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The beginnings of Seership – Vincent Turvey

The following letter appeared in Light for September 25, 1909. I submitted the evidence to the Editor, as the reader will see by the Editor's footnote; therefore there is no need to reproduce it here.

AN ORIENTAL “SPIRIT" INDENTIFIED.

SIR,

In September, 1905, an Oriental in spirit form appeared to me and said three words in some native dialect. On October 7, 1905, in Light, I asked your readers for a translation of them in order that I might see if the experience was more than a mere delusion.

To my surprise some one wrote and told me that the words meant "Oh man, thy coat (or covering)," and might be used in order to draw attention to a rug on the floor. I set it down as genuine but very trivial. For the sake of brevity we will call the Oriental a "Guru" (teacher).

Early in April, 1907, I was again visited by this Guru. He was accompanied by a majestic Oriental, over six feet in height, broad-chested, well-made, with a complexion as fair as that of a dark Englishman. He had a long white beard, and on his chest a mystic symbol. We will call him "the Master".

He spoke to the Guru in reference to my health, saying "Life in the animal yet " (a sentence I had to get translated by an Anglo- Indian colonel). I wondered why they came to me, a man likely to die at any moment.

On April 6, 1907, the description was printed in Light, Once or twice I have seen this Master since his first visit, and on one occasion (August, 1908), Miss McCreadie saw him in my drawing-room, but could say no more than "Oh, what a man! Oh, what a handsome man!" A gentleman has also seen him with me.

So far there is little proof that he is not a "self-created delusion". But on August 18, 1909, nearly two-and-a-half years after his description was printed in Light, the Master was recognized from that description, with a few more details, by an Oriental gentleman (whom I met quite casually on a yacht) as having been his own great grandfather, a distinguished military chief who is still venerated by his countrymen.

On August 23, that gentleman, whom we will call Mr, X. (as his name must in no way appear owing to professional and family reasons), dined with me, and after some music we began to talk about the Master. I said, "He rarely comes here so don't be expectant" However, the Master did come, and with him came the Guru. They spoke to me in their language, and I repeated it as best I could.

To my amazement it was correctly given so as to be understood by Mr. X., and the words were quite to the point. The Guru gave his name and mentioned the place where he defeated the English troops and his body was buried. The connection between the Master and the Guru is that the latter was a pupil of the former's son, who was, of course, my Oriental visitor's grandfather. And what is more, they also gave a correct description of another relative and the native name of the military rank he holds.

 ln my letter in Light of October 7, 1905, I stated that
"I know no language except English and schoolboy French" I refer to that because if I said it now it might be considered by the sceptic as "said for effect" I heard the dialect by clairaudience and repeated it consciously, as I was not entranced. I have sent you letters received from various people showing that I have often had “spirit Visitants " come to me a day or two before their earthly relatives have received and recognized the description, either privately or at the hall of the local Society.

Some sceptics may say that the people knew they were coming to see me and telepathed the descriptions to me in advance. This is absurd, for some of the people were entire strangers who had never heard of me, and if they had they could not be sure of seeing me, on account of my precarious health. But this case, I consider, is a "smasher" for Telepathy; for the description printed two-and-a-half years ago in Light was not recognized until August 18 of this year by Mr. X., who had only recently heard of me. I admit that I took the Master to be still in the body; this I think was due to the fact that he was an Adept in his religion, who frequently left the body while on earth, and who therefore would be less likely to show signs of death than an ordinary spirit.

Mr. X. informed me that the native dress is much as it was two hundred years ego, that the people still worship at the Master's tomb, and that both Master and Guru are known throughout Islam. This is not only a blow to Telepathy but it shows how much may arise out of a mere trivial sentence like "Pick up your covering"; for it is, in fact, a proof of survival of bodily death.

Yours, etc.,

VINCENT TURVEY.

Bournemouth,