_Question_. Have you investigated Spiritualism, and what has been
your experience?
_Answer_. A few years ago I paid some attention to what is called
Spiritualism, and was present when quite mysterious things were
supposed to have happened. The most notable seance that I attended
was given by Slade, at which slate-writing was done. Two slates
were fastened together, with a pencil between them, and on opening
the slates certain writing was found. When the writing was done
it was impossible to tell. So, I have been present when it was
claimed that certain dead people had again clothed themselves in
flesh and were again talking in the old way. In one instance, I
think, George Washington claimed to be present. On the same evening
Shakespeare put in an appearance. It was hard to recognize
Shakespeare from what the spirit said, still I was assured by the
medium that there was no mistake as to the identity.
_Question_. Can you offer any explanation of the extraordinary
phenomena such as Henry J. Newton has had produced at his own house
under his own supervision?
_Answer_. In the first place, I don't believe that anything such
as you describe has ever happened. I do not believe that a medium
ever passed into and out of a triple-locked iron cage. Neither do
I believe that any spirits were able to throw shoes and wraps out
of the cage; neither do I believe that any apparitions ever rose
from the floor, or that anything you relate has ever happened.
The best explanation I can give of these wonderful occurrences is
the following: A little boy and girl were standing in a doorway
holding hands. A gentleman passing, stopped for a moment and said
to the little girl: "What relation is the little boy to you?" and
she replied, "We had the same father and we had the same mother,
but I am not his sister and he is not my brother." This at first
seemed to be quite a puzzle, but it was exceedingly plain when the
answer was known: The little girl lied.
_Question_. Have you had any experience with spirit photography,
spirit physicians, or spirit lawyers?
_Answer_. I was shown at one time several pictures said to be the
photographs of living persons surrounded by the photographs of
spirits. I examined them very closely, and I found evidence in
the photographs themselves that they were spurious. I took it for
granted that light is the same everywhere, and that it obeys the
angle of incidence in all worlds and at all times. In looking at
the spirit photographs I found, for instance, that in the photograph
of the living person the shadows fell to the right, and that in
the photographs of the ghosts, or spirits, supposed to have been
surrounding the living person at the time the picture was taken,
the shadows did not fall in the same direction, sometimes in the
opposite direction, never at the same angle even when the general
direction was the same. This demonstrated that the photographs of
the spirits and of the living persons were not taken at the same
time. So much for photographs.
I have had no experience with spirit physicians. I was once told
by a lawyer who came to employ me in a will case, that a certain
person had made a will giving a large amount of money for the
purpose of spreading the gospel of Spiritualism, but that the will
had been lost and than an effort was then being made to find it,
and they wished me to take certain action pending the search, and
wanted my assistance. I said to him: "If Spiritualism be true,
why not ask the man who made the will what it was and also what
has become of it. If you can find that out from the departed, I
will gladly take a retainer in the case; otherwise, I must decline."
I have had no other experience with the lawyers.
_Question_. If you were to witness phenomena that seemed inexplicable
by natural laws, would you be inclined to favor Spiritualism?
_Answer_. I would not. If I should witness phenomena that I could
not explain, I would leave the phenomena unexplained. I would not
explain them because I did not understand them, and say they were
or are produced by spirits. That is no explanation, and, after
admitting that we do not know and that we cannot explain, why should
we proceed to explain? I have seen Mr. Kellar do things for which
I cannot account. Why should I say that he has the assistance of
spirits? All I have a right to say is that I know nothing about
how he does them. So I am compelled to say with regard to many
spiritualistic feats, that I am ignorant of the ways and means.
At the same time, I do not believe that there is anything supernatural
in the universe.
_Question_. What is your opinion of Spiritualism and Spiritualists?
_Answer_. I think the Spiritualism of the present day is certainly
in advance of the Spiritualism of several centuries ago. Persons
who now deny Spiritualism and hold it in utter contempt insist that
some eighteen or nineteen centuries ago it had possession of the
world; that miracles were of daily occurrence; that demons, devils,
fiends, took possession of human beings, lived in their bodies,
dominated their minds. They believe, too, that devils took possession
of the bodies of animals. They also insist that a wish could
multiply fish. And, curiously enough, the Spiritualists of our
time have but little confidence in the phenomena of eighteen hundred
years ago; and, curiously enough, those who believe in the Spiritualism
of eighteen hundred years ago deny the Spiritualism of to-day. I
think the Spiritualists of to-day have far more evidence of their
phenomena than those who believe in the wonderful things of eighteen
centuries ago. The Spiritualists of to-day have living witnesses,
which is something. I know a great many Spiritualists that are
exceedingly good people, and are doing what they can to make the
world better. But I think they are mistaken.
_Question_. Do you believe in spirit entities, whether manifestible
or not?
_Answer_. I believe there is such a thing as matter. I believe
there is a something called force. The difference between force
and matter I do not know. So there is something called consciousness.
Whether we call consciousness an entity or not makes no difference
as to what it really is. There is something that hears, sees and
feels, a something that takes cognizance of what happens in what
we call the outward world. No matter whether we call this something
matter or spirit, it is something that we do not know, to say the
least of it, all about. We cannot understand what matter is. It
defies us, and defies definitions. So, with what we call spirit,
we are in utter ignorance of what it is. We have some little
conception of what we mean by it, and of what others mean, but as
to what it really is no one knows. It makes no difference whether
we call ourselves Materialists or Spiritualists, we believe in all
there is, no matter what you call it. If we call it all matter,
then we believe that matter can think and hope and dream. If we
call it all spirit, then we believe that spirit has force, that it
offers a resistance; in other words, that it is, in one of its
aspects, what we call matter. I cannot believe that everything
can be accounted for by motion or by what we call force, because
there is something that recognizes force. There is something that
compares, that thinks, that remembers; there is something that
suffers and enjoys; there is something that each one calls himself
or herself, that is inexplicable to himself or herself, and it
makes no difference whether we call this something mind or soul,
effect or entity, it still eludes us, and all the words we have
coined for the purpose of expressing our knowledge of this something,
after all, express only our desire to know, and our efforts to
ascertain. It may be that if we would ask some minister, some one
who has studied theology, he would give us a perfect definition.
The scientists know nothing about it, and I know of no one who
does, unless it be a theologian.
--_The Globe-Democrat_, St. Louis, Mo., 1893.
[Illustration]
_Chatham Street Theater, New York City, N. Y., where Robert G.
Ingersoll was baptized in 1836 by his father, the Rev. John Ingersoll,
who temporarily preached at the theatre, his church having been
destroyed by fire_.