EXPERIENCES OF ROBERT DALE OWEN THROUGH THE MEDIUMSHIP OF THE AUTHOR.
MOVING A LEDGE OF ROCK ON THE SEA-SHORE--RAPS ON THE WATER, AND IN
THE LIVING WOOD--SEEING THE RAPS--MOVING PONDERABLE BODIES BY
OCCULT AGENCY--CRUCIAL TEST--A HEAVY DINNER-TABLE SUSPENDED IN
THE AIR BY OCCULT AGENCY.
I will here introduce some interesting extracts from Robert Dale Owen,
relating to some of his personal experiences with me, which will speak
for themselves:
I.
MOVING A LEDGE OF ROCK ON THE SEA-SHORE.
"On the twenty-fourth of August, 1861, I accepted an invitation, from
Mr. Samuel B. Underhill, of New Rochelle, a sea-side village on the
shore of Long Island Sound, to spend the next day with him, in company
with Mr. and Mrs. Underhill (their near relatives).
"On the afternoon of August 25, Mr. S. B. Underhill drove us out in his
carriage, through the picturesque country adjoining the village; the
party consisting of Mr. S. B. Underhill and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. D.
Underhill, and myself.[14]
[14] Mrs. S. B. Underhill was a sister of my husband, and a full
believer in Spiritualism. There was no relationship between Mr.
S. B. and Mr. D. Underhill. It had simply happened that his
sister had married a gentleman of her own name with whom she
had no tie of kin.
"In the course of the drive, coming near the shore of the Sound, at a
point where there were long ledges of rock slanting down into the
water, it suddenly suggested itself to me that here was an excellent
opportunity for a crucial test. I inquired of Mrs. Underhill if she had
ever tried to obtain raps on the sea-shore. 'No,' she said; she never
had.
"'Do you think we can get them here?' I asked. 'I have never found any
place where they could not be had,' she replied; 'so I dare say we can.'
Thereupon there were three raps--the conventional sign of assent--from
the bottom of the carriage.
"So we drove down to the beach, and got out to test the matter. The
portion of rock whither we repaired was not an isolated block, detached
from the rest, but part of a large, flat mass of rock, covering at least
half an acre, and running back into a bluff bank that rose beyond it;
there were also several underlying ledges. We were about thirty feet
from the sea and, as there was a moderate breeze, the surf broke on the
rocks below us.
"But yet, standing on the ledge beside Mrs. Underhill, and asking for
the raps, I heard them quite distinctly above the noise produced by the
surf. This was several times repeated, with the same result.
"Then Mrs. Underhill and Mrs. S. B. Underhill sat down, and I, stepping
on a lower ledge, laid my ear on the ledge on which the ladies were
sitting and repeated my request. In a few seconds the raps were heard by
me from within the substance of the rock and immediately beneath my ear.
"I then sought to verify the matter by the sense of touch. Placing my
hand on the same ledge, a few feet from Mrs. Underhill, and asking for
the raps, when these came audibly, I felt, simultaneously with each
rap, a slight but _unmistakably distinct vibration or concussion of the
rock_. It was sufficiently marked to indicate to me a rap, once or
twice, when a louder roll of the surf for a moment drowned the sound.
"Without making any remark as to what I felt, I asked Mr. U. to put
his hand on the ledge. 'Why!' he suddenly exclaimed, 'the whole rock
vibrates!' During all this time Mrs. Underhill sat, as far as I could
judge, in complete repose."--"Debatable Land," p. 346.
II.
RAPS ON THE WATER AND IN THE LIVING WOOD.
"On the tenth of July, 1861, I joined a few friends in an excursion from
the city of New York, by steamboat, to the Highlands of Neversink; Mr.
and Mrs. Underhill being of the party.
"It occurred to me, while sitting on deck by Mrs. Underhill, to ask if
we could have the raps there. Instantly they were distinctly heard,
first from the deck, and then I heard them, and quite plainly _felt
them_, on the wooden stool on which I sat. In the afternoon our party
went out in a sailing boat, fifteen or twenty feet long. There, again at
my suggestion, we had them, sounding from under the floor of the boat.
It had a centre-board, or sliding keel, and we had raps from within the
long, narrow box that inclosed it. At any part of this box where we
called for the raps, we obtained them.
"In the evening we ascended a hill, back of the hotel, to the Highland
light-house. In returning and passing through a wood on the hill-side, I
proposed to try if we could have raps from the ground; and immediately I
plainly heard them from beneath the ground on which we trod: it was a
dull sound, as of blows struck on the earth. Then I asked Mrs. Underhill
to touch one of the trees with the tips of her fingers, and, applying my
ear to the tree, I beard the raps from beneath the bark. Other persons
of our party verified this as I had done.
"In returning, next morning, on another steamer, we had raps on the
hand-rail of the upper promenade deck, and also from within a small
metal boat that was turned upside down, on the deck below.
"Notes of these experiments were taken immediately on my return to New
York."--Owen's "Debatable Land," p. 345.
III.
SEEING THE RAPS.
"It was during an evening session at Mr. Underhill's, February 22, 1860.
Besides Mr. and Mrs. Underhill, Kate Fox, and myself, there were present
Mr. Underhill's aged father and mother; venerable examples of the plain,
primitive Quakers, both of whom took the deepest interest in the
proceedings.
"By request, through the raps, the gas was extinguished and we joined
hands.
"Very soon lights were seen floating about the room, apparently
phosphorescent. At first they were small, just visible, but gradually
they became larger, attaining the size and general outline of hands;
but I could not distinguish any fingers. These lights usually showed
themselves first behind and between Leah and Kate, near the floor. Then
they rose; sometimes remaining near Leah's head, sometimes near her
sister's. One of them was nearly as large as a human head. None of these
touched me, though one approached within a few inches. Another made
circles in the air just above our heads. After floating about for a
brief space, they usually seemed to return either to Leah or Kate.
"While the hands of the circle remained joined, I looked under the
table[15] and saw lights, as many as ten or twelve times, on or near the
floor, and moving about. Once, while I was looking intently at such a
light, about as large as a small fist, it rose and fell, as a hammer
would with which one was striking against the floor. At each stroke a
loud rap was heard in connection. It was exactly as if _an invisible
hand held an illuminated hammer and pounded with it_. Then, desiring
conscious proof of what I saw was not by human agency, I asked
_mentally_, 'Will the Spirit strike with that light three times?'
which was done forthwith; and then, after an interval, repeated.
[15] This is literally exact that Mr. Owen "looked under the
table," but it omits to say _how_; and I the more readily
supply that omission, because he himself, after his book was
published, expressed regret that, in his cultivation of
brevity, he had not explained himself more fully. To speak of
having looked under a table rather suggests the idea of having
stooped down for that purpose. The following was exactly the
way in which it passed. Mr. Owen desired to look under it and
thought of so doing, when the table, which was _an
extension-table_, opened itself, its two halves being drawn
apart, so as to enable him to see through as well as under it,
through the wide opening thus made--evidently by the Spirits
who had seen his thought. As this was a distinct phenomenal
fact (and one not without its interest) Mr. Owen regretted
afterward that he had not stated it precisely as it had
occurred.
"When, a second time, the light was seen and I was noticing the
corresponding sounds, some one said, 'Can you make it softer?'
"Almost instantly I saw the light diminish and strike the
floor, at intervals, with a soft and muffled sound, just
distinguishable."--"Debatable Land," p. 348.
IV.
MOVING PONDERABLE BODIES BY OCCULT AGENCY.
"'When they came to Jordan, they cut down wood. But as one was felling
a beam, the axe head fell into the water; and he cried, and said (to
Elisha), 'Alas, master!' for it was borrowed. And the man of God said,
'Where fell it?' And he showed him the place. And he cut down a stick,
and cast it thither; and the iron did swim.' (2 Kings vi. 4-6.)
"The raising from the ground of weighty substances, or the moving of
these from place to place, is one of the most common, and most easily
verified, of physical manifestations. I have elsewhere given many
examples of it. (See 'Footfalls on the Boundary of Another World.') Here
I shall add but two or three out of the numerous cases that have come
under my eye during Spiritual sessions.
"A most satisfactory test of the power, by occult agency, to raise
ponderous substances was suggested to me by that practical thinker, the
late Robert Chambers, the well-known author and publisher, during his
visit to the United States, in the autumn of 1860; and we carried it out
on the thirteenth of October of that year.
"On the evening of that day we had a sitting in Mrs. Underhill's
dining-room; there being present Mr. and Mrs. Underhill, Kate Fox, Mr.
Chambers, and myself. In this room we found an extension dinner-table of
solid mahogany, capable of seating fourteen persons. This we contracted
to the form of a centre-table, and, having procured a large steelyard,
we found that it weighed in that form a hundred and twenty-one pounds.
We suspended this table by the steelyard, in exact equipoise and about
eight inches from the floor. Then we sat down by it; and while our
experiment proceeded, Mrs. Underhill sat with the points of both feet
touching one of mine and Kate in the same relation to Mr. Chambers. This
was done at their suggestion, so as to afford us proof that they had no
physical agency in the matter. Their hands were over the table, near the
top, but not touching it. There was bright gas-light. Thus we were able
to obtain a
CRUCIAL TEST,
the table remaining suspended, with the constant weight at the figure
of 121. We asked that it might be made lighter. In a few seconds the
long arm ascended. We moved the weight to the figure 100: it still
ascended; then to 80; then to 60. Even at this last figure the smaller
arm of the steelyard was somewhat depressed, showing that the table,
for the moment, weighed less than sixty pounds. It had _lost more than
half its weight_, namely, upward of sixty-one pounds. In other words
there was a power equal to sixty-one pounds sustaining it. Then we
asked that it might be made heavier; and it was so; first, as the
figures indicated, to 130, and finally to a hundred and forty-four
pounds.
"The change of weight continued, in each instance, from three to eight
seconds, as we ascertained by our watches; and during the whole time the
ladies maintained the same position of feet and hands; Mr. Underhill not
approaching the table.
"We had given Mr. Underhill no notice of our intention to ask for this
experiment. The heavy steelyard was bought for the occasion from a
hardware-store in the neighborhood. How much a Jewish axe-head commonly
weighed, in the days of Elisha, I know not; it could be but a few
pounds. Our miracle (dynamics) exceeded that of the prophet, as far as
regards the weight of the body that was made lighter. But the Hebrew
seer was at a greater distance from the object raised than were our
mediums. On the evening just preceding that on which we tried the above
experiment I had a sitting at Mr. Underhill's, with very satisfactory
result."
A HEAVY DINNER-TABLE SUSPENDED IN THE AIR WITHOUT CONTACT.
"Our session was on the evening of October 12, 1860, lasting from
half-past nine till eleven.[16] It was held in the same room and at the
same table before mentioned, and by gas-light. Present, Mr. and Mrs.
Underhill, Kate Fox, Mr. Harrison Gray Dyer, of New York, and myself.
We had very loud rappings, from various parts of the room and on the
chairs. Then, while our hands were on the table, it began to move,
sometimes with a rotary motion, sometimes rising up on one side, until
finally it rose from the floor all but one leg. Then we sought to induce
it to rise entirely from the floor. After (what seemed) strenuous
efforts, almost successful, to rise, we aided it by each putting a
single finger under it; and, with this slight assistance, it rose into
the air and remained suspended during six or seven seconds.
[16] We found, by repeated trials, that our experiments
succeeded better when we sat at a late hour, after the servants
had gone to bed, when the house and the streets were quiet.
"After a time we asked whether, if we removed our fingers from the
table-top, while it was in the air, it could still remain suspended; and
the reply (by rapping) being in the affirmative, after aiding it to rise
as before, we withdrew our fingers entirely, raising them above it. The
table then remained, nearly level, suspended without any human support
whatever, during the space of five or six seconds; and then gradually
settled down, without jar or sudden dropping, to the floor.
"Then, anxious to advance a step further, we asked if the table could
not be raised from the floor without any aid or contact whatever. The
reply being in the affirmative, we stood up and placed all our hands
over it, at the distance of three or four inches from the table-top:
when it rose of itself, following our hands as we gradually raised
them, till it hung in the air about the same distance from the floor
as before. There it remained six or seven seconds, preserving its
horizontal, and almost as steady as when it rested on the ground; then
it slowly descended, still preserving the horizontal, until the feet
reached the carpet. As before, there was no jar or sudden dropping.
"The same experiment was repeated next evening in the presence of Robert
Chambers, after we had completed our tests with the steelyard; and with
exactly the same results. At first, as before, we raised it on our
fingers; then, withdrawing them, it remained in the air six or seven
seconds. On the second trial it rose entirely without contact, remaining
suspended for about the same space. It should here be remarked that we
were in the habit, during these experiments, of moving the table to
different parts of the room, and of looking under it from time to time.
"Upon the whole I consider this moving of physical objects to be as
conclusively established, in its ultramundane aspect, as the Spirit
rap. A hundred and twenty pound dinner-table is no trifle to lift. The
conditions exclude the possibility of concealed machinery. And by what
conceivable bodily effort, undetectable by watchful bystanders, can two
or three assistants heave from the ground, maintain in the air, and then
drop slowly to the floor, so ponderous a weight, with their hands the
while in full view, under broad gas-light? No one in his senses, and
believing in his senses, can witness what I have witnessed, and yet
remain a sceptic in this matter."--"Debatable Land," p. 361.