V. THE HAUNTINGS OF THE OLD SYDERSTERNE PARSONAGE (1833), NEAR FAKENHAM, AND A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE I
- Date of account
- Published 1919
- Source
- Ghostly Phenomena
- Reference
- Ghostly Phenomena · selected passage 98
- Rights
- public_domain
- Language
- English
- Record updated
- 2026-08-24
Record summary
If spirits can manifest themselves in haunted houses without the assistance of a medium, or the necessity of sitting round tables with joined hands, or facing "curtained off" recesses or mysterious cabinets--why cannot they thus simply manifest themselves at a séance?
Published source text
Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.
Source passage
Source text · mention onlyIf spirits can manifest themselves in haunted houses without the assistance of a medium, or the necessity of sitting round tables with joined hands, or facing "curtained off" recesses or mysterious cabinets--why cannot they thus simply manifest themselves at a _séance_? To my mind the reason is obvious, since the genuine superphysical manifestations cannot be summoned at will by any medium, the latter, rather than allow his audience to go away unsatisfied, invariably makes use of conditions, under cover of which--failing the genuine phenomenon--he can always produce a fraudulent representation.
Historical context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyThis is a historical account assembled under the reporting and publishing conventions of its period. It may preserve testimony, hearsay, retelling and editorial interpretation together.
Modern context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyA modern comparison can identify recurring descriptions and possible explanations, but the account is not treated as independently verified evidence merely because it appeared in print.
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