Thirty Years Among the Dead

Chapter I — Inter-Relationship of the Two Worlds

The reality of an invisible world surrounding the physical world is for many difficult to comprehend, since the mind sphere is often limited to the visible and tangible; however, it requires but little thought to realize the constant change of matter as it occurs in three forms, solid, liquid and gaseous, in its range back and forth between the visible and invisible.

Visible nature is but the invisible, the Real, made manifest through a combination of its elements; science informs us that fully ninety-five per cent of vegetation is derived out of the air, or atmosphere. Is not mankind living at the bottom of an invisible ocean, the atmosphere, which is even more important to physical existence than any of the visible physical substances, since life can continue but a few moments out of it?

Nitrogen gas, constituting the greater bulk of the atmosphere, enters vitally into vegetable and animal growth and existence. Hydrogen and oxygen gases are constantly changing from a state of invisible vapor to visible and solid form. Carbon offers another example of similar transformation. Sounds, odors, the thermic law of heat and cold, and multitudes of other phenomena, ranging from the infinitesimal electron to the energy which moves the planets and suns, are all intangible, invisible factors.

All activities, whether chemical, vital or mental, operate invisibly, as observed in chemical affinity, in energy, in plant life, in animal life, in intelligence and mentalization. So in every department of our manifest physical nature it is evident that all elements have their root and permanence in the invisible. The invisible is the source of the visible.

Thus when we realize that the objective is only a combination of invisible substances and forces, the existence of an unseen world is readily comprehensible. Considering the wonderful advancement of science into the field of nature’s finer forces, it is inconceivable that any thinking mind can fail to recognize the rationale of the independent existence of the human spirit apart for the physical body. No subject has been better authenticated through the ages and in all literature than that of spirit existence and a future life.

Fiske, the historian, says: Among all races of men, as far as can now be determined, ancestor worship (contact with the spirits of the departed) was the earliest form of worship...prevailing in Africa, Asia, China, Japan, among the Aryans of Europe and the American Indian tribes.

Allen, in his History of Civilization writes: Rude tribes the world over are found to have ideas of a human soul, a spirit world, and generally a belief in immortality. Savages consider the next life simply a continuation of this; they also recognize another self which has mysterious powers. Death is the abandoning of the body by this mysterious other self, which is conceived of as still existing in the near neighborhood. The loves and hates of this world are transferred to the spirit world.

Confucius said: Bemoan not the departed with excessive grief. The dead are devoted and faithful friends; they are ever associated with us.

The writers of classic times—Socrates, Herodotus, Sophocles, Euripides, Plato, Aristotle, Horace, Virgil, Plutarch, Josephus, Maximus of Tyre—repeatedly refer to spirit existence as a well known fact. Cicero wrote: Is not almost all heaven filled with the human? Those very gods themselves had their original here below, and ascended from hence into heaven.

That early Christianity recognized spirits is too well authenticated in the writings of St. Anthony, Tertullian, Origen and their contemporaries to require emphasis.

The Bible is replete with references to spirit existence. We also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses. Heb. 12:1. Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God. 1 John 4:1. The spirits of just men made perfect. Heb. 12:23. There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body...First that which is natural, and afterward that which is spiritual. 1 Cor. 15:44, 46. Many other similar biblical citations might be given.

Swedenborg contributed volumes on this subject. Dr. Samuel Johnson said: I do not believe in spirits—I have seen too many of them.

John Wesley wrote in The Invisible World: It is true that the English in general—indeed most of the men of learning in Europe—have given up all accounts of witches and apparitions as mere old wives’ fables. I am sorry for it, and I willingly take this opportunity to offer my solemn protest against this violent compliment which so many that believe in the Bible pay to those who do not believe it. Such belief is in direct opposition, not only to the Bible, but to the suffrage of the wisest and best of men in all ages and nations. They well know that the giving up of witchcraft is in effect giving up the Bible.

That psychic phenomena occurred at the house of Mr. Samuel Wesley, father of Rev. John Wesley, at Epworth, and continued with noises and disturbances of various kinds for many months, is well known.

Shakespeare, Milton, Wordsworth, Tennyson, Longfellow, and many other poets wrote with profound understanding of the continued existence of man.

We are all familiar with the convincing results of the psychical research work of modern scientists, philosophers, ministers, physicians, psychologists and other investigators—Prof. Crookes, Alfred Wallace, Sir Oliver Lodge, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Rev. R. J. Campbell, Archdeacon Colley, Rev. Newton, Rev. Savage, W. T. Stead, Camille Flammarion, Dr. Baraduc, Dr. Janet, Prof. Richet, Cesare Lombroso, Dr. Hodgson, Dr. I. K. Funk, Prof. James, Prof. Hyslop, Dr. Carrington and many others.

Dr. Thomas J. Hudson, author of The Law of Psychic Phenomena, wrote: The man who denies the phenomena of spiritualism today is not entitled to be called a skeptic, he is simply ignorant.

The Rev. Dr. George M. Searle, Rector of the Catholic Church of St. Paul the Apostle, New York City, said: The reality of the existence of spirits in modern spiritism is no longer an open question, even among scientific men who have examined the subject. Anyone who considers the manifestation of them as mere humbug, trickery or delusion, is simply not up to date.

In our times no one denies the real existence of spiritualistic facts, except a few who live with their feet on the earth and their brains in the moon, wrote G. G. Franco, S. J., in Civilta Cattolica. Spiritistic phenomena are external facts which fall within the range of the senses and can easily be observed by all, and when such facts are attested by so many well informed and credible witnesses, it is useless, as well as foolish and ridiculous, to fight against proved evidence. The facts remain assured, even for reasonable men.

The spiritual world and the physical world are constantly intermingling; the spiritual plane is not a vague intangibility but is real and natural, a vast zone of refined substance, of activity and progress, and life there is a continuation of life in the physical world. On the physical plane of expression the soul obtains knowledge through experience and contact with objective things, and intelligence finds itself by manifesting through physical organs; in the spiritual plane progression of the individual continues, the mind unfolding along lines of reason, through spontaneity of service, the attainment and appreciation of high ideals and an ever broadening conception of life’s purpose.

The change called death,—the word is a misnomer—universally regarded with gloomy fear, occurs so naturally and simply that the greater number, after passing out of the physical are not aware that the transition has been made, and having no knowledge of a spiritual life they are totally unconscious of having passed into another state of being. Deprived of their physical sense organs, they are shut out from the physical light, and lacking, a mental perception of the high purpose of existence, these individuals are spiritually blind and find themselves in a twilight condition—the outer darkness mentioned in the Bible—and linger in the realm known as the Earth Sphere.

Death does not make a saint of a sinner, nor a sage of a fool. The mentality is the same as before and individuals carry with them their old desires, habits, dogmas, faulty teachings, indifference or disbelief in a future life. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Prov. 23:7.

Assuming spirit forms which are the result of their thought life on earth, millions remain for a time in the earth sphere, and often in the environment of their earth lives, still held by their habits or interests. Where your treasure is there will your heart be also. Matt. 6:21.

Those who have progressed to the higher spirit world ever endeavor to enlighten these earthbound spirits, but the latter, due to preconceptions concerning the hereafter, labor under the delusion that the departed are dead, or are ghosts, and often refuse to recognize their friends or to realize their own condition.

Many are in a state of heavy sleep, others are lost or confused; troubled minds may be haunted by fear of the strange darkness, those conscience stricken suffer in anguish or remorse for their, earth conduct; some, impelled by selfish or evil inclinations, seek an outlet for their tendencies, remaining in this condition until these destructive desires are outgrown, when the soul cries out for understanding and light, and progressed spirits are able to reach them and aid them.

Lacking physical bodies through which to carry out earthly propensities many discarnate intelligences are attracted to the magnetic light which emanates from mortals, and, consciously or unconsciously, attach themselves to these magnetic auras, finding an avenue of expression through influencing, obsessing or possessing human beings. Such obtruding spirits influence susceptible sensitives with their thoughts, impart their own emotions to them, weaken their will power and often control their actions, producing great distress, mental confusion and suffering.

These earthbound spirits are the supposed devils of all ages; devils of human origin, by-products of human selfishness, false teachings and ignorance, thrust blindly into a spirit existence and held there in a bondage of ignorance.

The influence of these discarnate entities is the cause of many of the inexplicable and obscure events of earth life and of a large part of the world’s misery. Purity of life and motive, or high intellectuality, do not necessarily offer protection from obsession; recognition and knowledge of these problems are the only safeguards.

The physical conditions permitting this impingement are varied; such encroachment is often due to a natural and predisposed susceptibility, a depleted nervous system, or sudden shock. Physical derangements are conducive to obsession, for when the vital forces are lowered less resistance is offered and intruding spirits are allowed easy access, although often neither mortal nor spirit is conscious of the presence of the other.

This encroachment alters the characteristics of the sensitive, resulting in a seemingly changed personality, sometimes simulating multiple or dissociated personalities, and frequently causes apparent insanity, varying in degree from a simple mental aberration to, and including, all types of dementia, hysteria, epilepsy, melancholia, shell shock, kleptomania, idiocy, religious and suicidal mania, as well as amnesia, psychic invalidism, dipsomania, immorality, functional bestiality, atrocities, and other forms of criminality.

Humanity is surrounded by the thought influence of millions of discarnate beings, who have not yet arrived at a full realization of life’s higher purposes. A recognition of this fact accounts for a great portion of unbidden thoughts, emotions, strange forebodings, gloomy moods, irritabilities, unreasonable impulses, irrational outbursts of temper, uncontrollable infatuations and countless other mental vagaries.

The records of spirit obsession and possession extend from remotest antiquity to modern times. Dr. Tyler, the noted English Anthropologist, in his Primitive Culture, says: It is not too much to assert that the doctrine of demoniacal possession is kept up, substantially the same theory to account for substantially the same facts, by half the human race, who thus stand as consistent representatives of their forefathers back in the primitive antiquity.

In Muller’s Urreligionen we find: The general belief of the barbaric world today is that such attacks as epilepsy, hysteria, delirium, idiocy and madness are caused by some demon gaining control of the body.

Homer referred repeatedly to demons and said: A sick man pining away is one upon whom an evil spirit has gazed. Plato held that demons obsessed mortals. Socrates speaks directly of demons influencing the possessed (insane). Plutarch wrote: Certain tyrannical demons require for their enjoyment some soul still incarnate; being unable to satisfy their passions in any other way, incite to sedition, lust, wars of conquest, and thus get what they lust for. Josephus says: Demons are the spirits of wicked men. Obsessing or possessing spirits are frequently mentioned both in the Old and New Testaments. In I Samuel 16:23, we read: David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.

So common was the belief in spirits and spirit obsession in the time of the apostles that the ability to cast out evil spirits was considered one of the most important signs of genuine discipleship, and it must be admitted that a considerable portion of the work accredited to Jesus was the casting out of demons.

A few quotations from the New Testament will suffice. Jesus gave his twelve disciples power against unclean spirits, to cast them out. Matt. 10:1. ‘Jesus preached...and cast out devils. Mark 1:39. A certain mad which had devils long time...Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man...He that was possessed of the devils was healed. Luke 8:27, 29, 36. Vexed with unclean spirits. Luke 6:18. The evil spirits went out of them. Acts 19:12.

Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit...And he asked his father: How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child...Jesus rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou deaf and dumb spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose. Mark 9:17, 21, 25-27. (Similar occurrences are not at all uncommon in psycho-pathological research.)

Among the writers of early Christianity we find that St. Anthony says: We walk in the midst of demons, who give us evil thoughts; and also in the midst of good angels. When these latter are especially present, there is no disturbance, no contention, no clamor; but something so calm and gentle it fills the soul with gladness. The Lord is my witness that after many tears and fastings I have been surrounded by a band of angels, and joyfully joined in singing with them. Tertullian with authority challenged the heathery to a trial of superiority in the matter of casting out demons. Minucius Felix, a Roman advocate and apologist, wrote in Octavius: There are some insincere and vagrant spirits, degraded from their heavenly vigor...who cease not, now that they are ruined themselves, to ruin others.

Dr. Godfrey Raupert, of London, who several years ago was especially delegated by Pope Pius X to lecture to Catholic audiences in America on Spiritualism, said in substance: It is no longer possible to put the subject of psychic phenomena aside. The scientific men all over the world have recognized spiritism as a definite and real power, and to shelve it is a dangerous policy. Consequently the Pope has asked me to tell Catholics the attitude to take toward the subject...The Church admits the reality of these spiritistic phenomena and their external intelligences, in fact, it has always admitted their reality. The problem at present is to discover the nature of the intelligence. We are now on the borderland of new discoveries which may revolutionize the world. It is not the time yet for an explanation of all the phenomena. We must suspend our judgment until the subject is better known. The study of spiritism is a new one and therefore dangerous...A partial knowledge of the subject may cause grave dangers. (Resulting in obsession or possession.)

There is no doubt about the fact of diabolical obsessions in the olden time. That the Church (Catholic) recognizes the possibilities is evidenced by the rules prepared for exorcising, is the quoted statement of Monsignor Lavelle, Rector of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York.

Julian Hawthorne wrote, in one of the leading newspapers: Thousands of evil-minded and evil-acting men and women die every day. What becomes of their souls, or spirits? They want to get back here...the increasing boldness and frequency with which they take advantage of their opportunities is illustrated in many ways...Two acts of defense are open to us. We may stop the source of supply of these undesirable visitors and we may close the doors.

Dr. Axel Gustafson, who publicly acclaimed his views regarding the fact of spirit obsession, in quoting cases which had come to his attention, said: The spirits of the revengeful have power after death to enter into and possess the living under certain conditions.

Prof. Herbert L. Stetson, of Kalamazoo College, Michigan, stated, in a lecture at the University of Chicago: Demon obsession is no myth; illness is often due to demoniacal possession....Belief in demons is widespread.

I often see the spirits who cause insanity, is the statement of Dr. E. N. Webster, of the mental section of the American Medical Association. At times I even hear their voices. Insane persons who are spoken of as hopelessly insane are frequently lost under the overwhelming control of a spirit or crowd of spirits. We frequently find by post-mortem examination that no physical disorder exists in the brain or nervous system of such persons.

Prof. William James wrote in Proceedings S. P. R.: That the demon-theory will have its innings again is to my mind absolutely certain. One has to be ‘scientific’ indeed, to be blind and ignorant enough to suspect no such possibility.

Prof. James H. Hyslop, while editor of the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, wrote: There is growing evidence of the fact of obsession which lies at the basis of much insanity and can be cured. The medical world will have to wake up and give attention to this problem or materia medica will lose control of the subject.

In one of Prof. Hyslop’s latest books, Contact with the Other World, we find the following:

The existence of evil spirits affecting the living is as clearly taught in the New Testament, and implied in the Old Testament, as any doctrine there expounded....The term obsession is employed by psychic researchers to denote the abnormal influence of spirits on the living....The cures effected have required much time and patience, the use of psychotherapeutics of an unusual kind, and the employment of psychics to get into contact with the obsessing agents and thus to release the hold which such agents have, or to educate them to voluntary abandonment of their persecutions....Every single case of dissociation and paranoia to which I have applied cross-reference has yielded to the method and proved the existence of foreign agencies complicated with the symptoms of mental or physical deterioration. It is high time to prosecute experiments on a large scale in a field that promises to have as much practical value as any application of the scalpel and the microscope.

In Modern Psychical Phenomena, Dr. Hereward Carrington states: It is evident...that spiritual ‘obsession’ is at least a possibility which modern science can no longer disregard, while there are many striking facts in its support. This being so, its study becomes imperative—not only from the academic viewpoint but also because of the fact that hundreds and perhaps thousands of individuals are at the present moment suffering in this manner, and their relief demands some immediate investigation and cure. Once grant the theoretical possibility of actual obsession, and a whole vast field of research and investigations is opened up before us which demands all the care, skill and patience which modern enlightenment and psychological understanding can furnish.

Never before in the history of medical science has there been such widespread interest, by the public at large, as well as by medical men and public officials, in the subject of the cause, treatment and cure of nervous and mental diseases. Statistics show that insanity is increasing with alarming rapidity everywhere, yet medical experts differ widely as to the causes of mental deterioration, and science is not yet in possession of knowledge of the exact etiology of functional insanity. The whole world will go mad before long, declared Dr. Winslow of England.

The greater number of neurologists and alienists entertain the belief that the active and underlying cause of insanity has its origin within the deranged nervous system, but very little as yet is actually known of the true cause.

Dr. W. M. L. Coplin, Director of the Bureau of Health and Charities, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, said Insanity, in most cases, is unaccompanied by any perceptible change in the brain structure. The brain of the patient, when examined under a microscope, shows absolutely nothing which differs in any way from the appearance of the brain of the perfectly sane person. It is therefore evident that the insanity might be due to toxemia, the effect of some subtle organism in the nature of bacilla....Something causes insanity but what it is, we do not yet know.

Dr. Britton D. Evans, Superintendent of the Morris Plains, New Jersey, Insane Asylum, stated: Brain tumor or brain fever may not affect the mind....A man may have trouble of the brain and still have a normal mind.

Dr. Th. Ziehen, a noted German alienist, and an authority on hysteria, wrote: For many functional neuroses there is as yet no accurate limitation and definition. As pathological anatomy does not aid us, no uniform and exclusive cause for hysteria can be demonstrated.

Dr. William Hanna Thomson, physician to the Roosevelt Hospital and Professor of the Practice of Medicine and Diseases of the Nervous System, New York University Medical College, in referring to Tuke’s Dictionary of Psychological Medicine, asserted that: The contributors to this great encyclopedia are from the most eminent professors, experts, and superintendents of insane asylums in Great Britain, the United States, France, Germany, Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland and Russia. In the articles by the writers on kleptomania, dipsomania, chronic mania, etc., there is not a word about the pathological anatomy, (because none can be found). Just so it is in the article on melancholia, puerperal insanity, katatonia, circular insanity, homicidal insanity or epileptic insanity; in none of these is there a word about pathological anatomy, for the sufficient reason that not one of these forms of insanity shows any pathological or diseased condition in the brain different from the sound brain of a healthy man killed in an accident.

He also said: It is high time that we now look in the direction of toxemia (or blood poisoning) for the explanation of the insanities which produce no changes whatever in the brain.

Recent announcement was made that a large percentage of cures reported by the New Jersey State Hospital for the Insane at Trenton were effected by the removal of diseased teeth, tonsils or affected organs. In a resume of the Trenton method, Dr. R. S. Copeland wrote: The hypothesis upon which this treatment is founded is that insanity is a toxemia or poisoning due to germ infection in some part of the body. If this is true it follows that removal of the infected tissue, when the case has not gone too far, will be followed by disappearance of the mental disturbance.

When statistics compiled by the United States Government, as well as by others, show that the increase in the number of the insane is proportionately greater than the increase of the general population, it seems incongruous to credit decayed teeth and diseased tonsils as being primary causes of mental unbalance at this time when dental and surgical attention is so general, whereas, the facts are that when dentistry was little known and practised, and people went about with all conditions of decayed teeth, insanity was less prevalent than now.

Without attempting to discredit the Trenton reports, it may be stated that our experience has shown that in many cases of mental derangement, although the patient had badly decayed teeth, mental balance was fully restored by dislodging the obsessing spirit before any attention was given to the teeth.{1}

Since it has been found that obsessing spirits are sensitive to pain, I am constrained to suggest that such cures as announced by the Trenton Hospital may, at least in part, be due to the fact that intruding spirits were dislodged, by dental or surgical interference.

To the investigator in Abnormal Psychology on the spiritistic hypothesis much of the symptomatology of the War Neurosis or shell shock,—excepting cases of malingering—as recorded by Dr. F. E. Williams, Acting Medical Director, National Committee for Mental Hygiene, New York City, suggests obsession or possession by spirits of dead soldiers, unconscious of their transition, as the exciting cause. This is indicated by delirium, hallucinations, anxiety states, functional heart disorders, paralysis, tremors, gait disturbances, convulsive movements, pain, anesthesia, hyperesthesia, blindness, disorders of speech, etc.

The spirit hypothesis regarding War Neurosis is further evidenced by the rapid recovery of patients under severe electrical treatment—(driving out obsessing entities?)—as instituted by Dr. Vincent who, Dr. Williams stated, would cure in a few hours Patients that had been in the care of other psychiatrists for months, and would have them walking about and climbing ladders.

The above theory is also favored by Dr. Williams’ further statements that: This neurosis is rare among prisoners who have been exposed to mechanical shock...as well as among wounded exposed to mechanical shock....Severe injury to the central nervous system and brain is not accompanied by symptoms found in shell shock....Success attends the therapeutic measures employed for the psychological rather than the mechanical side....Diagnosis should be made and treatment begun at once before the shell shock—(obsession)—becomes a fixed psycho-neurosis.

Newspapers recently reported the case of a young man, Frank James, a boy thug of New York City, who, after a fall from a motorcycle when ten years old, changed from a cheerful, affectionate and obedient child into a surly, insolent boy, developing into a confirmed robber and criminal. After several terms in the reformatory and five years in Sing Sing prison he was declared hopelessly insane, and sent to the State Insane Asylum. Frank James, however, escaped, and when pursuers attempted his capture, was hit on the head with a club, and falling unconscious, was taken to a hospital.

The next morning the boy awoke, extraordinarily changed; he was gentle and deferential, showing no further indications of an unbalanced mind, and from that time exhibited not the slightest impulse to commit crime of any kind. The article concludes: Just what happened to the mechanism of the boy’s brain is not entirely understood by medical men.

How explain such a case on the toxemia theory? Could a blow on the head eradicate the supposed toxemia and restore mental balance? The simple explanation from our viewpoint would be that, following the shock of the boy’s fall, an obsessing spirit criminal had taken control of the boy, and that the blow from the club on the man’s head, with its accompanying pain, caused the obsessing entity to become dislodged.

The success credited to hydrotherapy as practiced in institutions for the insane, especially when a strong stream of water, or a continuous bath, is used, can also be accounted for by the dislodgment of obsessing entities, who object to the discomforts incident to such treatment.

Dr. Prince, in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, wrote: If we are to establish sound principles underlying the mechanism of the mind we must correlate the findings of all methods of research, experimental as well as clinical, and give due consideration to the results obtained by all competent investigators.

After careful elimination of all superstitious notions and absurdities adherent to the subject of Normal and Abnormal Psychology, excluding also febrile and idiopathic psychoses or idiosyncrasies, as well as all neuro-pathogenic psychoses, there still remains a residuum of abnormality in a majority of cases of mental aberrations.

That alienists of renown and the foremost authorities widely disagree as to the cause of insanity is sufficient reason for thinking men to investigate any theory which promises to lead to results, regardless of personal or popular prejudice. The situation which confronts us is a serious one, and nothing but the broadest toleration and liberality can cope with it. Since insanity is chiefly a manifestation of mental or psychological disturbance—a Psychic neurosis—the symptomatology therefore should offer a guidance in ascertaining the etiology, and assist as well in arriving at a solution of the mental pathology.

This proposition, however, necessitates not only research and study of Normal and Abnormal Psychology but, in order to have a complete premise, also implies the recognition of the duality of man, matter and spirit, physical and spiritual.

Insanity is not a stigma; the public attitude toward this affliction should be one, not of aversion but of understanding, and a realization of the close inter-relationship of the visible and invisible worlds.

Spirit obsession is a fact—a perversion of a natural law—and is amply demonstrable. This has been proven hundreds of times by causing the supposed insanity or aberration to be temporarily transferred from the victim to a psychic sensitive who is trained for the purpose, and by this method ascertain the cause of the psychosis to be an ignorant or mischievous spirit, whose identity may frequently be verified.

By this method, and without detriment to the psychic, it has also proven possible to relieve the victim, as well as release the entity from its condition of spiritual darkness through an explanation of the laws governing the spirit world, which the experiences to follow will demonstrate.

Inter-communication between the visible and invisible worlds is a natural privilege and is established through a person of a certain psychic constitution, capable of acting as an intermediary, through whom discarnate intelligences can readily come en rapport with the physical plane. Of the various phases of contact the most valuable for research purposes is that of unconscious trance, whereby direct communication may be established with the invisible world and the mental condition of discarnate intelligences, either advanced or ignorant, may be ascertained.

Ignorant psychic experimentation may prove injurious when dabbled in by those who neglect the necessary precautions and lack understanding of the laws which govern the subject, just as ignorance and disregard of the laws governing everyday life may prove dangerous. The misuse of a thing is no argument against its use.

Psychical Research belongs especially to the domain of science; common sense and discrimination are essentials in all such experimental work, as well as a thorough mastery of the laws involved. Under these conditions scientific research becomes an invaluable factor in the investigation of Spiritual Science.

Chapter II — Psychical Research

Psychical research contains elements of the greatest importance to humanity, and has already become a vital factor in the social life of the world at large. It is undoubtedly true, however, that the various branches of research are endeavoring to classify their findings on purely psycho-physiological bases.

The Psycho-Analyst advances the theory that many of the psychoses have their seat or origin in some psychic lesion, or trauma, either concealed or forgotten. The Analytical-Psychologist, by mental measurements and intelligence tests, is making the segregation and classification of mental defectives possible. So also the Neurologist and Psychiatrist are diligently seeking to isolate the etiological factors in the various neuroses, mental aberrations and insanities, and to ascertain the best methods of prevention and treatment.

While these branches of research are loath to accept the hypothesis of discarnate intelligences as contributing, exciting factors in many of the psychoses and aberrations, they are nevertheless rendering important service in uncovering and bringing to light the unstable qualities in the neurotic, the susceptible and those predisposed to mental unbalance.

Psychical Research presents two general phases for investigation: the Normal and the Abnormal.

The Normal phase, from the standpoint of the physician, as well as the minister, deals, among other issues, with the question: What becomes of the Dead? This problem is of vital interest to the patient who lingers on the borderland of transition, doubtful of the future, or perhaps trembling in fear of his probable condition after the tomorrow of death. Should it not be the noblest part of the physician’s calling, in such situations, to be in a position to assure his patient from actual knowledge, that there is no death, but a birth into new fields of activity and opportunities in the higher mental spheres?

In the Abnormal phase of Psychical Research there is demand for broadest possible knowledge on the part of the physician pertaining to the mysterious functioning of minds, discarnate as well as incarnate. Research in Abnormal, as well as Normal psychology, indubitably indicates, not only the existence of spirits, but also unquestionably demonstrates that such entities play an important role in the various psychoneuroses and insanities.

The physician, undoubtedly, comes in more intimate touch with the consequences of promiscuous dabbling in Psychical Research, so frequently resulting in mental aberrations, than any other person, for he is usually the first one to be called into consultation, and upon his decision depends largely the disposal of such an unfortunate victim. For this reason, if no other, it should surely be not only the privilege, but also the urgent duty of the physician to become thoroughly acquainted with the various phases of Psychical Research, particularly its dangers in the hands of thoughtless investigators, especially the predisposed psycho-neurotic.

The alarming results often occurring in connection with Psychical Research prompted me to follow up a line of investigation to ascertain the underlying causes thereof, for these also concern the physician.

The serious problem of alienation and mental derangement attending ignorant psychic experiments was first brought to my attention by the cases of several persons whose seemingly harmless experiences with automatic writing and the Ouija Board resulted in such wild insanity that commitment to asylums was necessitated.

The first of these cases was that of Mrs. Bl., whose attempts at automatic writing led to mental derangement and altered personality. Normally she was amiable, pious, quiet and refined but became boisterous and noisy, romped about and danced, used vile language, and, claiming she was an actress, insisted upon dressing for the stage, saying that she had to be at the theatre at a certain time or lose her position. Finally she became so irresponsible that she was placed in an asylum.

Another case was Mrs. Bn., who, through the practice of automatic writing, changed from an artist and a lady of refinement to an altogether different and violent personality. Screaming at the top of her voice she continually rubbed her temples and exclaimed, God save me! God save me! Rushing into the street she knelt in the mud, praying, and refused food, declaring that if she should eat before six o’clock P.M. she would go to hell.

Mrs. Sr., who had followed the same practices, also became mentally deranged and violent, necessitating police interference. Rising in the night she posed in the window of her millinery shop as Napoleon, whom she presumed herself to be, and after committing many other irresponsible acts, requiring restraint, was sent to the Detention Hospital.

In like manner, Mrs. Wr. became obsessed with hallucinations that God was constantly talking to her and condemning her for wrong acts of which he accused her; after attempting suicide at the request of this so-called God she was taken to the asylum.

Many other disastrous results which followed the use of the supposedly innocent Ouija Board came to my notice and my observations led me into research in psychic phenomena for a possible explanation of these strange occurrences.

My wife proved to be an excellent psychic intermediary and was easily controlled by discarnate intelligences. In answer to her doubts concerning the right of disturbing the dead these intelligences asserted that a grievously wrong conception existed among mortals regarding the conditions prevailing after death.

They stated that there is in reality no death, but a natural transition from the visible to the invisible world, and that advanced spirits are ever striving to communicate with mortals to enlighten them concerning the higher possibilities which await the progressive spirit. But death—the freeing of the spirit from the body—is so simple and natural that a great majority do not, for a longer or shorter period, realize the change, and owing to a lack of education concerning the spiritual side of their natures, they continue to remain in their earthly haunts.

They maintained that many such spirits were attracted to the magnetic aura of mortals—although the spirit, as well as the mortal, might be unconscious of the intrusion—and thus, by obsessing or possessing their victims, they ignorantly or maliciously became the cause of untold mischief, often producing invalidism, immorality, crime and seeming insanity.

The risk of interference from this source constituted, they said, the gravest danger to the unwary novice in psychic research, but to be in ignorance of these facts was an even greater risk, especially in the case of the susceptible neurotic.

These intelligences also stated that by a system of transfer, that is, by attracting such obsessing entities from the victim to a psychic intermediary, the correctness of the hypothesis could be demonstrated and conditions could be shown as they actually exist. After this transference of psychoses the victims would be relieved, and the obsessing spirits could then be reached by the advanced spirits, who would care for them and instruct them regarding the higher laws of life.

They claimed they had found my wife to be a suitable instrument for such experimentation and proposed that, if I would cooperate with them by caring for and instructing these ignorant spirits, as they allowed them to take temporary but complete possession of my wife’s body, without any injury to her, they would prove their assertions were correct.

Desirous of learning the truth or falsity of such important claims, which, if true, would have a great bearing on the cause of much that is otherwise baffling in criminology, as well as in psycho-pathology, we accepted what seemed a hazardous undertaking.

In order to carry out their purpose the Guiding Intelligences allowed many manifestations to take place, often very unexpectedly, and some of these occurred while I was pursuing my early medical studies.

One day I left home without any intention of immediately beginning my first dissecting work, therefore my wife’s subconscious mind could not possibly have taken any part in what transpired later.

The students were required to dissect a lateral half of a body; the first subject was a man about sixty years of age and that afternoon I began dissecting on a lower limb.

I returned home at about five o’clock and had scarcely entered the door when my wife was apparently taken with a sudden illness, and complaining of feeling strange, staggered as though about to fall. As I placed my hand on her shoulder she drew herself up and became entranced by a foreign intelligence who said, with threatening gesture:

What do you mean by cutting me?

I answered that I was not aware of cutting any one, but the spirit angrily replied: Of course you are! You are cutting on my leg!

Realizing that the spirit owner of the body on which I had been operating had followed me home, I began to parley with him, first placing my wife in a chair.

To this the spirit vigorously objected, saying that I had no business to touch him. To my answer that I had a right to touch my own wife the entity retorted:

Your wife! What are you talking about! I am no woman—I’m a man.

I explained that he had passed out of his physical body and was controlling the body of my wife, and that his spirit was here and his body at the college. When he finally seemed to realize this I said: Suppose I were now cutting on your body at the college that could not kill you, since you yourself are here.

The spirit admitted that this seemed reasonable, and said:

I guess I must be what they call ‘dead,’ so I won’t have any more use for my old body. If you can learn anything by cutting on it, go ahead and cut away.

Then he added suddenly: Say, Mister, give me a chew of tobacco.

I told him that I had none, and then he begged for a pipe, saying: I’m dying for a smoke.

This request was, of course, also refused. (The fact that Mrs. Wickland has always abhorred the sight of any one chewing tobacco precludes the possibility of her subconscious mind playing any role in this episode.)

After a more detailed explanation of the fact that he was actually so-called dead, the spirit realized his true condition and left.

Subsequent examination of the teeth of the cadaver indicated that the man had been an inveterate tobacco user in life.

Upon another occasion, when I had been appointed assistant demonstrator for a class of students in dissecting, the body of a colored man had been selected as a subject but the body had not yet been disturbed when, one evening, Mrs. Wickland became entranced and a strange spirit, speaking through her, exclaimed:

You ain’t goin’ to cut on dis colored man, Boss!

I told him that the world called him dead; that he was not in his old body, but was now controlling a woman’s body. He would not believe this and when I showed him my wife’s hands, saying they were not colored but white, he replied:

I’se got whitewash on dem; whitewashin’ is my business.

This spirit proved to be very obstinate, offering a variety of excuses and explanations rather than accept the truth, but he was finally convinced and departed.

Another incident will still further demonstrate to what a seemingly unbelievable degree spirits may cling to their earthly bodies through ignorance of their transition, or so-called death.

In the dissecting room was the body of a woman, about forty years of age, who had died at the Cook County Hospital, Chicago, the previous June. In January, seven months after her death, a number of students, myself included, were assigned this subject for dissection. I could not be present the first evening but the others began their work. Nothing was ever said to me of what occurred during those few hours, but for some reason, unknown to me, the other students never touched that subject again.

The next day there was no school in the afternoon so I began to dissect alone, working on the arm and neck. The dissecting room was in the rear of a long basement and very quiet, but once I distinctly heard a voice say: Don’t murder me!

The voice sounded faintly, as from a distance, but since I am not in the least superstitious and not at all inclined to credit small incidents to the actions of spirits, I concluded that it probably came from children in the street, although I had not heard any playing nearby.

The following afternoon I was again working alone when I was rather startled by a rustling sound coming from a crumpled newspaper lying on the floor, a sound something like that produced when a newspaper is crushed, but I paid no particular attention to it and did not mention these occurrences to my wife.

The episodes had quite passed out of my mind until a few days later. We were holding a psychic circle in our home and our invisible co-workers had already departed when I noticed that my wife still remained in a semi-comatose condition. I stepped up to her to ascertain the reason when the controlling spirit rose suddenly, struck at me angrily and said:

I have some bones to pick with you!

After a period of struggle with the stranger I asked what the trouble was.

Why do you want to kill me? the entity demanded.

I am not killing any one, I answered.

Yes, you are—you are cutting on my arm and neck! I shouted at you not to murder me, and I struck that paper on the floor to frighten you, but you wouldn’t pay any attention.

Then, laughing boisterously, the spirit added with great hilarity:

But I scared the other fellows!

It was necessary to explain at great length the actual situation of the spirit, who said her name was Minnie Morgan,{2} but finally she understood and left, promising to seek a higher life.

The ease with which spirits assume control of the psychic intermediary, Mrs. Wickland, is so perfect that the majority of them at first fail to comprehend the fact that they are so-called dead and are temporarily occupying the body of another.

Those intelligences whose reasoning faculties are alert can generally be made to realize that their situation is unusual when attention is called to the dissimilarity between their own former bodily features, hands and feet, as well as clothes, and those of the psychic. This is especially so when the spirit is a man, for the difference will then be more readily noticed. Following the statement that the body which is being controlled belongs to my wife, spirits usually retort: I am not your wife, and a great deal of explanation is required before they can be brought to a recognition of the fact that they are in temporary possession of another’s body.

On the other hand, there are spirits, fixed and rooted in obstinate skepticism, who stubbornly refuse to understand that they have made the transition out of the physical. These will not listen to reason and fail to be convinced of their changed condition, even when a mirror is held before them, declaring that they have been hypnotized, and prove so obdurate that they must be forced to leave, and are taken in charge by the invisible co-workers.

The transference of the mental aberration or psychosis from a patient to the psychic intermediary, Mrs. Wickland, is facilitated by the use of static electricity, which is applied to the patient, frequently in the presence of the psychic. Although this electricity is harmless to the patient it is exceedingly effective, for the obsessing spirit cannot long resist such electrical treatment and is dislodged.

Induced by our invisible helpers the spirit may then entrance the psychic, when it becomes possible to come into direct contact with the entity, and an endeavor is made to bring him to a realization of his true condition and of his higher possibilities. He is then removed and cared for by the advanced spirits and Mrs. Wickland again returns to her normal self.

In many cases remarkable evidence that discarnate entities were the offending cause of aberration has been obtained by a system of experimental concentration in a psychic circle. Obsessing spirits have been dislodged from victims frequently residing at a distance, conveyed to the circle by the co-operating intelligences and allowed to control the psychic. Such spirits often complain of having been driven away, yet are ignorant of being spirits, or of having controlled or influenced anyone.

But the similarity between the actions of the controlling spirit and the symptoms of the patient, as well as the relief obtained by the latter through this removal, indubitably prove the spirit to have been the cause of the disturbance. In many cases the identity of the spirit has been unquestionably authenticated. After this transfer and permanent dislodgment of the obsessing spirit, the patient gradually recovers, although there may be a number of spirits requiring removal from the same patient.

It may be asked why advanced intelligences do not take charge of earthbound spirits and convert them without having them first control a psychic intermediary. Many of these ignorant spirits cannot be reached by the intelligent spirits until they come in contact with physical conditions, when they are compelled to realize their own situation and are then started on the road to progression.

While the control of the Psychic by an ignorant spirit in a circle generally brings the spirit to an understanding and is of interest to the investigator, at the same time groups of other spirits in darkness are brought to profit by the lesson conveyed through the actions of the controlling spirit.

Many controlling spirits act as if demented and are difficult to reason with, this condition being due to false doctrines, fixed ideas and various notions imbibed in physical life. They are often unruly and boisterous, when it is necessary to control them by holding the hands of the psychic to keep them in restraint.

Upon realizing their true condition many spirits experience a sensation of dying, which signifies that they are losing control of the psychic.

Other spirits, again, are in a sleepy stupor, wishing to be left alone, and severe language is at times required to arouse them, as will be observed in the records following. In these records reference is often made to a dungeon in which refractory spirits may be placed, and controlling spirits sometimes complain of having been kept in a dungeon.

Due to a certain psychic law, intelligent spirits have the faculty of placing about an ignorant spirit a condition simulating a prison, an impenetrable, cell-like room from which there is no escape. Herein stubborn spirits must stay seeing nothing but the reflection of their own personalities, their past actions appearing before the mind’s eye until they become repentant and show a willingness to adapt themselves to the new condition and to conform to the spiritual laws of progression.

The nature of Mrs. Wickland’s psychism is that of unconscious trance; her eyes are closed and her own mentality is held in abeyance in a sleep state for the time being. She herself has no recollection of anything that transpires during this period.

Mrs. Wickland is not subject to any negativism between these experiences; she is at all times her rational self, clear minded and positive, and after thirty-five years of psychic work has not suffered impairment or detriment of any kind.

She is constantly protected from the invisible side by the supervision of a group of strong intelligences known as The Mercy Band, which is guiding this work, endeavoring to bring humanity to a realization of the simplicity of the transition called death, and the importance of a rational understanding of what becomes of the spirits.

The purpose of our work has been to obtain reliable and incontestable evidence at first hand regarding after death conditions, and detailed reports of hundreds of experiences have been stenographically made in order to record the exact situation of the communicating intelligences.

Chapter III — Subconscious Mind and Auto-Suggestion Hypotheses Untenable

During thirty years of indefatigable research among the dead such startling conditions have been revealed that it seems incredible intelligent reasoners along other lines of thought could have so long ignored the simple facts, which can so readily be verified. There is utter impossibility of fraud in these experiences; foreign languages, totally unknown to Mrs. Wickland, are spoken, expressions never heard by her are used, while the identity of the controlling spirits has again and again been verified and corroborations innumerable have been made.

On one occasion I conversed with twenty-one different spirits, who spoke through my wife, the majority giving me satisfactory evidence of being certain friends and relatives known to me while they were incarnated. In all, they spoke six different languages, while my wife speaks only Swedish and English.

From one patient, Mrs. A., who was brought to us from Chicago, thirteen different spirits were dislodged and allowed to control Mrs. Wickland,{3} and of these, seven were recognized by the patient’s mother, Mrs. H. W., as relatives or friends well known to her during their earth lives.

One was a minister, formerly pastor of the Methodist church of which Mrs. H. W. was a member, who had been killed in a railroad accident nine years previous, but was still unconscious of the fact; another was her sister-in-law; there were also three elderly women, family friends for years, a neighbor boy and the mother-in-law of the patient—all entirely unknown to Mrs. Wickland.

Mrs. H. W. conversed at length with each one, as they spoke through Mrs. Wickland, verifying innumerable statements made by the spirits and assisted in bringing them to a realization of their changed condition, and of the fact that they had been obsessing her daughter. This patient is today entirely well and actively occupied with social, musical and family affairs.

Another case will show clearly the transfer of psychosis from patient to intermediary, and the impossibility of either subconscious mind or multiple personalities playing any role as far as the psychic is concerned.

One summer evening we were called to the home of Mrs. M., a lady of culture and refinement; she was a musician of high rank and when the social demands made upon her proved too great she suffered a nervous breakdown. She had become intractable and for six weeks had been in such a raving condition that her physicians had been unable to relieve her, and day and night nurses were in constant attendance.

We found the patient sitting up in her bed, crying one minute like a forlorn child, and again screaming in fear: Matilla! Matilla! Then suddenly fighting and struggling, she would talk a wild gibberish of English and Spanish, (the latter a language of which she had no knowledge).

Mrs. Wickland immediately gave her psychic diagnosis, saying the case was unquestionably one of obsession, and this was unexpectedly confirmed when Mrs. Wickland, who was standing at the foot of the bed, with wraps on ready to leave, was found to be suddenly entranced. We placed her on a davenport in the music room, where for two hours I talked in turn with several spirits who had just been attracted from the patient.

There were three spirits—a girl named Mary, her suitor, an American, and his Mexican rival, Matilla. Both of the men had vehemently loved the girl and as fiercely hated each other. In a jealous rage one had killed the girl, and then in a desperate fight the two rivals had killed each other.

All were unaware of being dead, although Mary said, weeping wretchedly: I thought they were going to kill each other, but here they are, still fighting.

This tragedy of love, hatred and jealousy had not ended with physical death; the group had unconsciously been drawn into the psychic atmosphere of the patient, and the violent fighting had continued within her aura. Since her nervous resistance was exceedingly low at this time, one after the other had usurped her physical body, with a resulting disturbance that was unexplainable by her attendants.

With great difficulty the three spirits were convinced that they had lost their physical bodies, but at last they recognized the truth and were taken away by our invisible co-workers.

Meanwhile the patient had arisen, and speaking rationally to the astonished nurse, walked quietly about her room. Presently she said: I am going to sleep well tonight, and returning to bed, fell asleep without the usual sedatives, and rested quietly throughout the night.

The following day, attended by a nurse, she was brought to our home; we dismissed the nurse, discarded her medicines, and after an electrical treatment, the patient had her dinner in the general dining room with the other patients, and that evening attended a function given in our social hall.

Another spirit was removed from her the next day; this was a little girl who had been killed in the