Indiana American. [volume] (Brookville, Ind.) 1833-1861, 1856-04-04

such sacred realltieS.
/ admitted that this was very likely:
and after little more conversation,
during which, so far as | remember,
did not even smile. we parted with
the understanding that on the night
but one after, 1.-The skeptic, nay, the
scoffer-shonld be admitted into the
dread solemnities Of my friends cir.
Gle.
Now often attended these meet
ings, and all that / saw and heard.
are indelibly imprinted on my memo
lry. have seen a table tilt over.
when, for the life Of me, / could not
tell who did il, nor WHY it was done.
/ have heard the raps, and have heard
special revelations to myself. The
number of my fathers children has
been declared to me. My wiie's mai
den name was spelled out, when, ! am
sure, no one in the circle except Smith
and myself, unless he told It to the
medium. which OF course am not at
liberty to suppose. The disease of
which my youngest child died was
pronounced Group. by rapping at the
letters indicated in that word: and
when / asked how long my grand
father had been in the interior, there
v are heard four distinct raps, rap
..or a year, which, as well as / can re-
member, was not far out Of he way.
But all these things-must l own 1t?
had little salutary effect upon my in
veterate and apparently incurable
skepticism. Smith began to look
coldly upon me, and the other mem
bers Of the circle evidently regarded
me as little better than an irreclaima-
bic in6del.
"Smith," said /. ''it is all humbug
and imposition"
my friend groaned, but said moth
ing.
at can be- nothing else," con-
tinued; "or why don't these pretended
spirits tell us something worth know
ing? What miserable farce it is, "
so desperately skeptical was L.
"What miserable farce. / say, to
bore reasonable beings round table
night after night. and leave US no wis.,
err than we were before"
These were bold words; and | refer
to them, that the reader may be as
sured that no common place exhibit
tions could by any possibility over
come my inveterate and long cherish
ed unbelief.
But must hasten. The ever-mem-
|, orable night, the list of November,
was dark and dreary, The winds Of
heaven seemed to be holding a gener-
al carousal, and it was with difficulty
l kept my hat on my head as | wan
|, dered. drawn apparently by an ire
sistable impulse, to the house where
the circle held their weekly meetings.
We sat around The table in solemn
silence. The tempest without in
, creased in violence, and now the rain
poured down in floods. To our Oft
repeated question, care there any
spirits present." there was no an
swer. / remember joke perpetra-
ted at this juneture. Irreverent rs il
was. l record il as confession due to
, the truth, and as n warning to any ol
, my readers who may chance to be in
! similar situation. "Of course,
said /, "there are no spirits here
/, They are all cutting up their shines in
the air. We may as well go home =
l tried TO laugh at my own wit, but
, nobody seconded the motion and
had hardly uttered the sentiment,
whea we were all startled by the most
| unearthly sound / ever heard. II
was not rap. nor sigh, nor a ma
, MAC scream, but seemed to blend all
three in one. II was thrice repeated
each time more dreadful than before
After pause Of perhaps half min,
ute, our medium, who by the way.
was a lady, inquired. "Does the spirit
, wish to communicate with any of the
, present company 2" As | expected
an affirmative answer was received,
and as my conscience had premonish-
ed me, / was designated as the favor
. ed individual.
! The next question was, "Will the
spirit please give us his name?" This
was answered in the Affirmative
{ Slowly and deliberately the alphabeI
was called over, and the result was
& UNCLE JERRY.
This startled me. My mothers on
ly brother. rich old bachelor, wa.
! at this time at the south. His name
! was jeremiah.
"Ask him." said /, "if he is dead.
, Our medium, however, knew bettel
|, than that. and propounded this ques
ton: when did you go into the in
> terror % As before, the answer cam,
!. promptly and distinctly: TO. DIAL
a Six. Pm.
!, The medium then inquired, "Wher'
, at?" The raps gave. in response
: these letters wETUMKA. At this
: laughed, saying there is no such place
but, sooth to say, there was not mucl
iocularity in my laugh, and it wa
speedily checked by one Of the party
q who said, Eyes. there Is. Ask hin
n in what State" This was done, ans
? the reply was ALABAMA.
J BY the gazetteer lying on the piano
!. we ascertained that there is such
y place. and proceeded with our ques
9 tions. To our surprise our vlsitan
seemed, all at once, either unwilling
y or unable TO give us any more infor
6 nation. The knocks came in all sort
of confusion. was not much disap
}, pointed, for such conduct was quite II
IS keeping with my uncle's habits; and
g he was now IN the interior. as he as
. serted. il was not strange that b
e should delight in exciting our curiosi
9 ty, and then perplexlng US. We wer
!, all unwilling 10 give the matter up
One after another proposed questions
d pertinent and impertinent. The an
n swers were uninieligible. yet 1t wa
n evident the ghost, II It was ghost
had more Ia saw.