Present:
George Woods, Betty Greene, Leslie Flint.
Communicators: Dr
Charles Marshall, Harry, Mickey.
Marshall:
Marshall
here...
Woods:
Oh, doctor...Doctor Marshall.
Absolutely marvellous.
Marshall:
Good
afternoon.
Greene:
Good
afternoon.
Marshall:
How
nice to be able to come and speak to you again. Quite a number of
souls are here, some who are obviously quite new to communication. So
I must ask if you'll be patient - and I'm sure you will be with them,
because they'll probably find it rather difficult.
But I'm
sure that when they do become, as it were, adjusted to communicating
they will prove very interesting and very helpful contacts.
Woods:
Very
good.
Marshall:
And we know - and I want to assure
you of this - that we're very conscious of what you desire and what
you need, for the, uh, work you have in mind and in hand. And we
shall do all in our power in the ensuing séances to bring to you
entities and help them as best as we can, to - to - to give the sort
of things which we know are so important and essential and will be
helpful and illuminating to those who listen to the recordings. So we
shall do our utmost.
But of course, it may take time with some of
the souls to get familiar with the method of contact, but once they
achieve success, I'm sure you will find them most helpful to all
concerned.
Now I'm not going to take up time this morning
myself, I'm not going to waste power. If there's a little lull, I
want you to realise that it's because we're building up and making
possible the way for these new entities. But anyway, may God bless
you both in all you're endeavouring to do and be assured of our
continued interest in all that you're trying to do for humanity...
[Break
in tape]
Harry:
Good
morning.
Woods
/ Greene:
Good morning.
Harry:
This
is a new experience.
Woods:
Oh yes?
Yes.
Harry:
I
understand as how that you were rather anxious to have a word with
some of us. But I ain't much good at this. If anyone had told me they
could come and speak to you like this, you know, I wouldn't have
believed it.
Woods:
No?
Greene:
Can
you please...
Harry:
I've
been here now quite a few years you know.
Woods:
Yes?
Harry:
My
name's Harry.
Greene:
Harry
what?
Harry:
Oh, you wouldn't know me my dear. I'm
no famous person, like, you know. Nothing like that about me.
But
they was asking us how some of us might like to come and talk to you
about our experiences. Well I suppose its natural in a way that you'd
like to talk to people who have, you know, sort of, 'gone on
further'.
Greene:
Mmm...
Harry:
But,
uh, I've had quite an interesting time myself, one way and another.
I
was...I was, I suppose you would call it being 'Earth bound', you
know, and all that nonsense, but I wasn't exactly unhappy when I was
Earthbound. Some people seem to get the idea that, if a person's
Earthbound, they're unhappy. That's a lot of nonsense that is. 'Cause
you can be Earthbound and be quite happy, otherwise you wouldn't want
to be Earthbound if you was miserable, you'd want to get out of
there.
Anyway, I was Earthbound. Oh, but I ain't now, 'Course,
I'm talking about some time ago. Soon after I pegged
out*, you know I... cor! I couldn't get away from the pubs. I
couldn't get away from... well, all sorts of things, you know.
Greene:
Mmm...
Harry:
But,
uh, after a while, I began to see it as a lot of nonsense, hanging
around. A mug's game you might say, you know.
I
used to like a drink, see. That's what was, I suppose some people
would say, was my downfall, but...
Woods:
Yes...
Harry:
I'm
afraid my idea of a good time was going into the old pub, you know,
and staying there until they chuck you out! When I pegged out I
couldn't get rid of the desire to go to pubs and have a good drink,
you know and a natter. 'Course, what annoyed me was, chiefly, when I
passed out, I could neither drink nor natter, in a sense. Not to me
old cronies and friends, and all the rest of it.
But
somehow I used to get a certain satisfaction going around the pubs
and seeing my old friends, and other people, and listening to their
conversations and knowing what was going on in the world. I used to
get a certain amount of satisfaction out of others having a drink. As
a matter of fact, um, I rather enjoyed it in a kind of way -
excepting some nights; I felt so
damn odd, I couldn't join in the conversation.
Oh
I used to have some proper laughs. Then again, when I was on Earth I
never had much money. I mean, what I did have went in the pub, but, I
never travelled or nothing like that. And it suddenly dawned on me,
well, if I can be in the Rose and Crown [pub] or I can be wherever it
happened to be that I was - well, I could be in Timbuktu I expect or
I could be in China or something. So I decided to have a trip round
the world! Go to various places and see different sights. And I found
it most interesting, quite frankly. I learned quite a bit from
it.
Greene:
Uh-huh...
Harry:
Didn't
do me any harm. Excepting that, uh, after a time it got a bit...
lonesome. Going around, all on your own. No one to talk to and just
watching other people enjoying themselves, or whatever they happened
to be doing. Sometimes I felt, well, it ain't much of a satisfactory
business and I thought as how it would be nice if I could, you know,
sort of, get away from Earth. But then I didn't know where else to go
anyway. Funny that.
When I come to think about it, when I was
a kid I used to be sent to Sunday school. We used to be taught a lot
of stuff, you know, about going to heaven and all the rest of it. I
thought; well, all that's a lot of bloody nonsense, you know, and all
that - even though I was so-called dead!
I
mean I wasn't miserable being dead, but for that matter, I was not
happy either. And I couldn't visualise any sort of place where there
was people playing harps and all that. I mean, that wouldn't do for
me, if that was the idea of heaven, if it even existed. So I thought
I better stick to the old Earth!
But
deep down inside me I suppose there was a, sort of, desire to know
more. Eventually, I began to be conscious of someone following me.
That got on my
bloody wick* that did, for a time. I thought; who the hell's
this?
*got on my wick = became very irritating
I'd
look round - there was no one there. I used to go to the pubs, as I
told you, and places. And I'd be sitting there and listening to what
was going on, quite enjoying myself, in a kind of way. Then all of a
sudden, I'd have a funny prickly sensation and thought; well, that's
that there so-and-so again. Not that I ever saw anyone or was ever
conscious of anyone, but I always felt there was someone there, see.
Greene:
Mmm...
Harry:
Then
one day I thought; well I dunno, I'll get to the bottom of this. In
any case, I was getting a bit browned off* in one way and another.
*browned off = unhappy
Then
I had a sudden realisation that perhaps it was true. You know, that,
um, people from other... other spirits like, might be able to get in
touch with me. The same as I was, in a kind of way, able to get in
touch, you might say, with people on Earth; not that they were
conscious of me, but I was able to see them, and all that.
And
then one day it suddenly dawned on me. Perhaps if I, sort of, got
away from the old conditions like and sort of settled down, quiet
like and, sort of, mentally threw out my thoughts for someone to come
and help - I'd get some help. So I thought; well, I wasn't going to
do that in a pub, I might as well go out in the country somewhere. So
I went down to a little place I'd been to when I was a young kid, a
place in Suffolk.
Woods:
Yes.
Greene:
Go
on. This is awfully interesting.
Harry:
I
ain't getting on your nerves am I?
Woods/Greene:
Oh no...
Greene:
This
is very interesting. Go on...
Harry:
So
anyway, I found a place where, as a kid I...
As a matter of fact,
let's get this straight; when I... I used to live in London, see, but
when I was a kid - that is, when I was on Earth, see, I sometimes
used to go down and see an old aunt of my mother's you see.
Greene:
Yes...
Harry:
And
she used to, sort of - during the holidays, like - p-p-put, you know,
sort of, put me up, like, you know, and give me a weeks holiday,
like, from the
old smoke* see. Well,
I used to go round there and I used to like the country and I used to
like to sit under the trees, watch the animals, you know, and the
birds and everything. And there was one favourite spot I had, see,
when I was a kid, under a tree. Just had a little river there running
down the bottom. I used to like to sit down there and, sort of,
daydream when I was a
nipper** oh, about lots
of things that kids think about, you know.
*the
old smoke = the city
**a nipper = a child
Anyway,
I thought it would be a good idea, I thought to myself, now, I
thought; if I go back to that place where I was a kid, you know, when
I used to sit under that tree; perhaps if there is anything in this
business of 'getting in touch', like, um, some of these souls, if
there are people on
higher spheres - or whatever they like to call it - perhaps they can
come and contact me and give me an helping hand.
Anyway,
I thought; there's no harm in trying. So I went down to this place,
see, and found it. Exactly the same spot, same tree. Lovely spring
day it was, beautiful and there wasn't a soul in sight - that is, you
know, on your side, like - I was just all to myself. And I just sat
there and I closed my eyes and I thought; well, here goes!
So
I said, 'if there's anyone around me,' as
I believe as how there is - has been lately anyway, and I haven't
seen you, you know - 'if you're trying to get in touch with
me,' I says, 'can you
make yourself known, 'cause I'd like to be helped if possible, 'cause
I'm dissatisfied with the way I'm going on with the old routine and I
feel something ought to be done about it, see.'
Not
that I'm worth saving, I thought. Well I wasn't, as far as I could
see. I was a bit of a so-and-so, one way and another, but that's
another story, I'll tell you that one day.
Anyway...
blimey, it's extraordinary that I was sitting there, concentrating,
sort of, just waiting for something to happen - if it could happen -
and then all of a sudden, right bang
on* right in front of
me I saw a beautiful spirit.
Of
course, I thought to myself at first; this is just bloody
imagination, you know. I thought; well this can't be, you know.
Anyway, seriously, there it was standing right in front of me
was the figure of a fellow - I should think he'd have been about
twenty-three or twenty-four, fair haired, it was curly, nice looking,
and he'd got on a suit. Well, it was just like you see in them
picture books, you know, like George and the dragon, and all that
nonsense...
Greene:
Oh!
Harry:
And
there was this guy, standing there in front of me, in this beautiful,
sort of, outfit, you see, and he looks at me and I looks at him and
neither of us spoke a blasted word, you know! I thought; well this is
an hallucination, you know. I thought; no, it can't be.
In
any case, if...if there is anything in 'contact', you know, like
people who have 'gone on', they wouldn't come back dressed up, dolled
up, like that. Of course, people ain't been dolled up like that for
centuries, you know. I've seen them in picture books, history books,
and all that.
Anyway,
I never said a word and neither did he. And yet all of a sudden, it
was just as if his mind sort of entered my mind - I don't know how it
happened, quite. Even now I don't. Anyway, I could hear him, in
a kind of a way, within myself, sort of saying, 'it's up to you chum,
see?' But he didn't put it like that, you know, but he says, it's
up to you chum, see. I thought; 'Yes? Up to me, what?'
So,
then I sort of felt as if I was being mesmerised or something.
Anyway, all I knew was that I stood up and, uh, he gradually backed
away. Funny this. He gradually, sort of, backed away and was thinking
to myself, in my sort of mind; 'bloody fool. If he goes much further
he'll fall in that water, see.' Because there was this stream at the
bottom, as I told you, see. But no he didn't. He got down to the
bottom and there was me, sort of, gradually, sort of, following him,
see.
Anyway, he got to the water's edge and I thought; 'here goes
boy, you're going to have it now cock.' But no, he didn't. It was
just as if he walked across the water.
Funny it was. I don't
know why, but that very self-same moment, when it was happening, I
thought to myself; well, at Sunday school I remember them talking
about Jesus walking across the water. But this man can't be Jesus,
'cause Jesus didn't doll himself up in armour. I was in a proper
stew, I tell you, one way and another. I didn't know whether I was
coming or going, see.
Anyway, here was him going backwards, see, and
here was me going...following him, like, in a kind of trance. I felt
a bit of a fool actually, but still... Anyway, I thought; well,
nothing ventured, nothing won. In any case, I couldn't resist. I
could neither go back... I couldn't go backwards. I had to go
following him. It's a funny feeling.
Then
all of a sudden: Cor! Stone the crows! It really, well, put
the wind up me* for a minute. All of a sudden it was just as if someone had put me in a
bloody lift or something. Here was me going up in the air! Of course
he was up in the air an' all. I thought; oh Christ, I'll shut my eyes
for this bit, you know. I was in a proper state, a proper panic I
was. Anyway, funny, do you know, suddenly it seemed as if we was
floating miles up in the air.
*Put the wind up me = frightened me
Everything
seemed to get further and further away - the chimneys and the houses,
and the treetops. And it suddenly seemed as if we were up in the
clouds, and I could see a plane coming along. Cor! And it was just as
if it was coming straight at me. I thought; cor blimey, I hope I can
travel quicker than that, you know. And yet, I thought to myself, at
the same time - it's funny how you think of three or four things all
at the same time in this business, you know - but I thought; well, it
can't... can't touch me anyway, 'cause I'm supposed to be dead!
'Course,
that's a bloody lark* that is, 'cause I'm
not dead. I know that. It's only the people on Earth think we're
dead. 'Cause I've been going around for months, having a laugh and a
joke and listening to conversations - although they haven't been
conscious of me there.
*a
lark = humorous situation
Anyway, getting back to my story: and I
was there with this chappie, see.
It
was just as if.. as if we were floating together. Somehow, in some
peculiar way, as we were going higher, it seemed as if we were coming
closer together. I can't explain this, but...
Greene:
Mmm...
Harry:
...all
of a sudden, it was just as if... well, as if... I don't know how to
put this... it was just as if there was a singing noise in my ear and
I lost consciousness. Didn't remember a thing then. I suppose it was
the high altitude.
I
remember, as I was, sort of, going unconscious, I was saying to
myself; that's the high altitude. I'd heard about people up in
aeroplanes; they get too high and they, sort of, pass out, see.
Anyway,
this is all going through my mind and I suddenly lost this
consciousness. And then it was... funny that. I suppose it was as if
I'd come back from a kind of a sleep and I suddenly found myself,
when I came to*, in a very nice room.
Very nice it was. Not posh exactly, but clean and comfortable. Nice
bed, nice sheets, everything clean and spotless, and furniture, quite
nice, polished, clean and light streaming through the window. And
there was birds - I mean they were singing outside and I thought to
myself; where am I? I can't make head nor tail of this. I couldn't make anything of it at all, and I thought, well,
thing is; lie back and relax. No good getting in a panic. Then all of
a sudden there was a door opened.
Cor!
Dear, oh dear, you could have knocked me down with a feather. And
this door opened and it was my mother! Cor! Not as she was when she
was an old lady, but as she was when... when I was quite a young lad,
you know. Quite a fine looking woman she was, my mother. Well, she
came forward and she called my name, and I just couldn't speak, I was
so, sort of, overcome.
Anyway,
to cut a long story short, she came and sat down beside me and told
me she had been waiting for me, and had everything all ready for a
long time. But I wouldn't come, see. I was, sort of, obstinate and
she had been very worried and upset about me for a long time.
She
had been looking after me and trying to help me when I was on Earth.
But she said she found great difficulty in getting near me, because I
was always in the old boozer* and out
with the boys. I was a little bastard, one way and another, quite
frankly, but deep down inside I wasn't a bad sort, it was the drink,
see.
Greene:
Mmm...
Harry:
Anyway,
she said that she had been waiting for me and, at last I'd come, see.
So I said, 'Well Mum'...
Wait
a minute...
Greene:
Uh-huh...
Woods:
Yes...
Harry:
I
said, 'Well Mum, what about that guy,
that fellow who brought me?' I
said, 'who's he?'
So
she said, 'Well, we call him
George'
So
I said, 'George? You don't
mean that man they call 'Saint George' do you?'
She
said, 'There ain't no saints
here boy. That's what the Earth people call people, see. But he's
just George to us. He's a very fine soul, a very fine soul indeed,
and he's very advanced and very spiritual. And he's a man who goes
down to Earth, from time to time, to help humanity in different
ways.'
Of
course she told me other things, but I can't remember all that
now.
Anyway,
she was, sort of, telling me things about... well, about myself.
'Course, it made me feel awful when I realised she knew what I'd been
up to over them years. I felt bloody awful.
But she said, 'You
don't want to worry about that boy. I've known all along,
everything.'
And she says, 'After all, we
learn to understand and we learn to realise the weakness in human
nature and, after all, you haven't been a really wicked boy, you've
just been very foolish. And I've been waiting and waiting and waiting
for you to turn over a new leaf, to see things different, like,
see.
Greene:
Yes...
Harry:
And
she says, 'Here's me, been
waiting here', she
says, 'patiently for you. I
knew you'd come one day.' But,
um, she said, 'I had to get
someone who was capable of helping you. But before they could help
you, you had to help yourself. You had to go all round and round to
different places, like you did - until you got tired and sick of it,
you see... and you felt you wanted something better, you wanted to
know something more, you see.
Greene:
Mmm...
Harry:
So,'
she
said, 'when the time was
right, we were able to help you. And I think before long,' she
says, 'when you've been rested
and you get used to your new home here with me, you'll be able to see
things differently and you'll begin to settle down and take up
something that would interest you, see.
So
I said to Mum, I said, 'Oh by the way, where's Dad?'
'Oh,'
she says, 'I'm not
with Dad, see.'
Of
course that shook me, proper! Not that they was ever, sort of,
you know, an ideal couple or anything. But, after all, they were
married and all the rest of it.
So
I said, 'Well that's funny Mum, why aren't you with Dad?'
So
she says, 'Well, you don't want to worry about that, son,' she
said. 'Dad and me, you know, we got on, after a style. We were
good pals, but we weren't really suited to one another. We weren't,
what you call, an ideal couple really. We gave the impression
probably, to some extent, you know, but we weren't really suited. I'm
not with Dad.'
Of
course that rather shook me a bit. I thought; well, if there was
anything in this lark about life after death, and 'going on' and all
the rest of it, I thought; you're bound to be with your old
man*, sort of thing. But she
said, 'Oh no, you are only with those people with whom you
are really in tune,' as she put
it, you know; people that you really, sort of, are right with,
see.
*old
man = husband
Greene:
Mmm...
Harry:
Of
course, all this was a bit puzzling. And then, blow
me down*, I had a
proper shake up I tell you. Well, all of a sudden something plonked
on the bed, see. So I looked down and there was a cat - and I
remember this cat, that's the funny part about it. 'Cause when I was
a nipper I used to pull the bugger's tail, you know. I used to have a
proper game with this cat, see, but mother always used to reprimand
me as a kid. She said, 'you must leave that cat alone and
be kind to animals, see.'
Well I
never considered myself unkind, but I used to have a lark, you
know.
*blow
me down = what a surprise
And
there was this cat, sitting on the bottom of the bed. Old Sammie we
used to call it.
'Cor!'
I said, 'Mum, how come you've got Sam here?',
see.
'Oh'
she says, 'well, I was very fond of Sammie you know, when I
was on Earth. And you know, you used to be a naughty boy and you used
to tease that cat and you used to upset me.'
So
I said, 'well, I don't want to tease it or anything like
that, but fancy it jumping up on my bed. 'Cause when I was on Earth
it always used to run like hell when I came in the room, see.'
'Ah,'
she says, 'well, the
cat's got intuition, see - well, you call it intuition - and it
realises that you've changed. That's why you're here. Otherwise, if
you hadn't changed you wouldn't be here, and for that matter, I'm
quite sure the cat wouldn't jump on the bed and come towards you, if
you hadn't changed. The cat knows you've changed, I know you've
changed and I think you're beginning to realise,' she
said, 'you've changed too.'
Greene:
Mmm...
Harry:
So
I thought; oh dear. I don't know, they seem to know everything over
here. It makes you feel funny inside to know that people know
everything that you think and do, and so on.
Anyway,
I was quite happy and I didn't intend to pull the old cat's tail. Why
should I? They told me I'd changed, so I took it for granted I'd
changed. Funny, when you've changed you don't even know you have
changed, in a sort of way, you know. People see a change in you and
you're not always conscious of it yourself at first. I suppose these
things happen so slow, but it takes time to get familiar with
yourself.
Well, um... I've all sorts of things I've got to
tell you. I'm not boring you am I?
Woods:
No, it's
very interesting.
Greene:
No, it's jolly
interesting.
Woods:
Very
interesting...
Greene:
Go
on...
[Pause]
Harry:
Anyway, um, my mother
said to me, she said, 'you hungry son?'
That struck me as a
bit odd. I thought; well here am I, supposed to be in heaven, asking
if I'm hungry, see.
And
I thought to myself; well am I hungry or am I not hungry? And I
thought; well I don't know. I don't think I'm really hungry, and yet
the idea of eating is not a bad one.
So she said, 'Well, if
you'd like something to eat, you can have it.'
So I said,
'Well Mum, I don't know, do you eat then over here?'
She
says, 'Yes, if you want to, you see...'
[The recorder makes a sudden sound]
Harry:
What's
that? What's that?
Greene:
It's
on the tape...
Harry:
Oh.
Greene:
Is
that your tape George or mine?
Woods:
Mine.
Come
on Harry...
Mickey:
I
think the disturbance has broken the contact.
Greene:
I'm
so sorry Mickey.
Woods:
[unintelligible]...
Greene: