Saturday Night Press Publications logo
header photo

The Mediumship of Jack Webber

A new paperback edition of a classic book by Harry Edwards, the renowned healer, on the phenomenal physical mediumship of the ex-miner Jack Webber.

The Mediumship of Jack Webber

The Mediumship of Jack Webber

By Harry Edwards

PRICE: £9.50

If you are not in the UK, please contact info@snppbooks.com before you place your order.

E-bookAlso available as an e-book:
Amazon.co.uk   Amazon.com
and many other suppliers

Description

A new paperback edition of a classic book by Harry Edwards, the renowned healer, on the phenomenal physical mediumship of the ex-miner Jack Webber, first printed in 1940. This account covers the 14 months before Webber’s untimely death in March 1940 before the book came to print.

Newspaper journalists from daily papers were invited to sit and they published detailed and "laudatory" articles and all "testified to their amazement" at what they witnessed. This included table levitation, cone shaped "trumpets" flying rapidly through the air and voices speaking to them through them. Some saw faces they recognised in the ectoplasm which came from the medium.

The outstanding photographs, many taken in the darkness via Infra-red by professional photographer Leon Isaacs, provide us with an unparalleled record of what the spirit world can achieve with dedication.

The photographs are a tribute to the variety of phenomena which was able to be achieved by the spirit team working through Jack and to his dedication to work with them.

Product Details
  • Paperback: 152 pages
  • Publisher: Saturday Night Press Publications; New edition (8 Jan. 2019)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-13: 978-1908421333
  • Product Dimensions: 14.0 x 1.1 x 21.6 cm
Table of Contents

Jack WebberObituary
I. Foreword
II. The medium—John Boaden (Jack) Webber
III. Infra-red Photography
IV. The Securing of the Medium
V. Report of a Séance by Bernard Gray (Sunday Pictorial)
VI. Critical Analysis of a Séance by Colin Evans, B.A.
VII. Report of a Séance by "Cassandra", (Daily Mirror)
VIII. The Removal and Replacing of the Coat
IX. The Process of Apporting Objects
X. The Astral Head
XI. Levitation of the Medium
XII. Table Levitation
XIII. Trumpet Phenomena
XIV. Ectoplasmic Structures
XV. Voice Production
XVI. Ectoplasmic Materials
XVII. Materialized Forms, Heads, Hands, etc.
XVIII. Incidents of the Mediumship
XIX. The Guides' Care of the Medium
XX. Electrical Interferences
XXI. Conclusions
XXII. The"Return" of Jack Webber
XXIII. The Author - Henry James (Harry) Edwards

Excerpts from Harry Edwards ‘Foreword’

The photographs have been taken in different places, sometimes in surroundings that the medium has never before visited. Quite often he has arrived only a few minutes before the commencement of the sitting. The photographers have been official press photographers representing national newspapers who have provided their own cameras and plates and undertaken all process work in their own studios. Other persons who have taken photographs have only been present through their possessing a suitable camera.

The sitters who have been present during the period under review represent many professions, including official representatives of the British Broadcasting Corporation, National Newspapers, the Editors of the Psychic News, the Two Worlds, Light, and the U.S.A. Journal of Psychical Research, Admirals of the Fleet, Clergymen, Doctors, Scientists, University Officials etc., while Psychical Research Societies in London and the provinces have tested the mediumship over and over again.

A sceptical mind has to face the fact that the photographs and reports are true. Otherwise there must have been a gigantic conspiracy embracing many hundreds of people, including organizations and newspapers of note, all actively participating in fraudulent acts to deceive the public without motive or reward.

Newspapers and their critical representatives are only too willing to expose fraudulent mediums; yet all, without exception, have testified to the mediumship under review. No critic, worthy of the name, would classify all the alert, questioning minds that have testified to the mediumship of Jack Webber as dupes or simpletons. …

Three independent accounts of séances are published, two by official representatives of our national daily newspapers, reprinted word for word, and the other from the pen of one well versed in psychic research.
These give a good impression of the happenings at a typical séance.

The purpose of this book is to add a little to the known proven knowledge of the powers of the spirit people manifesting through a human medium.

An Apport from the next room

On only one occasion has the process of apporting objects been photographed.

Only on rare occasions have objects been apported through Mr Webber's mediumship. The following is the narrative of events that led to the securing of the photographs referred to.

The occasion was a public sitting, at which about eight members of the Temple of Truth, Paddington, were present, on November 8th, 1938. The following quoted description was signed as an accurate description of the incident by Mr James Sing, President, of the Temple of Truth.

No. 12a is a picture of the apported birdConversation between Paddy, the child control, and the Chairman, Harry Edwards:

PADDY. "I would like to bring something into this room to show we can bring objects through walls and doors."
CH. "We should be glad if you will try to do this."
PADDY. "I will go and see what I can find."
(A few minutes later)
PADDY. "In the next room is a bird with long legs."
CH. "Yes, I know, it is a bird called a crane and is made of brass."
PADDY. "I will try and bring it. It has to come through the medium's body."
(A few minutes later—a camera was ready to take photograph.)
GUIDE (BLACK CLOUD). "Take photograph."
(As this was done an object fell to the floor.)
GUIDE. "Put on the light."
(When this was done the brass bird was found to have been brought from the next room and was on the floor.)
GUIDE. "If the photograph has been taken correctly, it will show the bird passing from the body of the medium in ectoplasm."

All windows and doors were locked and never opened.

Signed as an accurate description of the incident.

JAMES SING,
President,
Temple of Truth, Paddington.

Three photographs are printed (Plate Nos. 10,11 and 12a). No. 10 shows the whole of the picture as taken. The bird and ectoplasm can be seen near the medium's solar plexus. No. 11 is an enlargement of the area concerned. No. 12a is a picture of the apported bird.

Report in the Daily Mirror on February 28th, 1939
"'Cassandra' got a surprise at Séance,"

Jack Webber tied to a chairThe following report occupied the best part of the two centre pages of the Daily Mirror on February 28th, 1939. "Cassandra" is the pen-name of a gentleman on the staff of the Daily Mirror who writes a daily pertinent review on matters in general. He is well known for his cryptic and biting sarcasm, and has, on numbers of occasions, given full vent to his opposition to spiritualism.

The séance in question was held in North London at a place to which the medium had never been before, and the people present were complete strangers. Mr Leon Isaacs had been asked to take infra-red photographs. The problem arose as to the means of transporting the equipment, and since "Cassandra" had a car, he was asked to help this way. Thus the only reason why "Cassandra" was present was because he possessed a car.

The heading was "'Cassandra' got a surprise at Séance," and his report, in his caustic manner, reads as follows:

"I claim I can bring as much scepticism to bear on spiritualism as any newspaper writer living, and that's a powerful load of scepticism these days. I haven't got an open mind on the subject — I'm a violent, prejudiced unbeliever with a limitless ability to leer at the unknown. At least, I was till last Saturday. And then I got a swift, sharp, ugly jolt that shook most of my pet sneers right out of their sockets.

"Picture to yourself a small room in a typical suburban house. In one corner a radio-gramophone. In the centre a ring of chairs. At the far end an armchair.

"About a dozen people filed in and sat in the circle. I hope they won’t mind my saying it, but they struck me as a credulous collection that would have brought tears of joy to a share-pusher's eyes.

"Almost everyone a genuine customer for a lovely phony gold brick.

"They sat down and the medium, a young Welsh ex-miner, was then roped to the arm-chair. The photographer and I stood outside the circle. The lights went out and we sailed rapidly into the unknown.  … A tambourine, with 'God is Love' written on it, became highly unreasonable and flew up noisily round our heads.

"The rough stertorious breathing of the medium continued, and a faint tapping sound heralded a voice speaking from one of the trumpets that was well adrift from its moorings. A faint, childish voice said in a voice of deep melancholy that it was 'Very, very happy.' More voices spoke.

"Water was splashed about (there was none in the room when we started) and books took off from their shelves.

"Table moved.

"The medium remained lashed to his chair.

"A clockwork train ran across the floor. . . .

Report by Bernard Gray of the Sunday Pictorial, May 24th, 1939

TambourinesThe term "psychic rod" has been generally applied to all such forms of ectoplasmic emanations.

The photographs obtained, and very close observance of the various forms of phenomena in which a force external from the medium is employed, now definitely permit of two main classifications, i.e., "ectoplasmic arms" and "ectoplasmic rods".

The structures photographed are ectoplasmic arms.

Nevertheless, it is not possible to draw a distinct line between an arm and a rod, as an arm can be instantly converted into a rod when required.

The function of the arms is to act as a "power cable" for the construction of voice boxes, either in the trumpet or attached to the medium. In the latter instance the arm is used to convey the sounds from the voice box to the trumpet for amplification.  . . . When at times these arms have come in contact with sitters, they have been felt to be soft and flexible, slightly warm and coarse in texture. They are able to grip objects (Plate No. 14 shows the gripper-like tentacles at the end of the arm). …

Quite different is the function of the ectoplasmic "rod". This is used for strong movement and for the levitation of heavy articles. It has not yet been possible to photograph one of these "rods".  …

These rods are capable of very great strength. At times a trumpet has been pressed against a sitter, forcing him back into his chair in spite of every effort to resist. A solid mahogany table so heavy that it takes two people to lift it, has been taken from a comer of the room and deposited in the centre of the circle…

 

With the exception of Plate 2, the illustrations in the book have been rescanned from the original photographic prints (now in the possession of Jack Webber's nephew, Denzil Fairbairn) and in this edition are positioned in relevant places in the text instead of all at the end of the book.

Paypal secure payments