By Stephen Ellis - In the preceding part, I expressed my opinion that most, if not all, of the famous mediums, the ones who claim to be able to communicate with the dead, at will, are not for real.
Back in the late 1800s and the early 1900s there was a magician called Harry Houdini (his real name was Eric Weiss, although the true spelling of Eric Weiss has been subject to several interpretations). Houdini was, primarily an escape artist and publicly escaped from chains, handcuffs, while buried alive, suspended from enormous heights or submerged in water. He was an absolutely great magician and was dedicated to exposing frauds. During Houdini’s tenure as the number one magician in the world, there was a great movement in the world of spiritualism. Mediums/psychics such as Edgar Casey, Elizabeth Montgomery and many others claimed to be able to contact the dead.
Houdini would attend numerous séances, in disguise, and expose the so-called mediums as pure fakery. In fact, Houdini offered a reward of $10,000 (in 1920) to anyone who could prove spiritual contact with the deceased. That would be like offering $120,000 in today’s dollars. There were many who tried, but none succeeded.
I am one of the original members of the world-famous “Magic Castle” in Hollywood. Before it became the #1 showplace in the nation, magicians would sit-around and discuss a number of topics. Always popular was spiritualism. Traditionally, many magicians “fake” spiritual acts, but like Houdini, they would dedicate much of their time to try and expose mediums who claimed the ability to genuinely contact the dead. The Las Vegas stars, Penn & Teller, are among those who have made concerted efforts to try and expose psychic frauds.
I’m not a professional magician, but I did pay my way through college giving magic and hypnotism shows in the New York area. It was at one of my hypnotism shows that I first encountered the paranormal: I had hypnotized a group of volunteers one of which was a girl about 17 years old. The book “The Search for Bridey Murphy” was a national best-seller, so I decided to try a little experiment and regressed the girl back to a time before she was born. I did not know if there would be any response, but suddenly she looked up and started speaking French. I am not fluent in French, but there was a lady in the audience who was French. She said the girl was speaking an “archaic” version of the language.
When I awakened the girl, I asked her if she spoke French? “No.” What language was she studying in school? “Spanish”. Had she ever been to France or a French-speaking country? “No.” Were her parents French or French descendants? “No.” In fact she said she had lived her entire life in New York. When I told the girl what happened, she became frightened and would never allow me to hypnotize her again.
The above having been said, I firmly believe that communication with the dead (to a limited extent) is possible. But, that communication must be to and from someone who is/was extremely close to the decedent. Someone with whom consciousness was shared. I have never been convinced that some stranger can act as a “medium” between a dead and a live person. Many people with whom I have spoken have received messages from a deceased spouse, parent or child. Some of these messages have contained information such as the existence and location of secret documents… which have proven to be true.
The thing to remember is that our mind or “aura” lives in a different dimension than our live bodies. We cannot “see” or “feel” our mind. Scientists have never been able to locate the mind in any part of our body. We assume the mind is in our brain…but no scientist or physician has ever been able to attribute it to any part of the brain. In fact the only way we even know t exists is because it talks to us in our own voice from inside our head…which must mean that our brain is acting as a medium to whatever dimension our mind is in. But, if the brain is no longer able to communicate, how can the mind pierce the dimension barrier? Most communications with the dead have been brief and in the nature of “warnings” or to let the living know that the dead are well and comfortable.
Yet, there are hundreds of records supported by enormous empirical evidence that people have received messages from the dead. More about this in another Part.
If you are interested in the subject, I suggest you read my book, “Explaining the Unexplained”. You can download a Kindle of it for about $5.00. Hard and soft-cover copies are available at Barnes & Nobel and at Amazon. - stebrel@aol.com
NOTE: I do not endorse or impugn any of the narrative posted by the author. It has been posted solely as the opinion of the author without any input by myself (unless I was quoted). The narrative has been published, as received, without any edits. Stephen Ellis - author of Explaining the Unexplained
will be joining us on Arcane Radio - September 28th - 10PM ET / 7PM PT...Lon
Click the 'Listen Live' link or go to Arcane Radio 'Listen & Chat'
Follow 'Arcane Radio' on Facebook
'Phantoms & Monsters' Available Titles
Don't have a Kindle device? No problem...
Free Reading Apps: Your Kindle purchase can be sent automatically to your
Android, iPad, iPhone, PC, Mac, BlackBerry, or Windows Phone 7 device.
Amazon.com - Read eBooks using the FREE Kindle Reading App on Most Devices
15% Off - All U.S. Veterans & Active Military / Spouses.
Use coupon code A1028 during purchase - unlimited use.
Thank you for your service & sacrifice!
