happy New Year to you. It’s wonderful to hear you speak over the phone.”

Belle then sent her love to the woman’s husband, son and daughter.

After Belle had completed her greetings, a masculine voice announced itself as Victor. He spoke for some time to the same woman at the other end of the line some miles away. He mentioned various family names and then repeated a motto, “Black as the raven’s wings.” Another voice said it was that of Alan, and he also sent New Year greetings and mentioned names.