Materializations: Victor Zammit, investigating lawyer
answers critical questions on materializations
This is a reply to one of the informed correspondents
who sent questions about the materializations of medium
David Thompson.
Thank you so much for your comments and suggestions. I
respect that very much.
Just let me say for the purpose of the record: I guarantee
that fraud is NOT taking place on our physical part. It
is physically impossible for fraud to take place for reasons
I will hereinafter explain. I have a reputation to protect
and certainly my honesty and integrity will not allow any
fraud at all. I did not seek to prove anything. I investigated
and reported the results. This is the very first time in
sixteen years that I am going public with my investigation
– because I am absolutely satisfied that materializations
are taking place. I investigated so many other mediums,
psychics and others. But these are sensational phenomena.
I am fully aware that materializations are beyond the ‘boggle
threshold’ and inevitably I will get critics attacking
my report. I welcome informed critics. The others are of
no use to anybody.
I guarantee that materializations are taking place –
that is an absolute certainty. I guarantee that we are conversing
with these etherians (spirits) – that is also an absolute
certainty.
What I cannot guarantee at this stage, is that the identity
of those who materialize are who they claim to be. This,
as I stated elsewhere, is not dissimilar situation where
if you had to telephone a colleague overseas. You know who
he is, but empirically you could not prove it. But given
time you will.
I attended just three materialization sessions –
and there are some problems as you rightly pointed out.
But because more work has to be done on these sensational
materializations, does not mean materializations are not
taking place.
Something very exciting: it is just possible that the materialization
experiments will be conducted in my own home! I will know
on Tuesday if this is going to be the case.
Also that the medium David Thompson, is likely to travel
to the U.S. next year – very likely L.A. – and
possibly San Francisco. You will have the opportunity to
(see) and question the materialized etherians yourself.
As soon as we can access the services of a reputable agent,
I will ask him to include San Francisco in the itinerary.
Let me now deal with the issues your raised:
Q.I think that to satisfy "reasonable"
skeptics, you will need to: (1) hold such experiments at
locations that the medium and his associates do not know
of until the last moment, and (2) take photographs of the
phenomena.
Victor: That is not practical really. If we are holding
weekly sessions, it is just impossible to have to find a
new safe, lightproof venue each time. But just let me say
this: I challenged the skeptics – who claimed they
could duplicate any psychic experiment. In the event a skeptic
takes me on, one of the fundamental conditions will be that
for each party, no notice will be given where the sessions
would be held. ‘William’ the medium’s
control told us to be patient, that in the future we will
be able to have the sessions in more light and will be able
to take photographs. But we have to respect William's (the
medium's 'control' from the afterlife) warning that the
afterlife energy is more volatile and far more sensitive
than what we have on physical earth. I would like to use
infra red movie cameras, night vision goggles etc. Patience
William said, patience.But of course all the objective evidence
in the world will not convince those closed-minded skeptics
who do not want to be convinced. Still in my mind: a skeptic
in one of my meetings, “I will not believe in
the afterlife Victor, even if you could prove it to me.”
That, says it all.
Some questions:
1. You mentioned that on June 24 materialized spirits spoke
and moved around the room. As it was presumably dark, how
do you know they were materialized, perhaps only the voice
box was materialized?
Victor: By that I meant that that a materialized
etherian (spirit), e.g. like the alleged Louis Armstrong
was stomping and singing, the whole room was shaking –
he made harsh thumping noise when he was apparently hitting
the floor with his foot – four solid beats to the
bar. The ’thumping’ sound was fairly noisy.
Whenever an etherian materializes and dematerializes, we
hear a ‘whoosh’ sound, then the voice comes
closer to where we are sitting. On the first session, after
the whoosh sound William, the control, came up to me, put
his - what I felt to be - his right hand on my left shoulder
in an affectionate way, reading my mind – my concerns
– and told me not to be afraid. He went to Wendy and
held his both hands on Wendy’s face in an affectionate
way expressing warmth and welcome. Arthur Conan Doyle –
I felt his energy approaching me – he grabbed my hand
and shook it – fairly lively. His voice came closer.
His right hand was twice the size of the medium’s.
William, the medium’ control and Timothy (assisting
William) tell us from time to time that they are going to
materialize – then follows the whoosh sound. But given
time, all this, will be on camera.
2. You mentioned that there was a large variety
of voices, some from (materialized?) spirits, some from
direct voice. How could you tell the difference, in the
dark? (When you said direct voice, did you mean independent
direct voice? Please be clear about the difference, people
need to be educated about this, and guides could not speak
directly through the medium because he was gagged.)
We are told by the spirits that sometimes they are using
an ectoplasmic voicebox which we hear coming from the vicinity
of the medium. When the spirits tell us they are going to
materialize we hear their voices moving across the room.
At other times we do hear voices coming from independent
direct voice. Last week they started getting two voices
at once.
4. Re questions 1-3 above, if a red light was used, how
well could one see? Please explain this clearly.
The only time a small red light was used was when Timothy
requested one of the sitters to put on the red light to
check on the medium (half way through the session) –
that he was still tied in his chair and that the ten seals
were intact. But no red light was allowed when materializations
were taking place.
5. You reported that Arthur Conan Doyle discussed
how ectoplasm is taken from the medium. Have you provided
a written report somewhere of his explanation?
Not yet. I agree, that it would be a good idea to transcribe
ACD’s speech. As a matter of fact, one lady volunteered
to do the transcribing – she sent the transcription
to me except some of the words she could not understand.
We have been inundated with so much work, I just have not
yet had the time to correct it, add the missing words and
install it on the Net. That will be done later on.
6. Your e-mail of July 2 mentions a second sitting
"last night." Was that Sat July 1, or Fri June
30? (See my 2nd para.) Where was this meeting held?
The first three meetings were held on Saturday 24th June,
Friday 30th June and Friday 7th July. All meetings were
held at the home of one of David’s friends, Mr and
Mrs Ingman– a retired couple, middle class, professionals
(accountant). He was with the medium David in England for
a number of years. However he has just informed us that
he is moving to a new home and can’t continue to hold
the meetings there.
7. Are there any historical reports that ACD had
"huge" hands? Did you know about this beforehand?
I am not aware of anywhere there are reports that ACD had
huge hands. No, I did not know about this beforehand. The
size of his hands would not normally be a consideration
in these matters. I mentioned that because the medium happens
to be a small chap with small hands.
8. Do you have people who are able to do voice analysis
tests (comparisons)? Are they authenticated unbiased scientists,
acceptable to reasonable skeptics?
I used ‘Audacity’ software for voice comparisons
– and I saw that myself – that the voices all
had different graphs I will be putting these on my website
in the next few days. The whoosh on Audacity (sound software)
has its own peculiar graph. So far, we have a more than
a prima facie case made out about that all the voices are
different. Later on, when I can get clearer voices, I’ll
take them to professional voice analysts for study. In any
event, a number of voices are on my website and people can
do their own voice testing.
9. There were two MP3 sound clips (Armstrong and
Findlay) attached to your e-mail of July 8. Armstrong's
sounded very realistic/characteristic, but my copy was full
of brief "spikes"/distortions. Was that how it
was sent out? If so, what was the cause?
The voice at the session appears to fluctuate – sometimes
Louis’ voice is clear, other times when he hits some
note, the voice becomes distorted. He may need more practice
using ectoplasm perhaps- but hearing him live when speaking,
his voice is very clear! ‘William’ stated that
sometimes there will be problems because of ectoplasm. That
is why we have to be patient and wait until we obtain perfect,
resonant voices. But so far, it is an indication of what
we are heading for. All the voices are now up on my webpage.
10. The Findlay voice clip was a very weak whisper,
hardly audible. I cannot imagine this would be any use for
"matching." Was this weakness due to lack of energy
at the time? (Voices that came through Leslie Flint were
as clear as a bell, as normal as you and me speaking. I
recall no mention in his book of voice changes due to ectoplasm.)
Yes, I think Findlay stated something like the energy is
low. ‘William’ had just taken more than an hour
and a quarter discussing the thorny issue of payment for
mediumship using up a lot of the energy. Then Findlay came
after him – and I just could hardly hear him from
some four feet away – even when he addressed me by
my surname. Again, we’ll wait for better transmissions.
But note very carefully, when Arthur Findlay materialized,
he did not have any time to participate in the debate whether
or not mediums should get paid for their services –
he said, as you would have heard words to the effect, “Do
me a favor Mr Zammit. Go to page 57 of my book On The Edge
of The Etheric … and attach that to your report.”
When I returned home and looked up page 57 of the book,
it talks about whether or not mediums should get paid for
their services- citing John Sloan his own medium. That is
most stunning I thought.
11. In these two voice clips, one can clearly hear
the spirits breathing. I do not understand how breathing
is achieved with materialization of the voice box only (as
is often reported). For physical air must be "blown"over
the materialized vocal cords in order to vibrate them. Do
spirits also materialize lungs for this purpose, or how
do they achieve it?
I really do not know about breathing in the afterlife dimension.
But let me tell you something about breathing, just immediately
after they materialize, I can hear fairly heavy breathing
– then it settles down. I found that compared to William
– who is highly experienced, ADC was finding it hard
to verbalize the answers. To me it came across he was really
struggling to get the words out. It appears that transmission
is not standard – it is an individual skill. William’s
voice is always so very clear and smooth and resonant. Others
we heard who wanted to come through, struggle to say something
than fade out unable to articulate anything. Tom Harrison
in his book Living Proof does say that it usual for a spirit
coming through ectoplasm to have difficulty for the first
few times and not being able to stay more than a minute
or so. Arthur Findlay in Rock of Truth I think has a detailed
explanation of how they do direct voice and talks about
putting something akin to a gas mask over the etheric face.
12. At the 30 June/1 July sitting, was the cardboard
stuck over the door "to seal it" from light entry,
or to be able to detect if it had been opened?
The cardboard is being used for two things – prevention
of light and security. But in addition to locking the door,
we put a chair from the inside underneath the lock of the
door. Next to that chair was our first sitter Rosheen, who
was intermittently talking during the sessions. As a matter
of fact, all sitters were fairly vocal during the sessions.
I knew where everyone was sitting and their voices came
continually from where they were sitting.
13. At the same sitting, how far was the medium
bound in his chair translocated across the room? Was he
moved over/around any obstacles?
Imagine: the medium was in a corner, and the sitters in
a semi circle facing the medium. When the medium was trans-located,
I’d say he was levitated – because at the time
Timothy who was doing all the talking and giving directions,
his voice somehow was perceived to have come from a higher
position than previously. I’d estimate the medium
was translocated by six to eight feet. There were no obstacles
where his chair was initially, and where he eventually landed,
just in front of me. Timothy then asked me to check the
medium’s gag – which I did. While I had my left
hand on the medium’s gag – around his mouth,
the medium was still unconscious - Timothy’s voice
was still being heard very clearly.
14. If sitters were holding hands during the materializations,
how did they shake hands with spirits? If they released
the hands of neighbors to shake hands, how do they know
they were shaking the hands of spirits?
Not all sitters shook hands with ADC. I was the only one
he shook hands with – for a relatively short period
of time. During materializations, Timothy and William insist
that we hold hands.
15. David's biography mentions that he started
his work as medium at age 20, but does not say when he first
started doing physical mediumship. The 2003 Oxfordshire
report is the first mention I have seen. When did his physical
mediumship begin? Are there reports of its emergence and
gradual development? (It seems strange how he suddenly appeared
on the scene, when this form of mediumship had otherwise
largely died out worldwide.)
David started sitting for physical mediumship in a home
development circle with Mr and Mrs Ingman 10 years ago and
sat with them regularly in the UK for 3 years. He then worked
with another circle leader Paul ? and Jenny’s Sanctuary.
I have been given access to written records and tapes of
all the early sittings with the Ingmans. William and Timothy
initially came through in trance mediumship. His physical
mediumship emerged gradually. Both he and Mr Ingman were
associated with the Noah’s Ark Society for Physical
Mediumship which operated in the UK from 1990 to 2000 and
also Jenny’s Sanctuary. http://snipurl.com/tgu3
http://www.physicalmediumship.co.uk/seances/Thompson131204.html
Physical mediumship has not died out- far from it. The
Scole experiments with Physical mediums Robin and Sandra
Foy had all of the phenomena that David is demonstrating.
They started a number of similar circles world wide. See
also http://www.physicalmediumship.co.uk/index.html
and the links http://www.physicalmediumship.co.uk/links.html
To our knowledge there are at least three other physical
mediums giving public sessions in the UK doing similar things
to David- Stewart Alexander, http://www.physicalmediumship.co.uk/seances/Alexander190804.html
Colin Fry http://www.fortunecity.com/roswell/seance/78/lewburg.htm
and Warren Caylor http://www.physicalmediumship.co.uk/seances/Caylor170506.html
As well there are a number of home circles in the UK and
according to Tom Harrison also in Spain. South Africa also
has a long tradition of home circles.
However I cannot find any evidence of a physical medium
demonstrating publicly in the USA (my daughter did see a
demonstration of transfiguration by Jean Skinner at Golden
Gate Spiritualist church in San Francisco http://nsacphenomena.com/2003_dpe_reports/2003_august.htm
).
I know that George Meek went searching for a materialization
medium and I think he had to go to Mexico or South America.
I imagine that there would be a lot still working in Brazil.
David also does physic surgery where he is overshadowed
by a healing doctor- very much like John of God in Brazil.
16. Someone other than the medium's wife should
tie the medium to his chair, and gag him, etc. (This does
not sound good to a skeptic!)
The last three sessions, Bianca, David’s wife did
not attend at all. Another sitter and I tied and gagged
the medium – putting some ten seals – two on
the wrist tags, two on calves tags, one seal on each side
linking the side of the medium’s jumper with the side
of the chair and four seals on the front buttons of his
jumper. After the materialization experiment, and after
we put the light on, we saw David’s jumper back on
him back to front!
We have to be patient, William said. We have been promised
bigger things in the future. Let’s see what’s
going to happen.
My choice was to remain quiet about these materializations
but I chose to speak up for two reasons: William himself
from the afterlife said he is helping with these materializations
to help people everywhere to accept that there is an afterlife.
And secondly, because I know with absolute certainty, the
consequences of the afterlife are just so enormous.
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