Part 6

Mrs. Butler returned and informed the company, as I was told, that if they would walk to Mr. Blaisdel’s solemnly as to a funeral, the Spirit would walk with Mrs. Butler behind them. The company did so. But I being far forward, saw nothing. Mrs. Butler had expressed her unwillingness to go to Capt. Simson’s, and was excused, as she afterwards told us. JAMES MILLAR.

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TESTIMONY V.

_Testimony of Mrs. M. G._

On the 4th of August, 1800, about two hours before day-light, while I slept in Mr. Blaisdel’s house, I was waked by the sound of knocking. I got up, and with about twenty others went into the cellar. There I heard such a voice speaking to us as I never heard before nor since. It was shrill, but very mild and pleasant.

Mr. Blaisdel, in addressing the voice, said that several persons, (of whom I was one) had come from a distance to obtain satisfaction, and desired that she would tell us who she was, and the design of her coming. She answered, “I was once N. H. and after I was married, I was N. B.” After much conversation upon the design of her coming, she appeared to us. At first the apparition was a mere mass of light: then grew into personal form, about as tall as myself. We stood in two ranks about four or five feet apart. Between these ranks she slowly passed and repassed, so that any of us could have handled her. When she passed by me, her nearness was that of contact; so that if there had been a substance, I should have certainly felt it. The glow of the apparition had a constant tremulous motion. At last the personal form became shapeless--expanded every way, and then vanished in a moment.

Then I examined my own white gown and handkerchief, but I could no more see them than if they had been black.

Nothing more being now seen or heard, we were moving to go up, when the voice spake again and desired us to tarry longer. We did so, and the Spirit talked with us another hour, even till broad day-light. She mentioned to us the ill treatment which Mr. Blaisdel’s family had suffered by reproach and false accusation, and told us that they would, on her account, be more despised and ridiculed in time to come, than they had been already.

Her discourse concluded by a solemn exhortation to the old, the middle aged and the young. The present life, she said, was but a moment, in which we must be renewed or be miserable forever.

In her address to the youth she observed that it was now the Lord’s day, and that we must retire to our homes, read the Bible, pray and keep the day holy. It was then she uttered these lines of Dr. Watts.

“This is the day when Christ arose So early from the dead; Why should I keep my eyelids closed, And waste my hours in bed?”

After speaking much more which I cannot remember, she sang praises and left us.

Her notes were very pleasant. Her words were in no higher style than common, yet were they exceedingly impressive. MARY GORDON.

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TESTIMONY VI.

_Testimony of Mrs. Sally Wentworth._

On the 2d of January 1800, Hannah Blaisdel came to Mr. Butler’s house and informed me that the extraordinary voice which they had heard, had declared itself to be that of my sister, and that I must go to her father’s house.

I told her to her face that I did not believe it.

The next day I received the same message by three other persons, two of which belonged to two other families, and returned the same answer. Nevertheless, to give satisfaction, Capt. Butler, Mr. Wentworth and I went with them to that house. Capt. Butler and I examined the cellar with a candle, and in a few minutes after, Lydia and I went down there. Capt. S----n and some others, went with us, but none of them stood before us. While I held Lydia by the arm, we heard the sound of knocking. Lydia spoke, and a voice answered, the sound of which brought fresh to my mind that of my sister’s voice, in an instant; but I could not understand it at all; though it was within the compass of my embrace, and, had it been a creature which breathed, it would have breathed in my face, and I had no impediment of hearing. But Lydia told me that it said, “We must live in peace and be united.” Then we came up. But Capt. S----n with Lydia and others, went down again. I passed through the room which led to the cellar into another room, and there I was much surprised when I plainly understood by the same kind of voice, still speaking in the cellar, these words, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness;” and other sentences, which I cannot remember. This is testified by several others who were with me.[30]

From this time I cleared Lydia as to the voice, and accused the devil.

August 8, I was there again with about thirty others, and heard much conversation. Her voice was still hoarse and thick, like that of my sister on her death bed,[31] but more hollow. Sometimes it was clear, and always pleasant. A certain person did, in my opinion very unwisely, ask her whether I was a true Christian. The reply was, “She thinks she is, she thinks she is. She is my sister.”

August 13-14, I heard the same voice in the same place, and did then believe it was that of my sister. She talked much with Capt. S----n, and exhorted the people. Mr. Sp----r asked her if I believed that she was my sister. The answer was, “She believes now.” By the direction of the Spirit we went to Capt. M----r’s, but I never saw her.

Sometime after this, Mr. Butler brought to me from the Spectre, the private conversation which I know I had with my sister in her lifetime, at a certain hour, when we were alone together, and which he declares he never knew before; as a token that I was her sister. It is true I had never revealed it to any person, and I do not believe that my sister ever did; but could not some evil spirit hear that conversation, and afterwards personate my sister, and reveal it to Capt. Butler? For what purpose should my sister become visible to us?--There was certainly no dispute nor difficulty in my father’s family or that of Mr. Butler’s, which could be any reason for her coming. SALLY WENTWORTH.

Mrs. Wentworth had now an opportunity to hear the voice of Lydia and the voice of the Spectre in the same time and place, that she might have the best advantage to judge whether or not there was the least agreement between them. And that Lydia had never learned to utter two voices in the same minute, the one her natural voice, the other the dying voice of this woman’s sister, appears from the certainty that through all the time of the Spectre’s last sickness and death, Lydia was two hundred miles distant from her.

When Mrs. Wentworth heard in the east room that sentence of the ghost, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness;” this was the only time in which the ghost uttered these words for that day, as several witnesses (nem. con.) declare. Hence it follows that this was the exact minute when Captain Simson, in the cellar, within eight feet of the voice, and free from deafness, heard only a sound, while they who stood by him understood the words plainly. (Compare this with a sentence in Test. 4, 2d part.)

The reality of the token appears from the undoubted veracity of Mrs. W., her inflexible opposition and the oath of Capt. Butler, the reputed dupe of the whole business.

* * * * *

TESTIMONY VII.

_Testimony of Mr. Jeremiah Bunker._

On August 9, 1800, I went to Mr. Blaisdel’s, where there were about twelve people.

After hearing the discourse of the Spectre, she appeared before us and disappeared several times. She came close by me and three or four others several times, so that each of us could have handled her. The personal shape, when it disappeared, first changed to a substance, without form, and then vanished in a moment where it was: and after a short space, the full personal form appeared again in a moment. These changes I observed several times. I thought then and ever since that the whole was a deception. For I cannot see how there could be such a clear personal shape, where no living person was. She was in the shape of a person as much as any person could be. JEREMIAH BUNKER.

* * * * *

The second part presents the attestation of those who favor the cause, or at least have not appeared openly against it.

TESTIMONY I.

_Testimony of Mr. Abner Blaisdel._

May 29, 1800. The Spectre conversed with three of my family. To dispel their fears, she introduced her conversation by these words: “I have come again,[32] be not afraid, I will not hurt you, I did not come here to hurt you, I am a friend to you all.” One of them answered, “I cannot help being afraid.” “You need not be,” said the Spectre, “you need not be. I never did hurt you, did I?” No: it was answered: “And I shall not hurt you,” said the Spectre. “Put your things in place.[33] Conduct as formerly: for nothing will hurt you.”

To Capt. Butler the Spectre said, “Be kind to your wife: for she will not be with you long. She will have but one child and then die.” It was now that the Spirit sent a token to Mrs. Hooper, her mother, by which Mrs. Hooper declares she must have been her daughter.

August 6. I had for some time heard that my father was sick, but had since received no news from him. I ventured to ask how my father did; “He is in heaven,” said she, “praising God with the angels.” I afterwards found by other means, that my father died seven days before this. He lived two hundred miles from me.

When she left us at this time, the voice sounded in the air further and further from us, uttering these words: “I am in heaven, praising God and the Lamb with angels, archangels, cherubim and seraphim. Glory, glory, glory to God and the Lamb. I am going, I am going, I am going to Christ.”

August 8. About thirty people came to my house. That night the Spectre had much solemn conversation with them on religious subjects. Mr. N. H----n expressed his desire to handle her, and she gave him liberty. Some times the inimitable voice would sound ten or twelve feet from us, then close to our face, then again at a distance: and these changes were instantaneous. After broad day-light, the outer door being open, when we could plainly see each other, the voice spake to all, and said, “Let any one who pleases, come and handle me: for Christ says that a spirit hath not flesh and bones.”

Some person then said to Mr. H----n, “Now if you want to handle her why don’t you go?”

Then he crowded through the people to the place where the voice was still speaking, and said, “I find nothing here to handle.”

August 9, 1800. We placed ourselves in order, according to the direction of the Spectre; and a white appearance, at first very small, rose before me and grew to a personal stature and form. It stood directly before Capt. Butler, while he and his wife stood beside each other. I saw him put his hand on the apparition, and I saw his hand pass through it. Then it vanished. There were now about twelve persons here.

On August 11, she discoursed with about twenty persons, of whom I was one. “I come,” said she, “to warn you against sin, and if there is not a change before the soul leaves the body, you will be forever miserable.”

After the Spirit had spoken many things of this nature, Mr. U. expressed his desire to see her, “You shall see me,” said she, “I will appear to you all.” She appeared and disappeared before us several times, and talked while she appeared. She came close to us, and some said they saw the child in her arms. My son P. observed it, and said, “Her child is now in her arms;” “So it is,” said she, “so it is.”

When it was day-light, she told us that this was the day when Christ rose from the dead--that it was God’s precious time and must be kept holy, and that she must return to carry on the work of praise, and then sang praises and left us.

Next morning, while I was at work in my field, I was told that the Spirit had sent for me. I went into my house, heard a voice, but saw nothing.

This voice, which declared itself to be N. H. said, “Call for my parents, P. S. S. C., his wife and others, who appear to you to know Christ, that they may hear and see; for they will tell the truth.” I performed the errand, and those persons came with more than forty others that night. I went into the cellar and asked who should come. “They must all come,” said she, “leave not a soul behind.” I gave the information and they complied. The Spirit first asked her parents whether they believed she was her daughter: and they said, “yes.” “Do you want to see me?” said she. And they said, “No.” She asked her father if he was ready to go with her, if the Lord should call him. “I am afraid I am not,” said he, “but the Lord can make me willing.” “That is right,” she answered. Then after conversing with her mother, in a very affecting manner, she said to both, “You were my dear parents once; but now you are no more to me than others.” Then to Capt. P. S. she said, “You have become hard against me.” “So I have,” said he. “Do you love Christ?” “Yes, I do,” said she, “yes I do.” P. S. “Then you love me.” “Yes, I do. Do you not remember that soon after I was married, you told me that I was married to G. B. and how happy I should be, if I was married to Christ: and I said I was not; but I wished I was.” P. S. “Yes, I remember it very well.” “Now I am married to Christ,” said she, “now I am married to Christ, now I am married to Christ.”

“You used to meet with us at my house, and once, at the time of a certain prayer, I observed you to be much affected.” “Yes, I was,” said she, “and the Lord was then breaking my heart.”

I then spake to her myself, and said, I never knew that you experienced a change of nature before you died, and I should be glad if you would tell when you experienced it. It was, said she, when I laid upon my death bed. Then she spake to her parents, and reminded them of the conversation which had passed between them at that time, respecting the loss of her child. Then it was, said she, that I received my change.

After much other conversation, which I do not remember, the Spirit said to us, “There is one of this family, who is not here.” Some person asked if we should go and call him. She said, “No; I am going where he is. They say I can appear no where but here; but I mean to convince them that I can appear in other places. I must appear before you all this night, and go to the next house and to another. You must all go up and be ready to walk with me. But you must walk in order, two and two, solemnly, as if you were following a friend to the grave. For the Lord is a God of peace and not of confusion. Sing a Psalm as you walk, and I will walk with Lydia after you.” We all went up, and in about an hour after, we heard the token, and placed ourselves before the door, and hearing it again, we walked on to Capt. M’s, and the Spirit knocked under his floor. He and my son went down and, after conversing with my son, she told Capt. M. who she was, and the purpose of her coming to his house, and asked him if he was satisfied, and he told her that he was. Then she directed him to go up and tell the people to stand in order before the door and she would appear before them in the field. They did so, and she appeared to them and disappeared, as some of them informed me. By her direction we walked back to my house in the same order, and then I saw her plainly about thirty feet from me, in the form and stature of a person; white as the light and moving after us like a cloud, without ambulatory motion. ABNER BLAISDEL.

I have discoursed with all these persons, except two or three, whose names are mentioned in this testimony, and they all attest to almost all the facts which are here related, as being known to them.

* * * * *

TESTIMONY II.

_Testimony of Miss Mary Card._

I am not only a witness to many things in the preceding relation, but I further declare that, on August 13, about two o’clock in the day, while Mr. Blaisdel was gone for evidence, the Spirit knocked, and M. M. and I went near to the place of the sound and asked what was wanted.

The Spirit answered “I have come, I have come. Make room for I am coming among you.”[34] I pleaded that she would not. I must, I must, said she, don’t be scared. I answered we were poor sinful creatures, and could not help it, and again earnestly entreated her not to come.

I now plainly saw her appear in shining white; and she asked me if any person in the house wanted to see her. I then called on Miss P. C. who in the same hour had said that “though she had heard the voice speak, she would not believe it was that of a ghost.” I asked her now to come and see her, and she did. Now, said the ghost, satisfy yourselves. Here I am, here I am, satisfy yourselves. Miss P. C. answered that she was satisfied.[35] The ghost then spake several other things which I cannot remember. M. CARD.

* * * * *

TESTIMONY III.

_Testimony of Miss Margaret Miller._

I was present at the same time, and heard all that is here declared by Miss Mary Card. I saw the apparition, and heard her speak at the same time. M. MILLER.

* * * * *

TESTIMONY IV.

_Testimony of Capt. Paul Simson._

January 3, 1800, I was at the house of Mr. Blaisdel. His son P. desired me to go with him into the cellar. I went down with him and his two sisters, and Mrs. C. M.

I heard a rapping, and asked in the name of Christ what it wanted. I heard a voice considerably loud, but could not understand it. But some who were present, told me that it said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make his paths strait. Seek ye the Lord, while he may be found; call upon him while he is near.”

After some silence it rapped again. I spake to it in the name of Christ, and said, if there was any thing it could utter for peace, to utter it. It answered, “I am not to be trifled with. I am not to be trifled with. I am not to be trifled with. Peace, peace, peace.”[36]

Then they all went up, except Lydia and myself, and I held her by the hand. She was much terrified, and said, “I feel so I cannot stay: I must go up.” Stay awhile, said I, perhaps it will speak again. “I cannot,” said she, and began to urge me away. I consented, and when we had come up, she told me what I had myself perceived, that the cellar began to grow light, where the voice was uttered and that she heard a rushing noise.

Sometime after I was in the same cellar with a number of people and heard a plain voice; clearly understood by others, but not at all by myself, though as near to it as others and free from deafness. The voice appeared to me inimitable.

August 8, I was there again with thirty others and heard the conversation of the Spectre with several persons. Mr. N. H. mentioned his desire to handle her. “Handle me and see,” said she, “for Christ tells you that a spirit is not flesh and bones.”

Mr. T. U. said, “if you are a happy soul, intercede for me.” The reply was, “None but Christ intercedes.” “There are among us,” said Mr. U., “several denominations of Christians: Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Baptists, and Methodists. Which of all these are right?” The voice answered, “There are good and bad of all these sorts for the elect’s sake.”[37]

In August 13-14, while I was at the same house, the Spirit informed us that she could not speak freely in the night of August 9, because the behaviour of the people had been so rude, but expressed her joy in discoursing with christians. You know, said I, a thousand times more than any of us. Yes I do, said she. Mr. Blaisdel said to me, you stand too near her. Then I asked, do I stand too near you? No, said she, stand as near as you please. I felt surprised, and said, it was a wonderful event. Yes, the spirit replied, it is a wonderful event indeed--do you not remember what you told me, just after I was married that if I was married to Christ, how happy I should live? Yes, I answered, I remember it very well. She exhorted the young people and told them that without a change they would be miserable.

After this, the spirit expressed her resolution to convince us that Mr. Blaisdel and his family were clear of the evils alleged against them.

They say I am a witch and a devil, said she; and they said that Christ was a devil. The spirit said other things, which I remember not.

At last she told them she was about to appear in order to convince them. Then by her direction we went up, and having prayed together, and heard the token, we walked on to Capt. M’s, singing the 84th Psalm. I was one of the foremost of the company and did not see it then; but the greatest number of those who were behind me, said they saw it plainly.