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[Illustration: C. G. Helleberg]
A BOOK
WRITTEN BY THE
SPIRITS OF THE SO-CALLED DEAD,
WITH THEIR OWN MATERIALIZED HANDS, BY THE
PROCESS OF INDEPENDENT SLATE-WRITING,
THROUGH
MRS. LIZZIE S. GREEN AND OTHERS,
AS MEDIUMS.
COMPILED AND ARRANGED BY
C. G. HELLEBERG,
OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
Life is real! life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal.
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not written of the soul.
--LONGFELLOW.
CINCINNATI:
1883.
COPYRIGHTED, 1882,
BY C. G. HELLEBERG.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER I.
Introduction and Biographical Sketches of C. G. Helleberg,
Madam Fredrika Ehrenborg, and Mrs. Lizzie T. Green 1
CHAPTER II.
First Investigations with Mrs. Laura Mosser and Mrs. Cooper 6
CHAPTER III.
Remarkable Materialization Seance--Letters from Mrs. Ehrenborg
describing Inhabitants of other Planets 14
CHAPTER IV.
Madam Ehrenborg and others Materialize 23
CHAPTER V.
Investigations by Mrs. Jennie McKee--First Letter from Emanuel
Swedenborg and Communications from Polheim and others--Received
five beautiful Flowers from Madam Ehrenborg 26
CHAPTER VI.
Mrs. McKee passes away and her Spirit arranges her own Funeral 33
CHAPTER VII.
Investigations with Mrs. Green--Remarkable dark Trumpet Seance,
at which I received a most beautiful Flower from my Son Emil
and Miss Mary Muth 36
CHAPTER VIII.
Sure Identity of my Father-in-Law--Madam Ehrenborg writes to me
in Swedish 40
CHAPTER IX.
Information of a Spiritual Marriage--The Wedding and the Wedding
Tour to the Planet Mars 45
CHAPTER X.
Description of the Journey to Mars, and wonderful Information
furnished by Madam Ehrenborg 54
CHAPTER XI.
Communications from Emanuel Swedenborg 108
CHAPTER XII.
Communications from George Washington 141
CHAPTER XIII.
Communications from my Son Emil about Ex-President Garfield--
Greetings from Madam Ehrenborg--Letter from Rev. Goddard and
Swedenborg's Answer 157
CHAPTER XIV.
Communications from President Garfield, Madam Ehrenborg,
Governor J. D. Williams, President Abraham Lincoln, Judge
Edmonds 163
CHAPTER XV.
New Years' Greetings from many of my dear Spirit Friends and
near Relations 170
CHAPTER XVI.
A Prayer from Madam Ehrenborg 173
CHAPTER XVII.
Greeting from Horace Greeley, J. G. Bennett, and Henry J.
Raymond to F. B. Plimpton, Associate Editor of the Cincinnati
Daily Commercial 176
CHAPTER XVIII.
Communications from Horace Greeley, Governor O. P. Morton,
A. P. Willard 180
CHAPTER XIX.
Communications from the Drunkard, a Miser, William Gailard,
William Lloyd Garrison, Wilberforce, Tecumseh, a Suicide 187
CHAPTER XX.
Communications from Thomas Paine, Margaret Fuller, and Thanks
of Spirits 199
CHAPTER XXI--APPENDIX.
Mrs. Green's Medial History 204
CHAPTER XXII.
A Visit to Split Rock, Kentucky--Christmas Greetings from
Ida to her Parents--Annie Winterburn to her Brother, John
Winterburn, and his Testimony, and her Farewell to the Medium,
Mrs. Green 222
CHAPTER XXIII.
A Spirit peels a Banana, eats some of it, and divides the rest
in four equal parts--Reports of Cincinnati Enquirer about
Spirit Seances at Mrs. Green's 231
CHAPTER XXIV.
Extracts from each of two Funeral Discourses by Bishop Simpson
and Rev. W. H. Thomas, D. D., with Conclusions of C. G.
Helleberg 239
ERRATA.
Page 3, line 26, for most communications, read most of the
communications.
" 24, line 7, for Mrs. Stebbins, read Mr. Stebbins.
" 29, line 18, for are, read is.
" 30, line 27, for their, read his.
" 30, line 28, for them, read him.
" 34, line 8, for was, read were.
" 35, line 1, for this is, read these are.
" 46, line 2, for me and my wife, read my wife and I.
" 49, line 7, for Edward, read Edwin.
" 50, line 15, for Guthof, read Gustaf.
" 51, line 26, for thy, read the.
" 57, line 16, for were, read was.
" 60, line 6, for me, read us.
" 60, line 26, for a, read the.
" 63, line 21, for our, read the.
" 68, line 8, for miscreants, read misdeeds.
" 69, line 4, for Daniel, read David.
" 69, line 31, for laws, read love.
" 71, line 24, for nearly, read nearly a third.
" 76, line 30, for ever, read ever surging.
" 77, line 9, for of more, read of the more.
" 77, line 30, for rivulet, read violent.
" 80, line 27, for of, read and.
" 82, line 13, for formed, read former.
" 83, last line read, and out of the ambient.
" 84, line 17, for then, read there.
" 86, line 1, for mighty, read weighty.
" 88, line 20, omit again regained, and read required.
" 90, line 14, for glory, read misery.
" 91, next to last line for when, read where.
" 94, line 16, for constitutional, read constituent.
" 100, line 26, for beautiful, read beautifully.
" 101, line 5, for originated, read originating.
" 107, line 18, for you, read your.
" 109, last line, for question, read questioned.
" 111, line 18, for figures, read pigmies.
" 115, line 10, for needs, read needs but.
" 120, line 6, for or, read are.
" 121, line 14, for early, read latter.
" 133, line 22, for unbeliefs, read erroneous belief.
" 136, line 11, for hearsay, read heresy.
" 147, line 28, for he, read the.
" 157, line 22, for with, read by.
" 165, last line, for you thought, read your thoughts.
" 167, line 14, for nationalism, read rationalism, etc.
" 174, line 4, for almighty, read mighty.
" 174, last line for to, read through.
" 180, line 24, for arises, read arise.
" 183, line 3, for pacified, read purified.
" 184, line 27, for subsequent, read consequent.
" 187, line 25, for trifling, read toiling.
" 200, line 5, for actuate, read actuates.
" 200, line 23, for adapting, read adopting.
" 210, line 30, for J. & J. W. Gaff, read T. & J. W. Gaff.
" 211, line 14, for mission, read vision.
" 211, line 19, for literary, read literally.
" 221, line next to bottom, for assimilation, read dissemination.
" 231, line 2, for bonana, read banana.
" 240, line 21, for of, read to.
SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.
The communications in this little volume, purporting to come from
disembodied spirits, came in the manner hereinafter stated, and all that I
had to do with them was to faithfully and to the letter transcribe them
from the slate on which they were written into blank memorandum books
which I procured for the purpose. Before laying before the reader the
_modus operandi_ of their delivery, I deem it proper that I should give a
brief outline of my own history, especially do I feel the importance of
this since I am little known outside of the circle of my immediate
acquaintances. It has always been my aim in life to live uprightly before
God and man, and as to the success of this noble purpose, formed in early
life, I may confidently refer to my neighbors, and many of the leading
citizens of Cincinnati, Ohio, with whom I have enjoyed an intimate social
and business acquaintance for nearly forty years. I do not know why I
should have been made the recipient and custodian of the truly remarkable
spirit communications contained in the following pages, except from a long
lifetime of honest endeavor to do right I was deemed worthy, and from the
additional consideration that the spirits interested in the work knew I
would cordially co-operate with them in laying the matter presented before
the world, and that, happily, I possessed the pecuniary means to do so.
I was born at Grafriset, near Fahlun, in the kingdom of Sweden, March 1,
1811, and have now passed my seventy-first year. At the age of sixteen I
entered the Swedish army, and at nineteen became a student at Upsala
University, where I remained for two years. After rendering military
service for five years, and passing a successful examination, I was
permitted to enter the civil service of my country. In the capacity of
land surveyor I served for over ten years, when a desire to personally
witness the workings of republican institutions induced me to make an
application to travel in foreign countries, which permission I obtained
for the period of two years. In 1844 I left my native land for the United
States, and in 1845 located at Cincinnati, Ohio, and soon thereafter
engaged in the art of daguerreotyping, and afterwards photographing, and
in the following year married Miss Annie E. Franks, daughter of Frederick
Franks, a leading and influential citizen of the city, who is still
remembered as the proprietor of Cincinnati's early famous museum. In
religion I was raised a Lutheran, but at the time (1879) of embracing
spiritualism and for thirty years preceding I was a devout and earnest
Swedenborgian. I commenced the investigation of spiritual phenomena in
1879, and soon became convinced of the sublime truths of the spiritual
philosophy.
As in the following pages the exalted spirit of Madam Fredrika Ehrenborg
imparts, among other things, marvelous information in regard to the
Planet Mars, of our solar system, it is deemed fitting that somewhat of
her history should be made known in this connection:
She was born March 15, 1794, in the Province of Wermland, in the kingdom
of Sweden, and at the age of seventeen married a highly esteemed nobleman,
Casper Isac Michael Ehrenborg. He left the body in 1823, and was at the
time Chief Justice of Sweden. Madam Ehrenborg was an enthusiastic
Swedenborgian, and she passed to the higher life in the Swedish city of
Linkoeping on the 20th of May, 1873. Her life in many respects was an
eventful one, and largely devoted to literary pursuits. She translated
writings on religious subjects from several languages into Swedish, and
wrote books and pamphlets in the interest of Swedenborgianism, and visited
England, Switzerland, Denmark, Germany and France in search of materials
for her works. It was not my good fortune to have met this eminent lady
during her mortal life, but I happily enjoyed a truly instructive and
pleasant correspondence with her during the last three years of her life
in the form.
I commenced my investigations in September, 1881, with the celebrated
medium Mrs. Lizzie S. Green, through whose mediumship most of the
communications to follow were written. For ten months I had never less
than two sittings a week, and the largest portion of that time four per
week, and have had ample opportunities to study her true character. As the
result I am justified by the truth in proclaiming to the world my thorough
conviction of her honesty, purity and simplicity of character. Her
education, as I have been informed, was sadly neglected in youth, and she
has had few opportunities to improve in later years. She married the Hon.
Edward H. Green, of Aurora, Indiana, before her eighteenth year, and has
devoted her succeeding years until recently to the domestic duties of life
and to the raising of a family, of whom only one, a daughter, survives.
Her husband served with ability a numerous and intelligent constituency in
the Indiana legislature of 1866-7, and served recently and to general
acceptance two terms of two years each as Mayor of Aurora, Indiana, his
native city.
The communications of spirits contained in this volume were written by the
spirits with their own materialized hands, and the process was generally
as follows: A small stand of the ordinary kind in construction, covered by
a table cloth, was used, the medium placing with one hand under the
covering of the stand a slate on which was placed a small piece of pencil.
The other hand of the medium was continually exposed to full view, as was
also her entire form. Both double and single slates were used. We heard
the writing as it progressed, and when the slate was filled it would be
indicated by distinct taps on the slate and the dropping of the pencil.
The slate would be then taken out, and as the chosen scribe I would
faithfully transcribe the written matter into the book aforementioned, and
the slate would then be cleaned and returned under the stand, and in this
manner all the matter hereinafter set forth was produced. I have reported
it _verbatim et literatim_, without changing it in the slightest degree,
neither adding nor taking therefrom a single word. Each sitting would
occupy from one to two hours, and in broad daylight. I have taken occasion
to preface some of these communications with a few lines, by way of
explanation and to secure clearness of understanding in relation to them.
This volume is truly a book written by the spirits themselves, and
whatever merit it may possess, they alone are entitled to the credit, and
whatever of demerit, if any, they alone are chargeable and responsible. Of
one thing both the mediums and myself can truly avouch, and are willing to
solemnize with our oaths, namely, that we had nothing whatever to do with
the production of the communications except so far as we may have aided
the communicating intelligences by furnishing them with the necessary and
required conditions.
I launch forth the work not, however, without misgivings as to its
reception and fate in this age of incredulity and skepticism, and my only
hope is that it may be instrumental in doing good, if but only in a feeble
degree, which alone will be ample compensation for my time and labor.
CARL GUSTAF HELLEBERG.
_177 Auburn street, Cincinnati, Ohio._