A sn^ ''..-^a'k >^^^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 1.25 m 11^ '.11 11112 IIM Si 4 1.4 IM 1.6 ^»/ ^» ^:^^ o ej e. e: m. oy "& (pi ;#'^^V -w^? % o 7 /A Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques 1980 i Tanhnical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques et bibliographiques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may Je bibliographically unique, which may alter any of the images in the reproduction, or which may significantly change the usual method of filming, are checked below. L'Institut a mlcrofilm6 le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a 6X6 possible de se procurer. 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Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at diffvtrent reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbole —^- signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbole V signifie "FIN". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre filmds d des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul cliche, il est film6 6 partir de Tangle sup^rieur gauche, de gauche d droite. et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images n^cessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 ^1 \ >3 PERSONAL EXPERIENCE OF THE SUBSCRIBER AT BOSTON, J^/'om -5.5/// J^iene to J^^nd July, /87/>* Having seen in some of the newspapers of the day tliat the wonderful medium, C. H. Foster, was in Boston and would re- main there all the month of June last, I, impelled by an almost irresistible desire to see him, which had been upon me for some time previous, left home (Fredericton) on the mornin*^ of the 24th June by rail, and arrived at Boston at G o'clock, A. M., on the 25th, and took up my quarters at the Parker Mouse, where Foster had his rooms. Upon enquiiinj; for him I found that he did not generally sleep at the Hotel, but went in the afternoon by train to Salem, where his family resided, and was to be back that morning at 10 o'clock. I had a good wash and change of ap- parel, and took breakfast at 8 o'clock. At 10 o'clock I enquired of one of the waiters if Foster had arrived. He said he had not, but that he would show mo Ina room, wlmre some persons were already waiting for him. 1 went in and found a lady there, a stranger, of course, to me, as she also appeared to be to Foster. Wo sat a few minutes conversing on the subject of our visit, and Foster came in. The lady asked me if I was there by appoint- ment. I said no, but presuming that she was, I got up to retire, when Foster said it would be more satisfactory probably if wo sit together. Whereupon the lady expressed her willingness, and wo sat up to a tabU; in the middle of the room, when Foster told us to wriie the names of any persons whom we wished to see on slips of paper, and fold them up as closely as we could, so that he could not see or read them. I wrote twelve names on separate slips of paper, and folded each one four double. The lady had hers already written and folded up. Then Foster told us to throw them in the middle of the table and mix them together, which we did, and it was almost impossible for us to dis- tinguish which belonged to one or the other. Foster sat down with a cigar in his mouth, which was scarcely ever out of his mouth except when h(^ was speaking to us. There was no ( liango 2 ill his appearance or inaiuici', and while talking with us in an easy afl^ble way, he said to one of us, I forget which first, here is so and so, naming a person, to see you, and describ'*.^'? their appearance to the very letter, if you asked him. which I ah\ in several instances. In one case however he described the person before giving me the name. AVe sat for some time conversing with our respective friends and relatives, the lady seeming (^'ite satisfied with her conversation, sometimes given by Foster speaking to us, and sometimes by written messages and answers, which he wrote on some paper he had before him, tore it off and lianded to us. During our sitting, Foster, look- ing towards me, said, here is your Grandmother Richardson. lie had scarcely the words out of his mouth when the lady said, why, that is my grandmother's name, and she asked a great many questions of her, and was quite satisfied with the replies. Foster said, laughingly, I thought she came to you, as she is now standing here between you and me. At this sitting tiicre were present, my father, mother, my two sisters, two brothers, my little son Frank, Mrs. Carter, Mrs. Dorr, one of my old college friends Inglis Haliburton. [ do not know how many of the lady's friends were present, but she took up a good deal of the time, and 1 was so astonisiied at what had taken place that I could not sufficiently collect my thoughts to ask many questions, yet enough to convince me of the reality of our interview. 1 asked my sister Sarah whether \ was right in giving up the atonement by blood. She replied at once, ** you arc right; it is entirely wrong." I also said to my father, ''what about AVestcock?" He said they wished me to buy it again. I then asked if there was any probability of my ever being able to do so, he said influences would be brought to bear by which I would do so, and at a very low figure, F asked father if he would write his name for me. Foster tore off a small slip of paper, and taking it and a pencil, he put his hand under the table close to me, as we \vere sitting next each other at the table. I heard a sort of scratching as if writing, and in about half a minute Foster handed me the paper with William Botsford written backwards on it, so you had to hold the paper up to the light and read it from the other side of tlie paper. The William was very like my father's writing, but Botsford was not. I then asked mother if she v^onld write her name. Foster did the same thing again, and handed mc the papor.with Sarah Botst'ord. There was no L. in it, as she used to write her name, and although the Saraii was very liivc her writing, tlie Uotslord was not so nnich, botli from my recollection and from comparing it with one of her letters since my return home. I forgot to write my sister Eliza's name at first, and whilst Foster was talking with the lady I wrote it and put it amongst the rest. Very soon after Foster said, here comes one calling herself Eliza, and full of love for you, cxpressin<5 her great delight at seeing you, and wishes to shake hands with you. Foster quickly put out his hand to- wards me, and 1 seized it without a moment's hesitation, and shook it most cordially, but it very nearly upset me, as I could not but feel thdt Eliza was there. It was about 11 o'clock now, and having determined in my own mind to have another inter- view with him, I walked out into town, and going into a book store, I saw some spirit photographs for sale, and upon enquir- ing whether the person who took them did not live in New York, the clerk in tlie store said that he lived hero in Uoston, but he had been told fhat he had closed his olRce for taking photographs. He could not tell me in what part of Boston he lived, so I went back to my hotel, and found from the directory his place of residence, and after dinner I started ofl'to find him out if possible, to get a photograph taken. I found his wife at home, but he was not. 1 told her 1 wanted to sit for a photo- graph. She said he had not taken any lately, as he was very busily engaged in some new discovery for taking copies of etchings by sun light, but she said he had promised a gentle- man who had come a long distance to get a photograph, to sit next day at 10 A. M., and if I would come about 9 she had no doubt but that I could have a sitting. T arranged to do so. 1. had a short conversation with her, and enquired if she knew of any test medium as to minerals. She said that their best test medium had just sailed for Europe, but there was another per- son, whose name and residence she gave me on a slip of paper, who was very good, and whilst we were talking of this the party himself came in, and she told him she had just given me a refer- once to him. I then arranged to see him the next day also at 3 o'clock, P. M. It must be remembered here that these people were all strangers to me, and that 1 1 ad no intention or idea of scoing Mnmlor before I saw the ])hotograi)h as mentioned, and I Imd only been in Boston about 8 or lo hours, ai.d had not met an indivhiual whom I knew or that knew me. Next morning, Saturday, 26th June, 1 want to Mumler's house as arranged. He met me at the door, and ushering me into a nicely furnished drawing room, scid, afterpassiug the compli- ments of the day, that he would be ready in a few minutes for me. Jle then brought in a ov)tton screen, and slmt oil part of the room, or rather the light from the front windows, and having arranged my head in the standard and the focus of the camera, proceeded to take my photograph in the usual way, except that he appeared to be directed as to the process after he had arrang- ed me entirely by rappings, which seemed to mo to come from the floor just beyond the camera, whilst he stood near me. Tin first trial he said was a failure, and he repeated ihe pre i again, and then showed me the negative. Of course 1 couid make nothing of it as to the features, but was strongly impress- ed that it was my sister Sarali fVom the pociiliarity of her figure, one shoulder being lower than the other, and my thoughts naturally suggested the small face to be that of my little son Frank. I then went into another room with Mrs. Mumler to examine a lock of hair of my wife, as she had told me the day before that she had just come in from visiting a patient as a mesmeric physician, and J determined when 1 went for the photograph to try her, but did not say so to her until after I had sat for the photograph. She took the lock of hair in iier hand, and shortly after she became entranced, and to my utter astonishment, as I was totally unprepared for any such thing» addresseil me as nearly as I could remember and take down after 1 got back to my hotel, as follows : ''Friend, O what beauti- ful spirits are here ; they are all far advanced in spirit life. There stands beside you one most beautiful ; she has passed away some length of time ; she holds in her hand a crown of the most lovely flowers ; and there is written something for you about it in large letters," it was in poetry, and I could not remember it; it was to the effect that there was peace and rest where she was, which was for all at last. [ asked Mrs. Mumler what her appearance was. She said she resembled me particularly about the mouth. She then said, ''There is another, older spirit, lovely to look upon, who passed away from here somewhat later than the other; she greots yon too." **0 hero comes a linn old :ioi'iou8 and open with liis linj^er on the passaj^e ' () death where is tliy stin<»', O <^rave where is thy victory.' This nuin in lifetime thought much on this passage, and was a reader of the Bible; he calls your attention to this, as he reads it now in a ditVerent light from what he did formerly. He wishes you to understand that there is no death of the spirit; it was only the body which went into the grave. This is his message to you. JTere cornea ajiolher glorious spirit, an aged lady. () how lovely and good natured she looks. She sends a message to you [this was in ])oetry, and I could not recollect it] setting forth that in all the Ht rug j^lcs of life there was an end to trouble, and would be peace and rest at last. There is another spirit present who seems to have died in infancy. () how beautiful I " I liad no hesitation in concluding that these si)irits were those of my lather, molher, two sisters, and one of my little boys who years of asfo ; she is dressed in a light drcsfl bh dest iMi Ide- )oy ler lie im- •r. .'I nug my youngest daughter J c:la. T then asked if there were any more, ho said, ** there is another boy, older than the one I spoke of," whom I supposed was my son Harry. I asked if there were any more; he said, *' yes, there is another little girl, a tender flower," describing Bessie, and at the same time cautioning me as to her liability to have her lungs affected, if allowed to take a severe cold, and told me what to give her if she were so attacked. During this conversation, T several times tried to get him to fix my house in town as the place he saw tho*^ telling him that we were all living there, and not on the hill ; he however persisted in saying they were on the hill, and on my return home, 1 found that they had been all down there, just at the time we were talking in his room, except Harry, who was not there, but young sin and are not confinod to space. This (pieslion however, 1 do not preteml to express an opinion n])on. I then asked *' Chip." if ho would send a mcssago to **Knox.'' Foster immediately wrote olVtho foll;^s\in o'clock; and according to appointment went there, but found that the water pipes in the ho\ise had burst, and would not be rei>aired for an hour or so. I then went to Vogl's and got his conclusions as to the Port- land property, which when fully developed, I will have attach- ed to this statement. After 1 got through here, 1 returned to Mumler's, where the workmen where Just clearing out, and in a few minutes I sat again, and proceeding in the same way as before, the negative showed a female figure standing be- hind me; which, from the peculiar slopj of her shoulder, struck me as my mother. The i)hotograph from this negative I could not wait for, and it was forwarded to me by mail the following week. I recognize my mother's looks in it, and so have two or three of her old friends here, but some of my brothers do not see the likeness. After 1 got through with this sitting, I told 10 Mrs. Mninlor fliat 1 wantod hev to bo cntrai'ced for me a*^ain, loadiiiirits will unseal the ^M'(»at mysteries of the past." " () here comes another spirit; O how beautiful i" I asked if it was ih«! same, she said, " yes. the same that came a few (lay> ago, she is shaking what seems a thin tissue paper, with golden letters. O how brilliant they are! yes, these are the word-;: 11 lOU, aid Tlals llioir illii- as to what 1 was doing. I do not pretend to explain these matters; but I well know that most of my reudei-s will attempt to explain it all rather than ndmit that the spirits of the dei)arted can return to earth, and will rather believe me crazy or under some malign delusion; but all this will not disturb the lull and (juiet beliol ot ni\' own mind as to the truth of this doctrine. (;E0. BOTSFORD. Frkdkuictox, July 24, 1S7.'). '4 __