TALK WITH THE DEAD.

Colonist, Volume LXI, Issue 15087, 2 June 1919, Page 2

TALK WITH THE DEAD.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle possesses papers which, lie claims, "prove survival of and commuxiiun vvith'tho dead beyond the shadow of a doubt." A representative of tae ' 'Daily Mail" examined these papers at Sir Arthur'a home at Crow borough recently, and found them to consist of letters from correspondents relating their experiences with a medium recommended to them by Sir Arthur.

j All these correspondents, who live in [different parts of the country, had lost a near relative or dear friend, and out . of ~26 ca«es, said Sir Arthur, there': were only two failures, one of which j was his own experience. He attended iour sittings or. seances, and three were^ completely successful. On each •occasion the medium was the same—a woman known as Mrs. B.—and in the successful sittings she revealed trivial ] and private family reminiscences, on : j which Sir Oliver Lodge lays such stress. ' ] Relatives' names, personal appear-: i anc.e, idiosyncrasies, and mannerisms i were accurately reported, and in one I case a question asked in Danish was j correctly answered in English, the ! medium not understanding Danish;: • and therefore, said Sir Arthur, ruling < \ out the theory of telepathy. '■ i One woman, writing from Tunbridge ! Wells, said her husband, who died in j Genoa, had not written to her for five ! months before his death. Through the [ medium, who gave his name and de- ; scribed his personal appearance, he said \ he was suffering torments of remorse ■ over his neglect of her, and during the j seance he continually requested other spirits not to "barge in." "Why did you hot write?" asked the ! wife. "I did write;" he replied, "but j that fool Ginger did not post the i letter "

A South Croydon correspondent statJed that her son, a soldier, died in ) France, and the family had heard that ! the fatal wound was ;self-inflicted. | After much hesitation the medium re- ■ lated thi£ fact, which was unknown to 'her, and added 'that "the boy looked ■somewhat defiant. He said he had been depressed,, and was not in his : right mind when he shot himself." He \ said the family were helping him | with 'their prayers. j From Bournemouth came a statement S wherein the medium described a young J officer standing beside a broken aoro- ! plane propeller. The officer was acci- ' dentally killed on Salisbury Plain, .she j said, by the propeller of his aeroplane, which started prematurely. i Another woman said she was tok! by j her dead son through'the medium that she would see him in the garden, and she would first see his "pink aura."

In his own ease, Sir Arthur said, nicst intimate family affairs were related by the medium, who could not possibly Lave any previous knowledge of the things sbo told. His son, who died on service,'had beeu a sceptic on spiritualism, and had declared that his father was being bamboozled. "It was the only difference between us," said Sir Arthur. "But, communicating from the other side, my bey expressed his regret at riot having trusted his father's judgment. In spefilring ho used endearing terms and favourite slang expressions known only to the family circle."

Both Sir Arthur and Lady Doyle were completely convined that they hart actually communicated with the "dead boy. .

Relating the case of his brother-in-law, a.doctor, who was killed at Mods, Sir Arthur said that not only did the •medium' give his name and'accurate personal description, but also she said he cxrald be iiidentified by a gold coin. ''This gold coin," said Sir Arthur, was a Spade guinea I gave him for a joke after medical consultation, and nobody but myself knew of the incident."

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