Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-04-10
MRS. DE KOTEN TALKS
WITH DEAD SISTER
1t Least She Thinks Spirit
Messages Are Authentic.
Some "Ghost" Books

=. Following the death Of her sister in
the spring of 1913 Mrs. Reginald De
koven became interested in discovering
whether the dead had a conscious exist
ence and could communicate with the
living. Through the influence of friend
she went to medium" within. week
OF her bereavement and was so deeply
interested In what happened that she
continued her visits until she was con-
WINGED that she had been put in COM
munication with her sister.
She has been converted to a belief In
what is called spiritualism for lack Of
q better name and has written book
about her experiences. She calls 1t "A
Cloud Of Witnesses" She gives brief
history of the various theories advanced
to explain the spiritualistic phenomena
before setting down her own expert
ences. She inclines to the belief that
the mediums have peculiarly sensitive
nervous ganglia which respond to
thought messages from the unseen world,
and she accepts the accounts Of ma
terializations through the exudation
from the body of the medium Of a
curious substance which takes human
form. The report that Crookes, the in
ventor of Crookes tubes, cut from the
head of materialized spirit a lock OF
hair which he still possesses, arouses in
her no skepticism. Her book will be in
teresting to fellow believers as well as
to students of psychology who refuse to
accept the evidence of communication
with other worlds. The value Of the
book. such as il has, lies in its definite
Identification of the persons mentioned
in it.
Our Unseen Guest" another
ghost book, lacks this value. For
II is published anonymously and the
identity Of the persons who give and re-
ceive messages is concealed. 1t pur-
ports to be written by the husband Of a
woman who accidentally discovered that
she could receive messages on the ouija
board. She and her husband found such
a board in the parlor Of a boarding
house and sat down to amuse them,
selves with il. They were astounded
to find that man who had been killed
in the war. man of whom they had
never heard, began to write a message.
They were skeptical at first. but bought
a ouija board and continued their in
vestigations. In the course of time they
found that the woman knew before the
pointer got to it what letter was coming
next. Then they found out that she
could write the messages on type
writer and finally that she could write
them with n pencil. In the course Of
time they began to get messages from
Mr.. X. and they communicated them
To Mrs. X. described as writer. Mrs.
X. was interested. but doubtful. but ms
the messages continued to como she was
finally convinced that she was in actual
communication with her husband. One
of the messages. for example. mentioned
boat with red sails and used tho word
"Florence. Now Mr.. X. had once
owned boat with red sails and its
name was Tessa, after the heroine OF
"Romola. the scene of which is laid
in Florence. Mrs. X. according to the
book decided that Florence was used 10
suggest to her the name of the boat.
because the medium could not under =
stand the word Tessa. and this was one
Of the messages which removed her
doubt. Circumstantial evidence will
lead those familiar with the story Of her
life to infer that Mr.. X. is Mrs. Mar
Garet Deland, Of Boston. If it is not
she we beg her pardon for mentioning
her name. but as the publishers an
nouncc that nearly all the persons men
toned in the book are we'll known. there
will b. n lot of guessing about their
identity. One of the dscmbodicd spir-
it's sets forth n new philosophy which is
given in the book The reader. how
ever. will be more interested in tho
reports Of the identifying messages re-
reivcd than in the nhilosophy.
\ new edition Of Sir Oliver Lodge s
"Thc Survival Of Man" has Just ap-
peared to meet the demand for his views
on the subject. II gives n record ot
| famous cases which came IN at the first
meetings of the Society for PsyChica
| Research. rs wcll as history of the
first three decades Of the society. The
results Of the Piper sittings are giver
"a we'll as report Of the "controls'
of Myers and Hodgson.
Professor HPnslow's "Thc Proofs oi
the Truths Of Spirtualism" is n com
pilation Of the views of many spiritual
lists. by man who accepts them rs true
Professor Hcnslow has no doubt rs t
the authenticity Of spirit photographs
and spirit matcrialiZations. His boo(
will not convince any ono who is no
already convinced
A CIOUp or WITNESSES, Rv Mrs. Annr
! DeKovcn. New York: F.. =, DuttoU co
! oU'R Unseen GUEST. Anonymous. New
| York. Harper e. ProG So.
! THE SURVIVAL OF MAN. A study in IN
recognized human faculty. BY Sir Olive
Lodge, LID. Il. Sc. f. r. s.. New York
TIE fsoFfse fPe6oFs 4 RoTs3 OF THE TRUTHS O,
'ssPmrTUAI.IsM BY. the Rev. Prof. q
Repi,0CC. f. 9. win nfty.one or Illustrations at MS an, n
spirit drawings. New York: Dodd. Mes,
& co. 1850