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Saturday, March 26th, 1887.
I attended a séance at the house of Col. Kase, 1601 North 15th Street,
on Thursday evening, March 24th, Mrs. Wells acting as Medium. There were
about thirty persons present, of whom several seemed to be Mediums. The
séance was held in the sitting-room in the second story--a room
separated by double doors from a smaller room behind. The back room,
used as a Cabinet, was shut off by portières, and the persons were
arranged in front of the curtains, in the form of a deep curve, Dr.
Leidy, Dr. Knerr and myself being put in the second row. Mrs. Thayer
directed us where to sit. The room in which we sat was lighted by a
single gas-jet, situated some distance behind the spectators; a piece of
music was placed before this to prevent any direct light from falling on
the curtains, and the gas was turned very low. Mrs. Wells entered the
room used as a Cabinet, and took her seat in a chair opposite the
curtains. Mrs. Thayer closed the curtains.
After some time Spirits began to show themselves one by one between the
curtains, and to whisper. Mrs. Thayer stepped forward and interpreted
for them, calling up persons in the circle to receive communications.
The forms were very indistinct from the circle, and apparently not very
distinct to those called up, as they expressed some dissatisfaction. One
man called up to speak with his daughter (one of the better forms)
remarked that he "saw her putty good, but not very." One or two of the
forms stepped out in front of the curtains (one was dressed as a man,
one purported to be Mary, Queen of Scots), but they did not advance to
the circle, and the light was so dim that they could not be seen at all
clearly. Only on one or two occasions two forms appeared at once, and
then not in front of the curtains, but one on each side of one of the
curtains--this curtain being pulled together, as though some one were
reaching around behind it. The appearance could very readily have been
made by the Medium's appearing between the two curtains, and holding up
a bit of drapery at the side of one of them. The audience was evidently
an uncritical one. When a Spirit called for her husband, Mrs. Thayer,
the interpreter, asked, "Has anyone here a wife on the other side?" An
old man present stated that his had died two years before. He asked if
the Spirit's name were _May_. When he came back to his seat, I heard him
remark to his neighbor that that "must have been her, but she had more
flesh on than when I knew her." No examination was made before or after
the séance of either room or Medium, and no tests of any sort were
applied. The séance lasted about an hour and a-half.