A spiritualist term, denoting the spirit or guide who controls the physical organizstion of a medium. The term can be defined in two ways:

(1)-state of possession of the medium by an invisible operator, (2)-the operator on the other side in charge of seance proceedings. This operator is also called "guide," and generally the term implies enduring attendance by a distinct and continuous personality to use the entranced medium's body, to deliver direct or relayed messages to sitters, to keep order among those who rush to the "light," as the medium is referred to on the other side, to keep away undeveloped or evil spirits and occasionally to surrender his place, for direct communication to others. The body of the medium is an instrument which requires considerable practice in efficient handling. The control is a communication expert who watches over the fluency of the proceedings, often steps in if he vacated his place to explain confusion and repeats unintelligible expressions. The easygoing, conversational aspect of the seances is largely due to his presence.

The human qualities of controls.

The manner in which such expert-service is acquired is not quite clear. It may not be a fortuitous occurrence as the attendance of mediums is considered on the other side as a kind of missionary work, or an opportunity for experimental research. It is certain that moral qualities ' have a large interplay. If the medium's mind and purpose is clean, if he prays for guidance or if he asks good spirit friends to guide him, it appears as if his request were granted. The process, however, is essentially human on the other side. There may be a struggle for the post and an established control may be replaced by another, as witnessed in the case of Mrs. Piper. George Pelham, shortly after his death, obtained joint control with Phinuit whom the Imperator group later entirely suppressed. The struggle for the actual control is often conveyed to the medium by very broken communications and very spasmodic and violent movements of the hand or of the traveller of the ouija board. The character and' limitation of the controls also bear the human stamp. They may have a large experience in life in the Beyond yet, in answer to questions, it often occurs that they confess to a lack of knowledge and reply that they will inquire from another who knows. They are patient and ready to produce the phenomena to the sitters' satisfaction. But they do not take orders, expect courteous treatment, appreciation for what they do and have their own caprices. Mostly they bring along a religious atmosphere but not all of them are of saintly disposition. Walter, the control of Margery, cursed freely if something displeased him and sent cantankerous objectors to the devil. In his righteous indignation against Houdini he accused him of cheating, swore terribly, called down curses on his head and used the most fearful, unprintable language. Eyen, Mrs. Travers Smith's (Mrs. Dowden) Egyptian control, who claimed to have been a priest of Isis in the reign of Rameses II, also cursed and swore in verse against a member of the circle who drove him out by hypnotic suggestion given to the medium. Peter, another control of Mrs. Travers Smith, was similar to Walter in the respect that he attached himself to the circle to satisfy his own curiosity and conduct psychical experiments from the other side. He was excellent in devising tests but otherwise his character left little to desire.

The power of constant controls is usually greater than of other incidental communicators, and often appears to be specific. "I have only power for voices," said Cristo d'Angelo, when he was requested to be the control at the Rossi sittings. This is a curious parallelism with similar limitation of the mediums and supports the theory that the control, in relation to other spirits, is just as psychic as the medium in relation to the sitters. For instance, in Cristo d'Angelo's case, some spirits, if too weak to reach the sitter on their own voice vibrations came through that of the control which resulted in a blending of accent and occasional predomination of the timbre of the control. The controls often have helpers, other spirits who prepare difficult physical phenomena while a message is being delivered. These helpers sometimes assist in the control as well, the coherence of the messages thereby becoming greatly increased. As regards experiments proposed by the sitters or voluntarily undertaken, they often declare that they are uncertain of the result. Many instances of blunders are recorded in the scripts of Stainton Moses. Once heavy volumes of phosphoric smoke were produced, greatly scaring the medium as he felt himself enveloped in fire. It was explained afterwards that an accident happened during the production of the psychic lights. Once the perfume producing experiment miscarried and the sitters were driven out of the room by unbearable stench. Sometimes harm came to the medium from the control's negligence or careless overdraft of power. Occasionally they fail even in their quality of doorkeepers and undesirable, malignant elements invade the seance room. In such cases they immediately order the closing of the sitting. When the medium awakens from trance the control goes out. He cannot communicate any more. But he may be watchful and desirous of sending a message. Mrs. Piper occasionally received such messages through her own entranced daughters.

The presence of the control is made known by various means. The voice in direct speaking, the character of the handwriting or the sensation experienced in automatic writing, the peculiar style of rapping or tilting of the table, mannerism in general discloses his identity. Physiological observations may also furnish proof. Taking a careful record with John Tichnor, of New York, Conan Doyle found his pulse beat 100 when controlled by Colonel Lee, 118 when under the control of Black Hawk and 82 when normal.

A curious case of two controls conversing audibly, each using his own medium, was witnessed in the Margery seances when another medium, Miss Scott, also fell into trance. Walter, in charge of the seance from the other side, instructed the spirit of Mrs. Scott, mother of the medium, how to proceed, when to start and stop talking.

The picturesque element.

The existence of the controls while on earth is a complex problem. They mostly claim a distant and inconspicuous life which defies verification. D. D. Home's control always spoke in plural and never gave his name. Stainton Moses was attended by an organized band of controls: Biblical characters, philosophers, sages and historic personalities. The Biblical characters called themselves: Imperator (Malachias), Preceptor (Elijah), The Prophet (Haggai), Vates (Daniel), Ezekiel, Theophilus (St. John the Baptist), Theosophus (St. John the Apostle), Theologus (St. John the Divine). The philosophers and sages: Solon, Plato, Aristotle,

Seneca, Athenodorus (Doctor), Hippolytus (Rector), Plotinus (Prudens), Alexander Achillini (Philosophus), Algazzali or Ghazali (Mentor), Kabbila, Chom, Said, Roophal and Magus. Stainton Moses was torn by doubts for a long time as to their identity and finally stated that "judging as I should wish to be judged myself they were what they pretended to be." Imperator is one of the remotest spirit controls. But he is antedated by nearly a thousand years by Lady Nona, the guide of "Rosemary," who claims to have lived in Egypt in the time of the Pharaohs. Black Hawk, Evan Powell's control, insisted that a book had been published about him in America. In 1932 the book was found. It was printed in 1834 in Boston.

There are many instances in which the same control has manifested through different mediums. They have particular favors for one medium at a time and on his death or loss cif power pass on to another. John King, who claimed to have been Sir Henry Owen Morgan, the buccaneer king, first appeared in the Davenport seances and is still performing his duties, whilst Katie King, his daughter, appeared to have passed on to a higher sphere after her farewell from Florence Cook, making, however, an unexpected return at Dr. Glen Hamilton's circle in 1932. Their apparent motive is to do good, to be of service and to work out their salvation thereby.

American Indians figure as controls in a surprising number of cases. They bear romantic or plain Indian names, for instance: North Star (Mrs. Leonard), Red Cloud (Mrs. Roberts), White Eagle (Mrs. Cook), White Feather (Sloan), Greyfeather (J. B. Jonson), Grey Wolf (Miss Hazel Ridley), Bright Eyes (Mrs. Pepper), Red Crow (F. F. Craddock), Black Hawk (Evan Powell), Black Foot (John Myers), Red jacket (Dr. C. T. Buffum and Mrs. Emily French), Old John and Big Bear (Dr. Charles B. Kenney), Hawk Chief and Kokum (Valiantine), Moonstone (Vout Peters), Tecumseh (W. H. Powell), Segaske (Dr. Hooper). Other exotic nationalities are also met with. Tien-Sen-Tie (J. J. Morse) was a Chinaman. Eyen (Mrs. Travers Smith) an Egyptian, Morambo (Mrs. Wallis) a Kaffir; Feda of Mrs. Leonard is an Indian native, Dr. Hooper is attended by a fakir, Mrs. Brittain by a Senegalese child, Mrs. Garrett has an Arab control, while Jones' Medicine Man is a Zulu. Nevertheless, the Red Indians preponderate. On spirit photographs they appear in scalp-locks and tribal robes. Their chief organizer is said to have been John King, but previous to the appearance of the romantic buccaneer King we find the first Indian controls in the Shaker communities in America. They came collectively as a tribe. A knock was heard at the door and when the spirits were invited they possessed everyone. Indian shouts re-echoed in the house, the obsessed spoke Indian among themselves and danced Indian dances. They did not deliver any teaching. On the contrary the Shakers came to the conclusion that they had to teach them and proselytize them. This was the beginning of what is known to the present day spiritualist as a "rescue circle." The visits continued from 1837 to 1844. When they left they informed their teachers that presently they would return, would pervade the world and enter palaces and cottages. The promise seems to have been kept. But generally the Indian controls restrict their activity to physical manifestations.

E. W. Wallis writes in Mediumship Explained: "Many Indian spirits become true and faithful friends. They act as protectors ------ doorkeepers' so to speak to their mediums. They do the hard work of development in the circle and prevent the intrusion of undesirable spirits. Sometimes they are boisterous and exuberant in their operations and manifestations and while we do not share the prejudices which are expressed against them we think it is wise to exercise a restraining influence over their demonstrations. They generally possess strong healing power and frequently put their mediums through a course of calisthenic exercises which, although beneficial to the health of the medium and, in the presence of a few friends, may pass without adverse comment, would probably cause criticism if performed in a public assembly."

Children furnish another interesting group of controls. The best known names are: Feda (Mrs. Osborne Leonard), Nelly (Mrs. Thompson), Dewdrop (Bessie Williams), Sunshine (Mrs. Meurig Morris), Little Stasia (Mlle. Tomezyk), Ninia and Yolande (Mme. d'Esperance), Belle (Mrs. Annie Brittain), Bell (Mrs. F. M. Perriman), Harmony (Mrs. Sussannah Harris,) Snow Drop (Mrs. Maud Lord Drake) and Pocka (Miss Wood).

Before Swedenborg the human element was missing from spirit intercourse. Paracelsus communed with elemental creatures, the spirits seen in Dr. Dee's shew stone were not identified with men and somnambules believed themselves to be possessed by the devil or by the Lord. The first controls in the sense of guiding spirits appear in Dr. G. P. Billot's experiments in France about 1820. The spirits possessing his mediums claimed to be their guardian angels. Some controls claim to be pure spirits (never incarnated) even in our days. Such is Little Stasia, of Mlle. Tomczyk and Nona of Mme Ignath.

Control by the Living

There are many cases on record in which the messages delivered by the medium were proved to have emanated from the living. This brings in the large question whether the living can act as controls. It was found that the messages from the living often came without their knowledge. In some cases at the time they were in a normal state, in most cases they were asleep. By analogy the latter occurrence would suggest that occasionally the spirit entity who communicates may also be unconscious of doing so, may be dreaming and his dreams may be drawn through the medium. The repeated statements of Mrs. Piper's controls that they have to enter a dream state to communicate have a curious bearing on this idea.

In France, Allan Kardec, in America, judge Edmonds was the first to state that spirit communications may emanate from the living. In his Spiritual Tracts (October 24, 1857) judge Edmonds writes:

"One day while I was at West Roxbury there came to me through Laura (his daughter) as a medium, the spirit of one with whom I had once been well acquainted, but from whom I had been separated some fifteen years. His was a very peculiar character-one unlike that of any other man whom I ever knew, and so strongly marked that it was not easy to mistake his identity. I had not seen him for several years; he was not at all in my mind at the time, and he was unknown to the medium. Yet he identified himself unmistakably, not only by his peculiar characteristics, but by referring to matters known only to him and me. I took it for granted he was dead, and was surprised afterwards to learn that he was not. He is yet living . . . I have known since then many similar manifestations so that I can no longer doubt the fact that at times our communications are from the spirits of the living as well as the dead."

Several interesting cases have been recorded by E. K. Bates in Seen and Unseen, Miss M. Monteith in The Fringe of Immortality, by Aksakof in Animisme et Spiritisme and Florence Marryat in There is No Death.

In one instance the spirit of Florence Marryat had been summoned while she was asleep at home in bed. In the experiences of the authoress the spirits of the living invariably beg to be sent back again or permitted to go as if they were chained by the will of the medium. Among her own mediumistic gifts she claimed the power to summon the spirits of the living.

According to early clairvoyants the only perceptible difference to be observed between the spirits of the living and the dead is that a delicate line of light appears to proceed from the apparition, apparently uniting it with the distant physical body. Some modern clairvoyants claim to have discovered another distinction. The spirit incarnate appears lifeless, dead, statue-like, whereas the discarnate one is intensely alive.

Catherine Berry wrote in Experiences in Spiritualism

"The table presently began rolling in a most extraordinary manner, so that we could scarcely keep it down. We asked what was the matter and it spelled out ' We have buoyed the cable and shall be home in three days.' We did not know what this meant. Someone suggested that we should ask the name which it gave. A gentleman then present at once said 'Are you Alfred? ' Answer 'Yes.' ' Then you are on board the Great Eastern? ' Yes.' ' Then you are all safe? ' ' Yes.' At this time, I should say, the vessel had not been heard of for ten days or a fortnight; and exactly at the end of three days the vessel arrived. This spirit ' Alfred ' was in the flesh at the time and is now; and though he has been questioned he has no knowledge of the circumstance or of having desired to send us such a communication."

The story of a communication by raps from a living man is told in the Revue Spirite, January, 1911, by Mrs. Bardelia, a medium, as it occurred under the observation of Dr. Gustave Le Bon and vouched for by the editor. It happened in 1908 in St. Petersburg. The manager of the hotel where the medium was staying asked for the favor of a seance. He was eager to get a message from his father who had recently passed out. "Nor was he satisfied when, with the aid of the alphabet, the first raps spelled out a name quite different from the one he expected. The family name shortly followed, and he exclaimed: "Why, that is the name of my best friend; but he is certainly not dead, for I just lately heard from him from a hotel in Moscow, where he is employed." As much surprised as Mr. R., I sought-writes the medium-for further information, when we obtained this strange message: "I am not dead, but in a state of coma; I shall die tonight." "Are you at your hotel? "-asked Mr. R. "No, at the hospital," was the reply. The raps ceased. Mr. R., still skeptical, announced his intention of telephoning at once to Moscow for the purpose of verifying the truth of the message. About an hour later he returned, very pale and greatly excited. The hotel where he had telephoned asking to speak with his friend had answered that, delirious and dying, the gentleman inquired about had been removed to the hospital that morning and it was not expected that he would live the night through, thus verifying the message."

T. L. Nichols wrote in Supramundane Facts in the Life of Rev. Jesse Babcock Ferguson: "During the residence of Mr. Ferguson in New Orleans Mr. Champion (a medium) left Nashville by steamboat to join him. The river was low; the boat was detained by grounding on sandbars, until Mr. Ferguson became anxious for the safety of his friend. While in this state of mind he called upon a gentleman of New Orleans whose wife happened to be a medium. She knew nothing of Mr. Ferguson or of Mr. Champion, or of the anxiety of the former respecting the latter; but, sitting at a table she wrote a letter to Mr. Ferguson dated on the steamboat on which Mr. Champion was expected, at a place twenty-four hours' distance up the Mississippi, stating that the writer was well and expected to arrive in New Orleans the following day. The letter was signed H. B. Champion, and was apparently in his handwriting and contained several of his peculiarities. The next day the boat arrived and Mr. Champion confirmed the message, of which, however, he had no consciousness, except that at or about the hour it was written he was thinking of Mr. Ferguson and had a strong desire to relieve his anxiety."

Mrs. J. H. Conant, the medium, could manifest through other mediums while her body was in trance and under spirit control.

Wsevolod Solowiof, a well-known Russian writer, an automatist who usually produced mirror scripts, on one occasion wrote the name "Vera." On inquiry it was elicited that a relative of his was communicating. "Yes; I sleep, but I am here, and I have come to tell you that we shall meet tomorrow in the summer gardens." This came to pass. Moreover, the young girl told her family that she dreamt of visiting her cousin and of having told him of their meeting.

Carrington, in his introduction to Sylvan J. Muldoon's The Projection of the Astral Body, narrates his personal experiments to appear to a certain young lady, an accomplished pianist, with a phenomenal musical memory. "One day," he writes, I asked her if she had ever heard of an old song 'When Sparrows Build,' made famous years ago by Jenny Lind, and a favorite of my childhood days. She stated that she never had. I said that I would get and send her a copy 'some time' as I thought she would like it. That was all that was said about it at the time and no particular importance was attached to it. A couple of nights later I attempted to appear to her, and as usual awoke in the morning without knowing whether my experiment had 'succeeded' or not. A little later I received a telephone call and the young lady in question informed me that I had appeared to her the night before-rather more vividly than usual-and that she had thereupon been seized with the impulse to write automatically-the result being a verse of poetry. That afternoon I called, was told of the experience, was shown the poetry and confess that I received quite a momentary thrill. The poetry consisted of the opening lines of the song 'When Sparrows Build,' absolutely accurate with the exception of one word.'

The Gordon Davis case recorded by Mr. S. G. Soal -in Proceedings P. XCVI, is a well authenticated instance. In a series of seances with Mrs. Blanche Cooper in 1922 a voice came through which Mr. Soal recognized as Mr. Gordon Davis, an acquaintance whom he believed to have fallen in the war. Details about home and family were given in a very convincing manner. Three years later Mr. Soal met Gordon Davis alive. He knew nothing of the communications that purported to come from him. Several similar cases are recorded by W. Leslie Curnow in an excellent study

"Spirits in the Flesh" in Psychic Science, January, 1927.

Shamar, the Hindoo control of Mrs. Travers Smith, specialized in bringing communicators who were living. The name of an intimate friend came through. "He stated that he was not sound asleep and therefore the message would come in jerks, which it did. He said he was sitting before the fire in his drawing-room; no one else was in the room. I asked him to give my sister a message from me; he said, "Sorry, I can't; I shall forget all this when I wake." He then said goodbye and that he could not speak any more as he was getting more wakeful."

Vincent Turvey, in The Beginnings of Seership, quotes many testimonies in proof that he often succeeded in controlling people in a seance circle to whom he announced the experiment. On other occasions he did it without previous announcement. The feat was performed by an act of will-power. His personality and mannerism was strikingly assumed by the medium. Moreover, he was conscious of what he did and remembered his experience. He could hear and see and to achieve physical effects he appeared to draw from the medium's wrist and knees a sort of red sticky matter. Once he lifted a bed with two people in it and spoke to them in direct voice. Physically at the time he did not have the strength to raise a small child. A similar instance is recorded by Sylvan J. Muldoon in The Projection of the Astral Body as his own experience.

Sir Lawrence J. Jones, in his presidential address to the S.P.R. in 1928, dwelt on the mediumship of Miss, K. Wingfield and said: ". . . On four different occasions my youngest girl, aged nine, purported to control during her sleep, speaking with great animation and very characteristically. In the first instance she was at Ripley, some fifteen miles from Wimbledon, where K. was staying. Later at Valescure she was asleep either in the same house or in a neighboring villa. On the first occasion the child was asked, after some conversation "What about the sailor frock?" The answer came: "We went to a shop. Mummie just said, ' You get those things out. That is her tallness.` And they got them; nothing else to be done, no altering-They just sent them home. That's what I like." This was a correct version of what had happened that afternoon. The child had been taken by her mother to London but none of us had been at Wimbledon that day, so K. and the other members of the circle only knew that there was a plan to buy a sailor frock. Here is Herbert's (the guide) comment:

"In many cases a spirit on our side is quite unable to tell if a person is dead, or unconscious, or merely sleeping, if the spirit is outside; for after death for some little time the cord hangs loosely before it is absorbed into the soul-body and often in sleep the slackness of the cord presents the same appearance." This may be compared with the "Beard" case in Journal XXIII, pp. 130-132, where Mr. Beard was described as having quite recently passed over at a sitting held some eight hours before his actual decease."

"Other curious occasions were when K. seemed to stand outside her body and control it from outside just like any other control. At these times she always spoke of her body as a 'me' and her soul as an 'I' ... There is an 'I' here who hasn't got a 'Me,' speaking of my boy who was waiting his turn to control."

Miss Mercy Phillimore tells of a personal occurrence in Light, May 9th, 1931. Sitting with Miss Naomi

Bacon in 1917 a man was described whom she recognized as a living friend. "The moment my mind realized his presence a certain ease seemed to invade the sitting and he took direct control of the medium. The control lasted between five and ten minutes, but before it ended the communicator requested me never to refer to the experience to him in his normal state." The facts communicated were found to be correct. In another sitting a year later the living friend again purported to be present. His communications were evidential.

In a direct voice seance given by William Cartheuser for the A.S.P.R. on October 26th, 1926, a lady acquaintance of Malcolm Bird received evidential communication from her father-in-law by her first husband. He said that he passed on with conditions in chest and lungs and that he tried hard to impress Mrs. X. the night before. He gave a correct description of what she was doing at the particular time. Mrs. X. after the seance found out that the communicator was alive and in great mental distress at the date of the seance. (Psychic Research, 1927, p. 167).

Alfred Vout Peters, the well-known London clairvoyant, had several similar experiences. The first was recorded in Light, September 2nd, 1899. The "Phygia" of the account was Mrs. Laura Finch. She controlled Vout Peters, while she was in Paris in the body and the medium in London on four separate occasions. She promised to do so if she could. "All who know her have been unanimous in declaring it was Phygia's own self speaking; her mannerism was there; things were said of which only she had cognizance, and when tests were agreed upon beforehand in the shape of certain phrases to be uttered they were invariably used." On another occasion it was found that the control who manifested through Vout Peters was alive in Africa.

J. G. Armstrong refers in Light, April 25, 1931, to his own adventures. On one occasion while he was in London his mother who lived in Devonshire, spoke to him through the medium. She was asleep at the time and had the impression, on waking, of having made a long journey. During the Naval Conference in London a naval officer whom he had known many years ago similarly came through and advised him to protest against the reduction of the Navy. He gave facts about his recent service. On inquiry Admiral Armstrong found out that the man is alive and serves in the East. Counting the difference in time, he was likely to have been sleeping at the hour of the communication."

(See Automatic Writing for Felicia Scatcherd's, Rev. Newnham's and W. T. Stead's experiences and Clairvoyance for the Piddington-Thompson case).

Absurd as it may seem, there are some cases on record in which a materialized apparition was discovered to be living. Alfred Vout Peters has seen, in a seance with Cecil Husk, the phantom of a friend materialized who must have been asleep at home at the time. Others had similar experiences with the same medium. Stanley de Brath saw, on four occasions, the materialized face of a lady then in India of whom he had lost track. Afterwards he had a letter from her. A Church of England clergyman saw the materialized face of his brother who was then living in South Africa (Light, 1903. p. 500). In the controversy which ensued a correspondent wrote to Light of the materialization in the United States of General Sherman who not only announced his identity, but also stated that he had just passed on. The General, however, who was at the time on his death-bed, did not pass over till a day or two later.

Dr. John S. King, founder and president of the Canadian Society for Psychical Research, describes in his book Dawn of the Awakened Mind, New York, 19201 how he appeared at a materializing seance in Kansas City on January 25, 1910. He announced his name audibly to Judge Dill and other sitters. On another occasion he appeared at a seance of J. B. Jonson, of Toledo, and touched one of the sitters, a friend. The sitters signed a written declaration affirming his presence and demonstration.

A still more unbelievable account was published by Dr. J. D. Moore in the American periodical Facts. (Vol. VI., March, 1887) under the title "A Medium Appearing in a Materialized Form." The medium was Helen C. Berry. Her body is said to have been in the cabinet in trance, yet her spirit assumed tangible shape about four feet in front of the cabinet, spoke to the doctor and exposed her semi-transparent features under the light.

Some mediums materialize animal phantoms. The question may present itself: is it not possible for animal spirits to control men in trance? The confession of Charles Albert Beare, a self-styled bogus medium of Peckham, London (Daily Express, September 18, 1931) contains this curious passage: "One night at Bermondsey ... I saw a woman supposed to be controlled by an ape. She jumped on chairs, on the table and darted all over the room just like an ape, in fact, she had all the mannerism and characteristics of the ape. It was a horrifying performance, and when the woman came out of the control she had to be revived with water and by people beating her hands. I never heard what the reaction was but there must have been some."