Experimental investigation of the spirit manifestations, [electronic ...

352 ADDITIONAL CORROBORATIVE EVIDENCEA few niiniitcs after the conversation witli his mother about the apparitionand the watch, the night previous, he came in from the yard with thewatch in his hand ! He said his father had again appeared to him, andput the watcli into his hand ngain, and said, ^ Wear this for my sake.' Hebrought the watch into the liouse, and showed it to his mother, and saidthat his father said, ^ Tell your mother to look at the second-hand/ Thehand was off, and lay on the face of the watch under the crystal. A credibleperson will make oath, ifcalled upon, that she saw the watch in thedrawer, where it was usually kept, not more than six or eight minutes before,and that she locked the drawer and gave the key to Mrs. Phelps.The key had been in possession of no other person, and Harry had notbeen in the room during the time. The watch was taken to Dr. P., andhe tried to replace the second-hand, but could not succeed. He closed it,leaving the hand loose on the face, and passed it back to Harry, sayingthat he must take it to the watch-maker. When he took it in his hand, heexclaimed, ' Why, it's on !' They looked, and it was on and going. In afew minutes it was off again, and was put on a second time, all within aminute or two. The doctor affirms that it was not out of his sight a moment;that he knows the watch was not opened, and that no visible powerwas employed in doing it.1723. " On one occasion the piano-forte was played while it is knownthat no person was in the room ;and, at another time, it was turned around,the front toward the wall, and so far removed from the side of the room asto allow the player room to sit next to the wall ;the stool was also appropriatelyplaced.1724. " On several occasions, about this time, certain members of thefamily saw, or thought they did, visible appearances.Dr. P. did not giveentire credit to these statements ; not but what he had full confidence inthe honesty of the family, but the excited state in which some of them hadbeen for a long time led him to think that they might imagine they sawwhat had no existence in fact. Toward the last of May, it was signifiedthat one of the spirits who had communicated would appear visibly—firstto the daughter, then to Mrs. P., and then to the doctor himself. Theyasked in what manner he would appear, and the answer was, ' In a sheet.'Between ten and eleven o'clock the same night, soon after the family hadretired, Anna, who occupied the east bedroom, the door between her roomand that where the doctor and his wife slept b