We subjoin the following as specimens of conversations heard by large parties of amazed, titled, and believing listeners: "Are you Pharaoh, that was king of Egypt?" "Yes." "Where do you dwell now?" "In Jupiter." "How long have you been there?" "About thirty years." "Where did you dwell till then?" "In the atmosphere, and was undergoing punishment till then." "Were you king of Egypt when Moses was there?" "Yes, and Aaron too." "Did you build the pyramids?" "Some." "Were any built before your time?" "Yes." "Do you know how long the first was built before Christ?" "About three hundred years after Adam; it was built then." "Do you mean that it was built before the flood?" "No, it was not finished; the flood destroyed them." "What was the principal object of them?" "To hold the kings of Egypt." "Were there kings of Egypt so soon after the creation?" "Yes; that was the first country kings were in." "Were you drowned in the Red Sea?" "Yes."
At one time Swedenborg volunteered to give information about Sir John Franklin, when the following dialogue took place: "What is the best way to communicate with him?" "By the natives; they speak to him sometimes." "Will he be home next summer?" "No." "Why?" "Because he cannot help himself; he is stopped by ice; but his heart does not fail him; he wants to explore." "How will he do for provisions?" "He will find bears, dogs, and wolves." "Will he find the passage?" "No; there is a continent there." "But there is also a passage." "There is one, but he will not find it." "What latitude does he lie in chiefly?" "I do not know: good by." It appears strange that Swedenborg, who knew so much, did not know this. But we learn in another place that "spirits do not well understand about latitude and longitude." Socrates's appearance is described as follows: "A tall, middle-aged man, rather bald, dressed with striped coarse trousers, very loose at the top, and tight at the bottom; a kind of frock, open in the front, and without sleeves. He is generally employed in singing praises, but was not quite happy." Alexander the Great appeared on horseback, in armor, the horse also in armor; deeply regrets killing Clitus, and all the murders he perpetrated; amuses himself in fighting his battles over again.
To give these things a sort of éclat and popularity with the public, Zadkiel sums up the whole in the following language: "In concluding this account, I may remark that numerous children have seen these visions, some of them the sons and daughters of persons of high rank; and that several adults have also seen visions, one of them a lady of title, and another a member of one of the highest families in England. It will be seen that delicacy prevents my naming individuals; but I can assure my readers that above one hundred of the nobility, and several hundreds of other highly respectable ladies and gentlemen, have examined this wonderful phenomenon, and have expressed the highest gratification and astonishment."
Dickens declares it to be "the fashion, especially among people of fashion, to point with pity to a tale of modern witchcraft, to an advertisement of a child's caul, or to the bona fide certificates of cases from the takers of quack medicines, and to deplore the ignorance of their inferiors. Delusions, however, of the grossest kind are not confined to the illiterate. A cloud of dupes have ever floated about in the higher regions of society; while it is quite a mistake to suppose that the refinements and discoveries of the nineteenth century have dispersed them. The reign of Queen Victoria, like that of Elizabeth and Anne, has its Dr. Dees, and Lillys, and Partridges, who are as successful as their precursors in gaining proselytes who can pay handsomely. Damsels of high degree, fresh from boarding school, with heads more full of sympathy for the heroes and heroines of fashionable novels, and ideas more fixed upon love affairs than on any legitimate studies, can easily find out, through mysteriously-worded advertisements in the Sunday papers, or through the ready agency of friends who have already become victims of the 'science' of astrology and magic, the whereabouts of these awful and wonderful beings. There are a number of styles and classes of them, all varying in appearance and mode of operations. There are the old women, who, consoled by the glories of their art, repine not at inhabiting comfortless garrets in the purlieus of the New Cut, Lambeth; and hiding their vocation under the mask of having stay laces or infallible corn plasters to sell, receive more visitors from the fashionable cream of Belgravia than from the dross of Bermondsey. Disguises are sometimes resorted to, and parties of titled ladies have been known to meet, and put on the habiliments of 'charwomen,' and to pass themselves off as dress-makers. There is an old man, with unshaven beard and seldom-washed face, who lives in more comfortable circumstances, with his son, in Southwark, (the favored district of the conjurers,) who, to keep up appearances, has 'Engineer' hugely engraved on a great brass plate over the door, who casts nativities, and foretells events of the future, for three or five shillings, as the appearance of the visitor will warrant him in demanding; receives all his votaries sitting at a terribly littered table of dirty paper, with a well-smoked clay pipe beside him. Passing to a higher grade, the 'agent,' or arranger of matters, legal, pecuniary, or domestic, only practises the black art for the love he bears it, and to oblige his friends, but never refuses a few shillings' fee, out of respect to the interests of the science. Nearly all his customers are people of title."
We now come to speak of events in our own country which seem to be somewhat akin to those which have so recently transpired in England. We allude to what are familiarly termed "rappers," or "knocking spirits," from the noises which they are said to make.
From a history of these knockings, as given in a pamphlet by Capron and Barron, of Auburn, New York, we learn that they were first heard in the family of Mr. Michael Weekman, in the town of Arcadia, Wayne county. He resided in the house where the noises were heard about eighteen months, and left it some time in the year 1847. He relates that one evening, about bedtime, he heard a rapping on the outside door, when he stepped to the door and opened it, but, to his surprise, found no one there. He went back, and proceeded to undress, when, just before getting into bed, he heard another rap at the door loud and distinct. He stepped to the door quickly and opened it, but, as before, found no one there. He stepped out, and looked around, supposing that some one was imposing upon him. He could discover no one, and went back into the house. After a short time he heard the rapping again; he stepped (it being often repeated) and held on the latch, so that he might ascertain if any one had taken that means to annoy him. The rapping was repeated; the door was instantly opened, but no one was to be seen. He could feel the jar of the door very plainly when the rapping was heard. As he opened the door, he sprung out, and went around the house, but no one was in sight. His family were fearful to have him go out, lest some one intended to harm him. It always remained a mystery to him; and finally, as the rapping did not at that time continue, it passed from his mind, till some time afterwards, when, one night, their little girl, then about eight years of age, was heard to scream from fright, so that the family were all alarmed by her cries, and went to her assistance. This was about midnight. She told them that something like a hand had passed over her face and head; that she had felt it on the bed and all over her, but did not feel alarmed until it touched her face.
It seems that Mr. Weekman soon after moved away from the house, and nothing more was heard of the rapping, or other manifestations, till it was occupied by the family of Mr. John D. Fox, who have since become so conspicuous with "the advent of spirits." In March, 1848, they, for the first time, heard the "mysterious sounds," which seemed to be like a slight knocking in one of the bed rooms on the floor. It was in the evening, just after they had retired. At that time the whole family occupied one room, and all distinctly heard the rapping. They arose, and searched with a light, but were unable to find the cause of the knocking. It continued that night until they all fell asleep, which was not until nearly or quite midnight. From this time the noise continued to be heard every night.
After having been disturbed and broken of their rest for several nights in a vain attempt to discover from whence the sounds proceeded, they resolved, on the evening of the 31st of March, that this night they would not be disturbed by it, whatever it might be. But Mr. Fox had not yet retired when the usual signs commenced. The girls, who occupied another bed in the same room, heard the sounds, and endeavored to imitate them by snapping their fingers. The attempt was made by the youngest girl, then about twelve years old. When she made the noise with her fingers, the sounds were repeated just as she made them. When she stopped snapping her fingers, the sounds stopped for a short time. One of the other girls then said, in sport, (for they were getting to be more amused than alarmed,) "Now do what I do; count one, two, three, four, five, six," &c., at the same time striking one hand in the other. The same number of blows or sounds were repeated as in the former case. Mrs. Fox then spoke, and said, "Count ten," and there were ten distinct strokes or sounds. She then said, "Will you tell the age of Cathy?" (one of her children;) and it was given by the same number of raps that she was years of age. In like manner the age of her different children was told correctly by this unseen visitor.
Mrs. Fox then asked, if it was a human being that made the noise, to manifest it by making the same noise. There was no answer to this request. She then asked if it was a spirit, and if so to manifest it by making two distinct sounds. Instantly she heard two raps, as she desired. She then proceeded to know or inquire if it was an injured spirit, and if so to answer in the same way, and the rapping was repeated. In this way it answered her until she ascertained that it purported to be the spirit of a man who was murdered in that house by a person that had occupied it some years before; that he was a pedler, and that he was murdered for his money. To the question how old he was, there were thirty-one distinct raps. By the same means it was ascertained that he was a married man, and had left a wife and five children; that his wife had been dead two years.
We might relate a little different manœuvre in the case of the ghost that appeared in Waltham, Massachusetts, a few years since. A superstitious old man, by the name of McClarren, a mechanic, purchased a lot of turf that had been piled up in a meadow about half way between his workshop and place of residence. Upon returning to his work from supper, he used to take a basket with him, and fill it at the turf heap on his return late in the evening. It was on one of these occasions that the reputed ghost first appeared to him, and caused him some alarm, when he dare not linger to reconnoitre this strange and unexpected visitor. He resolved, however, to muster courage the next evening to accost the figure, should it again appear to him. Accordingly, he went with a large Bible open in his hands; and as the ghost appeared, he followed it till it crossed a ditch, when he was requested by the same to proceed no farther. Thus they stood, facing each other, on either side of the ditch, when the following conversation took place between them:—