Hollywood Fantasy or Cosmic Reality?

In the 1990 hit movie, Ghost, "Sam" (Patrick Swayze), who had been murdered, communicates with "Molly" (Demi Moore), his girlfriend, through a somewhat mischievous medium, "Oda Mae" (Whoopi Goldberg).  In one scene, Oda Mae reluctantly tells Sam that is okay to take over her body and thereby better communicate with and sense Molly.  Sam did so and proceeded to dance with Molly.

No doubt most viewers assumed that this was pure Hollywood fantasy.  While greatly exaggerated, the scene has some foundation in fact, as there a number of recorded cases of transfiguration - cases in which a medium takes on some of the features of a possessing and communicating spirit, with limitations, of course.

One such case is reported by H. Dennis Bradley, a renowned Irish playwright, in his 1925 book The Wisdom of the Gods.   Bradley, who was living and working in London, had been a hard-core skeptic with regard to spirit communication until a few years earlier, when he witnessed amazing phenomena through the mediumship of George Valiantine and Gladys Osborne Leonard. His deceased sister, Annie, communicated very evidential information to him through both mediums. That prompted Bradley to become a psychical researcher and sit with numerous other mediums, including a "Mrs. Scales."  

When Mrs. Scales went into a mediumistic trance, her body would be taken over by her spirit control, Chloe. Chloe would pass on messages from other spirits, but at times, if she felt it was safe to do so, she would step aside and let another spirit inhabit the medium's body and communicate directly.  At a sitting in London on November 27, 1924, Chloe allowed Annie to take over the medium's body.  "[Chloe] said that Annie was timid of making the endeavor as she has never manifested in this way before," Bradley wrote.  "She was nervous of occupying the medium's body, and did not know whether she would be able to control the organism.  Eventually she was persuaded to make the attempt. The medium fell back in her chair and we waited for some two minutes."

Mrs. Scales was, according to Bradley, a very fat, short, and homely woman with a very ordinary and commonplace accent.  "Gradually the whole of the expression of the medium's face changed completely," Bradley continued. "It was a transformation.  Whilst the outline remained, the eyes and the expression became beautiful.  This was not hallucination.  My faculties are as keen or keener now than they have ever been, and it must be remembered that this amazing change was seen not only by me but by Mrs. Sargeant in a full strong light."

Bradley then observed difficulty in articulation by his sister.   "Within a little while, however, the power strengthened considerably, and the spirit of my sister was able to assume complete control.  It was my sister.  It was her spirit, using the organism of another physical body, and speaking to me in her own voice.  I do not care if the inexperienced sceptic may feel inclined to laugh at this, but those who have studied spiritual phenomena will know and understand.  I have had communication in almost every form from her now for nearly two years.  I have spoken to her in the independent voice in the presence of celebrated witnesses on hundreds of occasions. I know her personality, and I know her spirit."

Bradley stresses that the voice was clearly that of his sister.  "The quality was the same, and every syllable of every word was perfectly enunciated, in the manner which was so characteristic of my sister when she was on earth," he went on. "No actress living could have simulated this wonderful individuality.  It was two souls talking together on a plane of understanding.  She discussed with me al the delicate intimacies of her life here....Name after name and fact after fact were discussed:  my wife, Pat, Dennis, everything."

Bradley further mentions that "a great tragedy" took place in his sister's life, something which only he and one or two other family members knew about.  Yet, his sister discussed the matter with him.   "Imagine, if you can, the complexity of my emotions.  For here, before my eyes was the spirit of my sister occupying and controlling the mechanism of another person's body," he writes. "That it was my sister was proved by the abundance of evidence she gave. Yet, through the accents were hers, and the expression of the face transformed, before my eyes was the physical body of another...There are some scenes in life you cannot describe.  This was one of them.  The have to be lived through and experienced to be understood."

Bradley then records that Mrs. Sargeant's deceased husband was allowed to take over the medium's body.  "Again, the whole condition of the medium changed.  It was the voice of a man speaking in cultured masculine tones."

About seven years ago, I interviewed the late Barbara Rommer, M.D.    Rommer, a Fort Lauderdale physician, was best known for her research in the area of near-death experiences.  However, she touched upon the subject of mediumship, recalling a 1996 experience at Delphi University in Atlanta when she spoke with Arthur Ford, who had died 26 years earlier, through the medium Marshall Smith.    "Marshall ceased to be Marshall as Arthur ‘came in'," Rommer recalled.  "Marshall is a tall person and fairly thin. I know this sounds ludicrous, but he became shorter and wider. ..[It]  was absolutely totally unbelievable." 

For more on this story, go to http://www.lightlink.com/arpr/tymn/index.htm and scroll down to "Physician Observes Transfiguration."

So maybe Demi really did dance with a ghost.