Research source

It is an admitted fact that these answers coincide very generally with the opinions or wishes of the medium, or…

Date of account: Published 1857
Source: The Spirit Land
Reference: The Spirit Land · selected passage 130
Rights: public_domain
Language: English
Record updated: 2026-08-24

Record summary

It is an admitted fact that these answers coincide very generally with the opinions or wishes of the medium, or of some one present in consultation with him

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 only

It is an admitted fact that these answers coincide very generally with the opinions or wishes of the medium, or of some one present in consultation with him. I knew a very respectable man, who discovered that he was a medium, and who practised various experiments upon himself. Upon being asked what he thought of it, he replied, 'If the answers are from the spirits, they must be _very silly spirits_; for they always answer just as I wish to have them.' Another medium informs us that he can obtain any answer he pleases, by fixing his mind strongly upon it at the time. Now, does this look as though the answer came from spirits? If the spirits of the dead spoke, they would be likely to speak out independently; to speak just what _they_ thought, and not what those thought with whom they were consulting.

Historical context

Contextual commentary · mention only

This 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 only

A 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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