CHAPTER TEN

 

SPEAKING IN MANY TONGUES

 

I have often been asked about speech in the spirit world. Is there one common language, or is there a Babel of all the tongues we know on earth? This is a difficult question, one which nobody can claim to answer with certainty. There is a strong school of thought which believes that there is no language, since none is necessary. This argument is based on the fact that thought is fundamental and common to both worlds. Speech, on the other hand, is essentially physical, while language is no more than a man-made device for transmitting thought through speech. It is therefore only in the physical realm that thought has to be translated into phonetic sounds. In the spirit world, a thought has only to be projected by one denizen to be perfectly understood by another.

 

I accept this as an interesting theory, but I believe it to be only partially correct. It is certainly true of advanced souls who have been in the spirit worlds for eons of time because, during their early essays at trance communications and the direct voice, there is ample evidence to show they have lost their facility for words. Red Cloud has told us that he faced this problem when he returned to earth as a spiritual teacher. Through lack of use he had become unaccustomed to the slow and ponderous practice of speech. When he first spoke through me, his words were halted and stilted, the English of the foreign classroom. But he quickly improved so that now he is capable of expressive and eloquent language or, when he is in jocular mood, the colloquial idiom of the present day.       

 

Yet he still retains certain characteristic pronunciations - "spurrit" for "spirit" is a notable example - which serve only to endear him more firmly in the hearts of his listeners.

 

It is in its application to more recent newcomers to spirit life that I do not agree with the theory that no language is spoken by them. I do not believe that those who have recently passed over immediately have the faculty of thought communication. I believe they continue to speak the language of their mother-tongue for a very long time after their passing, a view supported by the ease with which they revert to their native language when they communicate with their friends.

 

Through direct voice communications I have been instrumental in transmitting messages in a score of languages of which I have not the least knowledge, either as to the meaning of the words spoken, or of their pronunciation. When I demonstrate clairaudience I am able to repeat words I hear spoken in foreign languages that are completely unknown to me. In the early days of my psychic career, these foreign sound that sounds eluded me. They reached my ear, jumbled and incomprehensible. Try as I would, I could not separate them or reproduce them in any recognizable form.

 

A typical example occurred many years ago in Holland when at the request of Estelle Stead, the daughter of W. T. Stead, the famous journalist and spiritualist who ended his earthly life in the Titanic, I gave a demonstration of clairvoyance in The Hague. It was beyond my capacity to repeat the strange Dutch sounds spoken by the spirit communicators, and so for my benefit the messages had to be translated into English by a spirit interpreter. I then repeated them aloud in English and, because few of the audience understood the English language, the messages were translated back into Dutch by an interpreter standing by my side on the platform. All this sounds, and was, a very roundabout performance, but it was necessary because at that time there was no alternative method.

 

Given a similar situation today, however, I should manage very much better. From experience my ear has become better attuned to picking up the sounds of a foreign language, and my tongue is more practiced in reproducing them. Even so, it is still not easy, and it is a very laborious process since each word has to be spoken slowly and every syllable carefully enunciated.

 

A trance communication that remains clearly in my mind took place in the middle thirties when I was visited by Chief Oske-non­

Ton, a Mohawk Indian, who was delighted to converse in his own language with Red Cloud. He had come to London for the stage production of Hiawatha in which he played the part of a medicine man and, according to his own account, he was spirit controlled throughout his performance. He claimed that his face changed completely and assumed the tired and wrinkled features of a man of ninety.

 

A memorable séance because of the variety of languages it produced took place in 1937. The International Spiritualist Federation was holding a congress in London. With Red Cloud’s approval, Hannen Swaffer invited some of the overseas delegates to a direct voice sitting at my center.

 

Among those present was Mrs. Helmi Krohn of Finland who afterwards published an account of her moving experience. She wrote: “A spirit voice clearly called my name – Helmi. I replied in Finnish, `Is that Mother?’ Back came the reply in the same language, `Yes, it is your mother.’ I then asked if my father was with her and she replied that he was. I could hear every word quite clearly. It was the first time I could recall listening to my dear mother’s voice, for I was a small child when she passed over.”

 

In view of the fact that Mrs. Krohn had no recollection of her mother’s voice, it may seem that her claim to have identified her spirit visitor was impetuous. Perhaps it was, but it does not alter the fact that somebody spoke to her in Finnish, and that the only person in the room with any knowledge of that language was Mrs. Krohn herself.

 

Mr. T. Biginelli of Switzerland was another of the delegates to receive a spirit communication which made a deep impression on him. He was addressed by his daughter, who spoke to him in clear, ringing tones. After the sitting, he confessed: “It was really wonderful. Not only were they the words of my little girl, but it was also her voice.” The child told her father that he had brought her photograph and that it was in his pocket. At the end of the sitting he passed it around for us to see.

 

Mrs. Edith Hammerstrom testified that she was addressed by a spirit voice which, after giving his name, spoke to her in Swedish. A message came in Dutch from Dr. Goedhart who, before his passing, had represented Holland at former international gatherings. Mrs. Helene Fry was addressed in French by her sister in the spirit world. Described in a letter what happened, Mrs. Fry wrote: “I had the extreme joy of hearing my twenty-eight-year-old sister, Marguerite, who passed in childbirth in 1917, talking to me in the direct voice. Though I could not catch every word she said, I clearly heard her answer my questions about her baby. `My child is by my side,’ she told me.”

 

Another communicator that night was Sadie Perkins, a colored girl, who returned to speak to her sister, Mamie, the Chicago delegate to the congress. There was no mistaking the distinctive dialect as the two girls, one living and the other “dead,” freely discussed their friends and relatives. Of the two, Sadie was the more excited. “It is too good to be true,” she bubbled with pleasure. “I am talking in my own voice.”

 

The last to communicate at this séance of the nations was the author, Louis M. Nesbitt, who spoke at length to his friend Eva Barrett from Rome. He told her an involved story concerning two mutual Italian acquaintances finishing with the words, “What a story for the Standard!” This we took to refer to the London Evening Standard which was serializing his book, Desert and Forest at the time of his fatal crash in an aeroplane.

 

This unique séance ended with Red Cloud pronouncing this benediction. “If I have made some of you happy, then I am happy. Love God, serve your fellow-men, and may the power of the Great White Spirit ever teach you the truth of man’s immortality.”

 

I was the medium at an extraordinary sitting which combined the direct voice and spirit writing, in a language of which I have no knowledge. My sitter was Mr. E. S. De Jonge of Holland, who was addressed by the spirit voice of his brother in perfect Dutch. Mr. De Jonge volunteered that the voice spoke in excellent, idiomatic Dutch without any trace of accent, as would be expected of his brother. This sitting was one a series. It is best described in the account which Mr. De Jonge supplied:

 

“At the first sitting we had with Mrs. Estelle Roberts, Red Cloud told us my brother was present and established his identity by submitting evidential details. At subsequent sittings, my brother was always present and communicated with us through Red Cloud. The notable point is that not once during these sittings was his name ever mentioned, either by Red Cloud or by us. The question of his name was never raised, other evidence having been more than sufficient.

 

“On the morning of January 30, we again had a sitting. Towards the close Red Cloud told us there was a direct voice séance to be held the same evening. He invited us to attend. We were very keen to do so, especially when Red Cloud promised that my brother would try to speak to us by direct voice. We said that we hoped he would this time give his name, as it would be the easiest and quickest way of establishing his identity, it never having been mentioned before.

 

“The séance was held in a small room in complete darkness. Mrs. Roberts was the medium and a Mrs. Treloar presided. Besides ourselves there were seven other people present. As soon as all were seated, our hands were linked up, so that no hand was free.

 

“After a few moments, the voice of Red Cloud was heard, loudly and clearly greeting his visitors. Spirit voices were soon heard making their identities known and speaking to their friends in our midst. Then Red Cloud announced that a young man, who had no previous experience, would try to come through.

 

“After some noises, which to us sounded very much like breathing exercises, a voice very slowly and deliberately spoke the following: `ik—zal—het—niet—kunnen-doen’ (`I shall not be able to do it’). These words were repeated two or three times and it should be remarked that, although we could not recognize the voice, to us the Dutch was pronounced perfectly clearly and without the slightest accent. In one word, nobody but a born Dutchmen could possible have repeated them, especially the ‘i’ in ‘ik,’ the `z’ in `zal,’ the `h’ in `het,’ and the `oe’ in `doen’ without a trace of fault.

 

“Despite this, it was obvious that the communicator was very excited and found considerable difficulty in speaking. This was soon confirmed by Red Cloud, who told us that another experiment was about to be tried. He then requested a Mr. Buckingham to leave the circle, after linking up the hands of his neighbors. Mr. Buckingham was then instructed to place on the floor, outside the circle, a blackboard which was hanging on the wall of the room and which, we were afterwards assured, had hung unused on the wall for as along as anyone present could remember.

 

“When Mr. Buckingham had resumed his seat in the circle, linking up hands as before, Red Cloud announced that he had placed the right foot of the medium on that of the sitter to her right, where it must remain throughout the séance. After a few moments’ silence the sound of scratching came from the direction of the blackboard and we knew that some spirit was busy with the chalk. Then more spirits came to communicate with their friends, and our attention was distracted from the sounds of writing. Then, interrupting a conversation that was going on between a spirit wife talking to her husband in our circle, came the sound of something brittle being dropped to the floor. I thought I recognized it as the sound of a stick of chalk falling and breaking. The spirit wife heard it, too, and broke off what she had been saying to tell us excitedly that the young man who had come for the Dutch gentlemen had been writing a message. She was very excited about it.

 

“At the close of the séance, when the medium, who had been in trance, had recovered consciousness, the lights were switched on. We saw that a message had been written in Dutch on the blackboard. The two halves of a stick of chalk were lying on the blackboard, evidently broken in falling.

 

“The message read:

 

‘Mijn Vader Broeder Ikben heir

Ik vond het zeer moeielijk (te) spreek (en) Mijn les is moeielijker dan de uwe Ik kon de deur neit open doen Ik moet een Brief Schrijven Ik zal morgen avond aan U (denken?) Wiltt U mij helpen

Om het te doen Schrift

Ap.’

 

Translation:

 

`My Father Brother I am here

I found it very difficult (to) speak

My lesson is more difficult than yours I could not open the door I must Write a Letter I shall (think?) of you tomorrow night Will you help me

to do it

Writing

Ap.’

 

“With regard to the conditions under which this direct writing was achieved it is important to note the following: (1) The sitting was held in total darkness. (2) The medium was controlled as to her movements throughout by the contact of her foot on that of her neighbor. (3) All members of the circle were linked by their hands. (4) The door was locked. (5) The blackboard was on the floor and the writing was done with chalk, neatly and clearly, with accurate space between most of the words, on straight lines and correct dotting all through.

 

“With regard to the message itself, the following should be noted:

 

“(1) The words between brackets were not actually written. They must have been

omitted in the rush of writing under such conditions.

 

“(2) The capitals of Brief and Schrijven are superfluous and I would ascribe them to

the same reasons as above.

 

“(3) Only the words `heir’ and `neit’ are spelled wrongly. The e and i have changed

places, which is a common mistake in Dutch and one my brother often made

when writing in a hurry. At first sight I also thought that the words `moeielijk’ and

‘moeielijker’ (the latter is the comparative of the former) were wrongly spelled. I

was under the impression that the second `e’ was superfluous, although when

spoken this letter is actually pronounced. However, on looking it up in a

dictionary, I found that it is equally correct to write `moeielijk’ or `moeilijk.’ The

letters`ij’ were rendered on the blackboard as the letter `y’ with a dot over it. This

is correct Dutch and only in the Dutch language is this letter ever dotted.

 

(4) The three first words of the sixth line were not well spaced, which I again would ascribe to the sense of urgency under which the message was written. Likewise, there was a growing largeness in the size of the last lines, probably due to waning power and loss of control.

 

“With regard to the writing itself, the character is not Dutch. It strikes us rather as English and is not my brother’s at all. This might be explained by the fact that the actual act of writing was not done by my brother alone, but with the help of a more experienced spirit, just as a small child writes its first letters with the help of one of its parents. In our opinion, however, this is a small point compared with the rest of the evidence.

 

The signature is undeniable. My brother’s name was Albert, which the family shortened to Ap, which is not the customary Dutch abbreviation for the name. Furthermore, as I have already pointed out, this was the first and only time his name was ever mentioned throughout the whole series of sittings. Further comment is surely unnecessary.”

 

Another instance of the ease with which mediumship overcomes the problems of language occurred a few years ago when I gave a sitting to an Indian visitor named Dass. Within a few minutes, his wife manifested to me, speaking in Hindustani. A soon as I heard her speak, I decided to ask the assistance of a spirit interpreter because for me to have relayed the unfamiliar sounds of this language would have made communication extremely slow and difficult. I asked Red Cloud for help. He agreed, but insisted that the wife must first give the essential evidence of identification to the husband in her own language. This she did by slowly enunciating several Hindustani words and names which, to the best of my ability, I repeated to the husband. Mr. Dass readily acknowledged his understanding of them and their significance to him.

 

Then, Red Cloud interpreting, the wife spoke of her three sons on earth. She gave me the letter `B,’ which Mr. Dass said was the initial of their eldest son’s name, and she told me the boy’s birthday, July 13th. She then spoke of Mr. Dass’ concern for the welfare of their second son, who was touring in the U.S.A. Mr. Dass confirmed he had been worried about the boy’s well-being.

 

The wife next mentioned some unspecific object in her husband’s pocket which he took to refer to a photograph he was carrying. But in this he was at fault. Later in the sitting the wife spoke of the object again, saying it was something she had worn. I asked Red Cloud for more specific information, and as I did so the wife interrupted with the single word “ainak.” I repeated the word and immediately Mr. Dass took from his pocket a pair of spectacles. Apparently “ainak” is Hindustani for spectacles. Smiling, he explained that his wife had just reminded him of something he had forgotten, that after her death he had had his own lenses fitted to the frames of her spectacles.