January 20, 2023 • 50 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
And you're here. Thanks for choosing the I Heart Radio
and Coast to Coast, a paranormal podcast network. Your quest
for podcasts of the paranormal, supernatural, and the unexplained ends here.
We invite you to enjoy all our shows we have
on this network, and right now, let's start with The
After Life with Sandra sam Play. Welcome to our podcast.
(00:23):
Please be aware of the thoughts and opinions expressed by
the host are their thoughts and opinions only and do
not reflect those of I Heart Media, I Heart Radio,
Coast to Coast, am employees of premier networks, or their
sponsors and associates. We would like to encourage you to
do your own research and discover the subject matter for yourself. Hi,
(00:51):
I'm Sandra Champlain. For over twenty five years, I've been
on a journey to prove the existence of life after death.
On each episode will discuss the reasons we now know
that our loved ones have survived physical death and so
we we welcome to Shades of the Afterlife. Not too
(01:12):
long ago, I reached out to our community or Facebook
group and asked what kind of interviews or episodes would
you like more of? Top of the list was near
death experiences, So if you notice there's quite a few
with near death experiences, it's because you've asked for them. Also,
I've had requests to find out more about physical mediumship
(01:36):
and pets in the afterlife. So I feel like I
hit the motherload this week because a book has come
into my possession called When Your Animal Dies by Sylvia Barbonell.
It was first published in nineteen forty. Sylvia was the
wife of Maurice Barbonel, and if you're not familiar with Maurice,
(02:01):
you may be familiar with the name Silver Birch. There
is much wisdom that has come through trans mediumship over
I think it was forty years of this gentleman named
Maurice Barbanel, and Silver Birch would speak through him, providing
loads of information about life and the afterlife. So if
(02:24):
you haven't checked out episodes three and four, I think
you'll find them pretty fascinating. How Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,
who wrote Sherlock Holmes, gave up Sherlock Holmes when he
found out about spiritualism and physical mediumships. So it's really incredible.
The Spiritual Truth Foundation which you can go to Spiritual
(02:45):
Truth foundation dot org has the most books by Maurice Barbanell,
Sylvia Barbonell, the dozens and dozens and dozens of works
about silver Birch. So I can't recommend that website enough.
Absolutely fabulous resource of information, and it's also a great
(03:09):
place to pick up this book when your animal dies,
if you're interested. Sylvia Barbonnell and her husband Maurice certainly
took part in many of these seances, these physical medium
circles that were held. It was a lot of the
eighteen hundreds early nineteen hundreds when these seances were in
(03:32):
their heyday. And science just means meeting. So if you
get creeped out by that word, don't let it creep
you out. Physical mediumship is something that I felt so
drawn to investigate because if it was to be real,
it would be the most mind blowing thing we could
ever consider in the world of the afterlife. If it
(03:55):
was fake, I needed to know that too. I won't
go into my path st episodes that I've talked about
my experiences with physical mediumship, but I can tell you
it's real. Often completely darkened room, loved ones could speak again,
they could walk amongst us. While it may seem so
(04:17):
outrageous here in three. Back in the day, this was
the predominant kind of mediumship. Families and friends would gather
in what was called home circles, and they'd sing and
enjoy each other's company, building the perfect space for the
spirit world to come through and speak through one of
(04:38):
them as a medium. Currently, are there a lot of
physical mediums? I have no idea. I do think in
the privacy of people's homes they are most definitely practicing
this kind of mediumship. But it is probably one of
the most hard to believe forms of mediumships. So I
think those who are practicing it they keep their mouth shut,
(05:01):
not wanting to be called out as a fraud. But
those who have sat in these home circles know that
it is very, very real. In this book, when your
Animal Dies, I want to read to you some of
Sylvia Barbonnell's words, because of course she has attended many
(05:22):
of these seances, and I think hearing from somebody who
lived so long ago, and hearing about some of the
scientists that investigated, may help you think that even though
presently this seems hard to believe, this was reality back
in the day. I know if you've listened a while.
(05:42):
You've heard me talk to Scott Milligan. You have heard
him speaking in a trance state. You've heard a old
English voice speaking through him named Eric. Scott is a
physical medium that I know well, and I've sat with
him several dozen times in these saying aces, and I
have witnessed the most miraculous things. So it is real.
(06:05):
You can see Scott every now and again. He will
be in Europe, or he's coming to the United States
in March of New Orleans, and you can experience one
of these seances. In the future, we'll have more, but
as COVID and sickness and viruses are still heavy on
planet Earth, I'm going to hold off a little while
(06:26):
before holding more live events. So how about I get
reading from Sylvia Barbonnell's book When your Animal Dies, man
survives death. He also retains his individuality, consciousness, character, and memory.
This has been proven up to the hilt. It has
(06:48):
been attested by men of such high scientific standing as
Sir Oliver Lodge, Sir William Crooks, Dr Alfred Russell Wallace,
and other people of imp teachable integrity in all ranks
of life. It is outside my province to enumerate the
wealth of evidence demonstrating man's survival. There are dozens of
(07:11):
volumes filled with incontestable proofs. My purpose is to deal
with its implications. Since human beings survived, so for the
same reasons, must animals live after death. For over twenty years,
I have attended hundreds of sciences. Again and again I
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have communicated with the so called dead, who, to my
complete satisfaction, have proved their continued existence. It is impossible
for a science to take place without the presence of
a human medium, that is, a person who possesses psychic gifts.
But whether or not we are aware of it, most
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of us have a certain amount of mediumistic power, which
can be increased and developed in our own homes. Thousands
of ordinary people hold regular sciences home circles, as they
are called, in order to stimulate their latent psychic faculties.
Many well known mediums have discovered their gifts this way.
(08:17):
Mediums can be compared with wireless receivers. Our ears, because
their range of hearing is limited, are unable to register
the delicate sound waves that are caught by wireless sets. Mediums,
because they are sensitive, are able to tune into a
range of subtle vibrations that are lost to our normal hearing.
(08:40):
I have heard newcomers to spiritualism say, why should I
have to talk to a medium? If I want to
talk to my dead husband, why can't he talk to
me direct? The answer is that if one's husband were
in another country, he would still have to use a medium,
though not a human one. If he wanted to communicate,
(09:01):
he would use as his medium a telephone, telegraph, radio,
or whatever means were available. This analogy applies to those
who have passed to another sphere of existence. If they
want to communicate with us, they must have channels for
their messages. Mediums are the human instruments necessary for this purpose.
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I have attended scores of seances where I have heard
the living and the dead carry on everyday conversations. I
have also been present at the most touching and moving
reunions between the dead and the ones left behind who
are still linked to them by the bonds of love
and friendship. Some spirit communicators whom I have heard were
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on earth of exalted rank, some who have proved their survival,
or scientists, theologians, cultured men and women. I have heard
the voices of the dead men whose names remain household words,
although they themselves have left the world which they enriched
with their knowledge. In contrast with the famous ones who
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have returned from beyond, I have witnessed moving reunions between
the most humble and ordinary men and women and their
loved ones. Perhaps these have been the most poignant of all.
The seance room becomes life's theater, where tragedy and joy,
humor and pathos all mingle and play their parts. Through mediumship,
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I have witnessed many miracles which were merely the manifestations
of supernormal yet natural laws. I have seen and spoken
with my brother since his passing. His solid form took
shape before my eyes. He made himself visible using a
substance known as ectoplasm, a kind of white, vaporish stuff
(10:55):
which exudes from mediums at seances. It is partly physical
and partly ethereal ectoplasm is visible. It has also been
handled by many scientists. This substance is used by the
dead when they wished to build a reproduction of their
earthly bodies for the purpose of recognition. These forms do
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not necessarily look like the conventional ghosts of popular fiction.
They seem as solid as you and I with ordinary
flesh and blood features. This form of mediumship is known
as materialization. When my brother, who passed over in the
Great War, appeared at one of these seances, he called
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me by name and then took my hand in his own.
It was not the cold, clammy hand of the traditional ghost.
It was warm and human. My brother solved with a
few short sentences of fifteen year old mystery concerning his passing.
It was a problem that had completely puzzled all of
his family because of the contradictory statements that had been
(12:02):
made at the time of his death. I'm not going
to read the whole account she has about the information
from her brother because it's kind along and I want
to get into talking about the animals. But one thing
that was very interesting is during the science the brother,
in his materialized hand wrote a letter to the sister
(12:25):
that she compared to his writing, and the writing was identical.
The medium herself, which was Helen Duncan, very famous physical medium,
had never met the brother or seen his handwriting, or
had any possession of any of his letters. So I
find all of this very cool, giving me goose bumps
(12:46):
right now. And we're going to explore more. When we
come back from the break, we'll talk a little bit
more about her talk of the science room, and then
we'll get into the animals. Okay, so let's take a
break and we'll be right back. You're listening to Shades
of the Afterlife on the I Heart Radio and Coast
to Coast, a m paranormal podcast Network. Welcome back to
(13:28):
Shades of the Afterlife. I'm Sandra Champlain and I am
reading from the book When Your Animal Dies by Sylvia Barbonell.
And at last we heard her brother came through during
one of these seances. His materialized hand wrote a letter
for the sister in his exact handwriting pretty incredible. Can
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you hear it in my voice that I'm excited to
share this with you. We both get to learn together.
So I'm going to keep reading. Okay, Sylvia says, you
may perhaps it exclaim what nonsense. I have never heard
such fantastic claims. I don't believe this. Nevertheless, it's true
evidence of survival is available to most of us who
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seek for the truth in earnest sincerity and with minds
unhampered by prejudice and creed bound superstitions. Since the physicists
revolutionary discovery that the atom could be split. Science has
in recent years been forced to abandon many of its
claims as to the indestructibility of matter. There is today
(14:39):
no scientists of repute who would deny that matter as
a solid substance is a kind of illusion. The physicists
have demonstrated that matter really consists of a collection of
particles charged with electricity. Our physical makeup must there for
(15:00):
be considered in terms of electronic radiations. Are apparently solid bodies,
as well as the seemingly solid furniture we use in
everyday life, can be disintegrated and transformed into non material substances.
The honest scientist must follow truth wherever it may lead.
(15:24):
Matter is indestructible. Though a piece of paper can be burned,
it cannot be destroyed only the form is changed. Even
the ashes may be resolved into chemicals. One cannot make
something into nothing. It is true to say that matter
is eternal. Again, the secret of life cannot be explained
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in material terms. As matter is indestructible, it is logical
to assume that life, too is indestructible. There is no
reason why life should cease merely because its material instrument
has ceased to function. Actually, death is due to the
fact that life has withdrawn it now functions on another
(16:13):
plane of existence. This is proved by the fact that
again and again those who have passed on have returned
to prove that death has not robbed them of their individuality.
The eminent scientist Sir Oliver Lodge once declared, my hypothesis
is that they, the dead, are all around about us
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and what we call the ether of space, rather than
in matter, that inter communion is still possible. It is
well to remember that we are immortal spirits in temporary
association with matter. Probably it is through this bodily restriction
and isolation that we become individualized and acquire permanent personality,
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which hereafter is able to adapt itself to new surroundings
in accordance with the well studied biological adaptability of the
rest of animate existence. What part of the individual returns
from the other side of the grave to demonstrate and
prove this greatest of all truths. Spiritualists know that it
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is the indestructible spirit whose cast off physical body is
no longer needed in a new phase of existence. The
individual who once functioned through the now discarded massive radiation.
The body is the same person after he or she
has passed over. Death has changed neither the character nor
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the personality. This fact is demonstrated in seance rooms all
over the world. The dead constantly return to prove that
they are the same ones we knew and loved before
they passed into a larger and fuller life. Human beings,
in common with their lesser brethren, belong to the animal kingdom.
(18:10):
They have common ancestry, although they have progressed along different lines,
the same tree of evolution has borne their separate branches.
Ignoring at this stage all of the psychic evidence which
supports the facts of animal survival, let us examine the
case in the light of reason alone. First, take the
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purely physical aspect. It is known that the cells of
the human body are no different in composition from those
that make up the body of an animal. But if
man has progressed in a more specialized way in the
path of evolution, it does not mean that animals are
entirely outside this mental zone. Because of their close association
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with human beings, domestic animals have a quired or caught
some of man's individuality, consciousness, and personality. Has not. The
dog developed such qualities as love, sympathy, trust, and loyalty.
He often exhibits high intelligence, and in addition to his
animal instinct, he has also developed reasoning power to a
(19:20):
marked degree. The domestic animal can express such human qualities
as pleasure and joy, as well as dislike and mistrust.
Generally speaking, only the domestic animals who have acquired human
qualities through their contact with man return to demonstrate their
individual survival of death. Untamed creatures and animals who have
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not lived amongst us as friends and pets also survived death,
Since the same natural law operates for all living beings,
but there is a difference in the quality of their survival.
We are told by those who have communicated from beyond
that non domestic animals survive as a part of a
(20:05):
group or herd, soul of the species. Mind, character, and
individuality are the human qualities that survived death and continue
to find expression in another form of existence. The animals
have also acquired similar aspects of consciousness. They too, continue
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to exist as individuals after their physical bodies composed of
cells like our own, have perished. Often, as on Earth,
the animal has to seek create of a human before
he can return to Earth to his earthly owners. As
in the case of humans, love bridges the gap between
two worlds. Many a sad human heart has been comforted
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by the knowledge that the mourned animal friend still lives on.
All right, We're gonna come up for a breath of
air before continuing on. In Sylvia's next several chapters, she
gets into the intelligence of the animal Kingdom, and some
of what she writes is pretty mind blowing to me.
(21:11):
How they tested the intelligence of dogs and horses, and
how they could reason. And it's stuff that we don't
hear too much about. I know, we see a YouTube
video or a video on Facebook now and again about
the intelligence of animals, but she goes into it in
great depth, just how intelligent they are, and any of
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us who have owned a cat, I think we really
know how intelligent they are. There's a lot of parrots
that do so many highly intelligent things. She also has
a chapter dedicated to animals who care for their owners,
meaning the love the animal feels for their owners, how
(21:58):
they protect them, instances of animals saving human beings, things
like that. She also goes into psychic pets. We've heard
it before, haven't we How pets can look up at
a corner of a room and maybe they see something
from beyond, and other things that pets can know psychically.
(22:21):
She also has a wonderful chapter about how animals can
find their way back home. I'm going to read you
a quick story before we go on. On the outbreak
of war, Mr G. Jenkin motored his wife and family
from their home to a new home about one and
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eighty miles away. They were accompanied by Peter, their Siamese cat.
Ten days later, Peter disappeared from his new home and
reappeared in his old home. His owner told a newspaper
reporter that the cat was not hungry when he arrived. Evidently,
Peter the cat was fed up with evacuation and he
(23:05):
walked home. And here's another one. A news chronicle contributor
told how a cat was sent a distance of sixty
miles away from her owner's home in Cumberland Village. The
animal traveled in a covered van. A few days after
arriving at her new destination, three kittens were born. On
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the following week, cat and kittens disappeared. Three weeks later.
The mother cat and her complete family arrived in the
old Cumberland home. The writer said how she traveled with
them is a complete mystery. The kittens were only able
to crawl, and she could have not carried them more
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than one at a time, and still they arrived safely,
traveling sixty miles. Referring to the fact that hundred of
cats live on the sea, the same newspaper pointed out
that they rarely missed their ships, although they go ashore
in different ports all over the world. Ships cats seemed
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to develop a remarkable sixth cents. When the ship is
in port, they often go ashore, but they know when
it is time for the ship to go out to
sea again. Mr J. Ford, who lives at mill Hill
near London, gave an instance of one of these seafaring
cats to the News Chronicle. Tabby lived on board, but
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it did not matter. If the ship went into a
port for only half an hour, the cat would be
the first ashore. She never once missed, rejoining the ship
before it sailed. Sometimes we would be in port for
a week, said Mr Ford, and we would not see
her for the whole time, but just before sailing she
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would trot up the dock. That reminds me of a
story a cat escaped from a motor home in the
Daytona International Speedway during one of their events. It took
some months, but the cat found its way back to
New Jersey to the home where it lived in with
its owners. That's over a thousand mile journey. Pets are miraculous.
(25:22):
So it's time for our next break and then we'll
be back with more. You're listening to Shades of the
Afterlife on the I Heart Radio and Coast to Coast
AM Paranormal Podcast Network. Welcome back to Shades of the Afterlife.
(25:54):
I'm Sandra Champlain and we are reading When Your Animal
Dies by Sylvia Barbara Now, first published in nineteen forty.
This chapter is titled How They Return. All kinds of
domestic pets have returned after death and given unchallengeable proofs
of their continued existence in another sphere. In addition to
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these higher animals, even some of the more lowly creatures
have also returned to demonstrate the fact that they still live.
They have manifested their survival through different channels of mediumship.
Scores of animals have been described by mediums to their
owners at public spiritualist meetings. Sometimes the spirit descriptions have
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come as surprises to members of the audience who had gone,
perhaps with the thought of getting a message from a
dead relative or friend. They have been nonetheless delighted by
the unexpected joy of a description of a dead pet.
At private sittings with mediums, many persons have received roof
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of the continued survival of their pets. Dead pets have
returned to their delighted owners. At seances held in the
privacy of the home where no professional medium has been present.
By the means of psychic photography, animals who have passed
over have reproduced their likenesses on photographic plates in the
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same way as hundreds of humans have done. I believe
that dead animals are helped by spirit people to give
proof of their survival in more or less the same
way as dead children are assisted by older and more
experienced people. Even on Earth, this is usual for children
and animals need more help than adults. At materialization seances,
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the sitters have seen and felt solid forms of animals
who have reproduced their earthly bodies using ectoplasmic substance drawn
from the medium. Some psyche kicks are voice mediums by
means of an ectoplasmic larynx. The dead speak in a
reproduction of their earthly voices, which can be recognized by
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those who knew them. Often at these seances, a light
trumpet a cone shaped megaphone is placed in the room,
and this is used by the spirits to amplify their voices.
The trumpet usually floats in the air. It is attached
to the medium by psychic rods invisible to the physical eye.
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If a seance is held in the dark, part of
the trumpet is treated with luminous paint so that its
movements can be followed. The dexterity displayed by the spirit
operators and moving the trumpet in the dark in a
crowded room is a source of wonder to me. Although
we ourselves cannot see, the trumpet will move unerringly to
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the person to whom the spirit wishes to speak. Sometimes
the spirit operator will make remarkable movements with the trumpet
that could not be done without difficulty by earthly people.
Sometimes the trumpet will touch the ceiling and in a
split second it will be seen on the floor. These
gymnastics in the dark are sometimes done by spirit intelligences
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to convince an honest skeptic that supernormal power is functioning.
One of the usual taunts directed against spiritualism by our
opponents is that seances are held in the dark and
that this condition enables the mediums to produce fraudulent phenomena. Actually,
the majority of seances do not take place in the dark.
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White light is destructive to certain types of physical phenomena,
such as materialization and direct voice. These seances, therefore, are
either held in red light or incomplete darkness except for
the luminous trumpet. This can be easily understood when it
is recognized that these phenomena are similar to the processes
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of birth. The German nation of life takes place in
the dark. Seeds have to be planted in the darkness
of the earth. It is in the absence of light
that they can begin their growth. In the same manner,
the growth of the human and animal embryo takes place
in the darkness of the body. Remember also that wireless
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reception is more successful during nighttime. White light has a
deletarious effect on photographic plates, which can only be developed
in the dark or red light. In any case, it
is neither the presence nor the absence of light at
a sitting that matters it is the evidence received that
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is the only test. I have attended hundreds of physical
phenomena seances, many of which have been held in good
red light. I have been present at direct voice seances
where the barking of a dead dog has been recognized
by a sitter as the characteristic sound made by the
animal on earth. Often after a dog has thus greeted
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his owner through the trumpet, the spirit guide in charge
of the proceedings has volunteered evidence about the animal that
has given the sitter further proofs of his identity. Every
well developed medium has a spirit guide or control. At
direct voice seances, the guide helps the spirit people to
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speak when they are in difficulty. During tramp sittings, a
guide will speak through the lips of the medium, whose
own consciousness is temporarily laid aside. The medium's body and
actions are thus fully controlled by the guide. It will
be appreciated that only highly evolved spirits are elected to
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act in this capacity. Their function is to protect the medium,
to be a kind of a doorkeeper for all of
the spirit people who have come within the medium's orbit.
In addition to a guide, a psychic will sometimes have
one or more spirit controls, whereas guides are highly evolved beings,
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controls are selected for their ability to cooperate with the
guide in producing psychic manifestations. We have had in our
home circle many different forms of psychic phenomena. In fact,
at one time or another, we have experienced nearly all
of the gifts of the spirit that are referred to
in the Bible, trance control, clairvoyance, materialization, and direct voice.
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Sometimes during materialization phenomena, we would hear the sound of
a dead dog's tail thumping on the floor in a
delight realistic way. When we greeted him, Dear Old Bent,
the medium's husband would say to his dead pet, and thump, thump, thump,
went the tail excitedly in response to the welcome. Sometimes
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he would rub his head against his owner's leg. The
medium's cat, Mickey, simultaneously with the dog, would also demonstrate
his materialized presence by scratching with his claws on the carpet.
This sound was similar to that made by any ordinary
earthly cat. Fortunately for the owner of the carpet, the
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effect was not disastrous. During some of our sittings, we
have heard the chirping of a materialized bird. The sound
of its fluttering wings could be heard as it flew
about the room. Sometimes it would come to rest and
perch near one of the sitters. There is a rather
touching story attached to the first arrival of the spirit
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bird in our sciance him. Although the circle has been rearranged,
at one time, the seances used to take place at
the home of a medium, a gifted, cultured woman through
whose splendid psychic powers we received most of our physical phenomena.
One evening, when we arrived at the house in time
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for the weekly sittings, we found a somewhat tearful and
sad medium. She and her husband had been for a
walk during the afternoon and picked up a fledgling which
was lying injured on the ground. Apparently it had fallen
from its nest. They took the bird home and did
what they could to preserve its life, but despite their efforts,
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it soon died. Regretfully, they made an improvised coffin in
which they placed the tiny bird. They buried it in
their garden and covered the grave with leaves. The tender
hearted medium then said a prayer for the soul of
the fledgling, whose earthly life they had been una able
to save. This little ceremony had just completed when my
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husband and I arrived at the house. Later, we went
to the seance room for our usual sitting. After the
medium had gone into trance, we were surprised to hear
the unmistakable chirping of a young bird and the fluttering
of its wings. We were all very happy when the
spirit guide in charge of the circle spoke to us
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afterwards and explained what had happened. He told us that
the love showered on the fledgling and the sincere prayers
made on its behalf had called forth from the soul
of the bird an individual consciousness. The guide said, because
of this human contact, the spirit of the bird was
able to manifest in the materialized body that had returned
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to say thank you. The bird often manifested at subsequent
sittings with the dog and the cat. It was always
a welcome visitor. Scores of well known people have been
invited at different times to attend our home circle. These people,
whose integrity and intelligence are beyond question, have testified to
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the truths of the physical phenomena they have witnessed. Just
when I had finished this chapter, I went to one
of the most remarkable voice stances I had ever attended.
The evidence simply poured through the medium was mister Kenneth Hillberry.
In addition to personal proofs, I witnessed Mr Alfred Timpson,
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one of the sitters, received unexpected evidence of the survival
of his dog through the trumpet. The medium's Indian guide,
White Fox, addressed Mr Timpson, there is a dog here
for you. He said. His name is Rough. He is
a black sheep dog. You brought him home from school.
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This was acknowledged by the sitter to be perfectly correct.
He told me after the seance that he had never
met the medium before and was almost overwhelmed with this
and further evidence of survival he had received that night.
He said that when he was a schoolboy, he picked
up a stray puppy and took it home. The puppy,
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a black sheep dog, was named Rough and passed over
several years ago. Time for our next break. When we
come back, we're going to hear more about animals appearing
in the seance room. And I also want you to
hear a few words from my friend Nick. Nick and
his partner Stephen ran the Bannion Retreat Center where I
(37:41):
had my very first experience with physical mediumship. Amazing story.
We'll be back. You're listening to Shades of the Afterlife
on the I Heart Radio and Coast to Coast am
Paranormal podcast Network. Welcome back to Shades of the Afterlife.
(38:20):
I'm Sander Champlain. What I'd like to do now is
let you hear just a few words from Nick Widham,
who had run the Bannion Retreat Center in the UK
for many years holding physical medium seances. He first started
with his partner Stephen and Scott Milligan was the demonstrating medium.
(38:44):
I got to attend Bannion Retreat back in two thousand
sixteen and I was hooked. So I took many three
thousand mile trips to be part of these extraordinary experiences.
Sadly Bannion Retreat closed its doors when COVID hit, but
good news for us they still run some events online,
(39:09):
like their Sunday Soul Quest service. You might enjoy it.
Nick is also the person behind the Spiritual Truth Foundation
and volunteers much of his time getting some of the
old books like the one I'm reading to today published
and back out in the world. I can't recommend it enough.
(39:31):
Spiritual Truth Foundation dot org and you can also check
out Bannion Retreat dot com. So this next minute is
just a clip from when I interviewed Nick on my
first podcast, We Don't Die Radio. This is episode one
eight nine. Just a minute as he talks about his
(39:52):
dog in the spirit world. We invited David Thompson to
come and work here or a good number of years ago,
and on the first day that he arrived, we we
have a very large German shepherd who weighed about fifty
about and on the first day that that he was here,
(40:14):
unfortunately our poor little dog or poor large dog past
the spirit world. In the seance the following evening, he
materialized right in the middle of the room, walked over,
barked at me, walked over, barked at Stephen, and then
what turned around and walked back into the cabinet. And
(40:35):
as emotional as that was, no way could anybody have
produced that on their own. It had to have been him.
We knew how he walked on that floor, we knew
how he moved around, and it was the most comfortent
piece of evidence that I've ever experienced. I know. That
(40:55):
was short but sweet, because it is a modern day
tale of what can been in a physical medium science
with pets. I'd like to continue reading now a bit
more from Sylvia Barbonnel's book When Your Animal Dies. I
have attended many direct voice sittings held by Mrs Estelle Roberts,
(41:17):
the famous medium whose psychic gifts have done so much
to convince skeptics of the truths of survival. At one
of these seances, I heard a dead retriever named Lawn
greet his owner, Doctor Margaret Vivian by barking through the trumpet.
Dr Vivian has had many interesting psychic experiences in connection
(41:39):
with this intelligent dog, who passed on in nineteen eighteen.
Lawn has demonstrated his continued existence to his owner by
varying methods and through different channels of mediumship. Dr Vivian
has told in Psychic News how she received news of
the dog a few months after his passing by means
(42:00):
of a plan chet operated by an acquaintance. She had
a spirit communicator from a great friend who had passed on.
This communicator, whom she calls f R, said to her,
I have your dog. It cannot find a way to
communicate with you directly. I want you to know that
death is not the end of all. Whenever you have
(42:23):
the sense of needing him, your dog answers. Dr Vivian
asked f R where her dog was. He replied, I
have him. He is with you often. In time you
will realize it and respond in every way as you
already do in your heart. He will survive until you
(42:44):
also come here, and after quite special care is taken
of your dog and of others by those who, like myself,
have always loved them. He went on to say, I
am Lawn's guardian. Always. He is with you in all
that matters, and always will be. Have no fear of
(43:06):
his ever losing you. Though you have for the time
lost him, it is merely temporary. Dr Vivian said that
she asked f R to help her find a medium
through whose power the dog would be able to show
his materialized form. Several years later, she says, through two
(43:27):
different mediums, I saw my dogs materialized form for a
few fleeting seconds, and felt his feathery tail beating against
my knees. The spirits controlling these manifestations told of the
great difficulty they explained in getting a dog to hold
the form. Dr Vivian explains Lawn is a black retriever,
(43:50):
and white dogs are easier to see in the dim
red light of the materialization seance. If ectoplasm is not
competently held to other by this spirit form using it,
the body crumples up and the form has to be
built up again. Referring to the effect of the human
affection on Lawn's condition. On the other side, Dr Vivian
(44:13):
records that f R said, Lawn's high standard of spiritual health,
the wide measure of freedom your dog has now attained
is due to your unrestrained affection for him, which gave
him a greater consciousness and courage. Various animals have manifested
their presence at materialization sciences held by the famous Polish
(44:37):
medium Franic Clusky. The mediumship of this cultured man of
many artistic accomplishments has been investigated by well known scientists.
There is a considerable amount of literature concerning the psychic
powers of this medium. In describing the materializations at the
Clusky sittings, Professor polt Ski says in psychic science the
(45:02):
most frequent visitors of the animal variety are squirrels, dogs
and cats. On one occasion, a lion appeared and on
another a large bird like a hawk or a buzzard.
He goes on to say that the animals behaved in
a perfectly natural way. He describes how he saw the
materialized form of a dog running about, wagging his tail,
(45:27):
jumping on the laps, and licking the faces of sitters
and responding to the more or less universal code used
among people with trained dogs. The professor also speaks of
the buzzard, which could fly around the room, beating its
materialized wings against the walls and the ceiling. She also
refers to an Afghan who used to materialize at some
(45:50):
of Klusky's seances and would bring with him an animal
who seemed like a mameless lion. The animal would lick
the city rs with the moist and prickly tongue and
gave forth the odor of a great feline, And even
after the seance, the sitters and especially the medium, were
(46:10):
impregnated with this acrid scent, as if they had made
a long stay in a menagerie among wild beasts. Perhaps
the object was to prove that all living creatures survived
and retained their characteristics. With another medium named Gooseck, Mrs
(46:31):
Mackenzie tells how Sir Oliver Lodge, Professor Charles Rochet, doctor
Gustav Gelsey, and other scientific investigators all recorded careful impression
of what seemed the manifestation of an animal like a dog,
which fondled some of the sitters and pushed its nose
into their pockets. This highly intelligent woman, who has had
(46:54):
a vast and varied experience of all kinds of psychic phenomena, says,
if great animals appear, such as have been seen at
the Clusky seances on occasion, then we must reasonably suppose
that domestic animals, so often dearly loved, are at times
not far from their owners. Although opportunities for objective manifestation
(47:20):
may be lacking, there are hundreds of well attested cases
of persons seeing, hearing, feeling, and sensing the presence of
deceased pets in the ordinary home surroundings. The behavior of
other animals has also seemed to indicate a knowledge of
(47:41):
unseen companions. One dog once materialized sufficiently enough at a
seance to bite the shoelaces and trousered legs of his owner.
A well known medium, mister Charles Glover Bothham, used to
hold a materialization home circle where on a Asian. The
sitters were very surprised when a materialized form of a
(48:04):
large dog suddenly appeared. He bounded forward in the most
energetic manner and proceeded to jump excitedly about the circle,
wagging his tail happily. He ran from one sitter to another,
resting his paws on their knees and sometimes licking a
hand or face. The animal seemed to thoroughly enjoy the
(48:26):
amount of affection and interest displayed by the members of
the circle, most of whom were great animal lovers. But
the crowning point of this remarkable psychic demonstration was yet
to come. This happened when the dog ran to a
bowl of water that was always provided at the seances
for psychic purposes. Often at this type of sitting, water
(48:51):
is placed in the room. It is said to aid
in the conditions because it contains psychic energy. The materialized
animal proceeded to lap up the water eagerly and noisily,
as though the excitement had made him thirsty. Afterwards, the
bowl was found to be completely empty. There was not
(49:13):
a drop of spilled water to be seen anywhere. I
could go on and on, but our time together is short.
I have just read a sampling of this great book.
So whether you check it out on Amazon or you
go to the Spiritual Truth of Foundation dot org, check
(49:35):
out the book When Your Animal Dies by Sylvia Barbonel.
You can get it on kindle. Also, whether it's your
pets or your loved ones, please know that they live
on and you will too. Don't forget. Come join us
that We Don't Die dot com, whether for a class
(49:56):
and mediumship or for our free Sunday gathering, you won't recredit.
I'm Sanders Champlain. In a big, warm thank you for
listening to Shades of the Afterlife on the I Heart
Radio and Coast to Coast AM Paranormal Podcast Network. Thanks
(50:29):
for listening to the I Heart Radio and Coast to
Coast A and Paranormal Podcast Network. Make sure and check
out all our shows on the I Heart Radio app
or by going to I heart radio dot com
And you're here. Thanks for choosing the I Heart Radio
and Coast to Coast, a paranormal podcast network. Your quest
for podcasts of the paranormal, supernatural, and the unexplained ends here.
We invite you to enjoy all our shows we have
on this network, and right now, let's start with The
After Life with Sandra sam Play. Welcome to our podcast.
(00:23):
Please be aware of the thoughts and opinions expressed by
the host are their thoughts and opinions only and do
not reflect those of I Heart Media, I Heart Radio,
Coast to Coast, am employees of premier networks, or their
sponsors and associates. We would like to encourage you to
do your own research and discover the subject matter for yourself. Hi,
(00:51):
I'm Sandra Champlain. For over twenty five years, I've been
on a journey to prove the existence of life after death.
On each episode will discuss the reasons we now know
that our loved ones have survived physical death and so
we we welcome to Shades of the Afterlife. Not too
(01:12):
long ago, I reached out to our community or Facebook
group and asked what kind of interviews or episodes would
you like more of? Top of the list was near
death experiences, So if you notice there's quite a few
with near death experiences, it's because you've asked for them. Also,
I've had requests to find out more about physical mediumship
(01:36):
and pets in the afterlife. So I feel like I
hit the motherload this week because a book has come
into my possession called When Your Animal Dies by Sylvia Barbonell.
It was first published in nineteen forty. Sylvia was the
wife of Maurice Barbonel, and if you're not familiar with Maurice,
(02:01):
you may be familiar with the name Silver Birch. There
is much wisdom that has come through trans mediumship over
I think it was forty years of this gentleman named
Maurice Barbanel, and Silver Birch would speak through him, providing
loads of information about life and the afterlife. So if
(02:24):
you haven't checked out episodes three and four, I think
you'll find them pretty fascinating. How Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,
who wrote Sherlock Holmes, gave up Sherlock Holmes when he
found out about spiritualism and physical mediumships. So it's really incredible.
The Spiritual Truth Foundation which you can go to Spiritual
(02:45):
Truth foundation dot org has the most books by Maurice Barbanell,
Sylvia Barbonell, the dozens and dozens and dozens of works
about silver Birch. So I can't recommend that website enough.
Absolutely fabulous resource of information, and it's also a great
(03:09):
place to pick up this book when your animal dies,
if you're interested. Sylvia Barbonnell and her husband Maurice certainly
took part in many of these seances, these physical medium
circles that were held. It was a lot of the
eighteen hundreds early nineteen hundreds when these seances were in
(03:32):
their heyday. And science just means meeting. So if you
get creeped out by that word, don't let it creep
you out. Physical mediumship is something that I felt so
drawn to investigate because if it was to be real,
it would be the most mind blowing thing we could
ever consider in the world of the afterlife. If it
(03:55):
was fake, I needed to know that too. I won't
go into my path st episodes that I've talked about
my experiences with physical mediumship, but I can tell you
it's real. Often completely darkened room, loved ones could speak again,
they could walk amongst us. While it may seem so
(04:17):
outrageous here in three. Back in the day, this was
the predominant kind of mediumship. Families and friends would gather
in what was called home circles, and they'd sing and
enjoy each other's company, building the perfect space for the
spirit world to come through and speak through one of
(04:38):
them as a medium. Currently, are there a lot of
physical mediums? I have no idea. I do think in
the privacy of people's homes they are most definitely practicing
this kind of mediumship. But it is probably one of
the most hard to believe forms of mediumships. So I
think those who are practicing it they keep their mouth shut,
(05:01):
not wanting to be called out as a fraud. But
those who have sat in these home circles know that
it is very, very real. In this book, when your
Animal Dies, I want to read to you some of
Sylvia Barbonnell's words, because of course she has attended many
(05:22):
of these seances, and I think hearing from somebody who
lived so long ago, and hearing about some of the
scientists that investigated, may help you think that even though
presently this seems hard to believe, this was reality back
in the day. I know if you've listened a while.
(05:42):
You've heard me talk to Scott Milligan. You have heard
him speaking in a trance state. You've heard a old
English voice speaking through him named Eric. Scott is a
physical medium that I know well, and I've sat with
him several dozen times in these saying aces, and I
have witnessed the most miraculous things. So it is real.
(06:05):
You can see Scott every now and again. He will
be in Europe, or he's coming to the United States
in March of New Orleans, and you can experience one
of these seances. In the future, we'll have more, but
as COVID and sickness and viruses are still heavy on
planet Earth, I'm going to hold off a little while
(06:26):
before holding more live events. So how about I get
reading from Sylvia Barbonnell's book When your Animal Dies, man
survives death. He also retains his individuality, consciousness, character, and memory.
This has been proven up to the hilt. It has
(06:48):
been attested by men of such high scientific standing as
Sir Oliver Lodge, Sir William Crooks, Dr Alfred Russell Wallace,
and other people of imp teachable integrity in all ranks
of life. It is outside my province to enumerate the
wealth of evidence demonstrating man's survival. There are dozens of
(07:11):
volumes filled with incontestable proofs. My purpose is to deal
with its implications. Since human beings survived, so for the
same reasons, must animals live after death. For over twenty years,
I have attended hundreds of sciences. Again and again I
(07:33):
have communicated with the so called dead, who, to my
complete satisfaction, have proved their continued existence. It is impossible
for a science to take place without the presence of
a human medium, that is, a person who possesses psychic gifts.
But whether or not we are aware of it, most
(07:54):
of us have a certain amount of mediumistic power, which
can be increased and developed in our own homes. Thousands
of ordinary people hold regular sciences home circles, as they
are called, in order to stimulate their latent psychic faculties.
Many well known mediums have discovered their gifts this way.
(08:17):
Mediums can be compared with wireless receivers. Our ears, because
their range of hearing is limited, are unable to register
the delicate sound waves that are caught by wireless sets. Mediums,
because they are sensitive, are able to tune into a
range of subtle vibrations that are lost to our normal hearing.
(08:40):
I have heard newcomers to spiritualism say, why should I
have to talk to a medium? If I want to
talk to my dead husband, why can't he talk to
me direct? The answer is that if one's husband were
in another country, he would still have to use a medium,
though not a human one. If he wanted to communicate,
(09:01):
he would use as his medium a telephone, telegraph, radio,
or whatever means were available. This analogy applies to those
who have passed to another sphere of existence. If they
want to communicate with us, they must have channels for
their messages. Mediums are the human instruments necessary for this purpose.
(09:24):
I have attended scores of seances where I have heard
the living and the dead carry on everyday conversations. I
have also been present at the most touching and moving
reunions between the dead and the ones left behind who
are still linked to them by the bonds of love
and friendship. Some spirit communicators whom I have heard were
(09:48):
on earth of exalted rank, some who have proved their survival,
or scientists, theologians, cultured men and women. I have heard
the voices of the dead men whose names remain household words,
although they themselves have left the world which they enriched
with their knowledge. In contrast with the famous ones who
(10:11):
have returned from beyond, I have witnessed moving reunions between
the most humble and ordinary men and women and their
loved ones. Perhaps these have been the most poignant of all.
The seance room becomes life's theater, where tragedy and joy,
humor and pathos all mingle and play their parts. Through mediumship,
(10:33):
I have witnessed many miracles which were merely the manifestations
of supernormal yet natural laws. I have seen and spoken
with my brother since his passing. His solid form took
shape before my eyes. He made himself visible using a
substance known as ectoplasm, a kind of white, vaporish stuff
(10:55):
which exudes from mediums at seances. It is partly physical
and partly ethereal ectoplasm is visible. It has also been
handled by many scientists. This substance is used by the
dead when they wished to build a reproduction of their
earthly bodies for the purpose of recognition. These forms do
(11:17):
not necessarily look like the conventional ghosts of popular fiction.
They seem as solid as you and I with ordinary
flesh and blood features. This form of mediumship is known
as materialization. When my brother, who passed over in the
Great War, appeared at one of these seances, he called
(11:39):
me by name and then took my hand in his own.
It was not the cold, clammy hand of the traditional ghost.
It was warm and human. My brother solved with a
few short sentences of fifteen year old mystery concerning his passing.
It was a problem that had completely puzzled all of
his family because of the contradictory statements that had been
(12:02):
made at the time of his death. I'm not going
to read the whole account she has about the information
from her brother because it's kind along and I want
to get into talking about the animals. But one thing
that was very interesting is during the science the brother,
in his materialized hand wrote a letter to the sister
(12:25):
that she compared to his writing, and the writing was identical.
The medium herself, which was Helen Duncan, very famous physical medium,
had never met the brother or seen his handwriting, or
had any possession of any of his letters. So I
find all of this very cool, giving me goose bumps
(12:46):
right now. And we're going to explore more. When we
come back from the break, we'll talk a little bit
more about her talk of the science room, and then
we'll get into the animals. Okay, so let's take a
break and we'll be right back. You're listening to Shades
of the Afterlife on the I Heart Radio and Coast
to Coast, a m paranormal podcast Network. Welcome back to
(13:28):
Shades of the Afterlife. I'm Sandra Champlain and I am
reading from the book When Your Animal Dies by Sylvia Barbonell.
And at last we heard her brother came through during
one of these seances. His materialized hand wrote a letter
for the sister in his exact handwriting pretty incredible. Can
(13:50):
you hear it in my voice that I'm excited to
share this with you. We both get to learn together.
So I'm going to keep reading. Okay, Sylvia says, you
may perhaps it exclaim what nonsense. I have never heard
such fantastic claims. I don't believe this. Nevertheless, it's true
evidence of survival is available to most of us who
(14:13):
seek for the truth in earnest sincerity and with minds
unhampered by prejudice and creed bound superstitions. Since the physicists
revolutionary discovery that the atom could be split. Science has
in recent years been forced to abandon many of its
claims as to the indestructibility of matter. There is today
(14:39):
no scientists of repute who would deny that matter as
a solid substance is a kind of illusion. The physicists
have demonstrated that matter really consists of a collection of
particles charged with electricity. Our physical makeup must there for
(15:00):
be considered in terms of electronic radiations. Are apparently solid bodies,
as well as the seemingly solid furniture we use in
everyday life, can be disintegrated and transformed into non material substances.
The honest scientist must follow truth wherever it may lead.
(15:24):
Matter is indestructible. Though a piece of paper can be burned,
it cannot be destroyed only the form is changed. Even
the ashes may be resolved into chemicals. One cannot make
something into nothing. It is true to say that matter
is eternal. Again, the secret of life cannot be explained
(15:49):
in material terms. As matter is indestructible, it is logical
to assume that life, too is indestructible. There is no
reason why life should cease merely because its material instrument
has ceased to function. Actually, death is due to the
fact that life has withdrawn it now functions on another
(16:13):
plane of existence. This is proved by the fact that
again and again those who have passed on have returned
to prove that death has not robbed them of their individuality.
The eminent scientist Sir Oliver Lodge once declared, my hypothesis
is that they, the dead, are all around about us
(16:36):
and what we call the ether of space, rather than
in matter, that inter communion is still possible. It is
well to remember that we are immortal spirits in temporary
association with matter. Probably it is through this bodily restriction
and isolation that we become individualized and acquire permanent personality,
(17:02):
which hereafter is able to adapt itself to new surroundings
in accordance with the well studied biological adaptability of the
rest of animate existence. What part of the individual returns
from the other side of the grave to demonstrate and
prove this greatest of all truths. Spiritualists know that it
(17:24):
is the indestructible spirit whose cast off physical body is
no longer needed in a new phase of existence. The
individual who once functioned through the now discarded massive radiation.
The body is the same person after he or she
has passed over. Death has changed neither the character nor
(17:48):
the personality. This fact is demonstrated in seance rooms all
over the world. The dead constantly return to prove that
they are the same ones we knew and loved before
they passed into a larger and fuller life. Human beings,
in common with their lesser brethren, belong to the animal kingdom.
(18:10):
They have common ancestry, although they have progressed along different lines,
the same tree of evolution has borne their separate branches.
Ignoring at this stage all of the psychic evidence which
supports the facts of animal survival, let us examine the
case in the light of reason alone. First, take the
(18:33):
purely physical aspect. It is known that the cells of
the human body are no different in composition from those
that make up the body of an animal. But if
man has progressed in a more specialized way in the
path of evolution, it does not mean that animals are
entirely outside this mental zone. Because of their close association
(18:57):
with human beings, domestic animals have a quired or caught
some of man's individuality, consciousness, and personality. Has not. The
dog developed such qualities as love, sympathy, trust, and loyalty.
He often exhibits high intelligence, and in addition to his
animal instinct, he has also developed reasoning power to a
(19:20):
marked degree. The domestic animal can express such human qualities
as pleasure and joy, as well as dislike and mistrust.
Generally speaking, only the domestic animals who have acquired human
qualities through their contact with man return to demonstrate their
individual survival of death. Untamed creatures and animals who have
(19:45):
not lived amongst us as friends and pets also survived death,
Since the same natural law operates for all living beings,
but there is a difference in the quality of their survival.
We are told by those who have communicated from beyond
that non domestic animals survive as a part of a
(20:05):
group or herd, soul of the species. Mind, character, and
individuality are the human qualities that survived death and continue
to find expression in another form of existence. The animals
have also acquired similar aspects of consciousness. They too, continue
(20:26):
to exist as individuals after their physical bodies composed of
cells like our own, have perished. Often, as on Earth,
the animal has to seek create of a human before
he can return to Earth to his earthly owners. As
in the case of humans, love bridges the gap between
two worlds. Many a sad human heart has been comforted
(20:50):
by the knowledge that the mourned animal friend still lives on.
All right, We're gonna come up for a breath of
air before continuing on. In Sylvia's next several chapters, she
gets into the intelligence of the animal Kingdom, and some
of what she writes is pretty mind blowing to me.
(21:11):
How they tested the intelligence of dogs and horses, and
how they could reason. And it's stuff that we don't
hear too much about. I know, we see a YouTube
video or a video on Facebook now and again about
the intelligence of animals, but she goes into it in
great depth, just how intelligent they are, and any of
(21:35):
us who have owned a cat, I think we really
know how intelligent they are. There's a lot of parrots
that do so many highly intelligent things. She also has
a chapter dedicated to animals who care for their owners,
meaning the love the animal feels for their owners, how
(21:58):
they protect them, instances of animals saving human beings, things
like that. She also goes into psychic pets. We've heard
it before, haven't we How pets can look up at
a corner of a room and maybe they see something
from beyond, and other things that pets can know psychically.
(22:21):
She also has a wonderful chapter about how animals can
find their way back home. I'm going to read you
a quick story before we go on. On the outbreak
of war, Mr G. Jenkin motored his wife and family
from their home to a new home about one and
(22:41):
eighty miles away. They were accompanied by Peter, their Siamese cat.
Ten days later, Peter disappeared from his new home and
reappeared in his old home. His owner told a newspaper
reporter that the cat was not hungry when he arrived. Evidently,
Peter the cat was fed up with evacuation and he
(23:05):
walked home. And here's another one. A news chronicle contributor
told how a cat was sent a distance of sixty
miles away from her owner's home in Cumberland Village. The
animal traveled in a covered van. A few days after
arriving at her new destination, three kittens were born. On
(23:28):
the following week, cat and kittens disappeared. Three weeks later.
The mother cat and her complete family arrived in the
old Cumberland home. The writer said how she traveled with
them is a complete mystery. The kittens were only able
to crawl, and she could have not carried them more
(23:51):
than one at a time, and still they arrived safely,
traveling sixty miles. Referring to the fact that hundred of
cats live on the sea, the same newspaper pointed out
that they rarely missed their ships, although they go ashore
in different ports all over the world. Ships cats seemed
(24:13):
to develop a remarkable sixth cents. When the ship is
in port, they often go ashore, but they know when
it is time for the ship to go out to
sea again. Mr J. Ford, who lives at mill Hill
near London, gave an instance of one of these seafaring
cats to the News Chronicle. Tabby lived on board, but
(24:35):
it did not matter. If the ship went into a
port for only half an hour, the cat would be
the first ashore. She never once missed, rejoining the ship
before it sailed. Sometimes we would be in port for
a week, said Mr Ford, and we would not see
her for the whole time, but just before sailing she
(24:56):
would trot up the dock. That reminds me of a
story a cat escaped from a motor home in the
Daytona International Speedway during one of their events. It took
some months, but the cat found its way back to
New Jersey to the home where it lived in with
its owners. That's over a thousand mile journey. Pets are miraculous.
(25:22):
So it's time for our next break and then we'll
be back with more. You're listening to Shades of the
Afterlife on the I Heart Radio and Coast to Coast
AM Paranormal Podcast Network. Welcome back to Shades of the Afterlife.
(25:54):
I'm Sandra Champlain and we are reading When Your Animal
Dies by Sylvia Barbara Now, first published in nineteen forty.
This chapter is titled How They Return. All kinds of
domestic pets have returned after death and given unchallengeable proofs
of their continued existence in another sphere. In addition to
(26:17):
these higher animals, even some of the more lowly creatures
have also returned to demonstrate the fact that they still live.
They have manifested their survival through different channels of mediumship.
Scores of animals have been described by mediums to their
owners at public spiritualist meetings. Sometimes the spirit descriptions have
(26:40):
come as surprises to members of the audience who had gone,
perhaps with the thought of getting a message from a
dead relative or friend. They have been nonetheless delighted by
the unexpected joy of a description of a dead pet.
At private sittings with mediums, many persons have received roof
(27:00):
of the continued survival of their pets. Dead pets have
returned to their delighted owners. At seances held in the
privacy of the home where no professional medium has been present.
By the means of psychic photography, animals who have passed
over have reproduced their likenesses on photographic plates in the
(27:22):
same way as hundreds of humans have done. I believe
that dead animals are helped by spirit people to give
proof of their survival in more or less the same
way as dead children are assisted by older and more
experienced people. Even on Earth, this is usual for children
and animals need more help than adults. At materialization seances,
(27:48):
the sitters have seen and felt solid forms of animals
who have reproduced their earthly bodies using ectoplasmic substance drawn
from the medium. Some psyche kicks are voice mediums by
means of an ectoplasmic larynx. The dead speak in a
reproduction of their earthly voices, which can be recognized by
(28:10):
those who knew them. Often at these seances, a light
trumpet a cone shaped megaphone is placed in the room,
and this is used by the spirits to amplify their voices.
The trumpet usually floats in the air. It is attached
to the medium by psychic rods invisible to the physical eye.
(28:32):
If a seance is held in the dark, part of
the trumpet is treated with luminous paint so that its
movements can be followed. The dexterity displayed by the spirit
operators and moving the trumpet in the dark in a
crowded room is a source of wonder to me. Although
we ourselves cannot see, the trumpet will move unerringly to
(28:54):
the person to whom the spirit wishes to speak. Sometimes
the spirit operator will make remarkable movements with the trumpet
that could not be done without difficulty by earthly people.
Sometimes the trumpet will touch the ceiling and in a
split second it will be seen on the floor. These
gymnastics in the dark are sometimes done by spirit intelligences
(29:19):
to convince an honest skeptic that supernormal power is functioning.
One of the usual taunts directed against spiritualism by our
opponents is that seances are held in the dark and
that this condition enables the mediums to produce fraudulent phenomena. Actually,
the majority of seances do not take place in the dark.
(29:42):
White light is destructive to certain types of physical phenomena,
such as materialization and direct voice. These seances, therefore, are
either held in red light or incomplete darkness except for
the luminous trumpet. This can be easily understood when it
is recognized that these phenomena are similar to the processes
(30:07):
of birth. The German nation of life takes place in
the dark. Seeds have to be planted in the darkness
of the earth. It is in the absence of light
that they can begin their growth. In the same manner,
the growth of the human and animal embryo takes place
in the darkness of the body. Remember also that wireless
(30:30):
reception is more successful during nighttime. White light has a
deletarious effect on photographic plates, which can only be developed
in the dark or red light. In any case, it
is neither the presence nor the absence of light at
a sitting that matters it is the evidence received that
(30:52):
is the only test. I have attended hundreds of physical
phenomena seances, many of which have been held in good
red light. I have been present at direct voice seances
where the barking of a dead dog has been recognized
by a sitter as the characteristic sound made by the
animal on earth. Often after a dog has thus greeted
(31:17):
his owner through the trumpet, the spirit guide in charge
of the proceedings has volunteered evidence about the animal that
has given the sitter further proofs of his identity. Every
well developed medium has a spirit guide or control. At
direct voice seances, the guide helps the spirit people to
(31:37):
speak when they are in difficulty. During tramp sittings, a
guide will speak through the lips of the medium, whose
own consciousness is temporarily laid aside. The medium's body and
actions are thus fully controlled by the guide. It will
be appreciated that only highly evolved spirits are elected to
(31:59):
act in this capacity. Their function is to protect the medium,
to be a kind of a doorkeeper for all of
the spirit people who have come within the medium's orbit.
In addition to a guide, a psychic will sometimes have
one or more spirit controls, whereas guides are highly evolved beings,
(32:22):
controls are selected for their ability to cooperate with the
guide in producing psychic manifestations. We have had in our
home circle many different forms of psychic phenomena. In fact,
at one time or another, we have experienced nearly all
of the gifts of the spirit that are referred to
in the Bible, trance control, clairvoyance, materialization, and direct voice.
(32:51):
Sometimes during materialization phenomena, we would hear the sound of
a dead dog's tail thumping on the floor in a
delight realistic way. When we greeted him, Dear Old Bent,
the medium's husband would say to his dead pet, and thump, thump, thump,
went the tail excitedly in response to the welcome. Sometimes
(33:13):
he would rub his head against his owner's leg. The
medium's cat, Mickey, simultaneously with the dog, would also demonstrate
his materialized presence by scratching with his claws on the carpet.
This sound was similar to that made by any ordinary
earthly cat. Fortunately for the owner of the carpet, the
(33:35):
effect was not disastrous. During some of our sittings, we
have heard the chirping of a materialized bird. The sound
of its fluttering wings could be heard as it flew
about the room. Sometimes it would come to rest and
perch near one of the sitters. There is a rather
touching story attached to the first arrival of the spirit
(33:58):
bird in our sciance him. Although the circle has been rearranged,
at one time, the seances used to take place at
the home of a medium, a gifted, cultured woman through
whose splendid psychic powers we received most of our physical phenomena.
One evening, when we arrived at the house in time
(34:19):
for the weekly sittings, we found a somewhat tearful and
sad medium. She and her husband had been for a
walk during the afternoon and picked up a fledgling which
was lying injured on the ground. Apparently it had fallen
from its nest. They took the bird home and did
what they could to preserve its life, but despite their efforts,
(34:41):
it soon died. Regretfully, they made an improvised coffin in
which they placed the tiny bird. They buried it in
their garden and covered the grave with leaves. The tender
hearted medium then said a prayer for the soul of
the fledgling, whose earthly life they had been una able
to save. This little ceremony had just completed when my
(35:04):
husband and I arrived at the house. Later, we went
to the seance room for our usual sitting. After the
medium had gone into trance, we were surprised to hear
the unmistakable chirping of a young bird and the fluttering
of its wings. We were all very happy when the
spirit guide in charge of the circle spoke to us
(35:27):
afterwards and explained what had happened. He told us that
the love showered on the fledgling and the sincere prayers
made on its behalf had called forth from the soul
of the bird an individual consciousness. The guide said, because
of this human contact, the spirit of the bird was
able to manifest in the materialized body that had returned
(35:50):
to say thank you. The bird often manifested at subsequent
sittings with the dog and the cat. It was always
a welcome visitor. Scores of well known people have been
invited at different times to attend our home circle. These people,
whose integrity and intelligence are beyond question, have testified to
(36:13):
the truths of the physical phenomena they have witnessed. Just
when I had finished this chapter, I went to one
of the most remarkable voice stances I had ever attended.
The evidence simply poured through the medium was mister Kenneth Hillberry.
In addition to personal proofs, I witnessed Mr Alfred Timpson,
(36:35):
one of the sitters, received unexpected evidence of the survival
of his dog through the trumpet. The medium's Indian guide,
White Fox, addressed Mr Timpson, there is a dog here
for you. He said. His name is Rough. He is
a black sheep dog. You brought him home from school.
(36:56):
This was acknowledged by the sitter to be perfectly correct.
He told me after the seance that he had never
met the medium before and was almost overwhelmed with this
and further evidence of survival he had received that night.
He said that when he was a schoolboy, he picked
up a stray puppy and took it home. The puppy,
(37:17):
a black sheep dog, was named Rough and passed over
several years ago. Time for our next break. When we
come back, we're going to hear more about animals appearing
in the seance room. And I also want you to
hear a few words from my friend Nick. Nick and
his partner Stephen ran the Bannion Retreat Center where I
(37:41):
had my very first experience with physical mediumship. Amazing story.
We'll be back. You're listening to Shades of the Afterlife
on the I Heart Radio and Coast to Coast am
Paranormal podcast Network. Welcome back to Shades of the Afterlife.
(38:20):
I'm Sander Champlain. What I'd like to do now is
let you hear just a few words from Nick Widham,
who had run the Bannion Retreat Center in the UK
for many years holding physical medium seances. He first started
with his partner Stephen and Scott Milligan was the demonstrating medium.
(38:44):
I got to attend Bannion Retreat back in two thousand
sixteen and I was hooked. So I took many three
thousand mile trips to be part of these extraordinary experiences.
Sadly Bannion Retreat closed its doors when COVID hit, but
good news for us they still run some events online,
(39:09):
like their Sunday Soul Quest service. You might enjoy it.
Nick is also the person behind the Spiritual Truth Foundation
and volunteers much of his time getting some of the
old books like the one I'm reading to today published
and back out in the world. I can't recommend it enough.
(39:31):
Spiritual Truth Foundation dot org and you can also check
out Bannion Retreat dot com. So this next minute is
just a clip from when I interviewed Nick on my
first podcast, We Don't Die Radio. This is episode one
eight nine. Just a minute as he talks about his
(39:52):
dog in the spirit world. We invited David Thompson to
come and work here or a good number of years ago,
and on the first day that he arrived, we we
have a very large German shepherd who weighed about fifty
about and on the first day that that he was here,
(40:14):
unfortunately our poor little dog or poor large dog past
the spirit world. In the seance the following evening, he
materialized right in the middle of the room, walked over,
barked at me, walked over, barked at Stephen, and then
what turned around and walked back into the cabinet. And
(40:35):
as emotional as that was, no way could anybody have
produced that on their own. It had to have been him.
We knew how he walked on that floor, we knew
how he moved around, and it was the most comfortent
piece of evidence that I've ever experienced. I know. That
(40:55):
was short but sweet, because it is a modern day
tale of what can been in a physical medium science
with pets. I'd like to continue reading now a bit
more from Sylvia Barbonnel's book When Your Animal Dies. I
have attended many direct voice sittings held by Mrs Estelle Roberts,
(41:17):
the famous medium whose psychic gifts have done so much
to convince skeptics of the truths of survival. At one
of these seances, I heard a dead retriever named Lawn
greet his owner, Doctor Margaret Vivian by barking through the trumpet.
Dr Vivian has had many interesting psychic experiences in connection
(41:39):
with this intelligent dog, who passed on in nineteen eighteen.
Lawn has demonstrated his continued existence to his owner by
varying methods and through different channels of mediumship. Dr Vivian
has told in Psychic News how she received news of
the dog a few months after his passing by means
(42:00):
of a plan chet operated by an acquaintance. She had
a spirit communicator from a great friend who had passed on.
This communicator, whom she calls f R, said to her,
I have your dog. It cannot find a way to
communicate with you directly. I want you to know that
death is not the end of all. Whenever you have
(42:23):
the sense of needing him, your dog answers. Dr Vivian
asked f R where her dog was. He replied, I
have him. He is with you often. In time you
will realize it and respond in every way as you
already do in your heart. He will survive until you
(42:44):
also come here, and after quite special care is taken
of your dog and of others by those who, like myself,
have always loved them. He went on to say, I
am Lawn's guardian. Always. He is with you in all
that matters, and always will be. Have no fear of
(43:06):
his ever losing you. Though you have for the time
lost him, it is merely temporary. Dr Vivian said that
she asked f R to help her find a medium
through whose power the dog would be able to show
his materialized form. Several years later, she says, through two
(43:27):
different mediums, I saw my dogs materialized form for a
few fleeting seconds, and felt his feathery tail beating against
my knees. The spirits controlling these manifestations told of the
great difficulty they explained in getting a dog to hold
the form. Dr Vivian explains Lawn is a black retriever,
(43:50):
and white dogs are easier to see in the dim
red light of the materialization seance. If ectoplasm is not
competently held to other by this spirit form using it,
the body crumples up and the form has to be
built up again. Referring to the effect of the human
affection on Lawn's condition. On the other side, Dr Vivian
(44:13):
records that f R said, Lawn's high standard of spiritual health,
the wide measure of freedom your dog has now attained
is due to your unrestrained affection for him, which gave
him a greater consciousness and courage. Various animals have manifested
their presence at materialization sciences held by the famous Polish
(44:37):
medium Franic Clusky. The mediumship of this cultured man of
many artistic accomplishments has been investigated by well known scientists.
There is a considerable amount of literature concerning the psychic
powers of this medium. In describing the materializations at the
Clusky sittings, Professor polt Ski says in psychic science the
(45:02):
most frequent visitors of the animal variety are squirrels, dogs
and cats. On one occasion, a lion appeared and on
another a large bird like a hawk or a buzzard.
He goes on to say that the animals behaved in
a perfectly natural way. He describes how he saw the
materialized form of a dog running about, wagging his tail,
(45:27):
jumping on the laps, and licking the faces of sitters
and responding to the more or less universal code used
among people with trained dogs. The professor also speaks of
the buzzard, which could fly around the room, beating its
materialized wings against the walls and the ceiling. She also
refers to an Afghan who used to materialize at some
(45:50):
of Klusky's seances and would bring with him an animal
who seemed like a mameless lion. The animal would lick
the city rs with the moist and prickly tongue and
gave forth the odor of a great feline, And even
after the seance, the sitters and especially the medium, were
(46:10):
impregnated with this acrid scent, as if they had made
a long stay in a menagerie among wild beasts. Perhaps
the object was to prove that all living creatures survived
and retained their characteristics. With another medium named Gooseck, Mrs
(46:31):
Mackenzie tells how Sir Oliver Lodge, Professor Charles Rochet, doctor
Gustav Gelsey, and other scientific investigators all recorded careful impression
of what seemed the manifestation of an animal like a dog,
which fondled some of the sitters and pushed its nose
into their pockets. This highly intelligent woman, who has had
(46:54):
a vast and varied experience of all kinds of psychic phenomena, says,
if great animals appear, such as have been seen at
the Clusky seances on occasion, then we must reasonably suppose
that domestic animals, so often dearly loved, are at times
not far from their owners. Although opportunities for objective manifestation
(47:20):
may be lacking, there are hundreds of well attested cases
of persons seeing, hearing, feeling, and sensing the presence of
deceased pets in the ordinary home surroundings. The behavior of
other animals has also seemed to indicate a knowledge of
(47:41):
unseen companions. One dog once materialized sufficiently enough at a
seance to bite the shoelaces and trousered legs of his owner.
A well known medium, mister Charles Glover Bothham, used to
hold a materialization home circle where on a Asian. The
sitters were very surprised when a materialized form of a
(48:04):
large dog suddenly appeared. He bounded forward in the most
energetic manner and proceeded to jump excitedly about the circle,
wagging his tail happily. He ran from one sitter to another,
resting his paws on their knees and sometimes licking a
hand or face. The animal seemed to thoroughly enjoy the
(48:26):
amount of affection and interest displayed by the members of
the circle, most of whom were great animal lovers. But
the crowning point of this remarkable psychic demonstration was yet
to come. This happened when the dog ran to a
bowl of water that was always provided at the seances
for psychic purposes. Often at this type of sitting, water
(48:51):
is placed in the room. It is said to aid
in the conditions because it contains psychic energy. The materialized
animal proceeded to lap up the water eagerly and noisily,
as though the excitement had made him thirsty. Afterwards, the
bowl was found to be completely empty. There was not
(49:13):
a drop of spilled water to be seen anywhere. I
could go on and on, but our time together is short.
I have just read a sampling of this great book.
So whether you check it out on Amazon or you
go to the Spiritual Truth of Foundation dot org, check
(49:35):
out the book When Your Animal Dies by Sylvia Barbonel.
You can get it on kindle. Also, whether it's your
pets or your loved ones, please know that they live
on and you will too. Don't forget. Come join us
that We Don't Die dot com, whether for a class
(49:56):
and mediumship or for our free Sunday gathering, you won't recredit.
I'm Sanders Champlain. In a big, warm thank you for
listening to Shades of the Afterlife on the I Heart
Radio and Coast to Coast AM Paranormal Podcast Network. Thanks
(50:29):
for listening to the I Heart Radio and Coast to
Coast A and Paranormal Podcast Network. Make sure and check
out all our shows on the I Heart Radio app
or by going to I heart radio dot com
Host
Sandra Champlain
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