Testimony about Katie King by Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Conan Doyle writes at page 240-251 in his "The history of Spiritualism. Vol. 1" (1926) the following about Katie King:
"Miss Florence Cook, with whom Crookes under-
took his classical series of experiments, was a young girl
of fifteen who was asserted to possess strong psychic
powers, taking the rare shape of complete material-
ization. It would appear to have been a family
characteristic, for her sister. Miss Kate Cook, was not
less famous. There had been some squabble with an
alleged exposure in which a Mr. Volckman had taken
sides against Miss Cook, and in her desire for vindica-
tion she placed herself entirely under the protection of
Mrs. Crookes, declaring that her husband might make
any experiments upon her powers under his own con-
ditions, and asking for no reward save that he should
clear her character as a medium by giving his exact
conclusions to the world. Fortunately, she was deal-
ing with a man of unswerving intellectual honesty.
We have had experience in these latter days of
mediums giving themselves up in the same unre-
served way to scientific investigation and being
betrayed by the investigators, who had not the moral
courage to admit those results which would have
entailed their own public acceptance of the spiritual
interpretation.
Professor Crookes published a full account of his
melhods in the Quarterly Journal of Science^ of which
he was then editor. In his house at Mornington Road
a small study opened into the chemical laboratory, a
door with a curtain separating the two rooms. Miss
Cook lay entranced upon a couch in the inner room.
In the outer in subdued light sat Crookes, with such
other observers as he invited. At the end of a period
which varied from twenty minutes to an hour the
materialized figure was built up from the ectoplasm
of the medium. The existence of this substance and
its method of production were unknown at that date,
but subsequent research has thrown much light upon
it, an account of which has been embodied in the
chapter on ectoplasm. The actual effect was that
the curtain was opened, and there emerged into the
laboratory a female who was usually as different from
the medium as two people could be. This apparition,
which could move, talk, and act in all ways as an
independent entity, is known by the name which she
herself claimed as her own, “ Katie King.”
The natural explanation of the sceptic is that the
two women were really the same woman, and that
Katie was a clever impersonation of Florence. The
objector could strengthen his case by the observation
made not only by Crookes but by Miss Marryat and
others, that there were times when Katie was very like
Florence.
Herein lies one of the mysteries of materialization
which call for careful consideration rather than sneers.
The author, sitting with Miss Besinnet, the famous
American medium, has remarked the same thing,
the psychic faces beginning when the power was weak
by resembling those of the medium, and later becom-
ing utterly unlike. Some speculators have imagined
that the etheric form of the medium, her spiritual
body, has been liberated by the trance, and is the basis
upon which the other manifesting entities build up
their own simulacra. However that may be, the fact
has to be admitted ; and it is paralleled by Direct Voice
phenomena, where the voice often resembles that of
the medium at first and then takes an entirely different
tone, or divides into two voices speaking at the same
time.
However, the student has certainly the right to
claim that Florence Cook and Katie King were the
same individual until convincing evidence is laid before
him that this is impossible. Such evidence Professor
Crookes is very careful to give.
The points of difference which he observed
between Miss Cook and Katie are thus described :
Katie’s height varies ; in my house I have seen her
six inches taller than Miss Cook. Last night, with bare
feet and not tip-toeing, she was four and a half inches taller
than Miss Cook, Katie’s neck was bare last night ; the
skin was perfectly smooth both to touch and sight, whilst
on Miss Cook’s neck is a large blister, which under similar
circumstances is distinctly visible and rough to the touch.
Katie’s ears are unpierced, whilst Miss Cook habitually
wears ear-rings. Katie’s complexion is very fair, while
that of Miss Cook is very dark. Katie’s fingers are much
longer than Miss Cook’s, and her face is also larger. In
manners and ways of expression there are also many
decided differences.
In a later contribution, he adds ;
Having seen so much of Katie lately, when she has
been illuminated by the electric light, I am enabled to
add to the points of difference between her and her medium
which I mentioned in a former article, i have the most
absolute certainty that Miss Cook and Katie are two separate
individuals so far as their bodies are concerned. Several
little marks on Miss Cook’s face are absent on Katie’s.
Miss Cook’s hair is so dark a brown as almost to appear
black ; a lock of Katie’s, which is now before me, and which
she allowed me to cut from her luxuriant tresses, having first
traced it up to the scalp and satisfied myself that it actually
grew there, is a rich golden auburn.
On one evening I timed Katie’s pulse. It beat steadily
at 75, whilst Miss Cook’s pulse a little time after was going
at its usual rate of 90. On applying my ear to Katie’s
chest, I could hear a heart beating rhythmically inside, and
pulsating even more steadily than did Miss Cook’s heart
when she allowed me to try a similar experiment after the
stance. Tested in the same way, Katie’s lungs were found
to be sounder than her medium’s, for at the time I tried
my experiment Miss Cook was under medical treatment
for a severe cough.
Crookes took forty-four photographs of Katie
King by the aid of electric light. Writing in the Spiritualist
took his classical series of experiments, was a young girl
of fifteen who was asserted to possess strong psychic
powers, taking the rare shape of complete material-
ization. It would appear to have been a family
characteristic, for her sister. Miss Kate Cook, was not
less famous. There had been some squabble with an
alleged exposure in which a Mr. Volckman had taken
sides against Miss Cook, and in her desire for vindica-
tion she placed herself entirely under the protection of
Mrs. Crookes, declaring that her husband might make
any experiments upon her powers under his own con-
ditions, and asking for no reward save that he should
clear her character as a medium by giving his exact
conclusions to the world. Fortunately, she was deal-
ing with a man of unswerving intellectual honesty.
We have had experience in these latter days of
mediums giving themselves up in the same unre-
served way to scientific investigation and being
betrayed by the investigators, who had not the moral
courage to admit those results which would have
entailed their own public acceptance of the spiritual
interpretation.
Professor Crookes published a full account of his
melhods in the Quarterly Journal of Science^ of which
he was then editor. In his house at Mornington Road
a small study opened into the chemical laboratory, a
door with a curtain separating the two rooms. Miss
Cook lay entranced upon a couch in the inner room.
In the outer in subdued light sat Crookes, with such
other observers as he invited. At the end of a period
which varied from twenty minutes to an hour the
materialized figure was built up from the ectoplasm
of the medium. The existence of this substance and
its method of production were unknown at that date,
but subsequent research has thrown much light upon
it, an account of which has been embodied in the
chapter on ectoplasm. The actual effect was that
the curtain was opened, and there emerged into the
laboratory a female who was usually as different from
the medium as two people could be. This apparition,
which could move, talk, and act in all ways as an
independent entity, is known by the name which she
herself claimed as her own, “ Katie King.”
The natural explanation of the sceptic is that the
two women were really the same woman, and that
Katie was a clever impersonation of Florence. The
objector could strengthen his case by the observation
made not only by Crookes but by Miss Marryat and
others, that there were times when Katie was very like
Florence.
Herein lies one of the mysteries of materialization
which call for careful consideration rather than sneers.
The author, sitting with Miss Besinnet, the famous
American medium, has remarked the same thing,
the psychic faces beginning when the power was weak
by resembling those of the medium, and later becom-
ing utterly unlike. Some speculators have imagined
that the etheric form of the medium, her spiritual
body, has been liberated by the trance, and is the basis
upon which the other manifesting entities build up
their own simulacra. However that may be, the fact
has to be admitted ; and it is paralleled by Direct Voice
phenomena, where the voice often resembles that of
the medium at first and then takes an entirely different
tone, or divides into two voices speaking at the same
time.
However, the student has certainly the right to
claim that Florence Cook and Katie King were the
same individual until convincing evidence is laid before
him that this is impossible. Such evidence Professor
Crookes is very careful to give.
The points of difference which he observed
between Miss Cook and Katie are thus described :
Katie’s height varies ; in my house I have seen her
six inches taller than Miss Cook. Last night, with bare
feet and not tip-toeing, she was four and a half inches taller
than Miss Cook, Katie’s neck was bare last night ; the
skin was perfectly smooth both to touch and sight, whilst
on Miss Cook’s neck is a large blister, which under similar
circumstances is distinctly visible and rough to the touch.
Katie’s ears are unpierced, whilst Miss Cook habitually
wears ear-rings. Katie’s complexion is very fair, while
that of Miss Cook is very dark. Katie’s fingers are much
longer than Miss Cook’s, and her face is also larger. In
manners and ways of expression there are also many
decided differences.
In a later contribution, he adds ;
Having seen so much of Katie lately, when she has
been illuminated by the electric light, I am enabled to
add to the points of difference between her and her medium
which I mentioned in a former article, i have the most
absolute certainty that Miss Cook and Katie are two separate
individuals so far as their bodies are concerned. Several
little marks on Miss Cook’s face are absent on Katie’s.
Miss Cook’s hair is so dark a brown as almost to appear
black ; a lock of Katie’s, which is now before me, and which
she allowed me to cut from her luxuriant tresses, having first
traced it up to the scalp and satisfied myself that it actually
grew there, is a rich golden auburn.
On one evening I timed Katie’s pulse. It beat steadily
at 75, whilst Miss Cook’s pulse a little time after was going
at its usual rate of 90. On applying my ear to Katie’s
chest, I could hear a heart beating rhythmically inside, and
pulsating even more steadily than did Miss Cook’s heart
when she allowed me to try a similar experiment after the
stance. Tested in the same way, Katie’s lungs were found
to be sounder than her medium’s, for at the time I tried
my experiment Miss Cook was under medical treatment
for a severe cough.
Crookes took forty-four photographs of Katie
King by the aid of electric light. Writing in the Spiritualist
(1874, p. 270), he describes the methods he adopted :
During the week before Katie took her departure
she gave seances at my house almost nightly
to enable me to photograph her by artificial light.
Five complete sets of photographic apparatus were accordingly fitted up for the
purpose, consisting of five cameras, one of the whole-plate
size, one half-plate, one quarter-plate, and two binocular
stereoscopic cameras, which were all brought to bear upon
Katie at the same time on each occasion on which she stood
for her portrait. Five sensitizing and fixing baths were
used, and plenty of plates were cleaned ready for use in
advance, so that there might be no hitch or delay during
the photographing operations, which were performed by
myself, aided by one assistant.
My library was used as a dark cabinet. It has folding
doors opening into the laboratory ; one of these doors was
taken off its hinges, and a curtain suspended in its place
to enable Katie to pass in and out easily. Those of our
friends who were present were seated in the laboratory
facing the curtain, and the cameras were placed a little
behind them, ready to photograph Katie when she came
outside, and to photograph anything also inside the cabinet,
whenever the curtain was withdrawn for the purpose.
Each evening there were three or four exposures of plates
in the five cameras, giving at least fifteen separate pictures
at each stance ; some of these were spoilt in the developing,
and some in regulating the amount of light. Altogether
I have forty-four negatives, some inferior, some indifferent,
and some excellent.
Some of these photographs are in the author’s
possession, and surely there is no more wonderful
impression upon any plate than that which shows
Crookes at the height of his manhood, with this angel
— for such in trlith she was — leaning upon his arm.
-The word “ angel ” may seem an exaggeration, but
when an other-world spirit submits herself to the dis-
comforts of temporary and artificial existence in order
to convey the lesson of survival to a material and
worldly generation, there is no more fitting term.
Some controversy has arisen as to whether Crookes
ever saw the medium and Katie at the same moment.
Crookes says in the course of his report that he
frequently followed Katie into the cabinet, “ and have
sometimes seen her and her medium together, but most
generally I have found nobody but the entranced
medium lying on the floor, Katie and her white
robes having instantaneously disappeared.”
Much more direct testimony, however, is given by
Crookes in a letter to the Banner oj Eight (U.S.A.),
which is reproduced in The Spiritualist (London) of
July 17, 1874, p. 29. He writes :
In reply to your request, I beg to state that I saw Miss
Cook and Katie together at the same moment, by the light
of a phosphorus lamp, which was quite sufficient to enable
me to see distinctly all I described. The human eye will
naturally take in a wide angle, and thus the two figures
were included in my field of vision at the same time, but
the light being dim, and the two faces being several feet
apart, I naturally turned the lamp and my eyes alternately
from one to the other, when I desired to bring either Miss
Cook’s or Katie’s face to that portion of my field of view
where vision is most distinct. Since the occurrence here
referred to took place, Katie and Miss Cook have been seen
together by myself and eight other persons, in my own house,
illuminated by the full blaze of the electric light. On this
occasion Miss Cook’s face was not visible, as her head had
to be closely bound up in a thick shawl, but I specially
satisfied myself that she was there. An attempt to throw
the light direct on to her uncovered face, when entranced,
was attended with serious consequences.
The camera, too, emphasizes the points of differ-
ence between the medium and the form. He says :
One of the most interesting of the pictures is one in
which I am standing by the side of Katie ; she has her bare
foot upon a particular part of the floor. Afterwards I
dressed Miss Cook like Katie, placed her and myself in
exactly the same position, and we were photographed by the
same cameras, placed exactly as in the other experiment, and
illuminated by the same light. When these two pictures
are placed over each other, the two photographs of myself
coincide exactly as regards stature, etc., but Katie is half a
head taller than Miss Cook, and looks a big woman in
comparison with her. In the breadth of her face, in many of
the pictures, she differs essentially in size from her medium,
and the photographs show several other points of difference.
Crookes pays a high tribute to the medium,
Florence Cook :
The almost daily stances with which Miss Cook has
lately favoured me have proved a severe tax upon her
strength, and I wish to make the most public acknowledg-
ment of the obligations I am under to her for her readiness to
assist me in my experiments. Every test that I have proposed
she has at once agreed to submit to with the utmost willing-
ness ; she is open and straightforward in speech, and I have
never seen anything approaching the slightest symptom
of a wish to deceive. Indeed, I do not believe ‘she could
carry on a deception if she were to try, and if she did she
would certainly be found out very quickly, for such a line
of action is altogether foreign to her nature. And to
imagine that an innocent schoolgirl of fifteen should be able
to conceive and then successfully carry out for three years
so gigantic an imposture as this, and in that time should
submit to any test which might be imposed upon her, should
bear the strictest scrutiny, should be willing to be searched
at any time, either before or after a stance, and should meet
with even better success in my own house than at that
of her parents, knowing that she visited me with the express
object of submitting to strict scientific tests — ^to imagine,
! say, the Katie King of the last three years to be the result
of imposture, does more violence to one’s reason and
common sense than to believe her to be what she herself
affirms.*
During the week before Katie took her departure
she gave seances at my house almost nightly
to enable me to photograph her by artificial light.
Five complete sets of photographic apparatus were accordingly fitted up for the
purpose, consisting of five cameras, one of the whole-plate
size, one half-plate, one quarter-plate, and two binocular
stereoscopic cameras, which were all brought to bear upon
Katie at the same time on each occasion on which she stood
for her portrait. Five sensitizing and fixing baths were
used, and plenty of plates were cleaned ready for use in
advance, so that there might be no hitch or delay during
the photographing operations, which were performed by
myself, aided by one assistant.
My library was used as a dark cabinet. It has folding
doors opening into the laboratory ; one of these doors was
taken off its hinges, and a curtain suspended in its place
to enable Katie to pass in and out easily. Those of our
friends who were present were seated in the laboratory
facing the curtain, and the cameras were placed a little
behind them, ready to photograph Katie when she came
outside, and to photograph anything also inside the cabinet,
whenever the curtain was withdrawn for the purpose.
Each evening there were three or four exposures of plates
in the five cameras, giving at least fifteen separate pictures
at each stance ; some of these were spoilt in the developing,
and some in regulating the amount of light. Altogether
I have forty-four negatives, some inferior, some indifferent,
and some excellent.
Some of these photographs are in the author’s
possession, and surely there is no more wonderful
impression upon any plate than that which shows
Crookes at the height of his manhood, with this angel
— for such in trlith she was — leaning upon his arm.
-The word “ angel ” may seem an exaggeration, but
when an other-world spirit submits herself to the dis-
comforts of temporary and artificial existence in order
to convey the lesson of survival to a material and
worldly generation, there is no more fitting term.
Some controversy has arisen as to whether Crookes
ever saw the medium and Katie at the same moment.
Crookes says in the course of his report that he
frequently followed Katie into the cabinet, “ and have
sometimes seen her and her medium together, but most
generally I have found nobody but the entranced
medium lying on the floor, Katie and her white
robes having instantaneously disappeared.”
Much more direct testimony, however, is given by
Crookes in a letter to the Banner oj Eight (U.S.A.),
which is reproduced in The Spiritualist (London) of
July 17, 1874, p. 29. He writes :
In reply to your request, I beg to state that I saw Miss
Cook and Katie together at the same moment, by the light
of a phosphorus lamp, which was quite sufficient to enable
me to see distinctly all I described. The human eye will
naturally take in a wide angle, and thus the two figures
were included in my field of vision at the same time, but
the light being dim, and the two faces being several feet
apart, I naturally turned the lamp and my eyes alternately
from one to the other, when I desired to bring either Miss
Cook’s or Katie’s face to that portion of my field of view
where vision is most distinct. Since the occurrence here
referred to took place, Katie and Miss Cook have been seen
together by myself and eight other persons, in my own house,
illuminated by the full blaze of the electric light. On this
occasion Miss Cook’s face was not visible, as her head had
to be closely bound up in a thick shawl, but I specially
satisfied myself that she was there. An attempt to throw
the light direct on to her uncovered face, when entranced,
was attended with serious consequences.
The camera, too, emphasizes the points of differ-
ence between the medium and the form. He says :
One of the most interesting of the pictures is one in
which I am standing by the side of Katie ; she has her bare
foot upon a particular part of the floor. Afterwards I
dressed Miss Cook like Katie, placed her and myself in
exactly the same position, and we were photographed by the
same cameras, placed exactly as in the other experiment, and
illuminated by the same light. When these two pictures
are placed over each other, the two photographs of myself
coincide exactly as regards stature, etc., but Katie is half a
head taller than Miss Cook, and looks a big woman in
comparison with her. In the breadth of her face, in many of
the pictures, she differs essentially in size from her medium,
and the photographs show several other points of difference.
Crookes pays a high tribute to the medium,
Florence Cook :
The almost daily stances with which Miss Cook has
lately favoured me have proved a severe tax upon her
strength, and I wish to make the most public acknowledg-
ment of the obligations I am under to her for her readiness to
assist me in my experiments. Every test that I have proposed
she has at once agreed to submit to with the utmost willing-
ness ; she is open and straightforward in speech, and I have
never seen anything approaching the slightest symptom
of a wish to deceive. Indeed, I do not believe ‘she could
carry on a deception if she were to try, and if she did she
would certainly be found out very quickly, for such a line
of action is altogether foreign to her nature. And to
imagine that an innocent schoolgirl of fifteen should be able
to conceive and then successfully carry out for three years
so gigantic an imposture as this, and in that time should
submit to any test which might be imposed upon her, should
bear the strictest scrutiny, should be willing to be searched
at any time, either before or after a stance, and should meet
with even better success in my own house than at that
of her parents, knowing that she visited me with the express
object of submitting to strict scientific tests — ^to imagine,
! say, the Katie King of the last three years to be the result
of imposture, does more violence to one’s reason and
common sense than to believe her to be what she herself
affirms.*
_________________________________________
* " Researches in the Phenomena of Spiritualism."
* " Researches in the Phenomena of Spiritualism."
_________________________________________
Granting that a temporary form was built up from
the ectoplasm of Florence Cook, and that this form
was then occupied and used by an independent being
who called herself “ Katie King,” we are still faced
with the question, “ Who was Katie King ? ” To this
we can only give the answer which she gave herself,
while admitting that we have no proof of it. She
declared that she was the daughter of John King, who
had long been known among Spiritualists as the pre-
siding spirit at stances held for material phenomena.
His personality is discussed later in the chapter upon
the Eddy brothers and Mrs. Holmes, to which the
reader is referred. Her earth name had been Morgan,
and King was rather the general title of a certain class
of spirits than an ordinary name. Her life had been
spent two hundred years before, in the reign of Charles
the Second, in the island of Jamaica. Whether this be
true or not, she undoubtedly conformed to the part,
and her general conversation was consistent with her
account. One of the daughters of Professor Crookes
wrote to the author and described her vivid recol-
lection of tales of the Spanish Main told by this kindly
spirit to the children of the family. She made herself
beloved by all. Mrs. Crookes wrote :
At a stance with Miss Cook in our own house when
one of our sons was an infant of three weeks old,
Katie King, a materialized spirit, expressed the liveliest
interest in him and asked to be allowed to see the baby.
The infant was accordingly brought into the sdance room
and placed in the arms of Katie, who, after holding him
in the most natural way for a short time, smilingly gave
him back again.
Professor Crookes has left it on record that her
beauty and charm were unique in his experience.
The reader may reasonably think that the subdued
light which has been alluded to goes far to vitiate the
results by preventing exact observation. Professor
Crookes has assured us, however, that as the series of
stances proceeded toleration was established, and the
figure was able to bear a far greater degree of light.
This toleration had its limits, however, which were
never passed by Professor Crookes, but which were
tested to the full in a daring experiment described
by Miss Florence Marryat (Mrs. Ross-Church). It
should be stated that Professor Crookes was not pre-
sent at this experience, nor did Miss Marryat ever
claim that he was. She mentions, however, the name
of Mr. Carter Hall as being one of the company pre-
sent. Katie had very good-humouredly consented to
testing what the effect would be if a full light were
turned upon her image :
She took up her station against the drawing-room wall,
with her arms extended as if she were crucified. Then
three gas-burners were turned on to their full extent in a
room about sixteen feet square. The effect upon Katie
King was marvellous. She looked like herself for the space
of a second only, then she began gradually to melt away.
I can compare the dematerialization of her form to nothing
but a wax doll melting before a hot fire. First the features
became blurred and indistinct ; they seemed to run into
eacn other. The eyes sunk in the sockets, the nose dis-
appeared, the frontal bone fell in. Next the limbs appeared
to give way under her, and she sank lower and lower on
the carpet, like a crumbling edifice. At last there was
nothing but her head left above the ground — ^then a heap
of white drapery only, which disappeared with a whisk,
as if a hand had pulled it after her — and we were left staring
by the light of three gas-burners at the spot on which
Katie King had stood.*
Miss Marryat adds the interesting detail that at
some of these stances Miss Cook’s hair was nailed to
the ground, which did not in the least interfere with
the subsequent emergence of Katie from the cabinet.
The results obtained in his own home were
honestly and fearlessly reported by Professor Crookes
in his Journal * and caused the greatest possible com-
motion in the scientific world. A few of the larger
spirits, men like Russel Wallace, Lord Rayleigh,
the young and rising physicist William Barrett,
Cromwell Varley, and others, had their former
views confirmed, or were encouraged to advance
upon a new path of knowledge. There was a fiercely
intolerant party, however, headed by Carpenter the
physiologist, who derided the matter and were ready
to impute anything from lunacy to fraud to their
illustrious colleague. Organized science came badly
out of the matter. In his published account Crookes
gave the letters in which he asked Stokes, the secre-
tary of the Royal Society, to come down and see
these things with his own eyes. By his refusal to do
so, Stokes placed himself in exactly the same position
as those cardinals who would not look at the moons
of Jupiter through Galileo’s telescope. Material
science, when faced with a new problem, showed itself
to be just as bigoted as mediaeval theology.
Granting that a temporary form was built up from
the ectoplasm of Florence Cook, and that this form
was then occupied and used by an independent being
who called herself “ Katie King,” we are still faced
with the question, “ Who was Katie King ? ” To this
we can only give the answer which she gave herself,
while admitting that we have no proof of it. She
declared that she was the daughter of John King, who
had long been known among Spiritualists as the pre-
siding spirit at stances held for material phenomena.
His personality is discussed later in the chapter upon
the Eddy brothers and Mrs. Holmes, to which the
reader is referred. Her earth name had been Morgan,
and King was rather the general title of a certain class
of spirits than an ordinary name. Her life had been
spent two hundred years before, in the reign of Charles
the Second, in the island of Jamaica. Whether this be
true or not, she undoubtedly conformed to the part,
and her general conversation was consistent with her
account. One of the daughters of Professor Crookes
wrote to the author and described her vivid recol-
lection of tales of the Spanish Main told by this kindly
spirit to the children of the family. She made herself
beloved by all. Mrs. Crookes wrote :
At a stance with Miss Cook in our own house when
one of our sons was an infant of three weeks old,
Katie King, a materialized spirit, expressed the liveliest
interest in him and asked to be allowed to see the baby.
The infant was accordingly brought into the sdance room
and placed in the arms of Katie, who, after holding him
in the most natural way for a short time, smilingly gave
him back again.
Professor Crookes has left it on record that her
beauty and charm were unique in his experience.
The reader may reasonably think that the subdued
light which has been alluded to goes far to vitiate the
results by preventing exact observation. Professor
Crookes has assured us, however, that as the series of
stances proceeded toleration was established, and the
figure was able to bear a far greater degree of light.
This toleration had its limits, however, which were
never passed by Professor Crookes, but which were
tested to the full in a daring experiment described
by Miss Florence Marryat (Mrs. Ross-Church). It
should be stated that Professor Crookes was not pre-
sent at this experience, nor did Miss Marryat ever
claim that he was. She mentions, however, the name
of Mr. Carter Hall as being one of the company pre-
sent. Katie had very good-humouredly consented to
testing what the effect would be if a full light were
turned upon her image :
She took up her station against the drawing-room wall,
with her arms extended as if she were crucified. Then
three gas-burners were turned on to their full extent in a
room about sixteen feet square. The effect upon Katie
King was marvellous. She looked like herself for the space
of a second only, then she began gradually to melt away.
I can compare the dematerialization of her form to nothing
but a wax doll melting before a hot fire. First the features
became blurred and indistinct ; they seemed to run into
eacn other. The eyes sunk in the sockets, the nose dis-
appeared, the frontal bone fell in. Next the limbs appeared
to give way under her, and she sank lower and lower on
the carpet, like a crumbling edifice. At last there was
nothing but her head left above the ground — ^then a heap
of white drapery only, which disappeared with a whisk,
as if a hand had pulled it after her — and we were left staring
by the light of three gas-burners at the spot on which
Katie King had stood.*
Miss Marryat adds the interesting detail that at
some of these stances Miss Cook’s hair was nailed to
the ground, which did not in the least interfere with
the subsequent emergence of Katie from the cabinet.
The results obtained in his own home were
honestly and fearlessly reported by Professor Crookes
in his Journal * and caused the greatest possible com-
motion in the scientific world. A few of the larger
spirits, men like Russel Wallace, Lord Rayleigh,
the young and rising physicist William Barrett,
Cromwell Varley, and others, had their former
views confirmed, or were encouraged to advance
upon a new path of knowledge. There was a fiercely
intolerant party, however, headed by Carpenter the
physiologist, who derided the matter and were ready
to impute anything from lunacy to fraud to their
illustrious colleague. Organized science came badly
out of the matter. In his published account Crookes
gave the letters in which he asked Stokes, the secre-
tary of the Royal Society, to come down and see
these things with his own eyes. By his refusal to do
so, Stokes placed himself in exactly the same position
as those cardinals who would not look at the moons
of Jupiter through Galileo’s telescope. Material
science, when faced with a new problem, showed itself
to be just as bigoted as mediaeval theology.
_________________________
• " There Is No Death," p. 143, ,
• " There Is No Death," p. 143, ,
________________________
Before quitting the subject of Katie King one'
should say a few words as to the future of the great
medium from whom she had her physical being. Miss
Cook became Mrs. Corner, but continued to exhibit
her remarkable powers. The author is only aware of
one occasion upon which the honesty of her medium-
ship was called in question, and that was when she was
seized by Sir George Sitwell and accused of person-
ating a spirit. The author is of opinion that a mate-
rializing medium should always be secured so that she
cannot wander around — and this as a protection against
herself. It is unlikely that she will move in deep
trance, but in the half-trance condition there is
nothing to prevent her unconsciously, or semi-con-
sciously, or in obedience to suggestion from the ex-
pectations of the circle, wandering out of the cabinet
into the room. It is a reflection of our own ignorance
that a lifetime of proof should be clouded by a single
episode of this nature. It is worthy of remark, how-
ever, that upon this occasion the observers agreed that
the figure was white, whereas when Mrs. Corner was
seized no white was to be seen. An experienced in-
vestigator would probably have concluded that this
was not a materialization, but a transfiguration, which
means that the ectoplasm, being insufficient to build
up a complete figure, has been used to drape the
medium so that she herself may carry the simulacrum.
Commenting upon such cases, the great German
investigator. Dr. Schrenck Notzing, says ; *
This (a photograph) is interesting as throwing a light on
Before quitting the subject of Katie King one'
should say a few words as to the future of the great
medium from whom she had her physical being. Miss
Cook became Mrs. Corner, but continued to exhibit
her remarkable powers. The author is only aware of
one occasion upon which the honesty of her medium-
ship was called in question, and that was when she was
seized by Sir George Sitwell and accused of person-
ating a spirit. The author is of opinion that a mate-
rializing medium should always be secured so that she
cannot wander around — and this as a protection against
herself. It is unlikely that she will move in deep
trance, but in the half-trance condition there is
nothing to prevent her unconsciously, or semi-con-
sciously, or in obedience to suggestion from the ex-
pectations of the circle, wandering out of the cabinet
into the room. It is a reflection of our own ignorance
that a lifetime of proof should be clouded by a single
episode of this nature. It is worthy of remark, how-
ever, that upon this occasion the observers agreed that
the figure was white, whereas when Mrs. Corner was
seized no white was to be seen. An experienced in-
vestigator would probably have concluded that this
was not a materialization, but a transfiguration, which
means that the ectoplasm, being insufficient to build
up a complete figure, has been used to drape the
medium so that she herself may carry the simulacrum.
Commenting upon such cases, the great German
investigator. Dr. Schrenck Notzing, says ; *
This (a photograph) is interesting as throwing a light on
______________________________________________
* " Phenomena of MatenaUzation ** (English Translation).
* " Phenomena of MatenaUzation ** (English Translation).
_____________________________________________
the genesis of the so-called transfigutation, i.e. . . . the
medium takes upon herself the part of the spirit, endeavour-
ing to dramatize the character of the person in question by
clothing herself in the materialized fabrics. This transi-
tion stage is found in nearly all materialization mediums.
The literature of the subject records a large number of
attempts at exposure of mediums thus impersonating
“ spirits,” e.g. that of the medium Bastian by the Crown
Prince Rudolph, that of Crookes’s medium. Miss Cook,
that of Madame d’Esperance, etc. In all these cases the
medium was seized, but the fabrics used for masking
immediately disappeared, and were not afterwards found.
It would appear, then, that the true reproach in
such cases lies with the negligent sitters rather than
with the unconscious medium.
The sensational nature of Professor Crookes’s ex-
periments with Miss Cook, and the fact, no doubt, that
they seemed more vulnerable to attack, have tended
to obscure his very positive results with Home and
with Miss Fox, which have established the powers of
those mediums upon a solid basis. Crookes soon found
the usual difficulties which researchers encounter, but
he had sense enough to realize that in an entirely new
subject one has to adapt oneself to the conditions,
and not abandon the study in disgust because the
conditions refuse to adapt themselves to our own
preconceived ideas.
the genesis of the so-called transfigutation, i.e. . . . the
medium takes upon herself the part of the spirit, endeavour-
ing to dramatize the character of the person in question by
clothing herself in the materialized fabrics. This transi-
tion stage is found in nearly all materialization mediums.
The literature of the subject records a large number of
attempts at exposure of mediums thus impersonating
“ spirits,” e.g. that of the medium Bastian by the Crown
Prince Rudolph, that of Crookes’s medium. Miss Cook,
that of Madame d’Esperance, etc. In all these cases the
medium was seized, but the fabrics used for masking
immediately disappeared, and were not afterwards found.
It would appear, then, that the true reproach in
such cases lies with the negligent sitters rather than
with the unconscious medium.
The sensational nature of Professor Crookes’s ex-
periments with Miss Cook, and the fact, no doubt, that
they seemed more vulnerable to attack, have tended
to obscure his very positive results with Home and
with Miss Fox, which have established the powers of
those mediums upon a solid basis. Crookes soon found
the usual difficulties which researchers encounter, but
he had sense enough to realize that in an entirely new
subject one has to adapt oneself to the conditions,
and not abandon the study in disgust because the
conditions refuse to adapt themselves to our own
preconceived ideas.
