Modern spiritism; its science and religion - SpiritArchive.org

THE FAILURES OF SPIRITISM 199
It must be remembered that failure to produce
phenomena is better than their fraudulent imitation.
Paralysed Seances
Suspicion or scepticism (if known) seem as a rule
fatal to the production of phenomena. Sympathy,
without the critical faculty, seems essential. All
changes in the ordinary procedure of a stance seem
to paralyse it a change of tables, an interruption
by a sceptic, etc. It may be noted, in contrast,
that our Lord's miracles were performed on occasions
when rampant unbelief was present (St. Luke viii.
53; St. John xii. 37).
Trickery is common. Eusapia was exposed in
America for fraud, and also in Italy. (Excuse
repetition.) Mrs. Butler, a medium supported by
Sir A. Conan Doyle, was twice convicted of fortunetelling.
White Eagle, a supposed North American Indian
spirit "control," always spoke, like several others,
for some unknown reason, in the negro dialect;
while the two Thomases, well-known mediums, were
both proved frauds.
In one stance with a masked medium the apparent
materialisation of a spirit appeared so absolutely
genuine that it was not until Mr. Sebil (the medium)
admitted that its production was purely mechanical
and the "clairvoyance" accompanying it sheer
trickery, that its fraud was apparent.
False Statements
False statements from supposed spirits (of the
dead) are so common as to be hardly worth recording.