Most Popular White Papers
Content provided in partnership with
GHOSTLY GOINGS ON
Independent on Sunday, The, May 6, 2007 by Hermione Eyre
Tags: Forbes, TELECOMMUNICATIONS
To Hendrick's Quarterly Seance, then, to receive "absolute proof of the afterlife". The better to commune with the spirits, attendees first consumed some in the bar, and chatter ensued about which ghostly persons might present themselves that evening. One young lady hoped the previous owner of her vintage dress might issue washing instructions from beyond the grave.
Then Philip Hoare, author of England's Lost Eden, delivered a talk about the Victorian craze for spiritualism. We learned how a spiritualist university once offered classes in cosmology, mesmerism and immortality. We heard that in the mid 19th century, a 200 ft tall church of spiritualism was built in the middle of the New Forest. And, on a spine-tingling tangent, we learned that two of Oscar Wilde's half sisters both burned to death, one with her crinoline on fire, the other trying to put it out.
Hushed by these horrors of another age, we processed to a candlelit salon where the medium Margot Forbes awaited. Before contacting the spirit world, she removed her shoes and laid them on the table. Then, speaking in a voice that alternated between falsetto and rich bass, Ms Forbes proceeded to address the spirit world. At times her monologue was reminiscent of Joyce Grenfell ("Ronnie? Don't do that to Simon! Simon doesn't like it") - at others, when she burped and screamed imprecations from the netherworld, it was genuinely scary. The climax was an explosion of ectoplasm from between Ms Forbes's knees, as the room filled with a ghostly aroma, strangely redolent of shaving foam.
Copyright 2007 Independent Newspapers UK Limited. All rights
owned or operated by The Independent.
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.
Find Research Guides for:
Find Featured Titles for: Business
- Academy of Marketing Science Review
- Accounting Historians Journal, The
- Accounting History
- AgExporter
- Agricultural Research
- Agricultural and Resource Economics Review
- Air Force Comptroller
- Air Safety Week
- Airline Industry Information
- American Demographics
- American Journal of Potato Research
- Architectural Review, The
- Asian Economic News
- Entrepreneur