Fifty Years a Medium – Chapter 11, 9/12 by Estelle Roberts

Poor Barbanell! There he was in Blackburn, in Bessy’s home town, and he had not told her dramatic story. With many of the audience having known Bessy in life, it would have created a sensation!

Maurice Barbanell has a keen sense of humour and I know that he would be the first to appreciate this story, told to me by one of the sitters in a voice séance. The greatest drawback to any good direct voice communication is tension. Once Red Cloud had brought a poor soul who was trying desperately hard to speak but the atmosphere grew so tense he had to abandon his effort.
John, as Red Cloud calls Barbanell, said “Red Cloud, we will pray for him.” Renowned for his repartee and wishing to uplift the sitters Red Cloud laughingly replied, “John, charity begins at home!” In the laughter that followed the atmosphere was relaxed and after a short while the communicator tried again and was able to make contact.

There have been in my experience many cases like that of Bessy Manning which are the direct results of prayer. One occurred at a Royal Albert Hall meeting when Red Cloud gave me a message for a man with a name I thought I recognized.

As the message was of a delicate and private nature I made no mention of it to the audience but noted it for later attention. After the meeting I inquired about the name which had sounded familiar and was not surprised to learn that it belonged to a prominent Member of Parliament.

I asked the stewards whether this gentlemen or his wife had been present, but nobody could tell me. In a quandary I telephoned Maurice Barbanell. He volunteered to tell the people concerned of the existence of this spirit message from their daughter. In less than ten minutes the wife was on the telephone to me and I delivered the message.

Thanking me for it, she confessed: “My husband and I were in the auditorium. I prayed every minute we were there, prayed with every fibre of my being, that we might receive a message from our child. Thank you, oh thank you, for what you have done.”

Another communication within this category came at a public voice séance I gave at the Kingsway Hall, London. The details came from Mrs. Gertrude Brooke of Cricklewood, who was present at the meeting and directly concerned with what happened afterwards.

During the séance Red Cloud announced that a young nurse in the spirit world would give her own evidence. A voice was then heard to say: “My name is Olive May Mann. I was a nurse at the Leicester Infirmary. I was killed on my bicycle while riding with other nurses. My mother lives at Tansley, near Matlock. Please tell her I live on still, but that I cannot be happy until she stops grieving. She has been to a Spiritualist church and has prayed that I will give some sign of my survival.”

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