Conan Doyle's Museum of Psychic Wonders
Conan Doyle's Museum of Psychic Wonders is an article written by Leonard Crocombe published in Ghost Stories in october 1927.
Conan Doyle's Museum of Psychic Wonders
Doyle declares that this is the mold of a spirit's hand.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, surrounded by the records of his psychic investigations.
A photograph of Sir William Crookes, arm in arm with a materialized spirit form. The unconscious medium was lying on the floor behind the two figures in the picture.
By Leonard Crocombe.
Do these exhibits — spirit photographs, fingerprints, examples of automatic paintings, etc. — prove beyond the shadow of a doubt, as Doyle says they do, the reality of a life beyond the grave?
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle calls the psychic museum he conducts in London, "The World's Happiest Museum."
Why the "happiest" museum? Perhaps the answer will be plain when you have read about its contents.
To reach this room of "miracles" you enter the Psychic Book Shop and Library, facing Westminster Abbey. Sir Arthur is proprietor of this shop, and beneath it is the long room in which he has arranged hundreds of objects, photographs, pictures — a thought-provoking record of certain phases of Spiritualist activities, and of the results of psychic research (between the two is an important difference), for the past fifty years or so.
"My museum may be the smallest in London,"
Sir Arthur said, "but it is as large as any museum ever need be, for the visitor will have to give several hours to its exhibits if he wishes really to examine them all thoroughly. It is, also, unique. We can give the history of every single thing in it, and I do not think the most hardened sceptic could go over the exhibits and retain any doubt as to the continuity of our life after physical death. That is surely the core of every religion, and my little museum must be doing good work if it proves our survival of bodily death. What is there even in our big brother, the British Museum, which is so important as that?"
It should, perhaps, be explained that the exhibits may be divided into two sections: first, those with a definite evidential value; second, those which although non-evidential, are of interest for the stories attaching to them or — as in the case of a number of paintings — because they illustrate vividly certain dramatic aspects of psychic phenomena, the scientific accuracy of which can be tested elsewhere by all who care to seek advice in the library above the museum.
Let us, then, examine first some of the things which can be labeled evidential. To me, the most dramatic exhibit of this class is the enlargement of the actual photograph of Sir William Crookes, F.R.S., arm in arm with the materialized spirit of Katie King.
Sir Arthur's comments on this picture were: "This photograph is an enlarged copy of the one taken by Sir William Crookes in his own laboratory more than fifty years ago. It is one of the forty-four which Crookes took. Here is another one in which Katie is seen entering the room, and here is a letter of Crookes' in which he shows that Katie and the medium, Florence Cook, were two separate and distinct people. When one considers that Crookes' observations of Miss Cook extended for nearly three years and were conducted in his own house, I cannot imagine how any reasonable being can doubt the truth of them."
Dipping for a moment into Crookes' Researches, we find the following paragraphs regarding the particular photograph hanging on the museum walls:
- One of the most interesting of the pictures is one in which I am standing by the side of Katie... Afterwards I dressed Miss Cook like Katie, placed her and myself in exactly the same position, and we were photographed by the same cameras, placed exactly as in the other experiment, and illuminated by the same light. When these two pictures are placed over each other, the two photographs of myself coincide exactly as regards stature, et cetera, but Katie is half a head taller than Miss Cook, and looks a big woman in comparison with her. In the breadth of her Face. in many of the pictures, she differs essentially in size from her medium, and the photographs show several other points of difference...
- I have the most absolute certainty that Miss Cook and Katie are two separate individuals so far as their bodies are concerned. Several little marks on Miss Cook's face are absent on Katie's. Miss Cook's hair is so dark a brown as almost to appear black; a lock of Katie's which is now before me, and which she allowed me to cut from her luxuriant tresses, having first traced it up to the scalp and satisfied myself that it actually grew there, is a rich golden auburn.
- On one evening I timed Katie's pulse. It beat steadily at seventy-five, whilst Miss Cook's pulse a little time after was going at its usual rate of ninety. On applying my ear to Katie's chest I could hear a heart beating rhythmically inside, and pulsating even more steadily than did Miss Cook's heart when she allowed me to try a similar experiment after the séance. Tested in the same way, Katie's lungs were found to be sounder than her medium's, for at the time I tried my experiment Miss Cook was under medical treatment for a severe cough.
The scientist concludes the chapter with the words:
- To imagine, I say, the Katie King of the fast three years to be the result of imposture does more violence to one's reason and common-sense than to believe her to be what she herself affirms.
Next in dramatic as well as evidential value I place the now famous wax molds or "gloves" of spirit hands.
"You will see,"
Sir Arthur explained, "that the wrists are smaller than the breadth of the hands, so that the hands could not have been extricated from the molds save by dematerialization. I defy anyone to suggest any other way. Houdini, the conjurer, and Sir Arthur Keith, a great anatomist, have both tried their skill, and the results, laboriously produced, have only served to accentuate the unique character of that which they tried to copy. And, of course, it must be remembered that men of scientific repute — Richet, Geley, and the Count de Gramont — superintended the whole experiment. On the wall there is a picture illustrating the occasion on which these wax molds were obtained. The medium was an amateur, Franek Kluski, of Warsaw. When you have the palpable proof of the wax 'gloves' on the one side, and the evidence of such expert witnesses as Richet, Geley, and de Gramont on the other, I think the case is proved."
There is space to tell only very briefly and incompletely how these wax gloves, and others, were obtained. Dr. Geley, of the Institut Métapsychique, Paris, and Professor Richet had prepared a bucket of warm paraffin, and upon the appearance of a materialized figure — that of a smallish man — the request was made that the spirit should plunge his hand into the bucket. This, the sitters declared, was done, and the spirit's hand was thereby coated with paraffin. When the figure dematerialized, a cast of the hand was left on the table. As Sir Arthur said, the glove is of solidified paraffin and is so narrow at the wrist that the hand could not have been withdrawn by normal means without breaking the mold.
After showing that none of the sitters could have made the gloves, Doctor Geley concludes his comments on the séance with the following words:
- Finally, there is the hypothesis that the gloves were brought by the medium. This is disproved by the fact that we secretly introduced chemicals into the melted wax, and that these were found in the gloves. The report of the expert modelers on the point is categorical and final.
While I was making my notes on the gloves, Sir Arthur fingered a large vase.
"This room is full of incredible things,"
he said, when I rejoined him — "things which, in the old days, would have been called miracles, or the results of miracles. A miracle, now and always, is simply the intrusion of some natural force which we do not yet understand. We can show you results here, but we are not yet able to explain their causes. But it is incorrect to use the words 'supernatural' or 'supernormal' in connection with the manifestations of powers of whose methods we are as yet ignorant. Everything in Nature is 'natural' and 'normal,' whether we understand it or not."
"Now examine this big jug, or vase,"
Sir Arthur continued, handing it to me.
"It came down suddenly, inexplicably, on a séance table.
"This is what we call an apport — the French word for something brought. Apport phenomena inchide all manner of objects — live birds and fish, fresh fruit, dew-laden flowers, coins — that are brought from a distance, through walls, closed windows, locked doors, and so on, into the midst of a group of sitters. Darkness is not always essential; neither is a professional apport medium necessary.
"No one could say that the medium had this large jug hidden upon her person,"
Sir Arthur said. "I happen to know a good deal about the medium. She was an amateur. From first to last she — or, rather, the spirits who used the psychic power she supplied — brought through about two thousand objects of various kinds — Chinese and Indian lamps, amulets, Thibetan pots, all manner of queer things — and among them all I do not think there was one that could have been got in England. This jug, for example, is Syrian ware. She was quite a poor woman, but she would not sell her apports. She just left them with the sitters. Of course, it is all very fantastic, but it is truce."
Sir Arthur next called my attention to a number of smaller apports which had appeared in his own presence under test conditions.
"Look at this pile of Turkish pennies,"
he directed me. "There are about thirty of them. They all crashed down on the table during a test sitting I arranged in Melbourne. Now, you might hunt Australia from coast to coast and you would not find a Turkish penny. How, then, could the medium have got these? We asked the question of the medium's 'control' and were told that they had been brought from a well in Asia Minor. They had been hidden behind some bricks and were part of the hoard of some poor peasant who had probably been murdered. Such was the story; but, of course, there was no proof at all of their origin — except; perhaps, the very slight corroboration provided by the fact that some of the coins are, as you see, green with rust, and this seems to show that they had been left in a damp place for a considerable time.
"The only thing that is perfectly certain, is that they were not on the medium's body, for I stripped and searched him; also, such coins, as I have said, could not be got in Australia.
"It is easy to make fun of such things, but facts are facts, and it is impossible to explain them.
"This other exhibit — a Babylonian clay tablet — fell upon the table during the same sitting. The inscription on it is, I think, correct. The control seemed to be a very wise spirit, who discoursed in a most learned manner upon Assyrian and Roman antiquities and psychic science. When I asked him how an apport was brought, his answer was:
"'It involves some factors which are beyond your human science and which could not be made clear to you. At the same time you may take as a rough analogy the case of water which is turned into steam. Then this steam, which is invisible, may be conducted elsewhere to be reassembled as visible water.'
"I should add that I had the tablet tested at the British Museum and that it was pronounced to be a forgery. Upon further inquiry, it was ascertained that-these forged tablets are made by certain Jews in a suburb of Bagdad, and, so far as is known, only there. The matter is not much further advanced, therefore. To the transporting agency it is at least possible that the forged tablet, steeped in recent human magnetism, is more easily handled as an apport than a genuine one taken from a mound. This same medium had, at one time or another, brought not less than a hundred of these imitation Babylonian tablets through.
"But that is enough about apports.
"Of course, one has to look out for frauds. That applies to every form of mediumship — and to other human activities. Take your own profession; we have had dishonest journalists. You are a journalist, but, so far as I know"
— here Sir Arthur thoughtfully collected those Turkish coins and replaced them under lock and key — "you are an honest man. Still, the other day the Spiritualists caught an apport 'medium' who had small stones stuck by plaster behind his ears. We've no use for that sort of ‘apport’ merchant; the conjurers can have him!
"One must not be credulous. But one must not be too incredulous. The man who believes nothing, is just as foolish as the man who believes everything. Test and ponder each case for yourself, comparing it with the result of others. There are many rogues in psychic circles, as there are in more mundane circles, but the true mediums, amateur and professional, far outnumber them. By the way, one of the best apport mediums in this country will never accept payment for a sitting. If he could do by trickery the marvelous things he does through his psychic power, he would be making a large income on the stage. Curious, isn’t it?
"But in these days the gifts of the Spirit are becoming more mental and less physical, They are refining all the time. The coarser phenomena were mere signals to attract our attention. We have hardly a single good materialization medium in England now, while we have many excellent clairvoyants."
We next turned our attention to some finger-prints recorded, by request, by spirits who rapped with materialized fingers on a piece of smoked glass. The finger-prints of all the persons present at the séance, have also been recorded, and can be examined by any visitor to the Museum. None of them coincide with the spirit finger-prints.
Sir Arthur next told me the facts concerning some of the most striking of the many spirit photographs in his collection. First, he showed me a picture of a group at a séance, and related the following incident :
"Doctor Gustave Geley, who had probably gone as deeply as anyone into psychic science — his great book, From the Unconscious to the Conscious, will probably stand the test of time — had arranged to sit with Mr. Hope, the photographic medium of Crewe, for a portrait on which he hoped to obtain what is called a spirit 'extra.'
"Immediately before the date fixed for the sitting, Doctor Geley was killed in an aeroplane accident. That was on July 15th, 1924. The séance with Mr. Hope was nevertheless held on the appointed day, and, as will be seen, Doctor Geley, too, kept his appointment, for his face can be very clearly seen above the sitters. In the top right-hand corner can be seen also part of the secret mark made by the manufacturers on the negatives before they were packed, in order to prove that the same negatives were used, and there is a certificate that the medium was never allowed to handle them. Readers desiring the full details will find them in Psychic Science of October, 1924, and in the Revue Métapsychique for the same month."
Two large photographs which every visitor to the Museum should inspect closely are of a Mr. Walker of Derbyshire. One shows him as he was on earth and one as a spirit; the features are identical.
This Mr. Walker was a friend of W. T. Stead, and he went with the great journalist to bid him good-by before his voyage on the doomed Titanic. Stead's last words to Mr. Walker were: "I will try to keep you posted." The message proved memorable.
After the sinking of the Titanic, and the drowning of Stead, Mr. Walker went to be photographed by Mr. Hope of Crewe. In the portrait then taken can be seen, written round Mr. Walker's head, the last words he heard Stead utter: "I will try to keep you posted," followed by the signature "W. T. Stead." And the writing is identical with Stead’s.
Sir Arthur called my attention to one of the many interesting documents framed on the walls. "Here is a letter from Oscar Wilde written to me in his lifetime. Below you see a written communication from him many years after his death. It came by automatic writing through the hand of Mrs. Hester Dowden, the psychic daughter of the eminent Shakespearean scholar. Now look at the signature; look at the fine points of resemblance in the two scripts. When, in addition, one learns that the complete manuscript, which your readers can get under the title of Psychic Messages of Oscar Wilde, is full of characteristic prose, and contains numerous little-known allusions to his own life, one surely must admit that it is difficult to explain the facts save by the hypothesis that it is actually Wilde who is behind it.
"Over there you can examine portions of the original automatic script given through the hand of the Reverend G. Vale Owen and published in his wonderful volume. The Life Beyond the Veil.
"This slate, on the other hand, bears evidential testimony to the fact that there is such a phenomenon as direct spirit writing. The passage is ancient Greek, and was produced on the slate in the presence of the medium Slade in 1876. Slade was not well-educated and knew no Greek. Authorities on Greek assert that only a great scholar could have placed the accents correctly, as they are placed on this slate.
"Now look at these complex flower designs.
Sir Arthur pointed to a beautifully colored wreath. "This design is a specimen of yet another phase of psychic phenomena called 'precipitations.'
"How long do you suppose this intricate design took to do? A matter of hours, certainly, one would say. Well, as a fact it was done completely in seventeen seconds! Naturally, we cannot expect everyone to believe that! Still, when we took at the corner of the paper we see the names of all the witnesses — reputable people in their day.
"By some power, which we can only vaguely call psychic, the whole picture was thrown in those few seconds upon the paper. Incredible, of course — but perfectly true, none the less!"
In the top left-hand corner of this "precipitation" the following is written:
- We whose names are hereto appended do certify that we were present and witnessed the production of the picture in seventeen — seconds. Done on Saturday, April 13, 1861, through the mediumship of Mrs. E. J. French in New York.
Among the five signatories was the late Judge Edmonds, of the Supreme Court of New York.
"Now this,"
said Sir Arthur, pointing to a striking seascape, "is what I should call a specimen of the higher mediumship. This water-color was done by a woman who had no knowledge of art, but who was controlled or obsessed from time to time, according to her own account, by the spirit of a Dutch water-color painter. I came across her in Los Angeles. She is not allowed to sell the splendid results of her obsessions, but she gave me this picture. Did you ever see such a sense of movement in a seascape? And yet normally she could hardly draw or paint at all."
There are several other good specimens in the museum of automatic painting, stated to be far above the normal power of the painters. There is, for instance, a large picture or design, in wondrously delicate colors. It was done in 1925 by a miner in France — a laboring. man with no art training whatever and no knowledge of Egyptology or Oriental design. He was in a state of semi-trance when he painted it. How, then, was it produced? Telepathy? Thought-transference? His own subconscious mind?
This account of the museum would not be complete without a reference to the illustration of one of D. D. Home's miracles. The incident on which the picture is based, is vouched for by the Earl of Dunraven in his book, Experiences in Spiritualism with D. D. Home. Home, while entranced, told his friends not to be afraid, and then went out of the room, which was on the third floor. He was heard to throw the window up in the next room, and presently he was seen to be floating in the air outside. He then opened the window and walked in quite coolly. A few moments later he repeated the manifestation, going through the open window "head first, quite rapidly, his body being nearly horizontal and apparently rigid. He came in again feet foremost."
These extraordinary happenings took place at Ashley House, Victoria Street, on Sunday, December 13th, 1868. The witnesses were Lord Adare (afterwards Earl of Dunraven), the Honorable the Master of Lindsay, and Captain Charles Wynne.
"All honorable men,"
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle remarked. "And,"
he added, "there are more than a hundred instances of Home's levitation. It is strange how a Christian can say such things are utterly impossible and yet easily accept the account of Saint Peter walking on the waves two thousand years ago. These psychic facts greatly reinforce the Biblical miracles, and some day the New Testament will be believed in, not in spite of but on account of the miracles. Look at this photograph of a small table suspended in the air. If a table, why not a human being?"
I turned to look through one of the many photograph-albums which the museum contains, and I came upon enlarged prints of those fascinating and now world-famous photographs of fairies.
"Fairies?"
Sir Arthur echoed. "Well, we don't reckon them to be a part of Spiritualism, do we? But they are a part of the Universe, although they have no connection with human evolution. These little creatures are separated from us only by a very slight difference of vibration, which can readily be pierced by the clairvoyant, and occasionally — as in the instances when these photographs were taken by those small girls—needs no piercing at all.
"The Cottingley fairies have held their own entirely and there has never been any damaging criticism at all. The two girls were perfectly honest and the photographs are unquestionably genuine. The negatives have stood every expert test.
"Here you see another fairy photograph which came from an adult source. It was taken in Devonshire a couple of years ago. The queer little fellow seen leaning against the tree is a tree spirit. We have always been told that they draw their strength from trees while leaning against them, also that they preserve a semi-wooden appearance. You get both conditions in this photograph.
"The fact is that we don't begin to realize the possibilities of the world in which we are living. A man discovers a new sort of insect and is hailed as a genius. Mr. Gardner and I have helped to discover a race of sub-humans, and people smile, shrug, and say, 'Fake, of course!' I consider that the book, The Coming of the Fairies, may some day be reckoned an epoch-making event — for it is, so far as I know, the first time fairies have been seriously dealt with and their existence proved with reliable photographs."
We left the fairies, and returned to our talk of things spiritual and psychic. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's last words to me were:
"Fresh evidence for our survival of bodily death and for Spirit return, under certain conditions, is not needed. If only the existing evidence is examined, it will be found to be overwhelmingly on the side of the angels. Unlike every hypothesis put forward by those who have proved the phenomena but are in doubt as to their origin, Spiritualism alone covers alt the facts satisfactorily."
