Apparitions and thought-transference: an examination of the evidence for telepathy

Chapter V (2)

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The next account is taken from the _Annales des Sciences Psychiques_, vol. iii. pp. 114-116. M. Hennique, the agent, had acted as agent in four experiments at a distance with another percipient in the previous year (_Annales_, vol. i. pp. 262-265). In the first the percipient saw vague lights, and finally a vase of flowers (very clear); the agent was looking at a lamp covered by a transparent shade, with a vase of flowers painted on it. In the second the percipient again saw vague lights, and then a luminous sphere; the agent was looking at the lamp globe placed on the table in full light. In the third, the percipient only saw brilliant lights, like stars or jewels; the agent was looking at the word _Dieu_, in big letters. In the fourth the percipient, to his astonishment, saw _nothing_; the agent had willed him to see nothing. In each case the percipient's impression was recorded in writing before any communication was received from the agent. In the present case, it will be seen, the percipient received, not the impression which the agent wished to transfer, but the image of another object within the agent's field of vision, and which had entered his thoughts in connection with this very experiment.

No. 36.--From M. LEON HENNIQUE and M. D.

"On Friday, the 8th of July last, my friend Hennique and I made a
further experiment in telepathy. Hennique was away from Paris, and
separated from me by a distance of 171 kilomètres. At midnight I
wrote to Hennique the following letter:--

"'PARIS, _July_ 8_th_, 1892, _midnight_.

"'MY DEAR HENNIQUE,--A friend came unexpectedly to dinner. At
10.30, looking through the open window at the blue sky under the
full moon, I thought all of a sudden of the experiment planned by
us, of the telepathic meeting that we had fixed for eleven o'clock
this evening, and my brain received at the same time the impression
of a puppet. It seemed to me that you were trying to show me a
little cardboard man fitted with strings to make his arms and legs
move.

"'Reminded by this impression of my telepathic duty, I said
good-night to my friend, and at eleven o'clock I waited, with my
eyes closed, in the darkness of the dining-room. Nothing happened
till twelve or fifteen minutes past eleven, when there appeared to
me for an instant a small black silhouette, a Chinese shadow, as
if you had cut out a little black figure and placed it in front
of a light; for the round part, which seemed to be its head, was
surrounded by a bluish halo. It was mostly this little black
sphere--which I thought was a head--that I saw; the body I rather
deduced than saw. 'D.'

"M. Hennique replied to me as follows:--

"'RIBEMONT (AISNÉ), _Sunday_, 10_th July_ 1892.

"'MY DEAR FRIEND,--It was a bottle full of water, surmounted by its
cut-glass stopper, a large stopper, very bright, that served for
our experiment. But the most curious part of the affair is that
about four inches from the bottle there was actually hanging on the
wall a nigger-doll, of the kind which you describe, belonging to
my daughter. Was it reflected on the crystal? A mystery! For one
second, but scarcely for a second, I had intended to telepathise
the jumping-jack to you before choosing the water-bottle. It is
certainly very odd!

"'LEON HENNIQUE.'

"M. Hennique added to this letter a water-colour drawing of the
above-mentioned 'nigger-doll.' The head is a black circle, in which
only the lips are red; the arms and legs are black; the chest is
white, crossed with red; arms, thighs, and legs are jointed, and
can be worked by a string.

"I wrote to my friend to ask him if, at 10.30--that is to say, at
the moment when I had conceived of a jumping-jack, he had not,
on his part, thought at the same moment, of the same object. He
answered me:--

"'RIBEMONT, 14_th July_ 1892.

"'No; at 10.30 I was not thinking in the least of the jumping-jack;
but, if I remember rightly, once or twice last year I wished to
make use of it. It was only at the moment of choosing a simple
object for the experiment that for an instant the idea of that
little man came into my head; it was, you see, before beginning our
experiment. This puppet was not four inches, but only two inches
away from the water-bottle. There is something very curious in it,
a physical or psychical effect, which I can't account for. The more
so that this doll, _in cardboard mounted on strings_, is always
fixed to the wall, above the table from which I am sending you my
good wishes. It must have been about 9 o'clock, while tidying the
before-mentioned table, that I had the idea of transmitting to you
the image of the jumping-jack.

"'LEON HENNIQUE.'"

No. 37.--By MR. JOSEPH KIRK and MISS G.

During the year 1890 and onwards, Mr. Joseph Kirk, of 2 Ripon Villas, Plumstead, has carried on with a friend, Miss G., a series of experiments in thought-transference at a distance varying from 400 yards to about 200 miles. Some account of these experiments will be found in the _Journal of the S.P.R._ for February and July 1891 and January 1892. There are 22[68] trials in the transference of diagrams, etc., there recorded. The object looked at by Mr. Kirk was generally a square or oblong card, or a white disc with or without a picture, diagram, or letter on it. The object was always illuminated by a strong light.

Notes of the experiments were in every case made independently in writing by agent and percipient. In each case, with the exception of two occasions (on which Mr. Kirk's notes record his anticipation of failure), the percipient saw luminous appearances, often taking the form of round or square patches of light, in correspondence with the shape of the surface looked at by the agent. When Miss G. was at Pembroke or Ilfracombe (Mr. Kirk remaining at Plumstead) the correspondence did not go beyond this; but in two or three cases, when Miss G. was also at Plumstead, at a distance of only 400 yards, the percipient appears to have seen some details of the diagram on the card, and in one instance a fairly accurate reproduction of the diagram was given. Mr. Kirk on this occasion, 5th June 1891, was trying to impress three percipients--of whom Miss G. was one--and used three diagrams, viz., a Maltese cross, a white oval plate with the figure 3 on it, and a full-sized drawing of a man's hand in black on white. Miss G.'s report is as follows:--

"5/6/91. Sat last night from 11.15 to 11.45. After a few minutes
wavy clouds appeared [these are drawn as a group of roundish
objects], followed by a pale bluish light very bright in centre.
[This is drawn of an indefinite oval shape with roundish white spot
in centre.] Near the end of experiment saw a larger luminous form,
lasting only a moment but reappearing three or four times; it had
lines or spikes about half an inch wide darting from it in varied
positions."

Appended are reproductions of Miss G.'s original drawings of her impression, which bear, it will be seen, a marked likeness to a man's hand.

It should be added that Miss G. has not had any hallucinations of the kind except at times when Mr. Kirk was experimenting; and the amount of correspondence between her visions and the images which Mr. Kirk endeavoured to transfer would certainly seem beyond what chance could produce.

No. 38.--By MR. KIRK and MISS G.

A further series of seven trials with the same percipient in April-June 1892 produced some interesting results. Full notes of the experiments were, as in the previous cases, made by Mr. Kirk and Miss G. independently. Mr. Kirk wrote his notes immediately after the conclusion of the experiments, which were made late in the evening, at a time previously agreed upon. Miss G., who was in the dark, and as a rule in bed, wrote her notes on the following morning before hearing from Mr. Kirk. No diagrams were used in this series, "the object being," in Mr. Kirk's words, "to test the possibility of influencing the imagination, and inducing the percipient to visualise hallucinatory figures of persons or animals thought of by the agent." Miss G. knew only that diagrams would not be used. The distance between agent and percipient was about 400 yards.

In the first three trials (April 10th, 17th, and 24th, 1892) Mr. Kirk pictured to himself some ducks in a room, a witch, and other figures. On the 17th Miss G. saw at one time a small sunlike light, but with this exception she had no impression at all on any of the three occasions.

At the fourth trial (1st May) Miss G. records the same night that she saw "a broken circle , then only patches of faint light, not cloudlike, but flat, which alternated with vertical streaks of pale light." Afterwards, however, she had another vision, which she thus records on the following morning before meeting Mr. Kirk:--

"Soon after lying down last night, I had a rapid but most realistic
glimpse of Mr. Kirk leaning against his dining-room mantelpiece;
the room seemed brightly lighted, and he looked rather bothered,
and just as I saw him he appeared to say, 'Doctor,[69] I haven't
got my pipe.' This seems very absurd, the more so as I do not know
whether Mr. Kirk ever smokes a pipe. I see him occasionally with
a cigar or cigarette, but cannot remember ever seeing him with a
pipe; if I have, it must have been years ago. I do not know whether
my eyes were open or closed, but the vividness of the impression
quite startled me. This occurred just after the expiration of time
appointed for experiment (10.45-11.15)."

Mr. Kirk reports in his account of the trial, written on the 1st May, that he tried to transfer an image of himself, sitting on a low chair, and also the part of the room facing him in the light of the lamp. But after seeing Miss G.'s report, he adds--

"The fact that I had another experiment to make [_i.e._, after the
trial with Miss G.] enables me to trace minutely my actions before
beginning it. Immediately the time had expired with Miss G., I got
up and rapidly lit the gas and three pieces of candle, which I
had ready in the cardboard box-cover, to illuminate the diagram.
The room was therefore brilliantly lighted. I now rested with
my right shoulder against the mantelpiece, with my face towards
Miss G., but with my eyes bent on the carpet. In this position I
thought intensely of myself and the whole room, and feeling really
anxious to make a success, for at least six minutes. By this time
my shoulder was aching very much with the constrained attitude
and the pressure on the mantelpiece, and I broke off, using words
(talking to myself) very similar to those given by Miss G. What I
muttered, as nearly as I can remember, was, '_Now_, Doctor, I'll
get my pipe.'... Until within the last few weeks I have not smoked
a pipe for many years, and I do not think it probable that Miss G.
has ever seen me use one; but it is an absolute certainty that she
was not aware I had taken to smoke one recently."

In the fifth experiment of the series, made on the 9th May, the impression which appears to have been transferred was fortunately recorded beforehand. Mr. Kirk's report of that date, after describing an attempt to transfer an image of the room, and of an imaginary witch, runs as follows:--

"Continued to influence her some minutes after limit of time for
experiment (11.30 P.M.). During this time I was much bothered by
a subcurrent of thought, which I in vain strove to cast off. In
the morning, just before time to get up, I had a vivid dream of
my lost dog ('Laddie').[70] I dreamt he had returned, and that my
wife, Miss G., and myself, made much of him. I thought of him all
day, and tried to suppress the thought, fearing it would interfere
with the success of experiment; feel worried and irritated at
this, being really anxious to make an impression. Do not expect
favourable result. Written same night. "J. K."

Miss G.'s report is as follows:--

"Experiment last night (9-5-92) most unsatisfactory. Saw only a
glow of light and once for a few seconds a figure [of a vase].
Some minutes after 11.30 (time for conclusion of experiment) it
seemed as if the door of my room were open, and on the landing I
saw a very large dog, moving as though it had just come upstairs.
I cannot conceive what suggested this, nor can I understand why I
thought of Laddie during time of experiment. I do not think we have
mentioned him recently. My door was locked as usual. "L. G."

The sixth experiment (15th May 1892) was, in the words of Mr. Kirk's contemporary report, "devoted to making hypnotic passes, done with great energy and concentration of mind. The passes were made, not only over Miss G.'s [imagined] face and arms, but specially over her hands," with the view of inducing hypnotic sleep.

Miss G. reports that she "fell asleep before the time arranged had expired. But it was only to awake again very soon, through dreaming I was in a basement room ... making frantic efforts to strike a match, prevented doing so by some one behind clasping my wrists. The sensation was so unpleasantly real that it awoke me." The time fixed for the experiment had then passed. This was the only occasion in this series on which Miss G. went to sleep during an experiment.

In the seventh experiment (5th June 1892) Mr. Kirk again made passes to send Miss G. to sleep. Miss G., on her side, saw only something "like the varied but regular movements one sees in turning a kaleidoscope, only without the colouring; it was simply luminous, and lasted more or less distinctly from 15 to 20 minutes." This impression may conceivably have been due, as Mr. Kirk suggests, to the regular movements of his hands in making the hypnotic passes.

In estimating the value of the coincidences between Mr. Kirk's thought and Miss G.'s impressions in the fourth and fifth trials, it should not be overlooked that the percipient's impressions were not vague images, such as are wont to crowd through our minds on the near approach of sleep, but clear-cut visions, approximating to visual hallucinations.

No. 39.--By MR. KIRK and MISS PRICKETT.

Mr. Kirk conducted another short series of experiments in March 1892, with Miss L. M. Prickett, the distance between agent and percipient being about twelve miles. The results are given below. It is to be noted that the percipient's impressions in this series seem generally to have been deferred. But in weighing the amount of correspondence between the diagrams and the percipient's reproductions, it should be observed that of the four diagrams employed, three were reproduced with substantial accuracy, and in their chronological order; and that even on the second and third evenings the percipient's impressions--rectilinear figures inscribed in a circle--bore a general resemblance to the diagram actually selected. It is perhaps unfortunate that three out of the four diagrams included circles or figures akin to circles, but as the percipient had not seen any of the diagrams beforehand, this circumstance does not in any way invalidate the results, though it weakens the argument against chance-coincidence.

-----------+-----------------------+--------------------------------+-
No. of | Date and Hour. | Diagram looked at by |
Experiment.| | Agent. |
| | |
-----------+-----------------------+--------------------------------+-
| | |
{ | Tuesday, | |
{ | 1st March, 1892. | |
{ | 10.30 to 11.0 P.M. | |
1 { | | |
{ |White circle with blue | |
{ | border, about 7 in. | |
{ | diam.--cross in | |
{ | centre blue. | |
-----------+-----------------------+--------------------------------+-
{ | Friday, |Agent did not experiment. |
2 { | 4th March, 1892. | Percipient sat, in ignorance |
{ | 10.30 to 11.0 P.M. | of agent's intentions. |
| | |
| | |
| | |
-----------+-----------------------+--------------------------------+-
{ | Tuesday, | |
3 { | 8th March, 1892. | |
{ | 10.30 to 11.0 P.M. | |
| | |
-----------+-----------------------+--------------------------------+-

[Note: table has been split]

-----------+--------------------+--------------------------------+-
No. of | Date and Hour. | Diagram looked at by |
Experiment.| | Agent. |
-----------+--------------------+--------------------------------+-
{ | Friday | |
{ | 11th March, 1892. | |
{ | 10.30 to 11.0 P.M. |Spots painted in blue on |
{ | | raised disc of whitening |
{ | | on white cardboard |
4 { | | about 14" x 12". |
{ | | |
{ | | |
{ | | |
{ | | |
-----------+--------------------+--------------------------------+-
{ | Tuesday, | |
{ | 15th March, 1892. | |
{ | 10.30 to 11.0 P.M. |In blue on white, about |
{ | | 4-1/2" in longer diam. |
5 { | | |
{ | | |
{ | | |
{ | |In blue on white about |
{ | | 4" high. |
-----------+--------------------+--------------------------------+-
{ | Friday, | Was unable to experiment. |
{ | 18th March, 1892. | |
6 { | 10:30 to 11.0 P.M. | |
{ | | |
{ | | |
{ | | |
-----------+--------------------+--------------------------------+-

[Note: table has been split]

Mr. Kirk has conducted several other series of experiments in the transfer of diagrams and ideas and in the induction of hypnotic sleep at a distance, with Miss G., Miss Porter, of 16 Russell Square, Mr. F. W. Hayes, and others. In one case the percipient was at Cambridge, a distance of more than fifty miles from Plumstead. The results in nearly all these cases raise a certain presumption of thought-transference, though the presumption is in most cases--owing partly to the conditions of the experiments--not so strong as in the two series last quoted. It is to be remarked that the series of experiments between Plumstead and Cambridge were perhaps the least successful of any, a result which may perhaps be attributed partly to the distance, partly to the fact that the agent and percipient were not personally acquainted.

It should be recorded that Mr. Kirk is strongly of opinion, as the result of a careful analysis of the experiments conducted by him, that telepathy, in these cases at any rate, operates as a rule subconsciously, and that we ought to be prepared to find the most striking proofs of its action in such undesigned coincidences as are quoted in Nos. 4 and 5 of the second series with Miss G.

No. 40.--From DR. GIBOTTEAU.

Dr. Gibotteau, in the year 1888, made the acquaintance, at a _crèche_ in connection with a Paris hospital, of a peasant woman named Bertha J. Bertha was a good hypnotic, and Dr. Gibotteau succeeded on many occasions in inducing sleep at a distance. But Bertha claimed also to have the power of influencing others telepathically--a power which in her case seems to have been hereditary, as her mother had a reputation for sorcery. Bertha professed to be able, by the exercise of her will, to cause persons to stumble, or to lose their way, or to prevent them from proceeding in any given direction. She gave Dr. Gibotteau several illustrations of these powers, and he believes her pretensions to be well founded (_Annales des Sciences Psychiques_, vol. ii. pp. 253-267, and pp. 317-337). The following instances of hallucinatory effects of a more ordinary kind are taken from the same paper. In the last case, it will be observed, the experience was collective. In none of the three cases were the percipients aware of Bertha's intention to experiment. It will be seen that in the second case she succeeded in producing the emotional effect desired, though the imaginary object by which she intended to inspire terror was hardly of a kind calculated to frighten a hospital surgeon. Dr. Gibotteau writes:--

"I am a good sleeper, and I do not remember ever waking of my
own accord in the middle of my sleep. One night, about 2 or 3
o'clock, I was abruptly awoke. With my eyes still shut I thought,
'This is one of B.'s tricks. What is she going to make me see?' I
then looked at the opposite wall; I saw a circular luminous spot,
and in the centre a brilliant object, about the size of a melon,
that I stared at for several seconds, being wide awake, before it
disappeared. I could not distinguish any form clearly, nor any
detail, but the object was round, and parts of it appeared to be
less luminous. I imagined that she had wished to show me a skull,
but I could not recognise it; the wall was lighted up in that
place as if by a strong lamp; the room was not completely dark,
because the window had outside blinds, and the curtains were drawn
back; but this brilliant object did not seem to give out any light
beyond the area of which it occupied the centre on the wall. That
was all. I waited a moment without seeing anything else, then I
went fast asleep again. The next day I found Bertha, who had come
to visit the hospital, and I questioned her cautiously. She had
tried to show me first of all some dogs round my bed, then some
men quarrelling, and finally a lantern. That was all. It will be
seen that though the first two attempts failed, the third succeeded
perfectly.

"After that, Bertha very often tried to hallucinate me; but I have
never either seen or heard anything.

"I was more sensible to transmissions of a vague and general
character. I have written elsewhere of illusions of the sense of
space: I had a complete illusion of this kind, and P. a very
curious commencement of an hallucination. I have also described the
causeless terror that Bertha could inspire.

"Here is another account of a fright. One evening I was entering my
house, at midnight. On the landing, as I was putting my hand on the
door-handle, I said to myself, 'What a nuisance! here is another of
B.'s tricks! She is going to make me see something terrifying in
the passage; it is very disagreeable.' I was really a bit nervous.
I opened the door suddenly, with my eyes shut, and seized a match;
in a few minutes I was in bed, and, blowing out my candle, I put
my head under the bed-clothes, like a child. The next day Bertha
asked me if I had not seen a skeleton in the passage or in my
room, and been very much frightened. It need hardly be said that a
skeleton was the last thing in the world that could frighten me;
and frankly, I think that I am not more of a coward than the common
run of men."

On another occasion Dr. Gibotteau was in the company of a friend, M. P. They had just parted from Bertha.

"After having deposited B. near her home, we went back to the
Latin Quarter with the carriage. On reaching the Rue de Vaugirard,
before the gate of the Luxembourg, I felt myself seized by a terror
intense as it was absurd. The street was admirably lighted, there
was not a single passer-by, and the Quarter at that hour (just
about midnight) is perfectly safe. Moreover, this fright did not
seem to depend on any cause. It was fear just for fear. 'It is
absurd,' said I, 'I am frightened, very much frightened; it is
certainly a trick of B.'s.' My friend laughed at me, and almost
immediately, 'Why, it is taking hold of me also. I am trembling
with fear. It is very disagreeable.' The impression lasted until we
were in front of the gate of the Luxembourg Palace; we got out of
the carriage at the corner of the Rue Soufflot and the Boulevard
Saint-Michel. As soon as we set foot on the ground: 'Look,' said
P., 'don't you see something white floating in the air, there, just
in front of our eyes; it has gone.' I saw nothing, but I felt very
strongly the _influence_ of B.

"The next day I met her at the hospital. 'Well! you saw nothing?'
I begged her to tell me what we ought to have seen. This was her
answer: 'First, your driver lost his way--oh! not you, you felt
nothing; he took you by all sorts of queer ways.' It is a fact
that our carriage, from the Rue de Babylone, had gone by a very
complicated way, and one which, at the time, did not seem to me the
right one, but I should not like to say anything definite about it.
'After that you were frightened.' (Which of us?) 'You at first,
M. P. afterwards. Oh, yes! afraid of nothing at all, without any
reason, but you were very frightened. Then you saw some white
pigeons flying round you, quite near.' I had never heard her speak
of this hallucination. As to the fright, that subject was familiar
to her, and she has frightened me several times, deliberately, as I
have related."

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 57: An experiment of another kind, the description of which is here omitted, had been made on the morning of this day.]

[Footnote 58: An account of these experiments is also contained in an article by M. Richet in the _Revue de l'Hypnotisme_ for February 1888.]

[Footnote 59: M. Richet also took part in these two experiments.]

[Footnote 60: It is not stated whether the hour of the experiment was chosen by lot, but this precaution was taken in many of the earlier experiments.]

[Footnote 61: An account of these experiments was also contributed by M. Richet to the _Revue de l'Hypnotisme_, Feb. 1888.]

[Footnote 62: _Revue Philosophique_, February and April 1886. A translation of these accounts is given in the _Proc. S.P.R._, vol. v. pp. 222, 223.]

[Footnote 63: _Annales des Sciences Psychiques_, vol. iii. pp. 257-267.]

[Footnote 64: Dr. Latour's brother, house-surgeon at the hospital.]

[Footnote 65: See No. 23, chap. iv.]

[Footnote 66: Miss X.'s notes have been in some cases slightly abbreviated, in order to save space. Full details of the experiments will be found in _Proc. S.P.R._, vol. vi. pp. 377-397.]

[Footnote 67: Miss X. kindly submitted her diaries for inspection to Mrs. Sidgwick, who has carefully examined them.]

[Footnote 68: Excluding two in which the distance was only a few yards.]

[Footnote 69: A familiar name given to Miss G. by Mr. and Mrs. Kirk.]

[Footnote 70: Mr. Kirk explains later that this dog had been lost six years before. They had all been much attached to him, and his loss was still an occasional topic of conversation and of dreams by Mr. Kirk.]

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