“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(Last Wednesday afternoon, April 22, 1964, Jim Beckett visited me briefly. He is a computer service technician whom Jane and I had met but two or three times some months ago, before the sessions began. We became acquainted with him when he was a TV repairman. He is also a ham radio operator and a science-fiction fan; thus the three of us got along well from the beginning, when we met Jim as he called to service our TV. But after this first acquaintance we had not seen him since, and often wondered what happened to him.

(Jim visited Jane at the gallery and she invited him to the house on Friday night so that we could discuss Seth. Jim also wanted to tell us about two of his friends who had been running some telepathy tests with personnel at the parapsychology lab at Duke University. Jim would attempt to bring one of the friends with him Friday. Bill Macdonnel, the witness to the 46th session, would also be there.

(Jim’s friend was unable to come, but Jim, Bill, Jane and I began to discuss Seth at about 7:30 Friday night. We also discussed the letter of April 23, received today, from the A.S.P.R., asking us to cease sending in copies of these sessions unless they contained specific information of Seth’s promised tests. Jane and I feel that we cannot rush her development, nor do we have any desire to, so the letter left us somewhat at a loss; we finally decided to let events take their course, and send the A.S.P.R. any data in which they might be interested, when, if ever, it manifested itself.

(Bill wanted to hear again the transcript of the 46th session which he witnessed; since I did not have it typed up yet I began to read it to him. It was quite hilarious and we had some laughs over it; but as I finished reading at about 9:45 PM, I became aware that I was experiencing a feeling of enlargement in the index and second finger of my right hand. Bill stated that in his opinion these two fingers were noticeably “fatter” than the corresponding two on my left hand. I then cut narrow strips of paper and had Bill measure and mark the circumference of each finger, planning to check these measurements when the sensation had passed. This is the system I plan to use to check Jane’s hands also.

(At the time I noticed my hand phenomena, our cat Willy began to charge about the premises in a most active display. At the same time, Jane said that she thought she felt Seth stirring about, since all of us had talked about him constantly for some time now. I readied my pens and paper, just in case.

(At 10:25 Jane abruptly handed to me a paper and pencil and pointed to the table. I had my own equipment handy however, and grabbed them up. Jane began to dictate then in a strong and somewhat deeper voice, pacing rather energetically. It was the first session with more than one witness. Note, also, that at the close of the 46th session, Seth had remarked that he would “speak to you Monday if not before.”)

(Break at 10:45. Jane was dissociated as usual. She said that something had made Seth angry this evening; she thought it had to do with our attitude and comments after we had received the letter from the A.S.P.R.

(Jim reported that he felt strong chills as the session got underway, and that he still felt them to a lesser degree during break. When Jane began dictating again her voice was as strong as before, and as emphatic. Resume at 10:50.)

(Jane pounded upon the table, although smiling.)

(Break at 11:15. Jane was fully dissociated. Jim felt more comfortable now, his chills had abated; my hand was okay; and Bill had a list of perhaps two dozen instances wherein he had known beforehand what series of words Jane would use to present certain thoughts. The phrases were three and four words long.

(Jane maintained her strong vibrant voice when she resumed at 11:20.)

(Here, Jane laughed and pointed repeatedly at Jim Beckett. At the same time, I felt my familiar sensation, the thrilling tingling feeling of sound, begin to build up in my legs. It never became prominent, yet lingered for a few minutes.)

(End at 11:40. Jane was dissociated as usual. Bill received a nine-word sentence of Jane’s during delivery, before she voiced it. He gave me his notes to put into the record. Jim stated that the personal information about himself was correct, although neither Jane nor myself had any knowledge of these things, having met him but briefly on a few occasions some months ago.

(At 8:30 PM Jane and I tried psychological time, before the session which was due at 9 PM. Jane lay on the couch in the living room, I used the bed in the room next to my studio. It was very quiet and peaceful, and just about dark outside.

(I lay without concentrating upon anything in particular; I told myself I felt light and relaxed. Because I was using the word light for the first time in these experiments, [with a rather ill-defined idea of levitation in mind, after Jane’s attempts], I also told myself I was not afraid. I repeated these few words a few times, but do not believe I put myself in any kind of a trance, although at the time I took the precaution of reminding myself I could snap out of it any time I wanted to.

(This time, I found myself standing in the doorway of an office building in New York City. I do not know what floor it was on, except that it was at least several floors up. It was not an office I had ever been in, yet was next door to an office I used to visit occasionally when Jane and I lived in Tenafly, NJ, and I was free-lancing as an artist in NYC. The building could be the Carnegie Hall office building, or one very close to Carnegie Hall, on 57th St. I do not recall the street number. The publisher I worked for occasionally was Charles Biro, the time was around 1955. I do not know whether he is still located there, or what has happened to him, not having seen him since.

(I then “came to” on the bed, sat up, and saw that it was 8:45 PM. While watching the girl, I had no sensation, or memory or awareness, of lying on the bed. I went into the living room to immediately describe the experience to Jane.)