BY THE REV. CHARLES L. TWEEDALE

I have read the account of the alleged “exposure” of Mrs. Wriedt published in the Frankfurter Zeitung, and referred to in Light of the ^7th inst., on p. 424, with feelings of indignation and contempt. The whole article is an ignorant farrago of nonsense, which would disgrace a schoolboy in the third form, not to mention a Professor. The attempt is made in this precious article in the Zeitung to insinuate that Mrs. Wriedt holds the trumpet in her hands and speaks through it, and that the percussive sounds are the result of a mixture of lycopodium and water. As to the latter suggestion, it wanted but this to reduce the article to absurdity and cover it with ridicule. Any schoolboy dabbling in his first chemistry knows that lycopodium has to be fired by a flame or spark before it will explode; and it is almost needless to say that this flame or spark, not to mention the flash of the explosion, would instantly betray the trick to the sitters. Another report has it that “sulphur” was found in the tube. This only makes the absurdity greater. The professor evidently set out to find a mare’s nest, and duly found one.

I have examined the trumpets, and so have my friends, some of them expert S.P.R. investigators, and found nothing that could in any wise account for the phenomena.

Now as to the implied suggestion that Mrs. Wriedt speaks through the trumpet herself. I have been present at four sittings. On one of these occasions I sat next to Mrs. Wriedt, and on another a friend of mine, one of the most experienced investigators connected with the Society for Psychical Research, sat next to her. At the commencement of each séance the trumpets are generally placed in the centre of the circle, and during the séance, and while the persons present are seated, these trumpets pass all round the circle in a manner in which it would be quite impossible for them to do were Mrs. Wriedt handling them, unless she rose from her seat. By means which I need not here disclose, my friend, on the occasion of his sitting, made absolutely sure of the fact that Mrs. Wriedt did not move from her chair, while on the occasion when I sat next to her I positively proved that she did not use the trumpet as a speaking tube. The “voice” was speaking through the trumpet to a person seated on the other side of the circle. The trumpet, judging by the sound, seemed to be horizontal, and at a height of about four feet from the ground. I noticed that the sound of the voice seemed to be coming out of both ends of the trumpet. I heard the voice speaking through the trumpet at the other side of the circle, and at the same time a hissing, or sound reflection, seemed to issue presumably from the small end of the trumpet, and come in the direction of Mrs Wriedt, who was sitting by my side. In fact, one might have thought, judging from this hissing sound, that the trumpet was being used by her in the manner the wretched article in the Frankfurter Zeitung insinuates. All this flashed across my mind in a moment, and I was quick to seize the opportunity afforded.

Tucking my cuff up my sleeve, so that the white should not betray my action, I stretched out my hand down nearly to the floor in front of Mrs. Wriedt; then I raised my arm steadily up in front of her face until it was higher than her head; then slowly brought it down again nearly to the ground. This I did four times, during the whole of which the loud voice was sounding through the trumpet on the other side of the circle, and the sibilant sound coming back in the direction of Mrs. Wriedt. Had she been holding the trumpet, and using it to produce the voice, I should by this action have knocked it out of her hands; but I am glad to be able to affirm that my arm encountered nothing as I passed it up and down before her face. This disposes once and for all of the fiction that at her dark Séances Mrs. Wriedt uses the trumpet as a speaking tube by placing it to her lips. Admiral Moore and others testify to the fact that, at séances held in the light, the voices come through the trumpet, under test conditions, when it is a considerable distance from the psychic. On one occasion the rim of the trumpet was placed upon my forehead with a delicacy and accuracy of touch that would have been impossible for anyone to affect in the dark. There was no fishing or bungling, but perfect precision. Others have had the trumpet placed accurately in response to mental requests.

During the whole of this séance, when I sat next to her, I listened intently for any signs of movement on Mrs. Wriedt’s part. She sat very still, and I did not hear that rustling of the clothing which almost invariably accompanies even the movement of the arms. I am positive of the fact that during the séance she did not rise from her chair. At its conclusion she got up to turn on the light. However as is justly remarked on page 248, the great value of Mrs. Wriedt’s mediumship lies in the personal evidence obtained by the sitters. Of this I obtained many instances which were absolutely conclusive. Details of the most private nature and of events which took place forty years ago in my own family, and which even my wife, who was present, did not know, were given, and private matters occurring seventeen years ago in my wife’s life, which I did not know, were related, with correct names and details, of which it was simply impossible for any other person present to be aware. These were given with a facility that was astonishing. Details concerning one of my parishioners, who had passed over about eight months previously, and whom I had found dead in her chair by her own fireside, were also related to us, some of them private matters only known to ourselves, and in a detail connected with the grave was given which I did not know, and thought was incorrect, but which, on inquiring from the sexton who made the grave, I found to be true. But the experiences of my friend, the investigator for the S. P. R., obtained as they were under test conditions, will probably rank among the most evidential of any obtained during this last visit of Mrs. Wriedt to England. For evidential purposes, and in the interests of Mrs. Wriedt’s mediumship, he was introduced unexpectedly at one séance under a name which was not his surname, and from events which afterwards occurred we have proof that his identity was unknown to any person present save ourselves. Immediately the séance began personal evidence of the most remarkable kind began to come for him, and which formed quite a feature of the sitting. Afterwards he gave me the information which enabled me to follow the evidence obtained. It was of the most striking and conclusive nature. He informed me that this was the first conclusive evidence of a personal nature that he had obtained during some twenty years of investigation, during which time he had had sittings with many noted psychics, had (and rightly so) exposed the tricks of fraudulent mediums, and had travelled thousands of miles for the purpose of investigation. None of the evidence which came for him was previously known to myself or my wife.

At these remarkable séances I witnessed many strange happenings of an evidential nature. Sometimes three voices were heard at once, and on one occasion a friend of ours had a voice whispering private details in her ear during the time that two other voices were talking through the trumpet. I also heard voices speaking volubly in Dutch and Italian, that in Italian being evidently that of a man, and quite beyond the power of Mrs. Wriedt to imitate. Mrs. Wriedt often was heard explaining or asking questions of the sitters, and the voice through the trumpet and her voice very often alternated rapidly, and were heard almost at the same instant, enabling one to compare differences of volume and timbre. This was particularly the case on one occasion when a voice talked with her for a considerable time, and the impression one obtained was that the two were absolutely different. Some of the voices I heard, one in particular, were of the deepest base, of extraordinary depth and volume.

It has been said that Mrs. Wriedt employs an army of private detectives to search out everything known about the sitters. The absurdity of such a statement can only be fully realised by those who have been present at her séances. The expense would, in the first place, make her unable to put such a plan into operation, and even if this were not a fatal objection, the theory breaks down utterly when applied to cases of persons suddenly introduced without warning under assumed names, and fails equally to explain the production of evidence, often of extreme delicacy and privacy, known only to the sitters. It is this private and personal evidence which forms the strongest testimony at once to the genuineness of Mrs. Wriedt’s mediumship and to the survival of human personality.

I will now give an account of two séances in which I sat with my friends. It is better to make it clear at once that the inmates of the house were present on only two occasions when I attended sittings at Cambridge House, besides the Wednesday (“Julia”) nights described in issues of Light of August 3 and 10. They were not in evidence on the two occasions about to be described.

The first was an average séance, but there were two points about it which deserve mention. The circle was composed of seven people—all, except myself, strangers to the house and Mrs. Wriedt. Atmospheric conditions poor. The séance lasted one hour.

A vicar of one of our northern towns sat on my left at the end of the semi-circle and directly opposite to the psychic, from whom he was distant eight feet. Nothing happened for ten minutes. Then Iola came with private messages about my wife and an invalid relative; she was followed by Cardinal Newman, who at once accosted the clergyman in his low, refined voice, “Brother —— Brother ——,” My neighbour said, “Yes, who is it?” Answer: “Cardinal Newman.” After a few words by the clergyman the voice pronounced a Latin benediction in front of him, and then turned to the remaining sitters and gave a benediction in English. It then said, “Peace be with you Brother ——, peace be with you all; good morning, good morning all.”

The mother of my neighbour came to him and identified herself, calling him by his Christian name and referring to other members of the family. The most evidential feature of the séance was the visit of an old bell-ringer who spoke before Grayfeather had finished talking.

Question: “Who are you?” Answer: “……When you first came to the village twelve years ago.” Question: “Did you live in the village?” Answer: “No, no; but I came to the service……bell.” Question: “What name?” Answer: “William Crookes.”

Question: Are you William, who used to ring the bell?” Answer: “Yes, yes that’s it. You were very kind to me and visited me when I was ill, before I died. You were very kind to me.” Question: “Yes, I remember; but it was very little I did for you.” Answer: “No you were very kind to me indeed, and I was very grateful.”

I heard all this, but I have not trusted to my own memory or notes; I have borrowed the clergyman’s notes, which he made with great care. He wrote to me after he got home. He says :—

While William Crookes was speaking to me I sat with fingers intertwined, elbows on knees, leaning forward towards the point whence the voice appeared to come, which was about two feet from the floor. While in this position I was touched lightly by the trumpet first on the right eyeglass and then three or four times on the fingers. On reference to my sick-visiting book I find this entry: “1900, Dec. 4. Crookes, Win., 63 O——Lane age 72. Ailment and remarks: Old age. Idiot. Died.” I came to —— in August, 1900; it was not then a parish, but a village as he named it.

William Crookes said a good deal more. He alluded among other matters to a member of the congregation “who hands the plate round.” (Bags are used now; but plates for the collection were used for the collection when William Crookes was alive.) The vicar said to him; “You know we have a new church now, William?” Answer: “Yes, yes, but you still ring the curfew bell.” The ancient custom is still carried on in this district, but not from my friends church. The tower in which the curfew bell rings is half a mile from 63 —— Lane.

Grayfeather came twice. The first time he talked a great deal to one of the sitters, and asked an old lady why she wore turquoise. Was she born in December? She replied, “No in February.” Grayfeather: “Blue stone no good for February.” And so forth.

A spirit came to a man in the centre of the circle, and said in earnest tones: “My dear Son, God bless you!” Sitter: I did not know you had passed over.” Spirit: “Yes my son, may God bless you, and when you come over give you a better place than mine” (this gentleman, who is about fifty years of age, explained to me that there had been a tragedy in the family, and he literally did not know if his father was alive or dead).

Julia came and made many kind remarks to me personally, and greeted the circle. She said Mr. Stead was always busy, going from one place to another. He was still working on the Review.

A friend came to a lady and spoke gratefully of presents of fruit and flowers which she (the sitter) had brought to her during her last illness (recognised).

The vicar says in his notes; “Before my mother spoke I saw a luminous mist on my left hand, and felt my head grow very heated. When she began to speak this sensation passed away……Iola and my mother spoke in low, tender tones, full of peace and affection.”

The second séance took place on May 11; it was not remarkable as a whole, but there were two features about it which make it worth recording—one a prophecy to a naval officer, the other the manifestation of Mr. Vincent N. Turvey, the famous psychic who died recently at Bournemouth.

The circle was composed of Mrs. S., of Bournemouth, her son, Lieutenant and Mrs. V. U. (her son-in-law and daughter), Miss Scateherd, Mrs. H. (a psychic), and myself. We had to wait some ten minutes or more before anything occurred. Then Iola came to me, and went on to Lieutenant V. U. (who is my cousin). She gave to him one of her Christian names—in fact, the name by which she was called by his father when she was in life—and sent a message to his father. After reminding my cousin of the last time she had spoken to him (exactly a year before), she said: “I am helping someone who has just passed away, and I cannot bring him to talk, for he is not able” (her nephew, died the previous morning). Iola and Mrs. S. entered into conversation, and she gave the name of Mrs. V. U. and warned her to be careful of her health.

After two spirits had manifested to a sitter, Grayfeather came in with a shout, and accosted Lieutenant V. U. : “How do, tickey, tickey, tickey? U——, long chief” (Mr. U. is tall). This appeared to have some connection with a steam or motor boat. After a talk with Mrs. S.’s son during which the gentleman was rapped over the head with the trumpet several times, he turned to me and chatted; then again talked to Lieutenant V. U. Presently there was a voice—“Turvey.” This spirit spoke chiefly to young Mr, S., occasionally to his mother; and while doing so coughed many times, taking on the conditions of his death. (Mr. Turvey was a friend of the S. family. He did not know young Mr. S. well, but was an intimate friend of his father, who was not present at this séance. It is possible that he mistook the son for the father.) The mother of Mrs. S. came, calling her daughter by her Christian name, and expressed her pleasure at being able to “come and talk to the two children.” She addressed herself specially to young Mr. S. ; then said: V ——“ (giving the Christian name of Lieutenant U.), “How do you do?”

Lieutenant U.: “I am very glad to meet you.”

Voice: “Thank you; I am very glad to see you in the family. I like to see you in the family. Good-bye.” Then to Mrs. S.: “I hope he will be well during the rest of the summer” (a clear allusion to Mr. S., Senior). “Give him my love. It is so nice to have a chat with you. Good-bye, dear.”

Grayfeather now came back to Lieutenant U., and told him he was going to Halifax, and he was soon going to get “three rings.” We heard a noise of the trumpet scraping the floor, apparently making three circles. This was repeated later, and Grayfeather volunteered the information that the three rings would come “in cherry time.” He also talked about U. going to Ottawa, and having something to do with the “House of top­knots” (presumably Parliament). It was rather confused, especially as he introduced a prophecy of the officer carrying with him “a box of shinem” (money). Grayfeather finally gave a lugubrious prognostication of coming trouble in the East: “Heap much trouble across water—white people, black people, all kinds of people—they go fight. Lots of heads cut off.”

Admiral Moore: “We don’t cut heads off nowadays.”

Grayfeather made a reply which all the members of the circle understood to mean: “History repeats itself” (I have heard these dismal forebodings by Grayfeather twice since this séance).

Julia manifested, and welcomed the sitters to her “Sanctuary,” and the séance terminated.

Notes.—Mr. Vincent Turvey died on May 3, 1912. Lieutenant V. U. is an officer of the Royal Navy, of considerable promise. He was promoted to the rank of Commander on June 30, 1912, seven weeks after this séance. I must explain that the Lieutenants are not promoted to this rank by seniority, but by selection; the uniform is distinguished by three gold stripes on each arm. It is true I knew that, unless some injustice was perpetrated, my cousin was bound to be in the next “Gazette.” And he probably knew it too. Promotions are only made twice a year—viz, June 30 (cherry time) and December 31. But how did this old Indian spirit foresee this? It was not a certainty—far from it; his name was ninety-fourth on the list, and only twenty-four could be promoted. Let us suppose he picked my mind; how about the visit to Halifax and Ottawa? This, at any rate, was foreign to the thoughts of everybody in the circle. It so happens that the father of Lieutenant U. is a Canadian, and he has many relatives in the Dominion. Quebec was also mentioned. It remains to be seen if this visit, of which V. U. knows nothing at present, will really come off.

Sir W. F. BARRETT’S SÉANCES WITH Mrs. WRIEDT

Sir W. F. Barrett has kindly sent us, for the benefit of English readers, the following copy of a letter he has forwarded to the leading Norwegian newspapers that contained an account of the so-called exposure of Mrs. Wriedt :—[Ed. Light]

Through the kindness of my friend, Miss Ramsden, I have had an opportunity of reading a translation of the discussion that has taken place in your columns, and elsewhere, of the séances held with Mrs. Wriedt in Christiania. Miss Ramsden has also shown me the admirable letter she sent to you on the subject. As a former president of, and intimately associated with, the English Society for Psychical Research, perhaps I may be allowed warmly to support Miss Ramsden’s plea for the formation of a similar society in Christiania.

Before referring to that, however, permit me to say a few words on my own experience of Mrs. Wriedt. During her visit to London this year I had the opportunity of some séances with her. Two of these were private sittings at midday with Miss Ramsden. In one of these private sittings, when no one was present but Miss Ramsden, myself, and Mrs. Wriedt, we sat for the first part in good light. I had previously, when alone, carefully examined every part of the room, and assured myself that no one was concealed and no suspicious apparatus was present; the only door opened on to a landing with a window, through which the sunlight was streaming. Any person attempting to enter the room through the door would therefore have been detected at once, when the room was darkened. When, after my examination of the room, Mrs. Wriedt and Miss Ramsden entered, the door was locked, and one of the electric lights over our head was left on to illuminate the room. We sat on chairs adjoining each other; I sat next to Mrs. Wriedt and held her hand. Miss Ramsden sat on my left. We asked Mrs. Wriedt to let us try in the light first, and at her suggestion Miss R. held the small end of a large aluminium trumpet to her ear; the larger end I supported with my left hand. My body therefore came between the trumpet and the medium. I had previously looked into the trumpet, which was perfectly bare and smooth. Presently Miss Ramsden said she heard a voice speaking to her, and entered into conversation with the voice. I only heard a faint whispering

sound, but no articulate words. To avoid the possibility of Mrs. Wriedt being the source of the whispering, I engaged her in talk, and while she was speaking Miss Ramsden still heard the faint voice in the trumpet, but begged us to stop speaking, as it prevented her hearing distinctly what the voice said. Miss Ramsden assured me afterwards there could be no doubt whatever that the voice in the trumpet was independent of Mrs. Wriedt, and I can testify that I watched the medium and saw nothing suspicious in the movement of her lips. She did not move from her place, and no accomplice or concealed arrangement could possibly have produced the voice.

As I did not hear what the voice said, I have asked Miss Ramsden to add a few lines.

[NOTE BY MISS R.—The speaker claimed to be the bearer of a message from one of my relations who has died; he told me that, contrary to my expectations, I should receive a visit from a person who was named. This was fulfilled on the following Monday. Here I must add that, if this was explained by thought-transference, we must suppose it possible for Mrs. Wriedt to receive telepathic communications from people of whose existence she knows nothing; in this case the person was in a foreign country. While holding the trumpet I could feel the vibration of the little voice inside.—H. R.]

When the voice ceased speaking, the trumpet was placed with its broad end on the floor standing upright near Miss Ramsden. The electric light was now switched off, and the room became absolutely dark. A very loud man’s voice almost immediately called out: “God bless you: God bless you.” Mrs. Wriedt said it was the soidisant John King. I begged her to place her right hand on mine, which held her left hand. She did so, and I distinctly felt the two hands, my left hand being free.

During every séance with her Mrs. Wriedt remained perfectly normal, talking with me or others present, and not in the least excited. On this occasion, in a few moments I felt something rather cold gently stroking my face. And, as at a previous sitting when a rose was placed in my hand, the act was performed without any fumbling about. This was very curious, as the room was so dark that nothing whatever could be seen. But under these conditions of complete darkness it is impossible to arrive at any conclusive evidence concerning the supernormal character of the various physical phenomena that occurred. All I can assert is that it seemed to me impossible for Mrs. Wriedt to have produced them by trickery. A large elastic band and a card, on which were sealed the ends of a loop of string, which objects I had brought and placed by my side away from Mrs. Wriedt, were taken up and thrown over my head, and I heard the snapping of the elastic band, which was found broken and at some distance behind me when the light was turned on.

At another sitting I observed a luminous appearance resembling a man’s head and beard in front of and a little above me. I put up my free hand and moved it to and fro, but felt nothing, though, as far as I could judge in the dark, my hand passed through the place where the luminosity appeared. My head was gently rapped with the small end of the trumpet, and flowers from a vase on a distant table were thrown in my lap. But, as I said before, these manifestations are of little evidential value when occurring in the dark, and I attach no importance to them.

Much more impressive were the voices; sometimes very loud, apparently through the trumpet, at other times faint and directed close to my face or that of my companion. These voices were heard often simultaneously when Mrs. Wriedt was speaking, and

while I held her hand, as I did at every sitting. There is little doubt that I should have felt the movement had she attempted to get up and seize the trumpet which was not near her, or place her mouth near Miss Ramsden or Mrs. Anker, who on one occasion sat next to me and heard the voice speaking in Norwegian, as she informed me.

On one occasion the voice, like that of a man, gave me the Christian name and surname of an old Irish friend of mine, wholly unlikely to be known to Mrs. Wriedt. It was a name not common in Ireland, though a public man of that name, who died some years ago, was a well known Orangeman; but my deceased friend was a Roman Catholic and on my expressing my surprise that he should appear—though I did not allude to his religious belief—the voice said: “You know what the priests say, Once a Catholic always a Catholic; but that is not so here.” Then another voice, like that of an old lady, spoke close to me and said: “How are things in Dublin?” I replied: “Who are you?” and the voice answered, “Lady Helena Newenham,” emphasising the three syllables of the surname—an unusual one. I did not know any such person, but subsequently found that an Irish lady of that name, much interested in psychical research, had died a year before and was well known to some friends of mine in the South of Ireland, to whom I wrote for information.

A voice addressed itself to me, but I could not at first distinguish the name. After several trials I heard: “Sidgwick.” “What is your Christian name?” I asked: at once it said: “Henry Sidgwick.” Professor Sidgwick’s name is, of course, well known; he was a personal friend, and the first president of the Society for Psychical Research. Mrs. Wriedt doubtless had heard his name, but he died before she visited England, and I doubt if she, or many others who knew him by name, were aware that he stammered badly. So I asked the voice: “Are you all right now?” not referring to his stammering. Immediately the voice replied: “You mean the impediment in my speech, but I do not stutter now.” At another sitting the same voice, purporting to be Henry Sidgwick, came again and addressed itself to me in a long speech, in the course of which one or two rather characteristic things were said, but on the whole the speech was more commonplace than would be expected from the real Sidgwick.

I will only trespass on your space by relating another incident that occurred to a personal friend, the hon. Secretary of the Irish section of the S. P. R., a gentleman of legal knowledge who occupies a high position in Dublin. He came to Mrs. Wriedt’s sitting unexpectedly with Admiral Moore, and was unknown to any present except the Admiral. The voice gave him the name a very unusual one, of an Irish friend of his who had lately lost his wife, and said she was the deceased wife, and told my friend correctly the exact address of a place in London where she had been staying, and where my friend had called on her, though at this time he had quite forgotten the address. He saw the luminous figure of a lady in front of him, though he could not distinguish the face.

I went to Mrs. Wriedt’s séances in a somewhat sceptical spirit, but I came to the conclusion that she is a genuine and remarkable medium, and was given abundant proof to others besides myself that the voices and the contents of the messages given are wholly beyond the range of trickery or collusion. Like nearly all mediums through whom physical phenomena are manifested, she may, consciously or unconsciously, sometimes be obsessed with a spirit of stupid trickery, which, in several cases that I have known, appears like the projection of the fixed ideas of hostile sitters among those present. In fact, all of us project our thoughts into the unseen, and more often