Rural Retreat times. [volume] (Rural Retreat, Va.) 1892-1918, 1911-10-20
cze Search for the Soul

alIel to Doctor MacDougall's Haverhill
experiments. and suggests once more
with awesome effect that death may
not be merely cessation OF bodily
forces. but that it involves the de-
parture from this house Of clay OF q
mysterious visitor.
Like MacDougall, the Chicago ply
stefan watched the last moments OF
dying man To his practised eye the
aura of the sufferer, patient in
Mercy hospital. was plainly outlined
with its dark etheric double and it's
inner and outer bands OF light
For half an hour or so O'DonneH
kept his vigil The inferno in charge
of the case finally announced that the
patient was sinking. Il kept my eyes
fastened on the patient" says O'Don-
nell. in his account of the weird ex-
perience Suddenly the aura began
to spread away from the body, then
it disappeared! At that instant the
house physician announced that the
patient was dead. What force pro-
duces the aura we cannot say just
yet. Every living person has one 1t
is gone the instant death comes.
This inquisitive Chicago doctor has
no mind to be made scientific mar
tyr by announcing soul-heresies. but
he is firm in stating his belief that the
aura, so evident in life and vanishing
so ghostlike in death, is not the re-
sultant of mere bodily magnetism or
IL ho hos
discovered the visible effect of some
as yet unknown human force, differing
widely from the play of electricity or
magnetism, and separated as If by
gulf from the chemical and mechanical
reactions of the body. In word,
1T is inseparable from life. for when
life goes the aura goes also. AS to
whether it be the physical side or as.
pect of the soul, he refuses to express
his private view for publication.
Over in France they are more out
spoken, and they are telling of mar.
vels the Photographic camera has wit
messed and recorded which as yet
have been denied to the direct vision
of the unaided eye Consider the ex-
periments of Doctor Baraduc, a we'll
known savant. concerning the light
phenomena above and around the bod
les of the dead.
Doctor Baraduc is psychic as we'll
as scientist of repute. Between him.
self and his son Andre a strong bond
of affection existed. Frequently each
had remarkable telepathic experiences
with the other and both were interest
ed in the study of the soul When in
1907 Andre died. his father took pho
tograph of the coffin after the boy had
been dead nine hours
When the plate was developed II
was discovered that emanating from
the body In the coffin was formless,
| misty, wavelike mass, radiating In all
directions. with considerable force,
| touching the bodies of those who came
in close proximity to the coffin. as If
attracted to them by some magnetic
force. On one occasion the force of
contact with this mass was SO great
that Doctor Baraduc received an cleo
trio shock from head to foot. which
produced temporary dizziness.
The savant's interest was so aroused
after his photograph was taken that
he attempted more conclusive expert
ments Immediately upon the death Of
his wife, who died six months after
her son. He set camera at the bed
side and at the moment of her death
he photographed the body and short
ly after developed the plate. On It
were found three luminous globes rest
ing few inches above the body by
fine luminous threads.
Ensuing photographs showed that
these gradually condensed and became
more brilliant. Streaks of light like
fine threads were also seen darling
hither and thither photograph taxi
en- 15 minutes after the death of his
wife showed Doctor Baraduc that
fluid cords had developed partly encir-
cling the globes of light
An hour after her death a photo
graph then taken showed the con-
densed globe which obscured the head
of Nine. Baraduc. Cords appeared in
the shape of figure eight, closed at
the top and opened at the point near
est the body. Finally, three hours and
a half after death, we'll formed globe
rested above the body. apparently held
together by the encircling luminous
cords, which seemed to guide and con-
troll 1t. At last the cords snapped one
by one and the globe foated away and
vanished.
Are these eird and grewsome l,.n-
inous phenomena connected with the
departure OF the aura? And can the
aura be the physical manifestation of
the soul? These are two questions
that need to be authoritatively an
swered one way or the other, and the
experimenters will not rest till the
answers are found.