Several Great Mediums. 61 



the entreaties of Mrs. Speirs to have some spiritual entertain- 

 ment at home, against which good Sahii had no objection. 



Mrs. Speirs had presented me to several great mediums. 

 One was a ' knocking,' another a ' tipping,' and a third a 

 * writing ' medium. The knocking medium — that is, the one 

 which communicated with the spirits by means of knocks, 

 answering her questions by a certain number of them, meaning 

 yes or no — was a very pretty girl, of the name of Anna Sugden. 

 I have forgotten the name of the ' tipping ' medium, a lady 

 who made the spirits tip tables and other heavy pieces of 

 furniture for purposes I could not fathom. The ' writing ' 

 medium was a Mrs. Heath Adams. She caused her friends 

 amongst the spirits to induce others to answer questions in the 

 same handwriting they once wrote v/hen living in the body on 

 this earth. 



This Mrs. Heath Adams made herself quite notorious. She 

 afterwards went to the Potomac army and converted the 

 soldiers to her belief She created amongst them such an ex- 

 citement and confusion, that the generals could not tolerate it, 

 and expelled her from the camp as a dangerous fanatic, whose 

 place would be better in a lunatic asylum. 



One evening, Mrs. Spiers, three mediums, and many other 

 ladies assembled for a spiritual entertainment in my lodging. 

 We were sitting round a table in a larsje room full of expectation. 

 The gaslights were turned down, leaving only a dim light which 

 seems to agree with spirits. The spirits were rather slow in 

 coming, and the knocks, manifesting their presence, were very 

 faint and timid. Miss Sugden explained that the table was 

 ' not yet charged sufiliciently,' and requested us to be patient. 

 We were patient, and the excitement and fear of some of the 

 ladies increased every moment. At last the knocking became 

 louder, and the spirits made such a noise that I really was 

 airaid my table would be knocked to pieces. Now the medium 

 proposed to put mental questions to the spirits, on which they 

 would answer by knocks meaning yes or no, which was done 

 to general satisfaction. 



Though I could see the ladies, and observe their movements, 

 I could not help connecting these knocks with them, and ask- 

 ing whether the powers of the spirits extended only to the table ; 

 the medium answered that 1 might wish, only in my thoughts, 

 to hear the knocking anywhere else. I did so, and scarcely 



