IS SURVIVAL A FACT ? Margaret Lillian Hamilton, B.A IISS S. MU1R B-52 EDMONTON STREET WINNIPEG 1 , MANITOBA Though complete in itself, this book can be regarded as a continuation of Intention and Survival, written by the author's father, Dr. Glen Hamilton. In his own home, in strictly controlled scientific conditions, which made allegations of mal-observation and trickery impossible, and using non• professional mediums, he photographed ec- toplasmic formations, which included materialised features belonging to people who had died. Using the same mediums, the author re• cords how her family witnessed similar out• standing psychic phenomena, which in• cluded scripts, produced through an un• educated medium, from famous individuals in the Beyond. Sceptics will find it impos• sible to explain away the remarkable results obtained at the seances described in this book. They culminated in Dr. Glen Hamil• ton reproducing, after his passing, his materialised features. The author, born and educated in Winni• peg, has a B.A. degree from the University of Manitoba, with associateships in piano and voice from the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto. She has had wide experi• ence as solo pianist and also as concert accompanist with singers, instrumentalists and choirs. Her volunteer work has included serving on the executive committees of the Hamilton and London branches of the Ontario Regis• tered Music Teachers' Association ; the board of the London Women's Music Club, (with one year as its president); a six-year )97) term with the Winnipeg Women's Music Club (and one year as its president); and for two 'a, years a vice-president and convention chair• man of the provincial executive of the pf Manitoba Registered Music Teachers' Association. esearch £1/75 SURVIVAL A FACT IS SURVIVAL A FACT ? Studies of deep-trance automatic scripts and the bearing of intentional actions by the trance personalities on the question of human survival by Margaret Lillian Hamilton, B. Psychic Press Ltd. 23 Great Queen Street, London, W.C.2 © Margaret Hamilton Bach First published 1969 PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY BRISTOL TYPESETTING CO. LTD. BARTON MANOR - ST. PHILIPS BRISTOL To LILLIAN and T.G. CONTENTS Chapter Page Foreword 11 1 Introduction 13 2 The Predictions. The Scripts of 1931 and 1932. The Trance Drawing of 1933 51 3 The T.G.H. Materialisation of May 22, 1939 64 4 The Henry Gratton Scripts of 1942 69 5 The R.L.S. Scripts of 1942-1944 85 6 The Skylark 94 7 The War Scripts of 1942 98 8 The Stead Scripts of 1942-1943 103 9 The Oliver Lodge Scripts of 1941-1943 114 10 The T.G.H. Scripts of 1943-1944 123 11 The Stead Script of April, 1944 144 12 A Personal View 147 Appendix 151 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS (Between pages 80 and 81) Plate 1 Deep-trance drawing Plates 2&3 The T.G.H. teleplasmic likeness from two different angles Plate 4 Enlargement of the T.G.H. teleplasm Plate 5 Photo copy of Mrs. Marshall's letter to M.L.H. Plate 6 Photo copy of one of the R.L.S. scripts of 1942 1942 Plate 7 Photo copy of one of the original Stead scripts of July, 1943 Plate 8 Photo copy of original Gaelic script Plate 9 Photo copy of the Raymond Lodge teleplasmic face of October 27, 1929; with photograph of Ray• mond in life for comparison Plate 10 Photograph of the Oliver Lodge teleplasm of May 22, 1932; with photograph of Lodge in life for comparison A* FOREWORD By Maurice Barbanell T is a privilege to be asked to write the foreword, although I this book does not really require it. The author has shown her filial devotion in the labour of love, which has taken many years, to assemble the material for this work. In a way it is a sequel to her father's outstanding book, In• tention and Survival, which created a tremendous impression when published in 1942. Indeed it can be said that the results, obtained under strict scientific conditions, by her father, Dr. Glen Hamilton, provided an illuminating chapter in psychic research. The author was present at the seances conducted in her Winnipeg home, where every precaution was taken to eh'rnin- ate malobservation. A special locked room was utilised for the purpose of the seances and for nothing else. The mediums, always non-professionals, were searched beforehand. A battery of fourteen cameras, many of them used simultaneously, re• corded the phenomena for posterity. Complete notes were taken at every session. Dr. Hamilton was an ideal researcher because of his medical background. Nevertheless he was deeply religious by nature, a fact which made him and his associates realise the profound implications of the phenomena they obtained. They culminated in materialisations, many of which were identified. The communicators showed a high degree of intelligence and gave evidence of the fact that the phenomena they pro• duced was intentional on their part. This led Dr. Hamilton to choose Intention and Survival for the title of his book. After his passing, the family continued to have seances with 12 Foreword the same mediums. This book describes in meticulous but fascinating detail their experiences, which in many respects were comparable with those previously obtained. Perhaps the highlight was the return of Dr. Hamilton, whose features were clearly visible in the teleplasm produced by one of the mediums with whom he had previously been associ• ated. The author poses a question mark as the title of this book. There is no doubt in my mind, or even in hers, that the answer is a decided affirmative. CHAPTER ONE Introduction HE last twenty-five years have seen a remarkable growth Tof general interest in the area of human behaviour and ex• perience labelled "paranormal," as evidenced by the large number of publications now available, offering not only per• sonal accounts of genuine psychic experiences, but also scienti• fic reports outlining both quantitative and qualitative studies of physical and mental psychical phenomena, such as material• isations, telepathy, clairvoyance and other types of extra• sensory perception. Judging from the printing history of many such books they have appealed to a wide reading audience. No doubt there are numerous good reasons for this commendable state of affairs. I suggest that one important factor has been the cumulative effect of the work of qualified researchers who have been investigating quietly for many years, experimenting, observing and evaluating their results. And today, more than one hundred years after the first serious and objective scientific inquiries were undertaken in the 1850s by trained minds such as Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace, as a result of those efforts, a large body of factual information relating to psychic phenomena has been amassed. These have served to underline the importance of, and the need for discovering, the mental and spiritual components of man. This challenge is presently being met by universities in various parts of the civilised world where there are now depart• ments established specifically for the study of parapsychology, only recently recognised by orthodox science as a legitimate scientific discipline. And so while there are great numbers of 14 Is Survival a Fact? people who still ridicule and deride, there is, at the same time, a growing number who are genuinely and deeply interested in the progress of this young science. In view of this changing climate, I feel the moment oppor• tune to offer a detailed report of one particular type of para• normal phenomena, deep-trance automatic writing. This was received in abundance and studied in great detail and with extreme care by my parents, Dr. and Mrs. T. Glen Hamilton, of Winnipeg, Canada, during their investigations of the psychic faculties of two remarkably gifted ladies, Mrs. Elizabeth Poole and Mrs. Mary Marshall. My father died in 1935. Even though he gained international recognition during the last six years of his life, it is highly un• likely that any who may read this present account will ever have heard of my parents. Nor will they have had the oppor• tunity to examine any of my father's published articles, nor to have read our book Intention And Survival. In order that I may offer a suitable introduction to this essay, in this opening chapter I propose to give a brief survey of his work as a public servant and as a medical doctor; a resume of events which led to the discovery of our mediums; a short outline of their psychic development and of my father's experimental methods; and a comprehensive tabulation of the paranormal phenomena he observed and recorded. 1 Thomas Glendenning Hamilton was born in the Province of Ontario in November, 1873, the fourth of six children. When he was eight years old the entire family left a comfortable home near Toronto to take up an extensive farming acreage on the plains of Saskatchewan. In 1886 the father and the only daughter died. The following summer a severe drought caused widespread crop failure. His widow, discouraged by sorrow and hardship, sold the farm and in 1888 moved with her five sons to Winnipeg. Here the boys were able to complete their public schooling and go on to university. After teaching school in rural Manitoba for two years, my Introduction 15 father entered Medical College and graduated in 1903. Follow• ing a year's internship in the Winnipeg General Hospital, he established a practice of medicine, obstetrics and surgery in Elmwood, a city suburb already showing signs of vigorous growth both in population and in various civic enterprises. In 1906 he married Lillian Mae Forrester, a graduate of the Winnipeg General Hospital School of Nursing.