Theosophical Society,
Articles
from A Modern Panarion
A Collection of Fugitive Fragments
From the pen of
H
P Blavatsky
First
published 1895
H P Blavatsky
The Eddy Manifestations
By
H P Blavatsky
[ The following letter was
addressed to a contemporary journal by Mme.
Blavatsky, and was handed to us for publication in The Daily
Graphic, as we have been taking the lead in the discussion of the curious
subject of
Spiritualism.—EDIT0R “DAILY GRAPHIC.”]
AWARE
in the past of your love of justice and fair play, I most earnestly
solicit
the use of your columns to reply to an article by Dr. G. M. Beard in
relation
to the Eddy family in
spiritual
manifestations in a most sweeping declaration, would aim a blow at the
entire
spiritual world of to-day. His letter appeared this morning (October 2
Dr.
George M. Beard has for the last few weeks assumed the part of the “roaring lion”
seeking for a medium “to devour.” It appears that to-day the learned gentleman
is more hungry than ever. No wonder, after the failure he has
experienced
with Mr. Brown, the “mind-reader,” at
I
do not know Dr. Beard personally, nor do I care to know how far he is
entitled
to wear the laurels of his profession as an M.D., but what I do know is
that
he may never hope to equal, much less to surpass, such men and savants as
Crookes,
Wallace, or even Flammarion, the French astronomer, all of whom have devoted
years to the investigation of Spiritualism. All of them came to the
conclusion
that, supposing even the well-known phenomenon of the materialization of
spirits did not prove the identity of the persons whom they purported to represent,
it was not, at all events, the work of mortal hands; still less was it a fraud.
Now
to the Eddys. Dozens of visitors have remained there for weeks and even for months;
not a single séance has taken place with out some of them realizing the personal
presence of a friend, a relative, a mother, father, or dear departed
child.
But lo! here comes Dr. Beard, stops less than two days, applies his
powerful
electrical battery, under which the spirit does not even wink or
flinch,
closely examines thecabinet (in which he finds nothing), and then turns his
back and declares most emphatically “that he wishes it to be perfectly
under-stood that if his scientific name ever appears in connection with the
Eddy family, it must be only to expose them as the greatest frauds who cannot
do even good trickery.”
Consummatum
est! Spiritualism is defunct. Requiescat in Pace! Dr. Beard has
killed
it with one word. Scatter ashes over your venerable but silly heads, 0
Crookes,
Wallace and Varley! Henceforth you must be considered as demented,
psychologized
lunatics, and so must it be with the many thousands of
Spiritualists
who have seen and talked with their friends and relatives
departed,
recognizing them at
the
length and breadth of this continent. But is there no escape from the horns
of
this dilemma? Yea verily, Dr. Beard writes thus: “When your correspondent
returns
to
that
the Eddys' do.” Pray why should a Daily Graphic reporter be the only one
selected
by G. M. Beard, M.D. for initiation into the knowledge of so clever a
“trick”?
In such a case why not publicly denounce this universal trickery, and
so
benefit the whole world? But Dr. Beard seems to be as partial in his
selections
as he is clever in detecting the said tricks. Didn’t the learned
doctor
say to Colonel Olcott while at the Eddys’ that three dollars’ worth of
second-hand
drapery would be enough for him to show how to materialize all the spirits that
visit the Eddy homestead?
To
this I reply, backed as I am by the testimony of hundreds of reliable
witnesses,
that all the wardrobe of Niblo’s Theatre would not suffice to attire
the
numbers of “spirits” that emerge night after night from an empty little
closet.
Let
Dr. Beard rise and explain the following fact if he can: I remained
fourteen
days at the Eddys’. In that short period of time I saw and recognized
fully,
out of 119 apparitions, seven “spirits.” I admit that I was the only one
to
recognize them, the rest of the audience not having been with me in my
numerous
travels throughout the East, but their various dresses and costumes
were
plainly seen and closely examined by all.
The
first was a Georgian boy, dressed in the historical Caucasian attire,
the
picture of whom will shortly appear in The Daily Graphic. I recognized and
questioned
him in Georgian upon circumstances known only to myself. I was
understood
and answered. Requested by me inhis mother tongue (upon the whispered
suggestion of Colonel Olcott) to play the Lezguinka, a Circassian dance, he did
so immediately upon the guitar.
Second—A
little old man appears. He is dressed as Persian merchants
generally
are. His dress is perfect as a national costume. Everything is in its
right
place, down to the “babouches” that are off his feet, he stepping out in
his
stockings. He speaks his name in a loud whisper. It is “Hassan Aga,” an old
man
whom I and my family have known for twenty years at
comes
at three different times, vainly seeking to finish his sentence.
Third—A
man of gigantic stature comes forth, dressed in the picturesque
attire
of the warriors of
fashion,
and lifts up his spear ornamented with bright-coloured feathers,
shaking
it in token of welcome. I recognize him immediately as Jaffar Ali Bek, a
young
chief of a tribe of Kurds, who used to accompany me in my trips around
Ararat
in
the
Kurdistan.
Fourth—A
Circassian comes out. I can imagine myself at Tiflis, so perfect is
his
costume of “nouker” (a man who either runs before or behind one on
horseback).
This one speaks more, he corrects his name, which I pronounced
wrongly
on recognizing him, and when I repeat it he bows, smiling, and says in
the
purest guttural Tartar, which sounds so familiar to my ear, “Tchoch
yachtchi”
(all right), and goes away.
Fifth—Au
old woman appears with Russian headgear. She comes out and
addresses
me in Russian, calling me by an endearing term that she used in my
childhood.
I recognize an old servant of my family, a nurse of my sister.
Sixth—A
large powerful negro next appears on the platform. His head is
ornamented
with a wonderful coiffure something like horns wound about with white and gold.
His looks are familiar to me, but I do not at first recollect where I have seen
him. Very soon he begins to make some vivacious gestures, and his
mimicry
helps me to recognize him at a glance. It is a conjurer from Central
Africa.
He grins and disappears.
Seventh
and last—A large, grey-haired gentleman comes out attired in the
conventional
suit of black. The Russian decoration of
taller.
In my excitement I address him in English, and ask him: “Are you my
father?”
He shakes his head in the negative, and answers as plainly as any
mortal
man can speak, and in Russian, “No; I am your uncle.” The word “diadia” was
heard and remembered by all the audience. It means “uncle.” But what of that?
Dr. Beard knows it to be but a pitiful trick, and we must submit in
silence.
People that know me know that I am far from being credulous. Though an Occultist
of many years’ standing, I am more sceptical in receiving evidence
from
paid mediums than many unbelievers. But when I receive such evidences as I received
at the Eddys’, I feel bound on my honour, and under the penalty of
confessing
myself a moral coward, to defend the mediums, as well as the
thousands
of my brother and sister Spiritualists against the conceit and slander
of
one man who has nothing and no one to back him in his assertions. I now
hereby
finally and publicly challenge Dr. Beard to the amount of $500 to
produce
before a public audience and under the same conditions the
manifestations
herein attested, or failing this, to bear the ignominious
consequences
of his proposed exposé
H.P.BLAVATSKY.
I2
East Sixteenth Street, New York City,
October
27th, 1874
Cardiff Blavatsky Archive
Theosophical Society, Cardiff Lodge, 206 Newport Road,
Cardiff CF24 – 1DL