Research source

I felt Antony give a little start as he read the message. Without a pause the Spook went on

Date of account: Published 1920
Source: The Road to En-Dor Being an Account of How Two Prisoners of War at Yozgad in Turkey Won Their Way to Freedom
Reference: The Road to En-Dor Being an Account of How Two Prisoners of War at Yozgad in Turkey Won Their Way to Freedom · selected passage 38
Rights: public_domain
Language: English
Record updated: 2026-08-24

Record summary

Spiritualists have divided the statements of spooks into “evidential” matter and “non-evidential” matter

Published source text

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Source passage

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Spiritualists have divided the statements of spooks into “evidential” matter and “non-evidential” matter. Evidential matter is that which is capable of proof in the light of knowledge acquired by the sitters (or their friends) either prior to or subsequent to the séance. In every case its basic hypothesis is ignorance on the part of the medium. Provided the medium has no apparent means of knowing a thing, or no apparent grounds for formulating a guess, he or she is presumed to be ignorant. Thus, in Sir Oliver Lodge’s book, _Raymond_, the evidential value of the photograph incident rests on the adequacy of the proof that the medium had no knowledge of the photograph described. My own experiences as a medium incline me to the belief that whereas it may be possible to prove that a given person has had no given opportunity of acquiring a given piece of knowledge, it is _never_ possible to prove that he has not had _some_ opportunity or, in the alternative, that he is not guessing. That is to say, when a statement is correct, knowledge can sometimes be proved. Ignorance, or guesswork, can never be proved.

Historical context

Contextual commentary · mention only

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Modern context

Contextual commentary · mention only

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