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[Illustration: THE PAD THAT "BLINDFOLDS" THE YOGI
The above is a photograph of the actual porous plaster and pads produced
by YOGA RAMA as a means of "blindfolding." The plaster is seen exactly
as it was when taken off by Mr. WILLIAM MARRIOTT. It will be seen that
the pads have shifted, allowing comparatively clear vision with one eye.
The tissue paper, making the plaster non-adhesive, will also be noticed.
[_Page 52_]
TELEPATHY
GENUINE AND FRAUDULENT
BY
W. W. BAGGALLY
MEMBER OF THE COUNCIL OF THE SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH
WITH A PREFACE BY
SIR OLIVER LODGE, F.R.S.
METHUEN & CO. LTD.
36 ESSEX STREET W.C.
LONDON
_First Published in 1917_
PREFATORY NOTE
My friend, Mr. W. W. Baggally, an experienced investigator of
supernormal phenomena, has set down some of his experiences in connexion
with the subject of Telepathy, and I heartily commend his book to the
public as the record of a careful, conscientious, and exceptionally
skilled and critical investigator. It would be difficult to find anyone
more competent by training and capacity to examine into the genuineness
of these subtle and elusive phenomena, which yet are of the utmost
importance in the development of psychological science. Telepathy, or
the direct action of mind on mind apart from the ordinary channels of
sense, opens a new chapter; it is not a coping-stone completing an
erection, but a foundation-stone on which to build.
OLIVER J. LODGE
CONTENTS
PART I
GENUINE TELEPATHY
PAGE
Experimental Telepathy 1
Spontaneous Telepathy 18
Telepathy between Human Beings and Animals 30
PART II
FRAUDULENT TELEPATHY
Accounts of Cases 35
Description of Various Methods used by Public
Performers for effecting their So-called
Transmission of Thought 57
PART III
THE ZANCIGS
Public Experiments 68
Private Experiments 70
Experiments before Committees 82
Importance of establishing Genuine Telepathy
as a Scientific Fact 92
TELEPATHY
PART I
GENUINE TELEPATHY
Sir William F. Barrett, one of the founders of the Society for Psychical
Research, more than forty years ago tried some experiments which led him
to believe that something then new to science, which he provisionally
called "thought transference" and which is now known as "telepathy,"
really existed.
At the first general meeting of the Society, on the 17th July 1882, he
read a paper entitled "First Report on Mind Reading."
Since that date the Society has carried out a great number of
experiments which tend to show that telepathy is a scientific fact. The
evidence for its existence is twofold--that which can be gathered
experimentally, and that which arises spontaneously. To the first
category belong those experiments in the transmission of the images of
drawings or diagrams by means of an effort of the will of a person known
as the _agent_ to the mind of another person designated the
_percipient_, when the transmission is carried out otherwise than
through the ordinary channel of the senses. To the second category
belong those hallucinations of seeing a person at the moment of death or
at a crisis, evidence for which has been obtained abundantly by the
Society for Psychical Research and has been embodied in the work
_Phantasms of the Living_, and in the _Census of Hallucinations_--a
report on which appeared in the _Proceedings_ of the Society in 1894.
There are several theories to explain the action of telepathy. The first
compares it to wireless telegraphy. On this hypothesis it is supposed
that it is due to ethereal wave action:--Thought causes motion in the
brain cells of the agent, the cells then impart motion to the
surrounding ether in the form of waves which impinge on the brain cells
of the percipient and give rise to a corresponding thought to that which
started the ethereal wave motion.
This theory offers great difficulties. An opponent to it points out that
"A wireless message is transmitted by a succession of single ethereal
wave impulses produced by the electric sparks at the starting station
and received by the coherer at the receiving station, whereas a diagram
to be transmitted would require a number of brain-waves produced
simultaneously and arranged in the form of the diagram."
Another mode of putting the matter recently advanced is that the agent
does not transmit his thought, but that the percipient reads
clairvoyantly what is in the agent's mind.
There is also the spiritualistic theory. It is asserted that an external
entity, or spirit, conveys the images or thoughts from one mind to
another.
Another theory is that telepathy takes place in the subconscious mind,
and that the subconscious mind of the agent is in communication with
the subconscious mind of the percipient by means of the universal mind
underlying all things and of which individual subconscious minds form
part.
Not one of these theories has been accepted as proved by the Society for
Psychical Research. In cases of spontaneous telepathy it is now
generally believed that the appearance of a person at the time of death
or at a crisis is not caused by an objective bodily ghost, but arises
from a telepathic impact from the agent formulating itself into his
image in the mind of the percipient.
In the case of two persons seeing an apparition at the same time, this
may be due to the two percipients receiving each, separately, a
telepathic impression, or there may be only one percipient who
telepathically impresses the hallucination on the mind of the second
person.
I will now proceed to relate some cases of telepathy which have come
under my personal observation. My first experiment in the transmission
of images of drawings and diagrams took place in the rooms of the
Society for Psychical Research in May 1902. A private lady, Miss M.
Telbin, acted as percipient, and I acted as agent. There were present at
the time Mr. J. G. Piddington, Honorary Secretary of the Society, and
Mr. Thomas, the then Acting Secretary.
During the first experiment Miss Telbin, who was a stranger to me, sat
with her back towards a large opaque screen. In front of her stood a
small table upon which rested a crystal ball. She was asked to gaze at
the crystal and to describe any vision that might appear to form itself
therein. I may parenthetically remark that the object of crystal-gazing
is to concentrate the mind and to withdraw it from outward influences.
The vision seen in the crystal does not exist objectively, but only in
the mind of the seer. On the other side of the screen, entirely hidden
from the view of Miss Telbin, sat Mr. Piddington and myself. This
gentleman proceeded to take from a box, which was behind the screen and
on the floor between his and my chairs, various articles, and to hand
them silently, one at a time, to me. I then concentrated my thoughts
successively on each article. Miss Telbin gave an account of what she
saw in the crystal, and Mr. Thomas, who sat in such a position that both
Mr. Piddington and myself were hidden from his view, took notes of what
occurred.
The first article handed me was a _Windsor Magazine_, on the cover of
which there was an engraving of Windsor Castle. I concentrated my
thoughts on this engraving, and Miss Telbin then gave a description of
the vision that presented itself to her mental view.
She first observed that she could see trees on the left side of the
picture, and cottages also on the left, and that there was water.
These details were correct so far as they went, but the subsequent
details that she gave were incorrect, and the experiment was abandoned
as a failure. I then replaced the magazine in the box from which it had
been taken, so that Miss Telbin had no opportunity of seeing the
magazine during the experiment nor after.
Other experiments were being tried when Miss Telbin spontaneously said
that she had had a vision of Windsor Castle.
This experiment may be regarded as a case of deferred telepathy.
Another experiment with the same lady, in which simultaneous double
telepathy occurred, is of better evidential value.
Miss Telbin again sat with her back to the screen, and instead of the
crystal a piece of paper and a pencil were placed on the table in front
of her.
This time Mr. Thomas and I sat behind the screen hidden from her view,
and Mr. J. G. Piddington took notes. Mr. Thomas and I acted as
simultaneous agents. We each held a small piece of cardboard with a
diagram on it known to the agent viewing it, but not to the other agent.
These diagrams belonged to the Society for Psychical Research and had
not been seen by Mr. Thomas nor by me previous to the experiment. They
were in a box which was at our feet behind the screen. We each took a
diagram from the box, taking care that we did not see each other's
diagram.
We concentrated our minds on our respective diagrams, and Miss Telbin
drew her impressions on the piece of paper in front of her. The
following drawings show the results:--
[Illustration:
MR. BAGGALLY'S
DIAGRAM.
MISS TELBIN'S
DRAWING.
MR. THOMAS'S
DIAGRAM.
MISS TELBIN'S
DRAWING.]
At the time that Miss Telbin got the impression of the diagram with
three sections, she made the remark that it looked like three leaves.
The correspondence between the drawings and the diagrams is very great,
and difficult to account for by chance.
The following points have to be considered. First, that Miss Telbin only
made two drawings and not many from which two might have been selected
in which there was a resemblance to the diagrams. Secondly, that Mr.
Thomas's diagram was correctly reproduced although in a reversed
position (the reversal of a figure sometimes happens in experiments in
telepathy). Thirdly, that my diagram of three triangles, although not
reproduced in the form of triangles, was drawn correctly as regards
there being three sections, and that the relative position of the
sections was given correctly. Fourthly, that Miss Telbin had not
previously seen any of the diagrams, and therefore the chances against
her being able to hit upon any diagram which was then being used were
very great. Fifthly, that the chances against her being able to hit upon
two diagrams simultaneously were even greater.
The explanation that the result might have been due to collusion between
the persons experimenting of course cannot be entertained, at least by
myself, who was one of the experimenters.
It was not possible for the percipient to see through the large screen
which was behind her, and there were no mirrors in the room in which the
small diagrams could have been reflected. No word was spoken to give her
the slightest clue. These two successful telepathic experiments led to
further ones at a distance between this lady and myself.
It will be of interest to insert here an account of an experiment in
telepathy, similar to the one I have just described, between two agents
and one percipient, which Sir Oliver Lodge carried out in the year 1884.
When the experiment was tried with Miss Telbin, Mr. Thomas, and myself I
was not aware that Sir Oliver Lodge had already tried an experiment of a
like nature.
SIR OLIVER LODGE'S ACCOUNT
"My own first actual experience of thought transference, or
experimental telepathy, was obtained in the years 1883 and
1884 at Liverpool, when I was invited by Mr. Malcolm Guthrie
of that city to join in an investigation which he was
conducting with the aid of one or two persons who had turned
out to be sensitive, from among the employees of the large
drapery firm of George Henry Lee & Co.
"A large number of these experiments had been conducted
before I was asked to join, throughout the spring and autumn
of 1883, but it is better for me to adhere strictly to my own
experience and to relate only those experiments over which I
had control.
"Most of these experiments were confirmations of the kind of
thing that had been observed by other experimenters. But one
experiment which I tried was definitely novel, and, as it
seems to me, important; since it clearly showed that when two
agents are acting, each contributes to the effect, and that
the result is due, not to one alone, but to both combined.
The experiment is thus described by me in the columns of
_Nature_, vol. xxx., page 145, for 12th June 1884:--
"_An Experiment in Thought Transference_
"Those of your readers who are interested in the
subject of thought transference, now being
investigated, may be glad to hear of a little
experiment which I recently tried here. The series
of experiments was originated and carried on in
this city by Mr. Malcolm Guthrie, and he has
prevailed on me, on Dr. Herdman, and on one or two
other more or less scientific witnesses, to be
present on several occasions, critically to examine
the conditions, and to impose any fresh ones that
we thought desirable. I need not enter into
particulars, but I will just say that the
conditions under which apparent transference of
thought occurs from one or more persons,
steadfastly thinking, to another in the same room
blindfold and wholly disconnected from the others,
seem to me absolutely satisfactory, and such as to
preclude the possibility of conscious collusion on
the one hand or unconscious muscular indication on
the other.
"One evening last week--after two thinkers, or
agents, had been several times successful in
instilling the idea of some object or drawing, at
which they were looking, into the mind of the
blindfold person, or percipient--I brought into the
room a double opaque sheet of thick paper with a
square drawn on one side and a St. Andrew's cross
or X on the other, and silently arranged it between
the two agents so that each looked on one side
without any notion of what was on the other. The
percipient was not informed in any way that a novel
modification was being made; and, as usual, there
was no contact of any sort or kind--a clear space
of several feet existing between each of the three
people. I thought that by this variation I should
decide whether one of the two agents was more
active than the other; or, supposing them about
equal, whether two ideas in two separate minds
could be fused into one by the percipient.
"In a very short time the percipient made the
following remarks, every one else being silent:
'The thing won't keep still.' 'I seem to see things
moving about.' 'First I see a thing up there, and
then one down there.' 'I can't see either
distinctly.' The object was then hidden, and the
percipient was told to take off the bandage and to
draw the impression in her mind on a sheet of
paper. She drew a square, and then said, 'There was
the other thing as well,' and drew a cross inside
the square from corner to corner, saying
afterwards, 'I don't know what made me put it
inside.'
[Illustration: ORIGINALS.]
[Illustration: REPRODUCTION.]
"The experiment is no more conclusive as evidence
than fifty others that I have seen at Mr.
Guthrie's, but it seems to me somewhat interesting
that two minds should produce a disconnected sort
of impression on the mind of the percipient, quite
different from the single impression which we had
usually obtained when two agents were both looking
at the same thing. Once, for instance (to take a
nearly corresponding case under those conditions),
when the object was a rude drawing of the main
lines in a Union Jack, the figure was reproduced by
the percipient as a whole without misgiving;
except, indeed, that she expressed a doubt as to
whether its middle horizontal line were present or
not, and ultimately omitted it."
[Illustration: ORIGINAL.]
[Illustration: REPRODUCTION.]
As I have said, the two successful telepathic experiments which I have
described, and which took place in the rooms of the Society for
Psychical Research, led to further experiments at a distance between
Miss Telbin and myself.
AT 7 P.M.
I drew the following diagram
[Illustration]
AT 7 P.M.
Miss TELBIN'S drawings
[Illustration]
AT 7:10 P.M.
I fixed my attention on a
flower
[Illustration]
AT 7:10 P.M.
Miss TELBIN obtained several
incorrect scrawls, but amongst
them one under which
she had written the
words
[Illustration]
"First impression"
AT 7:20 P.M.
I looked at a pair of opera
glasses, at which I gazed first
lengthwise
[Illustration]
then sideways
[Illustration]
AT 7:20 P.M.
Miss TELBIN'S drawings
were--
First impression [Illustration]
A series of crescents [Illustration]
And this drawing [Illustration]
Also four drawings
[Illustration]
It was arranged that we should sit on certain days in the week, and that
at a fixed hour I should act as agent and transmit to her my thoughts,
she being at the time in her residence in West Hampstead, and I in
Kensington. The distance between these localities as the crow flies is
four miles. The result of our first sitting, which took place on 20th
May 1902, is shown on the preceding page.
There was no possibility that the agent or the percipient could have
copied the drawings, as the letters embodying them that we wrote to each
other were posted on the evening of the same day and received by the
first post the following morning, having crossed in the post.
Telepathy was clearly indicated in this experiment.
We continued trying experiments for some months after, but did not get
such good results as at the beginning. On one occasion, however, we
obtained a successful negative result. I was not feeling well, and did
not fix my attention on any object. On the following morning Miss
Telbin's letter said, "I could get nothing from you last night." It
was, to say the least, curious that she should not have received an
impression on the only night that I had not attempted to experiment.
On another occasion, when Miss Telbin was in London and I in Folkestone,
I arranged to transmit to her the impression of a diagram on a certain
day at 8 p.m. It chanced that on that evening there was a performance at
the theatre, at which my wife wished to be present. I therefore decided
to telegraph to Miss Telbin that I would be unable to try the experiment
that night, but after a good deal of hesitation I changed my mind, and
thought that I would endeavour to transmit the impression of the diagram
on my way to the theatre. The letter that I received from Miss Telbin
the next day was to this effect:--
"I got a good deal of writing last night which was
illegible, but amongst it I read the words 'going out' and
'rain.'"
Now this may be a mere coincidence, but it was strange that the words
"going out" should correctly represent the idea that was in my mind
during a great part of the preceding day. I had much worried,
hesitating whether I should telegraph or not.
The result appears to indicate the transmission of my mental state. The
word "rain" represented correctly the state of the weather at
Folkestone, but, as it often rains in England, this was of no evidential
value.
In regard to spontaneous telepathy I may bring before the reader two
cases which I personally investigated, the percipient in the first case
being a gentleman who belonged to a circle which regularly met for the
study of psychic phenomena, and of which circle I was a member.
The percipient, Mr. John Polley, gave me an account of his vision as
follows:--
"At a seance held within sound of Big Ben on 8th May 1901,
there were present Mrs. E. V. M., Mr. Thomas Atwood, and
myself. As Mr. Atwood resumed his seat after delivering an
address (about 8.30 p.m.) I became aware of a vision which
presented itself as being some five feet distant from me,
and displayed part of the interior of a room, namely, that
part where the stove stood. The fire in the stove was small
and dull, and close beside it was an overturned chair. In
front of the fire was something that looked like a
fire-guard or clothes-horse, but this was not clear to me.
Playing, or climbing over this article, was a child, who
fell forward, and when it regained its feet I noticed that
its dress was on fire. I made no reference to the matter at
the time, as I had an impression that the vision might be
connected with some occurrence in the family of Mrs. M., and
I was averse to mentioning it for fear of awakening sad
memories. Shortly afterwards the whole vision was repeated,
and this time I had an uncontrollable impulse to speak. Upon
describing what I had seen for the second time, I was much
relieved to hear that the matter was not recognized as being
connected in any way with the sitters. I may mention here
that the child appeared to be about three years old, and,
judging from the style of dress, I described it as a girl,
although the vision would apply equally to a boy, as at that
early age the short clothes worn by both sexes would be very
similar.
"Next Thursday morning, 9th May 1901, upon awakening, I
described to my wife the events of the previous evening's
seance. On the evening of the same day, namely, Thursday,
9th May, I was out with a friend, and upon my return home at
11.50 p.m., my sister, Mary Louisa Polley, who resided with
me at the time, made the remark, 'I have a piece of bad news
for you.' 'Well,' I replied, 'what is it? Let me know.' And
she answered, 'Brother George's little son, Jacky, has been
burned to death.' Like a flash I realized the connexion of
the sad event with my vision of the previous night. I then
asked my sister, 'How did you know this, and when?' She
replied, 'Mr. Fred Sinnett told me when he came over to see
us this evening.'
(Signed) "JOHN POLLEY"
I obtained from the other sitters at the seance the following
statement:--
"At the seance held on the evening of Wednesday, 8th May
1901, at which were present Mrs. E. V. M., Mr. Thomas
Atwood, and Mr. John Polley, we, the undersigned, testify
that Mr. John Polley gave to us a description of a vision of
the burning of a child which he saw at this seance.
(Signed in full) "E. V. M.
"THOMAS ATWOOD"
I personally interviewed Mr. John Polley's wife and sister and received
a written statement from each confirming Mr. Polley's account.
A local paper containing an account of the inquest on the child states
that the accident took place on Tuesday, 7th May, and the child was
taken to a hospital immediately and there died. The father of the child
wrote to me as follows:--
"DEAR SIR,--In reply to your inquiry respecting my late son,
John Frederick, I beg to say that on Tuesday, 7th May, my
wife went out to do some shopping, leaving my son, aged two
years and two months, in a bedroom with another brother aged
seven. Whilst the elder brother was getting some toys to
play with, the deceased thrust some paper in the fire,
pulled it out again, and set fire to his clothes. Some
neighbours took him to the Children's Hospital, Paddington
Green, where he passed away on Wednesday, 8th May, at 11.45
a.m. No intimation of this was given by myself or any member
of our family to my brother, Mr. John Polley, until a friend
of the family called at my address on Thursday, 9th May,
between 1 and 2 p.m., when we informed him of the sad loss
that we had sustained, and he told us that he intended
calling on my brother that evening, and we asked him if he
would communicate the news to my brother and sister who
reside at Church Street, Stoke Newington. Of course, Sir,
you know I am antagonistic to your views, but my brother has
told me it is for the interests of science. If this is so, I
take great pleasure in its furtherance.--Yours sincerely,
(Signed) "FREDERICK GEORGE POLLEY"
In the above case it appears to me that the vision of the burning child
which Mr. John Polley saw arose out of a spontaneous telepathic
impression, either from the mind of the father of the child to his
brother's (Mr. John Polley's mind), or from the mind of one of the
persons who was cognizant of the sad event.
In regard to the second case of spontaneous telepathy to which I have
referred, I cannot do better than to give the account of same as it
appeared in the _Journal of the Society for Psychical Research_ of June
1912:--
"The following case of a reciprocal telepathic impression
occurring to two persons at the same time has been
communicated to us by Mr. W. W. Baggally. Both Miss Emma
Steele and Mr. Claude Burgess, the lady and gentleman
concerned in the case, are known personally to Mr. Baggally.
"Miss Steele writes as follows:--
"'16 and 17 SILLWOOD PLACE,
"'BRIGHTON, _13th March 1912_
"'Mr. Claude Burgess, who is an invalid, had been
staying at my private hotel, at the above address,
for some months. He left on 15th February to take
up his residence at No. 10 Belgrave Place, Kemp
Town, Brighton. In the interval between the date
of his leaving and the night of the 5th inst.,
when I had the remarkable dream (if it can be
called a dream) which I am about to relate, I had
not seen Mr. Burgess, and nothing had occurred to
cause me to think particularly about him.
"'On the above night I retired to rest at my usual
time. I awoke finding myself standing in the
middle of my room and answering, "All right, I'm
coming," to Mr. Burgess, who, I thought, called
three times: "Miss Steele! Miss Steele! Miss
Steele!"
"'By the time I had put on my dressing-gown and
lighted the gas I was fully awake. I then
remembered Mr. Burgess was no longer in the house.
I looked at the clock and noticed it was exactly 3
a.m. When I came downstairs next morning I told my
cook my dream, and remarked I hoped nothing had
happened to Mr. Burgess. During the next day,
Wednesday, 6th March, in the afternoon, a man
called while I was out and left a note from Mr.
Burgess, which I enclose. I was much surprised by
its contents. It struck me most forcibly getting
it from him, as he is paralysed and has to write
with great difficulty with his left hand. He very
seldom writes now, so it must have made a great
impression on him seeing me as he relates in his
letter.
"'EMMA M. STEELE'
"The letter from Mr. Burgess to Miss Steele referred to
above, which is now in our possession, was as follows:--
"'10 BELGRAVE PLACE, BRIGHTON
"'MY DEAR EMMA,--I had a funny dream about you
last night. I dreamed that you appeared at about 3
a.m. Just a glimpse of you. It's funny, isn't
it?--Yours,
"'CLAUDE BURGESS'
"Miss Steele's cook made the following statement to Mr.
Baggally:--
"'_13th March 1912_
"'On Wednesday morning, the 6th March last, Miss
Emma Steele came down from her bedroom at 8.30. I
saw she was looking pale. I asked her if she were
not well. She replied that she had had a strange
dream. She heard Mr. Burgess call her three times.
She told me that she suddenly jumped up and put
her dressing-gown on. By the time she had put on
her dressing-gown and lit the gas she remembered
Mr. Burgess had left the house. She said it was
about 3 o'clock a.m. when she heard Mr. Burgess
call.
(Signed) "'SARAH POLLARD'
"The following statement was written by Mr. Baggally on 13th
March 1912, from Mr. Claude Burgess's dictation:--
"'On Tuesday night, 5th March 1912, I woke up at
about 3 a.m. with a start. I saw Miss Emma Steele
standing at the door of my bedroom. I had closed
the door, but she appeared to have opened it. She
was attired in her ordinary dress.
"'I was much surprised. It was an absolutely
distinct apparition. I had not been thinking of
her the previous day, and I cannot tell why she
appeared to me.
"'The apparition lasted about five seconds. I was
not at all frightened, and went to sleep
immediately after.
"'I was so struck by what I had seen that, next
morning, the 6th March, at about 11 o'clock, I
wrote a letter to Miss Steele which I handed to
Mr. William Watkins, the proprietor of the
establishment where I now reside, for him to send
to Miss Steele. In this letter I told Miss Steele
that I had dreamed that she had appeared to me on
the previous night.
(Signed) "'CLAUDE BURGESS'
"In reply to Mr. Baggally's personal inquiries, Mr. Claude
Burgess stated that it was the first time that he had had a
hallucination of this kind, and he had not had one since.
_Statement by Mr. William Watkins_
"'10 BELGRAVE PLACE,
"'BRIGHTON, _13th March 1912_
"'Mr. Claude Burgess delivered to me a letter
which he had written to Miss Steele, at about 11
a.m. on 6th March, which I handed to a man of the
Church Army Labour Home to take to Miss Steele.
The same morning at 8 a.m. Mr. Burgess told me he
had dreamt of Miss Steele.
"'WILLIAM WATKINS'
_Statement by Mr. Baggally_
"'I called on the afternoon of the 13th March 1912
at the offices of the Church Army Labour Home, St.
James Street, Brighton, and saw the Secretary, who
showed me an entry in their books confirming the
fact that, at the request of Mr. William Watkins,
a man in their employ had delivered a letter to
Miss Emma Steele of 16 Sillwood Place, Brighton,
in the afternoon of 6th March 1912.
"'I have interviewed all the persons connected
with this case, and they confirmed their
respective statements.
"'W. W. BAGGALLY'
"In reply to our further questions as to whether Mr.
Burgess's experience was a dream or a waking hallucination,
Mr. Baggally wrote to us on 1st April 1912:--
"'I had an interview with Mr. Burgess to-day, and
the following is the information I received from
him respecting the points you raise. He said to
me:--
"'"(1) I used the word 'dream' in my letter to
Miss Steele for want of a better word. (2) I woke
up and then had the vision of Miss Steele. (3) I
did not notice anything in the room at the time I
had the vision. The room appeared dark. (4) Miss
Steele appeared to me in a bright light, not
self-luminous or phosphorescent, but just as she
would have appeared in daylight. She appeared to
me in the part of the room where the door was."'
"Mrs. Baggally sends us the following statement enclosed in
a letter dated 27th April 1912:--
"'I was in the drawing-room of Miss E. Steele's
sister on the evening of Wednesday, 6th March,
when Miss Emma Steele came in, saying in an
excited manner, "Where is Mr. Baggally? He will be
so interested in this."
"'She held in her hand a letter from Mr. Burgess,
and proceeded to tell me that the previous night
she had heard, as she thought, Mr. Burgess fall
on the floor of the bedroom over her own. She
sprang out of bed.
"'Finding herself in the middle of the room, she
heard him call "Miss Steele!" three times. She
then suddenly remembered that Mr. Burgess was no
longer living in her hotel. She struck a light,
looked at the clock, and found it was 3 o'clock.
The following morning she felt so tired that when
giving orders to her cook, the latter noticed her
fatigue and commented upon it. She told the cook
the reason was that she heard Mr. Burgess
apparently calling her at 3 o'clock.
"'Miss Steele proceeded to say that Mr. Burgess
had, curiously enough, sent her that afternoon the
note which at that moment she held in her hand,
and in which he told her that he dreamt she had
appeared to him at 3 a.m. the previous night.
"'Miss Steele appeared much impressed and wondered
if anything had happened to Mr. Burgess. I
informed my husband that same night, on his return
home, of what Miss E. Steele had told me.
"'LAURA E. BAGGALLY'
"'On my return home on the evening of 6th March
my wife related to me what appears in her
statement above.
"'W. W. BAGGALLY'"
The above case is evidentially a good one, inasmuch as both Miss Emma
Steele and Mr. Burgess each reported on the morning of 6th March (the
one to her cook and the other to his landlord) their experiences of the
previous night before either of them was aware that a reciprocal
telepathic impression had occurred between them.
There appears to be evidence that telepathy can also occur between the
mind of a human being and that of an animal. The reader will doubtless
recollect Mr. H. Rider Haggard's case which appeared in the public
press. This gentleman, on the night of Saturday, 9th July 1904, dreamed
that a favourite dog of his eldest daughter was lying on its side among
brushwood by water, and that it was trying to transmit in an undefined
fashion the knowledge that it was dying. Next day the dog was missing.
The body of the dog was subsequently found floating in the water near a
bridge. An examination of the attendant circumstances pointed to the
dog having met its death on the night of Mr. Rider Haggard's dream. As a
result of this gentleman having made public this experience, he received
from numerous correspondents accounts of telepathy between the minds of
the writers of the letters and the minds of animals. These accounts were
sent by Mr. Rider Haggard to the Secretary of the S.P.R., who handed
them to me for investigation.
A very good case was that communicated by Lady C. The following is the
account of her experience:--
"On one hot Sunday afternoon in the summer of 1900 I went,
after luncheon, to pay my customary visit to the stables to
give sugar and carrots to the horses, among the number being
a favourite mare named Kitty. She was a shy, nervous,
well-bred animal, and there existed between us a great and
unusual sympathy. I used to ride her every morning before
breakfast (whatever the weather might be)--quiet, solitary
rides on the cliffs which overhung the sea at Castle F., and
it always seemed to me that Kitty enjoyed that hour in the
freshness of the day as much as I did. On this particular
afternoon I left the stables, and walked along to the
garden, a distance of a quarter of a mile, and established
myself under a tree with an interesting book, fully
intending to remain there for a couple of hours. After about
twenty minutes an uncomfortable sensation came between me
and my reading, and at once I felt sure that there was
something the matter with Kitty. I tried to put the feeling
from me, and to go on with my book, but the impression grew
stronger, and I felt compelled to hasten back to the
stables. I went straight to Kitty's box and found her
'cast,' and in urgent need of help. The stablemen were in a
distant part of the stables, whence I fetched them to have
the mare up. Their surprise was great to find me in the
stables for the second time that afternoon."
I wrote to Lady C., and received the following reply:--
"_27th December 1904_
"Lady C. would be glad indeed to have the case investigated,
as it always seemed to her to be of the greatest possible
interest. At the same time, it may be difficult at this date
to get a statement from the stablemen, one of whom is
somewhere in England, but Lady C. will try to do so. She is
absolutely convinced that no one entered the stable. Had the
stablemen done so they would at once have helped the mare to
get up, and anyone else would have given the alarm. It seems
a direct case of telepathy from animal mind to human."
Lady C. afterwards sent me a statement from a former coachman; it is
this:--
"_31st December 1904_
"I was coachman at Castle F. at the time. Lady C. came to
the stables after luncheon as usual on a Sunday afternoon
with carrots and sugar for the horses. Kitty was then loose
in her box and quite well. I then went to my room over the
stables, the other stablemen being also upstairs, and to my
surprise, after half an hour or three-quarters of an hour
later, her ladyship, who had been to the garden, called me
and the other stablemen to come and help Kitty up, as she
was lying 'cast'[1] in her box. No one had gone into the
stable in the interval.
(Signed) "E. N."
[Footnote 1: This word is used by veterinary surgeons to describe the
state of a horse that has fallen down in its box in a stable and cannot
rise.]
Telepathy may possibly exist between the mind of an animal and that of a
human being and _vice versa_, but a sufficient number of cases have not
been collected to establish this as a fact.