Chapter Three. Part V.

Chapter Three. Part V.

On Saturday 26th February we also had a second visit from Stan (see chapter one, 12th Jan). Here was someone who’d purportedly lived just outside Preston, and said he’d even carried equipment for me when I appeared at the Leyland Festival. He asked if I remembered him, and looking at the notes now, I have no idea if he was asking if I remembered him from the previous session, or from when he was here in the mortal. But I did feel in some way or another he was saying I should know who he was. 

There are times, as I’m writing this, when I really have to pause for thought and think long and hard. I have to consider ways in which to present certain things that to some readers would undoubtedly seem ridiculous. 

Maybe before I ever started with the glass much of this wouldn't have sounded all that believable to me either. I, however, had reached a point at which–though I may not automatically buy-in to something–I certainly wasn’t too surprised by anything any more. A good example is when Stan tells me he’s been watching Jimi Hendrix and Liberace perform together. I asked him what it was like, to which he replies, “Sound as a pound, they were great … amazing musicians”.

There’s one paragraph that jumps out at me in our conversation, and that’s where I’ve asked Stan if we could speak with a particular person. I’d often do this (though in this instance I can’t remember who it was I wanted to talk with). 

Stan’s first response was one that would be repeated by others many times during our sessions, this is where the glass would often move slightly in one direction or another, as though appearing to hesitate. Then, as I described in chapter two, the word “wait” would be spelled out, at which point the glass often stopped completely. 

It was as though they were looking into it, or perhaps trying to find someone that could help. 

Whoever it was I was after, when Stan came back to us, he said, “He’s not ready, he hasn’t come to terms with ‘here’ yet … [some] don’t want to live without loved ones”. Again, we were going to be given information of this nature quite often. The message seemed to be that if there is such a thing as “the afterlife” it isn’t necessarily something that everyone can easily embrace at first, or come to that, can even recognise as being an “after-life”. 

Monday 28th brought Paulo into our company - although his name is written down as, Paualo. He begins by saying, “Hello amegos”, then proceeded with a mixture of English and Spanish-sounding words and places, the latter of which I’ve had no success in verifying. 

He did tell us though he was from “Espania, Basque region”, and that he’d worked in shipping and owned many vessels. He also mentioned his familiarity with the Ouija, “I did same as you now when mortal”, he told us.

After Paulo, came Freda who amongst other things talked of recent earthquakes and an imminent cold snap, called me a “Smart ass”, and said I needed to “Get a brain”. Heaven knows what I’d said to deserve that! She didn’t stick around for very long. When I asked the reason for her visit, she responded, “Bren sent me. See ya, have a nice day”.   

Then came the already “infamous” Sam, the Sam I’d asked to materialise for us back in January, and who’d replied, “I ain’t livin’ in this kitchen”. 

I’ll just document each of his words here as they appear on the written page (with a touch of punctuation).

“Bassman … what’s cookin’ man … rite on man … slap the sand … what’s hapnin’ … yo … Sam the man … how’s the kitchen … sexy laugh … black cat … play it again Sam … spread yo wares … only buttheads play bass … see ya man … love the chick.”       

“Tomas calling from Cork, Ireland”, was next. Along with mention of “great fishing”, and “Guinness - black gold”, he goes on to say, and I quote, “Ian Paisley should be shot”. 

Moving along quickly, we’re welcomed by Urie, a Bosnian Muslim, who claimed to have been one of five killed by a shell whilst standing in line for bread. “Why let happen [to] my country … men in such pain for nothing … Karadzic must die to free my people … if he were here he would see how futile war is.” These were some of his words. 

[Now some seventeen years later, and after his arrest in Belgrade on 21 July 2008, Karadizic is in the custody of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia awaiting trial]

There were three more contacts before the conclusion of our session on this final day of the month. First up was Tilly who claimed to have been a Suffragette, and stated, “[it’s] Just like a man to waste a woman’s time”, and that women are “the superior sex”.

Then it was “Big Martin” again (see Monday 21st), the squeezebox player, asking me how I am, reminding us that nobody likes his music, and telling us, “[I] Miss the kids”.   

It must’ve been getting late by the time Daovar from Switzerland dropped by; our conversation was short. He did tell us, “Rome wasn’t built in a day”, but what that alluded to I have no recollection of.