Today, we have vast libraries of research showing people living in the afterlife are active in Earth life. This sampling of the research will show you writing and art produced through the influence of unseen entities from the afterlife. It includes descriptions of the careful controls on the writing and art that demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that the entities from the afterlife are creating the writing and art.
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There are seven areas of communication in which people from the afterlife have come into a room where observers are seated and have created portraits and written messages as observers watched. These are the seven areas:
Automatic writing
Direct Writing
Precipitated writing
Slate writing
Independent typewriter writing
Precipitated art
And Spirit portrait drawings
Automatic Writing
Individuals from the afterlife come into the room where people with medium abilities are sitting and write messages using the mediums’ hands to do the writing. The medium may be fully aware, in light trance, or in full, unconscious trance. The activities are called automatic writing.
It differs from inspired writing, which is often called automatic writing. In inspired writing, the writer is fully conscious and is in control of the process. The medium sits quietly, receives inspiration, and writes what the person in spirit inspires them to write.
In light-trance automatic writing, the medium’s mind steps aside and allows the medium’s hand to produce messages that flow freely onto paper. The medium does not know what is being written, but the medium is more or less alert and may even be conversing with sitters The sensation of having the hand moved by those in spirit is described as the feeling of holding a handkerchief over a fluttering bird.
In trance automatic writing, the medium is in a trance or sleep state. Entities take over the medium’s nervous system and do the writing while the medium is not conscious. The medium is unaware of the writing process or what is being written.
The most studied automatic writing medium was Leonora Piper, who lived in New England until her transition in 1950.
Piper would rest her head on a pillow on a table with her face toward the left. Writing material was arranged on the right side, usually a hundred blank sheets of paper and four or five soft-lead pencils. After she went into trance, someone would place a sheet of paper in front of her and a pencil in her hand.
Piper’s hand would write page after page while she was in trance, with someone removing each sheet after it was filled and replacing it with a fresh one.
More than one personality controlled Piper and conducted conversations with individual sitters or groups of sitters.
Her control personality in spirit, Phinuit, used Piper’s voice, holding conversations with the sitters.
At the same time, other individuals in spirit were using Piper’s writing hand to write continuously about unrelated subjects, oblivious to the conversations Phinuit was having through Piper.
Members of the British Society for Psychical Research invited Piper to stay with them in England so they could observe her mediumistic performance.
Piper was studied by Dr. William James, the father of American psychology, Dr. Richard Hodgson, an English investigator of psychic phenomena, Dr. Oliver Lodge, professor of physics at University College in Liverpool, Dr. James Hyslop, professor of ethics and logic at Columbia University, and Frederic W. H. Myers, a British classicist.
Piper held regular sittings in England with the five researchers for the next three months. Oliver Lodge alone attended 83 sittings. As a result of their experiences, Frederic Myers, Richard Hodgson, and James Hyslop each wrote extensive reports, concluding that based on their observations, Piper’s talents were legitimate.
In the United States, William James, called the father of American psychology, sat with Piper for 18 months, carefully monitoring her and controlling the séance arrangements. James wrote in the 1890 Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research,
“And I repeat again what I said before, that, taking everything that I know of Mrs. Piper into account, the result is to make me feel as absolutely certain as I am of any personal fact in the world that she knows things in her trances which she cannot possibly have heard in her waking state, and that the definite philosophy of her trances is yet to be found.”
Direct Writing
The second form of writing by the unseen hands of people from the afterlife is direct writing. In direct writing, the writing results from some instrument or action without the medium’s control. Often, an illuminated hand can be seen writing.
Sir William Crookes, an English chemist and physicist who discovered thallium and invented the radiometer and other devices, recorded his first experience in direct writing with physical medium Kate Fox-Jencken: “A luminous hand came down from the upper part of the room, and after hovering near me for a few seconds, took the pencil from my hand, rapidly wrote on a sheet of paper, threw the pencil down, and then rose up over our heads, gradually fading into darkness”.
Robert Dale Owen also investigated mediums. Owen was U.S. chargé d’affaires to Naples and a member of the U.S. Congress, sat with medium Henry Slade on February 9, 1874. This is what happened during the sitting.
Owen observed a white, feminine, marblelike hand, detached and shaded off at the wrist, creep up Slade’s knees onto the table. The hand grasped a pencil, wrote on the notepaper that had been placed on the table, and slipped back with the pencil under the table. Five minutes later the performance was repeated by a smaller hand that resembled the first.
Sir William Crookes also sat in séances with the direct-voice medium Mrs. Thomas Everitt. Crookes tested the medium’s direct writing. This is his report.
Folded sheets in a sealed envelope were marked and inserted into a closed book. The book was placed in a locked box with a pencil in it. When the box was opened and the envelope unsealed, the paper was found to have writing on both sides.
No matter how thin the paper was, the pencil produced no indentation. Nevertheless, it was clear that the pencil had been used, since in one area of the writing the words appeared double because the lead had a double edge. Another supernormal phenomenon was the speed with which the scripts were delivered and the success in overcoming the handicaps that had been experimentally set up.
Precipitated Writing
The next phenomenon produced by entities in the afterlife is precipitated writing. Precipitated writing appears on a surface with no human hand or writing instrument involved. Some precipitated writing has occurred using slates, explained later in this presentation.
In 1889, Dr. Paul Gibier, founder of the Pasteur Institute in New York, set out to study reports that hypnotized subjects were able to project characters and lines of writing on blank sheets of paper.
He and twenty witnesses observed a séance in which he witnessed two hypnotized subjects sitting apart from sheets of paper when writing precipitated in full light. The observation was signed by all twenty witnesses. The precipitated writing was a full page of written verses signed “Corneille”. The author could be Pierre Corneille, a French poet and dramatist in the seventeenth century.
Other examples of precipitated writing came from The Scole Experimental Group, a group of sitters in Scole, Norfolk, England, who engaged in physical Mediumship from 1994 to 1998.
The group produced a wide range of phenomena and was investigated for two years by three senior members of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR). Montague Keen, a journalist and well-known researcher into psychic and afterlife phenomena, Dr. Arthur Ellison, an electrical engineer and president of the Society, and Dr. David Fintana, a psychologist.
Dr. Walter Schnitger, a consultant engineer, and his wife Karin had heard that undeveloped film would have words and images precipitated on it during the Scole Group’s seances. Dr. Schnitger arranged to test whether such a phenomenon was possible.
The Schnitgers brought their own Polaroid 35 millimeter film to the sitting. Both the Schnitgers checked the room before the rest of the group entered the room. Dr. Schnitger marked the film and placed the unexposed film in a box in the center of a table on a sheet of plain white paper and padlocked the box. Dr. Schnitger drew a line around the perimeter of the box on the underlying paper showing the exact position of the box and the location of the padlock, which hung down onto the paper. Each group member wore a luminous wristband to ensure all knew where other members were during the sitting. No one left their seat. Dr. Schnitger held the box in his hands throughout the entire session.
When the session was finished, Dr. Schnitger confirmed that the box was in precisely its original position. The unexposed film was retrieved from the box and was touched only by the two Schnitgers. Dr. Schnitger checked the marks on the film to ensure there was no substitution. The two Shnitgers supervised the development.
What emerged on the film was a dragon image. In the right area of the film was a cross on a landscape and clouds with something entwining the cross, possibly a serpant.
In another area of the film were letters the Scole Group interpreted as the initial letters of the Hebrew names for God. The words in the middle of the strip of film, Quadrans Muralis, refer to a star constellation originated by an astronomer who named it after the wall-mounted quadrant he used to plot and observe stars. A triangle and unknown symbol appeared on the right extreme of the strip of film (Solomon, 2000).
In another image on the same film, the word or name “Cassiel” appeared, and an unknown symbol also precipitated onto the film. The reason for its position on the film is not known.
A YouTube video of Dr. Schnitger describing the experiment is in the description follows.
Slate Writing
The next area of research is slate writing. In slate writing, those in spirit write on slates without the medium’s physical involvement in the writing. The slates were of the kind used by school children in the nineteenth century when paper was in short supply. The slates could be written upon and erased for new usage. The chalk most often wasn’t like the school chalk used in the twentieth century. It was soapstone or softer pieces of slate cut into strips to form the familiar shape of a writing instrument. A piece of cloth or sponge was used to clean the slate. It was often attached with a string to the bottom of the writing slate.
At times, slate writing was done by having two slates bound together with a ribbon or other binding. There was sufficient space between the slates because they had wood frames between which a small piece of chalk could be inserted and moved. At other times, the slate was placed flat on a table with the piece of chalk under it or held against the underside of the table with a piece of chalk against the table. Guests observing would often bring their own slates and observe closely as the slates were bound together with no writing on them. The activity could occur in light or darkness. Often scratching could be heard coming from the slates. When opened, there were messages to the sitters.
The first example of research is observation of slate-medium Fred Evans.
The editor of The Golden Gate newspaper, David L. Hollub, and his wife had a session with slate-writing medium Fred Evans on May 18, 1887. Evans’ pschographic guide was a man in spirit named John Gray. The three sat at a table in the full daylight. John Gray signaled his presence by raps on the table. Hollub asked Gray whether he could bring together a number of spirits of different earthly nationalities who would write short messages on the slate. Gray communicated that he agreed.
Before the session, Hollub inspected the slate and was satisfied that there was no writing or other marking on it. From that moment the slate never left his hands. A small bit of slate pencil was placed on the table. The two sitters placed the slate over it and rested their hands on it. The medium, sitting on the opposite side of the table, touched the outer edge of the slate frame for a few moments and then removed his hands entirely. In about 5 minutes a loud rap signaled that the writing was finished.
They raised the slate and found the underside covered in writing. The languages on the slate were German, Italian, French, Greek, Spanish, Norwegian, Chinese, Japanese, Hebrew, Egyptian, and Old Asiatic.
P.L.O.A. Keeler was a slate medium at Lily Dale, New York, a hamlet whose residents are largely connected to Spiritualism. The officers of the Lily Dale Assembly, the oversight body for medium activities at Lily Dale, conducted an investigation of Keeler’s mediumship.
During the afternoon of Thursday, July 23, 1908, Mrs. Humphrey, president, HW Richardson, vice president, and Dr. George Warne, treasurer, selected two slates from the center of a newly open bundle of slates bought at the general store and placed a special stamp that could not be duplicated on the frames and writing surfaces of the inner side of the slates. The two slates were placed on the table with a small piece of slate chalk beneath each. Each sitter wrote their name on a separate slip of paper, folded it tightly, and placed it on the table beside the slates. No names of friends in spirit were at any time written by the sitters.
The slips, slates, and Mr. Keeler’s hands were never out of sight of the three officers’ eyes. At the close of the 1 ¼ hours sitting, the slates were turned over. On the two slates were one message from a brother of Mr. Richardson, four messages for Mrs. Humphrey and her immediate family, two messages for Dr. Warne, and one for an unidentified personality. One was written in yellow, but the others were from the common slate pencil that was placed between the slates at the beginning of the seance.
When the folded papers with participants’ names on them were opened, words written in green appeared on the paper bearing Dr. Warne’s signature. The message read: “It is difficult to get anything on slates not magnetized.”
The investigators concluded, “The messages were not written in advance—a substitution of slates was impossible—Mr. Keeler could not have written them during the sitting, for he could not have gained access to the inside surfaces where they were found without immediate detection.”.
Another group of six board members conducted an investigation the following day taking similar precautions and received 11 messages in Greek, German, French, Swedish, and Japanese or Chinese. Linguists consulted afterward said the Greek, French, and Swedish messages were grammatically correct. The report was signed by all six members of the board who took part in the investigation.
In another study, Dr. William Barrett, a physicist and co-founder of the Society for Psychical Research, tested the direct writing done by medium Henry Slade.
Dr. Barrett brought with him clean slates. The slates have a wooden frame so there is a space between the slate and any surface on which it is placed. Dr. Barrett placed a crumb of a slate pencil on the table, placed the slate over the crumb of pencil, held it firmly down with his elbow, and allowed only the tips of Slade’s fingers to touch the slates.
He observed,
While closely watching both of Slade’s hands which did not move perceptibly, I was much astonished to hear scratching going on apparently on the underside of the table, and when the slate was lifted up I found the side facing the table covered with writing. A similar result was obtained on other days; further, an eminent scientific man obtained writing on a clean slate when it was held entirely in his own hand, both of Slade’s being on the table (Moses, 1882).
Independent Typewriter Writing
Another form of communication by people from the afterlife is independent typewriter typing. The medium sits with a group of sitters around a typewriter. The entities manipulating the typewriter cause the keys to strike, typing out messages.
A group of researchers including a “Professor Ames” asked Medium Lizzie Bangs to demonstrate her automatic keyboard actions during the Chicago Worlds Fair in 1895 for them to observe the phenomenon. Four sitters and Lizzie Bangs sat in the dark around a table with a typewriter on it. All joined hands, including Lizzie Bangs. Professor Ames who was facing the typewriter keys bent his head down over the machine till his face almost touched the keys, the keys continuing to work. Ames reported that there was no room for a hand, spirit or human, to intervene between his face and the keys. When the first message was finished, the sheet was taken out by those in spirit, put into a box beneath the machine, and a fresh sheet of paper was adjusted into the machine. Five messages were thus written and put into the post box. When the seance was finished, the sitters found in the box a message addressed to each sitter. Professor Ames stated that the typing was more rapid than could be done by any of his secretaries (Heagerty, 2016, p. 32).
Another report of Lizzie Bang’s independent typewriting was published in the June 17, 1893, edition of the Light of Truth by journalist George Lieberknecht. This is the account:
The circle consisted of six men and one lady besides the medium. We were seated closely around a small table with hands joined. A typewriter was place on the small table in the center. Before the lights were put out the door was locked. The medium sat in the circle just like the rest of us but facing the back not the front of the typewriter.
I feel confident in saying the medium does not touch the typewriter at all. It is used independent of or without contact from the medium’s hands or fingers. There is no holding or hesitating in the action of the machine. On the contrary, you hear that it is operated with an astonishing degree of swiftness and dexterity. When one letter or message is finished, the sheet is removed, folded up, addressed on the machine, and the next one is printed, until each one of the sitters has one.
The one addressed to the writer of this article from his son contains 186 words. In mechanical execution, this independent typewriter, of which I examined several specimens at the close of the seance, is done in a neat, clear businesslike manner, and although punctilious critics could point out some errors in punctuation, the performance is as good as the letters one receives from first-class business houses.
Precipitated Art
Another phenomenon of art and writing produced by entities from the afterlife is called “precipitated art.” Precipitated art is usually a portrait that appears on canvas without the use of human hands or brushes.
For most spirit paintings, a new, clean canvas or paper is stretched over a 24-inch by 36-inch or a 24-inch by 30-inch wood frame. “Pots” of paint with all the colors of the spectrum are placed nearby.
No brushes are used or are in the room or area where the seance is taking place. Often, the person coming to receive a portrait of their loved one brings their own canvas.
The mediums may hold the canvas on either side, but have no control over what happens. The images of the person in spirit appear on the canvas over a period of 15 or 20 minutes.
In most instances, no similar photo likeness was ever taken of the person in spirit, precluding the possibility of pre-painting and switching the canvas.
Also, color photography had not been invented at the time most precipitated art was produced, but the eye and hair colors were accurate.
Art experts have examined the portraits and cannot explain the medium used. It is not paint, ink, pastel, or any known substance. It looks as though it has been applied with a modern airbrush and has the consistency of the powder on a butterfly’s wings.
In one example of the precipitated portraits, on August 1911, a large audience filled to capacity the auditorium at Chesterfield Spiritualist Camp in Indiana.
The demonstration of precipitated art involved the remarkable talents of the Bang Sisters, Lizzie and May Bangs.
The two Bangs sisters were standing on either side of a large, plain canvas on an easel in the center of the stage. Art regularly appeared on canvases when the Bangs sisters were present.
A committee set up to oversee the event examined the canvas to be sure there were no markings, paint, or chemical treatments. The Bangs sisters were four to five feet from it. They never touched the canvas throughout the entire demonstration.
Tickets had been given out to the audience before the event started to select an audience member at random to have a precipitated portrait of a loved one in spirit and a ticket was drawn for an Alice Alford, whose daughter had recently passed into spirit. Alford and her husband took seats on the stage.
The Bangs sisters slowly bowed their heads and closed their eyes as if in prayer and deep concentration for five minutes.
Then a thin, vapor-like cloud or shadow swept across the canvas, pulsating and then flickering out.
After a few more moments, shades of color began to appear in successive layers of fine dust to form a cloudy background that seemed to pulsate and flicker and then quickly disappear. The background slowly and steadily precipitated into view. Three pairs of eyes appeared on different parts of the canvas, two of which were open and one pair in the center of the canvas was closed.
The two open pairs disappeared and the closed eyes remained, then disappeared. With each successive phase of the unfolding phenomena, the background became clearer and clearer. Then a faint outline of a face and bust slowly precipitated into view, disappearing and reappearing several times before remaining in focus on the canvas. It was the likeness of a girl 14 to 15 years old. Her eyes were closed.
When the portrait was completely precipitated onto the canvas, the eyes suddenly opened, and the audience applauded.
Mr. Alford said the portrait was an exact likeness of his deceased daughter, Audrey. Mrs. Alford wore around her neck, hidden from sight, a locket containing a photograph of her daughter. The portrait was a duplicate in the likeness of their daughter, but different in poise and position. The mediums had not seen the locket picture or any photo of the child and had never met the Alfords before the session. The finished Spirit portrait was precipitated onto the canvas in twenty-two minutes.
In another example, Dr. Daughtery, a physician in Richmond, Indiana, in the early 1920s, sat for a portrait of his deceased wife.
She precipitated onto the canvas. He then asked the spirit operators why his twin children, Mary and Christina, who were also deceased were not in the picture.
The twins appeared on the canvas in front of their mother.
Dr. Daughtery himself then appeared on the canvas standing behind them all, making a family portrait.
There are now 22 such portraits at the Chesterfield camp and a great number that families still have.
There are also many precipitated paintings at Camp Chesterfield from the Campbell brothers’ medium activity.
Spirit Portrait Drawing
The final area of art and writing by entities in spirit is spirit portrait drawing. Spirit portrait artists draw likenesses of people in spirit when contacted by a family member for a reading. The portrait artist relies on the prompting given to them that allows them to sketch the likenesses of people now living in the afterlife without knowing the person coming for a reading or the person in spirit.
Examples of such portrait artists are Coral Polge, Coral Ryder, Rita Berkowitz, and Joseph Shiel.
Coral Polge wrote this about the process she went through when drawing the portrait of a person in spirit: “I literally feel as though I am the person I’m drawing: size, temperament, all of it becomes part of me. And I try to put down what I feel rather than anything I actually see. Sometimes I don’t even know if I’m drawing a lady or a gentleman until I’ve got it on the paper.”
Medium Coral Ryder also does spirit portraits of people who have transition to the afterlife.
Medium Rita Berkowitz meets with people whose loved ones are in spirit. As she meets with them, impressions of the faces of the people in spirit come to her. She sketches them. These are examples.
Medium Joseph Shiel also sketches the images of people in spirit that come to him while sitting with people he doesn’t know until they come to him for a reading.
Conclusion
The fact that these drawings, portraits, and messages from people demonstrate that they are alive and well living in the afterlife. And we are able to communicate with them through a variety of media.
They are further proof you will come to the end of this life, but you will never die.
