Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s novella The Parasite has inspired a series of articles. Part III described Helen
Penclosa and her activities in detail. So what more is there to say about this
sinister little story? There are still a few features to be highlighted, points
to be made and warnings to be repeated.
Going into reverse
One feature in this and
other examples of people ignoring red flags and getting carried away by
exciting visions of the future is that not only do many of them not get what
they want, but it all goes horribly wrong, into reverse even, and they find
themselves in a much worse situation. Their ambition, scientific curiosity,
gullibility, greed, arrogance, over-estimation of their powers, strength and
resistance …whatever the cause of their involvement with negative metaphysical
forces, they are lead to disaster.
Austin Gilroy gets the exact
opposite of what he hoped for. He foresees a glorious future for himself; he
thinks that his forthcoming paper on hypnotism might even get him made a Fellow
of the Royal Society. This will make
Agatha accept that the game is worth the candle! Unfortunately, it all backfires.
Instead of achieving further
academic success, he loses his professorship; instead of feeling respect and
admiration for him, Agatha feels concern because he looks so worried, worn and
ill.
Life becomes a living hell
It is bad enough for Gilroy
when he experiences the double consciousness, knowing full well that he is
being controlled and made to speak and act against his interests but unable to
do anything about it or to resist the compulsion to visit Helen Pensclosa when
she summons him remotely; it is even worse when he is completely possessed by
her and has no memory of what he has said and done while under her influence.
Knowing that he is being
forced to ruin his professional career without even remembering the
preposterous things he has said in his lectures is a torment to him.
It is to Gilroy's credit that he
accepts responsibility for all the outrageous things he has said and done while
under her control, even though he can remember nothing. He believes people when
they tell him what happened, and he doesn’t ignore or dismiss the circumstantial
evidence.
Gilroy feels trapped in hell
with no way out. If it not been for Agatha, he would have taken an overdose of
a lethal drug. He even considers murdering Helen Penclosa.
Seeking help and advice
Feeling alone and trapped in
a nightmare. Gilroy goes down and down. He realises that no one can help him;
they just would not understand.
“I am weighed down and
tortured by a power of which science knows nothing. No magistrate would listen
to me. No paper would discuss my case. No doctor would believe my symptoms. My
own most intimate friends would only look upon it as a sign of brain
derangement.”
He is quite right. Most
people would not understand, as they have no experience of metaphysical
phenomena. Those with similar experiences might understand, but they might well
be in a bad state too and just as much in need of help.
He does raise the subject
with his friend and colleague Professor Wilson, who is immune to psychic
influences and who has no interest in the human aspect:
"This is of great interest," said he. "What are
your grounds for saying that it is a dangerous one? Please give your facts in
chronological order, with approximate dates and names of reliable witnesses
with their permanent addresses."
"First of all," I asked,
"would you tell me whether you have collected any cases where the
mesmerist has gained a command over the subject and has used it for evil
purposes?"
"Dozens!" he cried
exultantly. "Crime by suggestion——"
"I don't mean suggestion. I
mean where a sudden impulse comes from a person at a distance—an uncontrollable
impulse."
"Obsession!" he
shrieked, in an ecstasy of delight. "It is the rarest condition. We have
eight cases, five well attested. You don't mean to say——" His exultation
made him hardly articulate.
Poor Austin Gilroy! There is
no help coming from this quarter. He realises that Wilson has lost sight of
human beings: everything is a case and a phenomenon. Gilroy would rather die
than speak to him again on the matter.
Gilroy in desperation consults
another colleague. He had planned to tell this man the whole story, but realises
that this is impossible. They just discuss his physical health. Gilroy is given a useless prescription and dismissed
with platitudes about open-air exercise and the avoidance of nervous excitement.
This lack of positive,
constructive and productive advice and help is only to be expected, considering
that Gilroy’s colleague did not know the cause of the problems. But how could
Gilroy say that he was in the power of a sadistic, evil woman with psychic
powers who was playing cat and mouse games with him?
Perhaps it is best to think
of plausible explanations for strange, atypical, behaviour – worry and overwork
for example, or being extra sensitive to some people’s energy fields. Tell the
truth, but not the whole truth.
All of Gilroy’s avenues are now
closed – another familiar feature.
What a pity that he was born
much too soon to find help and moral support online!
Heeding the warnings
If this story doesn’t make
its readers reject and avoid anyone who wants to hypnotise them, I don’t know
what will.
Austin Gilroy could have
escaped much suffering if he had not been so eager to let himself be
hypnotised.
What he saw of the effect on
Agatha impressed him immensely rather than horrifying him; what Helen Penclosa
told him about her powers should have warned him off, but it made him determined
to investigate further. His values went into reverse, and black seemed like
white.
It is important to learn to
recognise energy vampires, unconscious witches and other undesirables and act
on warning signals. Be aware of the hooks they might use to draw you in. Do not
consent to do anything that these people want you to do.
Paralysing your better
nature and bringing out your worst side, as Helen Penclosa did with Austin
Gilroy, is one of their attributes. If you
feel that your life is being sabotaged, if you start to speak and behave out of
character and against your best interests, look around for the cause.
A friend and fellow victim,
another handsome young man, warns Gilroy about Miss Penclosa, but is ignored –
until it is too late and Gilroy realises
what a blind fool he has been. This other man is a phlegmatic Saxon, which
might explain why Miss Penclosa didn’t get very far with him.
It is sensible to learn from
other people’s experiences and take note of the common features and elements in
stories about people who get involved - in whatever capacity - with unpleasant
and malevolent people who use unseen influences to manipulate others.
The requirements feature
Austin Gilroy makes a very
good point when he says that he has both the psychic temperament that enables
him to experience metaphysical phenomena and the complementary rational,
scientific mind that helps him to understand, analyse and classify them.
Perhaps these attributes are
connected to the functions of the left brain and the right brain
It is easy to find people
who have just one – or neither – of these attributes, but people who have both
are relatively rare.
Gilroy’s friend Professor
Wilson for example has only the scientific mind; many mediumistic women are
vague and woolly and cannot think logically, deal well with facts and figures
or express themselves clearly.
Some people whose psychic
temperament gets them into trouble may be able to use their rational minds,
critical thinking and a scientific approach to escape and prevent further occurrences.
Breaking the spell
People such as Gilroy can
usually deal with unseen influences coming from unconscious people. Realising
what is going on is often enough to break the spell and effect some
improvement.
What the story does not tell
us is how to deal effectively with someone like Helen Penclosa, who is
conscious of what she is doing. Nothing that Austin Gilroy does to escape her
influence works, and it is not for want of trying. His willpower is not strong
enough to resist hers, and his determination to fight is easily overcome.
Gilroy does get a few lucky
breaks, which he calls providential. He has a few respites when Miss Penclosa
becomes ill and exhausted so loses her control over him. He feels as if a black
nightmare has lifted off him. He is – temporarily – set free. Of course he
becomes enslaved again, then she faints from weakness and once again he comes
to his senses.
After attempting to get help
from two of his colleagues, Gilroy realises that he is on his own:
“There is no
human help for me; I must fight this out single-handed. Two courses lie before
me. I might become this woman's lover. Or I must endure such persecutions as
she can inflict upon me. Even if none come, I shall live in a hell of
apprehension. But she may torture me, she may drive me mad, she may kill me: I
will never, never, never give in. What can she inflict which would be worse
than the loss of Agatha, and the knowledge that I am a perjured liar, and have
forfeited the name of gentleman?”
We will never
know what would have happened if Helen Penclosa had not over-reached herself
while trying to control Gilroy. It is
unlikely that he would have been able to resist her. He would surely have given
in to her demands. He might well have destroyed Agatha too.
Gilroy is saved when Helen
Penclosa dies. Agatha’s saviour is, fittingly, the vicar who keeps her talking
when she should have been meeting Gilroy. She thought that he would never go! It
is lucky for everyone that he stayed as long as he did: he may have made Agatha late,
but he kept her away from Gilroy and his bottle of acid until just after Miss
Penclosa’s influence had died with her.
So they are both unharmed
and safe forever.
These really are lucky breaks.
Perhaps because Gilroy did his best, the universe did the rest.
There is one, final, article
to come.
