Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:09 Welcome to Lessons from The Helpful Dead, where you'll learn the world is not what it seems, and you are much more than you think you are. Here you'll learn about positive and reassuring messages from supposedly dead people whose main purpose is to help us find out what happens after we die, why we're here, how we got here, where we're going, and discover that you are really a powerful, eternal spirit. I'm Dan McInerney. Today we'll talk about the last two of the half dozen psychic personalities I've chosen from Martin Yvonne's book, the, uh, evidence of Life After Death. First, we'll talk about Mrs. Blanche Cooper and Samuel g Sol, s o a l. Now this example is one of a kind in Yvonne's book, and it's especially significant because it runs counter to every other example. In 1921, Seoul, a top British para psychologist, he started experimenting with Mrs.
Speaker 1 00:01:18 Cooper, a prominent London medium who gave seances at the headquarters of the British College of Psychic Science. Now, soul's plan was to get in touch with his deceased brother, Frank, and all was going well until one day his brother speaking through Mrs. Cooper, said, Sam, I've brought someone who knows you. Sol got this, that the shock of his career when a familiar voice greeted him, that of Gordon Davis, an old school chum who soul believed had been killed in the war. In the next several seances, Davis communicated several details, including the furnishings of his earthly house that amounted to convincing evidence he was who he said he was. Well imagine soul's double shock then when he discovered quite some time later that Davis was still very much alive and living in London, he had in fact been engaged in a business transaction at the very moment that his spirit had first communicated to soul.
Speaker 1 00:02:25 Now, soul concluded that Mrs. Cooper had unwittingly picked both his mind and Davis' telepathically until he received a triple shock meeting up with Davis. He learned that at the time of the seas, Davis had not yet furnished his house, but he had by the time he met with Seoul and the house was now furnished just as Mrs. Cooper had described. Now, critics used this as a classic case to debunk all spirit communications, citing it as proof that all so-called communications from the dead are really just the result of the medium picking up telepathically on people's minds. In fact, it was an example of a feat subsequently achieved by many time travel with consciousness combined with telepathic and mediumistic skills. And that's, that's remarkable in itself to maintain. However, that, because in this one case, the communication did not come from a deceased spirit, every single one of the thousands of other communications is therefore invalid.
Speaker 1 00:03:35 That makes no sense. This case was also unlike most other cases in that in one important respect, neither Seoul nor Davis had any particular reason to contact the other. Seoul was not seeking to contact. Davis and Davis had no pressing items to communicate and seemingly no special purpose other than to say hello in chat. While most per personalities have a purpose for communicating, which adds to the validity of their identity, such as the British airmen from the R 1 0 1 who wanted to prevent a similar disaster in the future. Now to those who have read extensively in the field, this would probably be classified as an inadvertent contact with a future fragment personality of Davis's. Not all that, uh, outta the ordinary and certainly not a valid basis for discarding all the documented communications from deceased spirits over the past two centuries. The second personality that we'll talk about is the great Houdini and Carl Whitland, md.
Speaker 1 00:04:50 This is the last example we'll take from Yvonne's interesting and thorough book. During his life on earth, Harry Houdini gained fame as a magician, but he also gained fame for his relentless efforts to expose virtually every medium as a fraud. Not so well known is the contention that after he died, he has purported to have communicated on several occasions to Dr. Carl Wickman, through Dr. Wickman's wife, who acted as the medium. Now, Dr. Wickman was a practicing psychiatrist in Chicago and Los Angeles in the 1920s and 1930s on the assumption that some form of mental illness, uh, would be due to spirit possession. He used a small amount of electric shock to force the spirit to leave the patient's body and start communicating through his wife Anna, a medium. Then by combining threats and enlightened statements, he was seemingly successful in persuading the misplaced spirit entity to leave the body of the patient permanently and go on to more advanced spirit realms.
Speaker 1 00:06:01 Now, uh, he wrote a book, the Gateway to Understanding, and in that book he describes the seance he held at the home of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, who was also a devoted spiritualist. Now, Doyle and Houdini had feud privately and publicly for many years about spirit communications with Houdini, insisting that he could duplicate all of them through trickery, but never convincing Doyle. Now, this seance occurred after Houdini's death. Dr. Wickman in his book, said that among other intelligences, the spirit of Harry Houdini, the great magician, took control of Mrs. Wickman and right away complained bitterly of his dark surroundings and referred to the great mistake he had made in ridiculing psychic phenomena, which he knew to be true. Three years later at a priv private seance in the Wickman's home, the spirit of Houdini came through again according to Whitland, to express great regret at the stand he had taken while on earth against the truth of spirit return and communication as, uh, stating now he was trying to do all within his power to right the wrong.
Speaker 1 00:07:10 Now, Whitland then quoted Houdini extensively and exchanges were whitland tried to encourage Houdini to stop focusing so intently on the wrongs he had done and focus instead on, on what he could do now to advance spiritually. Apparently it worked over time. Now here are excerpts from the early discussions and then uh, later ones where Houdini had made some progress. One of these early ones. It seems cruel that a man in my position should have thrown dust in the eyes of people as I did since my death. I have gone to many, many mediums, but the doors closed to me. They say I am not the one I claim to be because when I was on earth, I did not talk that way. I ask you here to give me good thoughts, strength and power to undo my, my mistakes. I cannot progress until I've acknowledged the truth.
Speaker 1 00:07:59 I see my mistakes, but I cannot get out of my present condition until I do good to the ones I ridiculed. I try my best to correct my mistakes, but it's very hard. Another comment, I tried my best to get through the opening, which means the opening is the medium, but at that time, I was so bewildered I'd did not know where I was. Many do not know what awaits them on the other side of life, what the sleep of death is. When one has an understanding of death, there is no waiting, no hindrance. At first, I was so confused that everything which belonged to memory was forgotten for quite a long time later things came to me clearly, the things I had promised to do, and I tried very hard to get a message through. I wanted to tell the truth and undo my former error.
Speaker 1 00:08:48 I lectured and charged money for what? To blind the eyes of the people they would pay to hear me lecture and run down poor, honest mediums. I see things so differently now. Now the next quote is one of the later, uh, communications. Thank you. I can see more clearly. Now, standing here is a very beautiful little lady and she says she will always help me. If I had done what my conscience urged me to do, I would not be where I am now. I was a psychic and I knew it. I was helped in my work by the spirit forces, but more by the material, uh, material minded forces, those who could work magic. But I shut the door to the higher intelligences. Listen to that beautiful music. At least my soul is at peace and I can go on heaven is opening and see those most beautiful flowers.
Speaker 1 00:09:41 One thing I must ask of all of you, and that is do not be doubting Thomas's as to my identity. I have enough to combat now. I am Houdini. Yes, I am much happier now. I had denied facts, which I knew in my heart were true. I wanted to be original and have every, everyone think I was scientific. So I denied facts and criticized others. I've progressed far enough to give enlightenment to some and I do all I can to help the unfortunate ones. I have certain duties to help others before I can progress to new development. I am happy, but in a way, I am restricted because I have to find those who are in trouble and help them and give them strength. I do work now that I should have done an earth life. If I had stood for the truth and given credit to spirit power, the world would have been more enlightened because the spirits did wonderful things through me.
Speaker 1 00:10:34 Uh, that's the end of the Houdini quotes. Yvonne is quick to point out that, uh, skeptics would say that Mrs. Wickman's unconscious was providing her husband with the kind of communication that he wanted and that the Houdini spirit in this exchange did not provide actual evidence of identity. Now, it is impossible, of course to refute that contention, but it's also interesting to compare what Houdini said to what many others have mentioned. His comments agree with what many of the people that we've talked about have said about, uh, after death experience being formed by our expectations, the development of our character while on earth, the existence of helpers working to improve one's spiritual condition and letting go of our own anxieties and beliefs in certain conditions of reality in order to release ourselves from them. In other words, getting ourselves past what can be a hell of our own making or even getting past a pleasant illusion after a time to get on with more spiritual advancement. That concludes, uh, our discussion of psychic personalities mentioned in Martin Neon's book. In our next session, we'll talk about the, the growing acceptance of spirit communications in recent times, and we'll address the question of just how valid can information be if it comes from someone who isn't living. Now. Once again, I'm Dan McEnany, bringing you lessons from the helpful Dead.
