The Cup and Saucer Phenomenon
| Henry S. Olcott's Earliest Account | A.P. Sinnett's Earliest Account |
| Great day yesterday for Madame's
phenomena. In the morning she, with Mr. and Mrs. Sinnett, Major Henderson, Mr. Syed
Mahmood (District Judge, Rai-Bareilly), Mrs. Reed of Ajmere, and myself went on a picnic.
Although she had never been at Simla before, she directed us where to go, describing a
certain small mill which the Sinnetts, Major Henderson, and even the jampanis (palki-wallahs)
affirmed, did not exist. She also mentioned a small Tibetan temple as being near it. We reached
the spot she had described and found the mill - at about 10 A.M.; and sat in
the shade and had the servants spread a collation. Mr. Mahmood had joined our party after
the baskets were packed and so when we wanted to have tea we found we were one cup and
saucer short. Somebody asked Madame to produce one by magic. She consented; and, looking
about the ground here and there, finally called Major Henderson to bring a knife and dig
in a spot she pointed to. He found the ground hard and full of small roots of a young
cedar tree near by. These he cut through and pulled up to a depth of say 6 inches, when
something white was seen in the black soil; it was dug out, and lo! a cup decorated in
green and gold, exactly matching the others Mrs. Sinnett's servants had brought.
Madame told the Major to dig more; he did so, and at last found a saucer to match the
cup! They were imbedded in the ground like stones naturally there, and the cedar
roots grew all around them like a net work, and one root as large as your little finger
had to be cut away to get at the saucer. . . . [Quoted
from: |
. . . . Madame Blavatsky accompanied a few friends one
morning [Oct. 3, 1880] on a little picnic in the direction of the waterfalls. There were
originally to have been six persons present, including myself, but a seventh joined the
party just as it was starting. When a place had been chosen in the wood near the upper
waterfall for the breakfast, the things brought, were spread out on the ground. It turned
out that there were only six cups and saucers for seven people. Through some joking about
this deficiency, or through some one professing to be very thirsty, and to think the cups
would be too small, — I cannot feel sure how the idea arose, but it does not matter,
— one of the party laughingly asked Madame Blavatsky to create another cup. There was
no serious idea in the proposal at first, but when Madame Blavatsky said it would be very
difficult, but that, if we liked, she would try, the notion was taken up in earnest.
Madame Blavatsky as usual held mental conversations with "the Brothers," and
then wandered a little about in the immediate neighbourhood of where we were sitting, and
asked one of the gentleman with us to bring a knife. The place so chosen was the edge of a
little slope covered with thick weeds and grass and shrubby undergrowth. The gentleman
with the knife tore up these, in the first instance, with some difficulty, as their roots
were tough and closely interlaced. Cutting, then, into the matted roots and earth with the
knife and pulling away the debris with his hand, he came at last on the edge of something
white, which turned out, as it was completely excavated, to be the required cup. The
saucer was also found after a little more digging. The cup and saucer both corresponded
exactly, as regards their pattern, with those that had been brought to the picnic, and
constituted a seventh cup and saucer when brought back to the place where we were to have
breakfast. At first all the party appeared to be entirely satisfied with the bona fides of
this phenomenon, and were greatly struck by it, but in the course of the morning some one
conceived that it was not scientifically perfect, because it was theoretically possible
that by means of some excavation below the place where the cup and saucer were exhumed,
they might have been thrust up into the place where we found them, by ordinary means.
Every one knew that the surface of the ground where we dug had certainly not been
disturbed, nor were any signs of excavation discoverable anywhere in the neighborhood, but
it was contended that the earth we had ourselves thrown about in digging for the cup might
have obliterated the traces of these. I mention the objection raised not because it is
otherwise than preposterous as a hypothesis, but because three of the persons who were at
the picnic have since considered that the flaw described spoilt the phenomenon as a test
phenomenon. . . . [Quoted from: |