Are "Spirits" Above Proof?
Are "Spirits" Above Proof? is an article written by Stuart Cumberland published in the Daily Express on 8 march 1919.
Are "Spirits" Above Proof?
PERTINENT QUESTION FOR SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
DUD MIRACLES.
By STUART CUMBERLAND.
Author of "That Other World."
Many months have elapsed from the time I first joined issue in the "Daily Express" with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the matter of alleged spiritistic phenomena. Since then Sir Arthur has gone merrily on his way, collecting fresh instances of "spirit presence" and, at the same time, adding substantially to the little bag of tricks provided by ingenious media of his acquaintance. He does not, however, in one instance supply proof of the unquestionable genuineness of the manifestations to which apparently he pins his faith.
It is surely now up to Sir Arthur to furnish indubitable proofs of manifestations he claims himself to have witnessed, or to have been witnessed by those in whom it would seem he has implicit confidence.
It is not enough for him lo say that spirit power causes the gymnastic movements of tambourines and other musical instruments, or that spirit hands remove rings from sitters' fingers and otherwise signify their presence in a strikingly material manner. These are objective manifestations, which, to be credited, need to be produced under conditions which would preclude the possibility of the employment of human agency in their production. It was another matter when the manifestations were of the subjective order of things, consisting chiefly of medium's verbal piffle about a spirit who were clothes or did some everyday act in that other world with which the medium claimed to be in touch.
"RIFFLE."
Such piffle, obviously of purely human imagination and of human delivery, falls short in effect compared with the later physical phenomena described by Sir Arthur. There is nothing to catch hold of in the former whereas the other demonstrations provide readily graspable quantities.
I would say at once that whenever the long arm of common sense has done any grasping on such occasions it is the human and not the spirit manipulator of the paraphernalia that has come within the inquirer's grasp. Personally I have had this experience ad nauseam.
Sir Arthur, in reply, will doubtless trot out the old tag about a counterfeit coin not proving the worthlessness of the coinage as a whole. You can, however, put the spurious coin, in order to obtain proof of its spuriousness, to the test, but this is just what Sir Arthur apparently declines to do in the matter of what one, in the absence of proof, may term the "dud miracles" which have been passed on him, and which, alas! he seeks to pass on to others. I he will be so good as to have the manifestations, which he asserts to be the outcome of spirit influence, produced in my presence and permit me to apply to them the test of knowledge and experience. I will undertake to expose the true dudness of their character.
Most of the phenomena ascribed to spirit or occult agency I have been able to reproduce or explain by natural means, under precisely similar conditions to those governing their original production.
UNHEALTHY CRAZE.
I am convinced that Sir Arthur is perfectly sincore in his belief ; and therein lies, the sting. His name and achievements carry considerable weight with the public, who, in the absence of enlightenment, would be disposed to follow him, to their mental bewilderment and possible undoing. This spiritualistic craze with the emotional and irrational is neither unhealthy nor a wise one.
I am sure that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has too logical and well trained a mind to carry as realities what at best are mere inferences from facts as distinct from facts themselves, or, at worst, a bundle of rank impostures. I trust, therefore, he will afford me the opportunity of enlightening him on at least some of the aspects of the phenomena he has described, and at the same time I would gladly demonstrate the mundane origin of certain phases of manifestation I myself have witnessed, and for which spirit power has not only been claimed but the faithful have unhesitatingly accepted as such.
I do not, of course, refer to what he calls "conjuring tricks," as I know no more about conjuring, qua conjuring, than the man in the moon ; but chiefly those phenomena which have their origin in the play upon false sensorial impressions, which fact has made them all the more bewildering and seemingly inexplicable.
THE CARDIFF SEANCE.
Mr. Nevil Maskelyne states that he will produce on Monday the Cardiff séance as described by Sir A. Conan Doyle. He has invited Sir Arthur to be present.
