E. Katherine Bates - Psychic Investigations in Early America

This ebook edition first published in 2012 by Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC.

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Copyright 2012 by Red Wheel/Weiser LLC. All rights reserved.

Excerpted from Seen and Unseen by E. Katharine Bates. New York: Dodge Publishing, 1908.

eISBN: 978-1-61940-041-2

Cover design by Jim Warner

When there is something weird in your neighborhood, you now have many options of whom to call. Back in the 80s it was the Ghostbusters! Today you can rely on any number of local paranormal investigation teamssuch as T.A.P.S. from Ghost Hunters, or Zak from Ghost Adventures. Nearly every town and region in the world has its own ghost hunting society, and often more than one.

My own ghost adventures have taken me all over the country. I have had the pleasure of strolling through cemeteries and churches, theaters and bars, all on the lookout for something paranormal. I have even spent an entire night in what is believed to be one of the most haunted places in CaliforniaPreston Castle. This is a defunct boys' home in Ione, a giant brownstone whose roof is falling apart and hosts nesting screech owls and bats. After a night of ghostly encounters and no sleep, we were all exhausted but buzzing from the activity. The feeling of exhaustion after a true paranormal experienceonce the high has fadedcan leave you like a shell of your former self.

In the beginning of this piece by E. Katherine Bates, the author refers to a seven-year hiatus between paranormal investigations. She was an Englishwoman of independent means who traveled the worldAmerica, Australia, Hong Kong, Alaska, etc.pursuing her developing interest in psychic events in the 1880s. Perhaps she took some time off to rest her mind or her sensesor to prepare herself for the untamed North American continent.

The early America of her visits was an unbridled place teeming behind a veil of structure, like a wild vine overtaking a perfectly trimmed hedge. The Victorian buildings held brothels and opium dens just as easily as elegant drawing rooms and expensive imported furniture; perfectly hemmed dressed were smeared in the sludge of the streets. Chaos was confined neatly into certain neighborhoods, such as San Francisco's Chinatown and Vancouver's Red Light District. For a proper lady of her stature, Ms. Bates must have been decidedly open-minded, for her adventures did not always take her to the finest establishments. Nonetheless she was completely dedicated to her psychic investigations and was, without a doubt, one of the first Ghostbusters in history.

Join this pioneer of the paranormal on her cross-country trip with stops in Boston, New York, Denver, Victoria B.C., and my own beloved San Francisco! Meet the ghosts of old hotels and Catholic schoolyards, parlor rooms and pool halls. Be adventurous, and be brave, as Ms. Bates was.

IN FREAKITUDE,

VARLA VENTURA

SAN FRANCISCO, 2012

An interval of seven years occurs between the events recorded in the last chapter and my first visit to America, which took place in the autumn of 1885.

During these years no abnormal experiences came to me, nor had I the smallest wish for any.

The table turnings with Morton Freer were a thing of the past, and were looked back upon by me in the light of a childish amusement rather than anything else. Quite other interests had come into my life, specially as regards literature and music; and I never gave a thought to spooks or spiritualism, nor did I really know anything about the latter subject. It is true that on one occasion a curate at Great Marlow had spoken to me about Mr S. C. Hall and his researches, and I think he must have given me an introduction to the dear old man, for I remember going to see him with a lady friend (he made a great point of this, somewhat to my amusement), and finding a charming old man with silver locks, a fine head, and a nice white frilly shirt.

He spoke of his dear friend Mrs Jencken, whom he considered the only reliable medium, and showed us some sheets full of hieroglyphics, which he said were messages obtained through her influence from his dear wife.

It was all so much Greek to me in those days, and only true sympathy with the poor old man's evident loneliness and adoration of his wife's memory prevented my making merry over the extraordinary delusions of the old gentleman, when my companion and I had left his rooms in Sussex villas.

Later, I lived during two years with Mrs Lankester and her daughters whilst looking after an invalid brother in London; and I need scarcely point out that constant intercourse with Professor Ray Lankester in his mother's house was not calculated to encourage any psychic proclivities, even had these latter not been entirely latent with me at that time.

I heard a great deal about the Slade exposure, both from Professor Lankester and his friend Dr Donkin, who often came to us with him. When arranging my American tour in 1885, Mrs Lankester kindly gave me an introduction to Mrs Edna Hall, an old friend of theirs, who had been living in their house during the whole period of the Slade trial. This ladyan Americanlived permanently in Boston, and curiously enough (in view of the preceding facts) it was she who persuaded Miss Greenlow and me to attend our first sance in Boston. Mrs Edna Hall had honoured Mrs Lankester's introduction most hospitably; but she was too busy a woman to do as much for us as her kindness suggested, and she had therefore introduced us to another friendMrs Maria Portera most picturesque, clever, and characteristic figure in Boston society in the eighties.

Both these ladies accompanied us to the Sisters Berry. Mrs Edna Hall had no sort of illusions on the subject. She said quite frankly that she only took us there because it was a feature of American life which we ought not to miss, and which would probably amuse us, if only by showing the gullibility of Human Nature.

One is always apt to read past experiences in the light of present convictions. Fortunately, I kept a diary at the time, and have a faithful record of what took place, and, which is still more valuable, of the impressions formed at the time.

The extracts connected with this sance in Boston, and later experiences in New York, are taken partly from my record at the time and partly from the chapter on Spiritualism in America, published in my book entitled A Year in the Great Republic.

Speaking of this first sance in Boston, I see that I have said:

I went to the Sisters Berry in a very antagonistic frame of mind, determined beforehand that the whole thing was a swindle (italics are recent), accompanied by friends who were even more sceptical than myself, if that were possible. I go on then to describe the usual cabinet, and pass on to the following extract:

An old Egyptian now appeared, and a man in the circle, who had been sitting near my friend Miss Greenlow all the evening, went up and spoke to him, and then asked that the lady who had been sitting near him might come up also, which she did; but she said she could distinguish no features, and only felt a warm, damp hand passed over hers. Miss Greenlow was next called up by the spirit of a young man who wished to embrace her, but who was finally proved to be the departed friend of the lady who sat next to her. Miss Greenlow returned to her seat, furious, declaring that it was a horrible, coarse-looking creature, unlike anyone she had ever seen in her life.

Mrs Porter made valiant attempts to investigate the figures who came forth at intervals, but was invariably waved back by the master of the ceremonies.

Will that lady kindly sit down? This spirit is not for her. It wishes to communicate with its own friends, and she is disturbing the conditions, and forcing the spirit back into the cabinet.