(The psychic effect secured by Mr. Maddocks on the occasion of the third sitting described hereunder is shown by [fig. 22]. A normal photograph of the late Mrs. Maddocks is given for comparison [[fig. 23]].)
I am absolutely convinced that Mr. Hope and Mrs. Buxton are transparently honest and honourable, most reverent in their Circle meetings, and their only desire is to give comfort and consolation to those who have lost a loved one. To impute fraud or trickery to them wounded me to the quick.
After several months’ waiting I obtained three sittings (with three extras) as follows:
1st Sitting.—To my great surprise the “extra” was not my first wife, but the following message:
‘Kind friends, we are glad to meet you and for the benefit of your friend of the Psychic Research Society we are giving this message, so that he may understand that, given the right conditions, these works can be done, and we ask you for our dear medium’s sake, to speak of it as you find it. God bless you.’
2nd Sitting.—This “extra” was quite unknown to me, but on reaching home (Sheffield) my second wife (clairvoyant) exclaimed, “Why, that’s the same face I’ve seen in our bedroom nearly every night.”
3rd Sitting.—The “extra” was my first wife at last! I recognised it instantly, also relatives and friends, as a very good picture of what she looked like at the end of twenty months’ agony from cancer. All her teeth were extracted during her illness on the advice of a London physician, and that accounts for the sunken appearance of the mouth. (See [Figure 22].)
The normal photo was taken several years previously. (See [Figure 23].)
(Signed) Samuel Maddocks.
Supt. Royal Blind School, Broomhill, Sheffield.