W.J.Crawfords third book about his experiments with Kathleen Goligher resp. the Goligher Circle is one of the most intruiging and bewildering masterpieces of Occult Literature. Crawford was Lecturer for mechanical engineering in The Municipal Technical Institute, Belfast and Extra-Mural Lecturer in Queens University, Belfast. Between 1917 and 1920 he considered himself ‘going some way towards discovering the ‘psychic’ laws behind telekinesis phenomena’.
‘The Psychic Structures at the Goligher Circle’ followed Crawfords “The Reality of Psychic Phenomena” 1916, and “Experiments in Psychical Science”, 1919.
Unfortunately Crawford committed suicide when “Psychic Structures” was just about to be published in 1920…
The Goligher family consisted of four daughters, a son and a son-in-law, and although very poor did not accept any payment for four years.
This is not only a rare photo of the circle sitting but also Crawfords alleged success to have photographed “the ectoplasmic rod” in a gas-like aggregate state…
All three books of him are packed with experimental settings, their description and exercise. Perfect in experimental methodology, the books were attacked for their lack of description of thorough control conditions. Levitations of different objects and their transport through the room stood in the center of Crawfords interest, mainly the regular full-table-levitations…
Despite the critique Crawford did develop a certain theory, that until today plays a role in the cosmology of Occult Phenomena: The theory of the ‘ectoplasmic rod’ or the ‘cantilever’-theory!
The ectoplasmic rod is a theory that mirrors perfectly the aftermath and is imprinted by ideas from the Industrial Age.
Crawford believed to have found a lot of evidence for the claim, that the mediums entranced body extrudes a ‘cantilever’, a pseudo-limb supporting, resp.causing – with mechanical characteristics – the many levitational phenomena the circle did produce, mainly the full levitation of the table…
Crawfords experimental settings repeatedly lead him to the conclusion that these “pseudopodias” grew from the mediums body, in Kathleens case mainly from her feet, to leave imprints in the clay, Crawford located between the medium and the focus-objects (f.e. table)
These pseudo-limbs, as odd as they may appear to us, were several times observed also with other physical mediums, like Eusapia Paladino. Her pseudo limbs seemed to do the same as Kathleens and grew mostly from Eusapias shoulder. The research pioneer Schrenck-Notzing describes vividly how he several times touched along this third upperlimb. Eusapia also sometimes had another pseudopodia under her dress, so to speak a third leg…
In Kathleens case these limbs managed to etherically protrude socks and shoes and the wooden box, in which Kathleens feet were secured during the sessions. When these etherical cantilevers or rods returned to the mediums body, rests of the clay were found at socks, shoes, wooden box. It seemed as with its dematerialisation the rods did loose the clay that clinged onto them and was then found like shown in the pictures above…
Massively interesting was, that the imprints into the clay oftentimes had the characteristics of the cloth of the socks or of the leather of the shoes of Kathleen, even though her feet could under no circumstances escape the feet-security-box.
When protruding all the different materials, when growing from the body, these ‘psychic rods’ seemed to overtake or mimic partly or fully the surface-structure of the materials they went through and transferred their structural look onto the clay – a mind-boggling fact…!
Finally after 4 years Crawford was allowed by the controlling spirit entities to photograph, what he so desperately wanted to see. Sometimes he believed to have seen the rods acting slightly transparent within the dark red light or he meant to hear the rods settle onto the clay with a sucking sound. After a period of darkness, when the ectoplasm prepared itself to be flashed onto with the camera, Crawford photographed the most peculiar ectoplasmic formations. Sometimes it swelled from the shoes or extended into the room…
…like in this photographed instance. Note the fully flat end of the white substance, coming from the shoes of Kathleen…
With the publishing of his third book Crawfords psyche was harshly negatively affected – Crawford suffered heavily under depression. To those who talked to him shortly before his death, he made clear, that it wasn t his involvement to be responsible for his state of mind, in the contrary: “I have been struck down mentally. I was perfectly all right up to a few weeks ago. It is not the psychic work. I enjoyed it too well. I am thankful to say that the work will stand. It is too thoroughly done for any material loopholes to be left.”
‘The Psychic Structures at the Goligher Circle’ is and stays
A MASTERPIECE OF THE OCCULT LITERATURE!
