Research source

Beginning, then, with what is nearest to us in time, we take Mr

Date of account: Written 1691; later edited edition
Source: The secret commonwealth of elves, fauns & fairies
Reference: The secret commonwealth of elves, fauns & fairies · selected passage 19
Rights: public_domain
Language: English/Scots historical text
Record updated: 2026-08-24

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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

Beginning, then, with what is nearest to us in time, we take Mr. F. W. H. Myers’s essays “On the Alleged Movement of Objects without Contact, occurring not in the Presence of a Paid Medium.”[9] The alleged phenomena are, of course, as common as blackberries in the presence of paid mediums, but are to the last degree untrustworthy. Even when there is no paid medium present, the mere contagious excitement which is said to be developed at _séances_ makes all that is thought to occur there a story to be taken with plenty of salt.[10] One of Mr. Myers’s examples was the result of _séances_, but it had features of great importance for the argument. It will be found in _Proc. S. P. R._, vol. xix. p. 189, July 1891. The performers are Mr. C., Mrs. C., and Mr. H. Mr. C. and Mrs. C. are spoken of as good witnesses, known to Mr. Myers and Professor Barrett. Mr. H.’s health has suffered so much that he cannot be examined, and Mr. H. is the person who interests us here, for reasons which will be given later. All three were “unbelievers” in these matters. On the second evening “lights floated about the room,” which was lit, apparently, by a full moon.

Historical context

Contextual commentary · mention only

This material belongs to a folklore tradition. Story type, collector, community, transmission and literary editing matter when comparing it with other sources.

Modern context

Contextual commentary · mention only

Lattice compares motifs and reported features without assuming that a traditional being is a biological species or that similar stories document one external cause.

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