The Witch of Lime Street

Yep. Doyle was utterly sincere in his beliefs; as far as he was concerned, he was applying sound reasoning and scientific skepticism to the subject of life after death. He was even well aware that many spirit mediums at least occasionally cheated. All of this and his total naivete regarding magic illusions, plus a transparently desperate "need to believe", still convinced him of ghosts and fairies.
 
I don't think it matters as to whether the dead can communicate with the living as to that being a sign the 'afterlife' does not exist as a reality.
 
Navigator said:
I don't think it matters as to whether the dead can communicate with the living as to that being a sign the 'afterlife' does not exist as a reality.
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Doyle and the spiritualists of his day were looking for proof, which is why they placed so much emphasis on communication with the dead and "physical mediumship" via table-tipping, materializations, etc. Doyle was actually convinced that Houdini was a master physical medium in denial, because he (Doyle) couldn't imagine how Houdini's tricks were done otherwise.
 
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Mackenberg said:
Doyle and the spiritualists of his day were looking for proof, which is why they placed so much emphasis on communication with the dead and "physical mediumship" via table-tipping, materializations, etc. Doyle was actually convinced that Houdini was a master physical medium in denial, because he (Doyle) couldn't imagine how Houdini's tricks were done otherwise.
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As Doyle was a scientist I can see where taking Houdini's word for it wouldn't count as scientific. As a writer of fiction Doyle would have Sherlock Holmes employ the logic that no matter that the illusion made the impossible appear possible (in relation to physics) the only explanation would have to be that it was impossible, thus some kind of trick...and he would have tried to figure out how the trick was done...but even if that proved too difficult, he would not conclude that it might then be for real.
 
Navigator said:
As Doyle was a scientist I can see where taking Houdini's word for it wouldn't count as scientific. As a writer of fiction Doyle would have Sherlock Holmes employ the logic that no matter that the illusion made the impossible appear possible (in relation to physics) the only explanation would have to be that it was impossible, thus some kind of trick...and he would have tried to figure out how the trick was done...but even if that proved too difficult, he would not conclude that it might then be for real.
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But as a convinced spiritualist he was very comfortable with the notion that discarnate spirits could perform feats that did not comply with the rules of earthly physics.

Doyle was once part of the "committee" invited on stage to examine Houdini's equipment for an underwater escape feat. Afterwards he wrote that, during the escape - which was, like most of Houdini's performances of this type of trick, carried out behind a curtain - he (Doyle) had felt "a great loss of physical energy, such as is usually felt by sitters in materialising seances", and he wrote to Houdini asking, "My dear chap, why go around the world seeking a demonstration of the occult when you are giving one all the time?"
 
Mackenberg said:
But as a convinced spiritualist he was very comfortable with the notion that discarnate spirits could perform feats that did not comply with the rules of earthly physics.

Doyle was once part of the "committee" invited on stage to examine Houdini's equipment for an underwater escape feat. Afterwards he wrote that, during the escape - which was, like most of Houdini's performances of this type of trick, carried out behind a curtain - he (Doyle) had felt "a great loss of physical energy, such as is usually felt by sitters in materialising seances", and he wrote to Houdini asking, "My dear chap, why go around the world seeking a demonstration of the occult when you are giving one all the time?"
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Yes - they had a great fall out over this, apparently.

I think that where science is heading, especially in the field of trans-humanism and its promise of vastly extended lifetimes - perhaps eventually even indefinitely so, the subject of the afterlife is of no particular interest and indeed - that there has never been a shred of evidence supporting so called spirit phenomena involving spirits and their ability to defy physics - and plenty of evidence to show fraud, this has naturally closed the door on that subject.
 
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