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CHAPTER XX -
THE DEAD ALIVE
THE moon shone brightly the next evening, and
everything out of doors favored a good circle.
The air was clear and cool; every undulation
of the mountain crests came out sharply against the
sapphire sky in the glorious light; the little stream in the
distance threaded the meadows, like silver set in emeralds;
and, far up the valley, a brilliant aurora-borealis
shot its trembling spears of ruddy gold to the zenith,
from behind the mountain barrier that shut in the horizon.
A more peaceful scene I never viewed, and I turned from
it with deep sadness to enter the gloomy circle-room,
where, judging from what had been going on the few pre-
ceding nights, I had every reason to expect demonstrations
of ill-temper and antagonism on the part of both the family
and their spirit-guides.
Ten spirits appeared to us, among them a lady-a certain
Mrs. Fullmer, who had only died the Friday previous.
The relative to whom she came sat beside me, and was
dreadfully agitated at the thought that one whom she had
seen buried only a few days before, should so soon have
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"burst the cerements of the grave." Poor woman ! she
was as little in reality a believer in the immortality of the
soul, as most of her fellow church-members; who pour
their tears upon the coffin, instead of lifting the eyes of
their faith upward, to where the disembodied spirit hangs
lovingly over them.
Among the forms to appear, was a man with a long
black beard and dark complexion, wearing a turban, a
red jacket embroidered with black braid, and inside vest
of a flowered pattern, baggy trousers of dark blue or
black, a sash around his waist, made of a twisted shawl,
and black shoes. A person present, who had been coddled
into the belief that he should see Lord Byron at the
Eddys', asked the spirit if he were not the great poet,
and was answered in the affirmative: the which circum-
stance made me recall a certain passage at Proverbs
xxvi, 5. The vanity, ignorance, and credulity of mortal
spiritualists has been the cause of what Mr. Bagenal Daly
would call " a mighty sight of illigant lying," on the
part of the spirits. It so consoles your costermonger to
think he can "chaff " the shade of Charlemagne !
This spirit (who, I may mention in passing, reappeared at my mental request
after he had retired,) had hardly been gone an instant, when there came a
light-complexioned, white-haired old man, a Mr. Jonathan Bartlett,
taller than the diakka "Lord Byron," and dressed through-
out in an American costume. He must have been waiting
for his predecessor to retire, for he almost passed him
at the door; and the circumstance was noted in my book
as another proof in favor of the apparitions being some,
thing else than personations by the medium.
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"Michalko " visited us again the next evening, and
spoke to Mme. de Blavatsky in the Georgian tongue;
and, after two or three more forms had shown themselves,
I saw one of the most singular creatures that ever excited
the wonder of a "circle." He was a tall, spare negro,
black as ink, and dressed in a curious costume, two
features of which were very conspicuous. Upon his
woolly head he had a coiffure, that would make a sensation
on Broadway. I could see an ornamented fillet, or
band, and on top of his head four horns with bent tips,
something like those of the chamois or some varieties of
African antelope, such as the oryx. The points of the
two in front were turned backward, and those of the two
in rear, forward, while a brass or gilt ball hung suspended
from each tip.
Mme. de Blavatsky did not recognize him at first,
but he stepped forward a pace or two, and she then saw
before her the chief of a party of African jugglers whom
she encountered once in Upper Egypt, at a celebration
of the feast of "The Ramazan." The magical performances
of his party upon that occasion, make one
of the most incredible stories in the history of either
Magic or Spiritualism, and one feat deserves place in
such a book of weird experiences as this. Madame says
that, in full sight of a multitude, comprising several hundred
Europeans and many thousand Egyptians and Africans,
the juggler came out on a bare space of ground,
leading a small boy, stark-naked, by the hand, and carrying
a huge roll of tape that might be twelve or eighteen inches wide.
After certain ceremonies, he whirled the roll about
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his head several times, and then flung it straight up into
the air. Instead of falling back to earth after it had
ascended a short distance, it kept on upward, unwind-
ing and unwinding interminably from the stick, until it
grew to be a mere speck, and finally passed out of sight.
The juggler drove the pointed end of the stick into the
ground, and then beckoned the boy to approach. Pointing
upward, and talking in a strange jargon, he seemed
to be ordering the little fellow to ascend the self-suspended
tape, which by this time stood straight and stiff, as if it
were a board whose end rested against some solid support
up in mid-air. The boy bowed compliance, and
began climbing, using his hands and feet as little "AllRight"
does when climbing Satsuma's balance-pole. The boy went
higher and higher until he, too, seemed to pass into the clouds
and disappear.
The juggler waited five or ten minutes, and then,
pretending to be impatient, shouted up to his assistant as
if to order him down. No answer was heard, and no boy
appeared ; so, finally, as if carried away with rage, the
juggler thrust a naked sword into his breech-clout (the
only garment upon his person), and climbed after the
boy. Up and up and up, hand over hand, and step by
step, he ascended, until the straining eyes of the multitude
saw him no more. There was a moment's pause,
and then a wild shriek came down from the sky, and a
bleeding arm, as if freshly cut from the boy's body, fell
with a horrid thud upon the ground. Then came another,
then the two legs, one after the other, then the dismembered
trunk, and, last of all, the ghastly head, every part streaming
with gore and covering the ground.
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A second lad now stepped forward, and, gathering
the mutilated fragments of his comrade into a heap,
threw a dirty cloth over them and retired. Presently
the juggler was seen descending as slowly and cautiously
as he had ascended. He reached the ground at
last, with his naked sword all dripping with blood.
Paying no attention to the remains of his supposed
victim, he went to rewinding his tape upon his stick,
his audience meanwhile breaking out into cries of
impatience and execration. When the tape was all
rewound, he wiped his sword, and then, deliberately
stepping to the bloody heap, lifted off the ragged quilt,
and up rose the little tape-climber as hearty as ever, and
bowed and smiled upon the amazed throng as though
dismemberment were an after-breakfast pastime to
which he had been accustomed from infancy.
I have seen it stated in the papers that the late
William H. Seward, ex-Secretary of State, witnessed a
similar feat in India, while on his tour around the
world. He saw a man climb a bare pole sixty feet
high, standing in open air, and when he reached the
top he mysteriously disappeared. After a while his
feet reappeared, then his legs and body, and then he
came down. It is a great pity that some of our enterprising
publishers could not induce Mme. de Blavatsky
to write out her memoirs, for they abound in such
marvels as these. And, be it remembered, the great
negro whom I saw at Chittenden was the chief of the
very party who performed the marvel of diablerie in Egypt.
But, whoever he was, or wherever he hails from, is it
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possible that William Eddy could get himself up, in
his two-by-seven feet, pitch-dark cabinet, to look like
this strange creature, without lamp, paint, looking-glass,
soap, or water, and only a small black fringed shawl and
piece of plaid horse-blanket, taken from serving their
purpose as curtains, to be used as costume ?
There are curious stories afloat in Egypt about the
powers
of the chiefs of this horned juggler's tribe, one
of which, recited
to me by Madame de B-, is well worth
preserving, as a match
to the Grecian mythological fable of Europa.
One of them had the reputation of being the
greatest sorcerer ever known in that country. By
conjurations he could evoke the shape of any person
he chose, and make it do his bidding. He was aided
by demons, or evil spirits of mighty power, who came
and went at his beck and call, as unquestioningly as the
genii of the ring and lamp did for the audacious Aladdin.
One day he strolled into the village of Mis-Massia,
near the river Nile; and, going from house to house,
offered his services to do any little odd job of diablerie
that might be required. In Mis-Massia was a pretty
maiden, named Esma, who had been abandoned by her
sweetheart, Zanoni-Bey, and who asked the conjurer
if he could not force the faithless one back to her feet.
He said he could, if she could only procure for him a
lock of Zanoni's hair, be it never so small a one. Not
being able to approach the renegade herself, she sent
her little brother, a lad about twelve years of age, on
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the difficult mission. But he, finding his efforts likely,
to prove unsuccessful, stepped into a butcher's yard,
and cut some hairs from the tail of a black bull that
was waiting his turn to be slaughtered, and brought
them to his sister, as taken from Zanoni's head. The
deception was rendered possible from the fact that the
lover's hair was very coarse and black, as much Arab hair is.
Esma, with fear and trembling, delivered the lock to
the magician, who began his mystic rites in her presence;
thus, at least, showing us that he was no genuine
clairvoyant, since he did not discover the cheat. He
made his passes and genuflections, sprinkled his powders,
and muttered his Arabic charms, until the subservient
powers of darkness manifested their presence by
shaking the house to its foundations, and the air seemed
full of strange and fearful whisperings. After a few
more passes, the sorcerer exclaimed the talismanic
words which signify that the spell is formed, and
handing the lock of hair to the affrighted girl, received
his fee, and departed.
Impatiently she waited for night to come, and restore
the truant Zanoni to her caresses. She decked herself
in her bravest attire, and watched the unprophetic
hours pass by, until the midnight call of the muezzin
from the neighboring mosque betokened the fateful
moment. Suddenly there was a noise like that of distant
thunder, the earth shook, the house-door flew open,
and there, upon the threshold, she beheld a tall, black
figure with horns. Taking it for the conjurer himself,
she overwhelmed him with reproaches for his perfidy,
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but in another moment the dark object disclosed itself
as the empty skin of a slaughtered bull, standing, erect
upon its hind legs. She shrieked in mortal fright, but
in vain; the monster, as if carried away with a mad
frenzy, precipitated itself upon her, and wrapped her
in an embrace of death. Her cries were heard and her
struggles witnessed by an old negro servant woman,
the only other tenant of the house, who stood awhile,
rooted to the floor with terror, and then fell in a dead swoon.
Upon recovering her senses, the morning light shone
dimly into the apartment, and there lay the poor Esma,
dead and cold, enveloped in the bull's hide. The sorcerer
had rehabilitated the spirit of the beast, and endowed it
with a mad affection for the love-lorn dam.
This story was told to Mme. de B by Elias
Effendi, a dignitary residing at Mis-Massia, who assured
her that it was generally believed throughout all that
section of country. The adventure occurred only about
a year before Mme. de B-'s visit, and the hide of
this African Europa's four-legged swain was exhibited
to her in attestation of the truth of the narrative.
Mr. Epes Sargent writes me from Boston, under date
of December 3rd, 1874, as follows:
" By the way, that curious story of the feat witnessed by Mme. de
Blavatsky, where the African juggler throws up a ladder or rope into
the sky, is paralleled in a story, which you may find in a record book
by George Lunt (Editor of the Boston Courier), giving reminiscences
of Newburyport, and other places in New England. He relates an
incident of the same kind (in some respects) as occurring somewhere
in these parts, many years ago."
I regret to say, that I have not been able to obtain
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access to Mr. Lunt's book in time to use the extract
referred to by Mr. Sargent. I cannot imagine how
such a thing could have occurred in this country, unless
some vagrant Egyptian or Hindoo magician might
have wandered this way.
In his voluminous work entitled "Des rapports de
l'Homme avec le Demon," (Paris Ed., 1863, Vol. I, p.
15,) M. Bizouard tells us, upon the authority of Cha-
bas' "Papyrus Magique Harris," that at the highest
antiquity, the arts of magic reached such a pass that
spirits manifested themselves in full form, bronze
statues were made to move and nod, living persons
were made out of menh (an unfamiliar word. Perhaps
it means an image of wax or clay, perhaps a plant.
The tiny mandragora demon, not larger than a small
doll, who attends upon the Egyptian sorcerers, is
formed out of a withered plant, at a certain hour of the
night, after certain incantations) ; and the bodies of living
persons were taken possession of by evil spirits,
who used them as habitations as long as they chose.
This obsession is identical with what prevailed in the
time of Christ, and the expulsion of these demons by
him, finds its prototype in the same power exercised,
according to these ancient Egyptian papyri, by the
good divinity Khans.
The ancient religion of Egypt, which was characterized
by magical practices, such as the one related by
Madame Blavatsky, fell into decay in the time of Caesar,
in consequence of the impoverishment of the country
by a succession of internal and external wars, and the
falling off in those revenues which had supported
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the priesthood and their temples. Salverte tells us (in
his "Sciences Occultes: ou Essai sur la Magic," Paris,
1856, 3d Ed., p. 165-6) that many priests of the inferior
orders, driven by necessity, betook themselves to Rome,
where, in the public squares, for money, they declared
prophecies, healed diseases, and evoked the apparitions
of the dead.
Modern Egyptians distinguish two kinds of Magic,
which they term Er-Roolhha'-nee and Es-Seelmiya: the
former is spiritual magic, which is believed to effect its
wonders by the agency of angels and genii, and by the
mysterious virtues of certain names of God, and other
supernatural means; the latter is natural and deceptive
magic; which, it is believed by the less credulous
among the Egyptians, finds its chief agents in certain
perfumes and drugs, which affect the vision and imagination.
(See Lane's " Modern Egyptians," z Vols.,
London, 1837; which forms part of the series known as
"The Library of Entertaining Knowledge.") The true
magic is divided into 'il wee (or high), and soofl'ee (or
low), the former being a science founded upon the
agency of God, of His angels, and good genii, and on
other lawful mysteries; to be always employed for good
purposes, and only attained and practiced by men of
probity, who by tradition, or from books, learn the
names of those superhuman agents, and invocations
which insure compliance with their desires. The
soof'lee, or bad magic, is believed to depend upon the
agency of the devil and evil spirits, and unbelieving
genii; and to be used for bad purposes, by bad men.
" To this branch," says our author, "belongs the science
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called, by the Arabs, es-Sehhr; which is a term they
give to wicked enchantment."
The tape and pole climbing tricks above narrated, as
well as the enchantment by which poor Esma was
deprived of life, in the suffocating embrace of the
bull's hide, would, of course, be ascribed to the latter
branch of the occult science. Perhaps, the wise men of
America might embrace all of William Eddy's apparitions
within the same category! This, however, would
not be the case in the land of the Pharaohs, for the
calling up of the dead is included in the mysteries
practised by the professors of il'wee. It appears to
make some difference what sort of spirits are evoked,
and for what purpose. The thousand and one stories
of Scheherezade are filled with descriptions of all these
kinds of magic, and the wonderful things done by the
exercise of the power of mortals over genii; who of
old were subject to the dominion of Solomon, and in
later times are the slaves of whomsoever may wear the
mystic ring, or rub the rusty lamp.
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