The influence of grief on the deceased

- 16 - 14. Death when the Titanic went down The next reports stems from a man who lost his life in a shipping disaster. We are dealing with the British journalist William T. Stead (1849 – 1912), the employee of various English newspapers and also very interested in parapsychology. He wrote a number of books on the subject (For instance “From the Old to the New World”) and he was also psychically gifted. In the book “Death, a Bridge to a New Life” (10) I read an article written by him wherein he narrated how a paranormally produced photo of the Boer officer Petrus Johannes Botha. he died during the Boer War in 1902, came into his possession. This Mr. Stead was on the British passenger liner the “Titanic” on her the maiden voyage in 1912 when it tried to win the “Blue Band” (A ship trophy for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic from Europe to America). Due to careless navigation, an iceberg was hit in the North Atlantic during the night between the 14 th and the 15 th of April. The ship that was considered unsinkable was slit open on the side and it sank within a few hours, whereby 1517 people lost their lives. William Stead was amongst them. Two day after the accident, he has able to give accurate details about the sinking of the ship via the medium Mrs. Wriedt from Detroit. He gave a more detailed account via his paranormally gifted daughter Estelle Stead. She committed the comprehensive account of her father to paper, the following expositions are from his account (18, P. 15 f): “To begin with, I want to tell you where people find themselves in the world of the hereafter after their terrestrial demise. But I want to state a priory once again that: This book will interest a relatively small number of people and it will help even fewer. But our endeavour is dedicated to them and our highest remuneration will be the satisfaction to have helped them progress just a little further. There is something that I want to emphatically bring to the attention of all those that read this booklet – the interested parties as well as the disinterested ones, the believers as well as well as the sceptics: ‘Never forget that you are still here on Earth and that above everything, you have to give all of your attention to your terrestrial duties first. Your terrestrial life is over in no time at all. Every endeavour that you ever started should be completed – and completed as best as you can. One should never neglect the presence in favour of a future that promises to fulfil all of our wishes. Engage all your heart in whatever you have started. Only think about a more auspicious tomorrow within a still corner of your heart.” Stead talks about the difficulties he encountered with the transmission of his first messages. He felt the sorrow of his relatives, he felt encumbered by their grief and he was initially relieved that he was able to manifest himself to strangers. He said (18, P. 48): “As I mentioned, I came very often and I tried to send my messages homes in various ways. Some succeeded and some did not. One bears joint responsibility for the success or failure of communication over here. A lot depends on the work of otherworldly beings. Every time I succeed, I also help the others. When I failed, I asked for help and always received it, particularly because I had devoted a lot of time to studying paranormal science whilst on Earth. I would now like to tell you how I managed to get my first messages across and how I could ascertain whether I was successful. We had learned all the necessities required to make close contact with Earth. I was naturally not able to do this on my own and this is why I had a helper whom I will call an ‘official’ here. He accompanied me at my first attempt. We therefore went down to Earth. The room that we entered had two or three people in it and they were agitated over the terrible accident of the sinking of the ‘Titanic’, they were talking about the seemingly unlikely fact that a number of people had been saved. We then conducted a spiritual meeting and the official showed me how I could make myself noticeable. The required power is a concentrated thought. I therefore had to try ‘to think myself into’ those present.