From THE REV. G. VALE OWEN
I have had several sittings with Mr. Wm. Hope and Mrs. Buxton at Crewe. I will briefly relate one experience.
In 1910 I was just dropping off to sleep when I saw, in the far corner of the room, a beautiful girl’s face smiling at me. It slowly disappeared sideways behind a screen. I wondered who the owner was. It was slightly oval, radiant with joy, and the eyes were laughing at me with just a touch of roguish enjoyment at my perplexity. There was a certain efflorescence permeating it, a light which did not proceed from an exterior object, but which seemed to be one with the substance of which the face was composed. But it was not a mask. It was a living face.
About eight years later I saw the same face again, this time about six inches from my own. On this second occasion there came into my mind, as if intentionally projected there, the name “Ruby.” Ruby is my daughter who passed away at the age of fifteen months in 1896.
In August, 1917, my wife and I paid a visit to the Crewe Circle. On one of the negatives appeared the face I had already seen clairvoyantly. It was not full-face, as I had seen it on the two previous occasions, but in profile. This disposes of the theory that it might have been a thought-form of my own.
Later on, we were having a talk with this spirit-child of ours in our own home at Orford, and I took the opportunity to ask her if it was she who had managed to get her picture on the plate at Crewe. Her reply was: “I don’t know, daddy. I was there and tried to. I should love to have done it. Did I?” My answer was that I was satisfied that she had done so.
I also asked her why it was in profile and she said it was in order that she might shew her hair. Even when she passed away as a baby her abundant light-brown hair was an exceptional feature. On the photograph it was also conspicuous.
I am satisfied that the picture is the likeness of my daughter Ruby. We have received more than one description of her as she appears in the spirit life and this portrait tallies with these descriptions.
I am at one with several of my friends who have sat with them in their conviction that there is no trickery used by these mediums in the production of results obtained.
On all my visits to Crewe I have been struck with the transparent honesty and earnestness of both Mr. Hope and Mrs. Buxton. The only conclusion to which I can come is that they are out for the sole purpose of helping others with their rare gift, at great cost to their own comfort and convenience. Personally I am grateful to them for their self-sacrificing service.
(Signed) G. Vale Owen.
Orford Vicarage, Warrington.