Michael Cremo - Human Devolution - A Vedic Alternative To Darwin's Theory

Paranormal Production of Partial and Complete Biological Forms

In the case of Lourdes, we see modification or restoration of existing or previously existing biological form by the action of a being higher in the cosmic hierarchy. Now we want to consider the new production of partial or complete biological forms. We have already encountered some instances of this in the accounts of mediums found in previous chapters.

For example, as we learned in chapter 5, Sir Alfred Russel Wallace, cofounder with Darwin of the theory of evolution, saw a form manifested in the presence of the medium Haxby in London. Haxby, seated behind a curtain in a small room separated by a curtain from the drawing room in which Wallace and other witnesses were sitting, entered into a trance, and from behind the curtain appeared a white-robed human form, which then began to move about the room. Wallace stated that he was able to feel the hands and touch the garments of the form. This human personage was of a different size than the medium, Haxby, ruling out impersonation by the medium (Wallace 1905, v. 2, pp. 328–329). After the human form disappeared behind the curtain, Wallace and others looked in. Wallace stated: “Haxby was found in a trance in his chair, while no trace of the white-robed stranger was to be seen. The door and window of the back room were securely fastened, and often secured with gummed paper, which was found intact” (Wallace 1905, v. 2, pp. 328–329). If Wallace’s observations are to be trusted, this rules out the idea that a man other than Haxby secretly entered and carried out a deception.

Wallace witnessed another materialization of a complete human form in the presence of the medium Eglington. While Eglington was sitting behind a curtain hung across a corner of a room, a robed male figure emerged. Just before the materialization, Wallace and others had carefully searched the walls and floor behind the curtain and found no secret entrances. Immediately afterwards, every item of Eglington’s clothing was carefully searched, and the investigators found no robes. Meanwhile, Wallace and another person checked the walls and floor behind the curtain and found nothing out of the ordinary. Nor had Eglington left anything behind the curtain. So here again impersonation by either Eglington or a confederate was ruled out (Wallace 1905, vol. 2, p. 329).

In the presence of the medium Monk, Wallace witnessed the actual production of a humanlike form. The place was an apartment in London. It was broad daylight. A cloudy figure emerged from the side of Monk’s body. It was connected to him by a cloudy band. Wallace (1905 v. 2, p. 330) stated: “Monk . . . passed his hand through the connecting band, severing it. He and the figure then moved away from each other till they were about five or six feet apart. The figure had now assumed the appearance of a thickly draped female form, with arms and hands just visible. Monk. . . clapped his hands. On which the figure put out her hands, clapped them as he had done, and we all distinctly heard her clap following his, but fainter. The figure then moved slowly back to him, grew fainter and shorter, and was apparently absorbed into his body as it had grown out of it.” Hensleigh Wedgwood told Wallace how he had more than once seen a tall, robed, male figure appear alongside Monk. Wedgwood touched the figure, feeling its clothes and body. Once the figure lifted the chair upon which one of Wedgwood’s fellow investigators was seated (Wallace 1905, vol. 2, p. 331).

In 1874, Wallace saw in London some materializations of human forms in the presence of the medium Kate Cook, who was sitting in a chair behind a curtain hung across a corner of a room. The materialized form was that of a white-robed woman taller than Cook, and with different features. Wallace (1905 vol. 2, p. 328) said: “I could look closely into her face, examine the features and hair, touch her hands.” After a half hour, the materialized form would disappear behind the medium’s curtain. Within just a few seconds, Wallace and others looked in and saw only Kate Cook, dressed in black, sitting in trance.

Sir William Crookes, who won a Nobel Prize in physics and served as president of the Royal Society, saw many materializations by Kate Cook. The usual skeptical explanation is that she quickly changed clothes behind the curtain and came out before the audience as the materialized figure. But Crookes testified that he once accompanied the materialized person behind the curtain and observed Kate Cook lying on the floor in trance (Wallace 1896, p. 189). Furthermore, once the electrician C. F. Varley, a Fellow of the Royal Society, attached electrical monitoring equipment to Cook, in order to detect any movement by her as she rested in trance behind the curtain. Wallace (1896, pp. 188–189) noted: “The apparatus was so delicate that any movement whatever was instantly indicated . . . under these conditions, the spirit-form did appear, exhibited its arms, spoke, wrote, and touched several persons . . . at the conclusion of the experiment Miss Cook was found in a deep trance.”

In his book lights and Shadows of Spiritualism, the medium D. D. Home devotes two chapters to “trickery and exposure.” He showed how false mediums created various illusions, such as materializations of human forms and limbs, materializations of objects, and so forth. He also showed that these fake effects depended upon conditions of darkness and lack of proper experimental control. His own effects were demonstrated in the light and under the control of prominent scientists and other leading members of society. Home, although very skeptical of materializations, did believe that some materializations were genuine: “I need hardly remind my readers that the carefully conducted experiments of Mr. Crookes with Miss Cook were repaid by evidence giving undeniable certainty of the phenomenon” (Home 1879, p. 415).

Materializations of limbs also took place in the presence of Home himself. Recalling a sitting with Home, Sir William Crookes described, “A beautifully formed small hand rose up from the opening in the dining table and gave me a flower; it appeared and then disappeared three times at intervals, affording me ample opportunity of satisfying myself that it was as real in appearance as my own. This occurred in the light, in my own room, whilst I was holding the medium’s hands and feet.” Crookes noted several other appearances of hands in the presence of Home, at times when the medium was carefully observed and controlled (Carrington 1931, pp. 175–176).

Productions of various parts of the human form were observed in the presence of the medium Eusapia Palladino. On July 27, 1897, the astronomer Camille Flammarion participated in a séance with her in the home of the Blech family in Paris. As usual, a cabinet was prepared by stretching a curtain across the corner of a room. The medium sat outside this cabinet. Among items placed inside the cabinet were two trays of putty, one large and one small. They were placed on the floor. The purpose of the trays of putty was to catch the imprints of materialized hands or feet (Flammarion 1909, p. 68). As usual, Flammarion and another participant physically controlled the medium by grasping her hands and feet. During parts of the séance, Flammarion and the others then felt the touches and slaps of invisible hands. De Fontenay saw a detached hand remove a pad of paper from the table (Flammarion 1909, p. 72).

During a break in the sitting, Mrs. Blech checked the trays of putty on the floor of the cabinet. They were untouched. She put the small tray on the round table outside the cabinet, and the large tray on the chair in the cabinet. The séance resumed in the dim red light. De Fontenay and Flammarion resumed controlling the medium, holding her hands. Flammarion felt her fingers digging deeply into his hand. After some time, she said, “It is done.” When the small tray of putty was examined, it had the impressions of four fingers, in the same positions as the fingers that had gripped Flammarion’s hand (Flammarion 1909, p. 74).