Month: June 2021

CHAPTER FIFTEEN,RED CLOUD In setting down some of the experiences of my fourscore years, I have done so at Red Cloud’s request in order to “leave behind for incoming generations a great reality to comfort the mourner.” The reality to which he refers is, of course, eternal, that we cannot die because our spirits are immortal. For that reason the greater part of this book is devoted to examples of evidence of survival, for without acceptance of this central fact the whole edifice of religious faith must fall down. The…

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Take his view about free will, for instance. He insists that a man has complete freedom of will, this only being limited by state of mind to which he has risen, and that illumination as to what is right and which is wrong may come to him at any time. One is glad to have his support for our own intuition of the freedom of will, though psychologists mostly take the view that this freedom is very limited, and some are even now still wedded to the doctrines of strict…

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When Mrs. Roberts goes into trance her own personality simply disappears and that of Red Cloud takes its place. The personality of Red Cloud is a marked one. He is dominating and, at the same time, a very attractive character. Not only does he take charge of proceedings at the voice circles, speaking and commenting between the voices in a most intelligent and often humorous way, but on the occasions when he speaks through the medium in trance, he gives addresses on all sorts of subjects. At these meetings there…

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In this connection it is interesting to note how easily a circle is upset if the atmosphere is at all strained. Red Cloud is always urging us during the sittings not to get tense. As a matter of fact, he often uses a little dance with the trumpet instead of telling us this, and experienced sitters know what he means. A too highly emotional atmosphere, whether hostile or the reverse, also seems detrimental to the ease with which the communications can be effected. Furthermore, it does not do to press…

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It is perfectly true, as a speaker said on the wireless the other day, “when people meet in ordinary circles in the dark they cannot really observe what is going on,” but it is the content of the messages which is the crux of the matter, not the supernormal lifting of the trumpet or the mode of production of the voices. As regard the supernormal lifting of the trumpet, anyone who has studied the evidence knows that telekinesis (the supernormal movement of objects) and materialization are facts no longer capable…

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I have listened to the voices of old people and of children, and also of well-known public men, who have passed on, conversing in distinctive tones with their friends at the circle.The popular explanation of these occurrences, as being due to fraud on the part of the medium and credulity on the part of the sitters, is obviously nonsense. It would invoke the ability of the medium, or possible confederates, to see in the dark – to be able to act all sorts of characters and ventriloquize in the dark,…

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Among the various minor points that are deemed requisite for a good sitting is a gramophone record. A little tune from Rose Marie, played with a specially soft needle, has been found the best. The voices that manifest can thus be heard easily. After Red Cloud has greeted the sitters and conversed for a short time, he will exclaim, “Hold on!” This means that he is going to get someone else to speak through the trumpet. Another voice is soon heard, usually calling a name. Sitters are warned before the…

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My first meeting with Mrs. Estelle Roberts was some years ago when paying a professional visit to her house. Subsequently I had several very interesting conversations with her on the subject of the spirits that she claimed to see. As a medical man, of course, one not infrequently comes across people who are the victims of hallucinations. No doubt I ought to have at once suspected some mental derangement. No such idea however entered my mind. Mrs. Roberts was altogether too sane and sensible a person and not in the…

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CHAPTER FOURTEEN,THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STORY In the pages you have read I have tried to give a picture of the life of a practicing medium. For reasons I have already explained – because I have no recollection of what transpired during trance séance, and because I deliberately try to erase from my mind after sittings for clairvoyance or psychometry and personal messages I have relayed – comparatively little of what I have written is founded only on memory. I am fortunate, however, in possessing, a vast number of…

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But Polly wouldn’t listen. It couldn’t be true that Tony was dead – everyone was sure he was a prisoner. Mrs. Roberts had made a mistake! She had been stupid to come. She went home – angry that she had wasted her time going to Esher and yet at the same time very depressed. At Littlewood there were so many little things which had to be done which hurt her almost unbearably. Ronald’s clothes to be put away – the black suites with a white stripe which he had always…

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Looking back, I realize what a sad and tragic moment this must have been for “Polly.” Her son, Ronald, a brilliant young man with a distinguished parliamentary career before him, had shortly before been killed in action. Meanwhile her younger son, Tony, was reported missing. There was, however, reason to believe that Tony had not been killed but was a prisoner-of-war and, mother-like, Polly clung heroically to this hope. These were the circumstances which led to Polly’s visit to me. For the details of our sitting I quote Barbara Cartland’s…

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