St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-07-17
HAD GHOSTS GALORE,
Spooks in Plenty to Be Found
Down at Merrimac
Island.
Science Stalks Abroad in
Great Chunks in the Leafy
Groves.
Mystery and Mesmerism Walk
Hand in Hand Down
There.
Disembodied Spirits Have
Nothing to Do but Obey
Orders.

=
There are frauds in spiritualism, just
as there are in other isms, and the
frauds are quite deceptive. But there
is great deal to excite interest in mes
merism and magnetism, which are
closely related to and are evidently ad
juncts of spiritualism. Those who are
not Oblivious to psychological research
find much to attract their attention in
the wonders of physiology, even if some
who claim to be mesmeriSts, or who
claim to be spiritualists, are frauds.
No true scientist will claim that
they are all frauds, and yet
some of the frauds do most
wonderful sleight of hand work.
1t was at the spiritualist camp meeting
ON Merrimac island, an entertainingly
beautiful spot, which is washed by the
waters of the Mississippi, seven miles
south of st. Paul, that a great combina-
ton of mesmerlc and psychological in
fluences is found. For the benefit of
the general reader, 1t may be well to
tell in plain words what they do at their
seances, which are known by different
names. This shall be done farther on
in this article. At any one seance they
show for 10 or Is cents per person as
much as can be seen at those meSmeric
or mind-reading entertainments in the
cities for which SO cents or 81, and
sometimes more, has been charged. 1t
has the appearance of being done so
cheaply, not for the sake of profit, but
for the sake of
Securing Converts
to spiritualism, for the spjrituaiists
claim that the disembodied powers Of
the dead loved ones produce the peculiar
manifestations which many scientists
attribute to merely the magnetic inau-
ence of the human organism. To say
the least, it requires all impressionable
mind, brain that has become able to
look into the mysteries of nature, be-
fore human being can begin to see
into the depths of psychological mani
festation. Many bright men-men of
thought and brain-have said that psy-
chology was no longer a mystery to
them; that it was fact. and not fancy;
that it is a reality and not theO-
retical science. and such men are found
in these seances, particularly in those
seances which draw upon all the mag
netism of the humans who attend them.
In some seanceS strong men and strong
women are frequently thrown into con-
ditionS where they seem incapable of
controlling their actions. The spiritual
lists claim that in such cases, and there
are many such cases, the spirits control
the human and make 1t do just as they
(the splrits) please.
The most Interesting Of the public
meetings are the development circles,
the mediums meetings and the mes
,orin M foir
which the forms of disembodied spirits
are materialiZed, and others in which
pictures of departed friends are pro-
duced,are generally carried OIL privately
in darkened rooms, although some ma
terializations that make people think
that the dead are manifest before
their eyes are made in the open air.
According to the spiritualists, this ma
terialistic manifestation is the ac-
tual production of the dead friend
or relative whose spirit controls the &C.
tons of that which seems to be, and
which they claim is material. And they
claim that spirit can control the hu-
man body and direct its course. 1t is
entirely unnecessary to undertake fic-
ton or to go outside of what can be seen
in spiritualist community in order to
make this article interesting. If the
multitude of
CurIOns Experiences
the SpiritualiSlS were put on paper they
would make book that would outrival
the work of Ryder Haggard.
In ''develOping circle" spiritualists
only are supposed to sit. Those who are
not willing to be mesmerized and those
who are merely looking into spiritual
ism are allowed to take seats where they
can see the circle, and the professor
manipulates his magnetism until he
has at least a half dozen spiritualized
subjects dancing around him. These
mesmerized people talk of delightful
experiences in spirit land. They en-
trance those who are near them.
1t is claimed that the flow of
been generated 1t cannot be stopped
until the magnetiZer sees fit to apply his
influence, excepting when the subject
goes out Of what is called control. Spir-
itualists claim it is the control of
spirit. Some people think it is phys
ical magnetic effect. People who have
been clear outside the circle have been
affected by the mesmeriZer, and have
acted just as peculiarly as silly people
at the Merrimac island camp. Sane
people would say that these people
act silly and crazy. They should re-
member that people also act peculiarly
at Methodist campmeetings.
When people secure the power of the
the medium meetings" the same mes.
meric influence is used in different
forms. For instance: A lady trance
medium on the platform takes your
watch. or any other article which you
have carried, in her hands. She claims
to feel the electromagnetic influences
from them. She tells the past of tie
owner of the article, and she indicates
the future.
Lots of Answers
come to these mediums like these: "All
right That's correct" ''Just struck
it." 'How do they know ?" you told
the truth" Well, the more intelligent
the subject the more interesting was
the result, and sometimes where the
subjects claimed that the mediums were
wrong, the mediums were found to be
right. Some people took pleasure in
trying to puzzle the mediums.
In the mesmeric entertainments the
venerable professor, heavy browed
man, of high forehead and sunken eyes,
approaches anybody. If the subject
objects he goes on to the next
one. The professor has lectured, he
mas their attention, and now he tries to
magnetic the eyes of subject. He
finds one soon. His hand passes rapidly
in swaying motion before the subjects
face and stream of electricity passes
from the professors hands to the sub
Ject's eyes. You can't open them,"
the professor says, and soon he finds a
pair of eyes that droop so sleepily. Then
the features relax, the eyes remaining
set and the entire subject passive, sub
servient to the mesmeric influence. 1t
sometimes takes only few seconds, it
sometimes takes many minutes to bring
about the transformation. Often the
professor goes all through the crowd
and then returns to subject who sud-
denly responds to the influence. But
at other times he may secure half a
dozen or more subjects in as many min
utes. Some of these people go into
what is called the hypnotic condition.