I Can Totally Talk to Spirits!…No! You Can’t See My Research!

The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw a huge rise in the public’s interest in the supernatural. The fad even extended to the White House where Mary Todd Lincoln famously held a number of séances in attempts to reach out to her lost son. And by 1906, the American Association for Psychical Research had almost 700 active members.

The article below reports some rather bold claims by Harvard Professor of Ethics and Psychology, James H. Hyslop. By 1918 in his book, “Life After Death”, he stated: “I regard the existence of discarnate spirits as scientifically proved and I no longer refer to the skeptic as having any right to speak on the subject. Any man who does not accept the existence of discarnate spirits and the proof of it is either ignorant or a moral coward.”

Hyslop would be the greatest scientist in human history if he had truly discovered concrete proof of life beyond the grave. But I found his reluctance to elaborate on his findings more than a little suspect. “Oh no,” he says, “I can’t tell you what the ghosts said in this interview…you’ll have to buy my book!” …Uh huh…

Despite the confidence in his own claims I have to lump him squarely in the “quack pot” category.

I did chuckle a bit to read that a man who firmly believes he can talk to the dead does draw a line at the idea of weighing those disembodied spirits…That would just be silly.

Says Soul Has Talked to Him – Stillwater Messenger – October 21, 1911

With the positive statement that he has held several conversations with the spirit of the late Professor William James, the psychologist of Harvard, James H. Hyslop, secretary of the American Association for Psychical Research, has returned from Boston to New York with important material collected in a series of recent experiments.

“I can say nothing more now,” Prof. Hyslop said, “except that I have talked with the spirit of Prof. James.”

“I have talked with it several times in the last year. What the spirit said I am not ready to divulge. They have been trying over in England since Prof. James died to get in touch with his spirit, but from what I have heard, however, have had no success.”

Promises to Publish Proofs

Prof. Hyslop declared he is quite positive as to his facts and will make his proofs public within a short time.

“It would require volumes,” said Prof. Hyslop, “to detail just how I communicated with the dead and to prove that I did so; yet the fact remains that I have now proved that the souls of men and women – of little children, in fact – who have gone before, are capable of communicating with us as they please. In greater or less degree they are capable of making us know their presence. This is not spiritualism, but spiritism.”

Asked in a general way how he would proceed to establish the identity of a communicating soul, Prof. Hyslop said:

“It is accomplished in a way similar to the way of the living. For example, I might go to London and wire a friend a year later that I wanted to borrow $50, but the friend might say I was dead, and I would have to establish my identity. I could easily to do this by telling him what we had done the last time we met.”

Can communicate at will

“Souls or spirits of the departed make a similar course. They may turn somersaults; so do we. We are surrounded all the time by millions and billions of souls freed from their earthly casings. Not all of them are always present, yet any of them can communicate to us at will, and make their presence known, some of them, it is true, in a manner that seems laughable to those who cannot or will not understand.

“It required years of research for me to prove conclusively that the soul is material, and that it lives after the body has returned to dust. That the soul has material weight, however, as some say, has no claim in reason.”

Finding History in Ghost Stories

by Sean Pallas

As historians, should we distance ourselves from the paranormal? Can the Warden’s House Museum host the current warden of the Minnesota State Prison as a guest speaker and extend the same hospitality to a group of ghost hunters a few short months later?

According to a Harris Poll from last year, 42% of Americans believe in ghosts; I am not one of them. I’ve never seen pots and pans unexplainably crash to the floor nor doors fling themselves open. I’ve always said that if I see a ghost floating from room to room in the museum – I’d be more concerned with my own mental health before imagining I was a witness to the supernatural. And yet, I defend the coupling of hauntings with WCHS’ goals of preservation and dissemination because at the heart of every good ghost story is at least a kernel of history.

In a Pioneer Press article from 1995, Prof. Elizabeth Bird, of the University of Minnesota Duluth, recounted the tale of a spectral lantern carrier who supposedly haunts the Arcola High Bridge just north of Stillwater. Apparently, during World War I, an oncoming ammunition train forced the unfortunate railroad worker to leap from the side of the bridge only to perish in the waters below. Now, “on the midsummer anniversary of his death”, a mysterious light can be seen shining on the tracks.

Although a relatively simple legend on its surface, as author Paul Auster once wrote – the truth of the story lies in the details. What kind of train? An ammunition train. When does he appear? On the anniversary of his demise, naturally. And by placing the story in the historical context of the First World War, the haunting gains further credibility.

A proper investigation of this story would begin by confirming these all-important details. A truly interested party would seek out cargo manifests, military orders, train schedules, etc., etc., and suddenly the paranormal researcher has become a researcher of history.

Of course, the researcher must be prepared to discover contradictions.

According to the “Minnesota Road Guide to Haunted Locations”, the Water Street Inn in downtown Stillwater is haunted by the spirit of an alcoholic Confederate officer. Employees have reported smelling a strange musk in the air and even seeing a young man in the grey uniform of the Confederacy. There is even a review of the hotel on TripAdvisor.com from as recent as June of 2013 entitled, “Haunted!” The hotel guest reported that she “woke up to something crazy! I swear it was like someone got in my bed with me. I couldn’t move, then I found a picture taken on my phone of me sleeping. I stayed there alone with the dead bolt locked. I can’t explain it but I also smelled body odor randomly after I woke up at 4 am.”

Like the story of the haunted bridge, this ghost story clearly isn’t lacking in details. The peculiar odor is even seemingly corroborated by multiple sources. But the historical facts highlight some major issues.

The building that now houses the Water Street Inn was built in 1890 and after the Confederacy was dissolved at the conclusion of the Civil War in 1865, there just weren’t a whole lot of folks wearing Confederate uniforms – especially in the staunchly Union Minnesota. Furthermore, the building didn’t become a hotel until the current owners renovated the property in the 1990s. The building originally housed business offices and there are simply no reports of anyone passing away at the site. Whatever is going on at the Water Street Inn – it seems highly unlikely Johnny Reb is to blame.

The big question we in the world of history must constantly ask ourselves is, “How do we stay relevant?” Tales of ghosts and the paranormal can be exciting introductions to elements of local history that are unfortunately often overlooked. So for now, here at the historical society we’ll continue to occasionally delve into the realm of the supernatural with the hopes that although people might come for the ghosts – they’ll stay for the history.