Family Conversations from Beyond the Grave
Celebrated Traveler Mrs. Ida Pfeiffer
Society, September 7th, 1859
The following report was extracted from the Second trip around the
world, by Mrs. Ida Pfeiffer, page 345:
“Since I am going to talk about very strange things, it is necessary
to mention a more enigmatic event, which happened in Java a few years
back, causing such commotion that it even attracted the government’s
attention.”
“At the residence of Chéribon there was a little house in which spirits
appeared, as people said. When the night came, this event hailed inside
the bedroom, in all directions, and from all places, there was siri * spitting.
Both the hail and the spit fell near the persons in the room, but did
not hit or harm them. As it seems, it was all directed at a particular child,
who was in the room. It was so much said about this inexplicable case that
the Dutch governor assigned an officer of his trust to examine the case.”
“The officer determined that serious and faithful men should stand
guard around the house, blocking anyone from coming in or out. He scrupulously examined all details, took the designated child in his arms
and settled in the fatal room. Early evening and as usual, the hail and
siri started. All fell near the officer and the boy, not hitting them. Each
corner, each hole was examined again. However, nothing was found. The
officer could not understand it. He demanded that the stones be put together,
marked and hidden in a distant place. It was all in vain. The same
stones fell in the room again, at the same usual time.”
“In the end and to stop such inconceivable story, the governor ordered
that the house be demolished.”
The person who collected this fact was a really superior lady, less for
her instruction and talent than for her incredible energy of character.
Besides that fervent curiosity and untamed courage which made her the
most remarkable traveler that has ever existed, Mrs. Pfeiffer was not eccentric.
She was a lady of kind and enlightened benevolence, having many
times demonstrated that she was far from being superstitious. Her rule
was only to tell what she had witnessed or captured from an unsuspected
source (see the Revue de Paris, September 1st, 1856 and the Dictionnaire
des Contemporains, de Vapereau).
1. Evocation
- I am here.
2. Are you surprised by our call and for being among us?
- I am surprised by the speed of my journey.
3. How were you warned that we wanted to speak with you?
- I was brought here unnoticeably.
4. However, you must have received some sort of warning.
- I was irresistibly carried away.
5. Where were you when you were invited?
- Close to a spirit who I have the mission to guide.
6. Where you aware of the distances that you have to cover to be
here or have you suddenly found yourself here, without transition?
- Suddenly.
7. Are you happy as a spirit?
- Yes. One cannot be happier.
8. Where did you take your intense like of traveling?
- I was a seaman in a preceding existence. The taste acquired
for travelling in that existence reflected in this one, despite
the sex that I selected.
9. Have the trips contributed to your progress as a spirit?
- Yes, because I did these trips with the spirit of observation,
which I lacked in the preceding existence where I only got
involved with commerce and material things. That is why
I thought that I could advance more in a sedentary life.
But God, so good and wise in God’s designs, allowed me
to utilize my inclinations in favor of the progress that I
requested.
10. From all nations that you have visited, which one seemed more
advanced and which do you prefer? Haven’t you said when alive
that you placed certain tribes of the Oceania above the most civilized
nations?
- It was a wrong idea. Today I prefer France for I understand its
mission and foresee its destiny.
11. What is the destiny that you foresee for France?
- I cannot tell you its destiny but its mission is to sow progress
and lights, hence the true Spiritism.
12. Why have you found the savages of Oceania more advanced than
the Americans?
- I saw serious and robust qualities in them, abstraction made
of the vices of savage state, which I did not find in other
places.
13. Do you confirm that fact that happened in Java, reported in one
of your books?
- I confirm it partially. The case of the marked stones that
were thrown again deserves explanation. Those were similar
stones, but not the same.
14. What did you attribute that phenomenon to?
- I did not know what to attribute it to. I asked myself if the
devil would not in fact exist and, hence, responding negatively.
I did not go beyond that.
15. And now that you know the cause, could you tell us the origin
of those stones? Were they transported or specially made by the
spirits?
- They were transported. To the spirits it was easier to bring
than to collect them.
16. And where did that siri came from? It was made by them?
- Yes. It was easier and even unavoidable since it would be impossible
to find it already prepared.
17. What was the objective of those manifestations?
- Like now, attracting attention and attesting a fact that it
needed be talked about and an explanation attempted to be
found.
OBSERVATION: Someone observes that such verification
could not lead to any serious result among those people. One
can say that there is a real result because through the report
and testimony of Mrs. Pfeiffer the fact came to the knowledge
of civilized nations, which comment and make conclusions
about them. As a matter of fact, the Dutch were the
ones called in to attest them.
18. Was there in the case a special objective, particularly referring to
the child tormented by the spirits?
- The child had a favorable influence, that is all, and personally
she had not suffered a single scratch.
19. Since the spirits produced the phenomena, why have they ceased
when the house was demolished?
- They stopped because it was judged to be useless to continue,
but you are not going to ask if they could have persisted.
20. We thank you for your presence and kindness in answering our
questions.
- I am entirely at your service.
Privat d’Anglemont
FIRST CONVERSATION –
SEPTEMBER 2ND, 1859
I
n the Le Pays edition of August 15th or 16th, 1859 there is the following
necrology of Privat d’Anglemon, a writer who died in the Dubois
Hospital:
“His fantasies have never harmed anyone. It was only the last one that
was bad and turned against him. As he came to the hospital where he ended
up dying, Privat d’Anglemont decided to say that he was Anabaptist
and followed the doctrine of Swedenborg. He had already said many
things of the same kind during his life. This time, however, death silenced
his word and he had no time to deny himself. The supreme consolation of
the cross was kept away from his deathbed. His funeral entourage passed
by a church but moved on. The cross did not come to welcome him at the
gate of the cemetery. When the coffin was lowered in the grave Edouard
Fournier pronounced touching words about that body, but did not dare
to wish him but the sleep. All his friends, one by one, left surprised by the
fact that he did not receive the tear-like water, which purifies. Then, after
all that, let us try to raise funds to erect something on his hopeless tomb!
Poor Privat! I don’t entrust his less to the hands of the One who knows all miseries of the human soul, who planted forgiveness in the effusion of an
affectionate heart.”
Before anything else let us make an observation about that news. Isn’t
that an atrocious thought, a hopeless grave that doesn’t even deserve the
honor of a monument? Privat’s life could have been more meritorious, no
doubt. There is no question about the fact that he made his mistakes, but
nobody can say that he was a bad man, who did evil things, like so many
others, by pleasure, under the mantle of hypocrisy. Due to the fact that
he was denied the prayers of the believers, in his last moments on Earth,
prayers not even said by his little charitable friends, must we believe that
God condemn him forever, not leaving him with any other supreme hope
but the sleep of eternity? In other words, that he is nothing more than
an animal to God’s eyes, he who was a man of intelligence, certainly
unthoughtful about the things and favors of the world, living by chance,
careless about tomorrow, but definitely a man of thought, if not a transcendent
genie? If that is the case, how terrifying it must be the number of
those who dive into the emptiness! The spirits unarguably give us a much
more sublime idea of God, always introducing Him as ready to reach out
to help the one who recognize his mistakes, to whom there is always an
anchor of salvation.
1. Evocation - I am here my friends. What is it that you wish from me?
2. Do you have a clear idea of your current situation?
- No. Not completely but I hope to have that soon since God,
as it fortunately seems, does not wish me away from Him,
despite the almost useless life I led on Earth, and later I will
have a very happy position in the world of the spirits.
3. Were you immediately aware of your situation, at the time of your
death?
- I was understandably perturbed, but not as much as one
might suppose. The reason being that I always liked the ethereal,
the poetic, the dream-like things.
4. Could you then describe what happened to you?
- Nothing extraordinary and different from what you already
know. Useless, then, to talk about it again.
5. Do you see things as clearly as when you were alive?
- No. Not yet. But I will see.
6. Which impression do you have about your vision today of people
and things?
- My God! That very thing that I always thought.
7. What do you do now?
- I do nothing. I am errant. I look for a spiritual position, not
a social position; another world, another occupation. It is the
natural law of things.
8. Can you transport yourself anywhere, at will?
- No. I would be very happy. My world is limited.
9. Do you need a significant amount of time to move from a place
to another?
- Very significant.
10. When you were alive your individuality was attested through the
body. Now that you no longer have a body, how do you demonstrate
it?
- Ah! That is strange! It is something that I have not thought
about. It is true to say that one learns something new every
day. Thank you, dear companion.
11. Well then! Considering that we called to your attention this point,
think about it and answer.
- I told you that I am limited with respect to space. But ah! I
always had a lively imagination but I am also limited in my
thoughts. I will respond later.
12. When you were alive what was your opinion about the state of the
soul after death?
- I assumed it immortal, which is obvious. However, shame on
me, I confess that I did not believe, or at least, I was not sure
about the reincarnation.
13. What was the origin of the original character that distinguished
you?
- There was no direct cause. Other people are profound, serious,
and philosophical. I was joyful, lively, and original. It is
a variety of character. That is all.
14. Couldn’t you have, through your talent, left that bohemian life,
which attached you to the material needs? I believe that you had
to go without the necessary many times.
- Very frequently. But, what do you want? I lived according to
my character. Besides, I never bent before the silly conventions
of the world. I did not know what begging for protection
was. My principle was “art for the art”.
15. What is your hope for the future?
- I don’t know yet.
16. Do you remember your existence prior to the one you have just left?
- It was good.
OBSERVATION: Someone reminds that these last words
might well be taken as an irony, much in agreement with
Privat’s character. He then responded spontaneously:
- I apologize but I was not mocking you. It is true that I am a
not much instructive spirit to you but, in reality, I don’t want
to joke about serious matters. Let us stop. I don’t wish to
speak any more. So long!
SECOND CONVERSATION – SEPTEMBER 9TH, 1859
1. Evocation
- Let us see, my friend, when are you going to stop framing all
these sensible questions that I cannot respond?
2. You certainly say that out of modesty since the intelligence that
you showed in life and when responding to our questions demonstrates
that your spirit is above the vulgar.
- Flattering!
3. No. We don’t praise. We say what we think. As a matter of fact we
know that praising has no meaning to the spirits. You suddenly
left us during our last conversation. Could you kindly explain the
reason for that?
- The reason, in all its simplicity, is the following: You ask questions
so much beyond my capacity that I feel embarrassed to
answer. Then please understand my natural constraint when
I remained mute.
4. Do you have other spirits around you?
- I see lots of them, here, there, everywhere!
5. Have you given any thought to the question we addressed to
you and that you promised to respond on another opportunity?
I repeat it: when you were alive your individuality was attested
through the body. Now that you no longer have a body, how do
you demonstrate it? In short: how do you distinguish yourself
from the other spiritual beings that you see around you?
- If I can express what touches me, I still retained a kind of
essence that gives me my individuality and leaves me in no
doubt that I am me, though I am dead to the Earth. I’m still
in a new world, well new to me ... (After some hesitation.) I
finally found my individuality through my perispirit, which
is the form that I had in this world.
Note. We believe that this last response was whispered to him
by another spirit, because its accuracy contrasts with the embarrassment
suggested in the beginning.
6. Have you attended your own funerals?
- Yes I did but I don’t even know why
7. Which sensation has it produced on you?
- I saw with pleasure, with real satisfaction, that I left many
memories behind when I left Earth.
8. Where did you take the idea from of calling yourself Anabaptist
and Swedenborgist? Had you studied Swedenborg’s doctrine?
- It was one of my eccentricities, among others.
9. What is your opinion about the short eulogy dedicated to you by
the newspaper Le Pays?
- You confuse me if you believe that by publishing these communications
in the Review it gives pleasure to those who
wrote them, and then what would I say about those for whom
they were written? What are beautiful phrases, nothing more
than beautiful phrases?
10. Do you go back to see the places that you used to go to when
alive, and also see the friends that you left behind?
- Yes, and I dare say that I still find some satisfaction in visiting
those places. As for the friends, I had only a few sincere
ones. Many shook hands with me, not having the courage of
saying how eccentric I was, criticizing me and calling me mad
behind my back.
11. Where do you intend to go after leaving us? This is not an indiscrete
question but aims at our instruction.
- Where I am going to? ... Let us see! ... Ah! An excellent idea!
... I will allow myself a little enjoyment… Doing it only once
will not create a habit. I will go for a stroll. I will visit a little
room from which I kept pleasant memories… Yes, it is a good
idea. I will spend the time by the bedside of a poor devil, a
sculptor that has nothing to eat tonight… who has requested
the sleep to alleviate his hunger… The one who sleeps, also
dines… Poor young man! You will be okay. I will lead you
through magnificent dreams.
12. Couldn’t you tell us the address of that sculptor? Couldn’t we
help him?
- It could be an indiscrete question if I did not know the
praiseworthy feeling that dictates it… I cannot answer that
question.
13. Will you kindly make an essay about a subject of your choice?
Your literary talent must turn it into an easy task.
- Not yet. However, you seem so kind, compassionate, that
I promise to write something. I may be a bit eloquent now
but I am afraid my communications may still be too worldly.
Allow my soul to depurate a little. Wait until it leaves
this gross still bonding envelope and I will then promise
a communication. I only ask you for one thing: ask God,
our sovereign Lord, to pardon me, allowing me to forget
my uselessness on Earth, since each individual has a mission
in this planet. Most unfortunate the one who does not
accomplish it with faith and devotion! Pray! Pray! See you
another time.
(THIRD CONVERSATION)
• I have been here for a long time. I promised to say something and
will do it.
• Know this, friend, that there is nothing more embarrassing than
speaking like that, attacking a serious subject without an introduction.
A scientist does not prepare his publications before long
reflections, after having given a lot of thoughts to what he is going
to talk about, his endeavor. As for myself I am afraid I have not
yet found a subject worthy of you. I could not tell you but frivolities,
that is why I prefer to request an adjournment of eight days,
as if before a tribunal. Then, it is possible that I may have found
a subject of your interest, which may instruct you.
As the medium had mentally insisted that he should say something, he
added:
• My dear, I find you remarkable! No. I prefer to stay as a listener.
Don’t you know that there is as much instruction to me as there
is to you on listening to the things that are discussed here? No, I
repeat. I stay only as a listener since it is a much more instructive
role to me. Despite your insistence I don’t want to respond. You
believe that it would be much more satisfying to me if it was said:
“Ah! Privat d’Anglemont was evoked tonight! – Really? What did
he say? – Nothing, absolutely nothing! – Thank you! I would
rather have you keeping a good impression of me. Each one bears
his or her own ideas.
Spontaneous
Communication
by
Privat d’Anglemont
FOURTH CONVERSATION, SEPTEMBER 30th, 1859
Behold that Spiritism makes a great noise everywhere, behold that the
newspapers give space to Spiritism; indirectly that is true, citing extraordinary
facts of apparitions, rapping, etc. My ex-comrades mention the
facts without comments, thus giving testimony of intelligence, since the
Spiritist Doctrine should never be lightheartedly discussed or taken by a
bad thing. However, they have not admitted yet the truthfulness of the
medium’s role. They doubt. But I rebut their objections by simply saying
that they are mediums as well. All writers, great and small, are more or
less mediums, since the spirits who are around them act upon their mental
system, and frequently inspire the thoughts that they boast of having
conceived. They certainly would not accept that I, Privat d’Anglemont, a
frivolous spirit by excellence, had resolved that question. However, I only
tell the truth and as proof to raise a very simple question: how can they
feel, after having written for some time, in a kind of super excited, very
uncommon febrile state? It is the effort of concentration, you will say. But
when you are very concentrated on the observation of something, say a
painting, do you also feel febrile? No, not at all! Then, there is necessarily something there. Well then, I repeat: the cause is in the kind of communication
existing between the writer’s brain and the spirits who surround
him. Now, my dear comrades, you may bash Spiritism if that seems right
to you. Mock it, laugh at it, but you are certainly teasing yourselves. You
are nudging yourselves later… Do you understand?
PRIVAT D’ANGLEMONT
The medium who was the interpreter of Privat d’Anglemont at the Society
had the idea of evoking him privately, maintaining with him the conversation
below. It seems that he felt certain affection towards him, be it
due to the fact that he was an easy instrument or just because there was
sympathy between them. The medium is a rookie in the literary world,
and his promising essays announce a disposition that Privat will certainly
encourage with pleasure.
1. Evocation
- I am here. I have been with you for some time. I expected
that you would evoke me. It was me who inspired in you
some good thoughts, not long ago. My dear friend, it was to
console you a bit and help you to withstand with more courage
the penalties of this world. Do you really think that I
have not suffered more than you all imagine, you who laugh
at my eccentricities? Below that armor of indifference that I
always showed, how many pains and sorrows haven’t I hidden?
But I had a very precious quality to a scholarly man
and to an artist. I had always, irrespective of the occasion,
balanced my sufferings with joy. When I was going through
a lot of suffering I used to joke about it, using wordplay and
teasing people. How many times haven’t hunger, thirst and
cold knocked on my door! And how many times haven’t I
responded with a sound laughter! False laughter, you may say.
Oh! No, my friend! I confess that I was sincere. What do you
want? I always had the most lightheartedly character. I had never been bothered by the future, by the past and the present.
I always lived like a true bohemian, by chance, spending
five francs when I had them, and even when I did not. And
I was not richer four days after having received my paycheck
than I was on the day before.
I certainly do not wish anybody to live such a useless, incoherent
and irrational life. Eccentricities are no longer of
our times. That is why the new ideas progressed in such a
fast pace. It is a life from which I am not absolutely proud
of and that makes me ashamed sometimes. Youth must be
of study. It must strengthen intelligence through work, so
that one can better understand the human being and all
things.
You may be disenchanted, oh! Youth, if you think that you
are men or scholars.
You have the key to know everything. It
is up to you now to work and study. You must enter more assertively
in the vast field before you, whose paths were paved
by your previous studies in college. I know that the youth
requires distractions, since it would otherwise be against their
nature. Yet, it must not be too much for the one who has only
thought of pleasures, in the spring of life, prepares terrible
remorse for later. It is when experience and the worldly needs
teach that the time lost cannot be recovered. The youngsters
need serious readings. Many times former writers are
the best ones for good thoughts out of their good thoughts.
They must avoid the romances, in particular, that only excite
imagination, leaving the hearts empty. Romances should not
be tolerated but only as a distraction and once in a while, or
to certain ladies who have nothing better to do. Get educated!
Get educated! Improve the God given intelligence. That is
the only price that makes it worth living.
Q – Your language scares me, my dear Privat. You presented
yourself as a very witty spirit, no doubt, but not as a profound
spirit, and now…
A – Stop there, young man! Stop! I appeared, or better, I communicated
with all of you as a willow spirit, that is true, but
the fact is that I was not completely detached form the earthly
envelope and the condition of spirit had not been revealed
yet in all its plenitude. Now, my friend, I am a spirit and
nothing more than a spirit. I see, feel and experience like the
others, and my life on Earth is like a dream to me. And what
a dream! I am kind of already used to this new world, which
will be my dwelling for some time.
Q – For how long do you expect to remain as a spirit and what
do you do in your new existence? What are your occupations?
A – The time that I will remain as a spirit is still in God’s
hands and will last, I suppose, and as much as I can conceive,
until God finds my soul advanced enough to incarnate in a
superior region. As for my occupations, these are almost inexistent.
I am still errant and that is a consequence of the kind
of life I led on Earth. Thus, what seemed pleasurable to me in
your world is now a punishment. Yes, it is true, I wish I had a
serious occupation; I wish I could find someone who deserves
my sympathy; to inspire good thoughts. But, my dear friend,
we talked too much already and if you allow me, I must leave.
So long! If you need me do not hesitate to call. I will come
with pleasure. Courage! Be happy!
Dirkse Lammers
SPIRITIST SOCIETY, NOVEMBER 11th, 1859
Mr. Van B…, from The Hague, who was present at the meeting, reported
the following personal fact:
“In a spiritist session which he attended in The Hague, a spirit manifested
spontaneously, using the name Dirkse Lammers. He was asked
about his personal details and the reason for his visit with people who did
not know him and who did not call him; here is what he said about his
own story:”
“I lived in 1592 when I hanged myself at the place where you gather
now, in stables which used to be exactly where this house is located now.
These were the circumstances: I had a dog and my lady neighbor had
chickens. My dog strangled the chickens and to revenge the neighbor
poisoned the dog. In my wrath, I spanked and hurt that woman. She took
me to the court and I was condemned to spend three months in prison
and to pay a fine of twenty-five florins. Although the sentence was light
I still felt a lot of hatred towards the lawyer, Mr. X…, who had provoked
it, feeding my desire for vengeance. Hence, I stalked him in an isolated
path that he customarily used to go to Loosduinen, near The Hague. I then strangled him and hanged him on a tree. To give the impression of
a suicide, I stuck a previously prepared piece of paper with a message in
his pocket, as if written by him, saying that nobody should be accused for
his death, since he had committed suicide. Since then I was persecuted by
remorse for three months, finally killing myself, as I already said, at this
very place where you are now. Pushed by some sort of irresistible force, I
come to confess my crime in the hopes that it may bring some relief to the
punishment that I suffer since then.”
“The so much detailed description caused admiration on the assembly.
Notes were taken and research was carried out in the local Forum,
confirming in fact that in 1592 a lawyer by the name X… had hanged
himself in the path to Loosduinen.”
The spirit of Dirkse Lammers was evoked and manifested in the session of
the Society on November 11th, 1859 in a violent way, breaking the pencils.
His writing was large, nervous, almost illegible, and the medium experienced
great difficulty in tracing the characters.
1. Evocation
- I am here. What for?
2. Do you recognize here a person with whom you have communicated
lately?
- I gave sufficient demonstration of my lucidity and good will.
This should be enough.
3. What was the objective of your spontaneous communication in
Mr. Van B… house?
- I don’t know. I was sent there. I myself was not willing to say
what I was forced to say.
4. Who forced you?
- The force that leads us. I know nothing else about it. I was
dragged, despite my will, forced to obey the spirits who had
the right to be obeyed.
5. Are you upset for having attended our call?
- Very much. This is not my place.
6. Are you happy as a spirit?
- Nice question!
7. What can we do to please you?
- Do you really think that you can do something that is pleasant
to me?
8. Certainly. Charity requests that we be useful whenever we can, to
the spirits as well as to men. Once you are unhappy we will ask
for God’s mercy. We will pray for you.
- Finally, after centuries, these are the first words of such a nature
that are addressed to me. Thank you! Thank you! For
God’s sake, may this not be a vain promise, I beg you.
Michel François
SOCIETY, NOVEMBER 11th, 1859
Michel Francois, a blacksmith who lived towards the end of the XVII
century, addressed the warden of Provence, telling him that he had
seen a “shadow” which had ordered him to reveal to King Louis XIV
certain things considered most important and secretive. He was sent to
the court in April 1697. Some say that he spoke with the King; others say
that the King refused to see him. What is certain though is that instead
of sending him to prison he was given money for the journey, and was
exempt of the tailles and other royal taxes.
1. Evocation
- Here I am.
2. How did you know that we wanted to speak with you?
- How can you ask such a question? Aren’t you aware that you
are surrounded by spirits who send for those who you want
to talk to?
3. Where were you when we called you?
- In space since I am still errant.
4. Are you surprised by the fact that you are among living persons?
- Absolutely. I find myself many times among living persons.
5. Do you remember your existence in 1697, at the time of Louis
XIV, when you were a blacksmith?
- In a very confusing way.
6. Do you remember the revelation you had to make to the King?
- I remember that I had a revelation to make.
7. Did you make it?
- Yes.
8. You told him that you had seen a “shadow” that had appeared to
you, commanding you to make certain revelations to the King.
Who was that shadow?
- His brother.
9. Do you want to tell his name?
- No. You understand.
10. Was he the man designated by the name of Iron Mask?
- Yes.
11. Now that we are far away from those days, could you tell us what
was the objective of that revelation?
- It was to inform him about his death.
12. Whose death? His brother’s?
- Of course.
13. Which impression did your revelation have on the King?
- A mix of sadness and satisfaction. As a matter of fact, it was
demonstrated by the way I was treated.
14. How did he treat you?
- With benevolence and kindness.
15. They say that a similar thing happened to Louis XVIII. Do you
know if that is true?
- I believe there was something similar but I am not well
informed.
16. Why have that spirit chosen you for such a mission, considering
that you were someone obscure, instead of selecting a character
from the court, who could more easily approach the King?
- I was found in his path, endowed by the faculty which he
needed, and also because someone from the court would not
be able to make them believe in the revelation. They would
have thought that the information had come through other
means.
17. What was the objective of that revelation, considering that the
King would necessarily be informed about his brother’s death,
before knowing it from you?
- It was to make him think about the future life and about the
fate to which he was exposed. His end was stained by actions
with which he supposed to ensure a future made better by
such revelation.
____________________________________________
* A preparation that the Javanese people chew continually, giving the color of blood to
the mouth and saliva.
