The Psychical Researchers Tale - The Sceptical Poltergeist | Page 6

the only means he has left to
convince himself that he is right. Well, my temper did that for me on
this occasion. I could not prove my existence to that confounded spirit
by any logic or demonstration, but I could prove it to myself by getting
angry. And I did.
The Researcher glared round the circle as if challenging anyone there to
deny the validity of his existence, then slapped his note-book together
and sat upon it.
I do not expect you to believe my story (he concluded, with a touch of
vehemence). Indeed, I would much sooner that you did not believe it. I
have been trying to doubt it myself for the past eleven years, and I still
hope to succeed in that endeavour, aided by my intensive study of the
comforting theories of the later Victorian scientists. But I must warn
you that there was just one touch of what one might call evidence,
beyond my own impressions of that night--which may have been, and
probably were, a mixture of telepathy, hallucination, expectancy, and
auto-suggestion, that found expression in automatic writing.

This rather flimsy piece of evidence rests upon a conclusion drawn
from the end of my conversation with the spirit. I was still banging
about the room, then, and I said that I had finished with psychical
research, that never again would I make the least inquiry with regard to
a possible future life, or any kind of spiritualistic phenomenon. And,
curiously enough, the poltergeist precisely echoed my resolve. He said
that that night's experience had clearly shown him that the research was
useless, that it could never prove anything, and that, even if it did, no
one would believe it. For if, as he pointed out, we who were in a
manner of speaking face to face, were unable to prove our own
existence to each other, how could we expect to prove the other's
existence to anyone else?
It was getting light then, and he faded out almost immediately
afterwards.
But it is a fact that there were no more poltergeist phenomena in that
house, although the Slippertons went back to it a month or two later
and still have the same cook.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Psychical Researcher's
Tale - The Sceptical Poltergeist, by J. D. Beresford
*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE
PSYCHICAL RESEARCHER'S ***
***** This file should be named 22479-8.txt or 22479-8.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/4/7/22479/
Produced by David Widger
Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will be
renamed.
Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation

(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set
forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying
and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the
PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project
Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you charge
for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you do not
charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the rules is
very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as
creation of derivative works, reports, performances and research. They
may be modified and printed and given away--you may do practically
ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is subject to
the trademark license, especially commercial redistribution.

*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE PLEASE READ
THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work (or
any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
http://gutenberg.org/license).
Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works
1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all the
terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy all
copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. If
you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project

Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
entity to whom you paid the fee as set