Feuds and Regrets in the Afterlife

The story of the Ross sisters, as communicated through the mediumship of Geraldine Cummins, perhaps the most accomplished automatist of the 20^th Century, suggests that family grudges and feuds carry over into the afterlife if not resolved before death.   The story also suggests that we can have concerns and regrets relative to how things, such as wills, were left at the time of transition from the physical world.

Beatrice Gibbes, Cummins’s friend and assistant, described the method employed by Cummins.  She would sit at a table, cover her eyes with her left hand and concentrate on “stillness.”   She would then fall into a light trance or dream state.  Her hand would then begin to write.  Usually, her “control,” most often a spirit named Astor, said to be a pagan Greek when alive on earth, would make some introductory remarks and announce that another entity was waiting to speak.  Because of Cummins’s semi-trance condition and also because of the speed at which the writing would come, Gibbes would sit beside her and remove each sheet of paper as it was filled.   Cummins’s hand was quickly lifted by Gibbes to the top of the new page, and the writing would continue without break.  The handwriting most often changed to that identified with the communicating spirit when alive.

From 1925 thru 1929, Molly Ross, the youngest of four sisters and the only surviving one (age 45 in 1925), had nine sittings with Geraldine Cummins (GC)    Gibbes observed and recorded the story in a book titled They Survive.  After the sittings, Gibbes would go over the scripts with Molly and have her comment on evidential points.

Molly had three sisters who had passed over.  They were Audrey, who died in 1894 at age 21; Margaret, who died in 1925 at age 57, and Alice, the oldest of the four sisters, who died in 1928 at the age of 62. Molly had had several evidential sittings with GC after Margaret’s death in 1925.  When Alice appeared on the brink of death while in a nursing home in York, Molly, who was living in London, was summoned to her sister’s bedside.  After Alice died on October 11, 1928, Molly wired  GC in Dublin, Ireland, requesting that Astor find her oldest sister, Audrey, and to let her know that Alice had passed over.

Four days later, on October 15, Molly received a letter from GC, postmarked October 12, saying that Margaret had communicated and said that “Alice was  not alone when she was slipping out of her body…that Audrey and Mater (their mother) came to her.”

Margaret explained that Audrey presented herself to Alice as Alice remembered her in 1894, not as she was in 1925.  She further explained that because Alice and Mater had quarreled before Mater’s death three years earlier, and because Audrey had much more experience on that side, Audrey was the first to appear to Alice while Mater remained in the background.     Because Alice was so restless, Audrey put on a dream of old days about her soul.   When Alice saw these old memories, her fear left her.

Margaret said that she had not yet approached Alice because she was not yet fit to draw near the newly dead.  Besides, Margaret added, she would not have been received kindly by Alice as they constantly quarreled when they were alive.  (This point was particularly evidential to Molly, since it was true and she was certain that GC had no way of knowing of the friction between the two sisters.)

On November 10, 1928, Mollie sat with GC in London.  A request was made to Astor to find Margaret.   After a pause, Margaret took hold of GC’s hand and told Molly that she had talked with Alice.  “I had quite a shock when I found out that we didn’t disagree with each other,” Margaret wrote.  “She is so much gentler than she was.”   Margaret then said that Alice would attempt to communicate directly, although it might be too soon and her words might be muddled.  Mollie observed the writing change to a big scrawl and become very labored.

“Mo, Mo, Molly.  I am here.  I see you,” Alice wrote. “It’s all true.  I am alive.  The pain went at once.  I felt suffocating.  Then, just after I got that awful choking, I felt things were breaking up all about me.  I heard crackling like fire and then dimness.  I saw you bending down with such a white face and you were looking at me, and I wasn’t there.”   Alice added that she regretted that her husband, John, and her son, Ronald, were not there when she left the body. (Molly confirmed the deathbed scene as accurate and pointed out that John and Ronald arrived several hours after the death.  Here again, Molly saw this as very evidential since GC had no way of knowing what took place in Alice’s final hours.)

Alice said that she regretted not having treated her second son, who was living in East Africa, as an equal to Ronald. (Molly confirmed that Ronald was the favorite son and noted that Ronald was favored in Alice’s will, another fact which GC could not have known.)   As the writing became fainter, Margaret took back the pencil and explained that Alice found it hard to write at the end as she didn’t understand how to manage the words. However, she got through most of what she wanted to say.   Margaret added that Alice also regretted treating her husband badly.  (Molly noted that this was also very evidential as Alice “bullied her husband dreadfully.”)

Margaret then mentioned that Alice still resented the fact that Margaret cut her out of her will and left her share to Charles, their brother, who had no need of the money. (This was another very evidential fact to Molly.)  “She hasn’t forgotten yet the way I left my money,” Margaret wrote.  “She feels it would have made a difference in her last days.”

Molly told Margaret that Alice’s family was managing financially.   “Good,” Margaret replied.  “I will tell her that, then she won’t bother about things.  The fact of the matter is, she came out of the world with a dark cloud of years of troubled thought about money.  It all accumulated and clung about her.  But I think now it will be slowly dissipated…All that worrying before her death left her in a very scattered state of mind.”

When Margaret told Molly that Alice had it easier than she (Margaret) did, Molly requested an explanation.  “I never cared much for anyone,” Margaret responded.  “One pays for that over here.”

Margaret went on to say that she was now “quite clear” of her worldly longings and had built herself a house with her thoughts.  Moreover, she was sharing the house with someone.  “Oh!  I don’t think that sounds quite nice,” Molly reacted.  “Who are you sharing it with?  A MAN?”    Margaret said she was not prepared to tell Molly of her companion, but, apparently in jest, wrote that she should tell Charles (their brother) that she had dragged the Ross name into the mud.  (Mollie noted that it was a family joke that Charles took life too seriously and was always afraid of a family scandal.)

On November 11, 1928, Molly again sat with GC.  After GC went into a trance, Molly asked Astor if he could bring Margaret.  “Yes, I will call her,” Astor responded, apparently thinking of Alice.  “She is quite near.  Her new body is now almost formed.  When it is complete she can face the new world and this life.  Wait (pause).“Funny old man called me,” Alice wrote, “Who is your grey-bearded admirer, Molly?”

Molly explained that the man was Astor, GC’s guide. Alice replied that her mind was still in tatters and that she was confused.   Alice then wrote that her men were no good.  Molly replied that there were many men she liked in her younger days.  “They were nice to flirt with but not any use otherwise,” Alice wrote.  (Molly noted that Alice, when alive, frequently referred to herself as a “flirt.”)

Alice then said that Mater sends her love to Molly and talks about her (horseback) riding.  Alice then recalled a quarrel that she had had with Mater over Molly’s ability to ride a particular horse.  (Another evidential fact.)

Alice mentioned that Margaret had been around.  “You know I never could stand her,” Alice said, “but you would have laughed to see us together.  We were so polite.  She was trying so hard to avoid giving offence…I put Margaret in her place all right.  She told me how sorry she was about her will and the money she didn’t leave to me.  I told her that being sorry didn’t make up for the thoughtlessness, that there was more thought in your little finger than in her whole body.  Do you know, she took it quite quietly, and would you believe it, kissed me!  My word, I was never so taken back in my life.  I couldn’t say anything more to her then.”

At one point, Alice said, “And in those last months I used to keep saying to myself,    ‘if only this or that had happened.’”  (Molly recalled her saying those exact words.)       Alice also mentioned having talked with their father (Pater) and his making reference to some “numbskull” relatives.  (This was a word that Alice sometimes used when alive, Molly noted, while Beatrice Gibbes could not recall GC ever having used the word before.)

Alice asked Molly if she had seen John (Alice’s husband) recently.  Molly said she had.  “Tell him I see more and more how patient and good he was to me,” Alice wrote.  “I feel so sorry now because I know I spoke harshly to him sometimes.”  (Molly noted that “harshly” was a very mild way of putting it.)

After a few more comments the writing changed to Margaret’s quick style. Molly asked Margaret if she was aware that Alice was just communicating.  “Yes, she has quite blossomed out,” Margaret replied.  Molly noted that Margaret frequently spoke of people “blossoming out” when she was alive in the flesh.

Margaret mentioned that she and Alice had had a “fusillade” (i.e., shoot-out, outburst) when they last met.  Molly recalled that the word “fusillade” was often used by Margaret before she passed.