Additional Piper Script
Mr. Bayfield also calls my attention to another portion of Piper Script—in this case not a trance or semi-trance sitting, but ordinary automatic writing—dated 5 August, which reached me simultaneously with the one already quoted from, at the beginning of September, and which he says seems intended to prepare me for some personal trouble:—
"Yes. For the moment, Lodge, have faith and wisdom [? confidence] in all that is highest and best. Have you all not been profoundly guided and cared for? Can you answer, 'No'? It is by your faith that all is well and has been."
I remember being a little struck by the wording in the above script, urging me to admit that we—presumably the family—had "been profoundly guided and cared for," and "that all is well and has been"; because it seemed to indicate that something was not going to be quite so well. But it was too indefinite to lead me to make any careful record of it, or to send it as a prediction to anybody for filing; and it would no doubt have evaporated from my mind except for the 'Faunus' warning, given three days later, though received at the same time, which seemed to me clearly intended as a prediction, whether it happened to come off or not.
The two Piper communications, of which parts have now been quoted, reached me at Gullane, East Lothian, where my wife (M. F. A. L.) and I were staying for a few weeks. They arrived early in September 1915, and as soon as I had heard from Mrs. Verrall I wrote to Miss Piper to acknowledge them, as follows:—
"The Linga Private Hotel,
Gullane, East Lothian,
12 September 1915"My dear Alta,—The reference to the Poet and Faunus in your mother's last script is quite intelligible, and a good classical allusion. You might tell the 'communicator' some time if there is opportunity.
"I feel sure that it must convey nothing to you and yours. That is quite as it should be, as you know, for evidential reasons."
This was written two days before Raymond's death, and five days before we heard of it. The Pipers' ignorance of any meaning in the Poet and Faunus allusion was subsequently confirmed.
It so happens that this letter was returned to me, for some unknown reason, through the Dead Letter Office, reaching me on 14 November 1915, and being then sent forward by me again.[7]
Footnotes
[7] Further Piper and other communications, obscurely relevant to this subject, will be found in a Paper which will appear in the S.P.R. Proceedings for the autumn of 1916.
CHAPTER III
SEQUEL TO THE 'FAUNUS' MESSAGE
IT now remains to indicate how far Myers carried out his implied promise, and what steps he took, or has been represented as having taken, to lighten the blow—which it is permissible to say was a terribly severe one.
For such evidence I must quote from the record of sittings held here in England with mediums previously unknown, and by sitters who gave no sort of clue as to identity. (See the historical record, beginning at [Chapter V.])
It may be objected that my own general appearance is known or might be guessed. But that does not apply to members of my family, who went quite anonymously to private sittings kindly arranged for by a friend in London (Mrs. Kennedy, wife of Dr. Kennedy), who was no relation whatever, but whose own personal experience caused her to be sympathetic and helpful, and who is both keen and critical about evidential considerations.
I may state, for what it is worth, that as a matter of fact normal clues to identity are disliked, and, in so far as they are gratuitous, are even resented, by a good medium; for they are no manner of use, and yet subsequently they appear to spoil evidence. It is practically impossible for mediums to hunt up and become normally acquainted with the family history of their numerous sitters, and those who know them are well aware that they do nothing of the sort, but in making arrangements for a sitting it is not easy, unless special precautions are taken, to avoid giving a name and an address, and thereby appearing to give facilities for fraud.
In our case, and in that of our immediate friends, these precautions have been taken—sometimes in a rather elaborate manner.
The first sitting that was held after Raymond's death by any member of the family was held not explicitly for the purpose of getting into communication with him—still less with any remotest notion of entering into communication with Mr. Myers—but mainly because a French widow lady, who had been kind to our daughters during winters in Paris, was staying with my wife at Edgbaston—her first real visit to England—and was in great distress at the loss of both her beloved sons in the war, within a week of each other, so that she was left desolate. To comfort her my wife took her up to London to call on Mrs. Kennedy, and to get a sitting arranged for with a medium whom that lady knew and recommended. Two anonymous interviews were duly held, and incidentally I may say that the two sons of Madame communicated, on both occasions, though with difficulty; that one of them gave his name completely, the other approximately; and that the mother, who was new to the whole subject, was partially consoled.[8] Raymond, however, was represented as coming with them and helping them, and as sending some messages on his own account. I shall here only quote those messages which bear upon the subject of Myers and have any possible connexion with the 'Faunus' message.
(For an elementary explanation about 'sittings' in general, see [Chapter I. ])
Extracts Relating to 'Myers' from Early
Anonymous Sittings
We heard first of Raymond's death on 17 September 1915, and on 25 September his mother (M. F. A. L.), who was having an anonymous sitting for a friend with Mrs. Leonard, then a complete stranger, had the following spelt out by tilts of a table, as purporting to come from Raymond:—
Tell father I have met some friends of his.
M. F. A. L.—Can you give any name?
Yes. Myers.
(That was all on that subject on that occasion.)
On the 27th of September 1915, I myself went to London and had my first sitting, between noon and one o'clock, with Mrs. Leonard. I went to her house or flat alone, as a complete stranger, for whom an appointment had been made through Mrs. Kennedy. Before we began, Mrs. Leonard informed me that her 'guide' or 'control' was a young girl named "Feda."
In a short time after the medium had gone into trance, a youth was described in terms which distinctly suggested Raymond, and "Feda" brought messages. I extract the following:—
From First Anonymous Sitting of O. J. L. with
Mrs. Leonard, 27 September 1915
(Mrs. Leonard's control, Feda, supposed to be speaking throughout.)
He finds it difficult, he says, but he has got so many kind friends helping him. He didn't think when he waked up first that he was going to be happy, but now he is, and he says he is going to be happier. He knows that as soon as he is a little more ready he has got a great deal of work to do. "I almost wonder," he says, "shall I be fit and able to do it. They tell me I shall."
"I have instructors and teachers with me." Now he is trying to build up a letter of some one; M. he shows me.
(A short time later, he said:—)
"People think I say I am happy in order to make them happier, but I don't.[9] I have met hundreds of friends. I don't know them all. I have met many who tell me that, a little later, they will explain why they are helping me. I feel I have got two fathers now. I don't feel I have lost one and got another; I have got both. I have got my old one, and another too—a pro tem. father."
(Here Feda ejaculated "What's that? Is that right?" O. J. L. replied 'Yes.')
There is a weight gone off his mind the last day or two; he feels brighter and lighter and happier altogether, the last few days. There was confusion at first. He could not get his bearings, didn't seem to know where he was. "But I was not very long," he says, "and I think I was very fortunate; it was not very long before it was explained to me where I was."
But the most remarkable indirect allusion, or apparent allusion, to something like the 'Faunus' message, came at the end of the sitting, after "Raymond" had gone, and just before Mrs. Leonard came out of trance:—
"He is gone, but Feda sees something which is only symbolic; she sees a cross falling back on to you; very dark, falling on to you; dark and heavy looking; and as it falls it gets twisted round and the other side seems all light, and the light is shining all over you. It is a sort of pale blue, but it is white and quite light when it touches you. Yes, that is what Feda sees. The cross looked dark, and then it suddenly twisted round and became a beautiful light. The cross is a means of shedding real light. It is going to help a great deal.
"Did you know you had a coloured Guide?... He says your son is the cross of light; he is the cross of light, and he is going to be a light that will help you; he is going to help too to prove to the world the Truth. That is why they built up the dark cross that turned to bright. You know; but others, they do so want to know. Feda is loosing hold; good-bye."
[This ends the O. J. L. first Leonard sitting of
27 September 1915.]
On the afternoon of the same day, 27 September 1915, that I had this first sitting with Mrs. Leonard, Lady Lodge had her first sitting, as a complete stranger, with Mr. A. Vout Peters, who had been invited for the purpose—without any name being given—to Mrs. Kennedy's house at 3.30 p.m.
Here again, Raymond was described well enough, fairly early in the sitting, and several identifying messages were given. Presently 'Moonstone' (Peters's chief control) asked, "Was he not associated with Chemistry?" As a matter of fact, my laboratory has been rather specially chemical of late; and the record continues, copied with subsequent annotations in square brackets as it stands:—
From First Anonymous Sitting of M. F. A. L. with Peters,
27 September 1915
Was he not associated with chemistry? If not, some one associated with him was, because I see all the things in a chemical laboratory.
That chemistry thing takes me away from him to a man in the flesh [O. J. L. presumably]; and, connected with him, a man, a writer of poetry, on our side, closely connected with spiritualism. He was very clever—he too passed away out of England.
[This is clearly meant for Myers, who died in Rome.]
He has communicated several times. This gentleman who wrote poetry—I see the letter M—he is helping your son to communicate.
[His presence and help were also independently mentioned by Mrs. Leonard.]
He is built up in the chemical conditions.
If your son didn't know this man, he knew of him.
[Yes, he could hardly have known him, as he was only about twelve at the time of Myers's death.]
At the back of the gentleman beginning with M, and who wrote poetry, is a whole group of people. [The S.P.R. group, doubtless.] They are very interested. And don't be surprised if you get messages from them, even if you don't know them.
(Then 'Moonstone' stopped, and said:—)
This is so important that is going to be said now, that I want to go slowly, for you to write clearly every word (dictating carefully):—
"Not only is the partition so thin that you can hear the operators on the other side, but a big hole has been made."
This message is for the gentleman associated with the chemical laboratory.
[Considering that my wife was quite unknown to the medium, this is a remarkably evidential and identifying message. Cf. passage in my book, Survival of Man, containing this tunnel-boring simile; page 341 of American edition (Moffat Yard & Co.).—O. J. L.]
'Moonstone' continued:—
The boy—I call them all boys because I was over a hundred when I lived here and they are all boys to me—he says, he is here, but he says:—
"Hitherto it has been a thing of the head, now I am come over it is a thing of the heart."
What is more (here Peters jumped up in his chair, vigorously, snapped his fingers excitedly, and spoke loudly)—
"Good God! how father will be able to speak out! much firmer than he has ever done, because it will touch our hearts."
(Here ends extract from Peters sitting of 27
September 1915. A completer record will be
found in [Chapter VII].)
At a Leonard Table Sitting on 12 October 1915—by which time our identity was known to Mrs. Leonard—I told 'Myers' that I understood his Piper message about Faunus and the Poet; and the only point of interest about the reply or comment is that the two following sentences were spelt out, purporting to come either indirectly or directly from 'Myers':—
1. He says it meant your son's tr[ansition].
2. Your son shall be mine.
The next 'Myers' reference came on 29 October, when I had a sitting with Peters, unexpectedly and unknown to my family, at his London room (15 Devereux Court, Fleet Street)—a sitting arranged for by Mr. J. A. Hill for an anonymous friend:—
Peters went into trance, and after some other communications, gave messages from a youth who was recognised by the control and identified as my son; and later on Peters's 'control,' whom it is customary to call 'Moonstone,' spoke thus:—
From Sitting of O. J. L. with Peters on 29 October 1915
Your common-sense method of approaching the subject in the family has been the means of helping him to come back as he has been able to do; and had he not known what you had told him, then it would have been far more difficult for him to come back. He is very deliberate in what he says. He is a young man that knows what he is saying. Do you know F W M?
O. J. L.—Yes, I do.
Because I see those three letters. Now, after them, do you know S T; yes, I get S T, then a dot, and then P? These are shown me; I see them in light; your boy shows these things to me.
O. J. L.—Yes, I understand. [Meaning that I recognised the allusion to F. W. H. Myers's poem St. Paul.]
Well, he says to me: "He has helped me so much, more than you think. That is F W M."
O. J. L.—Bless him!
No, your boy laughs, he has got an ulterior motive for it; don't think it was only for charity's sake, he has got an ulterior motive, and thinks that you will be able by the strength of your personality to do what you want to do now, to ride over the quibbles of the fools, and to make the Society, the Society, he says, of some use to the world.... Can you understand?
O. J. L.—Yes.
Now he says, "He helped me because, with me through you, he can break away the dam that people have set up. Later on, you are going to speak to them. It is already on the programme, and you will break down the opposition because of me." Then he says, "For God's sake, father, do it. Because if you only knew, and could only see what I see: hundreds of men and women heart-broken. And if you could only see the boys on our side shut out, you would throw the whole strength of yourself into this work. But you can do it." He is very earnest. Oh, and he wants—No, I must stop him, I must prevent him, I don't want him to control the medium.—Don't think me unkind, but I must protect my medium; he would not be able to do the work he has to do; the medium would be ill from it, I must protect him, the emotion would be too great, too great for both of you, so I must prevent him from controlling.
He understands, but he wants me to tell you this:—
The feeling on going over was one of intense disappointment, he had no idea of death. The second too was grief. (Pause.)
This is a time when men and women have had the crust broken off them—a crust of convention, of ... of indifference, has been smashed, and everybody thinks, though some selfishly.
Now, returning to him, how patient he is! He was not always so patient. After the grief there was a glimmering of hope, because he realised that he could get back to you; and because his grandmother came to him. Then his brother was introduced to him. Then, he says, other people. Myerse—"Myerse," it sounds like—do you know what he means?—came to him, and then he knew he could get back. He knew.
Now he wants me to tell you this: That from his death, which is only one of thousands, that the work which he (I have to translate his ideas into words, I don't get them verbatum [sic])—the work which he volunteered to be able to succeed in,—no, that's not it. The work which he enlisted for, that is what he says, only he was only a unit and seemingly lost—yet the very fact of his death will be the means of pushing it on. Now I have got it. By his passing away, many hundreds will be benefited.
(End of extract from Peters sitting of
29 October 1915.)
(A still fuller account of the whole 'Faunus' episode, and a further sequel to it of a classical kind, called the "Horace O. L." message, will be found in the S.P.R. Proceedings for the autumn of 1916.)
It will be understood, I hope, that the above extracts from sittings have been reproduced here in order to show that, if we take the incidents on their face value, Myers had redeemed his 'Faunus' promise, and had lightened the blow by looking after and helping my son 'on the other side.' I now propose to make some further extracts—of a more evidential character—tending to establish the survival of my son's own personality and memory. There have been several of these evidential episodes, making strongly in this direction; but I select, for description here, one relating to a certain group photograph, of which we were told through two mediums, but of which we normally knew nothing till afterwards.
Footnotes
[8] I realise now, though the relevance has only just struck me, that from the point of view of an outside critic, pardonably suspicious of bad faith, this episode of the bereaved French lady—an obviously complete stranger to Mrs. Kennedy as well as to the medium—has an evidential and therefore helpful side.
[9] This is reminiscent of a sentence in one of his letters from the Front: "As cheerful and well and happy as ever. Don't think I am having a rotten time—I am not." Dated 11 May 1915 (really 12).
CHAPTER IV
THE GROUP PHOTOGRAPH
I NOW come to a peculiarly good piece of evidence arising out of the sittings which from time to time we held in the autumn of 1915, namely, the mention and description of a group photograph taken near the Front, of the existence of which we were in complete ignorance, but which was afterwards verified in a satisfactory and complete manner. It is necessary to report the circumstances rather fully:—
Raymond was killed on 14 September 1915.
The first reference to a photograph taken of him with other men was made by Peters at M. F. A. L.'s first sitting with Peters, in Mrs. Kennedy's house, on 27 September 1915, thus:—
Extract from M. F. A. L.'s anonymous Sitting with Peters
on 27 September 1915
"You have several portraits of this boy. Before he went away you had got a good portrait of him—two—no, three. Two where he is alone and one where he is in a group of other men. He is particular that I should tell you of this. In one you see his walking-stick"—('Moonstone' here put an imaginary stick under his arm).
We had single photographs of him of course, and in uniform, but we did not know of the existence of a photograph in which he was one of a group; and M. F. A. L. was sceptical about it, thinking that it might well be only a shot or guess on the part of Peters at something probable. But Mrs. Kennedy (as Note-taker) had written down most of what was said, and this record was kept, copied, and sent to Mr. Hill in the ordinary course at the time.
I was myself, moreover, rather impressed with the emphasis laid on it—"he is particular that I should tell you of this"—and accordingly made a half-hearted inquiry or two; but nothing more was heard on the subject for two months. On Monday, 29 November, however, a letter came from Mrs. Cheves, a stranger to us, mother of Captain Cheves of the R.A.M.C., who had known Raymond and had reported to us concerning the nature of his wound, and who is still doing good work at the Front.
Mrs. Cheves' welcome letter ran as follows:—
"28 November 1915
"Dear Lady Lodge,—My son, who is M.O. to the 2nd South Lancs, has sent us a group of officers taken in August, and I wondered whether you knew of this photo and had had a copy. If not may I send you one, as we have half a dozen and also a key? I hope you will forgive my writing to ask this, but I have often thought of you and felt so much for you in yr. great sorrow.
—Sincerely yours, B. P. Cheves"
M. F. A. L. promptly wrote, thanking her, and asking for it; but fortunately it did not come at once.
Before it came, I (O. J. L.) was having a sitting with Mrs. Leonard alone at her house on 3 December; and on this occasion, among other questions, I asked carefully concerning the photograph, wishing to get more detailed information about it, before it was seen. It should be understood that the subject was not introduced by Mrs. Leonard or her control. The previous mention of a photograph had been through Peters. It was I that introduced the subject through Mrs. Leonard, and asked a question; and the answers were thus reported and recorded at the time—the typing out of the sitting being all done before the photograph arrived:—
Extract from the Record of O. J. L.'s Sitting with
Mrs. Leonard, 3 December 1915
(Mrs. Leonard's child-control, Feda, supposed to be speaking,
and often speaking of herself in the third person.)
FEDA.—Now ask him some more.
O. J. L.—Well, he said something about having a photograph taken with some other men. We haven't seen that photograph yet. Does he want to say anything more about it? He spoke about a photograph.
Yes, but he thinks it wasn't here. He looks at Feda, and he says, it wasn't to you, Feda.
O. J. L.—No, he's quite right. It wasn't. Can he say where he spoke of it?
He says it wasn't through the table.
O. J. L.—No, it wasn't.
It wasn't here at all. He didn't know the person that he said it through. The conditions were strange there—a strange house. [Quite true, it was said through Peters in Mrs. Kennedy's house during an anonymous sitting on 27 September.]
O. J. L.—Do you recollect the photograph at all?
He thinks there were several others taken with him, not one or two, but several.
O. J. L.—Were they friends of yours?
Some of them, he says. He didn't know them all, not very well. But he knew some; he heard of some; they were not all friends.
O. J. L.—Does he remember how he looked in the photograph?
No, he doesn't remember how he looked.
O. J. L.—No, no, I mean was he standing up?
No, he doesn't seem to think so. Some were raised up round; he was sitting down, and some were raised up at the back of him.Some were standing, and some were sitting, he thinks.
O. J. L.—Were they soldiers?
He says yes—a mixed lot. Somebody called C was on it with him; and somebody called R—not his own name, but another R.K, K, K—he says something about K.
He also mentions a man beginning with B—(indistinct muttering something like Berry, Burney—then clearly) but put down B.
O. J. L.—I am asking about the photograph because we haven't seen it yet. Somebody is going to send it to us. We have heard that it exists, and that's all.
[While this is being written out, the above remains true. The photograph has not yet come.]
He has the impression of about a dozen on it. A dozen, he says, if not more. Feda thinks it must be a big photograph.
No, he doesn't think so, he says they were grouped close together.
O. J. L.—Did he have a stick?
He doesn't remember that. He remembers that somebody wanted to lean on him, but he is not sure if he was taken with some one leaning on him. But somebody wanted to lean on him he remembers. The last what he gave you, what were a B, will be rather prominent in that photograph. It wasn't taken in a photographer's place.
O. J. L.—Was it out of doors?
Yes, practically.
FEDA (sotto voce).—What you mean, 'yes practically'; must have been out of doors or not out of doors. You mean 'yes,' don't you?
Feda thinks he means 'yes,' because he says 'practically.'
O. J. L.—It may have been a shelter.
It might have been. Try to show Feda.
At the back he shows me lines going down. It looks like a black background, with lines at the back of them. (Feda here kept drawing vertical lines in the air.)
There was, for some reason, considerable delay in the arrival of the photograph; it did not arrive till the afternoon of December 7. Meanwhile, on December 6, Lady Lodge had been looking up Raymond's Diary, which had been returned from the Front with his kit, and found an entry:—
"24 August.—Photo taken."
(A statement will follow to this effect.)
Now Raymond had only had one "leave" home since going to the Front, and this leave was from 16 July to 20 July. The photograph had not been taken then, and so he could not have told us anything about it. The exposure was only made twenty-one days before his death, and some days may have elapsed before he saw a print, if he ever saw one. He certainly never mentioned it in his letters. We were therefore in complete ignorance concerning it; and only recently had we normally become aware of its existence.
On the morning of 7 December another note came from Mrs. Cheves, in answer to a question about the delay; and this letter said that the photograph was being sent off. Accordingly I (O. J. L.), thinking that the photograph might be coming at once, dictated a letter to go to Mr. Hill, recording roughly my impression of what the photograph would be like, on the strength of the communication received by me from 'Raymond' through Mrs. Leonard; and this was posted by A. E. Briscoe about lunch-time on the same day. (See statement by Mr. Briscoe at the end.) My statement to Mr. Hill ran thus:—
Copy of what was written by O. J. L. to Mr. Hill about the
Photograph on the morning of Tuesday, 7 December 1915
"Concerning that photograph which Raymond mentioned through Peters [saying this: 'One where he is in a group of other men. He is particular that I should tell you of this. In one you see his walking-stick,'], [10] he has said some more about it through Mrs. Leonard. But he is doubtful about the stick. What he says is that there is a considerable number of men in the photograph; that the front row is sitting, and that there is a back row, or some of the people grouped and set up at the back; also that there are a dozen or more people in the photograph, and that some of them he hardly knew; that a B is prominent in the photograph, and that there is also a C; that he himself is sitting down, and that there are people behind him, one of whom either leant on his shoulder, or tried to.
"The photograph has not come yet, but it may come any day now; so I send this off before I get it.
"The actual record of what was said in the sitting is being typed, but the above represents my impression of it."
The photograph was delivered at Mariemont between 3 and 4 p.m. on the afternoon of 7 December. It was a wet afternoon, and the package was received by Rosalynde, who took the wet wrapper off it. Its size was 12 by 9 inches, and was an enlargement from a 5 by 7 inch original. The number of people in the photograph is twenty-one, made up as follows:—
Five in the front row squatting on the grass, Raymond being one of these; the second from the right.
Seven in the second row seated upon chairs.
Nine in the back row standing up against the outside of a temporary wooden structure such as might be a hospital shed or something of that kind.
On examining the photograph, we found that every peculiarity mentioned by Raymond, unaided by the medium, was strikingly correct. The walking-stick is there (but Peters had put a stick under his arm, which is not correct), and in connexion with the background Feda had indicated vertical lines, not only by gesture but by saying "lines going down," as well as "a black background with lines at the back of them." There are six conspicuous nearly vertical lines on the roof of the shed, but the horizontal lines in the background generally are equally conspicuous.
By "a mixed lot," we understood members of different Companies—not all belonging to Raymond's Company, but a collection from several. This must be correct, as they are too numerous for one Company. It is probable that they all belong to one Regiment, except perhaps one whose cap seems to have a thistle badge instead of three feathers.
As to "prominence," I have asked several people which member of the group seemed to them the most prominent; and except as regards central position, a well-lighted standing figure on the right has usually been pointed to as most prominent. This one is "B," as stated, namely, Captain S. T. Boast.
Some of the officers must have been barely known to Raymond, while some were his friends. Officers whose names begin with B, with C, and with R were among them; though not any name beginning with K. The nearest approach to a K-sound in the group is one beginning with a hard C.
Some of the group are sitting, while others are standing behind. Raymond is one of those sitting on the ground in front, and his walking-stick or regulation cane is lying across his feet.
GROUP OF OFFICERS, AS SENT US BY MRS. CHEVES ON
7 DECEMBER, 1915, SHOWING AN ARM RESTING ON
RAYMOND'S SHOULDER
The background is dark, and is conspicuously lined.
It is out of doors, close in front of a shed or military hut, pretty much as suggested to me by the statements made in the 'Leonard' sitting—what I called a "shelter."
But by far the most striking piece of evidence is the fact that some one sitting behind Raymond is leaning or resting a hand on his shoulder. The photograph fortunately shows the actual occurrence, and almost indicates that Raymond was rather annoyed with it; for his face is a little screwed up, and his head has been slightly bent to one side out of the way of the man's arm. It is the only case in the photograph where one man is leaning or resting his hand on the shoulder of another, and I judge that it is a thing not unlikely to be remembered by the one to whom it occurred.