Chapter I: Front Matter

HOURS WITH THE GHOSTS

LEE'S LIBRARY OF OCCULT SCIENCE

HOURS WITH THE GHOSTS; Or XIX Century Witchcraft

By Henry R. Evans.

PRACTICAL PALMISTRY; Or Hand Reading Made Easy

By Comte C. de Saint-Germain.

HERRMANN THE MAGICIAN; His Life; His Secrets

By H. J. Burlingame.

All profusely illustrated. Bound in Holliston cloth, burnished red top, uncut edges.

EACH, $1.00

[Taken by the Author.]]

Hours With the Ghosts

OR NINETEENTH CENTURY WITCHCRAFT

ILLUSTRATED INVESTIGATIONS
INTO THE
Phenomena of Spiritualism and Theosophy

BY HENRY RIDGELY EVANS

The first duty we owe to the world is Truth--all
the Truth--nothing but the Truth.--"_Ancient Wisdom._"

CHICAGO
LAIRD & LEE, PUBLISHERS

Entered according to act of Congress, in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-seven. BY WILLIAM H. LEE, In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

TO MY WIFE

"It is no proof of wisdom to refuse to examine certain phenomena because we think it certain that they are impossible, as if our knowledge of the universe were already completed."--_Prof. Lodge._

"The most ardent Spiritist should welcome a searching inquiry into the potential faculties of spirits still in the flesh. Until we know more of _these_, those other phenomena to which he appeals must remain unintelligible because isolated, and are likely to be obstinately disbelieved because they are impossible to understand."--_F. W. H. Myers: "Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research," Part XVIII, April, 1891._

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Author's Preface 11

INTRODUCTORY ARGUMENT 13

PART FIRST: =Spiritualism= 18

_I. Divisions of the Subject_ 18

_II. Subjective Phenomena_ 23
1. Telepathy 23
2. Table Tilting. Muscle Reading 40

_III. Physical Phenomena_ 46
1. Psychography or Slate-writing 46
2. The Master of the Mediums: D. D. Home 93
3. Rope Tying and Holding Mediums; Materializations 135
The Davenport Brothers 135
Annie Eva Fay 149
Charles Slade 154
Pierre L. O. A. Keeler 160
Eusapia Paladino 175
F. W. Tabor 182
4. Spirit Photography 188
5. Thought Photography 197
6. Apparitions of the Dead 201

_IV. Conclusions_ 207

PART SECOND: =Madame Blavatsky and the Theosophists= 210

_I. The Priestess_ 213

_II. What is Theosophy?_ 237

_III. Madame Blavatsky's Confession_ 250

_IV. The Writings of Madame Blavatsky_ 265

_V. The Life and Death of a Famous Theosophist_ 268

_VI. The Mantle of Madame Blavatsky_ 272

_VII. The Theosophical Temple_ 287

_VIII. Conclusion_ 290

List of Authorities 298

ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE.

Fig. 1. Spirit Photograph, by the author Frontispiece

Fig. 2. Portrait of Dr. Henry Slade 47

Fig. 3. The Holding of the Slate 51

Fig. 4. Slate No. 1 65

Fig. 5. Slate No. 2 71

Fig. 6. Slate No. 3 77

Fig. 7. Home at the Tuileries 97

Fig. 8. Crookes' Apparatus No. 1 116

Fig. 9. Crookes' Apparatus No. 1 119

Fig. 10. Crookes' Apparatus No. 1 120

Fig. 11. Crookes' Apparatus No. 1 121

Fig. 12, 13, 14, 15. Crookes' Diagrams 124-125

Fig. 16. Crookes' Apparatus No. 2 126

Fig. 17. Crookes' Apparatus No. 2 127

Fig. 18, 19, 20. Crookes' Diagrams 128-130

Fig. 21. Hammond's Apparatus 133

Fig. 22. The Davenport's in their Cabinet 139

Fig. 23. Trick Tie and in Cabinet Work 143

Fig. 24. Charles Slade's Poster 158-159

Fig. 25. Pierre Keeler's Cabinet Seance 162

Fig. 26. Pierre Keeler's Cabinet Curtain 163

Fig. 27. Portrait of Eusapia Paladino 176

Fig. 28. Eusapia before the Scientists 177

Fig. 29. Spirit Photograph, by the author 191

Fig. 30. Spirit Photograph, by pretended medium 195

Fig. 31. Sigel's Original Picture of Fig. 30 199

Fig. 32. Portrait of Madame Blavatsky 215

Fig. 33. Mahatma Letter 221

Fig. 34. Mahatma Envelope 225

Fig. 35. Portrait of Col. H. S. Olcott 233

Fig. 36. Oath of Secrecy of the Charter Members of the
Theosophical Society 235

Fig. 37. Portrait of W. Q. Judge 241

Fig. 38. Portrait of Mrs. Annie Besant 273

Fig. 39. Portrait of Mrs. Tingley 285

Fig. 40. Autograph of Madame Blavatsky 293