Cross-Reference
Simultaneous delivery of spirit messages through different
mediums with a request to forward them to the right person.
The idea, originated by the communicators themselves, was to
disprove the suggestion that messages were merely the working
of the mediums subconscious mind.
The earliest instance of cross-reference is registered in E. W.
Caprons Modern Spiritualism (1885) from February 12, 1850.
The medium was a Mrs. Draper. A large company was divided
into two groups and sent to different rooms. The spirit of Benjamin
Franklin purported to be present and spelled out a message
telling the company not to move. The same message was
then spelled out in the other room with instructions to go and
compare. This method of communication was called spiritual
telegraphy and was soon practiced between New York and
Philadelphia or Washington, D.C., and between Baltimore and
Pittsburgh.
A deceased sister announced herself to Robert Hare at Cape
May, nearly a hundred miles from Philadelphia. Hare asked
the spirit to go to Philadelphia and ask Mrs. B. Gourlay, a medium,
to get her husband to go to a certain bank and inquire
about a certain bill. On his return Hare found out that Dr.
Gourlay had received the message and the bank testified that
he came to inquire about the the bill.
Sources
Bradley, H. Dennis. The Wisdom of the Gods. London T. Werner
Larvie Ltd., 1925.
Hare, Robert. Experimental Investigations of the Spirit Manifestations.
New York Partridge & Brittan, 1855.
