January 8, 2014

  • Bernard's Book Chapter 2

    CHAPTER 2 FAMILY PSYCHICS

    I have been asked if I might include something on the psychic aspects pertaining to the Yeaton Family, particularly those stories about the mediumship of my grandfather, Benjamin Franklin Yeaton (Frank). I have been told that his mother, Sabrina, is recorded in Augusta as a “Witch”. This term was often used to label those who prescribed herbs for the sick.

    Now, this may come as a shock to some that read this, but we have Native American blood in our veins and I believe it is Penobscot. My Mother once told this story that back in the early 1700's or late 1600's there was this family and the father had gone hunting and he never returned. This left the mother with a family of five very young children. There was an Indian who lived nearby and came to help this mother by cutting wood and hunting game for food. Well, evidently this Indian man soon came to live with this family and there were four or five more children born.

    A number of years ago, I was visiting with Aunt Edwina and I asked her if she could add to this story. Edwina being older than mother I thought she might be able to add something. Aunt Edwina said she had heard the story and said that when she ever asked about it someone would snap back and say, “Yes, you had a grandmother who slept with an Indian". That is all we really know. However, psychically, through the mediumship of my good friend, Alyce Andrews, there was a Penobscot Indian spirit-lady who came to me saying that she was a grandmother of mine. If you look at the few pictures that we have of Sabrina, I believe you can discern some of the Indian features. I want to point out that if this is true, and I believe it to be, then the children of Ralph and Lora Hilton have a double dose, because they have Betsy, Sabrina's sister, as a grandmother also.

    I wish that I had been able to talk more with some of my older aunts and uncles, because Mother said that when her older brothers and sisters were in their teens and early twenties they would go to the schoolhouse, probably with other young folks in the neighborhood, and for entertainment Grandfather would demonstrate his mediumship. One of the things that he did was to let the boys tie him up with rope in such a way that he couldn't possibly get himself undone.

    She told me that they literally wound the rope around him from head to foot Grandfather said that he had an Indian guide named, Adavada, who helped him. After being tied up he was put into the closet and in a short time the ropes would come off. I know from Mother that these things took place between 1886 and 1895, because they moved to the Yeaton Place in 1886 and Sabrina died in 1895. Sabina had said that when she got to Spirit she would put a stop to such things. The reason why she wanted to stop it was because the boys wanting to see what was taking place would open the door a crack to peek in. Sabrina knew that under certain conditions it can be harmful to allow light to shine on the medium when some of these things take place. (Spirit told me that I am mispronouncing Adavada’s name.)

    Mother said she heard it said that her father had difficulty going into trance after his mother Sabrina died. Another time, probably before his mother died, they were shingling the barn when all of a sudden Adavada took control of Grandfather and he went to the ridgepole with a hatchet in his hand and did an Indian war dance.

    Down river from the Yeaton Place, about a mile, was the home of Joe Crips. He lived there with his sister Tilly Simpson. Mother told me that, one evening when she was a young girl they were having dinner; her father got up all of a sudden from the table and left the house. Her mother, evidently realizing that Grandfather was in trance, went with him. They walked to the Crips Place, about a mile, and found that Tilly had fallen down at the barn. It seems that Joe was away and that Tilly's hip was broken. The two of them found an old door and were able to get Tilly on it and carry her into the house, When they came home Grandfather sat at the table and coming to his senses, looked at the mud on his shoes and asked Grandmother where he had been, and she proceeded to tell him.

    My mother also told me about a time when she was young and sick with a fever. On this occasion her father seemed to have difficulty going into trance, but he eventually did and then proceeded to go out to the barn where he pawed around and found a stick of green wood. While still in trance he told Grandmother Ellen to heat the piece of wood in the oven and then to place it under the blankets at the foot of the child’s bed. My Mother told me it was like in a steam bath and that it put her into a sweat, which broke the fever.

    My sister Mary reminded me of the story told by Mother about her father going swimming in the river. Grandfather couldn’t swim and he got in over his head. His Indian guide took over, swam out into the river up stream, and returned to shore.

    My mother, Lora, was also psychic, but at times her gift made her nervous and somewhat afraid. When Father was sick with meningitis in the spring of 1936, Mother had an osteopathy doctor named Dr. Whitney, from Madison, come several times to see Father. There was a lot of snow in the field 5, 6, 7 ft. in places that spring and the doctor came on snowshoes across the river by the Pease Place. The last day that the Doctor came he brought a medical doctor with him and after the examination of Father, Dr. Whitney told Mother that there was so much force around Father's head that he was afraid that he might be doing more damage than good and that she better get another doctor. The next day the new doctor in town, Dr. Laney, came and right away knew that Father had Meningitis. If Dr. Whitney hadn’t been stopped by the force about Father’s head he would have killed Father.

    When I had been investigating into spiritual phenomenon for 15 to 20 years, I was visiting with Mother and said to her, “I have been looking into the spiritual things that you tell about and find them to be true. Now I would like to observe some of the phenomena.” It was a quiet sunny day and Mother started talking, she asked me if I remembered what happened at cousin Donald Yeaton's funeral. I told her that I wasn't there, so she proceeded to tell me how the lid on the coffin came shut three times. The funeral director Henry Hilton had to put a book against the lid to keep it open. Just as she spoke, a loud rap came on the door leading to the hallway that goes upstairs. Then there was another rap on the door to the outside, and then a third rap on the hallway door.

    It was in the spring, when my brother, Franklin, was sick and lost part of his eye sight. Mother, Father, and I were helping out the best we could, when Franklin's wife, Shirley, came home from the hospital with the news that Franklin might not make it through the night. Mother and I went to Anson for the night and as we sat wondering what was in the future I asked Mother to lay back, relax and see what she might get. First, Mother said she saw Franklin's farm and there was a black cloud over the buildings. I told her I could understand that. What else did she see? "I see the Pease Place”, she said. I asked if she could tell what time of the year it was. She said, “It is the fall of the year because there are no leaves on the trees". I told her that means when the fall comes Franklin would be able to see the Pease Place. When fall came Franklin was heard to say, "I can see the Pease Place".

    Another time when I was up for a visit I asked Mother if she had experienced anything psychic, she then told me about being out in the woodshed bent over feeding the cats, when she saw a spirit building up on the floor this startled her, so she looked up to see who it was and saw nothing, looked back at the floor and the apparition was no longer there.

    There are a number of family members who have psychic abilities. Uncle Harry had this ability, as did Aunt Etta, and her daughter Alice was a good medium. Aunt Etta told me that when she knew spirit forces were about, she would speak out loud saying that she wasn't afraid of anything that they might do. Nothing was going to frighten her. Pretty soon the dish cupboards began to shake, all the dishes were rattling, and then the wind blew all the doors open. She finally begged them to stop, admitting she was scared. Cousin Roland Yeaton's oldest son, Roland Jr. (Skip Yeaton) is a very strong medium. And Cousin Dean Yeaton has psychic ability. There is no doubt others in the family have this gift, especially among our grandchildren.

    I will close this chapter with a little story about my grandmother, Kate Hilton. I had been investigating into psychic phenomena for awhile, when I went to visit my grandmother in a nursing home in Madison. I went alone and brought my tape recorder (one of those old reel to reel tape recorders). What I had on the tape was a message that I had received from a wonderfully gifted medium, Gladys Custance, who lived in Onset, Mass. This message contained a lot of family names whom my grandmother new better than I did. I held the tape recorder up close to her ear. She looked at me and smiled saying, "Isn't that amazing, isn't that amazing. Then she paused and said, “But, I still don't believe".

    Sometime later, several years after Grandmother had gone to spirit, we were having a spirit meeting with my friend, Alyce Andrews. While Alyce was in trance Grandmother Kate started talking to me. During the conversation I reminded her that I had tried to convince her about the truth of spirit communication when she was here. She said, “I know Bernard, but at that time I just couldn’t believe. Now I know it’s true.”

    Some will say, “Are you sure it was your grandmother?” I say, if there was a hole in the wall and you couldn’t see who it was, but you could put your ear close and could hear their voice and their inflections, I guess you would know who it was. I lived with her a number of school years as a child and as a teenager I had her as a teacher for two years. I knew who was speaking right away. It was my grandmother.

    Next Posting Chapter 3: Early Years

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