Sir Arthur and Shades in Town
Sir Arthur and Shades in Town is an article published in The Los Angeles Times on 15 may 1923.
Sir Arthur and Shades in Town
Spiritual Apostle Arrives: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Comes to Town: Artist's Conception of Noted Spiritualist's Arrival.
Conan Doyle to Help Uplift Earthly Angelenos
Next World Does Seem Like Wonderful Place
Books, Dogs, Wives — All Are to be There
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes and one of the foremost apostles of spiritualism, came to town yesterday with a message of hope for the humble earthlings who have failed to reach the heights upon which their ambitions are perched.
Sir Arthur, in his first Los Angeles interview, told of the other world that awaits all mortals. It is a place where colors are brighter, where sounds are sweeter and where folks are much nicer than they are on earth. He illustrated the unobstructed path to the realization of ambition with a reference to the blacksmith.
"On earth a man may be only a blacksmith,"
he said. "But in the higher sphere he may become a great musician, if on earth the blacksmith possesses musical tendencies."
Also may the lowly street cleaner, who daily polishes the busy streets, become a great artist. And the housewife, who displays a genius for keeping a tidy and efficiently operated house, may be. come a great organizer or business woman. Sir Arthur said so.
DEEP STUDENT
The noted author has been a student of psychic phenomena for thirty-five years, and contends he knows as much about it as anybody else. To enable himself to delve deeper into the subject he has practically abandoned his literary pursuits.
"I do not go looking for stories,"
he said. "But Sherlock Holmes is still attached to my bank account, so if an idea comes to me I write it."
But Sir Arthur prefers to talk about spiritualism and that happy land that awaits us in the vast beyond.
"The life beyond is a very normal process, you know,"
he continued. "If a man has strong tendencies toward art, music or any other good talent he will carry it on in the higher plane. Oh, no, life is not so different there. But the particular sphere which you reach depends upon what you are best fitted for.
"Everything there is just as material as this chair is to me now. You will develop your own powers, untrammeled by this world. When one dies he reaches a stage just a little higher than that in which he exists on earth. And from that stage he will pass on to a higher sphere, and then on to another. It is a process of transmigration, you know.
DOG THERE, TOO
"After death, when I reach the beyond. I shall have my books and my garden and my family — and, oh, yes — I shall have my dog. By jove, I will, for all domestic animals carry on.
"Love is the keynote of the spiritual world., If a married couple are happy in this world, they will be together in the other world, of course. One may wait a long time for his or her mate, but they will be reunited. But if a couple are not happily married and are divorced in this world, quite naturally they will be separated on the other side.
"To me, everything that awaits me in the next world is more definite than what may happen to me in Asia or Europe."
Sir Arthur admitted there are fake mediums, but he displays a keen sincerity in his statements supporting bona fide spiritualists. He denies that he is a medium, though he admitted he is possessed of a touch of apostolic power. He told of a close friend who was ill in Cincinnati. Liver trouble was the complaint.
"These visitations of healing power which I possess are very infrequent,"
he explained. "I am only endowed with the power occasionally. But as I stood by my friend's bedside I suddenly grasped his ribs and exclaimed, 'Get up. you old rat, you are cured!' And by Jove, he was immediately cured. Really, he was."
DEFENDS SPIRITS
In defense of the visits to earth of spiritual beings he told of Red Foot, an Iroquois chief, who has been dead for many moons. Sir Arthur, Mrs. Doyle and their three children were attending a seance in Chicago recently.
"Suddenly there was a most thunderous whoop. Really, it could be heard for half a mile. It was Red Foot's war whoop, y' know, and he was speaking through the ectoplasm exuding from the body of one of the guests. He made so much noise that we tried to hush him up. But he insisetd on telling us his story and how he had died and how he was buried. It was a most remarkable demonstration."
"Psychic phenoma,"
Sir Arthur declared, "are God's most important messages. More important than Bolshevism or the films.
"It is infinitely the most important thing that ever came out of America. It originated near New York, I am informed. It will progress, though of course it has been retarded and hindered by police laws. They have mixed up the fake mediums with the real mediums. It is quite as important as the first revelation from God. Christianity was the first. Spiritualism is the second and fills all the gaps left in the first revelation."
"The world should be very eager to know psychic phenomena because they concern everyone."
Ectoplasm, he added, is the latest and most important revelation in the development of spiritualism. He defined it as soluble inlight, which accounts for fact that all spiritual photographs must be made at night, as a mucoid substance consisting of phosphates, nitrates and other chemicals, which exudes from the human body and provides mediums with their amazing powers.
"BEASTLY STUFF"
"Ectoplasm is eerie, beastly stuff. I have had it on my hand. It is an element from the human body, but how it comes — that is for the scientists to determine. The materialized figure is built upon ectoplasm. Have you ever touched a wiggly worm? Well, that is what it feels like and—."
"Daddy," interrupted Malcolm, one of Sir Arthur's sons, "mother is waiting for you in the tea room, and I am going to take a bit of a dip in the plunge."
And the Interview with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was ended.
