Mr. Duncan: My wife . . . died two and a quarter years ago. I have had eight sittings with Mrs. Duncan since that time, myself and my daughters, and she has appeared each time, several times in a fairly good light, once particularly bright. Now I should just like to tell you about that, if you do not mind.

Judge: About how long ago was it?

Mr. Duncan: About three months ago.

Defense Attorney: You mean the end of last year?

Mr. Duncan: Yes, I cannot give you the exact date.

Defense Attorney: At what premises?

Mr. Duncan: It was in Mrs. Duncan’s house in Edinburgh, this particular seance was. It was the last one we had with Mrs. Duncan. I want to tell you about this particular light. We have at home a small electric light, you know, a bed light, like a flower with a bent stem. We coloured that little bulb red, and we covered it over with red silk. We took it to this seance. The cabinet was formed with two curtains. The curtain was about 4 ft. 8 ins. from the mantelpiece. I stood this little lamp at the corner of the mantelpiece, beneath the cabinet. I thought my wife would part the curtains in the centre and come out. Instead of that she went to the side next the light and pulled the curtain aside and stood there with the light shining clear on her face. I went up to her and saw her. I was within eighteen inches of her. I spoke to her. I saw her most clearly, the best I have ever seen her.

Defense Attorney: Did she speak to you?

Mr. Duncan: Yes.

Defense Attorney: What did she say? Do you remember?

Mr. Duncan: Intimate things. We have discussed certain intimate and domestic things. She knew that we had considered going to Canada to my son there, and she told me at the sitting there once, “Go to Canada. You will be much happier. You will be in better health. Go there”.

Defense Attorney: What about the voice? Was it her voice?

Mr. Duncan: My wife’s voice.

Defense Attorney: What about the appearance?

Mr. Duncan: Yes, the appearance of my wife. I lived with her forty-five years; I should know her voice and her appearance.

Defense Attorney: One would have thought so. The appearance was the appearance of your wife, the voice was the voice of your wife?

Mr. Duncan: Undoubtedly. No question.

Defense Attorney: Were the matters that were discussed between you, as far as you know, known to Mrs. Duncan?

Mr. Duncan: No, absolutely no, because we did not advertise that fact.

Defense Attorney: What size woman was your wife?

Mr. Duncan: Just about my height, about 5 ft. 6. Not a stout woman.

Defense Attorney: Could you by using your imagination imagine how your wife’s body and voice could have been simulated by anyone?

Mr. Duncan: I have not a shadow of doubt in my mind that the form I saw was that of my wife, speaking to me, as she used to speak, in a quiet voice. She had a quiet voice.

Defense Attorney: Has your wife ever materialized to you on any other occasion?

Mr. Duncan: No, except the eight times. We give her every opportunity of doing so.

Defense Attorney: Are all these seances at Mrs. Duncan’s house?

Mr. Duncan: No, some at my niece’s house. Four or five have been at my niece’s house. She is just on the outskirts of Edinburgh.

Defense Attorney: Anyone else known to you?

Mr. Duncan: My father, my mother, and my two brothers.

Defense Attorney: I want you to take them. When was it that your father appeared?

Mr. Duncan: About six months ago it would be.

Defense Attorney: How close to you did he come?

Mr. Duncan: I went right up to the cabinet and spoke to him.

Defense Attorney: Why do you say it was your father?

Mr. Duncan: Because I knew my father. He had a beard and spoke in the voice that I knew well. He was just about my height.

Defense Attorney: If I may be allowed to ask this, was there any doubt at all?

Mr. Duncan: Not in my mind. There were only five or six other sitters at that sitting.

Defense Attorney: You have spoken of your father. Who else do you say?

Mr. Duncan: My two brothers and my mother.

Defense Attorney: Take one at a time?

Mr. Duncan: My mother came first at that seance, and then my father. I went right up to her.

Judge: What about your mother?

Mr. Duncan: I went right up to the curtain too, and she spoke to me. She said, “Are those the lassies?” My two daughters were there. I said, “Yes”. She said, “It makes me feel old”. Now that is just what she would have said had she been on the earth, just the very same expression she would have used.

Defense Attorney: How do you know it was your mother at all?

Mr. Duncan: By seeing her and hearing her. I saw her quite clearly. I was quite close to her.

Defense Attorney: How soon did your mother come after your father?

Mr. Duncan: My mother came first, and then my father quickly after.

Defense Attorney: I want you to tell us about this. How soon did the forms come after one another?

Mr. Duncan: Very quickly.

Defense Attorney: Imagine a cheat or a swindler working behind the curtain. Can you imagine say so if you can anyone being able to simulate these forms from the point of view of the speed with which they came, one after another?

Mr. Duncan: No. Impossible, I would say.

Defense Attorney: Go on. You have got as far as your mother. What was the other one?

Mr. Duncan: My father and then my two brothers.

Defense Attorney: How do you know they were your two brothers?

Mr. Duncan: One of them, my niece

Judge: Did you recognize your brother?

Mr. Duncan: Yes, I will tell you in a minute.

Defense Attorney: You can leave that for cross-examination. You recognized your brothers?

Mr. Duncan: Yes.

Defense Attorney: By appearance and voice?

Mr. Duncan: Yes.

Defense Attorney: No doubt about it at all?

Mr. Duncan: Not at all. Not at all.