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CHAPTER VII -
A CHAPTER OF FEET AND INCHES
ASSUME it to be a fundamental principle that, in making scientific
researches, results must be self sufficient; requiring neither excuse nor
charity of construction, but carrying conviction in themselves. To deserve
admission into the field of science, they must, be arrived at under
circumstances that absolutely exclude the chance of error. They
must, moreover, be capable of re-production at any time, under
exactly the same circumstances, by any capable scientist, in any
part of the world. I admit, also, that in view of the multitudinous
liabilities to self-deception by trusting to the senses, their evidence
should be largely excluded. To think I see a body rise in opposition
to the law of gravity, as now understood, is to the student of
science no evidence that I did see the phenomenon. He says that it
is more reasonable to believe my eyesight at fault, or that, if I did
see the body rise, trickery was involved, than that the universal
law of gravity was disturbed in this particular instance. But if the
lifting of the weight can be indicated on an instrument, which
having, neither
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eyes nor psychological idiosyncrasies, cannot be deceived, then a
new fact is gained for science, and our whole domain of knowledge
has to be re-measured.
Applying these rules to my own case, in what attitude do I
stand towards the scientific world? The answer is readily given.
The collector of a few facts and observer of certain phenomena,
which others must classify and analyze: the gatherer of a few of the
pebbles on the strand ; gazing over the whole ocean that lies there,
inviting the keel of the bold and skillful navigator; but which I
cannot explore. As William Morton the common sailor, pushing
ahead of his companions, looked out upon the Open Polar Sea that
had been the dream of geographical science for ages, and, humble as
he was, pointed the way for all future Arctic explorers, so, I trust,
that in reporting what is to be seen at the Vermont House of
Wonders, this outpost upon the borders of the world known, and
gateway of the world unknown, I may at least lighten the labors of
those more learned and scientific than I, who are to come this way
with the clew of the labyrinth in their hands,
If I am so fortunate as to observe any one thin- so carefully that
it commands the thoughtful attention of one trained investigator,
and so ultimately leads to the discovery of an occult force, I should
be most thankful ; while if I should discover, or assist others to
prove the Eddy marvels to be nothing- but chicane, the public will
be the gainer and I shall deserve well of it.
I am led to make these remarks, by various criticisms and
suggestions received by me from sources worthy of respect. It is
proper that I should define my position
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beyond mistake, and declare that, if I misrepresent what I see,
hear, and feel, it will be through lack of trained powers of
observation, and the consequent deception of my senses, and no
other cause. Of course there is danger of this very thing, for I am
not capable of doing the work of the man of science, any more than
that of the dentist or cabinet-maker. But perhaps I am as competent
as the average of laymen, and so we will let it pass at that.
There were one or two pseudo-investigators at the Eddys' during
my visit, skipping in for a day or so, and skipping off again, ready
to avow that all of William's " materialized spirits" were William
in disguise, and all of Horatio's surprising manifestations, the easy
tricks of a traveling conjuror. If one tells them of babies being
carried in from the cabinet by women ; of young girls with lithe
forms, yellow hair, and short stature; of old women and men
standing in full sight and speaking to us ; of half-grown children
seen., two at a time, simultaneously with another form ; of
costumes of different makes; of bald beads, gray hair, black,
shocky heads of hair, curly hair; of -hosts instantly recognized by
friends and ghosts speaking audibly in a foreign language of which
the rnedium is ignorant-their equanimity is not disturbed for an
instant. One sound and sufficient rule is applied : exclude
everything troublesome, and explain away the rest as fraud. Let the
world wag as it will, they are omniscient and infallible; and, with
Sir Oracle, say :
" When I ope my mouth, let no (log bark."
The credulity of some scientific men, too, is bound
less-they would rather believe that a baby could lift a
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mountain without levers, than that a spirit could lift an
ounce. Alfred Wallace, of London, told a friend of mine that
if a new fact were presented to Tyndall he would smell it,
look at it, taste it, turn it over, handle it, bite it,-and then
wouldn't believe. This is an extreme illustration of scientific
skepticism, but after all it fairly illustrates the habit which,
properly moderated, protects the world from false teaching.
At the same time it must be admitted, that this spirit clogs
the wheels of Progress, and obliges discoverers to win their
just renown at the price of suffering and persecution. The
other day a visitor at the Eddys' offered to bet me $1,000 to
$100 that he could personate every one of the ghosts he saw
that night, with a few dollars' worth of stage properties, and
do every "trick" of Horatio's light circle after a day's
preparation. All I could say was, that in such case he need
not hunt for gold mines, for he had one in his head and fingers.
The phenomena publicly exhibited at the Eddy homestead
are of the following character: 1 The so-called materialization
of spirit-forms, which occur in a "circle-room" in the second
story of the a part of the house. 2. The showing of
materialized hands; the "ring test;" writing of names of
deceased persons upon cards, by detached hands; and
playing on instruments in the light; which usually happen in
a circle held at the conclusion of the materialization circle. 3.
The playing of musical instruments; voices; the sound of
heavy dancing; the moving of ponderous bodies; the
floating of musical instruments through the air; the noise of
struggles and sword combats between two
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combatants ; the flashing of phosphorescent lights; the touching an
patting of our persons by supposed spirit-hands; a concert of
musical instruments, numerous enough to require the aid of at least
four performers; solo-playing on the harmonicon, accordeon,
violin, flute, guitar, or concertina; the improvisation of rhymes by
a voice, upon a subject named by any person present; whistling;
the imitation of a storm at sea, with the whistling and roaring of
the gale, the force of waves, the sucking- pumps,&c., &c.-these in a
totally darkened room. All these forms of manifestation I have
seen, heard, or felt, and each many times.
My first problem was whether the manifestations were
produced with the help of confederates, and I will state the
physical conditions surrounding the performers. The room is, as I
observed, in a new extension, or L. Its windows are 13 feet 9 inches
from the ground. No ladder is owned on the premises. For the use
of carpenters engaged in making some small repairs, one was
borrowed in the neighborhood. There is but one door of entrance,
and this at the end of the room next to the main part of the house.
The room is 37 feet 6 inches long and 17 feet wide, with a ceiling 9
feet 2 inches high in the centre, and 6 feet 11 inches at the sides. At
the farther or west end is the kitchen chimney, 2 feet 7 inches by 3
feet 4 inches, in the centre of the gable. To the right of the chimney
is a closet of the same depth -- 2 feet 7 inches -and a length of 7 feet,
with a window in it, 2 feet 6 inches from the floor, and having a 2
feet 2 inch by 2 feet 3 inch opening. The door to the closet or
"cabinet" (for this is
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where the medium, William H. Eddy, sits) is 5 feet 9 7-8
inches high by 2 feet wide. The ceiling of the cabinet at the
chimney end is 7 feet 2 inches, and 5 feet at the other end,
where the roof slopes. Three sides of the closet are lath and
plaster; the fourth the solid brick wall of the chimney. There
are no panels to slide, no loose boards in the floor to lift.
Every inch is tight and solid. Outside the cabinet a platform
as long as the width of the room, and 6 feet 7 inches wide in
its widest part, is elevated 23 1-4 inches above the general
floor level. Along its outer edge runs a balustrade or
handrail, 2 feet 6 inches high, making the height from the
floor of the room to the top of the rail, 4 feet 5 1-4 inches.
The outside measurements of the L, correspond with those
of the circle-room.
For six months after the hall was built, there was no
window in the cabinet, but one evening during the
excessively hot weather of last July, the medium fainted
upon coming out of the stifling place, and the window was
cut through.
This window, in consequence of insinuations of its
possible use for the introduction of costumes and
confederates, I obtained permission to effectually seal up,
which I did by tacking a fine mosquito netting over the
frame outside, and sealing it with wax stamped with my signet.
This precaution made no difference in what occurred
inside. I examined the netting every day until I left the
place., about three weeks afterward, and found it just as I
left it, with the exception that one night a violent gale and
rain-storm made a slight rent, which I
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immediately repaired. Before this covering was put on, the
window was watched from the outside, during a seance,
and no confederacy was discovered.
The audience occupy the two benches and the chairs
shown on the diagram. The circles being held by night,
such feeble illumination as there is, comes from a kerosene
lamp placed at the south side of the room, at the point
indicated in the ground plan. My own post of observation
is also shown.
It will be remembered that beneath the circle-room are the
dining-room, a small kitchen, and smaller buttery, all of
which were illustrated in Chapter II. The ceilings of the
rooms beneath, are the old lathed and plastered ceilings that
have been there for many years. The new story was only
added last spring, before which time the circles were held in
a large sitting or reception room in the main house. The new
circle-room floor is supported on beams of 6 by 4 inch stuff
running across the L, and comprises two layers of boards;
one rough, laid with open joints, and the upper one of
planed, but not tongued and grooved, lumber. This is the
common fashion in this section of the country, as I
ascertained by examining a new house in course of
completion a short distance from the Eddy homestead,
There is no floor below the platform floor, but the outer
edge of the platform rests upon a stout timber, and its floor,
laid like the rest in two layers, is nailed to transverse ribs
framed into the crosstimber and the outside plate. By going
with a candle into the two little dark pantries opening out
from the kitchen and buttery respectively, the whole carpentry
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of the platform and cabinet can be easily seen. One of the cuts
gives a sectional view of the same.
I have made two careful examinations of this matter - once with
the artist, and once with a Massachusetts inventor, who was good
enough to give me the follow certificateing certificate:
CHITTENDON, Vt., September 26th, 1874-The undersigned, an
inventor of many years' experience, a mechanician, and the grantee
of twenty-three patents by the United States Government, hereby
certifies that, at the request of and in company with Mr. H. S. Olcott
he has thoroughly examined the walls, window, ceiling and floor of
William H. Eddy's "cabinet," and the floor of the platform upon
which it opens, and that there is no possible means by which
confederates could be introduced into the said cabinet, except through
the open door, in full face of the audience ; nor any place where
costumes or apparatus could be stowed. Furthermore, that after
witnessing numerous materializations by alleged spirits, he is perfectly
satisfied that the phenomena, whatever may be their origin, are not
produced by jugglery, the personation of characters by Win. H. Eddy,
or chemical or mechanical device. As to their being spiritual
appearances, he has not become perfectly satisfied, for his previously
entertained opinions as to a future state, have not been of a nature to
allow him to concede the possibility of visits by the inhabitants of
another world to this.
0. F. MORRILL, Chelsea, Mass.
A glance at the ground plan of the circle-room will show that,
not only can no one get to the medium, after he goes into the
cabinet, by entering the door of the circle-room, without detection,
but no one can leave the circle to assist. The light, although very
dim, is still quite sufficient to make the movements of every
person in the room visible.
Stress has been laid upon the fact that members of the Eddy
family, sit with the spectators and usually in the front row. But,
in the first place, there are times when neither of the family,
except William, is in the
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room; secondly, they as often sit behind the last bench as
on tile front one; and in the third place, it makes no
difference where they sit, for no one could move a foot
away from his place without being seen by every one else
in the room.
Over the circle-room there is nothing but an unfloored
cock-loft, in which a man cannot stand upright. Between the
braces, the lathing and plaster of the ceiling of the room
below are exposed to view, and there is no sign of trap or
opening. Moreover, when I examined the place, the old
cobwebs stretched from rafter to rafter, showed that no one
had preceded me that way, for a long time at least.
I now claim that I have demonstrated the inaccessibility
of the cabinet to evil-disposed persons, and so eliminated
one most important Source of deception. The question is
therefore narrowed down to the following point: Granted
that certain forms, apparently differing in sizes, colors,
costumes, sex, and age, present themselves on the platform,
they must be either, (1) deceptive personations by one man,
or (2) the manifestations of an occult force. There is no
escape from the syllogism. The battle must be fought out at
that cabinet door. I realized this the first day I came; I realize
it tenfold now. The weeks I spent there, were weeks of as
hard mental labor as I ever gave to any subject in my whole
life. I passed through every degree of incredulity and
distrust. I was ever on the watch lest I might miss some new
circumstance calculated to overturn my formed opinion, and
ever ready to confess myself a dupe of impostors if the fact could
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be demonstrated to me. But I finally reached the same point with
Mr. Morrill -that whatever might be thought of the cause of the
phenomena, they were not due to charlatanry or prestidigitation.
And yet better men than I have been deceived before, and how am
I better entitled than they to the public confidence, for the stories I
tell? Why should I expect sober-minded men and women to believe
there is no fraud in all this, until they have the same opportunities
as myself to see all and ponder on all? And how, especially, can I
ask men of exact science, trained to accept nothing, absolutely
nothing, without full and complete demonstration- mathematical
demonstration? I do not; and, therefore, my office is to first tell
my tale as clearly, succinctly, candidly as lies within my power,
and let it carry conviction as far as it will, in its perfect integrity
of statement.
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