Publisher's Synopsis
From the Preface.
IF this story had come to us through the usual channels, we doubt if it would have had more than the attention we give to things we don't want. An Ouija board we always looked upon as something for children to play with. A story over an Ouija board-absurd! In the latter part of February we were spending the evening with some friends. Somehow the talk got around to a recent article by Ella Wheeler Wilcox in Cosmopolitan, then to Spiritualism, and finally to Ouija boards. We found that the latter were common in the neighborhood and we borrowed one.
The wife of the sculptor to whom the board belonged could work it with more or less success, but for no one in our party would it work until Mrs. X. (Katherine Davis) placed her hands on it. Then it did work and in a most alarming way. It told some things that were most embarrassing to us all, and did not stop at profanity. But it did work and it was not pushed. "Could I write a story through you?" asked Mrs. X. later on in the evening.
Answer: "I will give it."
Question: "When?"
Answer: "Now."
And that is how The Light from Beyond came to be written.
The title, the author's name under which it was to be published, and every word in it were taken over the Ouija board, and no changes nor corrections have been made for that reason, other than such as the board itself instructed. Understand, please, this story was not written in one sitting, but during the evenings covering a period of about three weeks.
A word about Mrs. X. She is young, popular, an excellent wife and a successful mother. In other words, she is a normal, happy, healthy, human being, and she could not have conceived either consciously or, to our belief, subconsciously, the thoughts given to the world in this book. Possibly Sir Oliver Lodge or Conan Doyle, or someone specialized in this sort of thing can explain it. We cannot.
