Ghosts in a Hall
Ghosts in a Hall is an article published in the Daily Express on 28 april 1919.
Ghosts in a Hall
SPIRITS "ATTEND" THEIR OWN MEMORIAL SERVICE.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Dr. Ellis T. Powell, editor of the "Financial News," were the chief speakers at a service held by the Spiritualists' National Union, Limited, in the Albert Hall last night, in memory of those who fell in the war.
Many of the large congregation wore a white flower as a token that they have, as they believe, received messages from those who have "passed over."
Dr. Powell asked how else could he begin than with an apostrophe to the "ten thousand of enfranchised souls who are here in this hall." He affirmed that the service was not a memorial to the dead, but to the living. In the whole universe there is no death.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle recalled that after the Russo-Japanese war Admiral Togo [1] went down to the sea-shore and invoked the spirits of the men who had been killed to thank them.
"When we have got to the level of Japan in psychical civilisation,"
he said, "it will not be insignificant civilians, but the great chiefs of the Army and Navy, who will stand here and thank those who have fallen for their services. The Army is largely impregnated with our doctrine, and I know one commander of an army corps who is as good a spiritualist as any one in this hall."
Sir Arthur recalled the great service in the Albert Hall more than a year ago, in memory of the first Seven Divisions, and said that some "remarkable results" were obtained at a seance the next night, and that one of the spirits complained that the people who attended the service did not "see" the thousands of dead soldiers who were present.
- ↑ Tōgō Heihachirō.
