 |
| Dr. Jan W. Vandersande |
A few days ago Dr. Jan W. Vandersande sent me his report of
three materialization séances he arranged and attended in the
Los Angeles area during the month of February.
The medium was Australian David Thompson. I’ve known Dr. Vandersande for a
couple of years and his background as a physicist and longtime observer of
spirit manifestation is beyond question. I’ve recommended his book –
Life After Death: Some of the Best Evidence
– on this blog several times because it is, like the report below, a
description of recent physical mediumship given by a scientist who actually
observed the phenomena.
Dr. Vandersande’s full report is reproduced below with his
permission. It proves that spirit is far from finished with us and that there
is still need for manifestation of a spectacular nature in order to counter the
effects of dogmatic materialism.
Three Materialization Séances with David Thompson
By Jan W. Vandersande, Ph. D.
I was very fortunate to have the
well-known Australian materialization medium David Thompson and his partner
Christine Morgan, a spiritual medium, accept my invitation to come to the Los
Angeles area for three séances on February 9, 11 and 13, 2012. Marisa Ryan, a
psychic-medium, helped organize the event with me and her large garage was used
for the séances. This article will provide a brief background on
materializations and describe in detail the amazing events of our three
séances. I will describe the events of a
séance from beginning to end with events from of the three nights overlapping.
Materialization, especially
full-body materialization, is the rarest of all reported paranormal physical
phenomena. Portions of human bodies, such as hands, which move, grasp, carry
things, etc., or entire bodies which speak, breath and walk like living beings
materialize (i.e. form) from ectoplasm. Ectoplasm is a whitish substance which
comes from the medium’s body through one or more orifices such as the nose, ears,
mouth and/or the solar plexus. When
ectoplasm is initially expelled from the medium it looks transparent, like fine
silk. This silk-like looking ectoplasm then solidifies into partial or full
materializations of spirit entities or into a rod-like shape that moves the
trumpet (a megaphone typically one to two feet long). The ectoplasm always
returns to the medium’s body after the materializations are finished.
Ectoplasm was given its name by
Professor Charles Richet in 1905, when he was president of the Society for
Psychical Research. He derived the name from the Greek word meaning
“exteriorized substance”. The German authority Baron von Schenk-Notzing, who
called it “teleplasma” produced a chemical analysis (around 1913) as follows:
“colorless, slightly cloudy fluid with slightly alkaline reaction, traces of
sputum, mucous membrane granules, potash, cell detritus, skin discs and minute
particles of flesh”. His analysis was similar to that done by Dr. Dombrowski of
the Polish Society for Psychical Research in 1916. Because those analyses were
done in 1913 and 1916 they could not be as sophisticated and advanced as you
would find nowadays. These analyses do however support the fact that ectoplasm
actually does come from the body of the medium. I have documented a large
number of reports of materializations and these as well as some photographs of
ectoplasm can be found in my book titled
Life
After Death: Some of the Best Evidence (Outskirts Press, 2008).
Ectoplasm can be very sensitive
to unexpected touching or by being exposed to white light. There have been a
few reported cases of serious injury to the medium when a sitter in a séance
grabbed or shone white light on the ectoplasm. This has typically happened when
a skeptic tried to unsuccessfully expose the medium for being fraudulent. Some
of the best materialization mediums have produced full-body materializations in
red light (which is of lower energy than white light) and a rare few have even
produced materializations in white light (for examples see my book).
 |
| Medium David Thompson |
David Thompson has been doing
materialization séances for approximately 15 years. Most of his séances are
done in total darkness but, occasionally, he will produce ectoplasm with red
light on. Some of those instances have been photographed showing a sheet of
ectoplasm stretching from his face across his chest, and down over his lap down
to nearly his feet. Those séances when the red light is turned on are usually
only when small groups are involved like at his home circle in
Sydney. Full materializations are only
produced in total darkness and therefore cannot be photographed. Hopefully one
day he will have developed enough so that red light can be used in all his
séances.
Given that a materialization
medium can be seriously hurt during a séance means that precautions need to be
taken to ensure that no sitter grabs the ectoplasm or shines white light on it.
During our séances sitters were warned before the séance that under no
circumstances could they touch the ectoplasm or full materialization unless the
spirit entity allowed it. Also, all sitters were searched before entering the
séance room. During the séance all the
sitters had to hold hands in order to remove the temptation for any sitter to
grab at a materialization.
Similarly, precautions were taken
to make sure that fraud on the part of the medium could be completely ruled
out. A female and male sitter (called independent “checkers”) were randomly
chosen from amongst the sitters to help ensure that all the necessary
precautions were taken. David was searched by myself before each séance and
before the second séance he even stripped down to his underpants and his
clothes were searched by myself and the male independent checker. David sat on
a chair (a firm wooden chair) in the corner of the garage and from 24 to 27
chairs were positioned in a circle with the sitters facing the corner where he
sat. A curtain rod with two black curtains was situated so that the two
curtains could be pulled closed together in front of David (this area behind
the curtain is known as the cabinet). David’s arms were tied tightly to the
arms of the chair by means of two leather straps. To ensure that the straps
could not be undone, plastic zip ties (also known as cable ties or tree ties)
were pulled through the holes of the strap so that the strap could only be
undone by cutting the zip tie. I checked that David could not pull his hands
out from the straps (I found it to be impossible). On one of the evenings one
of the independent checkers asked for an additional zip tie to be tied around
each of David’s wrists about an inch from the strap. This was done and then an
additional zip tie was pulled through the strap and the zip tie around his
wrist. It was now totally impossible for him to get his arms loose (only by
cutting the zip ties could his arms be released). His legs were tied to the
legs of the chair by means of straps. David wore a cardigan sweater during the
séances that had five buttons that were buttoned. Five zip ties were used near
the button holes to ensure that the only way he could get out of the cardigan
was for the zip ties to be cut. The two independent checkers and I searched the
garage, especially in and near where David was sitting, for anything that might
be used to get out of the bindings and enable him to see in the dark. Nothing
was found. The independent checkers and I were convinced that there was no way
that David could get out of his chair. Finally, a black gag was secured around
his head and through his open mouth so that he could not talk (at least not
recognizable speech).
With David securely seated behind
the curtains and all the sitters seated, the lights were turned off and the
door locked and taped with black tape so no light at all could come into the
garage. Christine, the circle leader, now started the séance with a short
prayer and then asked me to start the music. I had a CD player next to me on a
small table and started the music (I had practiced to be able to operate the CD
player in total darkness). Several familiar songs were played and the sitters
were urged to sing along to increase the energy and vibrations. All sitters
were told to hold hands to increase the energy and to ensure that no one tried
to touch the ectoplasm without permission. After three to four songs Christine
told me to stop the music because William, David’s main spirit guide (also
called his control), had materialized and had spoken to Christine.
David has a band of spirit
entities many of whom regularly materialize at his séances. His main spirit
control is William Cadwell (who died in 1897) who materializes first at all his
séances and appears to control what happens during the séance. After
materializing, William started talking to the sitters while walking around. He
spoke loudly and in a distinctive British accent that I found difficult to
understand at times. William stepped on the piece of plywood (approximately two
feet wide by three feet long), that we had taped to the floor at the center of
the circle, making a distinct sound indicating that he was wearing heavy-soled
boots (meanwhile David was wearing sneakers). He then started to answer
questions of a general nature about the spirit world and about life asked by
some of the sitters. After answering each question he would walk over to the
sitter who had asked the question and asked if he could touch them. After the
sitter said that he could, he put his hand on their head. The sitters who had
that experience (about 8-10 per sitting) described a very large hand (David has
very small hands). Some sitters were also touched on the shoulder and in some
cases he put his foot gently on the toes of the sitter (everyone had taken
their shoes off) to show that he was a full materialization. I had William put his hand on my head (I
agree it was a big hand) and tap me on the shoulder three times. In the first
séance a female sitter asked William if her dead husband could come through and
possibly materialize, to which William said they would try (he did come and it
is described below). During the second séance I asked William if his
materialized body had a pulse. He came over to me, took two of my fingers with
his hand and put them up against what I assumed was the carotid artery in his
neck area. It felt like cold rough skin I was touching and I could feel a very,
very vague pulse. After he had answered approximately 8-10 questions in each of
the three sittings he walked back to the cabinet. During the first sitting
while walking back to the cabinet (I was sitting approximately two yards to the
left of the cabinet) he said to me: “Dr. Vandersande, you will now get the
materializations you have been waiting for so long”. The last time I
experienced materializations was back in the mid 1970s as described in my book.
The next materialization, in each
séance, was Timmy (Timothy Booth), a Cockney youth claiming to be nine years
old, who had a very characteristic young voice. Christine gave him the trumpet,
a megaphone approximately a foot and a half long with a luminous band
(approximately half an inch wide) around the bottom so that it could be seen in
the dark. Timmy took the trumpet and, according to him, he manipulated the
ectoplasm, which had come from David and from which he had formed, to move the
trumpet. (Photographs of how the ectoplasm is typically attached to the trumpet
can be seen in my book.) The trumpet flew at great speed and with considerable
precision, performing aerobatic patterns such as large and small circles,
flying to the ceiling and to the floor and all around the garage while I had
the CD player play an Irish jig. Occasionally it slowed to a stop and gently
tapped a sitter deliberately on the head, the shoulder, or the knee. It did
that to several sitters. Never at any time did the trumpet bump into any sitter
or anything else in the garage. In the second séance Timmy was given two
drumsticks by Christine, after the trumpet had finished flying around the room.
The sticks were approximately one and a half feet long and had luminous paint
on their tips so they could be seen in the dark. The two sticks flew around the
room just like the trumpet did. At one point both sticks went up to the ceiling
(which was approximately nine feet high) and stayed there motionless for a few
seconds and then resumed flying around and gently touching a few sitters. There
is absolutely no way any human, assuming they could see in total darkness,
could move the trumpet (and the drum sticks) in those random patterns, that
fast and at that those heights, as all the sitters observed in the three
séances. My wife, Marlene, and I saw similar trumpet movements in a large
number of séances over an eight year period in the 1970s. In the second séance
Timmy also rang a bell that Christine had given him for about 30 seconds.
Next in the first two séances,
Christine gave Timmy a small tablet (approximately three inches square) that
was covered with luminous paint so it could be seen in the dark. Timmy would
put two or three fingers over the tablet and walked around the circle so that
each sitter could see the outline of his small fingers. After that he walked
around the circle touching some sitters on their hands so that they could feel
his small hands. In the second séance he ran from the cabinet to sitters in the
circle across from the cabinet (approximately 30 feet away) and asked a young lady
her name. She told him her name was Emily and he said “what a lovely name”. He
then touched her hand and the hand of her father (remember all sitters were
holding hands during the séance) and both commented how small the fingers felt.
In the third séance, when Timmy was near me I asked him when he died and he
replied 1902. I then asked where he lived and he replied Stepney Green (in East London). I did not understand what he said so asked
him to spell it. Instead of spelling the name he came over to me and put his
hands on the arms of my chair (a plastic garden chair) and shook my chair
forwards and backwards three times. A few minutes later he came back and shook
my chair sideways a few times. I weigh 200 pounds so he showed a lot of
strength in shaking my chair. He obviously was not happy about me asking him to
spell Stepney Green. After the séance I told David what had happened and he
said that Timmy was illiterate during his earth life, which could explain why
he was not happy and did what he did.
Another one of David’s regular
spirit entities, Louis Armstrong (the famous trumpet player who died in 1971),
materialized in all three séances. He sang to one of his well-known songs
(Hello Dolly) which I played on the CD player. His voice sounded exactly like
the very characteristic voice so often heard when he was alive on earth (a deep
distinctive gravelly voice). Christine then handed him a harmonica and he
played it for several minutes while tapping on the plywood on the floor. You
could hear him take a deep breath occasionally while playing. After that he
left. I always get skeptical and nervous when famous people materialize but now
have a better understanding why they do it. To prove survival after death it
makes more sense that someone who is well-known, has a characteristic voice
and/or mannerisms, that just about everyone can recognize, materializes rather
than an anonymous person.
A few of the other regular spirit
entities materialized during the three séances. During the first séance May, a
women with a strong Southern accent, materialized. When asked where she came
from she replied she came from Louisiana.
She only spoke for a few minutes and then left. During the second séance a
person called Harold Bloomsbury materialized and sang a song and then left.
Christine and David know very little about him except that he apparently lived
in Kentucky
and occasionally materializes to sing. During the third séance Quentin Crisp,
the British writer, actor and gay icon (who died in 1999), materialized. He had
a flamboyant personality and a theatrical voice. He said he had come to prove
that your sexual preference doesn’t affect what happens to you when you go to
the spirit world (contrary to what many may believe today in our society) but
how you live your life. He was asked if believed in gay marriage and replied
that he did not believe in marriage of any kind.
During the second séance Maurice
Barbanell briefly materialized. It sounded like he never left the cabinet
because the voice appeared to come from behind the curtain. Barbanell was an
author, editor (of the Spiritualist newspaper “Psychic News”) and medium who
died in 1981. He was the trance medium for the very well-known spirit guide
Silver Birch, who apparently was an old soul who took on the guise of a humble
American Indian. Barbanell said that Silver Birch would materialize at the end
of the séance. A short time later there was a large whoosh sound as if the
curtains of the cabinet were blown outward. A cold breeze was felt by many
sitters. I and others got the impression that someone special had arrived.
Silver Birch had materialized and he spoke briefly about the Great White Spirit
from the center of the circle. He then sang an Indian incantation or chant
(blessing?) and then left. Christine told me afterwards that Silver Birch had
come to two previous séances and that in both cases there was that whoosh sound
and the breeze of cold air.
During each séance a friend or
relative of one of the sitters materialized. During the first séance Ken, the
husband of one of the sitters, materialized and spoke to his wife briefly. He
said he had been a bad husband but his wife said that he had not been one. He
kissed her and then left. Next a man materialized calling for his granddaughter
Marlene. He turned out to be the grandfather of my wife Marlene, on her
mother’s side. He said he had brought her mother. A weak women’s voice then
spoke from inside or near the cabinet and said “I love you” and then she
disappeared. It appeared that there just wasn’t enough energy for her to
materialize. Actually, the energy in the first séance was the weakest of the
three séances. This was evident by how the trumpet flew around the garage.
During the first séance the trumpet did perform its aerobatics but it was not
as energetic as in the other séances. Also, it stayed close to the cabinet
while during the second séance the trumpet flew all over the garage and also
the drumsticks flew around (which only happened during the second séance).
Next, a man materialized right in front of me and said he was Alec Harris, one
of the most well-known materialization mediums to have lived (see my book for
detailed descriptions of his séances). He had come to thank me for writing
about his mediumship in my book and talking about his mediumship. He also said
that our two medium friends were there. He was referring to Mickey and Sara
Wolf
, who Marlene and I sat with over an eight year
period in the 1970s and who themselves sat with Alec. I said “Thank you, you
were a great medium” and he then left.
During the second séance Leslie
Flint, one of the best independent direct voice mediums ever (who died in
1994), materialized and walked over to the sitter Brian Hurst, a medium
himself, and started talking to him. Flint and
Brian were friends in the late 1980s and early 1990s when Flint
stayed in Los Angeles.
Flint referred
to a séance where he got very irritable because Brian went into trance and he
(Leslie) got no direct voice. Leslie eventually apologized. Flint also referred to a Mr. Fisher, Brian’s
speech coach when he was in school. Brian told me that Flint
used the expression “Dear Boy” several times and that when they were friends, Flint always called him
that. Flint
said a few other things to Brian, which Brian confirmed were accurate to me a
few days later. What Flint
said was very good survival evidence (names and addresses) that was confirmed
by Brian. There is no way David could have known some or any of it.
During the third séance a man
materialized and called out for his mother and father, who called him Jay-Jay
and asked him to come to them. He walked over to them, touched them both and
kissed them. After saying a few words to each other he left.
At the end of each of the
séances, after all the materializations had returned to the cabinet, William
said good-bye and asked me to play some music. After a few minutes everyone
heard a large thud in the center of the circle (approximately 15 feet in front
of the curtain). A light was turned on after the tape on the door had been
removed and the door opened. We all saw David sitting in his chair, tied up
exactly as he was at the beginning of the séance except for the fact that his
cardigan had been reversed. The cardigan was still buttoned and the five
zip-ties were still in place exactly as when we placed them there. There is no
way that David could have reversed the cardigan. In the third séance the
cardigan was dropped in the lap of the male independent checker before David in
his chair was moved (it sounded like he was dropped) in the center of the circle.
The movement of David in his chair for a distance of at least 15 feet shows
that the spirit entities/materialized spirit forms have tremendous strength (I
just don’t know if it was the materialized entities or power from the spirit
world that moved David and his chair). While the reversal/removal of the
cardigan shows a de-materialization/re-materialization capability (or whatever
technology the spirits used) that is way beyond the current laws of physics as
we know them. It was truly an amazing phenomenon to have observed.
The male independent checker then
gave Christine the cutters, which he had in his pocket throughout the séance
(in all three séances), so that the zip ties could be cut loose and David
untied from the chair. I carefully examined how David was tied into the chair
and I am absolutely sure that there was no way he was able to remove himself
from the chair during the séance and then return to the chair and tie himself
back to the chair. There is no doubt in my mind he produced the materializations
and the other physical phenomena while tied in the chair in the cabinet.
A friend of mine and his daughter
came to the second séance. Neither had been to a séance before and I told them
in advance that it could be a life changing experience. I spoke to him a few
days after the séance and he said that he spent a few hours analyzing what he
had experienced (he has two university degrees). His conclusion was that even
if David could have untied himself and could have seen in the dark (both of
which he thought was extremely unlikely if not impossible) then he still could
never have produced the trumpet, drum stick and small and large hand touching
phenomena. His only conclusion could be that what he experienced was real and
that he experienced something paranormal and it was very likely communication
with the spirit world. Both he and his daughter agreed with me that the
experience was life changing.
