Yes, Virginia, there is a Bessie Beals

It's considered one of skepticism's great moments. To discredit the medium Leonora Piper, the investigator Stanley Hall asked her about his dead niece, Bessie Beals. The entranced Piper's spirit control, "Hodgson," dutifully produced information about Bessie ... only to be informed that there was no Bessie, after all! The niece had never existed; she was a fictional invention.

From Hall's notes:

Hall: Well, what do you say to this, Hodgson. I asked you to call Bessie Beals, and there is no such person. How do you explain that?

Hodgson-persona: Bessie Beals is here, and not the -

(At this point we laughed and I made some remark to the effect that that was just what we had said Hodgson would do, and the hand continued thus,)

Hodgson-persona: I know a Bessie Beals. Her mother asked about her before. Mother asked about her before.

Hall: I don't know about that, Hodgson. Bessie Beals is a pure fiction.*

Game, set, and match!

But now Greg Taylor of The Daily Grail has learned that Bessie Beals was a real person after all. True, she was not Hall's niece, but a friend of one of his relatives, and she was not dead. Nevertheless, she was not "pure fiction," as Hall made her out to be.

Presented as an afterthought in Amy Tanner's book Studies in Spiritualism is Hall's admission:

To complete the confusion, a relative within three days mentioned to me incidentally one Bessie Beals, still living, as a friend, whom I may have heard her speak of before.

It would be interesting to know if the information Piper provided about this allegedly fictional character matched up with the real-life Bessie Beals. Naturally, Hall appears to have made no effort to find out.

Let's suppose the information was accurate. There would be a couple of possibilities. One is that Piper was obtaining the info through some form of ESP. The other is that she was reading the spirit body of the living Bessie. In his book The Supreme Adventure, a compendium of channeled material, Robert Crookall notes that mediums can have trouble distinguishing between a discarnate personality and one that is still embodied, but asleep.

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*It should be noted that immediately after this, the Hodgson-persona tried to rescue itself by the desperate expedient of saying, "Yes, I am mistaken in her. I am mistaken. Her name was not Bessie, but Jessie Beals." This seems like reaching, but then, as Greg Taylor notes, the control personality had been known to exercise "creativity" of this sort from time to time. 

Comments

[Michael H]

Another possibility may be considered if someone regards the Seth Material as credible. He claims that though we all see ourselves as distinct, separate individuals, we are in actuality just one aspect of a larger personality essence, a "mandala" that exists in various incarnations simultaneously. If Seth's right, the Hodgson persona might have somehow connected with the "larger" essence of Bessie.

“Hodgson” wouldn’t necessarily know that, as it seems that most medium communications don't involve particularly advanced souls in the first place, though there are exceptions. Dexter and Edmonds purportedly received messages from Francis Bacon and Emmanuel Swedenborg, both of whom had some thought provoking things to say about existence. Michael Tymn had some interesting excerpts from their book Spiritualism a couple of months back.

[Art]

Whenever I've experienced mystical or transcendental experiences they were spontaneous and I had no control over them. I couldn't make one happen if I tried. The time thing was also confusing. One time I dreamed about two big fish that looked large bass. Two years later my neighbor gave me two huge striped bass and I put them in my freezer. I realized that that those were the fish I had dreamed about. I've had other similar experiences. Like John Edward (the Medium) says, "it is what it is." And as far as distinguishing between the living and the dead little Daisy Dryden says in her death bed vision,

"Two days before she left us, the Sunday School Superintendent came to see her. She talked very freely about going, and sent a message by him to the Sunday School. When he was about to leave, he said, "Well, Daisy, you will soon be over the 'dark river.` After he had gone, she asked her father what he meant by the "dark river." He tried to explain it, but she said, "It is all a mistake; there is no river; there is no curtain; there is not even a line that separates this life from the other life." And she stretched out her little hands from the bed, and with a gesture said, "It is here and it is there; I know it is so, for I can see you all, and I see them there at the same time."
http://www.survivalafterdeath.org/books/barrett/dbv/chapter3.htm

It's like stepping through a door and just about that simple.

[The Major]

I found this story incredible, Michael. Imagine the furore if this had been the other way.

[william]

"It's like stepping through a door and just about that simple."

art I think it is simple for most, majestic for some, and hellish for a small per cent age.

[william]

“We are in actuality just one aspect of a larger personality essence, a "Mandela" that exists in various incarnations simultaneously.”

Are our souls bigger then our consciousness within us? Could it be that when most of us cross over we become either earthbound or what some call the next higher dimension paradise or Summerland (not heaven) that we feel we only have this individual consciousness?

Newton in his books on life between lives with his clients under deep hypnosis suggests that we are more than just one soul in one human body. Part of us is waiting for us from our earthly incarnation.

Emmanuel stated in Emmanuel’s book one that we could be living parallel lives on another planet to maximize our soul development and growth but always at a greater risk to our soul’s development.

Twice as many chances to screw up I guess, but then Emmanuel also stated if we did not need to falter/sin/error we would not do so. Guess entities on the other side can make what appear to be contradictory statements like the rest of us.

I suspect that our soul has to go to a very high level of existence/dimension/vibrational level to meet with our ultra soul or super consciousness that we may very well be. I think it is safe to say we are more than what we appear to be.

[Greg Taylor]

Michael P. wrote:

"Presented as an afterthought in Hall's book is this admission"

Just a minor note - it's Tanner's book, Hall just wrote a few sections in it. Although I do detect a rather strong guiding hand behind Tanner's words....

Kind regards,
Greg

[Mickey D]

A British medium called Lee Everett gave accurate mediumship with the aid of a guide who was a deceased close childhood friend. However when she published her autobiography http://www.amazon.ca/Happy-Medium-Lee-Everett/dp/0708822258
it transpired that this deceased friend was very much alive and promptly issued a lawsuit. I think William is right - we are a small part of a superconscious higher mind which can incarnate more than one entity at a time and could be queried by someone with mediumistic skills whilst we are still alive.

[Vitor Moura]

> "it transpired that this deceased friend was very much alive and promptly issued a lawsuit."

Which is the source of this information?

[Art]

"Which is the source of this information?" Posted by: Vitor Moura
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"At its deeper level reality is a sort of superhologram in which the past, present, and future all exist simultaneously." - The Holographic Universe, http://www.earthportals.com/hologram.html#zine

The Akashic Record, the collective unconscious, The Field, Zero Point Field, the holographic universe, Morphic Resonance, ... whatever name one chooses to call it, it's something that records every thought, every memory, every emotion, every word that has ever or will ever exist. Near death experiencers routinely state that during their life review they literally relived, in vivid 3-D detail, their entire lives, with the added inclusion of experiencing and feeling every emotion and thought of those whom they interacted with.

"Instantly becoming everyone you came in contact with in your entire life (feeling their emotions, thinking their thoughts, living their experiences, learning their motives behind their actions)." from The Life Review, http://near-death.com/experiences/research24.html

[Michael Prescott]

I believe Vitor is asking for a citation.

[Art]

"I believe Vitor is asking for a citation." - Michael Prescott
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"Oh!!! That's very different! Never mind!"
- Emily Litella

[Michael Prescott]

Thanks, Greg, for the correction. I've updated the article.

[william]

"it transpired that this deceased friend was very much alive and promptly issued a lawsuit."

If consciousness is more than just within the brain which I believe that it is then what would prevent a medium from tapping into that consciousness or even sub consciousness while the person is still living in his or her physical body.

The “predicament” or “challenge” depending on one’s view of life is that for every question one thinks they have somewhat of a answer then two or more questions appear to be exposed and left unanswered.

This can be very frustrating to one’s fragile ego so the ego prefers certainty to uncertainty. The ego’s desire for certainty appears to exist in both scientific and religious circles.

Could it be that the ego loves certainty due to its fragile state of existence, whereas the soul loves the challenge of the process or journey and the spirit loves the unfoldment of its potential.

What would life be like without these questions? As Emmanuel stated in Emmanuel’s book one where would your soul go to school if your world were perfect.

[Michael H]

"The ego’s desire for certainty appears to exist in both scientific and religious circles."

Charles Eisenstein makes this very point in "A State of Belief is a State of Being" in the first issue of AntiMatters. I've found most of the articles available there to be germane to the subjects explored in these threads.

As far as the concept that we are in actuality a multifaceted personality essence existing beyond our current awareness in myriad ways, well . . . it does make me wonder what else I'm up to!

[Art]

"If consciousness is more than just within the brain which I believe that it is then what would prevent a medium from tapping into that consciousness or even sub consciousness while the person is still living in his or her physical body." - william
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About 5 days before that last space shuttle crashed I had a dream that the shuttle crashed in our back yard and that I was looking for a camera to take pictures of it but the Feds came and took away all the pieces before I could find my camera. Now what was weird about the dream is that in Louisana and Texas pieces of the shuttle did land in some folks back yards. I was living in Tennessee and nothing landed in my yard but 5 days after I had that dream the shuttle did crash and pieces did land in some people's yards and the Feds did tell people not to mess with what they found. I think I dream other people's lives pretty often. It's got something to do with that connectedness and oneness thing.

[Mickey D]

Vitor asks:

> "it transpired that this deceased friend was very much alive and promptly issued a lawsuit."

Which is the source of this information?

It came out in the press when the book was launched in 1983. I remember reading about it at the time but haven't seen anything lately. Since this was way pre internet it would probably be quite hard to find anything online.