()cm 191 L Cornfewriortts of cs. " relepaihigt.' 315 CONFL.SSIONS OF A "'TELEPATHIST." WE think that those of our members who do not regularly see the Daily New5 may be interested in Teading the follow- ing articles and letters, concerning some early experiments of the Society, which appeared in that paper during September. We therefore, with the kind permission of the Editor of the Daily News, reproduce than here. lt may be remarked that thin is not the first time Mr. Blackburn has published big so-callod "Confession." He wrote similar articles in John Bwil in 1908-9 and now returns to the charge_ He writes in the Daily News of Sept. 1st, 1911 • For nearly thirty years the telepathic experiments conducted by Mr. G. 11. Smith and myself have been acceptor' and cited as the basic evidences of the truth of Thought. Transference.. Your correspondent "Inquirer'' is one of many who have pointed. to them as a conclusive reply to modern sceptics_ The weight ttemlied to those experiments was given by their publication in the first volume of the proce.edings of the Society for PAychleal Research, vouched for by Messrs. F. W. H. Myers, Edmund Gurney, Frank Pod.rnore, and later and inferentially by Profossor Henry Sidgwick, Professor Romanes, and others of equal intellectual emi- nence. They were the first scientiically conducted and attested exporirnenti in Thought Transference, and later were imitated and reproduced by "setwitives" all the world over. I am the bole survivor of that group of experimentalists, and as no harm can he done to snyouc., hut possible good to the. cause of truth, IF with mingled feelings of regret and sati9faction, now declare that the whole of those alleged experiments were bogies, and originated in the: honest desire of two youths to show how easily men of Bele ri ti tic mind and training could he deceived when seeking for evidence in support of a theory they wore wishful to establish. And here let me say that I make! 'ail a avowal in no boastful spirit. Within three months of our acquaintance with the leaditg members of the Society for Psychical Research Mr_ Smith and myself heartily r+...*retted. that the pe mortally charming and scientifically distinguished men should. hare been victimised:, but it was too .ate to remota. We did the next. bust thing_ •We stood aside and watched with amazement the astounding spread of the fire we had in a spirit of rnisehief lighted. 1.16 jottirncei of Su cle fur _Psyekical Pesearek ocm, The genesis of the matter was in this wise, In the late seventies and early eighties a wave of So-called occultism passed over England_ Public interest+ became absorbed in the varied alleged phenomena of Spiritualism? Meninerism, and thought-reading; "pro- femora " of the various branches abounded, and Brighton, where I was editing a weekly journal, became a happy bunting ground for modiume of every kind. I had started au exposure campaign, and had been rather Successful. My great score was being the firet to det.ect the secret of Irving Bishop's thought-reading. In 1882 I encountered Mr. G. A_ Smith, a youth of 19, whom I found giving a mesmeric entertainment. Scenting a fraud, I proceeded to in- vestigate, made hig acquaintance, and very soon realised that I had discovered a genius in his line. He has since been well known as a powerful hypnotist. He was also the too4 ingenioug conjurer I have met outside the profession, He had the versatility of an Edison in devising new tricks and improving on old ones. We entered into a compact to "show up" some of the then flourishing professors of occultism, and began by practising thought-reading. Within a month we were astonishing Brighton at bazaars and kin- dred charity entertainments, and enjoyed a great vogue. One of our exhibitions was described very fully and enthusiastically in Ghe spiritualistic paper, and on the strength of that the Messrs_ Myers, Gurney, and Podmore called on us and asked for a private demonstration. As we had made a strict rule never to take payment for our exhibitions, we were accepted by the society as private unpaid demonstrators, and as such remained during the long series of iseancea. It is but right to explain that at this period neit.her of us knew or realised the scientific standing and earnest motive of the gentle- men who had approached 114- We saw in them only a superior type of the spiritualistic cranks by whom we were daily pasted. Our first private spdanoe was accepted so unhesitatingly, and the lack of reasonable precautions on the part of the "investigators" was so marked, that Smith and 1 were genuinely amused, and felt it our duty to show how utterly incompetent were he "scientific investigators." Our plan was to bambixitle them thoroughly, then let the world know the value of scientific research. It was the vatiity of the schoolboy who catches a master tripping, A description of the codes and method® of communication in vented and employed by us to nstgiblieh telepathic rapport would need more space than could be spared. Suffice it that, thanks to oar_, 111, Confestions of a '4 Tlepathist" 117 the ingenuity of Smith, they became marvellously complete. They grew with the demands upon them_ Startingwith a crude set or signals produced by the jingling .nf pince-nez, sleeve-links, tong and short breathings,. and e-ven blow- ing, they developed to a degTee little short of marvellous. To this day no conjurer has succeeded in approaching our great. feat, by which Smith, scientifically blindfolded, deafened, and muffled in two blankets, reproduced in detail an irregular figure drawn by Mr. Myers, and seen only by hire and me, The value of a contribution such ma. this should lie not. 80 much in describing the machinery as in pointing out how and where these investigators failed, so that future investigators may avoid their mi stakes_ I say boldly that Mews. Myers 2.4{1 Gurney were too anxious to get. corroboration of their theories to hold the balance impar- tially. Again and again they gave the benefit of the doubt to 07rperimente that were failures. They allowed us to impose our own conditions, (Lecepter without demur our explanations of failure, end, in abort, exhibited a complaisance and confidence %which, how. .ever complimentary to us, was scarcely consonant with a strict investigation on behalf of the public. . That this same slackneaa eharacterised their investigations with Other seasitives I an satisfied, for. I witilmed many, and the pub- limbed reports confirmed the suspicion. It is also worthy of note that other sensitives broke down or showed weakness on the same points that Smith and I failed—namely, in visualising an article difficult to describe in words signalled by a code, A regular figure or familiar object was nearly always seen by the per but when a splotch of ink, or a grotesque irregular fiore„ had to be transferred from one brain to the other, the result was -always failure. We, owing to a .L'ery ingenious diagram code, got. .nearer than anybody, but our limitations were great. Smith. and. I F any constant pra..utice, became so sympathetic that we frequently brought off startling hits, which were nothing but •livares. The part that fortuitous accident plays in this blabinat8 man only be believed by those who have become expert in the art of watching for and seizing an opportunity. 'When these hits were made, the delight of the investigators caused them to throw of their caution and accept practically anything we offered. I am aware it may be reasonably objected that the existence of a false coin does not prove the. non-existence of a gioci one, 116 Journal of Society for PErychicat Remeareit. Oar., 1911_ eviggesition s-1:5 the result of years of observation is that the majority of investigators and reporters in psychical reaeartb lack that accu- rate observation and absence of bias which are essential to rigorous and relic ble investagation.. IR fine. I gravely doubt not the bore Mon, but the cap?city, of the niter eases. I could fill columns oil- ing how, in the muse of ray later investigations or, behalf of the Society for Psychical Research, I have detected persona of other. wise unimpeachable recatuale touching up and redressing the weak points in their narratives of telepathic experiences. lir. Frank Podrnore, perhaps the moat level-headed of the researchers—and to the end a sceptic—aptly puts it : "it 16 not the friend whom we know whose eyes must he closed arid his ears muffled, but the Mr. Hyde,' whose lurking presence in each of us roc are only now beginning to suspect" I pau convinced that this propensity to deceive is more general among "persons of character" than is supposed. I have known the wife of a bishop, when faced with a discrepancy in time in a btory of a death in India and the appearance of the wraith in England, deliberately amend her eircurristantial story by many hours to fit the altered cirtumstautes. This touching-up process in the telepathic stories I have met again and again, and I say, with full regard to the weight of words, that an the hundreds of stories. I have investigated I have not. met one that had not a weak link which should prevent its being accepted is scientifically- established. Goincidekices that at first sight appear good arse of telepathic rapport occur to triany of us. I have experienced several, but I should hesitate to preserit them as perfect evidence, At tho risk of giving offenco to none, I feel bound to say that in the veel majority of case that I have investigated the principals are either biassed in favour of belief in the supernatural or not persons whom I should regard as accurate observers and capable or animating the rigid mathematical form cf evidence.. What one desires to believe requires little corroboration. I shall doubtless raise a storm of protest when 1 assert that the principal cause of belief in psychic phenomena is the inability of the average Troll to observe accurately and estimate. the value of evidei-oci., plus a bias in favour of the phenomena being real, It is an amazing fact that I have never yet, after hundreds of tee% found a man who cori[...1 accurately describe ten minutes afterwards a series of simple acts which I performed in his presence, The reports of those trained and con- scientious observem, Messrs. Myers and Gurney, contain many 1011. Confessions of a " Tetepathimi." 119 absolute inaccuracies... For example, in describing one of my "ex- periments," they say emplhatiorilly, "In no case did B. touch S., even in the eligh test manner." I touched him eight times, that being the only way in which our code was then worked. In conclusions I ask thoughtful persons to consider this proposi- tion : If two youths, with a week's prepaistion, could deceive trained and careful observers like. Messrs. Myers, Gurney, Pedmore, Sidgwick, and liamanesy under the most stringent conditions their ingenuity could devise, what are the chances of succeeding inquirers being more successful against. "sensitives" who have had the advantage of more years' experience. then Smith and I had weeks'? Further, I would erriphssix the fact that records of telepathic rapport in almost every inawnee depend upon the statement of one person, ireitally strongly predisposed. to belief in the ciceult, A 11.91/4 3011.4 1911, DouGt.As BLACKBURN, The Editor of Liffite, Mr.. EL W. NiTanis, replied in the issue of September 2nd (To the Editor of " The Daily Nove.") Sir„—Mr. Douglas Blackburn has supplied you with a by no means modest thougb a very ingenious account of his past misdeeds. . Mr. Bhckburn now says : One of our exhibitions was described very fully and enthusiastically in " Light," the spiritualistic paper, and on the strength of that the Messra, Myers, Guruey, and Pod more called on us and asked for a private demonstration." But, Sir, the only description of the prticeedings of Messrs. G. A. Smith and Douglas Blackburn which I can 5nd in " Light" is one written and signed by Blackburn himself (" Light," Anguet 26tb, 1882). In this eom- mutcication he says " I haye had the satisfaction of experiencing some demonstrations of mind-sympathy 'which are, I believe, almost without precedent." Describing Mr. Smith's experiment, Mr. Black- burn proceeds : " He places himself en rapport. with myself by taking mf hands; and a strong concentration of will and mental vision on my part has enabled him to recd my thoughts with t accuracy that approaches the miraculous. . . .. The sympathy between us has been developed to such a. degree that he rarely fails to experience the taste of any liquid or solid I choose to imagine." There is more of the EIABIt kind of writing_ The letter I have quoted finished with a statement that spiritualists and scientific inquirers wodd be welcomed soma private seancen that were about to he held. 120 Journal of Society for Psychical &starch. ter., HILL In the " Proceedings" of the Society for Psychical Research, in which the results of the experiments made by Messrs. Smith and Blackburn were published, a note was appended to the report stating that Mr. Blackburn had written to the Society (of which he became an associate member), to the effeet that he had obtained remarkable result.s in thought-reading} or will-impression." After eorresponding with Mr. Blackburn, who sent "a paper recording in detail his experiments with Mr. Smith," Me45.srs. _Myers and Gurney decided to go to Brighton to i nveetigate. Mr, Blackburn at that time seemed honest, and was regarded as a very painstaking observer." lie claimed that by strongly con- centrating his will and mental vision he established such mind- sympathy with Mr, Smith tha.t. the latter was able to read his thoughts with "an accuracy" that "approached the miraculous," To-d.q. Mr. Blackburn assures us that his letter to "Light" was an enthusiastic way of misleading the public, that he and Mr. Smith only employed "codes," that there was no thought-reading about the hilliness. . . As for the rest of Mr. Blackburn's statements with reference to Messrs. Myers and Gurney, what. can be thought of & man who waits until he is " the sole survivor " of the group of experimentalists before lie—" in the cause of truth," forsooth— publicly charges them with incompetency and unreliability I In my ()pinion, by his own showing he surrenders every claim to respect- ful attention. And when he makes the claim that for nearly thirty years his experiments with Mr. Smith " have been accepted and cited as the haste evidenecs of the truth of thonght-transferencer" one can only mile and pity. Fortunately telepe.thy does not rest upon any such flimsy basis, E. IV. W A L LI 8, (Editor of " Light.") Oil Sept. 4th, 1911, the Editor of the Daily Nem published the followirg interview with bfr. G. A. Smith: "Let me say at once," he began, "that Mr. Blackburn's story ig 2:1 tissue of errors from beginning to end_ In the first plack! I most emphatically deny that ever it' any degree, in any way, when working thirty years ago with Mr. Blackburn, attempted to hare- boozle Messrs. Myers, Glurney and Podm ore. Had such a thing been possible i had too much admiration and respect for there and too much respect for myself to try. These gentlemen, long be Fore they met us, had ki pent years in investigatin.g psychic phenomena, loll. Confeesions of ft "TelepaiitiAr 121 and were aware of every device and dodge. for Znaking sham phenomena. They were on the watch not only for premeditated trickery, but for unconscious trickery na, war_ You could not deceive them, and the quack mediums hated them in consequence. Were it not for the teaching of Myers sf.tid Gurney on the unreliability of human evidence Mt. BlackLlurn could not say what he has said. He is merely repeating what they taught him. The flnest expositions of such unreliability s.re by Myers and Gurney.. They wore so highly equipped for this work that the beat trick mediums could never do their tries in .their presence. I was most closely associated with both men, being private 6cenotsxy to each in turn, and speak the thin ga I know," "Can you give me examples of the errors you allege. in Mr. Blackburn's article 1" "Unfortunately it. is only too easy. Let me detail a few. He says Myers, Gurney and Podmore ealled on us and asked for a private demonstration, This is not so; it was Blackburn who first approached the Psychical Research Society, and seta, them an account of his experiments with me and offered a demonstration. lie says his first score was his detection of the secret. of Irving Bishop's thought-reeding where and when did he detect thin and What record is there of his discovery? Prof. Barrett., whoa e judgment he is now deriding, was the .first to do this. "He says we formed a compact to 'show- up' the profcmors. We did no such thing. Blackburn at that time was a serious investigator, and assuredly I was. . . " He says ] was the Tuna(' ingenious conjurer he ever met ontaiLie Dhe profession, whereas I am the wont conjuror in the world. . lie says we hAd a code of signals. We had not a single one; we never contemplated the possibility of coding until we learnt it from Mr. Myers and Mr. Gurney themselves. He says we practised together and brought, off startling hits. We never did anything of the kind. He did once say what a joarnalistic sensation might be made by pretending the phenomena wcrc. done by trickery.. Ho hag 'waited, it appekm, until he thought all were dead ...who took part in the experiments in order to pretend this." "Do you recall, Mr, Smith, what Mr. Blackburn calls E our great feat," by which you, scientifically blindfolded, deafened, and mu led in two blankets, reprcduced in detail an irreguisr figure drawn by Mr. Myers and seen only by him and Mr. Blackburn 1" " Yes, >l recall it perfectly, and the discussion which followed, 122 Journal of Soci et y for P.syr.th od _Researa. rier., when Mr. aurnoy said the only possible way of doing it by trickery Ncras to conceal the drawing in a pencil case attd pass it into my hand. I was amused to read two years ago in a weekly paper containing some atatements by Mr. Blackburn that he gave this very explanation of how the 4tricki was done!" It was. no trick then, Mr_ $rnith :" "No, it was a bona fide experiment., and the successful result was either due to chance or telepathy. I think it moat unlikely it was due to chance; the drawing so closely resembled the original. The eond.itions under which the experiment was carried out were at once too stringent and too sitn.ple to admit of conjuring, and the best answer to those who deny it was telepathy is to ask them to repeat the experiment in the presence of equally qualified observers and under similar conditions.," Mr. Smith, when questioned as to the accuracy of Mr. Black.- burres statement that lie had touched biro. (Al r. Smith) eight times, r that being the only way our code was then worked: denied that Mr. Blackburn had ever to him, ". . We had no code," he said.. "The whole object of the experiment was to obtain thought transference, and all touehings were out of the question. Whenever there TV 24 any touching or contact of any description it is always minutely recorded by the observers—see the records of the Psychical Research Society. "Further—and this is most important—none of the experiments in which Blackburn was concerned have been put forward by the Psychical Theses:rah Society in any authoritative work. So far from this being the CAW the journals of the society' contain the following statement made when Mr. Blackburn's teonfessione first appeared: Thiar so-calla1 confession Aad tto 'shpt to the has.. Li would k a itnistaketo npliao Mat Mete e2-petiniests seers si r reganicti, En Mr. Bladobtom assteiris, as the 'ed-rock founde3lion of an the later experiments. "which are said 110 FTV C'e the ailtiV/Ce tY. telepathy.. On I.A.e2 caparary Me experiments let question were not irtprintrei (as others were) in " rhamiatons of The Living" Tun. in any other .standard work of the kind. Nor is it trite Mai the coact ims were thatig lit ideal_ in the first series tontact logs talowed, (aid as to The sec act the operirritnieTs Flak dhnL " a woad fie doubt i5e.an etaggeratiun. to affirm. that 024 possibility of (auditory) suns ls reholff gay to3u6144.. We AM Prignsumr 4.0 to !Airy Me am- tfidtnss ref subsequen4 vperinlents ti) e:xcitide the irlypothab compkiely." 1 The etatem.unt which Mr. Smith quotes was, me a. matur of fact, contearked main the Jaroticii, but in a Lim& t. prink-4. 4eparoUrly awl issued to enquirer!. Ocr.., 1011.Confeagioirts of a 44 Telepathid." 123 .. The conneil of the society discusse41 whether his articles should be replied to, but decided tom, treat him and his confessions with the contempt bath merit. They thought it would be playing his game to trot him seriously.' Nfr, Blackburn wrote en Clio following day The fact that Mr_ G. A. Smith is alive 4upplies another argument in support of my pet theory, that most human evidence is unreliable, I was informed of his death when I was in Africa, and since my return two pfsrSORS who daimed to know him corroborated inde. pendently, while a letter I addressed to him waa return escl " not known," Had I been aware of 16 existence I should not have opened up the subject, for I am aware that Mr. Smith, as he confirms in to-day's interview, spent many of the years that hare elapsed since our acquaintance in close association with lesding members of the Society for Psychical Eesearch i n fiduciary capacity, I am. also aware that that position was the legitimate reward for his services in connection with onr telepathic "experi- ments" and his undoubted power as a remarkable hypnotist_ liThile pleased to learn that the bright, amusing, and ingenious confaire of thirty years ago is in the prime of life, I am sorry that I should. have unintentionally forced him into having to defend a position he has occupied so long. I have been reproached for postponing my confession until after the death of the principals. I any satisfied that in doing this I showed my regard for those geutlemen.—Mr. Smith included—and my desire to avoid giving them pain. That Mr. Smith should have to bear the brunt of the attack is unfortunate, but quite accidental on my part. But now to business.. Mr. Smith gives a categorical denial to my story ; declares that he was a genuine sensitive, and I also the possessor of psychic power. He could do no leas, and 1 cannot blame him- Be wa.s a plucky controversialist in those younger dayR, and I axii prepared to Flee him put up a tough fight now. In most controversies there is a tendency to obscure the main issue by the introduction of minor details. Let Ixs clear the decks of unnecessary- lumber, such as the question whether 1 fa rat approached the P.R, or they me. It is sufficient that we met. It is also agreed that Smith and I conducted many alleged telepathic experi- Lnlita. It is a fAct that those experiments were considered of sufficient importance then to be given first place in the official report. Mr. Smith also knows that they excited great interest, 124 Journal of Society for _Psychical Research. °m, 1an. and that he and I were made much of by many men of Eci!ent ific eminence. To attempt to belittle the importance of those experi- ments now is childish. No doubt greater things have been brought off wince, but we were the pioneers, and I SIR satisfied that we unintentionally gave scores of subsequent experimenters the cue hoo- t° become "telepathic sensitives.' Mr. Smith denies that we employed a code. My reply is that without. one it would have been impossible for me to convey to him the figures drawn by the members of the committee for trans- ference from my brain to that of the blindfolded, blanket-nauffied, sensitive Smith. Let us dismiss all the other successful experiment, —any one of which I will undertake to repeat to-day under identical conditions, with the aid of any intelligent confederatc—and confine ourselves to "our igreat feat," which Mr. Smith tells your inter-. viewer he recalls perfectly. That feat, if genuine, would establish telepathy beyond cavil.. Al] others Pink into insignificance in com- parison. _ft was a roaster stroke, and so great was the impression produced by it both upon the " best trained and beet qualifier./ observers in IA)ndon " and ourselves, that we derided to retire u.poa onr laurels, feeling certain we could mover hope to repeat or equal it. It was the best and last thing I did. his Mr. Smith repudiates participation in the invention. I will take full credit or otherwise for its I lkisk that readers will note very carefully every detail in. the ensuing description of the trick, for it is they who will have to give the verdict. The committee had realised the possibility of conveying by signals a description of a regular figure or any object capable of being described in words, and I would direct the attention of those who have access to the printed copies of the early figures Smith and I produced, h will be noticed that so long as the figures were describable in words they were fairly accurate reproductions; hut. the more irregular and indescribable they became the greater and wider were the discrepancies between the original seen by me and the copy produced by Smith. Now I put it as a fair question ; If Smith could see what 1 saw, as be professed, why is it that he could see plainly an equilateral triangle, but fail to see it if one of the sides or angles wig " wobbly' and out Of shape? Again, if he could reproduce with reasonable accuracy the silhouette of tuan's head, easily described by a code, why did he fail when that Game head was touched up with black ink protaberanons, with the nose under the chin, a big ear, on the hack of the head, and