CHAPTER XXV.
EXPERIENCES OF THE AUTHOR WITH ROBERT DALE OWEN (Continued).
V.
AN EVENTFUL HOUR WITH LEAH FOX UNDERHILL—A GHOST SPEAKS.
“It was on the evening of Sunday, the twenty-first of October, 1860. The sitting was held in Mr. Underhill’s dining-room, lasting from ten till eleven o’clock P.M.
“The room was lighted by gas. There were two windows fronting the street; three doors: one opening on a corridor whence a staircase ascended to the next floor, another opening on a short passage leading to the kitchen, the third, the door of a pantry in which were crockery and various other articles, including a barrel of loaf-sugar in one corner.
“Before we had any demonstrations the raps requested us to wait until the domestics had retired. There were two servant girls in the kitchen, whom Mrs. Underhill sent up stairs to bed, so that everything was profoundly still on that floor of the house. Then we fastened the inside blinds of both windows, so as to exclude all light from the street.
“Before commencing the session, at Mr. Underhill’s request, I shut and locked the three doors above referred to, leaving the keys in the doors, so that no one, even if furnished with keys, could open them from without. I satisfied myself by careful personal inspection of the furniture, and otherwise, that there was no one in the pantry, nor any one in the dining-room except the three persons who, along with myself, assisted at the sitting. These persons were Mr. Daniel Underhill, Mrs. Underhill (Leah Fox), and her nephew, Charles, twelve years old. We sat down to a centre-table, three feet eleven inches in diameter, of black walnut, and without table-cover. (I had previously looked under it; nothing to be seen there.) The gas-burner was immediately over it. I sat on the east side of the table, Mr. Underhill opposite to me, Mrs. Underhill on my left hand, and Charles on the right. There was no fire in the room.
“The rappings commenced, gradually increasing in number and force. After a short interval they spelled, ‘Put out the gas.’ It was accordingly extinguished and the room remained in total darkness. Then ‘Join hands.’ Shortly after doing so I felt, several times, a cool breeze blowing on my cheek. Then was spelled, ‘Do not break the circle.’ We obeyed; and, except for a second or two at a time, it remained, on my part, unbroken throughout the rest of the sitting.
“After a few minutes I perceived a light, apparently of a phosphorescent character, on my left, near the floor. It was, at first, of a rectangular form, with the edges rounded. I judged it to be about four inches long and two and a half inches wide. It seemed like an open palm illuminated, but the light which emanated from it showed quite distinctly its entire surface; I could distinguish no fingers. For a time it moved about near the floor, then it rose into the air and floated about the room, sometimes over our heads. After a time it changed its appearance and increased in brightness. It then resembled an opaque oval substance, about the size of a child’s head, muffled up in the folds of some very white and shining material, like fine linen, only brighter. As it moved about, I began to hear, at first imperfectly, afterward somewhat more distinctly, the rustling as of a silk dress, or of other light article of female apparel, giving the impression that one or more persons were moving silently about the room. Then the light passed behind Mrs. Underhill; then I saw it close to Mr. Underhill, and just opposite to me. Mr. Underhill said, ‘Can you not go down to Mr. Owen? do try.’ Thereupon it moved slowly around to my left side. This time the folds appeared to have dropped, and what seemed a face (still covered, however, with a luminous veil) came bending down within five or six inches of my own face, as I turned toward it. As it approached, I plainly distinguished the semi-luminous outline of an entire figure of the usual female stature. I saw, very distinctly, the arms moving. At the lower extremity of its right arm, as if on the palm of the hand, the figure bore what seemed a rectangular substance, about four inches by two, as nearly as I could estimate. This substance was more brightly illuminated than the rest of the figure. It may have been only the illuminated palm, but I do not think it was; it seemed more like a transparent box with phosphorescent light within it. Whatever it was, the figure raised it above its head, and then passed it slowly down close to what seemed the face, and then over the upper part of the body, as one might pass a lantern over any object, with intent to make it visible. This action it repeated several times.
“By aid of the illuminations thus afforded I saw, more distinctly than before, the general form of the face and figure; but both appeared covered with a half-transparent veil, and I could distinguish no features; nor were the outlines of the body, nor of the limbs, sharply defined. The motion of the right arm with the light was the most marked and frequent.