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Revelations of a Spirit Medium; Facsimile Edition, with Notes

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Revelations of a Spirit Medium; Facsimile Edition, with Notes UNIVERSITY Of CM..-FORN1A SAN DFEGO J Revelations of a Spirit Medium REVELATIONS OF A SPIRIT MEDIUM FACSIMILE EDITION, WITH NOTES, BIBLIOGRAPHY, GLOSSARY AND INDEX HARRY PRICE, F.R.N.S. of the for (Member Society Psychical Research ; Hon. Librarian, of the of Magicians' Club, London ; Member Society American Magicians, etc.) ERIC J. DINGWALL, M.A. of the for of the (Member Society Psychical Research ; Member Inner Magic Circle, London, etc.) LONDON : KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & Co., LTD. NEW YORK: E. P. BUTTON & CO. 1922 CONTEiNTS PAGE COMPILERS' PREFACE . vii BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE . xii NOTES ON THE TEXT .... xvii BIBLIOGRAPHY ..... xxix GLOSSARY ..... Ix *AUTHOR'S PREFACE ... 1 *SPIRITUAL MYSTERIES EXPOSED. 7 INDEX 325 *Reproduced in facsimile by photography. PREFACE THE stir in the spiritualistic w6rld which accompanied the publication of this book will be easily understood when its contents have been analysed and adequately digested. In 1891 when it was first published, fraudulent mediumship had attained a vogue which it would be difficult to over-estimate. The class of so-called physical phenomena of which the book treats has always been more popular amongst public mediums in the United States than in this country, and has at all times been regarded with suspicion by serious students of the subject. The reason for this is not far to seek. If genuine physical phenomena exist (and we believe such phenomena to be ex- cessively rare), it is scarcely conceivable that such manifestations could take place at the will of any medium on whom a sitter happens to call. Public mediums therefore are to be especially guarded against, and any apparently successful results obtained with them should vii viii REVELATIONS OF A SPIRIT MEDIUM be scrutinised with the greatest care. The present great increase of interest in psychic phenomena will probably result in the pro- duction of spurious physical phenomena by the less honest mediums, and it is with this thought that we have decided to reprint the Revelations of a Spirit Medium. The inquirer will find much food for thought in the ingenious devices and methods herein exposed, and the magician cannot fail to profit by a careful perusal of its pages. The literary quality of the work is certainly not of a high order, but we have preferred to reprint it as a whole, thereby retaining the somewhat quaint flavour of the original work. In conclusion we would remind the reader that no mere knowledge of magical secrets will ever guarantee him from being deceived by fraudulent mediums. Actual acquaintance with practical methods and long experience of the conduct of seances is necessary before he will be able to distinguish the genuine from the fraudulent, and when he finds himself able to discern faintly the line which divides the two he will be in a position to understand more fully the enormous difficulties which confront PREFACE ix the investigators of psychical phenomena. It is hoped that the reappearance of this medium- istic classic will whet the reader's appetite and make him eager for still further information. The field of inquiry is well nigh inexhaustible and competent researchers are but few. If this book helps to produce even one student who is really capable of distinguishing truth from error the editors will feel themselves amply rewarded. H.P. E.J.D. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE The Revelations of a Spirit Medium is a book with a history of which, unfortunately, we know very little. It was published in 1891 by Farrington & Co., 37, East Tenth St., St. Paul, Minn., U.S.A. The same year it was " entered according to Act of Congress in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washing- " ton (corresponding to our Stationers' Hall), by the same firm, under the name of Charles F. Pidgeon, and there our positive information comes to a full stop. The real authorship of the book has long been a subject for discussion and surmise. In an article on Lily Dale, published in the Proceedings of the American Society for Psy- chical Research, 1908, Vol. II., p. 116, Mr. " Carrington says : A number of us have, for some years, been endeavouring to find, with certainty, the author of this book. I tried, and came to the conclusion that it was a xi xii REVELATIONS OF A SPIRIT MEDIUM medium named Mansfield, because a well- known medium of that name published, some years ago, a little pamphlet entitled Spiritual- istic Phenomena, explaining a number of slate tricks, materialisation frauds, etc., and in it gives one to understand that he is the author of the larger work, from which he freely quotes. He is careful not to assert that such is the case, however. Dr. Hodgson tried, and probably came nearer the truth than anyone else has. In the course of some correspond- ence I had with Miss Edmunds, after Dr. Hodgson's death, this question of the author- ship of the book came up, and Miss Edmunds referred me to a gentleman, living in the West, who had in his possession a copy of this book, on the fly-leaf of which were the following words : ' (At top of page.) Is the author Dono- ' van or Pidgeon ? ' (At bottom of page.) Miss H writes on December 8th, 1903, that she is sure the authorship of this book is Donovan. Mr. Bundy had told her, but that Donovan had slipped her memory, but was recalled " by my note. R.H.' BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE xiii The above explanation sounds highly prob- able, for we have evidence in the book itself that the author was well acquainted with Mr. J. C. Bundy, editor and owner of the Chicago Religio-Philosophical Journal. But in a note on p. 663 of the same volume " of the Proceedings, we have the following cor- " rection : "In Mr. Carrington's Report on Lily Dale, he attributed the authorship of The Revelations of a Spirit Medium to a Mr. Dono- van, on the authority of Dr. Richard Hodgson. Since the publication of that Report, informa- tion has come from Dr. George B. Warne, President of the National Spiritualists'Associa- tion, pointing out a probable error in that statement. We publish extracts from two of his letters which show what information had come to him in regard to that author- ship." The letters in question state that the writer was told by Moses Hull that the book in ques- tion was written by Chas. F. Pidgeon, with " the assistance of the notorious spirit photo- grapher," Frank N. Foster. Mr. Harrison D. Barrett, Dr. Warne's predecessor, reports similar testimony, and adds that he is certain xiv REVELATIONS OF A SPIRIT MEDIUM the book was written by Pidgeon, though the sources of his information are not given. Notwithstanding these amended particulars, if Mr. Bundy really told Dr. Hodgson that the book was written by Donovan, the Editors of the present edition favour this opinion as being correct, as undoubtedly the author was well acquainted with Mr. Bundy. The book was such a crushing expose of the methods of the bogus mediums that it created somewhat of a furore when it first saw the light. The mediums themselves bought every copy of the work they could find. Many copies were destroyed on the assumption that " dead men tell no tales," and the book soon became rarissime. Henry Ridgely Evans, writing in 1909, says (Old and New Magic, " 2nd Ed., p. 377) : The Revelations of a Spirit Medium is a very rare book," proving that thirteen years ago the work was difficult to obtain. Very few copies found their way to this country. No second edition can be traced, and the publishers went out of business soon after publication. The remainder of the edition was apparently acquired by Leo L. Williams & Co., of Syra- BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE xv cuse, Ind., and a reprint of certain passages in the book was published in Vol. XXXIII. of the Open Court, in 1909. Many alleged exposes of mediumistic tricks have been published, but none with the " " inside knowledge contained in this re- markable book, which has the ring of truth in every line. After a perusal of this most readable volume, " truly can we say with Goethe that it does not follow that what is mysterious must necessarily be miraculous." NOTES ON THE TEXT P. 11, line 23. Deceive. This view is still very commonly held even to-day. As a matter of fact apparatus is by no means always necessary to the magician, some of the very best magical effects being obtained with the audience all round the performer. P. 14, line 19. Chirography. This marvel is being constantly related of modern mediums. For an example of how scripts are manu- factured and detected see the Proceedings of the (English) Society for Psychical Research, 1892, vol. VIII., p.271 and of the American Society for March, 1920, pp. 529-588. P. 17, line 18. Preparation. It is generally assumed that magicians are capable of detect- ing fraudulent mediums. This is not always the case, and it is obvious that the investigating magician ought to be fully acquainted with fraudulent methods. A knowledge of how to manipulate cards and billiard balls will not xvii B xviii REVELATIONS OF A SPIRIT MEDIUM make a competent investigator, and it will be remembeTed that both Kellar and Bellachini showed themselves incapable of detecting the ingenious methods employed by Eglinton and Slade. See Proc. (Eng.) S.P.R., 1887, pp. Allseq. and cf. Light, Oct. 11, 1919, p. 324. P. 20, line 18. Proceeding. The same misstatements concerning the influx of spirit- ualists into asylums is still being repeated.
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