Seen and Unseen   By: E. Katherine (Emily Katherine) Bates

SEEN AND UNSEEN

BY E. KATHARINE BATES

NEW YORK DODGE PUBLISHING COMPANY 214 220 EAST 23RD STREET

1908

First Published July 1907

Second Impression October 1907

Third Impression March 1908

Popular Edition 1908

To

C. E. B.

IN MEMORY OF

ONE WHO LOVED AND SUFFERED

AND IN THE SURE AND CERTAIN HOPE

OF A JOYFUL MEETING WITH

HIM, AND WITH OTHERS

WHO HAVE CROSSED

THE BAR

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

INTRODUCTION ix I. EARLY RECOLLECTIONS 1 II. INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICA, 1885 1886 13 III. AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND 49 IV. HONG KONG, ALASKA, AND NEW YORK 71 V. INDIA, 1890 1891 80 VI. SWEDEN AND RUSSIA, 1892 97 AN INTERLUDE 129 VII. LADY CAITHNESS AND THE AVENUE WAGRAM 144 VIII. FROM OXFORD TO WIMBLEDON 161 IX. 1896, HAUNTINGS BY THE LIVING AND THE DEAD 176 X. FURTHER EXPERIENCES IN AMERICA 195 XI. A HAUNTED CASTLE IN IRELAND 218 XII. 1900 1901, ODDS AND ENDS 232 XIII. 1903, A SECOND VISIT TO INDIA 260 XIV. A FAMILY PORTRAIT AND PSYCHIC PHOTOGRAPHY 274 APPENDIX 298

INTRODUCTION

Many years ago, whilst living at Oxford, I was invited by a very old friend, who had recently taken his degree, to a river picnic; with Nuneham, I think, as its alleged object.

Unfortunately, the day proved unfavourable, and we returned in open boats, also with open umbrellas; a generally drenched and bedraggled appearance, and nothing to cheer us on the physical plane except a quantity of iced coffee which had been ordered in anticipation of a tropical day.

Under these rather trying conditions I can remember getting a good deal of amusement out of the companions in the special boat which proved to be my fate. Our host, being a clever and interesting man himself, had collected clever and interesting people round him, on the "Birds of a Feather" principle, and I happened to sit between two ladies, one the wife (now, alas! the widow) of a man who was to become later on one of our most famous bishops; the other her bosom friend and deadly rival the wife of an equally distinguished Oxford don.

The iced coffee combined with the pouring rain may have been partly to blame, but certainly the conversation that went on between the two ladies, across my umbrella, was decidedly Feline .