Through the Witnesses' Eye: A First Hand Account of Mediums in Action

            I would first like to apologize for not getting a post up last week. I am going to make it up to you all by posting twice this week! So enjoy :)

                                                      Early Investigations into Spiritualism
                                                             by: John Townsend Trowbridge

This article was written over a hundred years ago in 1908 and showcases John Townsend Trowbridges' experiences with spiritualism. Mr. Trowbridge does this through analysis of his experiences with two mediums.

Typical Seance Set-Up

 In Early 1852 Mr. Trowbridge visits the home of Dr.William R. Hayden, the publisher of the weekly newspaper in Boston at the time. Mr Trowbridge arrived at the home of Mr.Hayden to discover it was Mrs. Hayden who was the medium. The seance was already in motion when Mr. Trowbridge arrived with three or four people seated around a table. Mr. Trowbridge quotes " I observed her carefully during the evening, and never for a moment doubted her sincerity of character and honest of purpose..." (pg. 526)


Also during this session Mr. Hayden showcases automatic writing, of which I have spoken of in previous blogs. "Mr. Peabody [the individual asking the question] passed a pencil up and down a printed alphabet that lay on a table, and paused when a rap was heard. Thus words, sentences and finally a long communication were spelled out. It was something quite commonplace; but was astounded me [Mr. Trowbridge] was that any message at all should be given in that way. The mediums hands were in sight all the time, usually folded on the edge of the table, and she seemed to

Ouija Board

await the result of the word building with as genuine an interest as ours." (pg. 527)

Mr. Trowbridge along with the others present came up with several "tests" to gauge Mrs. Haydens' honesty. None of which really struck him as inspiring until he asked her about his father. Automatic writing was used and Mr. Trowbridge expected his fathers first name Windsor to be spelled out but instead "Wstone" was what came up. "The right reading flashed upon me [Mr. Trowbridge] and when I rewrote them, "W.Stone" the glee manifested by the little concussions in the board was something affectingly human." (pg,529) "Stone" was his fathers middle name and something of which he did not have in his mind at all.

Mrs. Hayden also asked mental questions in which no words were spoken out loud. Material objects also moved without the help of any of the spectators at her seances, including a very large table. Like one would expect people were skeptical and all moved back from the table put still it moved again! The floor was carpeted as well so even a kick from a witness could have not moved the table as far as it was flung.

Robert Owen

In her early seances, Mrs. Hayden was not paid. However she continued to get busier and busier and her husband concluded "It's one of two things; it has got to stop, or it has go to be a business." (pg. 531). It's important to note that Mr. Hayden has also fell on hard times and needed money. Therefore, Mrs. Hayden became a public medium. Mr. Hayden devoted his life to the business and even moved them both to London. In London she was visited by many famous peoples including Robert Owen, the Socialist. "The fee of a guinea was paid as readily for admission to these London sittings as half a dollar have been paid in Boston." (pg. 531).

                                                                        Mrs. Newton (2nd Experience)

August 1886 Pathfinder

The second medium that Mr. Trowbridge speaks of in the article is Mrs. Newton, the wife of Alonzo E. Newton the editor of "The Pathfinder Railway Guide".

In October of 1852, Mr. Trowbridge meet with Mrs. Newton. "She was petite in person, of a singularly trustful and sympathetic nature, generously impulsive, and like her husband, earnestly religious." (pg. 532).

Unlike Mrs. Hayden, Mrs. Newton was a trance medium. As noted in a previous blog trance mediums were defined as others as a was for women to speak out about societal things that they normally wouldn't be allowed to do. This is just what Mrs. Newton did. Mrs. Newton spoke out loud about her troubles with the church. 

Mrs. Newton also possessed the "psychometric faculty" of being able to read the characteristics of a person from a material item. Some might argue that this was her just being clairvoyant but "often in reading characters in this way, she would have visions of spirits that were giving her impressions, and sometimes she would describe the departed friends or relatives of the writers of the letters." (pg. 534). 

In his conclusions, Mr. Trowbridge quotes " I was forced to conclude that they were for the most part genuine. By this I mean that they were not produced by any sleight-of-hand or system of deception, but that mediums themselves understood no more of their nature and origin than the intelligent, unbiased spectator." (pg. 573).

 " The one incredible thing, from a materialistic point of view, is that the individual spirit should continue to exist after the body's dissolution." (pg. 538).