Surviving Death by Leslie Kean

Author:Leslie Kean
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Crown/Archetype
Published: 2017-03-06T16:00:00+00:00

Remarkable though this excerpt is (not more remarkable, however, than the full transcripts of the two sittings, which are, incidentally, documents of social as well as psychical interest), no information was communicated that lay outside the knowledge of the sitters. Does this mean, then, that we can comfortably attribute all Mrs. Piper’s “hits” here to telepathy with the sitters?

I know of no instance of undeniable telepathy between living persons, or for that matter of any other variety of ESP, in which the flow of paranormally acquired information has been so quick, so copious, and so free from error. And there is the question of the point of view from which the information is presented. Mrs. Piper would have had to obtain parents’-eye information about Kakie from the sitters, and then with a fair degree of dramatic skill have constructed a Kakie’s-eye view of the same facts. Furthermore, incidents at both sittings apparently showed associations that seemed to be in the mind of the child, but that did not awaken the corresponding associations in the minds of the sitters. For instance, when Kakie asked for “horsey,” and was given a little toy horse, she said “Big horsey, not this little one.” Mrs. Sutton surmised that she referred to another toy horse that she used to like. At the second sitting Kakie requested the horse again, but when given the little horse, said, “No, that is not the one. The big horse—so big. [Phinuit shows how large.] Eleanor’s horse. Eleanor used to put it in Kakie’s lap. She loved that horsey.” It was only these additional particulars that made it clear to Mrs. Sutton which horse was requested—one that was packed away and forgotten in another city.

In a later passage from the first sitting, Kakie asked for “the little book.” Her mother supposed that she meant a linen picture book. At the second sitting it became clear that what was intended was a little prayer book that had been read to Kakie just before her death, and then put in her hands. If we are to say that Mrs. Piper could select from the sitters’ minds associations conflicting with the ones consciously present and utilize them in order to create the impression that the communicator’s thoughts moved along lines distinctively different from the sitter’s, we are beginning to attribute to her not just super-ESP but super-artistry as well.

The theory of telepathy from the sitters is, of course, manifestly ruled out when correct information is given that is not at the time known to any sitter. Incidents of this kind are sprinkled throughout the Piper records (and throughout the records of various other mediums too). One example is the case of Sir Oliver Lodge’s uncle Jerry, which took place during Mrs. Piper’s visit to England in the winter of 1889–90. Sir Oliver Lodge’s summary of it is as follows:

It happens that an uncle of mine in London [Uncle Robert], now quite an old man, had a twin brother who died some twenty or more years ago.

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