a spiritualistic seance is the following, which occurred to myself at
Lily Dale, N. Y., during my investigations there in the summer of 1907,
and which I reported in the _Proceedings of the American S.P.R._, as
follows:--

"My sister 'Eva' materialized for me. I suggested 'Eva' and she 'came.'
I never had a sister Eva, so she was a little out of place. However, she
'came' as a little girl about ten years old, with a hooked nose, bright
black eyes, and a fringe of false hair over her forehead. Her doll-like
appearance was very manifest. After she de-materialized, I was on the
point of walking back to my chair, but was told to wait. I returned to
the curtains of the cabinet, and my mother announced herself present,
'who had died from consumption.' The curtains were pulled aside, and I
put my face close to the opening, since it was so dark I could see
nothing. And there, in the dim twilight of that seance room, I beheld
one of the most ghastly, most truly terrifying faces I have ever seen.
It was white and drawn, and almost shiny in its glossy, ashen hue. The
eyes were wide open and staring--fixed. The head and face were encircled
in white; and altogether the face was one of the most appalling I have
ever beheld, and it would have required a great deal of fortitude, for
the moment, to look steadfastly at that terrifying face--in that quiet,
still room, in response to the spirit's demand: 'Look at me!' The
distance between our faces was not more than six inches; and after the
first shock, I regarded the face intently. I was spurred by curiosity
and excitement, and prompted yet further by the spirit form, who grasped
my wrist, through the curtain, and drew me yet closer--until I was
nearly in the cabinet itself. I remembered that my mother had not died
from consumption, and that the present face in nowise resembled hers,
and my feeling of terror lasted but an instant; but it was there at the
time, I confess. I regarded the face intently, and it was gradually
withdrawn into the shadow of the cabinet, and the curtains pulled over
it. _I am certain that, had I been in an excited and unbalanced frame of
mind at that instant, I should have sworn that the face melted away as I
looked at it._ But my mental balance was by that time regained, and I
could analyse what was before me. I can quite easily see how it is that
persons can swear to the melting away of a face before their eyes, after
my own experience. The appearances clearly