Theosophical Society,
THE
LIFE OF
H P Blavatsky
H P Blavatsky meets Colonel H S Olcott
1874
Colonel H S
Olcott
In
1874 The New York Daily Graphic sent Colonel H S Olcott to investigate the
phenomena of the Eddy Brothers at their farm in Chittenden, Vermont.
Olcott
has already written a favourable article about phenomena occurring at the
farmhouse in the New York Daily Sun and was subsequently given a commission for
further articles by the Graphic. His interest in the spiritualist movement has
been prompted by an article about the
Eddy phenomena which he read in the “Banner of Light” a leading spiritualist
journal.
Olcott
spent ten days at the Chittenden farm which is several hundred mile from Nre York
and came away convinced of the authenticity of the phenomena. He summarized
what he had experienced in fifteen articles, which launched his career as a
psychical investigator. The articles appeared twice weekly and caught the attention of H P Blavatsky, drawing her
to Chittenden
Olcott
describes the meeting in “Old Diary Leaves”
The dinner hour at Eddy’s was noon, and it was from the entrance
door of the bare and comfortless dining room that Kappes and I first saw HPB.
She has arrived shortly before non with a French Canadian lady and they were at
table as we entered. My eyes were first attracted by a scarlet Garibaldian shirt the former wore, as in vivid
contrast with the dull colours around. Her hair was then a thick blond mop,
worn shorter than the shoulders, and it stood out from her head, silken soft
and crinkled to the roots, like the fleece of a Cotswold ewe. This and the red
shirt were what struck my attention before I took in the picture of her
features. It was a massive Calmuck face, contrasting in its suggestion of
power, culture and imperiousness, as strangely with the commonplace visages
about the room as her garment did with the grey and white tones of the walls
and woodwork and the dull costumes of the rest of the guests.
All sorts of cranky people were continually coming and going at
Eddy’s to see the mediumistic phenomena, and it only struck me on seeing this
eccentric lady that this was one more of the sort. Pausing on the door-sill, I
whispered to Kappes, “Good gracious 1 look at that specimen will you.” I went
straight across and took a seat opposite her to indulge my favourite habit of
character study.
The two ladies conversed in French, making remarks of no
consequence, but I saw at once from her accent and fluency of speech that, if
not a Parisian, she must at least be a finished French scholar. Dinner over,
the two went outside the house and Madame Blavatsky rolled herself a cigarette,
for which I gave her a light as a pretext to enter into conversation. My remark
having been made in French, we fell at once into talk in that language. She
asked me how long I had been there and what I had thought of the phenomena:
saying that she herself was greatly interested in such things, and had been
drawn to Chittenden by reading the letters in the Daily Graphic: the public
were growing so interested in these that it was sometimes that it was sometimes
impossible to find a copy of thepaper on the book-stalls an hour after
publication and she had paid a dollar for the copy of the last issue.
“I hesitated before coming here” she said “because I was afraid
of meeting that colonel Olcott.” Why should you be afraid of him Madame?” she
rejoined
“Oh ! because I fear he
might write about me in his paper.” I told her that she might make herself perfectly
easy on that score, for I felt quite sure Col, Olcott would not mention her in
his letters unless she wished it. And I introduced myself. We became friends at
once. Each of us felt as if we were of the same social world, cosmopolitans,
free-thinkers, and in closer touch than with the rest of the company,
intelligent and very worthy as some of them were.
Olcott
goes on to comment on H P Blavatsky’s “sexlessness”
It was the voice of common sympathy with the higher occult side
of man and nature ; the attraction of
soul to soul and not that of sex to sex. Neither then, at the commencement, nor
ever afterwards had either of us the sense of the other being of the opposite
sex. We were simply chums ; so regarded each other, so called each other.
Some base people from time to time, dared to suggest that a
closer tie bound us together, as they had that that poor, malformed, persecuted
HPB had been the mistress of various other men, but no pure person could hold
to such an opinion after passing any time in her company., and seeing how every
look, word and action proclaimed her sexlessness.
Another
meeting with H P Blavatsky came with the Holmes scandal. Nelson
and
Jennie Holmes, husband and wife, were spiritualistic mediums who had
been
accused of fraud. H P Blavatsky then arranged for further seances
and
for Olcott to witness them to prove their authenticity.
It
was rumored that the Holmes, particularly Jennie, had impersonated Katie King,
the daughter of thespirit John King, in a previous séance. In the seance which
Olcott witnessed, John King was said to have spoke again, clearing his daughter
of all wrongdoing and "rapping out" an account of what actually
occurred before. His statement cleared the Holmes, and Katie King appeared in
white again. Olcott knew it was not Jennie Holmes whom he had securely tied up.
This strengthened Olcott's belief in psychical phenomena.
After
the Eddy and Holmes investigations Olcott was thought to be a creditable
psychical researcher. When the professors of the Imperial University of St.
Petersburg, at the wish of the Grand Duke Constantine of Russia, decided to
make a scientific investigation of Spiritualism, they asked Olcott and Helena
Blavatsky to select the most qualified American medium. Henry Slade was their
choice.
From
their first meeting at the Vermont farm Olcott seemed fascinated by
Helena
Blavatsky's psychic power. In those early days Helena Blavatsky
professed
to have been controlled by the spirit of John King during which
she
specialized in automatic writing and supernormal duplication of letters and
other items. In the presence of Olcott and the Honorable John L. Sullivan she
produced a $1,000 banknote which dissolved into a drawer.
These
feats occurred after the founding of the Theosophical Society in
1875.
Olcott, himself, witnessed more of the Magnificent acts" performed
by
Blavatsky than anyone else. This was a major reason why he eagerly
assumed
the presidency of the Society.
Cardiff Blavatsky Archive
Theosophical Society, Cardiff Lodge, 206 Newport Road,
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