WCP3441

[1]

Springfield Mass U.S.A.

Dec 1 1880

Prof. A.R. Wallace

Dear Sir

Although you may not be specially interested yourself in the work I am doing under the direction of what purports to be the spirit of Prof M Faraday[?],¹ I will write at his request the progress already achieved in my experiments under his direction.

Last Aug. I held a series of test circles with the famous Eddy brothers² of Vermont and had all the opportunity one could desire to experiment at will. I sat by the cabinet door and held personal conversation with the forms of the following well known public men of this country. Abraham Lincoln³ came out four ^different times, being able to speak sufficiently loud to be heard by all in the room. Stood 6 ft 4 inches in height and as solid a man as was ever in earthly[?] life. Gen Washington⁴ came out some eight or ten times and spoke as well as you or I making quite an address once[2]

Gen Israel Putnam⁵ of Continental fame and came twice and Dr. Benjamin Franklin⁶ once.

Among the lesser other lights were may be found Gen George H. Thomas⁷ U.S. army Sec. Edwin N. Stanton,⁸ President James Madison,⁹ John C. Calhoun,¹⁰ Gen Robert E. Lee,¹¹ Senator Charles Sumner,¹² Gov. James L Orr¹³ of South Carolina, Senator Robert M. T. Hunter¹⁴ of Virginia and some others.

These men were thoroughly materialised and varied in height, form, and dress as much as in earthly life. Some of them I saw dematerialise and fade away to invisibility. In a dark circle one evening by audible voice Prof. Faraday purported to come himself and talked with me quite a while giving directions etc. about the future experiments he wished to perform and said the scientific forces in spirit life were gaining great power to act directly instead of having to use so many intermediates.

Not among the least interesting of these paranormal exhibitions were the materializations of the ancient spirits. Among these were[3] some that purported to have lived several thousand years ago. Hermes of Egypt¹⁵ stood nearly eight feet in height. Cyrus of Persia¹⁶ 7 1/2 ft ^{at least} and was enormous weighing I should judge between four and five hundred lbs. Confucius¹⁷ the Chinese philosopher was only about the average of the Chinese of this day, while the Greeks and Egyptians were gigantic.

The significance of these materializations are almost priceless to scientific spiritualism and their importance can hardly be estimated. So palpable were their appearance and so conclusive their entering that the reporters of the secular press would not report them at all some going as far as to say that the evidence was too strong to combat. My only regret was that we could not have had some such writer as yourself or Cromwell Varley¹⁸ to have been present.

I expected then to have been able to go to England by this time but unfortunately some business ventures proved a financial failure so there is no use in my looking further in that[4] direction.

I think however that with a powerful medium for materialization the electric force is now so powerfully manipulated by these men in the other sphere as to make the experiments much easier of verification than when you experimented with Florence Cook.¹⁹ The coming of the public men of this country would soon force the way for the coming of the public men of others and I regard it as likely that you will find the facts in England corroborative of the proofs here. From time to time I will report progress so that you can know how we are progressing. As it looks now there is no immediate prospect of my being able to got to England and what is done will have to be done here as spiritual power is not available in this country for farming[?] purposes or certainly not for use in my special line of work.

Com Res

T. C. Buddington

Springfield Mass U.S.A.