“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

(“This is Jane Butts, speaking in my usual voice. My husband, Robert Butts, and I live at 458 West Water St., Elmira, NY. The date is July 19,1965, the time is about 8:30 PM. The following Seth session, number 170, is being recorded at the home of Bill and Peggy Gallagher, Pine City, NY, with them as witnesses.

(Jane had felt for several days that Seth would address the session to Dr. Instream, and so he did. Jane’s eyes remained closed for the entire session. She began the session while sitting down. More or less as I had anticipated, she began speaking too rapidly for me to take notes effectively, although at times during the session I was able to keep up with her. Peggy Gallagher also took notes. Thus this session is taken from the tape itself, largely, and necessitated replaying it several times.

(Jane had slowed her pace somewhat, and I was now having some success in keeping up with her. Peggy Gallagher evidently was having better luck; she had been writing steadily ever since the beginning of the session.)

(Break at 11:18. Jane was dissociated as usual, and was not displaying any undue fatigue from the long session. She remained standing until break, her eyes closed all the while. Her voice had been good, yet quieter than the really strong display of the earlier delivery, and I had been able to keep up in my notetaking. Peggy had no trouble either. Footage at 686, Mono One, Side Two.

(Jane’s voice had been slowly growing in volume since last break. Seth now pulled out more stops than ever before, I believe. The voice display now became deafening. My ears rang, off and on, for the next few paragraphs. I saw Peggy and Bill blinking. Jane merely stood in front of her chair, head thrown back. As stated before she exhibited no strain in producing these stunning effects. The electric eye on the recorder closed, meaning that it was recording, as far as I know, at maximum volume.)

(This point was abundantly made, for although we did not know it at the time, the session was due to resume at midnight. At the moment the footage scale on the recorder read 860, Mono One, Side Two. We had a little tape left, so I decided to use it to demonstrate for others the fact of Jane’s immunity to voice fatigue. The following is taken from the tape verbatim, and includes a statement from Bill Gallagher, who witnessed the session with his wife Peggy. It was made immediately after the end of the session; perhaps a few minutes were lost here when I made a false start on the recorder, due to inexperience, and had to start the exchange between Jane and myself over.

([Jane:] “This is Jane Butts. I just wanted to add that Peggy and Bill, in some way we don’t understand, seem to be of a great help in our sessions. And whenever they come to our sessions I seem to feel some kind of reinforcement that I don’t quite understand either, that appears to be most helpful.”

([RB:] “This is Robert Butts again, speaking two days later on July 21st. I would like to add that the 170th session, which you have just heard, and which formally ended at 11:45 PM last Monday, July 19, resumed that night at midnight. It involved an informal exchange between Jane, Seth, Bill and Peggy Gallagher and myself, and lasted until about 1:30 AM. Our tape was almost exhausted and so it was not recorded. Seth also stated he did not care particularly to have it on tape, or have notes taken. During this exchange Seth was in an excellent good humor. I joked with him about the voice display, and he responded with another which was both stronger and longer-lasting than the one on tape here. Our ears rang, really, before it was over. And when it was over at last, and we were all weary, Seth, or Jane, was as capable as ever. Jane had no voice strain or fatigue that we could detect. Seth said he could continue until dawn, and I believe it quite possible. Jane just threw her head back and let the sound come out.”

(The session resumed without preamble at midnight. Our active discussion after I had finished with the tape brought it about, and it involved an exchange between Jane, Seth, Bill and Peggy, and myself, in the manner of the 169th session held in Dr. Instream’s office.

(Although Seth said to forget about notes, I found myself making a few after a few minutes, out of habit. Peggy also made some, and what follows is taken from these two sources; nothing is included here that is not touched upon in the notes. Seth talked at a normal rate, and neither Peggy nor I made a serious effort to get it all down. Some of the material was a repeat, in a more informal way, of what Seth had said during the session itself. During this exchange it was obvious that Seth was enjoying himself immensely. More than once he referred to Bill Gallagher as his favorite Jesuit, and this is getting to be something of a standing joke between Bill and Seth.

(What I think could be a very important point now came up when Peggy asked Seth about the question of proofs. Seth said that proofs she would accept would not be accepted by science. One proof to come, he said, would involve very strong facial changes in Jane during sessions. When I asked if these could be photographed he said yes.

(During most of the above dialogue, Seth spoke in a very loud and strong voice; Peggy estimated it could be heard for a city block.

(To recap: Seth also said, referring to photographic proof of facial changes in Jane, that if she took the photographs for instance [Peggy is a reporter for the Elmira Star-Gazette], she would be accused of collusion with Jane and myself.

(There was more to this part of the session, but I believe that between us Peggy and I covered most categories discussed. End between 1:30 and 1:45 AM. Jane seemed as fresh as ever. The rest of us had had it.)