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    minutes , had thought to hear , were drowned hy the noise without . It became necessary to move over into the dining room , looking out upon the quiet and undisturbed regions of the park . I left the library with regret , from the shelves of which such numbers of mighty spirits in folio and in venerable vellum and hog ' s-skin were looking down upon us . * We had not to wait many minutes , when the raps commenced , and the Spirits having thus manifested their presence , one of the ladies took a card , on which were printed , in three rows , the letters of the alphabet , and in a fourth row the numerals 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 0 . Rap-tap-tap , was the answer when we saw her absorbed in thought of a deceased friend ;

    and this meaning that he or she was ready to converse , the lady ' hand passed with a pencil over the said card , pausing , in equal intervals , about one second at each letter , and beginning with A again , as soon as the raptap-tap had told her , on arriving at any of the letters , that it was the right one , and to be noted down . As the names of the spirits with whom you wish to converse , and the questions you address to them are only thought , not spoken ( if you prefer , as the lady did ) , we , of course , had no notion of the purport of the conversation , and I verily believe and am convinced the Medium , had as little as we . The raps ceased , the paper was handed round , the lady told us she had conversed with a deceased friend , the spelling of whose name she had desired , and fliere it was , correctly spelt , a German

    name . The other lady took the alphabet ; I was sitting by her side , and could follow her movements over the card- The Medium was sitting farthest from us , opposite , in an easy , unrestrained position , confining her activity to listening when the raps began slowly or indistinctly , and addressing now and then an admonition to the Spirits , when continued raps created some uncertainty , or when they were not loud enough to be distinctly heard ; as , " Would the spirit say whether the letter is right ? " or , " Is the spirit willing to answer the question ? " and , " Would the spirit rap a little

    louder ? " Rap-tap-tap means , in such cases , " Yes ; " no rapping means " No . " I observed repeatedly that the Medium was not following the movements of the questioner ' s hand over the card , which latter the lady now in conversation was hiding with her left hand . The raps came distinctly , unhesitatingly , and the full Christiali name and surname of her brother were soon on the paper . Then came his age , then the year of his death , then the place where he died in a far distant country . Then to a question , the purport of which I know not , the answer , " Not now . "

    My turn came , and with it raps distinct in sound from the others , as , in fact , to a quick ear , were nearly all the raps we heard in the course of the evening . My thoughts dwelt on a friend who a few months ago crossed the Atlantic , and died of yellow fever a week after his arrival at one of the West-Indian islands . I desired the spelling of his name , leaving out the Christian name . Rap-tap-tap at tbe W ( wrong ); I said so ; but his Christian name begins with a W . " Now try the surname . " O ( rap-tap ) , right ; II ( rap-tap ) , wrong . I went on without a remark . L ( raptap ) , right ; the following letter wrong again , which I stated . " Would the

    spirit spell his name ? " ( Rap-tap-tap . ) I began again ; again wrong . I gave it up , asking the name of the vessel in which he went out . It was given right , —not an English , but a German name , and there was no mistake and no wavering in the spelling . I dismissed this friend , summoning ( mentally ) the spirit of another whom I had known years ago . A distinct , but rather faint knock . " Please to spell your name . " It was spelt correctly , always , as I need not mention , through the aid of the alphabet , in the above manner . " Would you tell me the cause of your death ? " ( I knew the specific cause most positively . ) " Yes . " " Give me your answer in German . " " Yes . " I took the alphabet .

    C-OG-N-I grew pale . That was the cause of his death ; Cognac did kill him , poor fellow ! But the word ums not anticipated in my mind . I expected intemperance , or a similar general expression . I continued , O-C . So the word was Cognoe , not Cognac . Rather excited , I asked loud , but in German , — - "la that the true cause of your death ? " " Yes . " " Is the word spelt correctly ? " " Yes . " Now , Cognoe is not the correct spelling , and I knew , alas ! too well , how correctly and how distinctly he used to spell it Cognac . But the answer wns most startling . Every one in England and America calls that spirit brandy , and to most people in . these two countries it is hardly known by its original French name under which it

    goes on the Continent . " Where did you die ? " The name of the place was correctly given , { . hough with some hesitation , and I had to go several times through the alphabet for the fourth mill fifth letter . The number of the house in which lie died was first given as ' ( wrong ) , then as . 'J . > ( right ) . Poor ghost ! He felt , perhaps , uneasy at the confession he had made , and was nervous in following my pencil . Perhaps I was so myself ; but altogether the spelling of names was not so quick and straightforward with mo us with the two ladies . Single tups were constantly being heard from other spirits in the course of these conversations , but they mean nothing , except , perhaps , a desire to nut themselves into communication .

    My neighbour- my friend ' s nephew—had now l , o begin . There were rap-tup-taps , certainly . He tested the spirit by spelling , but only confused answers came , mul be gave it uji . The master of the house now began a series of questions , most of them answered quickly , und with decided rap-tap-taps . He asked ( always mentally ) his grandfather the Christian names of his grandfather , who was born and lived in a foreign country , where each person generally has three Christian names . ^ Three were given , and one of them seldom or

    never used in England , but , as my friend afterwards remarked , then and later , very frequent in his family . Dates were asked and given , and some proved correct , some not . The year of the death of the above remotest ancestor was asked , but no answer came . The Medium remarked that the spirit would perhaps at a later hour be able to give it ; questions might be addressed , and answers would be given in any language , the knowledge of the spirits in this respect being as universal as they were independent of space and time . A spirit was asked at what place a living relative of my

    friend was at that moment , the answer was , " Gixdale ; " and on asking again ( loud ) whether the name and Spelling were correct , a very decided rap-tap-tap-tap-tap admitted of no further question . No such place being known , and very unlikely to exist in that part of Europe where the relative is living , the answer ( given to a mental question ) was suspicious withal ; whether true , will be known in a few weeks . I make no mention of answers to questions which required a simple " Yes" or " JS ' o , " such answers being , besides , only of some doubtful value , when corroborating facts known to us .

    There was once a confusion and some hilarity created by a by-play on my part with my dear old grandfather ' s spirit . I saw my friend pausing , and hearing no raps for a few minutes I thought he had ceased his conversations , and took the opportunity of conversing rapidly with my grandfather . Rap-tap-tap , there he was . I wished him merely to tell me the year of his death to convince me of his presence , missing the 18 . I went over the numerals , which I had written down on my paper , and 35 was given . My grandfather died in 1835 . His raps , however , had been put down by my friend , who had resumed his spellings ; but of course the result was nonsense , and only cleared up by my confession of having broken into his proceedings .

    Whilst thus holding intercourse with the spiritual world , conversation between ourselves was not slackening in the intervals , and the Medium having mentioned that the spirits were able to move furniture , we expressed our wishes to see it done . " Would the spirits move the table ? " asked the Medium , in an insinuating tone , bowing down her head over it . A series of raps answered , and we were requested to touch the table ' s edge with the tops of our fingers , in order to feel the vibration caused by some electric , magnetic , or other " fluidum" with which the spirits would presently act upon the table . We all thought we felt it . I should not like to assert it positively , but what I am prepared at any time to swear to ,

    and what I now do most solemnly assert and tell you is , that the table first slowly , then quickly , moved in a circular direction , as if it was going to whirl round . One of the ladies jumped up , frightened . I turned sharply round to my right-hand neighbour , the movement being from , right to left , asking him , rather angrily , "Why did you push the table ? " But he looked as much aghast as every one of us , except the Medium , who was sitting in the same easy , reclining position as when the furniture began to move . All this was tlie work of not much more than a minute . My chair , which had been quite near to the table , was now at such a distance , that I could just reach it with my outstretched arm . The movement had ceased as soon as the lady had jumped up , and " the circle was broken . "

    The footman announced the carriage for my friend ' s sister . I found the man looked extremely curious , and I could not help thinking of the conversations which no doubt had been going on " below , " between him and the other servants , about our mysterious proceedings up-stnirs . " Only one question before I go , " said the lady , and her eye looked down . Raptap-tap . Her finger went over the numerals , 1 — 1 — G . "One hundred and sixteen years ! We always thought she must be of that nge . " " Ah , you were thinking of old Nurse " "I was , indeed . She died last Tuesday , you know . " And I was told how that old nurse had been lon < r known in the family , and nursed children on whose hemls now

    "Grey do Kozuetluntf mingle with tlu-ir younger brown , " and how then , some forty years ago , she was an old , shrivelled person , " Wrinkled deep in time , " and how she'would never tell her age , but how she . used to say that she hail been present at the coronation of ( . Jeorge the Third , when the young man whom she was to have married fell from n . scaffold , and died . Being pressed to say how old she was , she would say ninety-three ; and she had never advanced beyond that figure since many years . We sat down to ten , live , with the Medium . There were no rappings , and the conversation was general , sometimes loud . None of us , apparently , thought of conversation with the dead . Mrs . Hayden ( tin : Medium ) was telling me a number of anecdotes—some very ainusinir—of what she had seen , here and in

    America , in the course of her career . I was' demonstrating to her the effect upon the chief doctrines of Christianity of the simple fact that spirits wi : re so conditioned as those who had conversed with us , and all other * must be , and she was telling me what revelations spirits had made her regarding their slate , feeling , and degree of happiness . All of a midden she turned round . " There was rapping . " " I did not hear it . " "But ! did , " said my friend , who had been silent for some lime ; " and I have Bummoned my grandfather . Perhaps he can now tell me when his grandfather died . Can you ? " Rap-tup-tap . And the year was given , whether correct , could not be ascertained at the time . After Mrs . Hayden was gone our first thought was tbe table . There it stood , firm , solid , on four legs , a good-sized , heavy , dining-table . We found it impossible to move it by pushing or wrenching one of its legs by

    Untitled Article

    March 5 , 1853 . ] T H E L E A D E R . 235

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), March 5, 1853, page 235, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1976/page/19/