The Encyclopedia Of Demons And Demonology

116 Hyslop, James Hervey
would hear from a dead man, a writer who wanted someone
to finish the stories he left when he died.
Soon, her pencil wrote that the spirit of Frank R.
Stockton had arrived and wished to communicate. She
felt intense pain, but once Stockton took control of her,
the pain subsided. De Camp began writing short stories
in Stockton’s style, and she showed them to her employer,
George Duysters, who introduced her to Hyslop.
Stockton had been popular in the late 19th century,
writing whimsical stories for children. His most famous,
“The Lady or the Tiger,” is still popular. He had a distinctive
style, full of humor, cynicism, and bizarre situations.
Duysters showed some of the De Camp transcriptions to
the late author’s editor at Harper’s, who found them quite
real. De Camp also began hearing from her dead father.
De Camp continued to write in Stockton’s style, and
Hyslop lost contact with her from 1910 to 1912 while he
investigated other matters. In 1912, De Camp was near a
complete breakdown, and Hyslop agreed to participate in
sittings, which would finally reveal Stockton’s presence.
Through a series of séances with Soule, both Stockton
and the recently deceased Duysters revealed themselves,
proving again to Hyslop the reality of spirit possession
and survival. De Camp wrote of her experiences in The
Return of Frank R. Stockton in 1913, including all of the
transcribed Stockton stories. After initial publicity, De
Camp later married and settled down to a private life,
hearing no more from Stockton.
A third case involved a woman identified as Ida Ritchie,
really Ida Marie Rogers. Rogers claimed to be receiving
communications from the great opera singer Emma Abbott,
who had died in 1891. Rogers was a budding singer
herself and had made remarkable progress for a person
with little formal training. When she contacted Hyslop,
Rogers said Emma Abbott, her mother, and the late William
James, a Harvard philosopher and psychologist and
friend of Hyslop’s, were all talking to her through automatic
writing. Again through sittings with Soule, Hyslop
contacted Abbott and Rogers’ mother. Their communication
indicated great efforts by the spirits to help Rogers’
singing career, but she never became a great star.
Hyslop’s last major case was the DORIS FISCHER OBSES-
SION, begun in 1914.
Hyslop reportedly believed his health had been threatened
in 1919 by a spirit he was trying to exorcize through
sessions in Boston with Soule, and he was ill for several
months. He believed firmly that the existence of discarnate
spirits had been proved scientifically and dismissed
those who did not agree. Hyslop suffered a stroke at the
end of 1919 and died June 17, 1920.
FURTHER READING:
Anderson, Roger I., ed. “Autobiographical Fragment of James
Hervey Hyslop.” Journal of Religion and Psychical Research
9, no. 2 (April 1986): 81–92.
———, ed. “Autobiographical Fragment of James Hervey
Hyslop Part III.” Journal of Religion and Psychical Research
9, no. 3 (July 1986): 145–160.
———. “The Life and Work of James H. Hyslop.” The Journal
of the American Society for Psychical Research 79 (April
1985): 167–200.
Rogo D. Scott. The Infinite Boundary. New York: Dodd, Mead,
1987.