SEANCE WITH MRS. CARRIE M. SAWYER.
Among the strong points in evidence of the genuineness of these
manifestations are the marked individuality and constant variations that
appear. The seances with the same medium will be found to differ widely;
no two of them are exactly alike. Sometimes they will be exceedingly
good, and at other times almost an entire failure. If they were in any
way due to confederates, or to personation by the medium, such
variations would not be likely to occur.
Again, the seances with one medium differ essentially from those with
another; so much so that each medium may be said to have a phase of
mediumship distinct in itself. The forms may appear quite different in
outward shape, when coming through one medium from what they do in
coming through another. The mental characteristics will, however, as I
have found, be retained in both instances. This has often led to
confusion and distrust with those who visit different seances. The
tendency is very strong to give precedence to mere outward appearance,
without reference to character.
In no case is the old adage, "A little learning is a dangerous thing,"
more applicable than to the study of this subject. The shallow
investigators, the touch-and-go people, will, in most cases, find
themselves left in bewilderment and doubt. These things are not to be
settled by witnessing one or two seances. Nor is the character of the
manifestations, as expressed through any medium, to be determined
without considerable experience.
From statements, and especially from the impression I received on my
first interview with Mrs. Sawyer, I was led to expect much from her
seance. My first seance with her was a disappointment, there being
nothing except the delightful interview with little Maud, one of the
"cabinet spirits,"[C] to attract the attention of any one familiar with
these things. It is due her to say, in explanation, that it was her
first seance in Boston, and held under unfavorable conditions.
[C] This term is applied to spirits who appear to be constant
attendants or assistants in the cabinets of mediums for
materialization.
On the 11th of August, I again visited her seance, in company with Mrs.
Fay. The day was very hot, with a close, moist atmosphere, rendering the
seance-room very uncomfortable. The only wonder was that, under such
conditions, there could have been any manifestations whatever. I was
seated on one side of Mrs. Fay, and a friend of hers on the other. This
trio, so to speak, drew the fire of the whole seance; the only strong
and decided manifestations appearing on that side of the circle.
Auntie, Mrs. Fay's control, stood behind us, invisible to all except her
medium, occasionally making remarks in her hoarse, unmistakable voice.
Coming, as the voice did, out of space, with no organized being in sight
to produce it, the effect was at times startling.
A very sprightly spirit came briskly up to Mrs. Fay, extending her
hands, and leading her up to the cabinet, where they conversed for some
time. This was followed by what claimed to be Bertha. She came very
lively, greeting me cordially. The form was very like, and the
expression of character assuring, but, owing to the unusually poor
light and hasty interview, I prefer to withhold conclusions for the
present. More decided in its character was another spirit that followed
soon after. There was a centre-table between me and the cabinet. This
spirit, instead of coming into the middle of the room, passed to the
left, moving the table out, and coming directly to me. This brought her
more in the light, where I had a better opportunity of seeing her. Both
of these spirits appeared to be the exact counterparts of those who had
come to me so often at Mrs. Fay's, but who at other places exhibited a
great deal of variation. Was the close resemblance due to the fact that
Mrs. Fay was sitting by my side? The question is an interesting one,
suggesting further experience.
It may be well to state here that every opportunity was granted for
examining the cabinet, which I did to my entire satisfaction. I also
obtained from the builder a certified statement that it was constructed
of kiln-dried lumber, tongued and grooved, nailed, screwed, and glued
together in such a way as to render it impossible to remove the boards,
or for a confederate to enter it except through the door in the
audience-room, in the presence of the visitors. All were permitted to
inspect it before the medium took her seat. There could be no question
but that the cabinet and its surroundings were above suspicion. This
left me free to study the manifestations purely as materializations, or
personations by the medium. I know that the forms that came to me were
distinct individual beings, and in no instance was I able to discover
any indications that would lead me to suppose that the medium personated
any of the forms.
At the next seance which I visited, on Sept. 15, the weather was again
oppressive, so much so that the seance would have been abandoned had it
not been that some of the visitors, who had come from another State,
were unwilling to give it up. Notwithstanding the excessive heat, the
seance proved a very interesting one.
While little Maud was standing at the curtain talking, there was a
remarkable show of hands and arms above her head. Sometimes six of them
would be moving back and forth outside the curtain at once. About eight
feet from the cabinet, and directly in front of me, so near that I could
have touched it without moving from my seat, appeared a very delicate
little hand and arm. Like a bird that hovers around some object that it
dare not approach too closely, this hand and arm dallied and played
before me for several minutes, visible to all present. On the left side
of the room, more than six feet from the cabinet door, a form
materialized in full view, and came forward and shook hands with a lady
on my right.
While engrossed in these things, I had almost forgotten that my
principal object in being there was to study the form of Bertha as
compared with her appearance at other places. I was aroused from my
meditations by an involuntary shock that almost always warns me of what
is coming. Turning quickly around, I saw what appeared to be Bertha,
gliding from the cabinet. She passed rapidly to the left side of the
room, moving the centre-table and coming directly to me. Throwing her
arms around my neck, she greeted me with, "I love you," and then, with a
frightened expression and half hysterical laugh, she retreated to the
cabinet. This was totally unlike Bertha, who, in her perfectly confiding
and childlike bearing toward me, never felt it necessary to express her
feelings in any such bold declaration. Knowing that there are phantoms
that can take on almost any form they choose, the outward resemblance of
these beings has no weight with me, in the absence of mental
characteristics.
At a seance held by Mrs. Sawyer, Sept. 29, there were present
twenty-five persons, most of whom received more or less attention from
the spirits. Little Maud was very lively and full of witty, playful
remarks. Near the close of the seance, she asked me to come into the
cabinet and try to quiet the medium, who was exhausted in consequence of
having watched with a sick friend the previous night. On entering the
cabinet, I found that Mrs. Sawyer was not entranced, and took hold of
both her hands, endeavoring to give her all the mesmeric strength I
could.
While thus situated, conversing freely with the medium and little Maud
(who was evidently pleased to have me there), a spirit materialized and
went out among the audience. After it returned, another materialized,
and taking my left hand while Mrs. Sawyer held my right, we all three
walked out into the room, some distance from the cabinet, in full view
of all present. This was a new experience for me. To suppose that the
twenty-five honest, intelligent persons who witnessed this were
deceived, or that the appearance of the form was due to a confederate,
is simply absurd. I know it materialized in the cabinet, within reach of
where I sat.
What was claimed by the manager to be Bertha came out, and I gave her a
test to be used by her at another seance.
In following the role of strict investigation, and in honestly relating
what has come to me at these seances, I am forced to state that the
form that appeared on this occasion was not Bertha, and that there was,
as subsequent events proved, an attempt to deceive me. Mrs. Sawyer is a
gentlewoman and a strong medium, but she is surrounded by a coarse
magnetism, the baleful influence of which she seems powerless to
resist.