Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-04-14
RESEARCH EXPOSES MEDIUMS,
Doings at Lily Dale. Spiritualist Camp
Branded as Fraudulent.

famed splrltuallSt camp or Lily Dale,
New York, has received the atten-
tion Of the American Society OF
Psychical Research In the quarterly
Proceedings" Just published. The
frauds perpetrated in the name of re-
ligion during the summer season are
laid bare In all their hideousness
/ and the bogus mediums who have
| grown rich on the dollars Of the gull
lible are named and their careers pic
tured in their true colors.
/ Year after year Lily Dale has be-
come more and more the Mecca OF a
large number of rich spiritualists.
The amount Of revenue that the medi-
ums have taken in can by no means
be measured by the geographical in
Significance of the place. 1t is vii
lage about sixty miles south of Buff
falo. II is made up of railroad
station, few hotels, some farm
houses and the assembly grounds. y
These grounds are the sacred strong
hold. They spread over ten acres,
and on them are the hotel of the as
sembly, library building, several
smaller halls, a large auditorium
seating about two thousand persons,
and number of cottages. In this
auditorium lectures in the season are
delivered twice day. 1t is in the
cottages that the mediums give Sc
ances and sittings. They do not dis
eliminate. Any one who calls and
has the cash can get his moneys
worth. But as business is lively at
Lily Dale, it is usually necessary to
make arrangements in advance.
Not Attacking Spiritualists.
So widely had the fame Of Lily
Dale been heralded that Professor
Hyslop determined to have thor
ough and systematic investigation
made to find out precisely what the
alleged phenomena were. At meet
ing of the council of the American
Society for Psychical Research it was
agreed upon to send Professor Hy-
Islop's associate, DR. Hereward Car
rington, to do the investigating. In
scientific circles DIR Darlington is &C
counted very able man. Some years
ago he wrote voluminous work on
the physical phenomena of spiritual
ism, both genuine and fraudulent,
and he has written other important
works on the same and kindred sub
jects. He is also member of the
English Society for Psychical Re-
search.
II wish to say at the outset"
said Professor Hyslop, that Mr.
Darlington was not sent there
with any motive of making an.
attack on either that organization
or it's creed, and that | am not
now taking up the cudgels
against the system which the
believers in spiritualism accept.
Such places simply invite inves-
tigation by the very claims they
make.
! This Investigation offers an
| opportunity to say some things
which would not be provoked by
the ordinary drift of human dis
cussion, and especially at this
time. What l wish to empha-
size, however, is that the eX- .
posture of things at Lily Dale is
| not a gratuitous assault on the
place or its aims. | am very
| glad to exempt the organization
which owns the place and con-
ducts the meetings there from
any intentional completely in the
nhnnnnfona uyhiah n hopo al
subject of criticism.
When Mr. Darlington arrived at
Lily Dale he found everything in full
blast. There he registered under the
name of Charles Henderson. In one
corner of the hotel veranda was an
excited group of men, discussing
some problem connected with spirit
ualism. On the wall of the hotel
was a sign inscribed philosophers
Corner"
Spook Photos TO Order.
His first experience was with A.
Norman, one of the spirit photog-
raphers." Mr. Darlington proceeds to
tell what happened:
Mr. Norman explained to me
that he had no control over the
phenomena, but would obtain
for me what he could. l sat on
the veranda, and he disappear
ed into the house and brought
out a large camera and two
plates-already in the slide,
prepared. | noticed that there
was a small white chalk mark
on one side OF the 'double-back'
plate slide. Ia slide that holds
two platesl, and this side was
carefully inserted foremost. Mr.
Norman erased this chalk mark
with his finger as he inserted
the slide into the camera. The
movement was very slight. and
would probably have escaped de-
lection in the vast majority Of
cases. However, posed.
After much delay, l finally sue
ceeded in securing the two pho
tographs. and not only are none
of the faces recognizable but
they do not bear the slightest
trace of any family resemblance
whatever. They are as alien as
possible. One of the faces is
that of woman; the other three
of men-one Of them wearing
turban. More than that. the
photo shows signs of undoubted
fraudulent manipulation. One
of the faces THAT of woman)
upon being examined through a
magnifying glass clearly shows
the miniature indentations made
a. ,rorfrfa ro,aIa -