CHAPTER XXIV.
EXPERIENCES OF ROBERT DALE OWEN THROUGH THE MEDIUMSHIP OF THE AUTHOR.
Moving a Ledge of Rock on the Sea-shore—Raps on the Water, and in the Living Wood—Seeing the Raps—Moving Ponderable Bodies by Occult Agency—Crucial Test—A Heavy Dinner-table Suspended in the Air by Occult Agency.
I will here introduce some interesting extracts from Robert Dale Owen, relating to some of his personal experiences with me, which will speak for themselves:
I.
MOVING A LEDGE OF ROCK ON THE SEA-SHORE.
“On the twenty-fourth of August, 1861, I accepted an invitation, from Mr. Samuel B. Underhill, of New Rochelle, a sea-side village on the shore of Long Island Sound, to spend the next day with him, in company with Mr. and Mrs. Underhill (their near relatives).
“On the afternoon of August 25, Mr. S. B. Underhill drove us out in his carriage, through the picturesque country adjoining the village; the party consisting of Mr. S. B. Underhill and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. D. Underhill, and myself.[14]
“In the course of the drive, coming near the shore of the Sound, at a point where there were long ledges of rock slanting down into the water, it suddenly suggested itself to me that here was an excellent opportunity for a crucial test. I inquired of Mrs. Underhill if she had ever tried to obtain raps on the sea-shore. ‘No,’ she said; she never had.
“‘Do you think we can get them here?’ I asked. ‘I have never found any place where they could not be had,’ she replied; ‘so I dare say we can.’ Thereupon there were three raps—the conventional sign of assent—from the bottom of the carriage.
“So we drove down to the beach, and got out to test the matter. The portion of rock whither we repaired was not an isolated block, detached from the rest, but part of a large, flat mass of rock, covering at least half an acre, and running back into a bluff bank that rose beyond it; there were also several underlying ledges. We were about thirty feet from the sea and, as there was a moderate breeze, the surf broke on the rocks below us.