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The Marlborough Street Sittings · est. 1922
The Whitmore Spiritualist Circle
Eleanor Voss, Medium · Boston, Massachusetts
We gather, we who are bereaved, to make a bridge across the veil — that the love we sent into the war, into the long fevers, into the silent rooms of this last decade, may yet return to us, spoken plain. You are welcomed here as a fellow seeker, whatever you have lost.
There is no death. There is only the changing of the room. This much, after two and a half years of sittings at the parlor on Marlborough Street, we now hold to be plainly evident — not as a hope or a comfort, but as a fact observed under careful conditions, in lamplight low enough to see by, with every hand joined and every heart open. Spirit speaks. The boy you lost at the Argonne speaks. The wife you sat with through the influenza speaks. They are here, and the work of this Circle is to listen.
What follows is our public log for the spring sittings of the present year. We publish it in the spirit of Light and the Journal of the A.S.P.R. — not to convince the unwilling, but to keep an honest record for those already in mourning, who have written from as far as Halifax and Wilmington asking for word of the parlor's proceedings. The board below is the same board Mrs. Voss has used since the founding sitting; the planchette is willow and brass. Both have been present at every communication described herein.
— Charlotte Annesley Whitmore, recording secretary
— Spirit Board · Mrs. Voss's Parlor —
The Medium
Mrs. Eleanor Voss
Born Lowell, 1881; widowed in the autumn epidemic of 1918. Mrs. Voss received her first clear contact on the night of her husband's burial — Robert spoke to her in three quick raps on the bedstead, then a fourth softer one, the family code for "I am safe." She has sat with this Circle every Tuesday and Thursday since the founding gathering of November 4, 1922. She accepts no honorarium. The parlor is heated, the tea is good, and the dead are kind here.
Sitting of Tuesday, April 8th, 1924
Lamp dimmed at 8:07. Hands joined at 8:09. First contact at 8:14.Planchette Transcript
For Mrs. Holloway, from her son
Pointer moved without hesitation for seven full minutes. The message arrived in plain English. Mrs. Holloway wept quietly throughout; the planchette never paused for her tears.
"I AM HERE STILL LOVE WAITING IN THE WARM BRIGHT LIGHT DEATH IS BUT A DOOR"
— spelled by Thomas Holloway, late Pvt., 28th Division, Argonne, Oct. 1918
Automatic Writing
The Cardwell Page
Mrs. Voss took up the pencil at 8:31 with eyes closed. The writing filled two sides of foolscap in a hand markedly unlike her own — looped, leftward-slanting, with the small clipped g's that the late Reverend Cardwell was known for. His widow, present, recognized it at the first line and pressed both palms flat to the table.
"My Hannah — the choir here practices the old hymns, and I keep your seat. Tell Edith I forgive what was never hers to apologize for."
— Rev. James Cardwell, d. of typhus, 1921
Rapping Code Translation
Three Knocks for Adele
Beginning at 9:02, a series of clear knocks proceeded along the underside of the parlor table — five long, three short, eleven long, three short, and so forth. Mr. Pemberton, after a long moment, translated for the Circle: the pattern was the simple alphabet count he and his twin sister had used as children at boarding school.
"E-A-T-Y-O-U-R-T-O-A-S-T-B-E-R-T-I-E."
— Miss Adele Pemberton, d. of scarlet fever, age 11
Materialization Witnessed
A Lavender Scent at the Window
At 9:24 every member of the Circle smelled distinct lavender, growing in intensity for perhaps thirty seconds; Mrs. Strathmore identified it at once as her husband's preparation, which he had carried in his coat pocket through France. A pale luminous form was observed by three sitters at the south-facing window — softly bordered, no facial features distinguishable, but the shape and stature of a tall man. (Documentation of ectoplasm appears in the photographic plate's caption alone — the form on the plate is delicate, breath-like, and unmistakably present in the silver.)
Sitting of Thursday, April 10th, 1924
A private sitting for the Caldwell family. Three present at the table.Planchette Transcript
For Vivian, from both her boys
The planchette moved with a different rhythm on Thursday — slower, gentler, almost taking turns. Two distinct presences were felt, identified at once by Mrs. Caldwell as her elder and younger sons. The board spelled in alternation.
"MOTHER WE ARE TOGETHER NOW HAROLD MINDS THE GARDEN AND I MIND HAROLD"
— Walter Caldwell (Verdun, 1916) and Harold Caldwell (Belleau Wood, 1918)
Automatic Writing
A Letter in Mary's Hand
Mr. Ashworth had come carrying a single bundled letter from his wife, written shortly before her death in childbirth. Mrs. Voss had not seen the letter. Within four minutes of contact she produced two paragraphs in the exact same loose-script hand, opening with the phrase Mary had used in life to begin every letter to him.
"My dear, my dear James — the baby is here with me and she is laughing. She has all her teeth and she is laughing."
— Mary Ashworth, d. December 1920
Rapping Code Translation
One Sharp Tap for Yes
Mrs. Caldwell asked thirteen questions, plainly and aloud — about the garden, about whether Walter knew the new dog's name, about a small private matter she would not name to the rest of us. Each was answered with a single sharp tap for yes, two soft for no. Twelve yeses, one soft pair of noes. She left the parlor steadier on her feet than she came in.
Plate III — taken by long exposure on a Wednesday morning during the second sitting of March, 1924. Mrs. Strathmore's seat is at right.
The Séance Circle
Twelve souls keep the regular sittings. We name each of them here, and each of those they keep close to the table. Click any name to read of the contact that brought them to us.
Submit Your Own Séance Experience
If you have been visited by one you love — whether at our parlor or alone in a quiet room of your own — record it here. Your card will join the Circle.