Museum Archive
Published in 1865, this volume describes hundreds of encounters giants, fairies, sacred rocks, demons, and various "otherworld" entities in Cornwall and West England. The author includes folk legends as well as contemporary eyewitness accounts. It's amazing to glimpse the world through a lense which has almost closed to us today.
Museum Archive
This book from the mid-nineteenth century carries on the frontspiece an endorsement by Nathanal Talmadge, governor of Wisconsin! Imagine that happening today! The volume contains dramatic and heartfelt accounts of contact with dimensions from Beyond.
Museum Archive
Published in 1920 in Boston, this book recounts hundreds of firsthand experiences of people who believed they communicated with disincarnate individuals, or "spirits." The author, Emma Hardinge, give a historical and as well as a contemporary perspective. Some the chapter headings make me smile at the specificity, such as "Spiritualism in Missouri", "Spiritualism in Indiana", and so forth. It seems that different regions had somewhat different perspectives and variations on the theme. This book is an invaluable historical glimpse of an age past.
Museum Archive
This famous work is a collection of essays by Frederic Myers (1843-1901) a poet, classicist, philologist, and a founder of the Society for Psychical Research. Myers' work on psychical research and his ideas about a "subliminal self" were influential in his time. In these essays, Myers puts forth his view that the human mind is part of a larger unity of consciousness that includes "supernormal" extensions and abilities. Myers sought to provide evidence that the soul survives bodily death. His book cites cases of automatic writing, hypnotism, mediumship, possession, psychokinesis, and telepathy. It is full of memorable first-person accounts and draws upon the rich archives of the Society for Psychical Research.
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Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who was deeply interested in metaphysical explorations, delivered a lecture on spiritualism in England in July, 1919. One of the audience members published this full report of the lecture. The author is actually the mayor of Worthing, England, a certain Farquharson Whyte, Esq. He enthusiastically celebrates the speaker and topic. It's hard to imagine a lawyer and mayor of a city doing this today. This shows a different attitude in decades past.
Museum Archive
In the mid and late 1800s and early 1900s, families across American and England often gathered to communicate with spiritual entities through table rapping or seances. When we read accounts from that time, we gain a different view of these beliefs than people often hold today. Psyches were open to multidimensional realities beyond the physical. I love to read the actual accounts of peoples' experiences. They impress me as genuine, heartfelt, and very expanding.
Museum Archive
In 1800s and early 1900s, families across America gathered in the evening to commune with spiritual entities through table rapping and automatic writing. I love to read these accounts, which give a fresh and exciting view of ordinary people's openness to multidimensional realities.
Museum Archive
The author, Geraldine Cummins, was a famous medium who channeled many books on the afterlife and metaphysical topics during the 1930s and 40s. This volume is identified as being the communications of Frederic W.H. Myers, who wrote Human Personality and its Survival of Bodily Death. In my assessment, Cummin's work does not carry the sophistication and brilliance of Myer. But it contains some fascinating material nonetheless.