Thirty Years Among the Dead by Dr. Carl Wickland

Chapter X Orphans

VARIOUS spirit orphans who have known no family ties
during earth life, have been brought to us for aid, and
these have usually been eager for knowledge and ready to
accept the explanation of a higher life.
A lonely orphan came to us one evening, a deserted waif, but
observant, analytical and eager for understanding.

EXPERIENCE, MAY 25,1921
Spirit: MINNIE-ON-THE-STEP. Psychic: MRS. WICKLAND

Doctor Where did you come from?

Spirit I don't know.

Dr. What have you been doing?

Sp. I don't know either.

Dr. Should you not find out?

Sp. What?

Dr. Where you are, and where you came from.

Sp. I don't know.

Dr. How long have you been dead?

Sp. Dead? I don't know. I don't know anything.

Dr. Has anybody come to you and told you that you have
lost your body?

Sp. No. I have been going around everywhere and talking.

Dr. To whom?

Sp. To every body I could talk to. But some way or another,
they don't seem to pay attention to me. I go sometimes in a
big crowd and think I will get hold of them all, and sometimes
I get right up on the platform and begin to ask them what is the
matter with me, but it's just like I was nobody, and I think I am
somebody. I think I was good, but nobody wants me.

Dr. What can. you remember before that time?

Sp. Before that time? I was somebody. I am probably nobody now.

Dr. Where did you live when you were somebody?

Sp. Always in the same place. Sometimes I get so tired,
then I go and lie down and sleep and sleep, and then it seems

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after I have slept, then I go on again. Sometimes I only go
around and around and do not go any further.

Dr. Has nobody ever come to you?

Sp. I see people who think I am nobody. They do not notice
me and do not think of me. Sometimes I feel miserable and an-
other time I do not.

Dr. Where is your mother?

Sp. I don't know. Sometimes I go hungry and sometimes
I get so hungry I beg of people. Sometimes I get something
and sometimes not. If I can get in the kitchen, I get something
to eat, and I eat much, then after that I go, and then it seems I am out again.

Dr. Out where?

Sp. Everywhere.

Dr. When you get something to eat, do you feel like somebody else?

Sp. I go hungry, and I have to get something.

Dr. Where do you get something to eat?

Sp. It's the funniest thing. Always somebody else pays the
bill, and I have nothing to pay-that's the funniest of all. I
never pay for anything.

Once in a while I do not get what I like but I have to eat it.
Sometimes I feel so bad after eating that I get real sick. I do
not like things and I make faces. Sometimes I eat a lot and
sometimes a little.

Sometimes I am a man and sometimes a girl. (Obsessing
different persons.) I don't know what is the matter with me.

Why is everything so funny? I don't know myself.

I go and I walk, and I like people to talk to me. I have to
talk all the time. I only hear myself talk. Once in a while I
get in somewhere where they talk and I can sit down, and some-
times I feel-oh, I don't know! I feel like I was half a person
sometimes-somebody else.

Dr. How old are you?

Sp. How old am I? I don't know.

Dr. Don't you know how old you are?

Sp. On my last birthday I was nineteen.

Dr. Have you any father, mother or sister?

Sp. No, I have not.

Dr. Where did your parents live?

Sp. I never saw my father or mother.

Dr. Where did you live?

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Sp. I don't know if my father and mother are dead, or where
they are. I never knew.

Dr. Did you live in an institution?

Sp. I was brought up in a Home, with a lot of children.

Dr. Did you know many of the children?

Sp. There were so many.

Dr. Where was that place?

Sp. I don't exactly know. It is kind of funny. How are
things? I feel funny.

Dr. It must be a strange situation.

Sp. This is the first time somebody talked to me. I came
here when you were singing about that beautiful shore. I
thought I wanted to go on that other shore, and I was just looking
to see where it was.

Dr. We will help you reach that shore.

Sp. Before I knew it, I could talk when you talked to me.
(Controlled psychic.) This is what I have to say-nobody talked
directly to me for a long, long time. If I talked to any one,
someone else always answered.

I never seemed to have anything to say. No one paid any
attention to what I said. That is the funniest thing of all. That
is funny. I got out of the home that I was working in because
they were awfully mean to me.

Dr. What did they do? Whip you?

Sp. Not exactly. I was working in a family somewhere. I
was so hungry, and of course I did not do things as well as they
wanted me to. There came a lady and she said she would take
me away from the Home. I wished she had not.

In the Home it was pretty fair. Of course we had hard
times, but it is better than to be scolded all the time. In the
Home we had lots of things we did not like, but we had a good
time too.

This woman took me, and the first thing she said was that I
should have to read the Bible from morning to night. I got sick
and tired of the Bible.

Then I had to pray. My knees were so sore I could hardly
walk on them. I had to be on my knees all the time, reading and
praying. She said I should walk with my knees, not my feet.

She tried to save me. She said I had never been a real good
girl, and if I did not do as she said, I should go to some very hot
place. In the Home we prayed, and the Mother was awful nice.
We prayed and believed in God.

When that woman took me, I was fourteen. That was my

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sorry day. I had to work and work and earn something, and
she scolded me, as she said I did not do as she wanted me to.
It was praying and reading all the time. There was nothing to
it. I didn't pray.

I had to get down on my knees, but I did not get in my mind
what she was saying, because my knees hurt me. She got awful
mad when I slipped down, and she pulled my hair. She had a
cushion under her knees. She could stay there for hours. She
said I was a sinner, because I got tired.

Are you a sinner when you can't stay on your knees a long
time? I did not know very much, but I thought many times,
really and truly-don't tell anyone, (whispering confidentially)
but I thought God would be awfully tired to hear that all the time!

I was so tired that I went to sleep. Then she pulled my hair
and slapped me. She prayed to God, but she acted so bad. She
said if I was not good the devil would get hold of me. I thought
sometimes, really and truly, that she was one.

If I got on my knees and went to sleep, she came to me and
she prayed: "God help me out of this misery! You know, oh,
God, how I love you!"

She prayed for herself first, and then for her sister, her
mother and her brother and father, and her friends, and at last
she prayed for Minnie. They did not know my other name.
I do not know who my really and truly father and mother
were. I never knew. I never got my history, but they said they
found me on the step.

They often called me "Minnie-On-The-Step." I got so mad
at them. They found me on the step, they said. They gave me
the name of Minnie.

Dr. Try to realize that you have lost your own body, and
that you are now a spirit.

Sp. What is that? I am a girl.

Dr. You have been wandering around as a spirit.

Sp. What do you mean?

Dr. You, have lost your body.

Sp. Did I die? I really and truly have not been washing
dishes for a long time. I have not had any one pull my hair for
a long time either. I ran away because the lady was so mean.
I was running away from her. Then I had so little to eat. I
ran away and I got so hungry. I had no money.

Dr. What happened after that?

Sp. I got far, far off, and I lost my way. I was so hungry

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that I went to sleep. It came so dark and I was in the woods.
I had to run in the woods so that she would not find me. I
walked and walked, and I thought I would find some one to give
me something to eat.

To the first house I did not go. I went away hungry and I
walked a whole day and night, and it seems there was nothing
but big trees and forest. Then I went to sleep, and I don't
know any more that day. (Passed out.)

Next day I felt better and I walked again and I got to the
city. I walked ever and ever so far, and saw lots of people, but
they paid no attention to me. I got hungry, so I saw a woman
go into a restaurant and we had some dinner. She was eating
it all. I got a little. She did not talk to me.

Then I went out again, and I kept on walking, and after a
while I saw some one else go into a restaurant-some other
people. We ate but they paid for it.

Dr. Do you know what you were doing?

Sp. No.

Dr. You were obsessing some one. As a spirit, you were
hovering around some mortal and were trying to satisfy your
hunger through that person. You probably lost your body in the woods.

Sp. I was so thirsty. The food I did not miss so much, but
I thought everything was drying up in my throat. I thought I
could drink a barrel of water.

Dr. You carried your last physical sensations in your mind,
not realizing that you had lost your body.

Sp. Did I? What time was that? Don't you know me then?
How did I get here?

Dr. We cannot see you.

Sp. Can you see my folks?

Dr. No.

Sp. Can you see me?

Dr. No.

Sp. What is the matter with me?

Dr. You are invisible.

Sp. Can you hear me talk?

Dr. Yes.

Sp. You can hear me talk, but not see me?

Dr. You are not talking through your own body.

Sp. I am not?

Dr. Look at your hands. Do you recognize them?

Sp. No.

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Dr. Do you know that dress?

Sp. I never had one like that in my born days.

Dr. You are using some one else's body.

Sp. Some party probably gave me a dress. I have a ring too .

Dr. The ring is not yours, nor is the hand.

Sp. I commence to be sleepy again.

Dr. You have been allowed to come in and control this body.

Sp. Oh! Look there!

Dr. What do you see?
Sp. I don't know myself. There's a lady, and she's crying.(Spirit)

Dr. Ask her who she is.

Sp. (After listening in amazement.) Oh, my, no!

Dr. What does she say?

Sp. Don't cry so much, lady. I don't like to see crying faces.
I want to cry myself when she cries.

Dr. What does she say?

Sp. She says I am her child. She probably is sorry she left
me. Is she my really and truly mother? She says: "Oh, my
dear child!" She says she has been hunting me for dear life,
but she could not get me, and she did not know what to do.

Dr. You are both spirits and you will find intelligent spirits
here who will help you.

Sp. She was a good girl, she says, but some man got her in
trouble. She says she went to church, and some man wanted to
marry her. He went away. He left her after he got her in
trouble, she says, and she had nobody. She was so sick. She
felt so bad, so she put me on the step of that big Home, she
says, and she has never been happy from that time. Then she
got sick and died.

Dr. Make her understand that she is a spirit like yourself.
You will find intelligent spirits who will help you both.

Sp. My Mother! I want to be with you! I forgive you,

Mother. Don't cry. I have never had a mother, and you will
be my mother now. She says she has been hunting me for a
long time, and somebody said they brought us here to this place
so we could meet. She says: "They said I should find my child."
Now she found me, didn't she? Can I cry for gladness? I
would love to. I feel so glad I have a mother.

Dr. You will both have a home in the spirit world.

Sp. She says my name is Gladys. She says her name is Clara
Watsman.

Dr. Where was her home?

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Sp. She says St. Louis.

Dr. You will find other spirits here who will take you to
the spirit world.

Sp. What is that? Why, here comes an Indian girl!
(Spirit.) She's a nice little girl.

Dr. She will teach both of you many wonderful things.

Sp. Oh, I do not want you to look so old, Mother! She was
young a little while ago.

Dr. That will all pass away. That is only her condition of sorrow.

Sp. The little Indian girl, Silver Star, put her hand over her,
and she said: "Think young, and you will be young."
She is! She is! Thinking young, she will be, she says.
Now we go with her. Don't forget-my name is Gladys. That's
nicer than "Minnie-On-The-Step." Are we going to Heaven to God?

Dr. You will go to the spirit world, and you will obtain
understanding of the higher things of life.

Sp. That woman always said: "God is Spirit; God is Love;
God is everywhere." Silver Star says we must thank the doctor.
Doctor what?

Dr. Dr. Wickland. You are controlling my wife's body.

Sp. My mother is young and pretty now. Think young and
you will be, Silver Star said. Can I come back here sometime?

Dr. Certainly, as far as I am concerned.

Sp. Don't think of me as Minnie-On-The Step, will you?
Think of me as Gladys Watsman. Thank you all. I am somebody
now. I've got a name. That's worth something to me.
Don't you want to be my Grandpa?

Dr. Maybe.

Sp. Thank you all for being patient with me. Goodbye.

Minnie-On-The-Step became an ardent helper of wandering
spirit waifs, and has brought a number of them to our circle for
understanding, the first one within a few weeks after her own enlightenment.

       ---------------------

EXPERIENCE, JULY 13, 1921
Spirit: ANNA MARY. Psychic: MRS. WICKLAND.

Doctor Good Evening. Do you know anyone here?
Spirit Somebody told me if I came in here I would get something to eat.

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Dr. You are spiritually hungry.

Sp. Is that something to eat?

Dr. No, it is something for your mind.

Sp. I don't know if I need anything for my mind. I want
something for my stomach. I haven't had anything to eat for a
long time. Isn't it funny? As soon as you talk to me, I am not
hungry. I was awful hungry, but now I'm not.

Dr. What have you been doing?

Sp. Nothing. I get so tired of doing nothing that I don't
know what to do. It is tiresome to have nothing whatever to
do-no aim in life. You do not know what to do with yourself.
I want something to do. You get so nervous when you do nothing.
I don't know what to do with myself. I want to go here,
there and everywhere, and when I get there, I want to be some
place else. I get so tired wanting to know what I should do.
The road is always best on the other side.

Dr. What is your name?

Sp. They call me Mary, but my name is Anna Mary. Some
call me Mary and some call me Anna.

Dr. Where did your father and mother live?

Sp. I don't know my mother and father.

Dr. How old are you?

Sp. I don't know.

Dr. Were you ever in California?

Sp. No, never in all my life. I never went that far away.
I never had so much money to go. We had hot summers and cold winters.

Dr. How did you come in here?

Sp. Sure enough-how did I come?

Dr. Who brought you here?

Sp. Minnie-On-The-Step.

Dr. Is she here now?

Sp. Yes.

Dr. Did you both live in the same place?

Sp. Yes.

Dr. Were you anything like Minnie-On-The-Step?

Sp. She was such a nice little girl. I ran away from that
place. I wanted to see the world. I did not want to stay in one
place all the time.

I was in a Home where there were lots of children, and Min-
nie-On-The-Step was there too; that was our home. I worked
awfully hard and had to scrub and scrub, and carry water, and

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I got tired of it, so I ran away. They always said I was foolish,
but I never thought I was.

Dr. Ask Minnie-On-The-Step if she brought you here.

Sp. She says she did, and that she has been hunting for me,
and then brought me here. She says she has a home. (Staring
in surprise.) For God's sake in Heaven! If I ever saw such a
nice place! Look at that home! It's Minnie-On-The-Step's.
It's beautiful! She says it is hers. Well, for Heaven's sake alive!
Dr. Ask her how she got it.

Sp. (To Minnie-On-The-Step.) How did you get it? She
say that you, (Dr. W.) and you, and you, and you, (pointing to
audience) helped her to get that home. She says her home is
going to be for all the children she knew when she was at the
Home, and they are all going to that home that she can hunt up.
She's so happy. I never knew she cared for me, because she
was a little better than I was. For Heaven's sake alive, that's a nice home.

Dr. How did you die?

Sp. I'm not dead. Can't you hear me talking? Why, there's
Mary Bloom, and Charlie Hoffman! I don't like Charlie Hoff-
man! He was stuck up. They teased me. He always got other
boys, and they all chased me; they thought I was a horse. They
always pulled my hair.

They always hurt me, those boys, and Charlie Hoffman got
them together. They used to call me "Tow-Head," but when I
got mad they were scared. They ran and I ran after them.
Then comes the Matron. She grabbed hold of me and pulled
my hair pretty good. She was awful mad when they took me back.

Mary Bloom always scrubbed with me. She says she don't
have to scrub any more. Mary Bloom's in Minnie's home.
Esther Bloom, Mary's sister, is here too. Minnie says now I
must be a good girl and then she will see after me. I will have
a nice home and I shall have something to do.

Dr. Do you know who your mother was?

Sp. I was always told my mother was a fine lady. I know
she lived in a beautiful house, but she didn't like me because I was foolish.

Dr. Was she ashamed of you?

Sp. She never cared for me. They said she was very beautiful.

Dr. Do you want to go with Minnie-On-The-Step?

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Sp. She's a lady now! She doesn't look like she did. She
is beautiful.

Dr. What does she say?

Sp. She says that I must understand that I am in the spirit
world. Oh, look at that pretty lady!

Dr. What does she say?

Sp. She says she has a home where she takes care of little
waifs in the spirit world and teaches them the higher philosophy
of God. She is beautiful, beautiful! Such pretty white hair!
It is as white as silver. When she smiles it is like sunshine.

Now she says: "Come, my dear child, with me. You had no
happiness in earth life, but you will have it in spirit life with
me, because I gather together all such little children as you and
teach them the real lesson of life."

Dr. Ask the lady her name.

Sp. She says her name is Abbie Judson. Lady, you won't
call me foolish, will you? Will you be my mother? Can I call
you mother, lady? I never had a mother.

Will you take me in your arms and love me just once, so
that I can feel what mother love is? Will you give me a mother's
kiss? Will you? I never knew what that is.

She says: "Yes, child I will be your mother. I will watch
and guide you. You will have a home with me in the beautiful
land beyond."

She kisses me! Isn't she lovely! Please love me a little
more, lady. Thank God, now I'm happy, for I have found a
mother! I shall try to be good to her, then she will be my
mother. I have prayed to God many times for a mother, and
now I have one.

(To an invisible.) Say, will you forgive me for slapping
you once? And I'm sorry that I kicked you, but I got so mad
at you. I'm so glad that Minnie-On-The-Step brought me here
cause now I have a mother.

Dr. Now you will go to the spirit world, where Happiness
is Heaven, and all is harmony. Heaven is a condition of the mind.

Sp. The lady says I must go with her now.

Dr. We know the lady you speak of. She has brought others
here for help. She was a teacher in earth life.

Sp. She says she has a beautiful home. Not like a home in
earth life, but a home where we shall be taught to praise God in
every way.

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Dr. Think yourself with the lady and you will become disengaged
from this body.

Sp. Glory Hallelujah! Minnie says that when I come with
the lady I must not use those words, for they are foolish. But
that's the way I always do talk when I'm glad and happy.
Mary Bloom and Minnie-On-The-Step say I must thank you
for teaching me to go with them. You can call me Anna Mary.

Will my new mother be ashamed of me? I can't read 'cause
I never had time to learn. The big Home, where I was, gave me
to a lady and she made me work very hard. I got sick and I
coughed very hard. But I had to work just the same. I got
sick and then I don't remember any more.
Thank you for helping me. Goodbye.

We had been concentrating for some time for a little girl,
R. G., who was very sensitive to psychic conditionA, and troubled
constantly by spirits.

During the weeks preceding the following experience she
had been very disobedient, developed a strong dislike for arithmetic,
and had been especially perverse when taken into the city shops.
The mother, knowing that a spirit was influencing the child,
had several times given the little girl a cold shower, with excellent result.
              -----------------------------------
EXPERIENCE, AUGUST 2, 1922.
Spirit: LILY. Patient: R. G.
Psychic: MRS. WICKLAND.

The controlling spirit stamped furiously, and spoke angrily
in an excited childish voice.

Spirit. No, do not touch me! No, no! I don't want your
hands on me. I do not like you! You have so much fire. I am
afraid of that fire! (Static treatment given patient.)

Doctor Tell us who you are.

Sp. I don't know.

Dr. Where did you come from? You must have come from
some place. Do you pay for your board?

Sp. I don't pay for it, but I always get something to eat.
I have no money.

Dr. Who are you?

Sp. I said I didn't know.

Dr. Did your mother call you Jim?

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Sp. I'm no boy! Can't you see? I don't want that fire on
my back any more-no, I don't! (Stamping feet)

Dr. Did you always have bad manners?

Sp. Why did you take me away from where I was? I have
no place to go. You made me get away with fire, fire, fire!
(Stamping.) I want to be with that little girl. (Pointing to
R. G.) She belongs to me.

Dr. What right have you to bother that little girl? She
does not belong to you. She is no relation of yours.

Sp. (Crying.) I want her!

Dr. Where did you come from? Can't you understand that
you are dead?

Sp. I want to be with that little girl. I want her! I want
her. (Crying.) You chased me out, You-You-you mean thing!
(Stamping.)

Dr. I'm very glad of it. What right have you to be with
that little girl?

Sp. I have no home.

Dr. Can't you understand that you are a spirit? You are
invisible to us.

Sp. I liked to ride in that automobile. We had such nice times.

Dr. You will not ride in that automobile any more. You are
going to the spirit world.

Sp. (To the mother of R. G.) I don't like you! You made
me go in the water, you ugly, mean thing! I like to ride in the
auto, but I don't like to go into that store. I got mad. I want
that little girl! I want her! I got lost in that big store you
went to. You had no business to go there!

Dr. You have no business to bother people. You are very selfish.

Sp. I got fire on my back.

Dr. You will get more fire if you do not behave.

Sp. Aren't you ashamed to give a little girl so much fire?

Dr. That was what you needed.

Sp. You gave me so much of it that it is burning my back
yet. I got so mad at you! (To Mrs. G.) You made me go in
the water. It made me so mad at you! I don't like the water.
She took me here and there in that store.

Dr. You will not bother that little girl any more. What is your name?

Sp. My name is Lily. I am a White Lily.

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Dr. You must not be so selfish or you cannot find a home in
the spirit world.

Mrs. G. Where did you find my little girl?

Sp. I saw this little girl, so I picked up with her. We had
such nice times together. There were lots of things to play with.

Dr. You must understand that you no longer have a physical
body. Do you know that you are in California?

Sp. I do not know anything.

Dr. What did your father do?

Sp. I did not know much about my father.

Dr. Where is your mother?

Sp. I do not know. I ran away when mother spanked me.
I got mad at my mother and ran away. My father and mother
put me in a place with lots of other children, but I ran away from
there. They put me in a big building. They were mean and so
was I. They always teased me. I got so mad at them. I got
into a fight and then I ran away.

Dr. Where did you go when you ran away?

Sp. I fell down, and then I can't remember what happened.
(Died.) Sometimes it seems like I am a very small girl, but I
was different. I was eleven or twelve years old, and after a
while I was a little girl again. It seems like I was five years old then.

Dr. What did they call you when you were a little girl again?

Sp. They called me R., but that wasn't my name. After I
fell down it was dark for a long time, then all at once I could
walk and play with that little girl.

Dr. Some accident must have happened to you when you ran
away. You lost your body and became a spirit. We do not see you.

Sp. I don't see you either!

Dr. You are a little spit-fire.

Sp. You are a real bogy man! I am a little girl and can't
take care of myself. You let go my hands!

Dr. I'm not holding your hands. I am holding my wife's hands.

Sp. I don't like you!

Dr. You are using my wife's body, but only for a short time.
You are an ignorant spirit and have been hovering around that
little girl and have now been taken away from her.

Sp. She is my little girl.

Dr. Let me tell you something. You cannot have a home if
you do not behave yourself. Intelligent spirits have brought you

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here and allowed you to control my wife's body so that we might
help you.

You will find friendly spirits here who will help you and will
show you the wonderful things in the spirit world. There you
will find happiness which you cannot find by hovering around
the earth plane. But you will have to overcome your temper.

Sp. Will they be mean to me? Everybody shoved me here
and there. So many boys teased me, then I got mad and had to fight.

Dr. Now you must go with Silver Star, a little Indian girl,
who will be the best friend you ever had. Forget your past.
Do not be ugly. You will be shown every kindness and nobody
will tease you.

Sp. I always got so much whipping.

Dr. The intelligent spirits will help you to progress.

Sp. Why, here comes Happy Daisy. (Spirit.)

Dr. Does she look as if she would scold you?

Sp. No. The boys used to call me "Red Head" and
"Freckles," and I used to go for them. Could I go with that
pretty lady standing there?

Dr. Yes, and you will not have any more fire or sparks.

Sp. You are sure you are not telling stories? Happy Daisy
says for me to go with her and she will take me to a nice home.
Will that be Heaven?

She says I must learn to do good and be good, and after I
learn I can come back and help this little girl, and I'm going to
help her in school too.

Mrs. G. Do you like arithmetic?

Sp. I don't like school at all. Now I will go. They say I am
going to school-but I don't like school.

Dr. You will go to a different school-the School of Life.

Sp. Can't I have blue eyes and light curly hair? Can I have
it? I want to be beautiful.

Dr. You can become beautiful only as you help others. Think
beautiful thoughts and do kind acts and you will be beautiful.
You will have beauty of spirit. Now go with these friends, and
after you have learned how to be of service you can help little R.
Think yourself with the others and you will be there. Determine
to begin a new life.

Sp. I'm going to help this little girl. Goodbye.

          ----------------------------

A week after the interview with "Lily," another homeless
spirit wanderer came to the circle, a quaint, investigative philosopher

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who had been drawn into the aura of Mrs. G., the mother of R. G.

This spirit was an orphan who had known Mrs. G. in childhood;
she had at that time developed a strong affection for her
and this love had attracted the spirit to Mrs. G., although she
had not recognized in the grown woman the friend of her childhood.
    

EXPERIENCE, AUGUST 9, 1922
Spirit: LAUGHING ELLA. Patient: MRS. G.
Psychic: MRS. WICKLAND.

Doctor Why don't you join in the singing?

Spirit I never saw these people before, so why should I join
in the singing?

Dr. Where did you come from?

Sp. I don't know.

Dr. We should like to know more about you. Isn't it strange
that you should be here?

Sp. I don't know anything about it. I shall have to find out.

Dr. Tell us who you are and what your name is.

Sp. Somebody said if I came here I would find a home.

Dr. You certainly will.

Sp. I have not had a home for a long time.

Dr. What have you been doing?

Sp. Walking around everywhere and sleeping where I could
put my head.

Dr. Are you a girl, a man, a woman or a boy?

Sp. Don't you know I am a girl?

Dr. How old are you?

Sp. Probably-but I'm not sure-but I think I am sixteen or seventeen.

Dr. Where were you staying?

Sp. I don't know.

Dr. Try to think; perhaps you can remember.

Sp. I have been to so many places, I should like to have a home.

Dr. Have you no father and mother?

Sp. No.

Dr. Where did you stay when you were little?

Sp. I always stayed in a big place where there were many
children. We were all together. We used to fight and carry on
all the time. I don't think I ever had a mother. I think I was

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born in that big place. I was there as long as I can remember anything.
It was a big place, with lots of boys and girls. Some were
good and some bad, all kinds. I did everything I could do. I
did what they told me to do, and they kept me doing things all
the time. I kept on working like machinery.

They said: "Now, Ella, you go there, and Ella, you go there,"
and after a little while, it was Ella everywhere. I had to fix so
many little boys and girls that I think I was a mother to them all.

Dr. Were they fond of you?

Sp. They all came around me and I had to do things for
them. That was my work and I helped them all I could. And
it wasn't always easy to bathe and dress a dozen little children.
They were very noisy, so I said for them to keep quiet. I got
mad sometimes. You know I tried to do my very best, but when
they stepped on my toes I got mad.

Dr. How long ago was that?

Sp. I don't think it's so long ago. You know, I lost my way.
I went out walking one time and I couldn't find my way back.

Dr. What happened after that?

Sp. Nothing has happened. I have been walking to find that 
Home again.

Dr. Did you have an accident?

Sp. No, but I shall have to keep on walking until I find that Home.

Dr. Do you want to understand why you have been walking
and have no home?

Sp. Somebody said if I came here I would have a home, and
they pushed me in, and before I knew anything, I was sitting
here and you were singing. I was crying, and a girl said you
had helped her, and if I came here I would get happy. When I
walked it was half dark and half light. I have been trying to find a home.

When I was with those children I had to work hard, but it's
better to have them than to have nothing to do. I would rather have my children.

Dr. Were they orphans like yourself ?

Sp. They thought I was not right in my mind, but I was as
good as any of them.

Dr. You are talking to us but we cannot see you. I can see
my wife but not you.

Sp. Your wife! For land's sake alive! (Laughing heartily)
You know, I always like to laugh, and when all the children

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began to cry I started to laugh, and I laughed and laughed until
I got them still. That was the only way I knew to get them all
still when they were crying. Then they got good natured again.
If you laugh hard when somebody cries, they will stop crying
and begin to laugh. Sometimes they called me "Laughing Ella."

Dr. Where did you get this ring?

Sp. I never had a ring before. (Greatly pleased and laughing again.)

Dr. This is not your hand, and this is not your body.

Sp. What are you talking about? (Laughing.)

Dr. It may seem foolish to you, but it is the truth. Have
you ever heard that "He who laughs last, laughs best?" Ask
these people whose body this is.

Sp. (To audience.) Is this my body?

Ans. No, it is not.

Sp. Yes, it is.

Dr. This body belongs to Mrs. Wickland.

Sp. Mrs. Wickland! (Laughing.)

Dr. You are laughing at your own ignorance. You are temporarily
controlling Mrs. Wickland's body.

Sp. I never heard such funny talk.

Dr. What I am telling you is not so foolish as it sounds.
You lost your physical body. Probably you were sick. You have
awakened to a new condition of life.

Sp. How could I waken if I had no body?

Dr. You have a spirit body.

Sp. When you say I have lost my body, do you mean I am dead ?

Dr. To the world, yes. The world is ignorant of the facts
When a person loses his physical body, people say he is "dead.'
That is wrong. The spirit has only left the body. The spirit is
the real person; the body is merely the house. Nobody dies, it
only seems so.

Sp. Yes, they do! I have seen dead people. I knew a little
girl that died and she went to Heaven.

Dr. You have only seen dead bodies. You can only stay here
a short time, then you will have to leave.

Sp. Where will I go?

Dr. To the spirit world.

Sp. Say, I am a real lady! I have a necklace round my neck.

Dr. That belongs to my wife. You are an invisible spirit and

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have been wandering in outer darkness. If you want a home
you can have one.

Sp. Do you mean Heaven?

Dr. Jesus said: "The Kingdom of God is within you."

Sp. Jesus died for our sins, and if we are good, when we die
we will go to Heaven and be with the angels. We prayed all the
time in the Home. (Seeing little R. G. sitting beside her mother.)
I like that little girl over there. I have seen her before.

Mrs. G. Do you know Lily? She is a spirit who was here last week.

Sp. (To R. G.) You were very naughty the other day when
we had company. What made you so naughty?

Mrs. G. That other girl, Lily, made her behave badly.

Sp. That other girl was awfully mean. I felt like spanking her.
When she came near, that little girl (R. G.) changed faces.

Dr. She was a spirit and was influencing this little girl.
You are also a spirit and are talking through my wife's body.
In just that way the spirit of that girl acted through this child.

Sp. Somebody told me to come in here and I would find a
home, and that I had a mission to do. What does that mean?

Dr. Probably you can protect this litle girl.

Sp. They say I am going to be a watcher; that I must see
that nobody gets hold of her. I don't know what they mean.

Dr. That will all be explained to you. Listen to a little
Indian girl whom you will find here. She will take you to a home.

Sp. Will they like me? In that big Home all the children
liked me because I made them laugh. They say -I must stay
around this little girl and protect her from influences.

Dr. That means spirit influences.

Sp. I am going to look into that business.

Dr. You will need to have understanding first. Do you see others here?

Sp. I see many girls jumping around and feeling happy.
There is a nice lady here and she says her name is "Pretty
Girl." She's awfully pretty. There's a young girl and she says
I can come with her. She says she brought me here. They say
I always tried to do everything I could to help; now they are
going to take care of me.

Sometimes when I got a whipping, I thought: "Well, maybe
I needed it." I cried for a few minutes and then I went into my

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little corner, and said: "Now, Ella, you were naughty and you
needed that spanking."

I thought about it for a while, then I began to laugh, and I
never felt the spanking at all. When you feel good inside from
laughing, you can't feel things on the outside. You just try it.

Dr. Now you must go with these friends.

Sp. They say when I get understanding I am going to be a
little helper. (To R. G.) Don't forget, when you feel naughty,
just laugh and then you won't be naughty. When I get to be
nurse girl for that little girl, I won't let anyone in. I will see
that they stay out-I will show you!

Dr. Where did you live?

Sp. In Kansas. (Mrs. G. had formerly lived in Kansas.) I
had to dress ten or twelve of the children, and wash them and
put them to bed. Some went to school and some went to play.

Mrs. G. What town did you live in?

Sp. Why-near H. (Verified later.)

Mrs. G. Do you remember the name K.? (Superintendent
of orphanage at H.)

Sp. Why, yes.

Mrs. G. Do you know M.? (Assistant Matron, in charge of girls.)

Sp. She was in another room. There were some naughty
girls in M.'s room. Sometimes even the Matron could not control
some of the girls, even when she spanked them, so I had
to go to them. You know spanking isn't good all the time.
When the Matron spanked the little ones and they cried, I
would go to them after she had gone and make them laugh. A
good laugh always made them forget the spanking.

Mrs. G. Do you remember seeing me when I was a little girl?

Sp. (Staring, then excited.) Yes! Why yes, I remember
you now! But you were not there all the time. (Mrs. G. came
to the orphanage occasionally as a visitor.) You used to come
and then go away. You always had such pretty hair, and you
used to have such pretty dresses. Do you remember you had a
parasol and walked around like a big lady?

Mrs. G. Do you remember the time I fell into the water?

Sp. Oh my, yes, and everybody was so excited, and you got
wringing wet, and your Grandmother scolded you. I took a
liking to you. The time you went into the water I felt so sorry
for you. You. spoiled your nice dress. That was a long, long time ago.

Now I remember lots of things. My eyes seem to open! I

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took an awful cold and I got sore throat, and then I remember I
went to sleep.

I always liked you, and now I've found you again, I am going
to help, and stop walking to find that home.

Mrs. G. I am grown now and married, and this little girl is
my child. Spirits have been bothering her for some time.

Sp. I will help you. I have found you and we will be together
again. Silver Star, the little Indian girl, says I must learn to
protect your little girl.

Dr. The first thing you must do is to go to the spirit world
and learn about your new conditions, then you will understand
how to help someone else.

Sp. I will do all I can. Now I will say Good Night, but I
will come again. Don't forget Laughing Ella.

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CHAPTER XI Materialism and Indifference

THE binding influence of skepticism, of mental apathy
and unconcern regarding the higher life is so powerful
after transition that many are held in a condition of helpless
despair, darkness, bewilderment and rebellion, often clinging
to mortals as their only means of expression.

Some years ago a friend of ours, Mrs. F. W., was living in
New York, very happily married and leading an active, normal
life. She had an understanding of the higher laws of life, but
her husband, although devoted to her, maintained the viewpoint
of a materialist and fatalist.

Believing in no form of religion, Mr. F.W. was convinced
that death ended all, and had often declared that if his wife
should pass away he would commit suicide, and frequently urged
her to promise that if he passed away first she would take her
life, but to this she would not consent.

After a brief illness this gentleman suddenly passed away,
but his wife could still see him very distinctly, especially at
night when he repeatedly awakened her, frightening her so that
she could not sleep.

Unconscious of his true condition, he still sensed that some-
thing strange had occurred, and wishing to remove the barrier
which separated him from his wife, he constantly urged her to
come to him, calling insistently:

"Kill yourself--you must come to me! I want you, and I
will finally get you, so kill yourself now!"

The continual cry of "Kill yourself!" was with Mrs. F. W.
day and night, until she feared for her own safety. Anxious to
prevent any rash act on her part she left New York and came to
us in Chicago for assistance.

During an interview, the spirit of F. W. was allowed to
control Mrs. Wickland, and when he found himself sitting beside
his wife, he grasped her hand, kissed her wedding ring, and
asked if she were angry with him, since she would not answer
him when he spoke to her.

Then, seizing her in his arms, he kissed her frantically, and
crushed her in so powerful an embrace that she could not free
herself and called for aid.

I explained to the spirit that he was controlling a body not

250

his own and that he had passed out of the physical life. When
he at last realized the situation, his regret for having unintentionally
annoyed his wife was profound, and he was eager to
learn the higher laws in order to understand how he might help her.

Mrs. F. W. then returned to New York and experienced no
f urther disturbance.

F. W. became a loyal member of the Mercy Band, and in several
of many communications since received from him he related
the bewilderment of one suddenly finding himself on the spirit
side of life without understanding.

EXPERIENCE, NOVEMBER 22, 1920
Spirit: F. W. Psychic: MRS. WICKLAND

Well, here I am again.

I want to come in to tell you that I have not gone. I have to
speak through this instrument, but otherwise I am here to help
you all do the good work you are doing, and you know I am
always here ready to do what I can to help you, and also to help
all who are in trouble.

I want to thank you for having helped me, otherwise my wife
and I would be in trouble, and through my own fault. I would
not listen to the great wonders of the life beyond.

When I was in my parents' home, my parents were so orthodox,
so strong in their belief, that they condemned every one who
did not believe as they did, and they hypnotized themselves with
the idea that nothing was right except what they thought.

I could not live in that atmosphere and I left home. I was only
a boy when I left home, and why did I go? Because the atmosphere
was so strongly orthodox that it drove me away. I could
not believe as my parents did, and they said if I did not I was a sinner.

I was not a sinner and I could not believe as they did, so I
ran away from home.

I am not sorry that I left, for I learned to know something
of the outside world. I had my troubles but I learned from them.

I learned the condition outside of the church, and I learned
how to battle for myself, but I was bitter, and so hard toward
churches that I would not have anything to do with any religion.

I had heard so much of it through childhood, and had seen too
much of what was going on in the churches.

I do not mean that all churches are alike, but you will find

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that when there is too much orthodoxy the people are hypnotized
and feel they are so good that no matter what they do,
whether they are right or wrong, they are right, because they
cannot do wrong. They are so holy that even the wrong they
do is considered right.

I traveled and saw the world, but I had a great longing for
home. I came home again after I had seen enough of the world
and I thought I would remain with my parents.

But the same conditions were still there; I wanted to stay at
home to do my duty and work, but I could not. I felt as if I
were being crushed by orthodoxy, so I went away again.
I traveled still further and I had new experiences. I opened
my heart and tried to look for the brighter and happier side of life.

Later on I met one who loved me, one who made a home for
me. That was the first time I felt I really had a home, and it
was the first time in my life that I was happy.

We had only a few short years of happiness together on
earth, but those few years will always be with me.

I did not think there was a life after this. I did not believe
in anything. I was tired of orthodoxy and everything else. I
thought when I died that would be the end, and there would be no more.

That was also wrong. Do not let us go to one side of the road
or the other, but let us stay in the middle and investigate everything.
Find the truth and stay in that narrow path-the path
of reason and understanding of God's wonderful manifestations.

I passed to the other side of life with the thought that there
was nothing after death.

I passed on very suddenly. When death came it was like a
sleep. I woke up and saw my dear little wife crying; she was
very sad, but I did not realize that the change had taken place.

She did not listen to what I said--she did not seem to hear.I called
to her and asked what was the trouble, but she did not speak to me.

I wondered what was the matter, for we loved each other
dearly. I began to grow stronger and I did not want to leave
her. I came in direct contact with her and felt that she must
come to me and be with me, for we had never been parted.

I was attracted to her through her sadness and I felt she
must come to me. I did not realize the change, and I knew she
wanted to be where I was, so I made up my mind that she was
coming to me.

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Before I knew it, I was in her magnetic aura. I stayed
there because I could not get away. I was unhappy, she was
unhappy.

But I thank God she had an understanding of the life hereafter.
She knew the condition I was in and she wanted to free
herself from the influence I was throwing on her, so she came
to these dear people. (Dr. W.'s.)

I was helped and so was she. We would both have been miserable
if she had not understood, for I did not know about the life after this
and I did not care.

I want to give a warning to all of you here--do not doubt
the next life. Some day you will all have to go the same way.
Let us investigate; let us know the truth before we pass on to
the Great Beyond so we may go with open eyes and know where
we are going with a definite knowledge.

If my wife had not had understanding I would have made her
take her own life-then where would we have been?

There are many passing from earth life who are in a similar
state. They find themselves in somebody's magnetic aura and
cannot get out, and then they obsess that person.

I wanted to get out of my misery but I did not know how,and 
the only way I could think of was that my wife should come to me.

When there is an understanding of life then one cannot be
in such a situation as I was when I passed to the spirit side of life.

I want to thank you all for helping me. Since I have been
helping other unfortunate spirits that cannot see and do not
know of the higher life, I am happy. So I am working, and now
I can be with my dear wife to help and guide her.

Learn all you can of the wonderful life beyond. I wish every
one of you here would do your part to spread the truth that
there is a life after this and that we must find it.

If we do not learn this while in the body we must do so when
we reach the other side. Many, many times we are sorry that
we did not look into the truth before we passed out of earth life.

I want to say a few words to the two young girls who are
about to leave here. (One had been a patient, the other her companion.)
When you leave, keep in your hearts what you have learned.
 Remember it, and learn more, because you will have to protect
yourselves. Learn all you can. Help others in similar trouble and you
will help yourself and gain strength. Now that you have found the truth
do not put your light

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under a bushel. Helping others will strengthen you. You will
receive strength and power to keep well, and you will not then be
obsessed any more.

Each and every one should be proud to help spread the truth,
because there is a wave of obsession going on everywhere. Let
us all do our part, and do our work while we are here, gaining
all the knowledge of the life beyond that we can.

This is F. W.
Goodbye

          ----------------------

EXPERIENCE, JANUARY 18, 1922
Spirit: F. W. Psychic: MRS. WICKLAND

How do you do? Don't you know me?

I think you should. This is F. W.

The time must come when there will be circles of this kind
in every little society, every church. Then people will not be
taken to the insane asylum-they will be helped.

Many of the poor afflicted ones who are in the asylums are
controlled by spirits and should be helped, but most persons
think they are not worth bothering about. They prefer to send
people to the insane asylum and let them stay there.

We must not condemn the spirits who are controlling sensitives,
because they were not taught regarding the higher life
while in the physical, and have no knowledge of it.

Many believe that after "death" they will go straight to
"Heaven" and will see God on a throne, and there they will sit
and sing, and eat figs, and all that.

When I was a boy, my father and mother were very religious.
My father professed holiness, and the environment was such that
I felt as if I were being pulled to pieces. I could not stand the
atmosphere at home.

My father and mother were good people, but had such a narrow
way of thinking that I felt I was in a cage, so I ran away
when I was only a child.

I had many struggles and  many hardships, but I thank God
today that I ran away. I learned many bitter lessons during my
life, but I also learned not to be a mere believer, and when I
reached the spirit side of life and received an explanation of my
changed condition, I was not held back by any orthodox religious doctrine.

When I was on earth I made the best I could of circumstances,

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but when it came to religion I did not believe in anything. I felt
that death was all and there was nothing more.

I would not, and could not, believe as my parents did. I felt
God was the Life of all things, not an angry God who threatened
hell and damnation as the churches taught.

I felt there was nothing after this, and that after death all
would be ended.

I made up my mind to do my best while on earth. I went to
church sometimes, I traveled around, saw the world and gained
experience which is worth a great deal to me now.

After I was married my wife taught me a little about the
other side of life-a more cheerful view than the orthodox one-
still I did not believe. However, there was a little light of understanding.

I wanted my wife to promise that if I should die first, she
would go too, and if she went first I would follow, but she would
not make that promise, because she understood more of the next
life than I did.

The time came when I had to leave, and very suddenly. I
seemed to go into a pleasant sleep of rest, and I woke up-where?
It says in the Bible: "Where your treasure is, there will
your heart be also." My treasure was my dear little wife and
when I woke up I found myself in her magnetic aura.

She would not pay any attention to me and I wondered what
could be the trouble and why she would not talk to me when I
spoke to her. I felt queer, and I did not know where I was.

Death is only a sleep, a sleep as natural as that which you
have every night on earth. When one awakes from the sleep of
death everything is so natural that you feel you are still with
your relatives. Then if you get into a person's magnetic aura,
you live right with him, and you are there.

I was in my wife's aura, and could not realize why I should
have to go wherever she went, and not be an independent individual
as I used to be, and it annoyed me. I felt desperate. I felt that my wife
must come with me; I did not know where, but I wanted her.

My love for her was so strong that I tormented her against
my will, because I had no understanding of the real life on the other side.

I loved my wife dearly, yet I disturbed her, for I did not
know any better, and she was tormented--tormented by the one
who loved and idolized her.

But she came to these kind people (Dr. W.'s) and was freed,

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and I thank you, as I have many times before, for having helped us both.

I had to learn by experience. When we know about the other side we are
happy to go and meet friends who have already gone over.

It is very necessary for every one to know the truth, because we all have
to take that journey.

I know now that God is Love, God is everywhere. Since He is Love and
Wisdom, He knows the past, present and future. How could He then have
created a world only to lose control of it? For if He later found the people
full of sin, He certainly must have lost control of His creation.

Yet the churches teach that, having lost control of the world, God created
a person for the particular purpose of being sacrificed, and that those who
believe this will win a golden crown.

Let us not misconstrue God. God knows everything, and He reveals
Himself to Himself. Everything has life in Nature. Where can you go without
Life without God? He is in everything. Humanity should know that each is a
part of this wonderful life.

Nothing should be condemned, because everything in Nature is perfect.
Any disturbances in Nature are only for development. As soon as you have
trouble and something disturbs you, you begin to long for a higher life; you
want to attain it and you work for that end.

Life goes on on the other side, and it is always progressive. Teach
children the truth. Teach the higher things of life. All is God.

Now I must go. Good Night.

In the following case the apathy and characteristics of the spirit were
recognized by Mrs. H. W., the mother of the patient, who had known the
spirit well during his earth life.

He was the son of a neighbor, and his statements were confirmed by the
patient and her mother, who were from Chicago, and both present in the circle.

EXPERIENCE, DECEMBER 2, 1919
Spirit: FRANK BERGQUIST. Patient: MRS. A.
Psychic : MRS. WICKLAND.

Doctor Who are you, friend? Some sleepy one? Wake up

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and tell us who you are. Have you found a happy condition, or not?

Spirit No.

Dr. Why not?

Sp. I don't know.

Dr. What was the trouble? Didn't you have any faith, or did you have
too much?

Sp. I don't know what is the matter with me.

Dr. Do you know who you are?

Sp. No.

Dr. Can't you recall your name or anything about yourself? Do you
know how long you have been dead?

Sp. I don't know.

Dr. Where do you think you are?

Sp. I don't know.

Dr. Have you been sleeping for many years?

Sp. Not many. I don't feel natural.

Dr. Does it interest you to know the reason?

Sp. I can't find out. I have asked many but they do not understand and
they do not know. They cannot inform me.

Dr. They have been in darkness as well as yourself. What have you been
doing recently?

Sp. Doing nothing.

Dr. Don't you get tired of nothing?

Sp. It is monotonous, but what can you do?

Dr. Acquire understanding.

Sp. How can you find it?

Dr. You cannot find understanding; you have to develop your mind. You
are controlling a woman's body, yet possibly you claim to be a man. Are
you a man, or a woman?

Sp. I am a man, but have been a woman so long, I do not know.
(Confusing himself with the patient, Mrs. A.)

Dr. You have been a woman a long time? Have you caused trouble ?

Sp. Not that I know of.

Dr. Don't you find that things do not seem just right?

Sp. It has been queer, I told you that before.

Dr. Did anything disturb you?

Sp. A whole lot.

Dr. What woke you up and disturbed you, and caused you to come
here?

Sp. I don't know.

257

Dr. Have you been disturbed at all? Have you had any peculiar
experience lately?

Sp. Yes.

Dr. In what way?

Sp. In many ways. I cannot talk as I want to talk, and I cannot do as I
please to do.

Dr. What do you please to do?

Sp. I like to talk and sing.

Dr. Have you not been able to do that?

Sp. No.

Dr. What is your name, if I may ask?

Sp. I don't know.

Dr. Surely you do.

Sp. It seems I have forgotten everything I ever knew.

Dr. There probably was not much to forget anyhow. That is very often
the case. What did you do in life?

Sp. Any little thing, now and then.

Dr. Did you have religious belief of any kind?

Sp. (Yawning, and stretching lazily.) Why, yes.

Dr. What did you believe in?

Sp. I believed in God and Christ and the devil, and the other things.

Dr. Have you seen any of them? You have probably been dead a long
time.

Sp. I don't know. I do not feel dead.

Mrs. H. W. Were you a Baptist, a Methodist, or what?

Sp. I was a little of everything.

Mrs. H. W. Where did you live?

Sp. I don't know. I'm tired.

Dr. You have been sleeping long enough. What else have you been doing?

Sp. Nothing.

Dr. Don't you get tired of that?

Sp. You get pretty tired of doing nothing. It is monotonous. And to be a
fool woman all the time! I have seen nothing but women, women, women and
women. (Other spirits obsessing patient.) I saw nothing else.

Dr. Don't you get tired of women?

Sp. They do get pretty monotonous.

Dr. Do they know you are there?

Sp. I don't know. I talk, but they do not answer me.

Dr. That is very foolish.

Sp. It seems so to me.

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Dr. Do you seem to be in a strange condition yourself?

Sp. I cannot tell what it is, but it is queer.

Dr. You don't care very much.

Sp. No, I don't care.

Dr. Isn't that an unfortunate condition to be in?

Sp. I have been walking from one place to another.

Dr. Why did you do that?

Sp. I had nothing else to do.

Dr. Couldn't you find any work?

Sp. Nobody wanted me.

Dr. What could you do?

Sp. Anything, but nothing in particular.

Dr. Where did you live?

Sp. In Chicago, at times.

Dr. Did you go from one city to another?

Sp. I was in Rockford and Galesburg. I was anywhere,
everywhere. It is a tiresome job.

Dr. You must have been born tired, you are so indifferent.

Sp. What was the use?

Dr. Did you try to understand the wonderful facts of life?

Sp. Life? No.

Dr. I suppose you only believed that Christ died for your
sins, and that is a lazy man's job. That is not enough.

SP. It's good enough for me. It was good enough for my
father and mother, and it's good enough for me.

Dr. Are your father and mother alive?

Sp. Why, yes, I think so, but I don't know.

Dr. Where did they live? Chicago?

Sp. Somewhere around Bethany Home, near the Methodist
Church.

Dr. Did your father and mother belong to that church?

Sp. Yes.

Dr. What was your father's name?

Sp. I don't know.

Dr. What was your name?

Sp. It's a long time since I heard it and I don't know.
Mrs. H. W. (Recognizing from the foregoing the traits of a
former neighbor.) Was it Frank?

Sp. I don't care what you call me; call me anything.

Dr. We don't want to do that.

Sp. I don't care; call me anything. I am pleased with anything.

Dr. You are mentally lazy.

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Sp. What's the use?

Mrs. H. W. Do you know anybody by the name of B.?

Sp. Along time ago.

Mrs. H. W. Who was he?

Sp. He was somebody.

Mrs. H. W. Were you related to him by marriage? Whom did he marry?

Sp. He married somebody I knew.

Dr. What was her name?

Sp. Names have gone from my memory. Yes, I know-it was my
sister. Say, I don't know what is the matter with me!

Dr. You are "dead."

Sp. Dead? Then I'm gone.

Dr. Do you remember how you died?

Sp. I didn't know I was dead. How can I remember how I died?

Dr. Well, you are "dead."

Sp. I am? That's a funny thing-but I don't care.

Dr. You are occupying a lady's body now.

Sp. I've had enough of ladies. I have been walking and walking
between ladies, until I am sick and tired of them.

Dr. I think you were born with that tired feeling.

Sp. I think so myself, because I am always tired. I do not care very
much for work anyhow. It was just as well not to work. I was born to
be traveling around, because I was never satisfied to be in one place.
I liked to see the world. I did not want to do very much except what
came along, just enough so I could get along.

Dr. Were you a sort of tramp?

Sp. I was a little better than a tramp, but next door to it.

Mrs. H. W. Do you remember that you had a twin brother?

Sp. Something like that--but what is the matter with me anyhow?
I cannot recall anything; everything is gone. I do not know for sure what is my name.

Dr. Sit quietly and think.

Sp. (After a moment.) It is Bergquist. I think it is Frank-yes, it is
Frank. I heard that some years ago. It's an awful long time since I
heard it. It seems so far away that it is miles and miles away, that
name is. It seems like I was walking away from it.

The more I walked, the more I forgot. After a while I walked so
long that I forgot who I was. I walked with women, women, women,
until I thought I was a woman myself, and

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really sometimes I thought I was. And probably I am a woman, for all I
know, and for all I care. What is the use anyway?

Mrs. H. W. Did you live on Paulina Street, Ravenswood?
(Chicago.)

Sp. Yes, Chicago; that was where I was some of the time.

Dr. Do you know where you are now?

Sp. In Chicago.

Dr. You are in California.

Sp. California! Well, if I didn't walk after those women clear to
California! Well, that was a long walk! I know I haven't been riding. I
have walked for miles and miles and miles. At last I got to California!
That was some walk!

I am pretty tired. Why did you tell me I walked that far? Because
that makes me very tired, and now I feel I have to rest.

Mrs. H. W. That is natural for you. Do you know me?

Sp. I thought when I looked at you I had seen that face before.
Didn't you go to the Methodist Church? I think I have seen you there.

Mrs. H. W. Do you remember the bakery on W. Avenue? (Across
the street from the boy's home.)

Sp. Some time ago that was.

Mrs. H. W. Look at me again and see if I am not the one who had
that store.

Sp. Yes, and you had two girls.

Mrs. H. W. Yes, I did. Would you know one of them if you saw
her? Would you know L.?

Sp. I didn't know them very much. I liked that girl, but you could
only look at those girls with one eye.

Mrs. H. W. Somebody looked at them with two eyes. They are
both married.

Sp. I looked at them with a quarter of an eye. They wouldn't look
at a fellow like me.

Dr. Has anybody else looked at you?

Sp. I don't know. Women, women, women-I have been with them.
It is a funny world anyhow.

Dr. What did they call you when you felt that you were a woman?

Sp. I don't hear anything. Of course I have had a long walk, if I
have walked to California. Sometimes I got chased out when I was
behind; then I ran fast as I could, and sometimes I got in front.

Dr. In front of what?

SP. The people. Do you suppose I walked that long distance

261

alone? I was walking with a big crowd. (Spirits obsessing
patient.) At times I was before and then I was behind. What's the
use? We all talked the same thing.

Dr. Where did you get food when you were out walking?

Sp. I didn't seem to need much. I have learned to fast.

Dr. Didn't you go to different houses and ask for food?

Sp. At times, but that was long ago. Somebody said if you fast
three or four days you would not feel your stomach. It was a bother
to feel hungry if you didn't have anything to eat. I fasted pretty good,
and it was a good thing I did.

Mrs. H. W. Did your parents live on the top floor?

Sp. In the basement.

Dr. (To Mrs. H. W.) Is that correct?

Mrs. H. W. Yes, it is. I think his parents are dead now.

Sp. They are? When did they die?

Mrs. H. W. Not long ago. Your mother died a year ago, and your
father a few months ago.

Sp. Who told you that?

Mrs. H. W. Your sister.

Sp. Why didn't she tell me?

Mrs. H. W. You are dead.

Sp. Dead? I am dead? I feel full of life.

Mrs. H. W. Didn't you used to go to saloons?

Sp. Oh, don't talk like that in company!

Mrs. H. W. We have no company.

Sp. I went, but don't tell them that.

Mrs. H. W. Why don't you want them to know?

Sp. Because they wouldn't like it. Mother doesn't like me to go there.

Mrs. H. W. You had a good father and mother.

Sp. I wanted to live my life, but they wanted to live mine for me.

Mrs. H. W. What did you do when you were home with them?

Sp. Nothing.

Mrs. H. W. Didn't you help in the kitchen?

Sp. Mother wanted me to, but I didn't do very. much of anything. I
used to wash the dishes for her, but I didn't want to do it.

Mrs. H. W. She made you.

Sp. You know, she said: "If you want to eat, you will have to
work." Say, that isn't right. I always liked to slip out if I could. That's
natural.

262

Dr. No, it is not. It may be to some, but not to others.

Sp. Everybody likes to get out and do some idling around. You
want a little freedom.

Mrs. H. W. You wanted all freedom; you wanted to just loaf around.

Sp. I worked sometimes-once in a while. I gave my mother money
at times, but it was not often I had any.

Mrs. H. W. You liked best to walk from door to door and beg your
food, and get five dollars wherever you could.

Sp. What was the use anyhow?

Dr. We want you to understand that you have passed out of your
body. You have been dead a long time. This lady (Mrs. H. W.) seems
to know who you are.

Sp. She made good biscuits. I wished sometimes I had one.

Mrs. H. W. Did you ever have any of my doughnuts?

Sp. Yes, sometimes you gave me some. I was supposed to look for
work, but some way or other, I did not work, and I didn't care very
much either.

Dr. Now then, understand, friend, that you are so-called dead. You
have been an ignorant spirit for a long time, in the outer darkness
which the Bible speaks of. This is not your body.

Sp. Yes, it is.

Dr. It is my wife's.

Sp. How could I be your wife when I am a man?

Dr. You are an invisible spirit. We do not see you. We only hear
you talk. Do you recognize these hands? (Indicating hands of psychic.)

Sp. I have been so strange for a long time. What in the world is it?
It has been so strange at times. There was lightning and thunder
(electricity given patient) and it bothered me terribly. I have not been
left alone for one minute. It was fierce, that thunder and lightning.

The lightning is the worst, the thunder is not so bad. The
lightning is so bad that it doesn't seem as if I should really see
afterwards. I should say it was coming down in torrents. It seemed as
if you got knocked in the head, and then got it again and again. It was
wonderful how you got it. It was a wonder, for it woke me up. It woke
me up good and plenty at times, so that I could not stand it any longer.

Mrs. H. W. I am glad of it.

Sp. I don't see why you should be glad.

Mrs. H. W . I will tell you why I am glad. You have been bothering
my daughter for a long time.

263

Sp. How do you know I have?

Mrs. H. W. That is the reason you were with women all the time.
You are ignorant and have been troubling my daughter. You got
"thunder and lightning" for it, when my daughter had electric
treatments, and you got out. I am glad of it.

Dr. I am the one who gave the electricity to you. We chase
ignorant spirits away with it.

Sp. I think you had better be a little milder with it then.

Dr. I do not like to give it, but it is sometimes necessary.

Sp. I do not see why I should need to have so much of it coming
down like thunder and lightning. You get it in the head like a sledge
hammer!

Dr. But we succeeded in driving you from the lady.

Sp. I didn't bother any lady; I didn't have a chance. I was walking
behind them, but it does not seem to me -that I had any way of
bothering them.

Mrs. H. W. You surely bothered my daughter.

Dr. That was why we had to give you electricity. Were there any
others with you?

Sp. There are many with us.

Dr. Are there any more left?

Sp. I don't know. There are some that come and go.

Dr. They will get electricity every time they come.

Sp. I'm not going to have it any more. I don't think I need it.

Dr. If you stay around you will get it.

Sp. I don't care for any more.

Dr. Have you ever been called Mrs. A ?

Sp. No. I never was a woman, so I never could be anybody by
that name. I was with women.

Dr. Did you hear that name at all?

Sp. No.

Mrs. H. W. That is my daughter's name, and you got that
electricity for being around her.

Sp. Did you order that for me?

Mrs. H. W. Yes, I did.

Sp. Then you are a bad woman to do that.

Mrs. H. W. I wanted you to leave my daughter alone.

Sp. I told you I never bothered your daughter. I walked behind
the women.

Dr. You walked a little too close. Were you the only man among
so many women?

Sp. There is something like what you would call a line and

264

you have to walk in that line and you cannot go out. I did not want
to work. (The patient suffered from a heavy listlessness.)

Mrs. H. W. You were too lazy.

Sp. What was the use when you could get your food without? It
is just as well to take things instead of working yourself to death.

Dr. That is a poor argument. People who accomplish something
are happy.

Sp. I do not fancy it. If people want to work like slaves they are
welcome to it, for me. I would not work.

Dr. (To Mrs. H. W.) Is that like this man's disposition?

Mrs. H. W. Yes, every inch of him. His name is Bergquist.

Sp. How do you know?

Mrs. H.W. Your disposition and actions are clear to me.

Sp. Can you know one's name before you know the person?

Mrs. H. W. I know you by your actions. I used to know you well. I
knew your brother, who went to war in Cuba. He came home, had
consumption and died.

Sp. I had another brother who died.

Dr. Now friend, I want you to understand.

Mrs. H. W. Listen to the doctor.

Sp. Doctor? I am not sick.

Mrs. H. W. You need advice from the doctor.

Sp. Advice? Then I must go to a lawyer. When I was sick, I went
to a doctor, when I needed advice, I would go to a lawyer.

Dr. You are mentally sick.

Sp. I wouldn't say I am sick; I feel pretty good. I feel better than I
have for years and years in the past.

Dr. You will not feel yourself so very long, unless you change
your attitude. You are controlling my wife's body.

Sp. I can do as I please for that matter.

Dr. You cannot in this instance. Do you think that I want you to
sit here indefinitely, controlling my wife's body? Look at those hands.
Are they yours? Wake up, and don't be so sleepy. Do you know that
hand?

Sp. How did I get it? I have been with women so much that I have
a woman's hands.

Dr. You must wake up and listen. The fact is, you are an ignorant
spirit. You have been taken away from that lady; you have been
bothering her for a long time. You lost your body years ago..

Sp. That doesn't interest me.

Dr. It will have to. You died a long time ago. You are an

265

invisible spirit. You have been hovering around that lady and
troubling her. She has been brought to California to be freed from
spirits-of which you are one-and I have had to give her the electricity
to get rid of you.

You have been driven away from her and allowed to control my
wife's body. The point is, you will have to leave this body and
become sensible.

Sp. I want to ask you this--if I haven't any sense what will you do?
Mother used to say I had no sense.

Dr. You have been lazy, but now you will have to use the sense
that God gave you, even if it is only a little. You cannot be lazy any longer.

Sp. I will not work either.

Dr. You will have to in the spirit life.

Sp. How do you know? How do you know they will make me work?

Dr. You will be glad to work. You cannot bother people any more.

Sp. What do you mean?

Dr. Ignorant spirits hover around the earth plane interfering with
mortals, and make them act as if insane.

Sp. What is a poor fellow to do?

Dr. Use the sense God gave you.

Sp. I have none. What am I to do? You say I am controlling a
body that does not belong to me?

Dr. Yes, and you must leave this body and listen to spirits who
will help you. My wife allows you to control her body in order to free
the other lady.

Sp. What kind of a wife is that?

Dr. She is a psychic sensitive who allows ignorant spirits like
yourself to control her body. If you will look around, you will find
spirits who will help you.

Sp. Spirits?

Dr. You will find spirits who will help you and teach you how to
progress. You can also find happiness.

Sp. My legs are getting numb.

Dr. That body is not yours. We do not see you.

Sp. No?

Dr. You are invisible to us. Can you understand that?

Sp. I suppose I can't get that in my head.

Dr. Look around and you will find invisibles like yourself, who will
help you.

Sp. I don't need help.

266

Dr. You do; you need help to progress to the spirit land.

Sp. Where is that place?

Dr. It is an invisible plane around the earth, and you will find it if
you look for it. You will be taught that life is something worth while.

Sp. I think I could go to sleep.

Dr. If you do I will give you some electricity.

Mrs. H. W. Think of the sorrow you caused your mother.

Sp. I was a fool.

Dr. You were not one, you allowed yourself to be one. You were lazy.

Sp. Mother is here (spirit), but I can't see what she wants with me.

Dr. Listen to what she says.

Sp. She says: "You have been a very wayward boy. Now try to
wake up and be different, because life is different on this side and you
will have to earn your happiness."

Dr. Then you will find that life is worth while.

Sp. Mother seems to be very happy.

Dr. She will help you if you are in earnest.

Sp. I want to go with her. I must learn.

Dr. You must be obedient.

Sp. Mother says she is happy she got me to come to her
now. I am happy in my way to see her.

Dr. Try to realize that life means something.

Sp. I will go with her then. She says I must not bother that lady
any more. After the last bombarding I got, I will leave that body alone.
I thought my head would come off. I got it all right.

Mrs. H. W. You certainly did. Can you see your sister F.? (Spirit.)

Sp. She's here with a lot of people. I think I will go now.

Dr. How will you go? I will explain to you.

Sp. No, I am ready to go.

Dr. How?

Sp. I will get up and go. (Trying in vain to rise.) I can't move.

Dr. You have only partial control of this body now. You will have
to think yourself with your mother.

Sp. Think myself?

Dr. You will have to travel by thought.

Sp. You come over there, Mother, (pointing) then I will jump over
to you by thought. (Sitting still for a moment, then laughing heartily.) 

267

I can't jump! That would be quite a jump.

Dr. You are in California now; how long does it take you to think
yourself in Chicago? You can be there instantly in thought, for you
have no physical body to take with you. In the spirit world thought is
the motive power.

Sp. Now I am going to think quick and jump. But I don't get there.

Dr. You must relax and quietly think yourself with your mother,
and then you will lose control of this body.

Mrs. H. W. Can you see F., your sister?

Sp. Yes, and father too. They are coming to get me. They say they
want me to reform and be a good fellow. Yes-I suppose I must.

Dr. You must go now. Your first lesson in spirit life is to think properly.

Sp. It seems foolish to me to think. My mother says, Thank you,
and please forgive me for my ignorance. Goodbye.

              ---------------------

Many earthbound spirits are conscious of influencing mortals but
enjoy their power, seeming to be without scruples. Often these have,
during earth life, turned away from orthodoxy and become hardened
to higher ethics and ideals.

A spirit of this type was dislodged from Mr. G., who had since
childhood been subject to violent attacks of temper.

During the weeks when this spirit was being "brought to the
front," preparatory to removal, Mr. G. was very irritable, especially
when driving his automobile, and developed moods during which he
wished to be away from every one. After the spirit was dislodged the
gentleman's characteristics changed completeIy and he became
natural again.

Both Mr. and Mrs. G. were present at the time this spirit controlled
Mrs. Wickland.

EXPERIENCE, SEPTEMBER 21, 1922
Spirit: FRED HAUPT. Patient: MR. 0
Psychic: MRS. WICKLAND.

The spirit made violent attempts to escape and when the hands of
the psychic were held, fought furiously.

Doctor Who are you? Come, be sensible. This will not do you any
good. There is no use in fighting. Who are you?

Spirit It's none of your business who I am! I don't want


268

to be here with you. I didn't want to come here. I will not come any
more! You won't trap me again!

Dr. With whom did you come?

Sp. It's none of your business who I came with.

Dr. How long have you been dead?

Sp. I'm not dead. You will find that I won't stand for anything. (To
Mrs. G.) You don't care for me any more.

Dr. I don't care for you?

Sp. I don't mean you. I am going to fight you all right. You gave
me that awful lightning on my head and back. (Patient's electrical
treatment.)

Dr. That was electricity and it evidently put life into you.

Sp. I told you many times that I would never come here again.

Dr. How long have you been dead?

Sp. Dead! I'm not dead, and you're not going to make me come
here any more. You think you have me this time, but I'll fix you! You
don't trap me any more. I get so mad at you!

Dr. What are you so angry about?

Sp. The world and everybody.

Dr. If you have a grudge on your mind perhaps we can help you
remove it.

Sp. You can go your way and I'll go mine! I'm through! You can
go just wherever you please! You think you've got me where you
have control over me, but you'll find you will get left. I'll not tell you
anything, so you don't need to ask.

Dr. We are anxious to know who you are.

Sp. That makes no difference to me. You think you have me in
your claws, but you'll get left.

Dr. Won't you tell us who you are?

Sp. I don't want to get acquainted with you and you don't need to
get acquainted with me. I want to be all by myself, and I'm going out. I
don't want any one around me; I want to be alone. I enjoy my own
company best.

Dr. What experiences have you had?

Sp. I will not talk to you any more.

Dr. How do you happen to be here?

Sp. You made me come with those funny lights. (Electricity.)

Dr. It will relieve you if you will tell us what you have on your
mind, because we can help you. Where did you get that ring you are
wearing? (Referring to ring on hand of psychic.)

Sp. That's none of your business. It needn't bother you where I got it.

269

Dr. Were you always so sarcastic?

Sp. You keep your hands off me! I will go.

Dr. Where will you go?

Sp. That makes no difference to you where I go, and I don't care
where you go either!

Dr. But you have no place to go.

Sp. (Angrily.) Do you think I'm a tramp? I always had enough
money to pay for my lodging. I can go where I want.

Dr. Then you were somewhat of a gentleman?

Sp. When I am in gentlemen's company, then I am a gentleman.
You don't need to talk to me, for I don't care for you with your electric sparks.

Dr. Are you despondent?

Sp. No, I'm mad!

Dr. Tell us who you are.

Sp. I have no use for you. As soon as you leave your hands off
me I will attend to myself.

Dr. What will you do then?

Sp. That's none of your business.

Dr. Tell us how long you have been dead.

Sp. I'm not dead, and never have been.

Dr. Would you understand if I should tell you it is 1922? Would
you believe it?

Sp. I won't have anything to do with you! I have no business
here. I'll never go to that place again.

Dr. We did not ask you to come here.

Sp. You put me in a prison.

Dr. How did you get into prison? Who put you there?

Sp. You put me there yesterday.

Dr. Is that so ?

Sp. I will haunt you until you don't know where you are at. Dr. I
am used to things like that.

Sp. I will attend to all my business and you attend to yours. We
part right here. I will have nothing more to do with you. I am going my
own way and you can go yours.

Dr. Suppose we will not let you? Try to understand your
situation. You are a spirit and have lost your mortal body.

Sp. I don't care if I have lost my mortal body ten thousand times.
What of that? I am living just as well as if I had my body. What do I care?

Dr. Whose body are you talking through?

Sp. I have many bodies. I go from one place to another.

270

I can be a lady at one time, and a gentleman another. Nobody can
catch me.

Dr. This time somebody has caught you, and you will have to
stop interfering with the lives of others.

Sp. I have been attending to my own business for many years.

Dr. Didn't you say you had been in prison?

Sp. That won't last long.

Dr. If you don't change your behavior you will be put into a dark
dungeon.

Sp. You'll get left! I've been in tight places before, and always got out.

Dr. Did you ever own a Ford car?

Sp. No, I didn't-what's that?

Dr. I'll tell you a story. A man who owned a Ford machine died,
and his last request was that his Ford should be placed in his grave
with him.

Sp. What for?

Dr. He said his Ford had helped him out of many a tight place.

Sp. Did they put it in?

Dr. Oh-I suppose to.

Sp. Ha, ha! Such fools! They couldn't have a car with them if they
are dead.

Dr. Don't you know there is no actual death? No one really dies.

Sp. You say I am not dead?

Dr. Your body is dead.

Sp. Well, I can be just what I want. Sometimes a man, sometimes a
woman.

Dr. No, you cannot; you only obsess men and women.

Sp. No, I don't. If I want, I can boss the whole family. I have a
mighty good time. I go where I please; I am my own boss.

If I am hungry, sometimes I eat, sometimes I don't. The best thing
to work up an appetite is to get hungry. Then you eat everything and
it tastes good. If you are not hungry, nothing tastes good. I tell you,
I'm no spirit.

Dr. You are talking through my wife's body.

Sp. We are just wasting time, so I will go.

Dr. You and I are going to be good friends, I hope.

Sp. I will have nothing to do with you.

Dr. Come, friend, let us talk things over. Life is a wonderful thing.

271

We can think and act, and yet we do not know ourselves.

Sp. You don't? Well, that's too bad about you.

Dr. Did you ever stop to think how wonderful sound is?

Sp. It's no more wonderful than anything else. Now let me go; I
don't want you to hold me any longer.

Dr. No, I can't let you go until you behave yourself.

Sp. If you didn't hold me I would knock you down as quick as
lightning! I can get mad! I have a temper.

Dr. Now, Johnnie, listen to what I have to say.

Sp. Johnnie! That's not my name. I will not tell you what it is.

Dr. Did you kill any one, and is that why you are so full of hatred?

Sp. No, I am an honest man. I want to have my own way, and I
always do. I get so mad.

Dr. What church did you belong to?

Sp. That's none of your business.

Dr. Were you a minister or a deacon?

Sp. No, I wasn't. I'll not tell you anything, so keep still! (Closing
lips firmly.)

Dr. Why are you sitting so quietly?

Sp. Be still! I am thinking. I want to be by myself.

Dr. What evil thoughts have you in your mind now?

Sp. You look out, asking me such questions! When I get mad I
could knock this house down in a minute. I could knock everybody down.

Dr. Talk is cheap.

Sp. You might as well say big things as little ones.

Dr. Tell us who you are, and how long you have been dead.

Sp. (Stamping feet violently and struggling.) If I could get loose,
I'd show you I'm not dead! I've told you that before now keep quiet!

Dr. But you are talking through my wife's body.

Sp. Just let me get free, and I'll show you a few things.

Dr. That is bombastic and does not amount to anything. You are
talking through my wife's body.

Sp. I will not listen to you any longer. I have no use whatever for
you. Only for that electricity, you couldn't have chased me out and
put me in prison! I'll knock you down when I get loose.

We can part right here, you going your way and I mine. That will
suit me just right.

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Dr. But we want to part friends.

Sp. You say friends? You can never find a friend in me when you
give me electricity like you did.

Dr. Those were just friendly taps. That was the best thing that
ever happened to you.

Sp. (Sarcastically.) You think so!

Dr. Try to understand that you are talking through my wife's body.

Sp. I don't want to have anything to do with your wife. All women
can go their way, and I'll go mine. I want nothing to do with women,
and I don't want your wife any more than the rest. I never knew your
wife. Keep her yourself!

Dr. You are talking through my wife's body. You cannot realize
your condition because you are so ignorant.

Sp. You are just as ignorant as I am.

Dr. Be free and open-minded. Try to realize that you are a spirit.
You are a foolish spirit and do not know it.

Sp. A gentleman, to call a man a fool!

Dr. You are a foolish, selfish spirit. If you were intelligent, you
would listen to me.

Sp. I don't care-just leave my hands alone!

Dr. I am not holding your hands; I am holding my wife's hands.

Sp. For God's sake, can't you see I am a man? Don't mix your wife
with me. Take her; I'm sure I don't want her.

Dr. If you were not stubborn, you would realize there is
something the matter with you. Look at your hands.

Sp. (Refusing to look.) They are mine. If I could get loose, I would
show you a thing or two! I have more strength now than I have had
for some time. Now I can talk again. Before, someone always
interfered with me. Now I am myself and can talk and fight.

Dr. You are talking through my wife's body.

Sp. I'll knock you in the bead if you don't stop talking about your wife!

Dr. My wife is a psychic.

Sp. Well, what of that? What do I care? I don't care if your wife is
a thousand psychics!

Dr. Intelligent spirits have brought you here to be helped, and
unless you are willing to listen to reason, you will be put in a dungeon.

Sp. You can do just as you please.

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Dr. What do you gain by acting this way? We are trying to bring
you to an understanding.

Sp. I was converted once by a rascal of a minister. He took all of
my money and then kicked me out.

Dr. Probably that was a good thing for you.

Sp. What! To kick me out? I just asked him a few questions about
life, and he said: "You big sinner, get out of here!" All he wanted was money.

Dr. But that didn't settle the question of life.

Sp. The question of life? Life is life, that's all. We are born here,
we stay for a while, and then go.

Dr. Where was the church you speak of? What denomination?

Sp. I will not tell my secrets to you. I will not talk anything about
myself. I won't tell my name or the ministers.

Dr. You do not understand that you are among friends. We can
help you. You will find we can help you to understand things of
which you are ignorant now. I have told you many times that you
have lost your body and are a spirit, and yet you do not understand it.

Sp. I have not lost my body, because I have lots of bodies.

Mr. G. How could you have more than one body?

Sp. I don't know about that, but I had enjoyment with others.

Mrs. G. How did you find these others?

Sp. I don't know, but that doesn't bother me a bit.

Mr. G. How could you be a man one time, and a woman another?

Sp. I didn't stop to think anything about that. I don't know myself.

Mr. G. Who brought you here?

Sp. They brought me here.

Mr. G. Who?

Sp. I don't know., I was not going to come here at all, but they
made me come. I said I would never come here any more.

Mr. G. Have you been here before?

Sp. Sometimes.

Mr. G. Who brought you here?

Sp. I told you I didn't know.

Mr. G. Look closely; don't you recognize the one who brought
you here?

Sp. I don't know and I don't care.

Mr. G. Have we ever talked to you before ?

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Sp. It seems so.

Dr. Do you recognize the man talking to you? You may have been friends.

Mr. G. Is there anyone here whom you have seen before?

Sp. I don't know. With all that electricity on my head, it hurts, and
I feel like knocking somebody down.

Mrs. G. How did you get here?

Sp. That's nobody's business. I have a temper that no one can
conquer. I get mad as quick as lightning, and it comes like thunder.

Mrs. G. When you get into another body, do you have a temper
at that time?

Sp. Yes, I have a bad temper. I don't know why I get mad sometimes, 
but I get mad like fury at everything. I have to go here and there.

Mrs. G. Can't you stay at a certain place if you want to?

Sp. No; I have to go along, and I get so mad.

Mr. G. You are not independent then?

Sp. I don't know. I get so furious when I have to go places and I
don't want to go. I get awful mad.

Mr. G. Would you like to get over being mad? (Pointing to Dr. W.)
There is a gentleman who can tell you all about your condition as he
is a physician.

Dr. If you will be sensible we can help you.

Sp. Sometimes I fly off about things that don't amount to a pinch
of snuff. I don't know why I do that.

Dr. You allow yourself to fly to pieces over nothing.

Sp. Things don't always go my way, and when they don't, I don't
feel right. Sometimes I feel as if I did not have whole control and I am
only half and half, and then I get mad.

Dr. You are hovering around people and using their bodies. You
are not really dead. The mind is one thing and the body another. You
have lost your mortal body, and your spiritual body looks like your
mortal body. You are ignorant of your condition and come in touch
with mortals who are sensitives; then you try to control them, but
they have wills of their own too.

Sp. I always get mad at that machine.

Mrs. G. Don't you like machinery?

Sp. No; I feel sometimes as if I could knock it all to pieces, I get so
mad at it.

Mrs. G. Do you mean the automobile?

Sp. I don't know. What does that mean? Is it that machine that
runs without horses?

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Dr. You have never seen an automobile, have you?

Sp. Is it that machine that goes "Whz-z-z?" (Circling arms around wildly.)

Dr. Have you never seen one of those machines? Who is President?

Sp. I don't know. I haven't read a paper for years.

Dr. Was McKinley the President?

Sp. No-Cleveland.

Dr. Do you remember the Chicago World's Fair?

Sp. No, I don't.

Dr. Where did you live?

Sp. I lived in Kansas.

Mr. G. (Whose early years were spent in Kansas.) In H., or N.?

Dr. You talk things over with that gentleman. (Mr. G.)

Mr. G. Did you know a family there called G.?

Sp. Yes, they lived in that pretty house, a big house.

Mr. G. Did you live in N.?

Sp. No, a little outside. I was a helper here and there. I never
stayed long in one place.

Mr. G. Did you live on farms?

Sp. Yes, where they had horses. I don't like to ride in that "Ch-ch-
ch!" I get so mad when things don't go just right.

Mr. G. You can go so much further with a machine than you can
with horses.

Sp. I like air, and you don't always have the windows open in that
machine-shut up in there!

Mr. G. Were you ever sick, or did you have an accident?

Sp. I am not quite sure, but it seems I have something the matter
with my head. I do not really know what happened. I lose my temper
so often that I know there is something the matter with me.

Mr. G. Do you remember any of the G. boys?

Sp. I have heard of them.

Mr. G. How old were you? About as old as R.?

Sp. He was that stout fellow.

Mr. G. Were you as old as he?

Sp. No, no. He was more lively than the other fellow, and liked to
have a good time. The other fellow (Mr. G.) studied. He wanted to go
off by himself. I think he was going to study for a minister, or a
lawyer, or something, because he always had a book with him. (This
was correct.)

Mr. G. Did he ever sing?

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SP. Who?

Mr. G. This other fellow.

Sp. I don't know very much about him. I was just a helper around.

Mr. G. Did you work around at their home?

Sp. No, I lived Southwest. The farm was in the hollow, in the
distance. You go up the hill and then down in the hollow that's the place.

Mr. G. Down toward W.?

Sp. Yes.

Mr. G. Did you have an accident there?

Sp. I can't remember. I know I had something the matter with my
head. There were a lot of fellows out with the threshing machine-the
threshing gang.

Mr. G. You must have been hurt very badly at that time.

Sp. Do you mean when they were threshing on that farm? What is
the matter with my head?

Mr. G. You must have been so badly hurt that you passed on.

Dr. Possibly you thought you went to sleep. You lost your
physical body. Most people would call you dead, but you are not
really "dead."

Mr. G. Did you know Tom? (Another spirit who had previously
been dislodged from Mr. G.) He is a good friend of mine.

Sp. Yes, and he is here. He says he came here to help you. But
how is he going to help you?

Mr. G. Ask Tom.

Dr. Ask him why he is going to help this gentleman, and why he
needs help.

Sp. Tom says to me: "You get out!"

Dr. You listen to him; he will tell you the truth.

Sp. If he tells me anything that isn't true I'll knock his block off!
Tom says that I-for God's sake, no! (Excitedly.) Tom say that I--he
says that I have been sponging on that man (Mr. G.) for years!

Dr. It sounds strange, but it is true.

Mr. G. Tom did it too. He bothered me a great deal. Now he is a
good friend of mine, as you are. You and I are going to be good
friends, are we not?

Sp. Why did I get so mad at things?

Dr. When you hurt your head you may have disturbed your mind.

Sp. Tom says he is trying to help you get rid of me--that's

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what he says. He's going to get left! Why does he want to get rid of me?

Mr. G. Then you will be free. He is a good friend of ours. We are
all going to work together. You will have your own body and you will
not have to get out of anyone.

Sp. I don't understand what you folks mean.

Dr. I will explain. Don't contradict me, no matter how foolish it
may seem to you. I will tell you nothing but the absolute truth.

Sp. If you don't, you look out!

Dr. You lost your mortal body some time ago. It is now 1922.

Sp. You mean 1892.

Dr. That was when Cleveland was President the second time. You
have been so-called dead all these years. There is no actual death.
The mind is one thing, the body another. It is the physical body
which dies, but not the mind or spirit. You are not talking through
your own body now.

Sp. I'm not?

Dr. No; you are speaking through my wife. She is so constituted
that spirits can control her and speak through her, and we are having
these investigating circles to come in contact with spirits like
yourself. Ignorant spirits often influence mortals and disturb their
balance. You conveyed your temper to this gentleman (Mr. G.) and
made him act as if he had a bad temper.

Sp. I did?

Mr. G. Did you ride in that machine?

Sp. Yes, but I hate it.

Dr. I'll tell you about those machines. About 1896 they began to
invent what they call automobiles; these machines go without horses,
for they run by their own power. We have millions of them now.

Sp. What have they done with their fine horses?

Dr. They do not use them now. Automobiles are very convenient;
you can travel one hundred miles an hour, but the average is twenty
or twenty-five miles an hour.

Sp. I wouldn't ride in one that goes that fast.

Dr. You can travel two or three hundred miles a day. These
machines have been invented since you lost your body. We have
aeroplanes now that fly in the air, and we can telegraph without any
wires. We can even talk across the ocean without any wires.

You cannot realize what wonderful things have happened

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since you passed out. Do you know that you are in California now?

Sp. I feel so weak.

Dr. Don't lose control, friend, until you give us your name.

Sp. I don't know it, my head is in such a mess. Don't bother me
and I will tell it to you in a little while. For a long time I have had so
many different names that I don't remember my name at all.

Dr. Look around; your mother may be here.

Sp. I heard my mother call me one time. Sometimes I am Charlie,
sometimes Henry, sometimes a man and sometimes a woman, so I
don't know what name to give you. It's so long since I heard my own
name that I seem to have forgotten it.

Mr. G. Ask Tom what your name is.

Sp. He says my name is Fred. Yes, that's it-Fred?

Mr. G. Fred what? Ask Tom.

Sp. How can a man forget his own name? There must be
something the matter with him.

Dr. What did they call your father? What did your father do ?

Mr. G. Was he a farmer?

Sp. No, he was not a farmer, but he had some land. We were
further down from that college, where that church was. My father was
a German.

Mr. G. Was he a Mennonite?

Sp. No, my father came where they were, but went further back.

What is the matter with me? Why can't I think what my name is?

Mr. G. Tom will tell you, if you ask him.

SP. I can get certain places and things, then I can't go any
further. I remember Fred, because everybody called me that.

Dr. Well,I wouldn't worry about it any more. Your memory will
come back to you. You are a spirit and when you leave here
intelligent spirits will take care of you.

SP. Tom says he is going to take me to a home or rest. I have
been so worried, and I get so tired out that I get mad at everything. I
will not be angry any more.

Whenever I got mad I suffered terribly after it. I always felt so bad
because I could not control myself. I always felt so sorry I said such
mean things, and I was too proud to acknowledge it, but I knew it,
just the same.

Tom says: "Come on, we must go." I want to go now. (To Mr. G.)
Tom says I must ask you if you will forgive me for making so much
mischief for you.

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Mr. G. We are going to help you, and let bygones be bygones.

Sp. You are not mad at me, are you?

Mr. G. Not at all.

Sp. I feel so weak, what will I do? I am too weak to go with Tom.

Dr. That weakness is a common experience with spirits when they begin
to understand. It is only a temporary sensation; you are merely losing
control. Think yourself with Tom and the Mercy Band of spirits.

Sp. My head feels so funny! Am I going crazy? You had better get a
doctor because I think I am going to die.

Dr. You will be all right as soon as you leave this body.

Sp. I need a doctor, for the blood is all coming up in my throat and I can't
breathe! I feel so choked. Maybe I can get to sleep. Doctors always say if
you can sleep it is better, when you feel weak. I am not going to die, am I?

Dr. You must remember that you are a spirit and are controlling a mortal body.

Sp. Fred Haupt is my name. Tom says I must ask you to forgive me
because I have made so much trouble in getting you in a temper.

Mr. G. Certainly I forgive you. Thank Tom for helping both you and me.

Sp. Goodbye.

Silver Star, the Indian guide of Mrs. Wickland, then came in and said to
Mr. G.:

"We got the man! Now we are going to take him to a hospital. We worked
hard to get him; he was so in your magnetic aura that it seemed like taking a
piece out of your body to detach him from you.

"He had been with you for a long time; he was with you when you were a
child. When things did not go right for him he flew into a temper. It will be a
great relief to have him away, and you will feel like a new person. You will
not feel so irritable.

"He has been working on you nearly all your life, but lately he has
become stronger and stronger, until he almost had control of you.

"Now we have him and he won't bother you any more. He is very weak
and needs hospital care; he can hardly walk. He will have to be nursed. He
has been living on you, and with that strength taken away from him he is
very weak, but he will he taken care of."

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