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| All that remains of the MacDonald farm. |
Okay....let's try this again. If you've been following the blog you'll know that I already spent three hours typing all of this post out the other day, only for me to accidentally press a wrong button combination as I was trying to post the last photo, accidentally deleting the whole post...and Blogger decided to pick that very second to auto save, meaning I couldn't go back to a back-up draft. Needless to say, I was somewhat annoyed....
Hopefully this time it won't delete every thing, but I'm going to try and take precautions at the end of every other paragraph just in case! But you've waited long enough...let's get on with the case! If you remember last time, the Doc had just decided that the ghost was none other than Mary Ellen, who either wittingly or unwittingly was starting the fires.....but now perhaps the most paranormal of peculiarites in the whole case was about to occur.....
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From the pages of the Evening Mail, dated March 16, 1922
The Sounds and Tactual Sensations of Messrs. Whidden and Carroll
Of course, I was not able to test these as I did the fires, since they leave no trace. But from similarity to other known instances, only a small share of which I have already referred to from the occurrence in them of the same indicia, which I am in the habit of likening to the spectrum lines by which the presence of a particular element in combustion is identified. I strongly incline to think that we have here super-physical, or if you please, occult phenomena.
1 - Two men heard sounds of a peculiar and novel character, hardly describable as of dull thumps and footsteps. It was therefore, a collective experience.
2 - Mr. Whidden emphatically says that these sounds could not have been made by the animals in the barn, rats or the wind, with all of which species he is quite familiar. I have not been able to talk with Mr. Carroll.
3 - There was also felt by Mr. Whidden a novel sensation as of a slap, upon his arm, and every physical cause seems to be effectually excluded by his statement of the circumstances.
4 - Mr. Carroll also felt a similar but lighter sensation in a somewhat different place. There was, therefore, sharing of this kind of experience also.
5 - There was no reason for expecting such experiences, for none had been told them, and so far as I can learn, none had been had by the family.
6 - If they were pure hallucinations. brought about by general apprehension, they should have occurred the first night, and not on the second when any apprehensions that we may imagine should have been quieted by the previous absence of anything out of common.
7 - There is no data for supposing that the mere sensations of cold produced the experiences. If a man is actually freezing he may have hallucinations, but not of this character, especially being cold - not freezing by any means - would not account for both having two species of nearly identical strange impressions.
8 - Neither was asleep, and they had not long lain down.
9 - As I have said, the house is remarkably firm, and the utmost effect of the strongest wind that blew during our subsequent five days and six nights was to produce slight creaking. Yet, we had no winds, Mr. Whidden testifies, much stronger than at the hour of the strange sounds, wind from the north, and wind from the south, and not a solitary instance of such a sound was heard as both Whidden and Carroll heard. On the night which I spent there alone I went into the attic specially to observe whether a particular loose board which someone suspected moved at all, and it did not.
10 - Such sounds have been heard in other well-authenticated instances, and normal causes could not be found, though skilled observations continued for weeks.
11 - Tactual sensaions have been observed in other cases. In my own "haunted house" in New Jersey, a member of my family was frightened one night by repeated sensations as of the bedclothes being pulled while she was awake. Afterwards, by accident, a lady who had no knowledge of this told me of an exactly similar experience when she had rented rooms in the same otherwise empty house a year before, and which made her flee the house. These appear to be facts ; explain them as you may ; only you must not form a theory that does not account for all the facts.
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| Alex, 70, Jenny, 69, Mary Ellen, 15 |
Why did these experiences begin when Mr. Whidden occupied the House? Because he happens to be that type of psychic in whose proximity those types of phenomena can take place. That I say only tentatively, but it appears certain that there is a relation between certain species of phenomena and certain persons.
Why did Mr. Carroll have the same experience? According to this theory, because he was with Mr, Whidden. There were periods when my daughter's bed shook, as I have said. I could put my hand on the frame and feel it shake, when I could detect no movement on her part. Moreover, I could exchange rooms and for one or two nights experience the shaking myself, but never if she was not in the house.
Why did not similar experiences recur during our period of six nights? Because such phenomena are sporadic and we know little of their laws. Perhaps the presence of certain other persons, for instance, myself, disturbed or neutralized the forces, whatever they are.
There is one more point to come, that designated B 2.
The Automatic Writing by Mr. Whidden, March 10.
Some one recently said that the state of the person who writes without his conscious guidance that it is undesirable, is akin to the state of the sleep-walker. Well, this is true and it isn't, according to the circumstances and degrees. On one side, it is akin to sleep-walking, and on he other side it is akin to the power by which some persons deliver their most lofty oratory, or compose their most beautiful music or poetry - the work that is called "inspired." It may only be different ways of handling and cultivating peculiar capacity which makes one man eccentric and another a genius. Thus a "psychic" - that is a person who is capable of automatic writing or other kinds of power. Such as is known as telepathic, clairvoyant, etc., may be induced thereby to become a crank or he may be stimulated to higher efficiency. If my friend, Mr. Whidden is "psychical", I am sure that with his character and good sense, he will not be harmed, but will rather be helped by the fact. Goethe, the greatest literary light of Germany, was a psychic to a degree, who was not ashamed to tell of his experiences. So were Dickens, the natualist John Muir, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and many another distinguished person. If I could by being "psychic", write such literature as Mrs. Curran has automatically written in her "Patience Worth" etc., I would jump at the chance. That marvellous saint Jeanne D'Arc did her historic work because she was a psychic. Many of the canonized saints appear to have possessed psychical experiences which led them to holy ways. Martin Luther, who heard inexplicable sounds and saw an apparition which he interpreted but did not prove to be a devil, was, therefore, a psychic to that degree, but did not lose his practical efficiency.
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Automatic writing is carried on as an act by the subconscious part of the human mind. The question is whether anything ever is injected into that writing which transcends the subconscious mind. This question has been answered by experienced scientific students of the phenomena practically unanimously in the affirmative. Then another question rises, whether that factor which could not have originated from subconscious knowledge or chance coincidence is from discarnate spirits...
All scientific experienced students agree that some automatic writings give no clue from their contents whether they are totally from the subconscious or not.
Practically all such agree that there exist automatic writings containing a factor which could not have originated solely in the subconscious mind, but which require either the spiritistic hypothesis for its explanation, or the telepathic (Transmission of thoughts between living persons or by other than the known channels) hypothesis strained to its utmost capacity.
The automatic writing produced by Mr. Whidden so unexpectedly to him and so dramatically, belongs to the second class, that is, I should be unable to from its contents say whether or not it all came from his subconscious mind. Although one correct statement not within his knowledge was made, that is not enough for a judgement. Usually it requires a period of development before evidential matter begins to appear, though in one case a noted writer who did her first automatic writing with me, produced highly evidential matter in the second and third experiments and none in those which I had with her after that.
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But there is one fact which is hard to explain on the theory of solely subconscious origination. I picked Mr. Whidden out as the one with whom first to try the experiment, because he seemed to be the most likely one, a fact not at all to his discredit. My object was merely psycological curiosity and to pass the time away. He had no appearance of expectation, and says he had not any, and the first experiment was without result, the second succeeding to a rather volcanic degree. Naturally, after this he fully expected that the next trial would be as successful, and, being curious about the new experience, hoped it would be. But there was absolute failure in the next and three following trials. Not a word was written.
This is a hard riddle on the solely subconscious theory. Psychologists expect that strong expectation and desire on the part of an automatist will manifest itself. Had the four last experiments increased in extent they would certainky have pointed to the increased expectation and desire. It is hard to see how the opposite result could equally serve the same theory. We know that the subconscious is capable of contradicting the opinions of the conscious mind in cases where there has been previous mental debate settled in reason and will on one side of the question, and locking up and suppressing the other side tinged with desires, in the subconscious. But there had been no old debate upon this sort of thing by Mr. Whidden. It was a new experience and almost a new topic to his mind.
If - I only say if - the girl was temporarily obsessed to perform acts not properly her own, then the "communication" through Mr. Widden to the effect that the "communicator" "caused the fires" would be consistent enough.
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Dr. Hyslop was convinced that there were cases of obsession. I once witnessed a scene which was very suggestive that it might be in operation. A professional man, whose work is widely know, came to me to see if he was "bughouse," as he expressed it, and in a shamed manner laid before me two pieces of script which I at once knew had the marks of automatism. "My hand did this of itself," he said, "I want to know if I am getting crazy." It appeared that the purported communicator, a relative, had lately died. I had an experiment with the gentleman, he went into spontaneous trance, and the same "communicator" wrote. Presently she named a man whom she said was trying to influence him wrongly, and expressed much concern. I asked where he lived, and it was stated, "He is on our side." Suddenly the writing changed, the movements became vicious, the pencil was flung away, the features writhed, the eyes opened, and for some moments the man glared at me in stony horror, then passed into full consciousness. It appeared that he had seen a vision of that dead man and for a little after waking had thought I was he. The only reason I mention this case is because the man was singularly ignorant of such matters, had never heard of obsession, yet the identical claim was made in his writing and subjective experience that we have had in other quarters.
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In a few words, I restate my findings.
The fires were set by human hands, but almost certainly without guilt, probably in an altered state of consciousness and possibly influenced by a discarnate agency. The sounds and tactual sensations experienced by Messrs. Whidden and Carroll were probably super-normal experiences due to causes which psychical research has not yet determined. The automatic writing of Mr. Whidden was an absolutely valid psychological fact which possibly, though not yet proveably, transcends the purely psychological, and if so, would be in harmony with the suggestion that the girl was temporarily obsessed. I have, as yet, no convictions on the last point one way or the other, but I am glad to add this case to the data under consideration.
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One final word : Many statements and acts have been attributed to me in certain papers and thence have become widely disseminated which have no foundation. There have even appeared purported interviews with me which never took place.
One claim was that I regarded the wireless wave theory of the fires. I did not for a moment, though I entertain great respect for the proponents. And after I had examined the house, I knew that the waves could not be responsible unless they were endowed with intelligence to know when people were in the house, with a dislike for wall area more than six feet and six inches high, with shyness about breaking out into flames directly before witnesses, and with capacity to carry sofa cushions downstairs and to tuck rags into pasteboard boxes and to set them on the floor.
I much prefer that my movements and opinions should be sought by those they chance to interest in statements written and signed by me.
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So wow....automatic writing, eh!? What do we make of that? And do you believe that Mary Ellen is the one responsible for the fires? How did Mr. Whidden feel about writing appearing outwith his control? Well, on that last point we do have an idea....
(Click to go big)
Yes, poor Mr. Whidden was deeply changed by his experience and was so distraught by the personal details divulged by the spirits that he withheld a lot of the experience from the papers and only passed the writings on to the Psychical Society. He did later write a pamphlet for his friends and family members so they would better undertand what he went through though, which you can read in full by clicking here.....
Here though, is an extract from when the automatic writing was starting to happen....
"Suddenly I felt a prickly sensation in the end of some of the fingers of my right hand, which increased. The hand then became numb. Before I realized what was happening, the pencil began to move slowly, without any effort or intention on my part. This lasted less than a minute, probably, when it commenced to form circles. The motion became more rapid, and my hand simply worked like a toy top over the paper. The movement became so fast and the pressure so hard that three sheets of paper were torn. Six sheets of paper had been covered in this manner, when the slanting lines on the seventh sheet. It next formed various movements over the paper and stopped for a fraction of a minute. Then it began to write in large, peculiarly shaped letters. This whole experience lasted over two hours A message seemed to be transmitted to me in this weird manner. I had no idea what was going to happen next; in fact, most of the time I did not know what letter was coming next. At other times, I conjectured after the first letter was written what the word was going to be. But most of the time I had absolutely no idea what was coming next. I had no control-over my hand, which was numb; I had a feeling of numbness about my heart as well; and although I could appreciate what was transpiring, my mind seemed to be control- led by some unseen power. Every movement appeared to be dictated or automatic. The writing was not of my own violation.
I felt sometimes as if drawn down over the table, with my eyes only four or five inches from the paper. This was almost invariably when something of outstanding importance or significance was to be written. Dr. Prince was an eye-witness, and there were times when he was sharpening pencils or getting more paper that my elbow shot out, my hand tugged him, and after attracting his attention, the hand proceeded again with the “message.” At times the movement was slow and decidely painstaking; at others it was incredibly rapid, inpetuous and eager. At times it tried to write words of the greatest significance, but went through odd contortions instead, and in some cases the questions were not answered. In others, the sentences were never completed. The unseen power seemed to increase its influence all the time, and less than thirty words of the message were written when my speech was even controlled by it. When statements of the greatest significance or importance were being written, it repeated every letter and sometimes the writing stopped for a few seconds, while Dr. Prince through my mouth, was requested to ask the “communicator” certain questions. Sometimes it looked as if the unseen power was so eager that it even wrote the questions down itself and answered them."
And as to anyone not believing the experiences that he had, he said...
"Those who wish to scoff and ridicule this simple story are at liberty to do so. It is not many weeks ago that my own credulity would not have been equal to it, but as I have already intimated, these events have revolutionized my mnd. The communication was, I am convinced, from at last one spirit. Its name was given; significant evidential statements were made. I will, as a result, believe to the hour of my death at least, that the fires in Alexander Macdonald’s house and the mysterious unfastening of his cattle were caused by spirits."
Please do go and read the whole pamplet though, as it does give you a great perspective from Mr. Whidden's side of the ghost slaps and writings, and does convince you that he at least, believed there was something other than a bored young girl to blame for the happenings at Caledonian Mills.
And what of Mary Ellen? What happened to her? Well, reports vary...some say The MacDonalds and her moved back in and the ghostly happenings started again, but the public and the papers were far less interested and Dr. Prince was also unable to be bothered with them. Some say they then moved away and faded into obscurity, but there are later photos of Mary Ellen and rumours that as she was to blame for the fires, she was incarcerated in an asylum for a while.
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| Mary Ellen |
This seems very unfair. The words of one paranormal investigator accusing her of being a pyro and she's shunted off to the asylum and locked up? Well, there are also other reports, which I was unable to confirm, that she was later arrested for starting another fire at her place of work.
Whatever the case, she apparently ended her years relatively happy and unhindered by the events of Caledonian Mills. I guess everyone else would have their own beliefs of what had happened, and now you will too...but for one Mr. Whidden at least, things would never be the same, as he had definitely had a paranormal awakening!
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I kind of wish that I was able to write all of that with the aid of Automatic Writing! But there we have it, the end of the Caledonian Mills saga...now we can finally look at some other spook sightings, and unlike Mr. Whidden, I feel that maybe it's time to share something of a more personal nature....but more on that at a later date!
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Laters, Stuffers!
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