Observations placeholder

The beginnings of Seership – Vincent Turvey

 (No. 30.)

Bournemouth,

Feb. 22, 1904.

DEAR MR. TURVEY,

I am willing to substantiate the following events- Towards the beginning of 1903, I called at your house as regards the re-wiring * of the house you had just purchased.

[* This phrase applies to the installation of electric lights, and not to a "secret Marconi system," as might be supposed by those who have read “Psychic Phenomena” by Mr. Carrington].

Somehow the conversation got on to the mysterious; you stated you had certain gifts, and I expressed my desire to make a test. You immediately informed me, although I was an absolute stranger to you, that I was a married man, and had one child, a son, whose name you gave me in full.

You correctly described the greater part of my house and furniture, and also described my wife, particularly mentioning a certain sort of purse she carried You then went on to inform me that I had that morning been considerably bothered by the mislaying of certain books in the office.

In a moment or two you told me that my mother was living in Glasgow; you described the interior and exterior parts of the house, particularly mentioning an old sword that was hanging on the wall, and stated, quite correctly, that this sword was used by one of my ancestors on the heights of Quebec under Wolfe. You even added: "Your mother is lying ill, and I am sorry to tell you she is suffering from one disease and is being medically attended under misapprehension for another." This I subsequently found to be correct by having a consultation. You also gave me a long and detailed account of my brother's life, and you told what was probably his exact occupation at the time of speaking that is to say, he was gold-mining in Alaska.

Yours, etc.,

J. ALLAN.

In the above letter there is at least one thing which can hardly be explained by Telepathy; that is, the statement – “Your mother is suffering from one disease and being treated for another." I did not like to say dying, although “I" felt that such was the case. Consultation showed that the poor lady was dying from cancer, and had been treated for sciatica. It is this point that, in my opinion, completely puts Telepathy, as an explanation, out of court. Here, in Bournemouth, am I, an unqualified layman; and yet in some way or other I was able to obtain medical information about a woman right up in Glasgow. Evidently, no one on earth knew of the error in diagnosis. Certainly the son did not, and therefore I could not have read his thoughts; certainly the poor patient could not have known; and even if she had, she could not telepath to a man of whose very existence she was ignorant. Obviously the doctor in attendance did not know of his error; and, if his "subconscious mind" knew, he could not telepath to me, for he, too, did not know of me. One should bear in mind that the son of the patient was a perfect stranger to me; and that he had merely called as the representative of a business firm. The evidence is irrefutable. The certificate of death shows cancer to have been the cause of death; the prescriptions, that sciatica was being treated; the consultant was called in after I had spoken to the son. The young man is an honest, truthful, business man, and he writes a plain straightforward letter, because he knows the facts are true, although he cannot explain them any more than I can.