Читать книгу Thirty Years Among - Dead Carl Wickland - Страница 8

Dr. Where did you come from?

Sp. I don't know.

Dr. Do you know any one here?

Sp. I don't see anybody I know.

Dr. Don't you know where you came from?

Sp. I don't know myself. How can I answer questions when I don't know?

Dr. How long have you been dead?

Sp. Dead! The idea! Say, what's the matter with me? I think it looks very funny to see

you all sitting around here. Are you having a meeting, or what is it called anyhow?

Dr. Yes, it's a meeting. Try to tell us who you are.

Sp. I don't know why I should tell you that.

Dr. You are a stranger to us.

Sp. I don't know whether I shall stay here or not. I am always peculiar among strangers, you know.

Dr. Tell us where you came from.

Sp. For my dear life, I don't know myself, so how can I tell you? Say, why do you hold my arm? I'm a strong man, and can sit still by myself.

Dr. I thought you were a woman.

Sp. God above! Why do you think I'm a woman? You'll have to look again, because I am a man, sure enough, and I've always been a man. But things are funny, and I don't know; it has been so peculiar with me for some time. You know, I was walking along and then I heard some singing, so I thought I would peek in, and before I knew it I was feeling fine. You know I have not been feeling well for some time; everything has seemed unusual. (After becoming enmeshed in aura of sensitive.) I don't know what is the matter with me anyhow. Somebody said to me that if I came in where the singing was, I would find out what is the matter with me. I have asked everybody I saw, but everybody passed by; they were so stuck up they wouldn't talk to a fellow any more.

The people all looked like wax to me. Dear life! I've been talking and talking, and walking and walking, and, for dear life, I could never get any one to answer me, or take any notice of me before. (As a spirit he was invisible to mortals and therefore unnoticed by them.) You are the first one to answer any question. I have some little peculiar kind of thing in my throat once in a while, and I can't talk, and then I seem to get well again. But I feel queer, so queer.

Dr. Can you remember anything happening to you at some time?

Sp. Something happens every day. One time I remember one thing and another time something else, but I don't remember anything clearly. I cannot, for dear life, know where I am at. It is the most peculiar thing I ever saw.

Dr. How old are you?

Sp. I cannot tell you that. I haven't known my age for some time. Nobody ever asks me about that and the natural circumstance is that I forgot. (Hearing a passing train.) Why, there's a train coming! It's a long time since I heard that. It seems I live again for a short time. I don't know what it is.

Dr. Where did you live formerly? Where do you think you are now?

Sp. I don't know where I lived before, but right now I am in this room with a lot of people.

Dr. Do you know you are in Los Angeles, California?

Sp. For dear life, no!

Dr. Where do you think you ought to be?

Sp. I cannot seem to recall things. There are times that I can tell you that I am a woman, and then I get some kind of funny thing I do not like. (Static treatment of patient.)

Dr. What do you get?

Sp. When I am a woman, I have long hair, and when the hair is hanging down this funny thing begins. (Mrs. Burton was in the habit of taking her hair down during a treatment.) Dr. What do you mean?

Sp. It seems like a million needles strike me, and, for Gods sake, it is the worst thing I ever had in my whole life! I don't want to be a woman. I only get that funny thing when I am a woman. (Seeing Mrs. B. in circle.) She's the one with the long hair! (To Mrs. B.) I'm going to get you!

Dr. Do you know that lady?

Sp. Yes, she gets so mad at me at times and wants to chase me away.

Dr. She probably doesn't want you around. Possibly you bother her.

Sp. She bothers me too.

Dr. Try to understand your condition. Cannot you realize that you are so-called dead? At this time you are a woman. Look at your clothes. You say you are a man and yet you are wearing the clothes of a woman.

Sp. For God's sake, I don't want to be a woman any more! I'm a man and I want to be a man. I used to be a man all the time, but I cannot, for dear life, know how I can get out of this condition. That woman says to go, and I try to get out, but I cannot. (Suddenly recognizing Dr. W.) You are the one that gave me that fire! Praise the Lord! I want to get rid of you. I don't like you with all those fires you give me. I don't want to have anything to do with you.

Mrs. B. How long have you been with me?

Sp. With you? You always chase me out. What did you do with that woman that was with me? (Another spirit obsessing the patient, dislodged previously.) She sang for me. We have lost her. I have been hunting and hunting for her. Can you tell me where she is?

Dr. She left that lady and controlled this same body as you are doing now. After that she went to the spirit world. That is where you are going when you leave here.

Sp. That woman (Mrs. B.) has no business to scold me like she does. I haven't done her any harm.

Dr. Suppose you were a lady and some spirit bothered you would you like it?

Sp. Certainly I would not like it very well.

Dr. You bothered her. You are a spirit and she is a mortal. She wants to get rid of you.

Sp. She bothers me with all those needles. They hit her on the head and it seems like the needles are hitting my head.

Dr. She is in her mortal body, but you are a spirit, invisible to us.

Sp. What do you mean?

Dr. Just exactly what I say. Your mind is invisible to us. You are temporarily controlling my wife's body.

Sp. Why, I never saw your wife, and I do not want to. I Will tell you one thing, I am a man, and will never be anything else, and I don't want to be married to you.

Dr. You may be a man, as you claim, but I want you to recognize the fact that you are invisible to us. This is my wife's body.

Sp. For God's sake, sure I am a woman! (Noticing clothes of psychic.) For the land's sake alive, when did these clothes come on me?

Dr. They have been on you quite a while. How did you get here ?

Sp. Somebody said: “You go in there and you will get understanding, because you do not need to wander as you are doing.” And now I am a woman!

Dr. Only temporarily. Try to understand what I am telling you. You lost your body, perhaps a long time ago.

Sp. That woman (Mrs. B.) is the fault of it.

Dr. You have been bothering that lady, probably for many years, and you may have been troubling others. What is your name?

Sp. I can't think.

Dr. You lost your own body and have been wandering around in that outer darkness which is described in the Bible. Were you a religious man?

Sp. I don't want to have anything to do with the churches. I am sick and tired of them all. They all say, if you do not do so and so you will go straight to hell, where you will bum forever. They teach and preach damnation, you know.

I was quite a young man when a minister told me I would go to that terrible hell, and they did not want me in the church any more because I did not do as they said I should. I did not believe any of it. I was not such a very bad man.

After I left that church I thought I would try another. For dear life, I got into the same hell and damnation, and I was tired of it all.

They talked of God and holy things. They said I should give my money to God.

They said I should give my tobacco to God. I could not see why God should need my tobacco, and what little money I had. I could not see things that way, so I left that church. I went to another church, and they talked and talked to me. After awhile they said that the devil was after me, because I would not give my money to the church.

One time I had been out with the boys for a while. I never drank too much, but I drank enough that time to be lively. I thought, now I will go right straight up to the front and sit down, so I did. They tried to save my soul for God, so they told me. The minister said that the devil was right after me, and I got pretty seared. He said: “And he is going to get you!” I thought I would look behind and probably I might see him, but I didn't. He said: “Come up, come up, and we will save your soul from hell; come and be saved. Come to the front and be converted. You will be born again.”

I was a little contrary for a while, and then I, got up, and went right up to the front, as I wanted to see what they would do. The minister said: “Now you kneel down there.” So I knelt down. He put his hands on my head and they all sang and sang, and they prayed and prayed for me. They said: “Be converted now.”

I thought it was grand, all the girls putting their hands on me and singing and praying for me. Then the minister came again, and he said: “You will have to pray, or the devil will get after you.” I could not be a hypocrite, so I told him, if I was a sinner I would have to stay one. “I don't believe the devil is a person, anyhow,” so I told him, and he was angry. He thought I was a bad pill. They tried all they could to convert me, but it was no good, so I finally went away. After I left there, some men came after me, so I ran as hard as I could, then somebody struck me on the head and I had great pain. I fell down, but I got up again. I wanted to give that man a push down the hill, but he pushed me and I rolled and rolled down that hill. There were lots of people around me after I stopped rolling, and all at once I felt all right again.

Dr. That was probably the time you lost your physical body. You died.

Sp. I did not die.

Dr. What place was it, where you rolled down the hill?

Sp. It was down in Texas. I walked and ran and tried to talk to people, but they would not answer me; they seemed like sticks. I felt so queer in my head. I asked them if they could tell me where my home was. I felt that pain. Once in a while I could get away. I then came to a lady, and she said: “Come along,” and before I knew it we had a crowd around us, and she used to sing. (Evidently, the spirit, Carrie Huntington. The Patient, Mrs. B., had often been annoyed by the singing of spirits.) I talked to her once in a while, and then, all at once, she disappeared, and after that I got the needles. (Came more fully into control of patient, and felt electrical treatments more keen.) I felt them pretty bad.

Dr. You are a spirit and are now using my wife's body.

Sp. How in the world did I get into your wife's body? Do You like your wife to be all kinds of tramps?

Dr. Yes, long enough to give the spirits an understanding regarding the invisible side.

Sp. Are these your wife's clothes? Did I borrow them for a while? Did your wife dress me? I am sorry to show myself like a woman and not like a man. What will these people think - that I'm crazy? (Laughter.) It isn't funny.

Dr. You are an ignorant spirit, in outer darkness. Intelligent spirits have brought you here to control this body temporarily, so that you can understand your condition. Also, they took you away from that lady. (Mrs. B.)

Sp. Will she get those awful needles again?

Dr. Are there any more persons where you came from? Or are you the last one?

Sp. The woman and the other man. went; then you gave me the needles. I kicked like a steer to get out, but I could not. How could you expect me to do any better? I thought of the minister that talked about hell.

Dr. That hell was not like this. There are spirits here who will teach you how to progress in the spirit world; they will help you. Is your father living?

Sp. I don't know. I haven't seen my father for about twenty-five or thirty years. Mother is dead, but I don't know whether father is or not. I don't know any of my relatives.

Mrs. B. Did I meet you last November?

Sp. Yes, I have been ill ever since that time. I was not the one that was with you close; that was the young lady. My head is hurting me terribly.

Dr. What year do you think it should be?

Sp. I should think about 1888 or 1891.

Dr. It is 1920 now.

Sp. I think there must be something the matter with me.

Dr. You have been in outer darkness for some time.

Sp. I have been walking and walking, and I got with that lady over there. (Mrs. B.) I wanted to go. I kicked and she kicked, and we had regular kickings. Oh, look there! See! My Mother! Oh, Mother! Can you forgive me? I was not as you wanted me to be. Mother, will you take me? I am so tired; I need your care and help. Will you take me? Oh, my Mother!

Dr. What does she say?

Sp. She calls me. She says: “Yes, Frank, you will come with me. I have been looking for you a long time.” I am getting weak; I feel so tired. Mother says: “Frank, we had not the understanding of the real life, because we were not taught what we should have been taught, so that we did not learn to know God's wonderful universe. Religion is a long way from the real life. The ministers all teach that we should just believe and then we are saved. No, no; belief is only a setback. Get knowledge of God. We do not do that.”

“Frank, we will help you to learn what a beautiful world there is on the other side when we have understanding. You have to make your own efforts to learn to understand the Golden Rule of God's beautiful teaching of life, and be of help and service to your fellowman.”

“Now, Frank,” she says, “you have been very mischievous in your life. I know you were a good boy, but you always were too lively. You were ignorant of the real life and went away from home when I died. The home was broken up; you went one way and the rest went another. I did not know, Frank, what things were, but I wish the truth could be taught.”

She says: “Now come with me to the spirit world, where we have understanding.

There we have love, harmony, peace and bliss, but we have to live for one another. You have to go to school and learn. You must not bother any one any more, as you have done. Come, Frank, and we will go to a beautiful home in the spirit world.”

Thank you, and Goodbye!

Several weeks later the last intruder left Mrs. Burton, and, through Mrs. Wickland, inquired for the companions who had preceded her, resenting having been held captive.