SINGULAR INTERVIEW WITH A “SHADE.”

Evening Star, Issue 3276, 20 August 1873, Page 3

SINGULAR INTERVIEW WITH A “SHADE.”

The London correspondent of tlio Belfast Newsletter (a sensible fellow generally) writes—“ I was permitted, a few nights since, to be present when Miss , the now most celebrated medium in Europe (a young lady between sixteen and seventeen), was securely bound and sealed (the tape by which she was tied being held by a gentleman seated in the room), when she became entranced. A shawl was then hung in front of the little recess in the room, in which the young lady was seated on a stool about ten inches high, and a naked arm, apparently that of a woman, but larger than that of the medium, appeared above the shawl near the ceiling of the room. This was in a dim light; but in a few minutes afterwards the shawl was drawn aside, and the figure of a woman much larger than Miss appeared. She was dressed in white (the medium in black); her eyes were blue, and those of the medium hazel. She spoke to ns, and on asking whether she could bear a strong light she said she could. A magnesium light of intense brilliancy was then burned, and under this fierce ordeal the figure stood longer than we ourselves could bear the light. A distinguished physician was seated close to the shawl with his ear to it, and he states that the medium could not by any possibility have divested herself of a single garment (even if her hands had not been tied), or could have risen from her seat without his hearing the motion. The gentleman who held the string asserted with equal positiveness that the medium could not have moved her body an inch in any direction without his becoming sensible of it. The figure was that of a good-looking woman or girl of about two or three-aud-twenty, tall and well-formed. She

did not speak to us while the magnesium light was burning \ but afterwards, when the light was reduced to two mineral-oil lamps, she spoke repeatedly, and, advancing from the recess, shook hands with two of the company present, Ido not pretend to give any solution of this curious circumstance —I simply relate the facts as they occurred. When questioned as to the manner in which the apparition materialised herself, she said that she first entranced her medium, and then, taking power from her and from all present, was enabled, with the assistance of spirits unseen by us, to show herself to us. The most wonderful part of the story, however, remains to be told, and it was this, that after the apparition had come out three times, and had been photographed under the magnesium light, she held the shawl back, and her figure seemed to us to melt away like a cloud all but the head, which went gradually down to the floor. Here it spoke to us again, saying, ‘You may now waken the medium very gently.’ A gentleman present instantly pushed aside the curtain ; but we could see nothing but the young girl in a deep trance, with her hands tied and sealed as we had secured her an hour before. 1 ought perhaps to add that Miss is an unprofessional medium—that no fee or reward of any kind can be offered or would be accepted, and that she lives with her family, who are persons of the highest respectability. It is extremely difficult to get to her seances, the circle being opened only to those who are specially introduced, and who sincerely desire to investigate the phenomena.”