A co-worker and myself were working the 2^nd shift stationed at the outside security building-this was a windy, rainy night with some distant heat lightning. Al my co-worker and I were having a metaphysical discussion about reincarnation and karma. We were facing each other about 6 ft. apart. A light bulb to the right of me on the wall of the inside of the building suddenly grew dim, made a cracking sound then went out and the room dimmed-the building shook. I heard a loud cracking sound in my face and head. There was a strange pungent sulfur smell in the air. Both of us felt disoriented.

I made a phone call to the main command center 300 yards away and underground. The officer in charge asked what is going on out there-the county emergency center had just called and asked if we needed any emergency vehicles. The boom and explosion sound was so strong and bright they were worried about us-an outpost.

My inside command center officer told my co-worker and I he needed “paperwork” an incident report. How do you write a report about something you cannot explain or in actuality did not witness but did experience. [Later I found out all the paper work and records for that time period were somehow “misplaced”] Two trained observers left dumbfounded and disoriented.

An officer stationed about 100 yards away in a colonial, stone, well constructed farm building made the following statement to me the following day. He states: A streak of lightning went past the security building on the west side. It appeared to miss the building. The area lit up a brilliant radiant white blinding out the entire area, then turned a mellow orange and returned to normal.

As this was happening I was knocked off my chair and to the floor by the sudden shock. The area shook as though an earthquake had occurred. I am retired from the U.S. Army 30 years in the radar field. The only other time I experienced such a blinding radiant light was during a military nuclear test.

The next day he checked the security building and area and found no apparent damage or signs of burn marks etc. He said he has gone through many electrical storms but none like this one. The farmhouse lost power temporarily, and then had a temporary surge of power before returning to Normal. The only reasonable explanation I have is: sometimes during a storm of this intensity, an electromagnetic field is formed in the middle-which we were apparently in—and saved us.

He goes on to state: I absolutely do no believe in U.F.O.’s or anything paranormal.

After the “occurrence” both Al and I had a change in personality. Al said he has become more aware of people and events-feels more spiritual and picks up more vibrations from his surroundings. We lost touch with each other less than 6 months later.

I also became more psychic and aware although I began to suffer from a multitude of medical symptoms and conditions. I started sessions with a naturopathic physician who used hypnotism. After several sessions the Dr. felt I was ready for deeper hypnotism.  He took me under as deep as possible and to the November 18, 1986 date and time. I was in a lot of pain-he could see that in my face and features. I could not recall anything. The Dr. said I was being blocked by something very powerful and I would remember someday when I am supposed to know what.

Many months later the following thoughts occurred to me:

Sulfur is not smelled when a light bulb burns out. A light bulb gets brighter first, and then burns out. Lightning strikes down-does not strike horizontally. Thunder rolls and bangs, was this actually lightning?  We did not fall on the floor and did not see light through closed eyelids. What caused my consciousness, health and psychic facilities to increase?

Arthur Myers a former Lily Dale resident, opera singer, lecturer, historian and foremost collector of spiritualist memorabilia purchased the set of portieres through his connections in New York City.

Some background about Molly [Mary] Fancher 1842-1916. Molly was seriously injured two times in three years between the age of 16 and 19. The first was she was thrown from a horse and received a concussion and broken ribs and bones. After she was nursed back to health and able to get out and about she was exiting a streetcar and her hoop skirt became caught and she was dragged down the street. This time her injuries were more severe. She was crippled bodily, totally blind and bed ridden throughout her lifetime passing away at age 70.

Sightless and handicapped, being unable to use her hands normally, by placing her hands behind her head [she claimed she could see behind her head], under spirit control created many articles of embroidery with intricate design. She was constantly in pain, cared for and the sale of her embroidery provided for her support.

Leading physicians of the day could not account for her medical condition or her accomplishments-thus the title “The Brooklyn Enigma”. Molly was able to exist on very little food or liquid and for long periods of time had no intake at all.

Bedridden for 48 years Molly passed in and out of “conscious coma”. Several different distinct personalities would take charge of her body. The personalities were easily recognized as a child happy and buoyant, another fretful and petulant. One an older person who conversed about daily life, current events etc. and the fourth could do the remarkable embroidery. The fourth personality choose her materials, did her own designing, penned the color schemes and produced the remarkable art work even though Miss Fancher’s eyes could not see, and her stiffened arm forced the needlework to be done behind her head instead in front.

Spiritualists immediately recognize her artistry as the finest example of spirit direction accomplished through natural law by whose powers were greater than the medium. Miss Fancher lived more in the etheric than in the physical. Even though confined to her bed she was able to visit homes of friends, listen to symphony concerts, describe works of art at various museums and direct household duties to her servants. It is her remarkable needlework that she has left as a heritage to future generations-proof positive that there is a fund of knowledge in the etheric far greater than can be conceived by mortal minds.

Spiritualism Music and Lectures. Some of the greatest North American mediums and lecturer's. Rare one of a kind collectable recordings.

The expansion project-the purchase of the Patterson tract of land contained approx. 15 acres of land and the Association paid $2550.00. Again lots were chained and marked, Streets were laid out and the usual scramble for the best lot leases started. Lot #16 & #18 on Library Street were designated for the School House.

A new schoolhouse is to be erected and in readiness for the beginning of the fall term. The first classes at the School House were the fall term of 1891. [BOL July 4 1891]

The 12 students and first teacher-Harrison Barrett were ready the fall of 1890 for classes but since the School House was not finished Library Hall was used for the first years classes.

The School House on Library Street was used until 1938. The State of New York was consolidating all country one-room schoolhouses into larger districts for better education. The School House was next utilized by the Community Club and used for Parties, Dinners and special occasions.

By 1995 interest was waning in the Community Club and the Lily Dale BOD designated the School House as the new home of the Lily Dale Historic Museum, which had outgrown the basement of the Marion Skidmore Library.

Today the Old School House remains the home of the Museum-the largest single display of Spiritualist memorabilia and research materials emphasizing the Religion of Spiritualism.

Here’s an impromptu spoon bending session by Ron Nagy at The Knickerbocker in Linesville.

Peg and I persuaded Ron to bend some spoons for us and I had my camera handy, so I made the most of it. I’m sure you’ll be more than impressed by my video editing (lol)

I had heard Ron did this Spoon Bending thing, it was all new to me at the time. I wanted to see him do it but I kept missing out on it. I had seen spoons he bent at The Knickerbocker because he had gifted them to Peg and they were on display on the first floor. Those spoons looked like they had been in a blender or a Tornado or something.

On this particular afternoon Ron had just driven in from Lily Dale and Peg and I were chatting with him at the coffee bar. I brought up the subject of Spoon Bending and after a little conversation Ron said he would give it a go. My understanding is the spoon bender must be in a reasonably relaxed state of mine and have the energy and concentration to successfully do the bending. Anyway, Ron said he would give it a go, I grabbed my camera and we off the to races. The video below is the result. At the very end I pan the camera to Peg and she makes a statement. Unrehearsed, she is soooo cool!

[View with PicLens]

Here are the spoons Ron bend at The Knickerbocker, then gifted them to Peg Knickerbocker.

Be sure to check out The Knickerbocker Ghost Cams. Three full time streaming Ghost Cams with Chat.

The Political Equality club along with the Summer School of Psychic Science each called the Octagon Building home. The School of Psychic Science was an all around series of class preparation for the Religion of Spiritualism. This school 1893-1902 was the forerunner to the Morris Pratt Institute, Whitewater, Wisconsin.

Mrs. Stearns either sold or gifted the Octagon House to Lily Dale in 1898. The Junior League-a [precursor to the Mediums League] and the Mediums League have used the Octagon Building for as long as anyone can remember.

Atlantic Monthly, September 1881 (summary)

One opens this work of Zollner with great interest, with the expectation of something substantial and more edifying than the dreary accounts of table tipping, and the insane conversations of great men who, entering into nirvana, have apparently forgotten all they learned in this world, and have nothing better to do than to move chamber furniture. We must relegate this work on Transcendental Physics to the limbo where we have consigned the physico-physiological researches of Baron Reichenbach. One rises from its perusal with a feeling of sorrow. Is there anything in this book, which purifies the heart? No. Is there anything, which elevates the mind? No. Does the intellectual faculty grow keener by reading it? No. Why, then, should one spend time discussing it? Simply because it is calculated to do harm from the weight of authority of the scientific men who support the utterances in the book, and because it is an evidence of certain states of mind. Zollners investigations begin with a coloring of scientific reasoning. He discovers that the habitat of the spirits is the fourth dimension in space. The scientific gloss is given and it is very thin. There may be beings that have this ability to work in a fourth dimension; perchance there are gnomes beneath the crust of the earth. These suppositions appeal to an audience of children rather than full-grown men. The rest of the book is filled with the usual accounts of spiritualistic manifestations and a jargon of commentary colored with metaphysics. Why do the claims of spiritualists all have such a strange likeness to each other, an unhealthy thinness, and a nightmare atmosphere born of indigestion? It is not logical to call in the aid of the spirits to account for phenomena, which may be peculiar states of mental action, or the impression of the nerve centers of one person by those of another. The first step is to study mental action.

The article goes on to imply that the power of suggestion, the conviction of one man can persuade many to believe what their calmer senses tell them is untrue. The study of the human mind and the peculiar action of the brain should be analyzed and first understood. When the mind of man is better understood, perhaps we shall perceive that what we call spiritualism must necessarily exist…

Swiss psychiatrist and pioneer psychoanalyst Carl Gustav Jung was influenced by literature, symbolism, religion and the occult. Speaking in 1897 as an undergraduate at Basel University Jung discussed the occult in a lecture to the Zofingia Society, a student club. Jung said the soul does exist, it is intelligent and immortal and not subject to time and space. He declared the reality of spirits and spiritualism, on the evidence of messages of dying people, hypnotism, clairvoyance, telekinesis, second sight and prophetic dreams. Jung gave a lecture at his alma mater in 1905, Basel University, “On Spiritualistic Phenomena” a lengthy discourse on spiritualism in America, England and Europe. Jung had a life long interest in occult phenomena and enough cannot be said to do his life’s work proper justice. Professor Zollners life ended before he could further investigate, research and complete the final arguments and mathematical formulas needed to convince the skeptics of the reality of the fourth dimension and beyond.

excerpt– Slate Writing-Invisible Intelligence

Spoon Bending

Presented by Ron Nagy

Thursday, August 23, 2012
7:00 pm – 9 pm
Assembly Hall

Fee: $30 per person

Class limit 40
(Gate fee not included in workshop fee)

Bending spoons is a category of psychokinesis and spoon bending is an  excellent example of it. During our lives we have programmed ourselves with many negative thought patterns that block higher energies that empower us. One must learn how to let go of all former limitations…”To let go and let God”.

This workshop will explain the basic mind over matter aspects of bending metal objects and also explain how the mind and body can react together and cause harmonious health conditions. This workshop is intended to be fun and also provide experiences previously believed to be impossible that should reduce some of the artificial limits we have placed in our lives. It may seem remarkable that with very little training one might be able to accomplish this extraordinary proof that belief in spirit and mind over matter is more powerful than certain realities.

Participants are encouraged to bring their own silver-plated or stainless spoons — the more the better. Bring multiple spoons to enjoy the evening.

Ron Nagy is Lily Dale’s historian, walking tour guide, ghost walk commentator and a year round resident of Lily Dale. Ron is an amateur ghost investigator and published writer whose latest book is “The Spirits of Lily Dale” a history of early Spiritualism, Lily Dale and it’s pioneers. Ron conducts spoon-bending parties in Western New York, Pennsylvania and within the Northeastern United States.

http://ronnagy.net/ronsblog

Jack Kelly, Mr. Vosburgh, Mae West—dedication of Healing Temple Lily Dale.

A personal recollection of events concerning the origin and erection of the Healing Temple. By Robert Zagora [step son of Rev. Jack Kelly]

Early in the 1950’s Rev. Kelly’s spirit teachers advised us that they were working to add healing to the Trance and Independent voice phases of Mediumship usually displayed publicly, while the medium was reading sealed billets. Early in the season of 1953 an incident occurred which perhaps more than anything else became the genesis of the Healing Temple. After completing a message service at the Auditorium, Rev. Kelly walked out the back door with my mother by her side. He was approached by a lady wearing sunglasses, walking on the arm of her husband while using a cane in the other hand. She said, “I did so want a message today but did not receive one.” As Rev. Kelly was about to give his stock answer, “ I’m sorry but once out of trance I can’t tell you a thing” His spirit Teacher, who could be heard speaking through the solar plexus of the medium interrupted to say, “Have her sit down, we want to work on her eyes.” She did as she was directed, sitting on a bench outside the Auditorium, where Rev. Kelly worked on her eyes and after a few minutes she exclaimed that her sight was returning. (Some weeks later we were able to question one of the Rev. Kelly’s spirit teachers in class concerning this incident and the teacher told us, “We were able to discern that there was a break in the optic nerve and by concentrating the healing power at that point, fuse the break together.”) Needless to say this caused quite a furor among people in the area who witnessed the healing.

One of those who took notice was Louis T. Vosburgh, who operated a bookstore on the present site of the Lily Dale offices and served as Lily Dale president in 1955. He spoke at length about his belief that there should be a special temple set aside to accommodate the highest form of mediumship. While Mr. Vosburgh started making plans for the erection of the Healing Temple, Rev. Kelly held healing services at the Auditorium on Sunday evenings in 1953 and 1954. Further questioning of the woman whose sight was restored elicited the information that she had lost about 90% of her sight after being involved in an auto accident in which her head hit the windshield. The prognosis from doctors just before her healing was it was not certain that her sight would return.

Mr. Vosburgh acted as his own contractor and using subcontractors supervised the erection of the Healing Temple, to the best of my knowledge with his own money. (Between 25 and 30 thousand dollars) It was erected for Rev. Kelly’s exclusive use and dedicated on July 3, 1955, but after 1957 Mr. Vosburgh turned it over to the Dale Assembly. Ironically, Mr. Vosburgh erected the Healing Temple (the only public building erected in the Dale in the last 66 years) not only without the aid of the Dale Assembly but almost in spite for the lack of knowledge concerning its origin. The Temple remains largely the same today except for the addition of an organ and the paneling in the Temple itself. Since Mr. Vosburgh had the foresight to add a heating system to the building he not only left the Dale a heated Temple, but a church building used all year round.