Dr Funk Sees The Spirit Of Beecher
Scary Books:
The Best Ghost Stories
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(New York _Herald_, April 4, 1903)
While he will not admit that he is a believer in spiritualism, the Rev.
Dr. Isaac Funk, head of the publishing house of Funk & Wagnalls, is so
impressed with manifestations he has received from the spirit of Henry
Ward Beecher that he has laid the entire matter before the Boston
Society for Psychical Research, and is anxiously awaiting a solution or
explanation of what a
pears to him, after twenty-five years' study of
the subject, the most remarkable test of the merit of the claims of
spiritualists that has ever come within his observation.
Although he has resorted to every means within his power to discover any
fraud that may have been practiced upon him, he has been unable to
explain away not only messages to him from the great minister, but the
actual appearance to him of Mr. Beecher in the flesh.
Dr. Funk and Mr. Beecher were intimate friends, and it would be
difficult to practice deception as to Mr. Beecher's appearance. When the
apparition appeared to Dr. Funk at a seance a short time ago Dr. Funk
was less than three feet distant from it, and had plenty of opportunity
to detect a fraud if it was being perpetrated, he believes.
"Every feature stood out distinctly," Dr. Funk said yesterday, in
describing his experience, "even to the hair and eyes, the color of the
skin and the expression of the mouth.[1] lines of the body, but it was
still light enough to make the face plainly visible. I had a short
conversation with the embodied spirit, and then it appeared to sink to
the floor and fade away."