The 716 stonedisks found so far also have a hole in their center just as phonograph records do. From there, spiraling out towards the rim, are double-grooves. These grooves of course are not like sound-tracks but rather the most peculiar writing-system which has ever been found in China and possibly even the world.

It took archeologists and scientists over two decades to decipher it. The contents are so fantastic that the academy of pre-history in Beijing didn’t want to publish the report of the scientist Prof. Tsum Um Nui at first.

Backed by four colleagues, archeologist Tsum Um Nui stated:

“the groove-writing tells of aerial vehicles which, according to the stonedisks, existed 12.000 years ago”.

In one place it says literally:

“The Dropa came down from the clouds with their airgliders. Ten times the men, women and children of the Kham hid in the caves until sunrise. Then they understood the signs and saw that the Dropa came in peace this time.”

Finds of the Dropa and Kham races have been made earlier already in these mountain caves. Archeologists were and still are unable to ethnologically assign these only up to 4 ft. 4 in. tall humans. There are no similarities with the Chinese, Mongols or Ribetans. One could of course suggest that a few thousand years ago a Kham literate was playing a joke, or that it was mere superstition when he was talking about aircrafts.

But then, what does one do about the statement, all sensations excluded, reported in other groove-hieroglyphics of a great mourning about the own airfleet’s destruction during landing in the very inaccessible mountains and the lack of means to rebuild it.

The hieroglyphics of Baian-Kara-Ula appear to be so mysterious to the Chinese archeology that only very careful scientific use has been made of them. On one occasion a sensational discovery had been made. The disks contain a lot of cobalt and other metals.

When testing a disk with an oscillograph a surprising oscillation rhythm was discovered, just as if the disks with their groove-writing had once been charged or had functioned as electrical conductors. Nobody can tell what’s behind these 12.000 year old stonedisks.

Assumptions would be too risky and not objective enough. But one is reminded of the ancient chinese tale of the small and slender yellow people who came from the clouds and were shunned by everyone due to their ugliness – large, wide heads and very slender bodies – and hunted by the “men with the quick horses” (Mongols?).

In fact there had been finds of grave – and skeleton remains in the caves from 12.000 years ago and it’s also a fact that these finds, classified as remains of the Dropa and Kham race, carried the signs of a small body frame and very large heads.

The very first archeological reports tell of an extinct mountain gorilla species. But has anyone heard of ordered monkey-graves and writing- tablets? In 1940 the archeologist Chi Pu Tei was widely mocked at for making such a claim. But Chi Pu Tei defended himself by declaring that the stonedisks had been added to the caves by later cultures.

The above text is a translation of the original paper written by W. Saitsew and has not been altered in any way.

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The Crimea

He accompanied the regiment to the Crimea, and landed at Balaklava in December 1854. He was selected to be an assistant engineer, and attached to the Royal Engineers during the Siege of Sevastopol. Wolseley was promoted to captain in January 1855 after less than three years’ service, and served throughout the siege, where he was wounded at “the Quarries” on June 7, and again in the trenches on August 30, losing an eye.

After the fall of Sevastopol, Wolseley was employed on the quartermaster-general’s staff, assisting in the embarkation of the troops and supplies, and was one of the last British soldiers to leave the Crimea in July 1856. For his services he was twice mentioned in dispatches, was noted for a brevet majority, received the war medal with clasp, the 5th class of the French Légion d’honneur, the 5th class of the Turkish Mejidie, and the Turkish medal.

Six months after joining the 90th Foot at Aldershot, he went with it in March 1857 to join the China expedition under Major-General Ashburnham. Captain Wolseley was embarked in the transportTransit which was wrecked in the Strait of Banka – the troops were all saved, but with only their personal arms and minimal ammunition. They were taken to Singapore, and from there were dispatched to Calcutta on account of the Indian Mutiny.

The Indian Mutiny 1857

Capt. Wolseley distinguished himself at the relief of Lucknow under Sir Colin Campbell in November 1857, and in the defence of the Alambagh position under Outram, taking part in the actions of December 22, 1857, of January 12 and January 16, and also in the repulse of the grand attack of February 21. That March, he served at the final siege and capture of Lucknow. He was then appointed deputy-assistant quartermaster-general on the staff of Sir Hope Grant’s Oudh division, and was engaged in all of the operations of the campaign, including the actions of Bari, Sarsi, Nawabganj, the capture of Faizabad, the passage of the Gumti and the action of Sultanpur. In the autumn and winter of 1858 he took part in the Baiswara, trans-Gogra and trans-Rapti campaigns ending with the complete suppression of the rebellion. For his services he was frequently mentioned in dispatches, and having received his Crimean majority in March 1858, was, in April 1859, promoted to be alieutenant-colonel, and received the Mutiny medal and clasp.

Lt.-Col. Wolseley continued to serve on Sir Hope Grant’s staff in Oudh, and when Grant was nominated to the command of the British troops in the Anglo-French expedition to China of 1860, accompanied him as the deputy-assistant quartermaster-general. He was present at the action at Sin-ho, the capture of Tang-ku, the storming of the Taku Forts, the Occupation of Tientsin, thebattle of Pa-to-cheau and the entry into Beijing (during which the destruction of the Chinese Imperial Old Summer Palace was begun). He assisted in the re-embarkation of the troops before the winter set in. He was mentioned, yet again, in dispatches, and for his services did receive the medal and two clasps. On his return home he published the Narrative of the War with China in 1860.

Canada

 

In November 1861, Wolseley was one of the special service officers sent to Canada in connection with the Trent incident. When the matter was amicably settled he remained on the headquarters staff in Canada as assistant-quartermaster-general. In 1862, shortly after the battle of Antietam, Lt.-Col. Wolseley took leave from his military duties and went to investigate the American Civil War. He befriended Southern sympathizers in Maryland, who found him passage into Virginia with a blockade runner across the Potomac River. He met the Generals Robert E. Lee, James Longstreet, andStonewall Jackson, all of whom impressed him tremendously.

On April 10, 1892, the New Orleans Picayune published his ten-page heroic portrayal of Lieutenant-General Nathan Bedford Forrest, which recycled much of what was written about Forrest by biographers of the time. This work appeared in the Journal of the Southern Historical Society in the same year, and is commonly cited today, although it is a great example of how Post-Reconstruction biographers of Forrest at the time tried to elevate Forrest’s reputation as a citizen-soldier and military genius of classical proportions. Wolseley apologized for Forrest’s role at the Fort Pillow Massacre near Memphis, Tennessee in April, 1864 in which African-American USCT troops and white officers were slaughtered after Fort Pillow had been conquered. Wolseley wrote, “I do not think that the fact that one-half of the small garrison of a place taken by assault was either killed or wounded evinced any very unusual bloodthirstiness on the part of the assailants.”

In 1865, he became a brevet colonel, was actively employed the following year in connexion with the Fenian raids from the United States, and in 1867 was appointed deputy quartermaster-general in Canada. In 1869 his Soldiers’ Pocket Book for Field Service was published, and has since run through many editions. In 1870, he successfully commanded the Red River Expedition to establish Canadian sovereignty over the Northwest Territories and Manitoba. Manitoba had entered Canadian Confederation as the result of negotiations between Canada and a provisional Métis government headed by Louis Riel. The only route toFort Garry (now Winnipeg), the capital of Manitoba (then an outpost in the Wilderness), which did not pass through the United States was through a network of rivers and lakes extending for six-hundred miles fromLake Superior, infrequently traversed by non-aboriginals, and where no supplies were obtainable. The admirable arrangements made and the careful organization of the transport reflected great credit to the commander, who upon his return home was made a KCMG and a CB.

Appointed assistant adjutant-general at the War Office in 1871 he worked hard at furthering the Cardwell schemes of army reform, was a member of the localization committee, and a keen advocate of short service, territorial regiments and linked battalions. From this time until he became commander-in-chief, Col. Wolseley was the prime mover in practically all of the steps taken at the War Office for promoting theefficiency of the army, under the altered conditions of the day.

Ashanti

In 1873, he commanded the expedition to Ashanti, and, having made all his arrangements at the Gold Coast before the arrival of the troops in January 1874, was able to complete the campaign in two months, and re-embark them for home before the unhealthy season began. This was the campaign which made him a household name in England. He fought the battle of Amoaful on January 31 of that year, and, after five days’ fighting, ending with the battle of Ordahsu, entered Kumasi, which he burned. He received the thanks of both houses of Parliament and a grant of £25,000 was promoted to be a major general for distinguished service in the field, received the medal and clasp and was made GCMG and KCB. The freedom of the city of London was conferred upon him with a sword of honour, and he was made honorary DCL ofOxford and LL.D of Cambridge universities. On his return home he was appointed inspector-general of auxiliary forces, but had not held the post for a year when, in consequence of the indigenous unrest in Natal, he was sent to that colony as governor and general-commanding.

In November 1876, he accepted a seat on the council of India, from which in 1878, having been promoted lieutenant-general, he went as high-commissioner to the newly acquired possession of Cyprus, and in the following year to South Africa to supersede Lord Chelmsford in command of the forces in the Zulu War, and as governor of Natal and the Transvaal and the High Commissioner of Southern Africa. But, upon his arrival at Durban in July, he found that the war in Zululand was practically over, and, after effecting a temporary settlement, he went on to the Transvaal. Having reorganized the administration there and reduced the powerfulchief, Sikukuni, to submission, he returned home in May 1880 and was appointed Quartermaster-General to the Forces. For his services in South Africa he received the South Africa Medal with clasp, and was made a GCB.

Egypt

 

In 1882, the Major General was appointed Adjutant-General to the Forces, and, in August of that year, given command of the British forces in Egypt under Muhammad Ali and his successors to suppress the Urabi Revolt. Having seized the Suez Canal, he then disembarked his troops at Ismailia and, after a very short and brilliant campaign, completely defeated Urabi Pasha at the Battle of Tel el-Kebir, thereby suppressing yet another rebellion. For his services, the Major General received the thanks of Parliament, the medal with clasp, the Bronze Star, was promoted (“general”) for distinguished service in the field, raised to the peerage as Baron Wolseley, of Cairo and of Wolseley in the County of Stafford, and received from the Khedive the 1st class of the Order of Osminieh.

In 1884, the now full general, Baron Wolseley was again called away from his duties as adjutant-general, to command the Nile Expedition for the relief of General Gordon and the besieged garrison at Khartoum. The expedition arrived too late; Khartoum had fallen, and Gordon was dead. In the spring of 1885, complications with Imperial Russia over the Panjdeh Incident occurred, and the withdrawal of that particular expedition followed. For his services there, the Baron received two clasps to his Egyptian medal, the thanks of Parliament, and was created Viscount Wolseley, of Wolseley in the County of Stafford, and a Knight of St Patrick.

Lord Wolseley continued at the War Office as Adjutant-General to the Forces until 1890, wherein he was given the command in Ireland. He was promoted to be a field marshal in 1894, and was nominated “Colonel” of the Royal Horse Guards in 1895, in which year he was appointed by the Conservative government to succeed the Duke of Cambridge as “commander-in-chief of the forces”. This was the position to which his great experience in the field and his previous signal success at the War Office itself had fully entitled him. Field Marshal Viscount Wolseley’s powers in that office were, however, limited by a new order in council, and after holding the appointment for over five years, he handed over the command-in-chief to his fellow field marshal, Earl Roberts, at the commencement of 1901. He had also suffered from a serious illness in 1897, from which he never fully recovered. The unexpectedly large force required for South Africa, was mainly furnished by means of the system of reserves which Lord Wolseley had originated; but the new conditions at the War Office were not to his liking, and, upon being released from responsibilities he brought the whole subject before the House of Lords in a speech.

Lord Wolseley was appointed colonel-in-chief of the Royal Irish Regiment in 1898, and, in 1901, was made Gold Stick in Waiting to King Edward VII.

He died on March 26, 1913, at Menton on the French Riviera and was buried in the crypt of St Paul’s Cathedral, London.

Family

Wolseley was married in 1867 to Louisa, the daughter of Mr. A. Erskine. His only child, Frances (1872-1936) was an author and founded The College for Lady Gardeners at Glynde. She was heiress to the viscountcy under special remainder.

The Channel Tunnel

Sir Garnet was deeply opposed to Sir Edward Watkin’s attempt to build a Channel Tunnel. He gave evidence to a parliamentary commission that the construction might be “calamitous for England”, he added that “No matter what fortifications and defences were built, there would always be the peril of some continental army seizing the tunnel exit by surprise.” Various contrivances to satisfy his objections were put forward including looping the line on a viaduct from the Cliffs of Dover and back into them, so that the connection could be bombarded at will by the Royal Navy. All to no avail, and over 100 years were to pass before a permanent link was made.

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“It’s of no use whatsoever[...] this is just an experiment that proves Maestro Maxwell was right – we just have these mysterious electromagnetic waves that we cannot see with the naked eye. But they are there.”

Asked about the ramifications of his discoveries, Hertz replied,

“Nothing, I guess.”

His discoveries would later be more fully understood by others and be part of the new “wireless age”. In bulk, Hertz’ experiments explain reflection, refraction, polarization, interference, and velocity of electric waves. In 1892, Hertz began experimenting and demonstrated that cathode rays could penetrate very thin metal foil (such as aluminium). Philipp Lenard, a student of Heinrich Hertz, further researched this “ray effect”. He developed a version of the cathode tube and studied the penetration by X-rays of various materials. Philipp Lenard, though, did not realize that he was producing X-rays. Hermann von Helmholtz formulated mathematical equations for X-rays. He postulated a dispersion theory before Röntgen made his discovery and announcement. It was formed on the basis of the electromagnetic theory of light (Wiedmann’s Annalen, Vol. XLVIII). However, he did not work with actual X-rays.

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Oliver Lodge

In 1865, Lodge, at the age of 14, entered his father’s business (Oliver Lodge & Son) as an agent for B. Fayle & Co selling Purbeck blue clay to the potteries, travelling as far as Scotland. He continued to assist his father until he reached the age of 22. His father’s wealth obtained from selling Purbeck ball clay enabled Lodge to attend physics lectures in London and attend the local Wedgwood Institute.

Lodge obtained a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of London in 1875 and a Doctor of Science in 1877. He was appointed professor of physics and mathematics at University College, Liverpool in 1881. In 1900 Lodge moved from Liverpool back to the Midlands and became the first principal of the new Birmingham University, remaining there until his retirement in 1919. He oversaw the start of the move of the university from Edmund Street in the city centre to its present Edgbaston campus. Lodge was awarded the Rumford Medal of the Royal Society in 1898 and was knighted by King Edward VII in 1902. In 1928 he was made Freeman of his native city, Stoke-on-Trent.

Lodge married Mary Fanny Alexander Marshall at St George’s church, Newcastle-under-Lyme in 1877. They had twelve children, six boys and six girls: Oliver William Foster (1878–1955), Francis Brodie (1880–1967), Alec (1881–1938), Lionel (1883–1948), Noel (1885–1962), Violet (1888–1924), Raymond (1889–1915), Honor (1891–1979), Lorna (1892–1987), Norah (1894–1990), Barbara (1896–1983), and Rosalynde (1896–1983). Four of his sons went into business using Lodge’s inventions. Brodie and Alec created the Lodge Plug Company, which manufactured sparking plugs for cars and aeroplanes. Lionel and Noel founded a company that produced an electrostatic device for cleaning factory and smelter smoke in 1913, called the Lodge Fume Deposit Company Limited (changed in 1919 to Lodge Fume Company Limited and in 1922, through agreement with the International Precipitation Corporation of California, to Lodge Cottrell Ltd). Oliver, the eldest son, became a poet and author.

After his retirement in 1920, Sir Oliver and Lady Lodge settled in Normanton House, near Lake in Wiltshire, just a few miles from Stonehenge. Lodge and his wife are buried at St. Michael’s Church, Wilsford (Lake), Wiltshire. Their eldest son Oliver and eldest daughter Violet are buried at the same church.

Accomplishments

Maxwell’s “Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism” appeared in 1873 and by 1876 Lodge was studying it intently. But he was fairly limited in mathematical physics both by aptitude and training and his first two papers were a description of a mechanism (of beaded strings and pulleys) that could serve to illustrate electrical phenomena such as conduction and polarization. Indeed, Lodge is probably best known for his advocacy and elaboration of Maxwell’s aether theory – a later deprecated model postulating a wave-bearing medium filling all space. He explained his views on the aether in “Modern Views of Electricity” (1889) and continued to defend those ideas well into the twentieth century (“Ether and Reality“, 1925).

As early as 1879 Lodge became interested in generating (and detecting) electromagnetic waves, something Maxwell had never considered. This interest continued throughout the 1880s but three obstacles slowed Lodge’s progress. First, he thought in terms of generating light waves with their very high frequencies rather than radio waves with their much lower frequencies. Second, his good friend George FitzGerald (on whom Lodge depended for theoretical guidance) assured him (incorrectly) that “ether waves could not be generated electromagnetically.” FitzGerald later corrected his error but by 1881 Lodge had assumed a teaching position at University College, Liverpool the demands of which limited his time and his energy for research. And so it was Heinrich Hertz in Germany who was the first to demonstrate the transmission of electromagnetic waves in 1888.

On 14 August 1894, at a meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science at Oxford University, Lodge gave a lecture on the work of Hertz (recently deceased) and transmitted radio signals to demonstrate their potential for communication.^[8] This was one year before Marconi but one year after Tesla did the same thing. On June 25, 1995, the Royal Society recognized this scientific achievement at a special ceremony at Oxford University. Lodge improved Edouard Branly’s coherer radio wave detector by adding a “trembler” which dislodged clumped filings, thus restoring the device’s sensitivity. He worked with Alexander Muirhead on the development of wireless telegraphy, selling their patents to Marconi in 1912. Lodge also carried out scientific investigations on lightning, the source of the electromotive force in the voltaic cell, electrolysis, and the application of electricity to the dispersal of fog and smoke.

Lodge also made a major contribution to motoring when he patented a form of electric spark ignition for the internal combustion engine (the Lodge Igniter).^{[citation needed]} Later, two of his sons developed his ideas and in 1903 founded Lodge Bros, which eventually became known as Lodge Plugs Ltd. He also made discoveries in the field of wireless transmission^{[citation needed]}. In 1898, Lodge gained a patent on the moving-coil loudspeaker, utilizing a coil connected to a diaphragm, suspended in a strong magnetic field.^[10] His “syntonic” tuner patent^[1] allowed the frequency of transmitter and receiver to be “verified with ease and certainty”. This was a basic patent in the industry, unusually recognized as such when extended, and purchased and used by the Marconi Company.

In political life, Lodge was an active member of the Fabian Society and published two Fabian Tracts: Socialism & Individualism (1905) and co-authored Public Service versus Private Expenditure with Sidney Webb, George Bernard Shaw and Sidney Ball. They invited him several times to lecture at the London School of Economics.^{[citation needed]}

Lodge is also remembered for his studies of life after death. He first began to study psychical phenomena (chiefly telepathy) in the late 1880s, was a member of the Ghost Club and served as president of the London-based Society for Psychical Research from 1901 to 1903. After his son, Raymond, was killed in World War I in 1915, Lodge visited several mediums and wrote about the experience in a number of books, including the best-selling “Raymond, or Life and Death” (1916). The parallel with fellow Ghost Club member Arthur Conan Doyle, who also lost a son in World War I and turned to spiritualism is striking. Altogether, Lodge wrote more than 40 books, about the afterlife, aether, relativity, and electromagnetic theory.

In 1889 Lodge was appointed President of the Liverpool Physical Society, a position he held until 1893. The society still runs to this day, though under a student body.

Oliver Joseph Lodge, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Oliver_Joseph_Lodge&oldid=415895717 (last visited Feb. 26, 2011).

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Although we are constanly bombarded by global events (the revolution was truly televised), they have virtually no context for us, these powerful images of social change flood over us as we try to assimilate them in the micro sound-bite way we have been trained to absorb data by the media. But nothing really “sticks” – perhaps it is the way our brains have adapted to keep pace with the load. I read something recently that said we are using our short term memory as a temporary data store when browsing the web, and not pushing it back into the long term. The act of reading a book allegedly has more triggers and hooks for long term storage, perhaps because it uses imagery and emotion to create a truly compelling narrative.

Which brings me nicely back to the subject today. Up until now this blog has been nothing more than a scrapbook of interesting articles that i have discovered in my research for a story. This world that i have tried to paste together from various different threads is now taking form. I have found that writing it down has led me in many different directions, not all of them great, but the sheer act of doing it has opened new possibilities, and allowed new ideas to form.

Stories used to be how we remembered things, good vs evil, what berries you shouldn’t eat. All really useful stuff that was passed down from generation to generation by word-ofmouth, then someone invented writing and we could learn about everyone else’s stories. Somehow this wonderful art form has become distorted – I want to blame Hollywood, there dumbing down of storylines has created generations of stupid spoon-fed fools. But that’s too easy. The internet has given us all a way to disseminate our stories (twitter proves this even if only with 140 characters) – the age of self-publishing has truly arrived, the old days of getting an agent and finding a publisher or gone.

So there are no more excuses. If you want to write, to tell the story that you have bouncing around in you brain, just do it. There is no correct way to do it, no amount of story workshops will really help the creative process (although it may help your grammar) – you just have to start, and then just keep going, every day, write something – even if it doesnt make sense, and more importantly talk to other people about it, dont hide yourself in a tower until it’s finished. I have had found that other people are the best source of stories you can ever ask for.

Enjoy it, if it isnt fun – you’re writing about the wrong thing!

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Description of Radionics

According to radionics practitioners, a healthy person will have certain energy frequencies moving through their body that define health, while an unhealthy person will exhibit other, different energy frequencies that define disorders. Radionic devices purport to diagnose and heal by applying appropriate frequencies to balance the discordant frequencies of sickness. Radionics uses “frequency” not in its standard meaning but to describe an imputed energy type, which does not correspond to any property of energy in the scientific sense.

In one form of radionics popularised by Abrams, some blood on a bit of filter paper is attached to a device Abrams called a dynamizer, which is attached by wires to a string of other devices and then to the forehead of a healthy volunteer, facing west in a dim light. By tapping on on his abdomen and searching for areas of “dullness”, disease in the donor of the blood is diagnosed by proxy. Handwriting analysis is also used to diagnose disease under this scheme.

Having done this, the practitioner may use a special device known as an oscilloclast or any of a range of other devices to broadcast vibrations at the patient in order to attempt to heal them.

Albert Abrams claimed to detect such frequencies and/or cure people by matching their frequencies, and claimed them sensitive enough that he could tell someone’s religion by looking at a drop of blood. He developed thirteen devices and became a millionaire leasing his devices, and the American Medical Association described him as the “dean of gadget quacks,” and his devices were definitively proven useless by an independent investigation commissioned by Scientific American in 1924.

Modern practitioners now conceptualize these devices merely as a focusing aid to the practitioner’s proclaimed dowsing abilities, and claim that there is no longer any need for the device to have any demonstrable function. Indeed, Abrams’ black boxes had no purpose of their own, being merely obfuscated collections of wires and electronic parts.

Scientific assessment of Radionics

Radionics devices contradict principles of biology and physics, and no scientifically plausible mechanism of function is posited. In this sense, they can be described as magical in operation. No plausible biophysical basis for the “putative energy fields” has been proposed, and neither the fields themselves nor their purported therapeutic effects have been convincingly demonstrated.

No radionic device has been found efficacious in the diagnosis or treatment of any disease, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not recognize any legitimate medical uses of any such device. According to David Helwig in The Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine, “most physicians dismiss radionics as quackery.”

Internally, a radionic device is very simple, and may not even form a functional electrical circuit.The wiring in the analysis device is simply used as a mystical conduit. A radionic device does not use or need electric power, though a power cord may be provided, ostensibly to determine a “base rate” on which the device operates to attempt to heal a subject. Typically, little attempt is made to define or describe what, if anything, is flowing along the wires and being measured. Energy in the physical sense, i.e., energy that can be sensed and measured, is viewed as subordinate to intent and “creative action.”

Radionics, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Radionics&oldid=383000353 (last visited Feb. 13, 2011).

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Although this is disputed, popular belief holds that the Boston Medium told Winchester that she had to leave her home in New Haven and travel West, where she must “build a home for yourself and for the spirits who have fallen from this terrible weapon, too. You must never stop building the house. If you continue building, you will live forever. But if you stop, then you will die.”

The June 1937 issue of Modern Mechanix relates the story from then-current accounts as follows: “Winchester and the baby girl died suddenly and Mrs. Winchester, stunned by the tragedy, fell into a coma so serious that physicians despaired of her life.

“Finally she recovered and, at a friend’s suggestion, visited a medium. During a seance, according to those familiar with her story, she received a communication from her dead husband in which he said: ‘Sarah dear, if our house had not been finished, I would still be with you. I urge you now to build a home, but never let it be finished, for then you will live. . . .’”

Another version of the story says that after the deaths of her daughter and later her husband, she consulted a medium who told her that she must build a house and never cease building it, otherwise the spirits that killed her family members would come after her, too. After that she began construction on the maze-like house full of twists, turns, and dead ends, so that the spirits would get lost and never be able to find her.

Winchester inherited more than $20.5 million upon her husband’s death. She also received nearly 50 percent ownership of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, giving her an income of roughly $1,000 per day, none of which was taxable until 1913. This amount is roughly equivalent to about $22,000 a day in 2010. All of this gave her a tremendous amount of wealth to fund the ongoing construction.

The house today

Prior to the 1906 earthquake, the house had been built up to seven stories tall, but today it is only four stories. The house is predominantly made of redwood frame construction, with a floating foundation that is believed to have saved the estate from total collapse in both the 1906 earthquake and the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. There are about 160 rooms, including 40 bedrooms and two ballrooms, one completed and one under construction. The house also has 47 fireplaces, 10,000 window panes, 17 chimneys (with evidence of two others), two basements and three elevators. Winchester’s property was about 162 acres (650,000 m²) at one time, but now the estate is just 4.5 acres (24,000 m²) — the minimum necessary to contain the house and nearby outbuildings. It has gold and silver chandeliers and hand inlaid parquet floors and trim. There are doors and stairways that lead nowhere and a vast array of colors and materials. Before the availability of elevators, special “easy riser” stairways were installed to allow Winchester access to every part of the mansion, to accommodate her severe arthritis. Roughly 20,500 gallons (76,000 liters) of paint were required to paint the house.

The house also has many conveniences that were rarely found at the time of its construction, including steam and forced-air heating, modern indoor toilets and plumbing, push-button gas lights, a hot shower from indoor plumbing and even three elevators, including one with the only horizontal hydraulic elevator piston in the United States.

Sarah Winchester made no mention in her will of the mansion, and appraisers considered the house worthless, probably due to the unrepaired earthquake damage as well as the impractical nature of its design. It was sold at auction to a local investor for $135,000 and in February 1923, five months after Mrs. Winchester’s death, the house opened to the public. Harry Houdini toured the mansion in 1924, and the newspaper account of his visit, displayed in the rifle museum on the estate, called it the Mystery House.

Today the home is owned by Winchester Investments LLC and it retains unique touches that reflect Winchester’s beliefs and her reported preoccupation with warding off malevolent spirits. These spirits are said to have directly inspired her as to the way the house should be built. The number thirteen and spider web motifs, which had some sort of spiritual meaning to her, reappear around the house. For example, an expensive imported chandelier that originally had 12 candle-holders was altered to accommodate 13 candles, wall clothes hooks are in multiples of 13, and a spider web-patterned stained glass window contains 13 colored stones. The sink’s drain covers also have 13 holes. In tribute, the house’s current groundskeepers have created a topiary tree shaped like the number 13. Also, every Friday the 13th the large bell on the property is rung 13 times at 1 P.M. (13:00) in tribute to Winchester.

Winchester Mystery House, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Winchester_Mystery_House&oldid=410931807 (last visited Feb. 1, 2011).

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Scientific research

Having lost his parents – his father in 1800 and mother in 1805 – at the age of 21 Crosse took over the management of the family estates. After abandoning his studies for the bar, Crosse devoted his spare time increasingly to studying electricity at Fyne Court, where he developed his own laboratory. He also studied mineralogy and became interested in the formation of crystalline deposits in caves. Around 1807 Crosse married his interests together and started to experiment with electrocrystallization, forming crystalline lime carbonate from water taken from Holwell Cavern. He returned to the subject again from around 1817 and in subsequent years produced a total of 24 electrocrystallized minerals.

Among his experiments Crosse erected ‘an extensive apparatus for examining the electricity of the atmosphere’ incorporating, at one point, an insulated wire some 1.25 miles (2 km) long, later shortened to 1,800 feet (549m), suspended from poles and trees. Using this he was able to determine the polarity of the atmosphere under various weather conditions, with his results being published by his friend George Singer in 1814 as part of Singers Elements of Electricity and Electro-Chemistry.

Along with Sir Humphry Davy (who later visited Fyne Court in 1827), Crosse was one of the first to develop large voltaic piles. Although it was not the largest he built, Henry Minchin Noad’s Manual of Electricity describes a battery consisting of 50 jars containing 73 square feet (6.8 m²) of coated surface. Using his wires he was able to charge and discharge it some 20 times a minute, ‘accompanied by reports almost as loud as those of a cannon’. Due to such experiments he became known locally as ‘the thunder and lightning man’. In 1836 Sir Richard Phillips described seeing a wide variety of voltaic piles at Fyne Court totalling 2,500, of which 1,500 were in use when he visited.

Although little of his work had been published and Crosse had largely studied for his own interest, in 1836 he was persuaded to attend a meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in Bristol. After describing his discoveries over dinner at the house of a friend in Bristol, he was further persuaded to recount them to both the chemical and geological sections of the meeting, where they proved to be of great interest. These included his electrocrystallization and atmospheric experiments, and his improvements to the voltaic battery.

Crosse went on to successfully separate copper from its ores using electrolysis, experimented with the electrolysis of sea water, wine and brandy to purify them, and examined the effect of electricity on vegetation, and researched various other areas of interest. He was also interested in the practical uses of electricity and magnetism, including the development of loudspeakers and telegraphy although he did not research these areas himself.

Controversy

A few months after the 1836 Bristol meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Crosse had been conducting another electrocrystallization experiment when, on the 26th day of the experiment he saw what he described as “the perfect insect, standing erect on a few bristles which formed its tail.” More creatures appeared and two days later they moved their legs. Over the next few weeks, hundreds more appeared. They crawled around the table and hid themselves when they could find a shelter. Crosse identified them as being part of genus acarus.

Puzzled by the results, Crosse mentioned the incident to a couple of friends. He also sent the results to the London Electrical Society. A local newspaper learned of the incident and published an article about the “extraordinary experiment” and named the insects Acarus crossii. The article was subsequently picked up elsewhere across the country and in Europe. Some of the readers apparently gained the impression that Crosse had somehow “created” the insects or at least claimed to have done so. He received angry letters in which he was accused of blasphemy and trying to take God’s place as a creator. Some of them included death threats. Local farmers blamed him for the blight of the wheat crop and commissioned an exorcism in the nearby hills. Opposition to Crosse was so fanatical and visceral that he had to withdraw to the solitude of his mansion Fyne Court.

Other scientists tried to repeat the experiment. W. H. Weeks took extensive measures to assure a sealed environment for his experiment by placing it inside a bell jar. He obtained the same results as Crosse, but due to the controversy that Crosse’s experiment had sparked his work was never published. In February 1837 many newspapers reported that Michael Faraday had also replicated Crosse’s results. However, this was not true. Faraday had not even attempted the experiment. Later researchers, such as Henry Noad and Alfred Smee, were unable to replicate Crosse’s results. Crosse did not claim that he created the insects; he instead assumed that there were embedded insect eggs in his samples. Later commentators agreed that the insects were probably cheese or dust mites that had contaminated Crosse’s instruments.

It has been suggested that this episode was the inspiration for Frankenstein, although this could not have been the case since Crosse’s controversial experiments took place almost 20 years after the novel’s publication. The idea appears to have originated in the 1979 book The Man Who Was Frankenstein by Peter Haining. Mary Shelley did, however, know Crosse, through a common friend, the poet Robert Southey. Percy Bysshe Shelley and Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin attended a lecture by Crosse in December 1814 in London, in which he explained his experiments with atmospheric electricity. Edward W. Cox wrote a report of their visits to Fyne Court to see Crosse’s work in the Taunton Courier in Autumn 1836.

Andrew Crosse, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Andrew_Crosse&oldid=400932264 (last visited Jan. 15, 2011).

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The SPR was founded in 1882 in London by a group of eminent thinkers including Edmund Gurney, Frederic William Henry Myers, William Fletcher Barrett, Henry Sidgwick, and Edmund Dawson Rogers. Its stated purpose given in the first Proceedings was “to approach these varied problems without prejudice or prepossession of any kind, and in the same spirit of exact and unimpassioned enquiry which has enabled Science to solve so many problems, once not less obscure nor less hotly debated.”

Initially six committees were established: on Thought-Transference, Mesmerism and similar phenomena, Mediumship, Reichenbach Phenomena (Odic Force), Apparitions and Haunted Houses, physical phenomena associated with séances, and the Literary Committee which studied the history of these phenomena. One significant undertaking was the Census of Hallucinations, in which 15,000 persons were asked to report on hallucinatory experiences while awake and in good health. Some 10% of those reported such experiences, and a small number of ‘veridical hallucinations‘ were reported – that is, hallucinations which appeared to convey information not known to the person hallucinating at the time, which was believed by the authors to be suggestive of telepathy.

Critical SPR investigations into purported mediums and the exposure of fake mediums led to a number of resignations in the 1880s by Spiritualist members, but the Society continued to investigate mediums, studying Leonora Piper and Eusapia Palladino among others. In 1885 the report of the Committee on Theosophical Phenomena expressed the opinion that the founder of the Theosophical Society, Helena Petrova Blavatsky, was “neither the mouthpiece of hidden seers, nor… a mere vulgar adventuress; we think she has achieved title to permanent remembrance as one of the most accomplished, ingenious and interesting imposters in history”. This report, which had a marked effect on Theosophy, remains as with all SPR reports the opinion of the member concerned; the SPR holds no corporate opinions. It gained the SPR a reputation for being scientific and highly critical. Mrs Salter recorded W.B.Yeats as saying “It’s my belief that if you psychical researchers had been about when God Almighty was creating the world, he couldn’t have done the job”.

The SPR is frequently referred to in Victorian and Edwardian literature as “the Psychical Research Society”. The term psychical was adopted to distinguish the purported phenomena from those classified as psychic, (that is simply mental processes such as thought, memory, etc.) and the SPR were to introduce a number of other neologisms which have entered the English language, such as ‘telepathy‘, which was coined by Frederic Myers.

Wikipedia, Society for Psychical Research, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_for_Psychical_Research

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Its prime interest focuses on paranormal phenomena such as ghosts and hauntings. The club has been mentioned in numerous books, the most notable being “No Common Task” (1983), “This Haunted Isle” (1984), “The Ghosthunters Almanac” (1993) and “Nights in Haunted Houses” (1994), all by Peter Underwood, “Some Unseen Power” (1985) by Philip Paul, “The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits” (1992) by Rosemary Ellen Guiley, “Will Storr Versus the Supernatural” (2006) by Will Storr, “The Guide to Mysterious Glasgow (2009) by Geoff Holder and “Ghost Hunting: a Survivor’s Guide” (2010) by John Fraser.

History

Origins

The club has its roots in Cambridge when in 1855 fellows at Trinity College began to discuss ghosts and psychic phenomena. Formally launched in London in 1862 (attracting some lighthearted ridicule in “The Times”), it counted amongst its early members Charles Dickens and Cambridge academics and clergymen. One of the club’s earliest investigations, in 1862, was of the Davenport Brothers’ “spirit cabinet”. The Ghost Club was challenging the brothers’ claim to be contacting the dead^[11] – a claim that was later proved to be a hoax. The results of that investigation, though, were never made public.

This group undertook practical investigations of spiritualist phenomena, which was then much in vogue and would meet and discuss ghostly subjects. The Ghost Club seems to have dissolved in the 1870s following the death of Dickens.

1882 revitalization

The Ghost Club was revived on All Saints Day 1882 by Alfred Alaric Watts, the son of journalist and poet Alaric Alexander Watts, and a famous contemporary medium, the Reverend Stainton Moses. At one point they claimed to be the original founders of the club, without acknowledging its 1862 origins.^[13] Simultaneously, the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) – with whom there was an initial overlap of members – was founded.

Whilst the SPR was a body devoted to scientific study, the Ghost Club remained a selective and secretive organization of convinced believers for whom psychic phenomena were an established fact. Stainton Moses resigned from the vice presidency of the SPR in 1886 and thereafter devoted himself to the Ghost Club which met monthly, with attendance being considered obligatory except for the most pressing reasons. Membership was small – 82 members over 54 years – and women were not allowed in the club, but during this period it attracted some of the most original and controversial minds in psychical research, serving almost as a place of refuge for those who were unable to pursue activities elsewhere. These included Sir William Crookes who attracted scandal after investigation into Florence Cook, a medium; Sir Oliver Lodge, the physicist; Nandor Fodor, psychologist and a former associate of Sigmund Freud; and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes.

The archives of the Club reveal that the names of members – both living and dead – were solemnly recited each November 2nd. Each individual, living or dead, was recognized as still being a member of the Club. On more than one occasion deceased members were believed to have made their presence felt.

On the earthly plane, meetings discussed topics as diverse as Egyptian magic and second sight.

Involved were also the poet W. B. Yeats (joined 1911) and later Frederick Bligh Bond (joined 1925), who became infamous with his obsessive investigations into spiritualism at Glastonbury. Bligh Bond later left the country and later became active in the American Society for Psychical Research. He was ordained into the Old Catholic Church and rejoined the Ghost Club on his return to Britain in 1935.

Reactions

At this stage of its existence, the Ghost Club might possibly be viewed as a Victorian occult or spiritualist society celebrating November 2nd, the Feast of All Souls.

The Principal of Jesus College, Cambridge, Arthur Grey was later to fictionalize the Ghost Club in 1919 as “The Everlasting Club” – a famous Cambridge ghost story that many still believe to be true.

Early 20th Century

However, attendance dwindled and the change in the 20th century from séance room investigation to laboratory based research meant that the Ghost Club was becoming out of touch with contemporary psychic research or parapsychology as it became known in the 1930s. Harry Price, world famous in the 1930s as a psychic researcher and for his investigation into Borley Rectory joined as a member in 1927 as did psychologist Dr.Nandor Fodor who represented the changing approach to psychical research taking place. With attendance falling, Price, Bligh Bond and a handful of surviving members agreed to wind up the Club in 1936 after 485 meetings, and this took place on November 2nd 1936. The Ghost Club records narrowly escaped being destroyed because of their confidential nature but were deposited in the British Museum under the proviso that they would be closed until 1962.

Harry Price’s restructuring

However these events proved only a temporary suspension for within 18 months Price had relaunched the Ghost Club as a society dining event where psychic researchers and mediums delivered after dinner talks. Price decided to admit women to the club, also specifying that it was not a spiritualist church or association but a group of skeptics that gathered to discuss paranormal topics. Among members in this period were Dr. C.E.M.Joad, Sir Julian Huxley, Algernon Blackwood, Sir Osbert Sitwell and Lord Amwell.

Mid- to late-20th Century (Peter Underwood, Tom Perrott)

Following Price’s death in 1948 activities lapsed but the Club was again relaunched by members of the committee, Philip Paul and Peter Underwood. From 1962 author Peter Underwood served as President and many account of Club activities are found in his books.

Tom Perrott joined the club in 1967 and served as Chairman from 1971 to 1993.

Late 20th Century turmoils

In 1993, however, the club underwent a period of internal disruption, during which Peter Underwood left to become Life President of another society he called “The Ghost Club Society”, that he claims having been founded in 1851, taking some of the club members with him. During this period, Tom Perrott resigned due to the turmoil, but was invited to return to the Ghost Club as chairman, which he accepted.

With this turmoil behind the club, it was decided to implement a more democratic feel to proceedings, to abolish the “invite only” clause in its membership policy, to absorb the role of Chairman and President into one post, and to allow all members to have their say in council meetings, also encouraging them to become more involved in club affairs.

During this period the Ghost Club also expanded its remit to take in the study of UFOs, dowsing, cryptozoology and similar topics.

Into the 21st Century

In 1998, Perrott resigned as Chairman (although he remained active in club affairs), and barrister Alan Murdie was elected as his successor. Alan Murdie has written a number of ghost books including “Haunted Brighton” and regularly writes for the Fortean Times magazine. In 2005 he was succeeded by Kathy Gearing. Ms. Gearing – the first female chairperson of the Ghost Club – announced in the Summer 2009 newsletter of the club her resignation from her position. In the first days of October 2009 it was announced that Alan Murdie had been re-appointed the Ghost Club’s chairman four years after having left the same position.

The club continues to meet monthly on a Saturday afternoon at the Victory Services Club, near Marble Arch, in London. Several investigations are performed in England every year; in recent times, many have also been organised in Scotland by the Scottish Area Investigation Coordinator Mr. Derek Green (recently appointed to the position of Investigations Organiser for the whole Ghost Club).

Relevant members

Since its founding in 1862, the Ghost Club has welcomed many luminaries to its membership. The list includes Charles Dickens, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sir William Crookes, Air Chief Marshal Lord Dowding, Arthur Koestler, Dr. C.E.M.Joad, Donald Campbell, Sir Julian Huxley, Sir Osbert Sitwell, W.B.Yeats, Siegfried Sassoon, Dennis Wheatley, Peter Cushing, Peter Underwood and noted paranormal investigator Maurice Grosse, famous for his investigation of the Enfield Poltergeist. Present members include the explorer and founder of Operation Drake (which later became Operation Raleigh and then Raleigh International) Colonel John Blashford-Snell, OBE, paranormal investigator Reverend Lionel Fanthorpe, author Lynn Picknett, writer Colin Wilson, and parapsychologist and TV personality Dr. Ciaran O’Keeffe, who is an advisor of the club. W.T.G. (Tom) Perrott, a former chairman and a life member of the club, is an eminent figure in the field of psychical research.

Investigations

The club has investigated many famous locations during its lifetime, such as Borley Church, Chingle Hall, The Queen’s House, RAF Cosford Aerospace Museum, Glamis Castle, Winchester Theatre, The Ancient Ram Inn in Wotton-under-Edge, Woodchester Mansion, Balgonie Castle, Ham House, the village of New Lanark, Coalhouse Fort, Stirling Castle, the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Alloa Tower, Scotland Street School Museum, Michelham Priory, Culross Palace and the Clerkenwell House of Detention. Reports about most of the investigations performed in the recent years can be found at the Ghost Club website at the tab “Investigations”.

The Ghost Club. (2010, October 14). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 13:49, November 14, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Ghost_Club&oldid=390658308

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