'ANNA' CONTINUES TO STYMIE DR. WESTWOOD
by Michael E. Tymn

This is a sequel to the first article about Dr. Horace Westwood’s investigation of mediumship in Canada beginning in 1918. Until then, Westwood, a Unitarian minister from Yorkshire, England, did not believe in a spirit world. Soon after observing messages coming over a Oujia board at the home a friend, Westwood bought a Oujia board on which to experiment. While it did not work for him, messages began coming through 11-year-old Anna, the daughter of his wife’s cousin, when she sat at the board. Anna soon developed as an automatic writing medium and even received messages while sitting at a typewriter. Even though she had never before operated a typewriter and could only use the one-finger pick and peck method when not controlled, she operated it like a professional typist when controlled by spirits identifying themselves as Ruth and Ralph, who said they were American government stenographers living in Washington, D.C. before they died together two years earlier.

At one sitting, Ralph suggested a game. He instructed Dr Westwood to take a “rook” from his chess set and place a ping-pong ball on it, then to use his long briar tobacco pipe as a golf club and to hit the ball toward a certain object without knocking down the rook. “It was a task requiring the greatest delicacy in coordination and skill,” Westwood related, mentioning that his four children and Anna all gave it a try. “Not once did any of us succeed. Usually, we knocked down the rook with ball. When we succeeded in hitting the ball without knocking down the rook, it went wild and we missed our object.”

Ralph then communicated that Westwood should blindfold Anna and place her in position. “Through Anna, Ralph assumed a stance, then swinging the pipe as a club, he struck,” Westwood continued the story. “He did not miss, the rook did not fall, and the ball flew with precise aim and hit the object. We set ourselves up as targets around the room, and one by one, he caused the ball to hit us all.” Anna remained blindfolded through it all.

Westwood then challenged Ralph to a game of chess. Westwood had previously taught Anna the game, although her skills were elementary. Nevertheless, as a precaution he again blindfolded her. “It was an extraordinary sight to watch her fingers move the pieces on the board,” Westwood wrote. “But it was more marvelous still to realize that a genuine game was in process.” Later, after Ralph had departed, Westwood tried to get Anna to play the game, but she could not see the pieces and therefore was unable to play.

There were times when Ruth and Ralph were absent. Westwood asked them what they were doing when they were not communicating with him. They informed him that they had duties and tasks, primarily that of welcoming to their side those who had just passed over. Ruth and Ralph explained that their time at the Westwood home was their recreation period. They further explained that their job of greeting new souls was very stressful, especially since many of them failed to realize that they were “dead.” Some of those who had passed over from the battlefield continued to want to fight. It was as if they were men struggling in a nightmare.

Westwood pointed out that Anna never went into a trance. “Never, for one moment, was there even the suggestion of a lapse of consciousness,” he explained. “While the alleged controls never ‘broke through’ or manifested in my absence, or without my expressed wish, when they did come through, Anna was always master of the situation. In almost every experiment, for example, she would at times throw off the control in order to make some personal comment or observation, thus showing that her own mind was watchful and fully alert.”

One evening, Westwood asked Ruth if she would play on the piano through Anna, who had taken a few lessons but was by no means an accomplished pianist. Ruth informed him that she was not musical, but that the following evening she would bring a friend named Kate, so gifted. The following evening, Westwood blindfolded Anna and sat her at the piano. “As long as I shall live, I shall never forget that night,” Westwood reported. “She began with a slow melody, the like of which I had never heard before, for it was solemn in its majesty and almost unearthly in its beauty. As I watched the child play, the bodily action and the finger technique were entirely different from Anna’s own.”

Later, the alleged Kate (through Anna) took pencil and paper and began to write rapidly. She told Westwood that the scale structure on her side was different and thus it was difficult to express herself as she would have liked to. “Yet the whole performance was on an elevated plane, indicating a mental range and musical understanding far beyond the child’s normal power,” Westwood wrote.

At another sitting, during which a number of family friends gathered, Ruth took charge and asked each person to write a question on a piece of paper, leave it unsigned, then fold the paper and put it into a container. Westwood then shook the container and gave it to Anna, who took out the pieces of paper one by one. In each case, Ruth identified the writer and answered the questions. In two or three cases, the answer was “I don’t know.” One of the guests asked what the price of a certain stock would be on the stock exchange the following day. “Have you been imbibing too freely from the contents of your well-stocked cellar?” Ruth responded to that question. This was during prohibition and the response was very embarrassing to the guest. Westwood pointed out that Anna, herself, could not possibly have known of the guest’s “well-stocked cellar.”

Still, Westwood remained a “doubting Thomas,” not wanting to believe in the spiritistic hypothesis and thinking that Anna’s subconscious was somehow producing the phenomena. One night, Ruth and Ralph left and a nameless spirit who would only designate himself as “X” began communicating. “I realized that we were in the presence of a decidedly superior intelligence, as far above Ruth or Ralph in intellectual grasp as a Ph.D. would be above a college freshman,” Westwood documented. “X” began discussing philosophical matters, some of which were beyond Westwood’s grasp. “The general point of view was that the underlying, in fact the all-permeating reality was consciousness, and that the universe by and large was designed for ‘being’ and ‘beings’ in an infinite series of gradations,” Westwood further reported, admitting that his intelligence was no match for “X”.

Westwood then proposed an experiment. He would blindfold Anna and he would then walk backward into another room, the library. With his back to the bookcase, he would select a book at random. Without looking at the book, he would open it and place it on a buffet in the dining room with the open pages down. He would then return to Anna and ask “X” to indicate the number of the right-hand page at which the book was opened and write the first 10-12 words. “X” agreed to the experiment, which was carried out as Westwood requested, several other adults in attendance.

“I do not hesitate in making the confession that I walked to the buffet with some trepidation,” Westwood continued. “I did not believe that what I had proposed was within the realm of possibility. However, when I reached the buffet and compared the script (from “X” through Anna), they corresponded. The script gave the correct number of the page. However, as to the writing, there was one slight variation. Instead of the words from the top of the page, they were the opening words of the first paragraph. Also, there was one slight discrepancy, the first word ‘Remember’ was spelled ‘Rember.’ Otherwise, the text was perfect.”

On Christmas Day, 1918, a young girl named Virginia, the niece of a member of Westwood’s congregation was killed in a tobogganing accident. Two days later, Ruth communicated that Virginia was there and she would allow her to communicate through Anna, even though Virginia was still dazed. “The first symptom was that of bewilderment bordering on fear,” Westwood wrote. “In fact, the first words that came through were, ‘Where am I? I want my mother.’ This was repeated several times as she (Virginia through Anna) gazed around the room.” Westwood told her that there was no need to be afraid, that she was in the study of the church. Virginia then settled down and asked how her mother and baby brother were. Westwood noted that neither he nor Anna knew that she had a baby brother. He asked other questions of Virginia and later confirmed the responses as fact with Virginia’s aunt.

While Westwood claimed to have no interest in survival, he wrote that he was forced to believe in it after his experiences with Anna, who lost her powers after about three years, upon the departure of Ruth and Ralph.