“You remembered the 14th?” “Your birthday.”He explained, in one of his initial communications, that he did not find it easy to communicate, adding humorously: “I knew how to drive a boat or a car, but I’m hanged if I can get the run of this yet.” Later she asked him: “Are you with me in the car, Boy?” “Yes,” was the reply. “Do take care.”“Why? I am a good driver.”“Yes. So was I. . . .” The months slipped by as one séance followed another. Always Sir Henry and Lady…

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“That’s all right, Sir Henry. I am only sorry she was unable to come. Have you a message for her?”Sir Henry had. It was a brief personal greeting of no particular significance to anybody present but full of inner meaning, Lady Segrave volunteered, when it was telephoned to her. Before the séance ended, Barbanell asked Red Cloud’s permission to bring Lady Segrave to the next sitting. It was readily granted. A fortnight later Barbanell arrived with his guest. She was introduced to nobody present, though the handful of sitters who…

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He did so and, in turning to his old friend Hannen Swafer for enlightenment, he could not have chosen a better mentor. Swaffer, who had his own home circle of sitters, invited Segrave to come and meet their medium. There Sir Henry had his first experience of psychic phenomena – a piano being lifted clear off the floor. He said that it was the only time in his life he had been too frightened to do anything but stare! His death on Lake Windermere came as a great shock to…

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The characteristic tones of the spirit communicators were not always recognizable – which is not entirely surprising when you remember that all were reproduced through the same artificially constructed larynx – but occasionally sitters were dumbfounded by the resemblance. One such was a Mrs. Ellen Hadgeld who was so deeply impressed by what she had heard that she wrote to the Press about it. It was not, she said, so much the characteristic of phrasing which had convinced her that she was speaking to her departed daughter, though these would…

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We sat every fortnight in an upper room in my house at Teddington, and for the first ten months we made no progress. It was most disappointing. Only the knowledge that we were sitting in response to Red Cloud’s request prevented me from giving up in despair. Nevertheless, he gave us his blessing and encouragement from time to time. At an early stage he asked that any donations resulting from these meetings should be paid to a medium who had fallen ill and was unable to work. Useful sums were…

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It was not until I had had three or four years’ experience of trance mediumship that Red Cloud asked me to form a circle so that I could train for direct voice development. I was more than willing. There was no difficulty in organizing a circle having as its nucleus Maurice Barbanell, Hannen Swaffer, Shaw Desmond, and Constance Treloar. These four attended regularly and were augmented by some fifteen to twenty other persons, who varied from séance to séance. None attended without Red Cloud’s prior approval. Occasionally their names would…

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Many times I have been asked what are the sensations of the deep trance state. It is a question I have never found easy to answer, any more than it is possible to describe the sensations of sleep. I sit in my chair, relaxed yet with a strong awareness of what is about to occur. What happens next can best be likened to the effects of an anaesthetic. From full consciousness there comes a brief period of light-headedness during which I hover between consciousness and oblivion. This is the moment…

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CHAPTER NINE,DIRECT VOICE In clairvoyance, clairaudience, and psychometry the medium never loses consciousness. If she is a good medium she may lose some awareness of the material things about her, but no more than one would expect of any other artist who becomes completely absorbed by the work in hand. To all outward appearances she is as much alive to what is going on around her as anyone else who happens to be present. Inevitably there are certain dangers attaching to this, since it is one of the characteristics of…

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The other instance occurred in late summer towards the end of a six weeks drought. The countryside was tinder dry and common sense should have told us not to smoke while lying comfortably back in the long brown grass. But Eveline is fond of her cigarettes. She relaxed with her eyes closed, a cigarette between her fingers. We must all have drowsed off because the next thing we knew was that the grass was on fire, and the blaze was spreading with alarming speed. We jumped up and tried to…

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As a family we have always been fond of picnics, taking every opportunity to get into open country whenever the weather is fine. I have been on many such excursions with my daughter, Eveline, and her husband Bill, and on two of these there occurred unexpected psychic phenomena which are certainly worthy of record. We had driven to an unspoiled beauty-spot, enclosed on two sides by fine forest trees. Lunch was over and we were basking in the hot sunshine. Bill, always of an inquiring mind, was quizzing me about…

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The circle comprised ten people and no sooner had I been entranced than Red Cloud delivered a lecture to those present. His subject, abstruse and involved, was the passage of matter through matter but its purport, several members of the circle later confessed, passed largely over their heads. Doubtless Red Cloud became quickly aware of this, for he said: “I will demonstrate the meaning of the words I have used. Here we sit within four walls, in an upstairs room, with its windows shuttered to exclude all light, and beyond…

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