Spookiest Years, Part 18: The Years 1907 - 1909

In previous posts in this intermittently appearing "Spookiest Years" series on this blog (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here,  here, here, here, here, here and here) I had looked at some very spooky events reported between 1848 and 1889.  Let me pick up the thread and discuss some spooky events reported in the years 1907 to 1909.

The journal The Annals of Psychical Science was the English language version of the French journal Annales des Sciences Psychique. In the April-June 1909 edition of The Annals of Psychical Science, which you can read here, we have some fascinating accounts of paranormal phenomena.  

On page 271 we have a paper by Dr. Julien Ochorowicz, describing experiments with the Polish medium Stanislas Tomczyk. We are told on page 274 that all of the experiments were conducted in good light, after Tomczyk was hypnotized by Ochorowicz. There is a very long documented history of paranormal phenomena seeming to occur under hypnosis, with very many reports from respected witnesses of clairvoyance occurring very powerfully under hypnosis. In the paper by Ochorowicz we have a long description of what sounds like telekinetic effects produced on a clock. 

Later in the same edition on page 285 we have an account of levitation effects produced during seances with the medium Francesco Carancini. The report is preceded by quite a few photographs showing objects floating mysteriously in the air.  Below are two of the photos, one (Figure 7 of the paper) seeming to show the levitation of a violin, and the other (Figure 37 of the paper) seeming to show the levitation of a trumpet:

We hear early in the account (page 286) that events such as this were witnessed by very many distinguished observers:

"The experimenters include Professors L. M. Milese, of the U niversity of Rome, V. Tummulo, De Franciscis, Doctor Cesari, and many others, well-known in scientific circles in Rome ; also the Duke of Cardinale, Baron Von Bilgner, Count Violara, Duke of Ayala Muntzer, Marquise Lanza, Countess Paglioni, and other residents of Rome. Several visitors to Rome have also been present at some of the seances: Prof. Schiller of the University of Oxford, M. Serge Yourievitch, Secretary of the Institut Psychologique in Paris, the Hon. Everard Feilding, Hon. Secretary of the Society for Psychical Research in London, Senor Pedroso, Plenipotentiary Minister of Cuba, and M. Mezroculos, Ambassador of Greece."

On page 288 we read this list of phenomena produced in the seances of Carancini:

"Among the phenomena observed we notice : 

 1. Transport and levitation of objects. 

2. Impressions on clay. 

3. Writing on lamp black in ltalian, Latin, modern and ancient Greek, and in an unknown language resembling Arabic. 

4. Luminous phenomena. 

5. Dematerialization and rematerialisation of matter."

Here I should note the extreme inaccuracy of statements made by skeptics about paranormal phenomena. You will hear such skeptics say things such as that spooky seance phenomena always occur in the dark, and that such phenomena never show up in photographs.  Such generalizations are not at all true.  We see above photographs of apparent levitations occurring in full light, and countless other photos have been taken of levitations. The phenomena of the 19th century medium Daniel Dunglas Home (such as levitations of Home and the playing of musical instruments no one touched) were reported by very many witnesses as occurring in full light. In general, you should follow the rule of "never trust any generalization about paranormal phenomena made by skeptics."  Skeptics routinely throw out untrue generalizations about types of phenomena they have not decently studied. 

The account of the Carancini sessions gives us the type of high quality evidence that we would like to have, consisting of dated accounts listing all the witnesses who were present. The location was the home of Baron Von Erhardt. Below are some of them (each account includes mention of many spooky phenomena, but I will quote only the most dramatic parts):

• "Tuesday, May 12th (from 9.30 to II p.m., 1908). Present: Sig. C. Serra, Duca di Cardinale, Fraulein Eliza Miinbher, Baron Bilguer, Doctor Corsi, Prof. Monnosi, Signora Trevisani and daughter, and the medium Carancini.,.. A tambourine played and danced about in mid-air for several seconds... Some photographs were taken with magnesium, among which, that of a violin suspended in the air (see Figure 37) and which fell, without the least noise, to the left of Fraulein Miinbher." 
• "June 25th, 1908. (32nd Seance.) Present: Sig. Basile, Doctor Corsi, Commander Monnosi, Signora Trevisani and daughter, Baron Von Erhardt and tbe medlinn Carancini....and now the phenomenon of levitation took place ; after a few seconds of hesitation, the heavy table rose gently from the ground, the medium called out 'fire! fire!' (juoco, fuoco), signifying that a photograph of the phenomenon could be taken. Baron Von Erhardt delayed, losing time in finding the spring which lights the magnesium, but, in spite of this delay, the film reproduces the table placed above the shoulders of the medium and the side-board near him. (See Fig. 5.)"
• "September 18th, 1908. (45th Seance.) Present : Sig. and Signora Giannini, Sig. and Signora Steffoni, Signora Belloni, Signora Levi, Prof. Monnosi, Sig. Basile, Baron Von Erhardt, Carancini. ..The violin, dancing about in mid-air (in the light and, consequently, distinctly perceived by everyone present), touched several heads, then fell on to the same big table." 
• "November 20th, 1908. (65th Seance.) Present : Doctor and Signora Cesare; Signora Belloli and daughter; Sig. Giannini and daughter; Prof. Monnosi, the writer, Baron Von Erhardt, Carancini. Phenomena: The big table is levitated on one side and rapped several times, with its legs....The musical box and trumpet are carried from the sideboard, where they were standing, on to the table ; the camera has caught the trumpet in mid-air (see Fig. 7)."

We are told that the medium was himself levitated, although the photograph fails to capture him being clear of all material support (unlike the photos of the levitated violin and trumpet, which do seem to show them clear of all material support). We read this:

"At the seance held on the evening of November 27th, I908, the phenomenon of the levitation of the medium occurred; he was levitated to the height of one yard, a phenomenon distinctly visible to the spectators; the controllers verified all absence of support from the table or chair. Unfortunately, the photograph (Fig. 35) does not show the medium's feet, nor testify to this complete absence of normal support vouched for by the controllers. We reproduce it, nevertheless, for the benefit of our readers.."

In the next two editions of the  The Annals of Psychical Science (here and here) Dr. Julien Ochorowicz, continues to describe experiments with the Polish subject Stanislawa Tomczyk. We have quite a few photos of her performing levitations on small objects. Below is Figure 5, entitled "Levitation of a magnet."

On page 334 of the edition here, the July- September 1909 edition of The Annals of Psychical Science, Ochorowicz reports telekinetic phenomena and possibly teleportation phenomena occurring around Stanislawa Tomczyk:  "Several objects were brought from a room on the ground floor, a handful of snow fell on to the table, a metal seal was put into my pocket, a piece of charcoal was thrown at us from the stove, over three yards away, the large clock hanging on the wall was opened and stopped, the cord of an electric bell was shaken about and pressed and the bell set ringing, etc." Using the word "apport" which may refer to a mysterious appearance, Ochorowicz states this on page 372: "The apport of a dumb-bell, weighing two pounds, was effected yesterday without fatigue to a distance of more than three yards, and a handful of snow was brought from outside, by request, through closed doors."

Later in the same edition of The Annals of Psychical Science, we read a report on tests with the Italian medium Eusapia Palladino. The amount of time that Palladino was investigated by scientists was enormous. On page 401 we read "Eusapia Paladino gave forty-three sittings to the Institut General Psychologique during the years 1905, 1906, and 1907." Skeptics always try to to dismiss the case of Palladino by pointing out cases in which she broke rules she was supposed to follow, claiming that such cases were cheating. There is a reason why such claims have little relevance.

It was well-known by all her investigators that Eusapia would frequently break rules she was told to follow, if she was allowed to do so. There are various possible explanations for particular events of this type: (1) possibly she didn't understand the concept of needing to follow experimental rules, or (2) she might have been trying to trick people, or (3) she might have been often unable to follow rules because of being in a state of trance in which rule-following can't be expected. Whatever the reason was for her failure to follow experimental rules if allowed to do so, all of her main experimenters knew that she could not be counted on to willfully follow such rules; so they followed a habit of testing her under strict conditions in which cheating was impossible.  It was under such strict "cheat-proof" conditions that Palladino's most spectacular results were very often obtained. The fact is that many different experimenters tested Palladino under conditions in which cheating was not possible, and under such conditions all kinds of astonishing paranormal effects were observed.  Such paranormal effects were observed by many observers in good light, and very often photographed. The observers were very often scientists and medical men, many of whom seemed to hate observing what they observed. The observers included very distinguished figures such as Marie Curie. 

On page 404 of the publication, we have this account of paranormal effects occurring in the presence of Eusapia under tightly controlled conditions that should have made cheating impossible. 

"The two hands, feet, and knees of Eusapia · being controlled, the table is raised suddenly, all four feet leaving the ground, then two and again four feet; Eusapia closes her fists, and holds them towards the table, which is then completely raised · from the floor five times in succession, five raps being also given. It is again completely raised, whilst each of Eusapia's hands is on the head of a sitter. It is raised to the height of one foot from the floor and suspended in the air for seven seconds while Eusapia kept her hand on the table and a lighted candle was placed under the table; it was completely raised to a height of ten inches from the floor and suspended in the air for four seconds, M. Curie only having his hand on the table, Eusapia's hand being placed on top of his. It was completely raised when M. Curie had his hand on Eusapia's knees and Eusapia had one hand on the table and the other on M. Curie's hand, her feet tied to the chair on which she was sitting. Two and then four feet of the table were raised when a weight of ten kilogrammes was placed on the table, the hands, feet, and knees of Eusapia being thoroughly controlled. It was completely raised when touched by no one, not even Eusapia, she being under perfect control."

Again we have a report of the complete levitation of an untouched table, something that occurs in great abundance in the literature of the 19th century and early twentieth century, with very many distinguished observers reporting such an effect. 

On the next pages in this edition of the Annals of Psychical Science (the July- September 1909 edition) we have these reports of paranormal effects occurring around Eusapia:

• "At another complete levitation, all standing up, the table rose to eighteen inches from the floor: someone asked the table to break: one leg was broken" -- page 405.
• Both a curtain and Eusapia's gown "swelled out" as if blown by some supernatural wind -- page 406. 
• A variety of objects were mysteriously moved around or mysteriously broken -- page 407.
• "A three-legged wooden table, placed at a distance of a yard from Eusapia, and connected with a registering apparatus, came forward or went backwards at Eusapia's command; it was even pushed and thrown against the wall, Eusapia's feet being tied by laces to the legs of her chair." -- page 407.
• Various reports of witnesses being touched as if by invisible hands -- page 408. 
• "Blueish phosphorescent lights appeared and disappeared in turn about Eusapia's forehead, on her right side, on the black background of the curtain, and on the table." -- page 408. 
• "Lights were rising out of the centre of Eusapia's body" -- page 408.
• "Two very bright luminous specks appeared over Eusapia's head" -- page 409.
• "Forms of hands, luminous fingers, were seen at the same time that contacts were felt." -- page 409. 
• "Eusapia succeeded at discharging at a distance three electroscopes of different construction" -- page 412. 

There are very many distinguished witnesses in many different years who claimed to have seen the most inexplicable and paranormal phenomena in the presence of Eusapia Palladino. To read long accounts, you can read my posts here and here. On page 556 of a 1907 edition of The Annals of Psychical Science, we read this about scientific investigation of Eusapia Palladino:

"Naples. They have been perhaps more important than all that have preceded them, because conducted under even more severe scientific control. These seances took place in the laboratory of Professor Ph.  Bottazzi, Director of the Physiological Institute in the University of Naples. There were also present, Dr. G. Galeotti, Professor of General Pathology in the University of Naples; Dr. T. De Amicis, Professor of Dermatology and Syphilography at the same University, Dr. 0. Scarpa, Professor of Electro-Chemistry at the Polytechnic School in Naples; M. E. Jona, Senator, President of the Italian Electro. Technical Association; Dr. A. Cardarelli, Senator, Professor of Clinical Medicine in the University of Naples; M. N. Minutillo, Professor of Jurisprudence in the University. Mme. Bottazzi was also present at two seances, in the course of which mediumistic faculties revealed themselves in her-which disturbed her considerably. By the light of three lamps the table round which the experimenters were seated was seen to rise as high as nearly half a yard (4oc.) or to float in the air untouched, without any contact with Eusapia, for about twenty-five minutes; then apparitions of hands began, and of black heads, etc."

For a book length account of such phenomena, you can use the link here to read "Eusapia Palladino and Her Phenomena" by Hereward Carrington. Accounts of paranormal phenomena occurring around Eusapia Palladino sometimes appeared in mainstream newspapers. Using the links below, you can read a lengthy 1907 account of the investigations of Eusapia Palladino, which appeared in the mainstream Washington D.C. newspaper The Evening Star (a paper I once delivered to subscribers when I was a boy). The account says that several types of dramatic paranormal phenomena were witnessed by hundreds.

https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1907-09-22/ed-1/seq-37/

https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1907-09-22/ed-1/seq-38/

In 1910 there appeared the following newspaper account about one of the mediums discussed above:

I could have made a Part 19 for this "Spookiest Years" series by using material from my two posts below. But rather than repeating such material, I will merely refer the reader to such posts:

Early 20th Century Evidence for Paranormal Phenomena

More Early 20th Century Evidence for Paranormal Phenomena

Postscript: Below is another spooky account from the middle of this 1907-1909 time period:

You can read account at the link below:

https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85042242/1908-09-06/ed-1/seq-1/

Spookiest Years, Part 11: The Year 1873

In previous posts in this intermittently appearing "Spookiest Years" series on this blog (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here) I had looked at some very spooky events reported between 1848 and 1872. In this installment I will look at accounts of spooky events occurring during the year 1873.

In a letter to The Times of London in January of 1873,  quoted on pages 67 to 71 of the February 1873 magazine here, Alfred Russel Wallace (co-founder of the theory of evolution) stated the following about his investigation of paranormal phenomena:

"I began the investigation about eight years ago, and I esteem it a fortunate thing that at that time the more marvellous phenomena were far less common and less accessible than they are now, because I was led to experiment largely at my own house, and among friends whom I could trust, and was able to establish to my own satisfaction, by means of a great variety of tests, the occurrence of sounds and movements not traceable to any known or conceivable physical cause....Although I have heard a great many accusations of imposture, I have never detected it myself; and, although a large proportion of the more extraordinary phenomena are such, that, if impostures, they could only be performed by means of ingenious apparatus or machinery— none has ever been discovered. I consider it no exaggeration to say, that the main facts are now as well established and as easily verifiable as any of the more exceptionable phenomena of nature which are not yet reduced to law. They have a most important bearing on the interpretation of history, which is full of narratives of similar facts, and on the nature of life and intellect, on which physical science throws a very feeble and uncertain light; and it is my firm and deliberate belief that every branch of philosophy must suffer till they are honestly and seriously investigated, and dealt with as constituting an essential portion of the phenomena of human nature."

Around this time there were many claims of people having photos done in which unexplained figures seemed to appear, who the people being photographed said they recognized as some deceased person they had known.  Such cases were often cited as examples of "spirit photography." The average person should ignore all such reports unless they are first-hand testimony. The account below signed by a doctor and his secretary  appeared on page 292 in the July 4, 1873 edition of the publication Medium and Daybreak:

"While in London I visited the photograph rooms of F. A. Hudson 177 Palmer Terrace, Holloway Road, being a perfect stranger to that gentleman. I was accompanied by my secretary, Mr. T. R. Poulterer. We sat for pictures. The first spirit that came was Mr. Poulterer's mother ; the second, unknown ; the third, apparently only clouds: but  an account of which will be given hereafter, as a prophecy has been made in regard to this picture ; the fourth was distinctly recognised by both Mr. Poulterer and myself as the spirit of my former partner, E L. Hamilton, M.D. So distinct was the picture, that we recognised it from the negative. We would recommend Mr. Hudson to those investigating the spiritual philosophy." 

 J. Wm. Van Namee MD

 T. R. Poulterer, Sec."

The report above is hard-to-explain through any hypothesis of fraud, as the photographer apparently did not know the two men. Rodger I. Anderson's Psychics, Sensitives and Somnambules notes that Hudson "was never caught in any overt act of deception," although the authenticity of his photos was widely debated by those believing in other paranormal phenomena. A book on Hudson and his photos (one I have not read) is the one here. 

In the previous post in this series ("Spookiest Years: The Year 1872") I had quoted quite a few newspaper articles from 1872 that had documented the evolution of the phenomena at seances of Florence Cook. The phenomenon reported in 1872 would typically consist of something like this: (1) Florence Cook being tied up in a small wooden cabinet with a circular hole at its front, often with the knots being sealed; (2) the appearance of phantom faces at the cabinet hole, often a "Katie King" face looking different in several aspects from that of Florence; (3) the later opening of the cabinet door to reveal Florence in an entranced state, with the knots still undisturbed and the seals undisturbed.  The reports seemed to show a progression of the phenomenon, with witnesses reporting things such as hands of the mysterious Katie King phantom protruding from the cabinet hole. 

In the March 1, 1873 edition of The Spiritualist, page 119, we have an account by G. R. Tapp describing a seance of Florence Cook. Tapp reports the figure of Katie King coming out of the cabinet, and walking around and talking. He says, "The resemblance of her features to those of Miss Cook (which has so often formed the subject of discussion and comment) was not now perceptible."  This is one of the earliest reports of a full-body appearance of the Katie King phantom, one that would be repeated many times in the coming months by many other witnesses. A similar account appeared in the March 15, 1873 edition of the same publication, by a B. W. Pycock describing on page 134 in great detail a seance of March 3, 1873. On page 133 of the same edition we have a similar account by J. C. Luxmore describing the same seance of March 3, 1873. He states this:

"When Katie appeared in full length outside the cabinet, her feet and legs were bare, whereas, of course, Miss Cook had on boots and stockings. Again, that Katie was clothed in a long and rather full white robe, such as Miss Cook could not possibly have concealed about her person, especially as her figure happens to be very small. I carefully examined every portion of the cabinet, and nothing of the sort was in it."

In the same edition we have seven named witnesses (all giving their names and addresses) stating that they saw a full-sized phantom of Katie King during a seance with Florence Cook in which she was tied up in a small cabinet, with the knots sealed:

"This evening, March 12th, 1873, we, the undersigned, were present at a seance at Mr. Cook’s. In the first part of the sitting, the full form calling herself Katie came out of the cabinet, draped in white, while Miss Cook’s hands were securely bound together with tape and sealed....At the close of each sitting the tapes and seals on Miss Cook’s hands were intact, and were then cut off and taken away by two of the visitors." 

We have here testimony meeting very high standards of evidence. The account has been published on March 15, 1873, and describes events witnessed only three days earlier, on March 12. The account is dated on the same day the witnesses saw the events, meaning the report is of something just observed. In addition, there are seven named witnesses. The testimony typically given in today's scientific papers (typically passive voice accounts of observations made by one or more unspecified witnesses claiming to have seen something at an unspecified date) usually are inferior from the standpoint of meeting highest standards of witness testimony.  

In the April 1, 1873 edition of The Spiritualist, on page 152, we have this account:

"Spirit Forms—Last Sunday week, at a seance at Mr. Henry Cook's, at Hackney, Mrs. Bassett and Miss Cook were the mediums, and they sat in the cabinet for spirit forms. The observers present were Dr. J. E. Purdon, Sandown, Isle of Wight; Mr. Bassett, Thornham-Grove, Stratford; Mr. G. II. Tapp, Queen Margaret’s-grove, Mildmay-Park ; and Mr. and Mrs. Blyton, 74, Navarino-road, Dalston. Miss Cook's spirit guide 'Katie,' came out of the cabinet at full length, robed in white, in a good light. On giving her subdued light she was able to walk round the room, and to touch each sitter in turn. Mrs. Bassett told the company that Miss Cook had been entranced all the time, with her head lying on her (Mrs. Bassett’s) lap; that Katie appeared suddenly, and frequently, entered and left the cabinet; finally, she came in again, stood by Miss Cook, and slowly faded away." 

In the May 15, 1873 edition of The Spiritualist, page 200,  we have a long account of attempts to photograph the mysterious phantom Katie King. We have an assertion signed by five witnesses (Amelia Corner, Caroline Corner, J. C. Luxmore, G. R. Tapp and William H. Harrison) stating on May 7, 1873 that what they describe as "the spirit 'Katie King' " was successfully photographed, and they she walked around and talked at length. We are given an artwork and told that this is a copy of one of the photos taken. The artwork is below (the rather poor visual quality apparently being due to a photo being taken of the old newspaper):

A matching artwork (also identified as a copy of a photograph) appears at the front of Epes Sargent's 1876 book The Proof Palpable of Immortality, which has many pages dealing with the Florence Cook seances discussed above, and similar sessions of the next year.  The artwork is below:

 

The portrait above from the May 15, 1873 edition of The Spiritualist (along with a smaller woodcut in the same edition) seem to be the first images of Katie King to appear in print.  In the June 1, 1873 edition of The Spiritualist, page 217, we are told this:

"Last Wednesday evening, at a seance at Mr. Henry Cook’s, Haekney, four more positive photographs on glass were taken by the magnesium light, of the materialised spirit form of Katie King. One of the Daily Telegraph correspondents, the author of the Unorthodox London letters, bound the hands of Miss Cook (the medium) together with tape, sealed the knot between the wrists with wax, stamped by his signet ring, then he fastened her to the floor inside the cabinet with thc long end of the tape from the wrists, and brought the same end of the tape out of the cabinet, and tied it to a chair. The tapes and seals were perfect at the close of the seance.  The witnesses were also Dr. J. M. Gully, of Malvern ; Miss Katherine Poyntz (whose vocal abilities are so well known) ; the two Misses Withall, of Brixton ; Mr. II. Withall, Mr. G. 11, Tapp, and Mr. Harrison."

In the November 1, 1873 edition of The Spiritualist, page 381, we read more about recent seances with Florence Cook, involving the appearance of the mysterious phantom Katie King. 

"At a seance held October 7th, Mr. C. Blackburn and Miss Blackburn of Manchester, also Dr. Gully, were present. Miss Blackburn and another lady thoroughly searched Miss Cook (who requested that they should do so) in a bedroom, after which they accompanied her to the cabinet which had been thoroughly searched just previously. Her hands were then secured with tape, by which also she was fastened to the floor in the cabinet. All the knots were sealed, with signet rings. The spirit came out of the cabinet with bare feet, robed from head to foot in white, as usual, in a good light. She talked for about an hour as usual, entering and leaving the cabinet occasionally; once she walked about a yard from the cabinet, towards the centre of the room."

We then read this, indicating that very many named witnesses saw effects like those described above:

"Last Tuesday there was a seance at Mr. Luxmoore's house, 16, Gloucester-square, Hyde-park. Among the guests were Mr. and Mrs. Mankiewiez, Pembridge-gardens, Bayswater ; Mr. and Mrs. Cook, of Hackney ; Mr. H. M. Dunphy, Barrister-at-law, Essex-court, Temple ; M. Alexandre Aksakof, of St. Petersburgh ; Mrs. Whyte, 33, Richmond-road, Bayswater ; Mrs. Corner, Miss Corner, and Mr. T. Corner, of Connaught-square, Haekney ; Mr. Stanhope Templeman Speer, M.D., of Alexandra-road, St. John's-wood ; Mr. G. R. Tapp, 18, Queen Margaret's-grove, Mildmay-park ; Mr. J. M. Gully, M.D., Streatham ; and Mr. W. H. Harrison, Hernehill. The darkened back drawing-room was used as a cabinet, a curtain being suspended between the two rooms. Miss Cook was bound and sealed as usual, a seal belonging to Dr. Speer being used ; the medium was fastened to the floor, with sealed tape, just behind the curtain. The seance proceeded as usual, Katie in one instance turning round to show her back to the company...The tapes and seals were intact at the close of each seance, and the tapes were stretched before use. "

In the November 14, 1873 edition of The Spiritualist, page 396, William Oxley (in a statement dated November 4, 1873) describes a similar seance ("at the house of Mr. Cook") involving Florence Cook on October 31, 1873. We read this:

"Miss Cook, the medium, was securely fastened by tapes going round each wrist, and knots sealed with my signet; the tape round the waist ' ditto,' and brought through a strong staple in the floor of the cabinet, thence conveyed across a side table, so that any movement by the medium would have been instantly detected. A lamp was burning the whole evening, with the exception of once, when it was accidentally turned out by Mr. Tapp. The light was sufficient for all present to see each other and every thing that was in the room. That Miss Cook and Katie King are not the same person was evident to my mind from the following facts :—Katie appeared full three or four inches taller than Miss Cook ; the arms, hands, and feet, which were all bare, were also longer and stouter in proportion. Katie, I particularly noticed, had hair of a lightish brown tint, and which projected beyond the encircling head-dress quite straight, and half-way down the back, while Miss Cook's hair is very dark and arranged in long profuse curls and ringlets. As I saw Katie two minutes before Miss Cook came out of the trance state, and was liberated by cutting the tapes, the seals on which were intact, I am sure any lady will bear me out in the assertion that it would not be possible in so short a period to change the hair from straight to ringlets or long curls.  Katie came out of the cabinet into the midst of the circle at least six or seven times, and conversed with most of those who were present. On one occasion she went to the side-table, and taking up some paper in the presence of all, wrote two messages, one of which she presented to me, and which is now in my  possession; this was done in a good light and witnessed by all who were present.

On one occasion, while Katie was in the centre of the room, we heard a slight moan inside the cabinet, when immediately she returned, saying it was necessary to keep her medium asleep. Mr. Luxmoore put his hands and arms inside the cabinet and adjusted the medium, who had slightly fallen on one side of her chair ; this done I was summoned by Katie to leave my seat and go and examine the tapes. I did so, and felt the tapes inside the cabinet; these were all tight. I was astonished during this episode to find that Katie had vanished, for we could see inside the cabinet, while Mr. Luxmoore was adjusting the medium, but before I had time to resume my seat, Katie asked me if I had examined the tapes, and if I was satisfied. Of course my reply was in the affirmative." 

In the December 1873 edition of The Spiritual Magazine  on page 555 we have this account of a seance at the house of  J. C. Luxmoore, Esq., 16, Gloucester Square, Hyde Park, on November 18th, 1873:

"The fourteen ladies and gentleman who formed a horseshoe circle in front of the cabinet could see each other the whole evening. A low chair was placed in the cabinet, upon which Miss Cook, the medium, was seated, and Mr. Luxmoore invited Mr. B., of Manchester, and myself to witness the tying and securing of Miss Cook. Her hands were first tied together with a piece of tape, the ends of which were sewn and sealed with wax, and then the tape was passed round her  waist and tightly knotted and sewn and sealed again. The tape was then passed through a staple in the floor, leaving a slack of about a foot, and there knotted again, which restrained Miss Cook from standing up to her full height, and then the same piece of tape was brought into the room m which we were seated, nearly up to our feet, where it remained undisturbed to the last. In this way the most satisfactory proof was given that whoever the figure of Katey may be, it was not Miss Cook, who lay during the whole stance, as we had proved to us by the undisturbed line of tape, and by Mrs. Honywood being invited to enter the cabinet by the spirit the instant she, Katey disappeared; which Mrs. Honywood did, and there she saw Miss Florence Cook asleep, leaning over nearly to the floor,— the ties on her hands and waist sealed as they had been left at the commencement of the sitting, from which, as soon as she awoke, she was relieved by cutting them. Here we all saw within an instant or two, this young girl recovering from her trance, dressed in black, wearing stockings and spring boots, having just lost sight of Katey, the spirit, who was clothed in pure white garments, and whose feet were naked."

In accounts such as these we have quite a few characteristics of very good evidence. The accounts are extremely explicit, giving all relevant details. The accounts are firsthand accounts by named witnesses (giving their addresses also) in dated statements mentioning when the event was witnessed. In most cases we can see that the account was written on the same day as the witnessed events or only a few days after the witnessed events, and that the account was published in a newspaper or magazine within a few days after the account was written. Accounts such as these have much higher value as evidence than accounts of people recalling something they saw months or years ago.  The smaller the time interval between an account and when the event account occurred, the more reliable the evidence is.  People are often sentenced to long jail terms on the basis of much weaker evidence, such as someone recalling in a court something he saw months ago or years ago. Another strong aspect of good evidence here is that quite a few different witnesses on different dates and in different homes report seeing the same thing: (1) Florence Cook being tied up in a "cabinet" (usually a small wooden cabinet, but sometimes a sealed-off area of a  room), with seals placed on the knots; (2) the appearance of a mysterious Katie King phantom who comes out of the cabinet, having an appearance different from Florence; (3) the disappearance of this Katie King followed by an opening of the cabinet, with Florence still tied up in the sealed knots.  These three things are reported occurring in not just one home, but different homes. 

In the December 12, 1873 edition of The Spiritualist, we have a description of what happened at a December 9, 1873 seance involving Florence Cook.  We read this:

"This evening at Miss Cook’s seance, during the appearance of what purported to be the spirit ' Katie,' a man, named Volckman, rose up, grasped her round the waist with both arms, and tried to throw her down with his feet. Mr. Tapp and Mr. Comer seized the man who thus broke the conditions which we were all admitted on the understanding we would keep. 'Katie' instantly extricated herself from his clutches, and aided by Mr. Luxmoore, was in a moment back in the cabinet. After a delay of about five minutes, during which Katie gave earnest instructions to the sitters, the cabinet was opened and Miss Cook found in black dress, and boots, with the tape tightly round her waist as at the beginning of the seance, the knot sealed as at first with the signet-ring of the Earl of Caithness, and sewn underneath the seal with thread, as it had been sewn before the seance by Mr. Luxmoore."

In the next edition (December 26, 1873) William Volckman gives his account of the incident:

"In reply I have to state, that having for forty minutes carefully observed and scrutinised the face, features, gestures, size, style, and peculiarities of utterance of the so-called spirit, the conviction irresistibly forced itself upon me that no ghost, but the medium, Miss Florence Cook, herself, was before the circle. I perceived also an occasional tip-toeing by the young lady as if to alter her stature, and was much struck by the utter puerility of her remarks throughout the seance. I am confirmed in my conviction, as above stated, by the facts that the struggling ghost had to be forcibly extricated from my grasp, and afterwards to be 'aided' into her cabinet by a Justice of the Peace."

Although sometimes quoted by the very rare skeptics who discuss the case of Florence Cook, the incident provides nothing to discredit the Katie King phenomenon, other than one man's negative impression. If you read the long 1873 accounts of the Katie King appearances, partially quoted above and fully readable in many of the 1873 editions of The Spiritualist, you will not hear claims of Katie King being some immaterial translucent ghost who could not be grasped, but instead accounts of a mysteriously appearing solid form. For example, in the June 1, 1873 quote above, Katie King is referred to as a "materialized spirit form" not some immaterial ghost. In reports of later tests by a doctor and Sir William Crookes, we are told the same mysteriously appearing "Katie King" would have her pulse measured and her skin temperature felt. So some possible brief clutching of this Katie King by a skeptic does nothing to discredit the phenomenon. In the December 26, 1873 edition of The Spiritualist we are told by a witness that Volkman's clutching attempt was a matter of no more than about six seconds. Often the witnesses would report Katie King looking much like Florence Cook, and often the witnesses would report substantial differences in appearance. 

On page 534 of the December 1873 edition of The Spiritual Magazine we have this account of mysterious appearances during a seance occurring in October 1873. 

"Seance at 1, Morland Villas, Highbury Hill Park, October 23. Present: Professor Aksakoff, Mr. Serjeant Cox, Mr. Volkman, Mr. and Miss Shorter, Miss Ingram, Miss Houghton, Mrs. Fisher, and Mr. and Mrs. Guppy. We sat for about half-an-hour, the door locked, all hands joined, and light extinguished; during which several objects were thrown upon the table. On lighting the gas, these were found to consist of a stone, a knitting needle, a potato, a turnip, a carrot, a Spanish onion, thirteen dahlias, six apples, three pears, four walnuts, two almonds, twelve mussel-plums, a lemon, three gold fishes, a water-mussel, a lobster, two eels, and a knife and fork. The dahlias were wet with the rain which had just fallen ; the fishes were all alive; the gold fishes and the mussel were brought from an aquarium in an adjoining room ; the rest of the things were not in the house or grounds. A stone had been asked for by Miss Houghton, and the one brought was wet and soiled, as if picked up from the street. One of the eels was placed around the neck of Mrs. Guppy, and the other was drawn over the face of Mrs. Fisher, and the screaming which followed led to the gas being lit, and brought the seance to an end. Mr. Volkman had asked for a vegetable marrow, and after the seance, was over, and we had risen from our chairs, a large marrow fell at our feet in view of all present, and in full gaslight. Just before the seance began, at the suggestion of Mrs. Guppy, the room was carefully searched, so that it can be certified, from thorough examination of the room and its contents, that these things were not then in it."

The account has no named author, which subtracts a little from its value as evidence. The same edition lists a similar occurrence at a seance of October 28, 1873. On page 431 of the September 1873 edition of The Spiritual Magazine we have a similar account of dramatic mysterious appearances inside a seance room with locked window and doors, occurring on August 14, 1873, with the author (Margaret Fisher) reporting the appearance of " six cups and six saucers, six tea spoons, two knives, six tea plates, a jug of milk, loaf of bread uncut, basin with sugar, plate of butter garnished with parsley, a large twelve cup teapot with tea in it ready for infusion, two beautiful Madeira cakes, and a large dish containing several pounds weight of beautiful English hothouse grapes."   On page 453 of the October 1873 edition of the The Spiritual Magazine, we have an account by Margaret Fisher of a recent 1873 seance. The report claims that "after seeing to the perfect security of doors and windows, we sat down to the table, extinguished the lights, and...on the large table we found seven pounds weight of plums, and six pounds’ weight of fine grapes, and twelve pounds of pears, most tastefully garnished with leaves and flowers, and a dessert plate placed before each of our party." Margaret follows with a mention of the mysterious appearance of a horse, but the description is too vague to be worth quoting. 

In an 1873 publication we have this interesting claim by Benjamin Coleman:

"It will be recollected by those who have read my American Notes, that Miss Laura Edmonds, daughter of Judge Edmonds, told me that her spirit in natural form had more than once appeared to friends at a distance; and Miss Mapes, daughter of Professor Mapes, assured me that her friend, Miss Edmonds, had appeared to her, and delivered messages, though bodily they were living twenty miles apart."

When Objects Seem to Mysteriously Appear

In the literature of the paranormal, the term "apports" refer to objects that seem to mysteriously appear at a particular location. On page 63 of his book A Theory of the Mechanism of Survival: The Fourth Dimension and Its Applications, Whatley Carrington introduces the topic:

"If we have a closed room, of which all the windows, doors, and other apertures have been carefully shut and sealed, it is clearly impossible to introduce any solid object into that room, by normal means, without breaking the seals and opening one of the apertures. The same would apply to a closed, locked and sealed box. But the literature of Psychical research abounds with instances where objects are alleged to have been introduced into such closed and sealed rooms and boxes or removed from them, which comes to the same thing without breaking the seals. This is the phenomenon of 'apport' properly so called and it forms a special case of the more general class of 'apparent penetration of matter by matter.' "

An apparent observation of an apport was recorded by Alfred Russel Wallace, one of the two fathers of the theory of evolution.  Wallace records the following event occurring in his own home, referring to a Miss Nichols as Miss N:

"The first time this occurred was at my own house, at a very early stage of her development. All present were my own friends. Miss N. had come early to tea, it being mid-winter, and she had been with us in a very warm gas-lighted room four hours before the flowers appeared. The essential fact is, that upon a bare table in a small room closed and dark (the adjoining room and passage being well lighted), a quantity of flowers appeared, which were not there when we put out the gas a few minutes before. They consisted of anemones, tulips, chrysanthemums, Chinese primroses, and several ferns. All were absolutely fresh, as if just gathered from a conservatory. They were covered with a fine cold dew. Not a petal was crumpled or broken, not the most delicate point or pinnule of the ferns was out of place. I dried and preserved the whole, and have attached to them the attestation of all present that they had no share, as far as they knew, in bringing the flowers into the room. I believed at the time, and still believe that it was absolutely impossible for Miss N. to have concealed them so long, to have kept them so perfect, and, above all, to produce them covered throughout with a most beautiful coating of dew, just like that which collects on the outside of a tumbler when filled with very cold water on a hot day."

Samuel Guppy gave this testimony of seeing something similar:

"First, the room was searched by the gentlemen while Mrs. Guppy was being undressed and re-dressed in the presence of Mrs. Trollope, every article of her dress being closely examined. We sat at the table, Mrs. Guppy firmly held, both hands, by Mr. Trollope and his wife, while Colonel Harvey and Miss Blayden held my hands and touched Mrs. Guppy's. In about ten minutes all exclaimed, ' I smell flowers,' and a shower of flowers came. On lighting the candle the whole of Mrs. Guppy's and Mr. Trollope's hands and arms were found covered with jonquil flowers. The smell was quite overpowering. The doors had been locked, the window fastened. Had a bunch of jonquils been in the room before the stance it would have been detected by the smell."

In a very interesting book he wrote, Charles Tweedale records seeing an apparent apport, a jar of ointment that seemed to appear out of thin air:

"Sunday,  13th  November  1910. — Mother  had  sustained  a cut  on  the  head,  and  she,  my  wife  and  I were  all  in  the dining-room  at  9.20  p.m.  We  were  all  close  together, mother  seated  in  a chair,  self  and  wife  standing.  No  one else  was  in  the  room.  My  wife  was  in  the  act  of  parting mother’s  hair  with  her  fingers  to  examine  the  cut,  and  I was looking  on.  At  that  instant  I happened  to  raise  my  eyes and  I saw  something  issue  from  a point  close  to  the  ceiling in  the  comer  of  the  room  over  the  window  and  distant  from my  wife  (who  had  her  back  to  it)  three  and  a quarter yards,  and  four  and  a quarter  yards  from  myself,  facing  it. It  shot  across  the  room  close  to  the  ceiling,  and  struck  the wall  over  the  piano,  upon  which  it  then  fell,  making  the strings  vibrate,  and  so  on  to  the  floor  on  which  it  rolled.  I ran  and  picked  it  up,  and  found,  to  my  astonishment,  that it  was  a jar  of  ointment  which  mother  used  especially  for cuts  and  bruises  and  which  she  kept  locked  up  in  her  wardrobe. The  intention  was  evident,  the  ointment  was  for  the wound."

On another page of the book, Tweedale makes this remarkable claim:

"The  apparent  passage  of  objects  through  the  walls  and ceilings  has  many  times  been  observed  by  myself  and  the various  members  of  my  household.  On  two  occasions  an article  composed  of  glass  and  metal  was  observed  to  float lightly  down  from  the  ceiling  just  like  a leaf  on  a summer’s breeze." 

On another page of the book Tweedale makes a similar claim:

"On  another  occasion  (17th  January  1911)  a shower  of articles  came  apparently  through  the  ceiling  and  fell  upon the  tea-table,  in  the  presence  of  six  witnesses,  and  in  a good  light.  On  11th  November  1913  a stick  three  feet ten  inches  long  came  slowly  through  the  solid  plaster ceiling  in  presence  of  my  daughter  Marjorie  and  the  servant, in  full  lamplight,  and  fell  on  the  table,  leaving  no  trace  of its  passage ; and  again,  on  29th  January  1911,  a solid article  came  apparently  through  the  ceiling  in  our  bedroom, in  presence  of  myself  and  wife,  in  broad  daylight,  and slowly  descended  on  to  the  pillow.  All  these  objects proved  to  be  objective  and  real  when  we  came  to  pick them  up.  These  phenomena  have  often  been  observed in  the  presence  of  powerful  psychics,  or  where  psychic influences  have  been  strong.  Robert  Dale  Owen,  the cultured  United  States  Consul  at  Naples,  and  an  ardent materialist  until  turned  from  his  materialism  by  the  force of  these  evidences,  describes  how  on  one  occasion  he  and six  others  saw  a beautiful  female  figure  emerge  from  the wall  of  a long  drawing-room,  glide  to  where  they  were  sitting, drop  into  his  hand  what  proved  to  be  a rose , and  disappear through  the  wall  at  the  opposite  end  of  the  room."

One encyclopedia states this:

"Apport phenomena is still reliably reported. One of the most renowned modern psychics producing apports is Roberto Campagni in Italy. The Genonanese physicist Alfredo Ferraro states that he has seen thirty apports materialized by Campagni and has established beyond doubt that no trickery is involved."

On page 63 of his book A Theory of the Mechanism of Survival: The Fourth Dimension and Its Applications, Whatley Carrington explains why seemingly impossible apport phenomena may be very possible indeed as long as we assume a fourth dimension of space:

"'Rooms' and 'boxes' which would appear to be absolutely closed to a two [dimensional] space being would be perfectly open to us who live in a three [dimensional] space world. Just as every point in the interior of a two-space figure is absolutely open in the direction of the third dimension, so we must suppose from analogy that the interior of a closed three space figure a box or room is perfectly accessible from the direction of the fourth dimension. Consequently on the hypothesis that four-space actually exists as a reality, and is peopled by intelligent beings, possessed of the necessary 'apparatus' whatever that may be the explanation of the phenomenon of apport is quite simple. We have only to suppose that the object in question is moved out of the containing space, in the direction of the fourth dimension, and then put down again into three space outside the box or room in which it originally was. Or conversely, when it is a question of introducing an object into a closed space. During transit, the object would, of course, be located entirely outside of three-space."

Page 216 of a 1907 document states this:

"A favourite performance of the unseen entities was to bring objects into the room from the other apartments, or from outside altogether. One of the pleasantest of these ' apports '— as the French experimenters have appropriately named objects so strangely produced— was a lovely bunch of azaleas which were found lying on the floor covered with dew, having all the appearance of being freshly gathered. Amongst other apports brought at other times were tomatoes, tobacco, hot cinders which didn't bum anybody, and Mr. Thompson’s revolver, with cartridges for the same...The modus operandi is still for the greater part a mystery; but an inkling as to its solution is to be found associated with what is known as ' the fourth dimension.'  The essential principle is the passage of matter through matter, the truth of which has been proved to demonstration, although at a first glance it appears to be an impossibility. It is as if the apports were first reduced to something resembling a gaseous form, and in that attenuated condition passed through the solid walls or doors of the apartment in which the operators are sitting, and then are brought together again in the solid form by their inherent force of gravity, or some external force applied by unseen agency....We may conceive a process by which any article may have the speed of its atomic vibration so increased as to become invisible to mortal eyes. In that attenuated condition it is easy to suppose the limitations of three-dimensional space removed and the object passing without obstruction or difficulty through the material objects of greater density, which, on the lower plane, would block its path. Thus we should have the ' passage of matter through matter ' accounted for ; and this accomplished, the lowering of the rate of vibration would speedily restore the apported article to its normal state and to normal vision."

We think of matter as being solidly packed, but according to modern science only the nucleus of an atom is solidly packed. Almost all of an atom is empty space, and the electrons of an atom orbit far away from the nucleus, just as planets orbit far away from their suns. Given such facts, it does not seem so impossible that there could occur events such as solid objects passing through locked doors or solid walls. 

Let us consider a two-dimensional creature, like those depicted in the classic imaginative work Flatland by Edwin Abbott. To such a creature, it would seem very possible for some creature (represented by the circle) to escape from the box on the left of the visual below, by going out the exit area on the left. But to such a creature, it might seem impossible to escape from the box on the right, there being no such exit area. 

But to a three-dimensional being, this "impossibility" vanishes.  For such a being, the ring in the box on the right can be removed by simply lifting it up in the air, and taking it out of the box. Similarly, to a four-dimensional being, moving solid matter through solid matter (what seems like an impossibility to us) may be as easy as lifting a ring out of a box with an open top.  But just as a two-dimensional being could never imagine how a ring could be removed from a box by lifting the ring up, we three-dimensional beings might never be able to imagine how solid matter could be passed through solid matter, by some route conceivable only to four-dimensional beings. 

I have never watched an object as it materialized out of thin air. But (as described here) I have observed some cases that seemed to be the next best thing to such an observation. Once a pair of keys that I was never able to identify seemed to bounce off my lap and fall down a set of stairs I was sitting at the top of. At another time I was perplexed by what seemed like coins mysteriously appearing in my apartment. I decided to rigorously investigate the matter, by first making sure that every single coin in my apartment was in a container. Immediately after very carefully double-checking that there were no loose coins anywhere in my apartment, I went to pour some lemon juice into a cup of tea. I then saw a coin rolling up from behind me, the coin rolling on its edge. I was alone in the apartment when this happened. On another day (the day of a sister's death) I discovered two scrolls on my floor, with their position being utterly inexplicable. Neither of the only two people in the apartment at the time (me and my wife) had moved the scrolls from where they had been for years, buried deep inside a drawer several meters away, a drawer no one had touched that day.  

I received an email announcing an event called "SSE-PA Breakthrough 2022," sponsored by the Society for Scientific Exploration and the Parapsychological Association on June 23-26, 2022. One of the presentations will be entitled "Coin-Based Apports: Advancements on Multiple Agency Anomalous Events." On the page here we read this description of a case that will be discussed, one in which continuously-running cameras apparently caught some anomalous activity:

"The case at hand develops in Mexico City, surrounding a married couple, including a man (56 years old) and a woman (45 years old) whom we will refer to as HM and LP, respectively, both unaffiliated to mediumship, and with presumably recurrent apports since 2016. The apported objects are usually well-preserved coins from Mexico and other countries, but medals, dead flowers, and even apples have been reported to appear as well....At least 61 apported coins have been documented inside their houses since the onset of the phenomena, and another 38 since the installation of the cameras. Nonetheless, fruits and withered plants have also been reported or recorded, as well as raps, whispers, scents, and orbs."

As astonishing as apport phenomena are, I do not regard them as being the most mystifying things I have ever learned about.  The wonder of morphogenesis that is the physical origin of every human is a marvel more mystifying and astonishing.  Once you very carefully study the relevant facts and realize (contrary to misleading statements commonly made) that there is no blueprint or recipe for making a human in either a DNA molecule or a speck-sized ovum, and also the fact that blueprints cannot construct complex things,  you may begin to realize that the nine-month progression from a speck-sized ovum to the supremely organized and very hierarchically structured state of an internally dynamic human body is a marvel of origination far more impressive than flowers mysteriously appearing on a table during some seance or a coin rolling up from behind you when you are alone in your home.   

No Committee Ever Got More Shocking Testimony

"Whenever the scientific men of any age have denied the facts of investigators on a priori groimds, they have always been wrong."

    Alfred Russel Wallace

A committee to investigate the paranormal was formed by the Dialectical Society of London, founded in 1867. In January 1869 the society resolved, “That the Council be requested to appoint a Committee in conformity with Bye-law VII., to investigate the Phenomena alleged to be Spiritual Manifestations, and to report thereon.”  The full 400-page report can be read here. The report issued by the Committe is summarized on pages 138-149 of the Psychical Review (Volume 1, Number 2, November 1892).  

The Committee was composed mainly of people skeptical about paranormal phenomena. Early in the report we read this:

"Of the members of your Sub-Committee about four-fifths entered upon the investigation wholly sceptical as to the reality of the alleged phenomena, firmly believing them to be the result either of imposture or of delusion or of involuntary muscular action. It was only by irresistible evidence, under conditions that precluded the possibility of either of these solutions, and after trial and test many times repeated, that the most sceptical of your Sub-committee were slowly and reluctantly convinced that the phenomena exhibited in the course of their protracted inquiry were veritable facts."

The Committee hoped to get a lot of negative evidence, but was disappointed. In the Psychical Review we read the following:

"Notices were printed in the daily papers inviting all interested persons to meet the committee and testify to events within their own knowledge, and a special invitation was given to all who had detected fraudulent manifestations or had seen such exposures, or who knew of any ways and means of detecting or of perpetrating frauds of that kind. Of the latter class of witnesses none appeared, except one man who attempted to prove by a priori reasoning that the manifestations were of the devil and were necessarily fraudulent!... Practically no evidence was offered against the reality of the phenomena." 

On this topic the Committee report states the following:

"Your Committee also specially invited the attendance of persons who had publicly ascribed the the phenomena to imposture or delusion. Your Committee, however, while successful in procuring the evidence of believers in the phenomena and in their supernatural origin, almost wholly failed to obtain evidence from those who attributed them to fraud or delusion."

A very distinguished Earl (called under British customs the Master of Lindsay or Lord Lindsay) reported a paranormal elongation of the body of the medium Daniel Dunglas Home, and something else equally strange involving a piano-like instrument:

"I saw a grand pianoforte raised in the air about four inches, without any noise; and subsequently the notes were struck, although it was locked and the key taken away. On another occasion I saw Mr. Home, in a trance, elongated eleven inches. I measured him standing up against the wall, and marked the place."

A Miss Douglas also testified to have seen the same paranormal elongation of Home. The effect is particularly notable as it is apparently impossible to fake. 

In the Committee report the same Lord Lindsay testified as having seen an apparition of Home's wife:

"A few minutes after, I saw an apparition which seemed like a column of vapour or an indistinct shadow, which grew gradually into a definite shape, and I then saw the form of a woman standing en profile to me. She stood between me and Home, I saw the features plainly, and should have recognised them again anywhere. She seemed to be attired in a long flowing gown which hung without belt from the shoulders. The figure seemed quite solid, I could not see through it, I spoke to Home, he said he saw her distinctly, and that it was the apparition of his late wife ; she often came to him. She moved and stood by his side. She then walked to the right of the bed and rather behind it, but not out of my sight, and then slowly faded away like a column of vapour. The next morning I found an album, and on looking over the pictures carelessly, I saw a photograph exactly like the figure I had seen. Mrs, Jencken said it was the likeness of the late Mrs. Home."

The same Lord Lindsay provided this remarkable testimony of Home levitating through one window, and floating back through an adjacent window:

"I saw the levitations in Victoria Street, when Home floated out of the window ; he first went into a trance and valked about uneasily; he then went into the hall ; while he was away, I heard a voice whisper in my ear, ' He will go out of one window and in at another.' I was alarmed and shocked at the idea of so dangerous an experiment. I told the company what I had heard, and we then waited for Home's return. Shortly after he entered the room, I heard the window go up, but I could not see it, for I sat with my back to it. I, however, saw his shadow on the opposite wall ; he went out of the window in a horizontal position, and I saw him outside the other window (that in the next room) floating in the air. It was eighty-five feet from the ground. There was no balcony along the windows, merely a strong course an inch and a-half wide ; each window had a small plant stand, but there was no connection between them. I have no theory to explain these things. I have tried to find out how they are done, but the more I studied them, the more satisfied was I that they could not be explained by mere mechanical trick. I have had the fullest opportunity for investigation."

A Mr. Jones gave similar testimony. On page 212 of the Committee report we read this testimony by Jones:

" I have seen Mr. Home's levitations. I saw him rise and float horizontally across the window. We all saw him clearly. He passed right across just as a person might float upon the water. At my request he was floated back again."

Another witness states this on page 117:

"The levitations of Mr. Home are so well known, that I need not more than allude to them — upwards of one hundred levitations have taken place during his lifetime, of which perhaps the most remarkable was the carrying of his body out of one window of the third floor, at Ashley House, into an adjoiuiug window; and the lifting of his body raised 3 or 4 feet off the ground at Adare Manor for 20 or 30 yards. As regards the lifting of heavy objects, these I can testify to myself; I have seen the semi-grand [piano] at my house raised horizontally 18 inches off the ground, and kept suspended in space two or three minutes. I have also witnessed a square table being lifted one foot off the ground, no one touching or near to it, at the time, a friend present seated on the carpet and watching the phenomena all the time. I have also seen a table lifted clear over head, 6 feet off the ground ; but what may appear more remarkable, I have witnessed an accordion suspended in space for 10 or 20 minutes, - and played by an invisible agency."

The observations about Home are similar to those made by the very accomplished scientist Sir William Crookes, who reported many inexplicable occurrences involving Home (and no fraud) after testing Home in Crookes' own house.  Home was not at all the only person who reliable witnesses have described as levitating. You can read  accounts of other people levitating in my post "Levitation Reports: The Best Cases."  On the page here you can read eyewitness accounts by six named witnesses  who claimed to have seen Margaret Rule levitate around 1697. 

The Committee also received testimony about what are called apports -- objects that seem to mysteriously appear in a paranormal manner. Below from pages 153-154 is very dramatic testimony about such a phenomenon, given by a Miss Houghton, who describes the mysterious appearance of many types of fruits spontaneously requested by individuals in a group of 18 people:

"On the 3rd of October, 1867, I went to a dark seance at Miss Nicholl's own house, on which occasion there were eighteen ladies and gentlemen present, with all of whom I am acquainted...By raps the spirits desired me to wish for a fruit, and I chose a banana, which they promised me, and then said, ' Now all may wish,' which they did, for various fruits, sometimes having their wishes negatived, but in most instances, agreed to. The fruits were then brought in the order in which they had been wished for. One lady said, ' Why do you not ask for vegetables ; an onion, for instance? and even as she said it, the onion came into her lap. I will give you a list of the various things brought : a banana, two oranges, a bunch of white grapes, a bunch of black grapes, a cluster of filberts, three walnuts, about a dozen damsons, a slice of candied pine apple, three figs, two apples, an onion, a peach, some almonds, four very large grapes, three dates, a potato, two large pears, a pomegranate, two crystallised greengages, a pile of dried ciurrants, a lemon, and a large bunch of beautiful raisins, which, as well as the figs and dates, were quite plump, as if they had never been packed, but had been brought straight from the drying ground."

On page 128 a witness recalls seeing an apparition of a deceased relative, one that passed through a human body and caused the room to become "fearfully cold":

"We first heard raps and then saw a human figure at the window. It entered and several other figures came trooping in after it. One of them waved its hands. The atmosphere became fearfully cold. A figure which I recognised as that of a deceased relative, came behind my chair, leaned over me, and brushed my hair lightly with its hand. It seemed about eight feet high. Then approaching the Master of Lindsay it passed right through him, causing him to shiver with cold."

 
On page 195 a Signor Damiani gives some testimony. First he tells us that he was very skeptically inclined:

"I had been, up to that moment, an utter sceptic in spiritual matters ; chokeful of positivism, I conceived man to be but a very acute monkey (simia gigantis stupenda, to be scientific), and recognised in life only a brief and somewhat unsatisfactory farce."

His first experience at a seance left him disappointed:

"Shortly afterwards it came my turn to talk with the spirits. ' Who is there? 'Sister,' was rapped out in reply. ' What sister ?' 'Marietta.'  'Don't know you ; that is not a family name ; — are you not mis- taken'!' ' No ; I am your sister.' This was too much : I left the table in disgust."

But soon Signor Damiani reports a great success:

"'Who is there?' 'Your sister Antonietta.' ' That is a good guess,' thought I. ' Where did you pass away 1 ' ' Chieti.' ' When ? ' — Thirty-four loud distinct raps succeeded. Strange — my sister so named had certainly died at Chieti just thirty-four years before.  'How many brothers and sisters had you then? Can you give me their names?' Five names (the real ones) all correctly spelt in Italian were given. Numerous other tests produced equally remarkable results. I then felt I was in the presence of my sister. ' If that is not in truth my sister,' I thought, ' then there exists in nature something more wondrous and mysterious even than the soul and its immortality.' "

Upon later inquiry, Damiani found out that he had a sister he never knew about who died six hours after being born. The sister's name was Maria, and Marietta is a diminutive version of the same name. 

 The Committee received lengthy testimony by Cromwell F. Varley, who was the chief electrician of the first successful trans-Atlantic cable.  Varley told the Committee he saw a transparent apparition:

"I saw a man in the air -- a spirit -- in military dress.  I could see the pattern of the paper on the wall through him." 

Varley also gave this testimony to the Committee:

"My authority for asserting that the spirits of kindred beings do visit us is : — 1. I have on several occasions distinctly seen them. 2. On several occasions things known only to myself and to the deceased person purporting to communicate with me, have been correctly stated while the medium was unaware of any of the circumstances. 3. On several occasions things known only to our two selves, and which I had entirely for gotten, have been recalled to my mind by the communicating spirit, therefore this could not be a case of mere thought-reading. 4. On some occasions, when these communications have been made to me, I have put my questions mentally, while the medium private lady in independent circumstances — has -written out the answers, she being quite unconscious of the meaning of the communications. 5. The time and nature of coming events, unanticipated and unknown both to myself and the medium, have, on more than one occasion, been accurately made known to me several days in advance. As my invisible informants told the truth regarding the coming events, and also stated that they were spirits, and as no mortals in the room had any knowledge of some of the facts they communicated, I see no reason to disbelieve them."

Besides taking testimony from other people, some committees of the Dialectical Society of London did their own experiments. One set of experiments was carefully done to test whether a mysterious movement of tables (reported very widely by a large number of observers) were due to mere subconscious movement by finger tips resting on the tables. Below is a discussion in the report of the very careful experiments done:

"Since their appointment on the 16th of February, 

1869, your Sub-committee have held forty meetings 

for the purpose of experiment and test. 

All of these meetings were held at the private 

residences of members of the Committee, purposely 

to preclude the possibility of pre-arranged mechanism 

or contrivance. 

The furniture of the room in which the experi- 

ments were conducted was on every occasion its 

accustomed furniture. 

The tables were in all cases heavy dining tables, 

requiring a strong effort to move them. The small- 

est of them was 5ft. 9in. long by 4ft. wide, and the 

largest, 9ft. Sin. long and 4.^ft. wide, and of propor- 

tionate weight. 

The rooms, tables, and furniture generally were 

repeatedly subjected to careful examination before, 

during, and after the experiments, to ascertain that 

no concealed machinery, instrument, or other con- 

trivance existed by means of which the sounds 

or movements hereinafter mentioned could be caused. 

The experiments were conducted in the light of 

gas, except on the few occasions specially noted in the 

minutes. 

Your Committee have avoided the employment of 

professional or paid mediums, the mediumship being 

that of members of your Sub-committee, persons of 

good social position and of unimpeachable integrity, 

having no pecuniary object to serve, and nothing to 

gain by deception... 

Every test that the combined intelligence of your 

Committee could devise has been tried with patience 

and perseverance. The experiments were conducted 

under a great variety of conditions, and ingenuity 

has been exerted in devising plans by which your 

Committee might verify their observations and pre- 

clude the possibility of imposture or of delusion....

The result of their long-continued and carefully- 

conducted experiments, after trial by every detective 

test they could devise, has been to establish con- 

clusively : 

First: That under certain bodily or mental 

conditions of one or more of the persons present, a 

force is exhibited sufficient to set in motion heavy 

substances, without the employment of any muscular 

force, without contact or material connection of any 

kind between such substances and the body of any 

person present. 

Second: That this force can cause sounds to 

proceed, distinctly audible to all present, from solid 

substances not in contact with, nor having any 

visible or material connection with, the body of any 

person present, and which sounds are proved to pro- 

ceed from such substances by the vibrations which 

are distinctly felt when they are touched. 

Third : That this force is frequently directed by 

intelligence. 

At thirty-four out of the forty meetings of your 

Committee some of these phenomena occurred....

In all similar experiments the possibility of 

mechanical or other contrivance was further nega- . 

tived by the fact that the movements were in various 

directions, now to one side, then to the other ; now 

up the room, now down the room — motions that 

would have required the co-operation of many 

hands or feet ; and these, from the great size and 

weight of the tables, could not have been so used 

without the visible exercise of muscular force. 

Every hand and foot was plainly to be seen and 

could not have been moved without instant de- 

tection. 

Delusion was out of the question. The motions 

were in various directions, and were witnessed simul- 

taneously by all present. They were matters of 

measurement, and not of opinion or of fancy. 

And they occurred so often, under so many and 

such various conditions, with such safeguards against 

error or deception, and with such invariable results, 

as to satisfy the members of your Sub-committee by 

whom the experiments were tried, wholly sceptical as 

most of them were when they entered upon the in- 

vestigation, that there is a force capable of moving 

heavy bodies without material contact and which force 

is in some unknown manner dependent upon the pre- 

sence of human beings."

Such findings are shocking to the modern ear, but they should not have been so shocking to the observers; for they had merely replicated what a previous scientific investigation had found. The phenomenon of inexplicable table movements was scientifically investigated at length by Count Agenor de Gasparin, who had published in 1857 a scientific book describing countless paranormal effects (such as table levitation and mysterious rappings) observed under controlled conditions. (Gasparin's research is well-summarized in Chapter VI of a book by the astronomer Camille Flammarion.)   

Early in the report of the Dialectical Society we have this summary of phenomena documented in the report:

"These reports, hereto subjoined, substantially corroborate each other, and would appear to establish the following propositions : —

1. — That sounds of a very varied character, apparently proceeding from articles of furniture, the floor and walls of the room — the vibrations accompanying which sounds are often distinctly perceptible to the touch — occur, without being produced by muscular action or mechanical contrivance. 2. — That movements of heavy bodies take place with- out mechanical contrivance of any kind or adequate exertion of muscular force by the persons present, and frequently without contact or connection with any person. 3. — That these sounds and movements often occur at the times and in the manner asked for by persons present, and, by means of a simple code of signals, answer questions and spell out coherent coniimunications .4. — That the answers and communications thus obtained are, for the most part, of a common- place character ; but facts are sometimes correctly given which are only known to one of the persons present. 5. — That the circumstances under which the phenomena occur are variable, the most prominent fact being, that the presence of certain persons seems necessary to their occurrence, and that of others generally adverse ; but this difference does not appear to depend upon any belief or disbelief concerning the phenomena. 6. — That, nevertheless, the occurrence of the pheno- mena is not insured by the presence or absence of such persons respectively."

But how many witnesses were there in support of such phenomena? In the Dialectical Society's report we read the following summary:

"1. Thirteen witnesses state that they have seen heavy bodies — in some instances men — rise slowly in the air and remain there for sometime without visible or tangible support. 

2. — Fourteen witnesses testify to having seen hands or figures, not appertaining to any human being, but life-like in appearance and mobility, which they have sometimes touched or even grasped,

and which they are therefore convinced were not the result of imposture or illusion.

3. — Five witnesses state that they have been touched, by some invisible agency, on various parts of the body, and often where requested, when the hands of all present were visible.

4. — Thirteen witnesses declare that they have heard musical pieces well played upon instruments not manipulated by any ascertainable agency.

5. — Five witnesses state that they have seen red-hot coals applied to the hands or heads of several - persons without producing pain or scorching ; and three witnesses state that they have had the same experiment made upon themselves with the like immunity.

6 — Eight witnesses state that they have received precise information through rappings, writings, and in other ways, the accuracy of which was unknown at the time to themselves or to any persons present, and which, on subsequent in- quiry, was found to be correct.

7. — One witness declares that he has received a precise and detailed statement which, nevertheless, proved to be entirely erroneous.

8. — Three witnesses state that they have been present when drawings, both in pencil and colours, were produced in so short a time, and under such conditions, as to render human agency impossible.

9. — Six witnesses declare that they have received information of future events, and that in some cases the hour and minute of their occurrence have been accurately foretold, days and even

weeks before."

 

The 400-page report of the Dialectical Society of London is probably the most extensive report ever issued by an organization or committee devoted to an impartial inquiry into the paranormal. But you will find no mention of the report's astonishing findings in a typical textbook on psychology, and the report will not be mentioned in a college psychology course you may take.  Similarly, you will read no mention of how a five-year French committee investigation of the Royal Academy of Medicine came out very clearly in favor of the observational reality of clairvoyance. We must always remember that today's academia mainstream is very careful to not tell us about a large fraction of the most relevant observations that have been made pertaining to questions of mind, spirit and brain.  The academia mainstream is very careful not to tell us about the very many reliable observations that defy their belief dogmas, such as the dogma that the mind is a mere product of the brain. 

A very different committee report on the paranormal (appearing as a mere preliminary report) was made by a University of Pennsylvania committee that was organized after Henry Seybert left money in his will to fund a committee to investigate the paranormal.  The report can be read here.  The report was obviously written by investigators very hostile to claims of the paranormal, and if you skim through the report, you may get the impression that it provides no support for claims of the paranormal.  

However if you make a very careful reading of the report (paying attention almost exclusively to what the witnesses report seeing and hearing and paying little attention to their attitudes towards such sights), you will actually find the witnesses (despite their intentions)  provide abundant evidence for the paranormal. Again and again we read testimony of extremely anomalous things that the paranormal-hostile witnesses fail to credibly explain, such as an abundance of inexplicable raps coming from spots other than where a human stood or sat. Justifying that claim will require a future blog post, but I can give now just one example. On pages 95-96 a skeptical witness reports a meeting in a sitting room in someone's house, and seeing something rather like what was reported occurring in great abundance by Henry S. Olcott.  A small corner of the room (only four feet in size) is covered with a curtain. From such a small corner of the sitting room the witness reports seeing over the course of two hours quite a few luminous faceless human-like forms arising from behind the curtain, some tall and some short, two such forms once appearing at the same time. The witness says  she touched one of the forms. But no credible explanation is given of how such forms could have appeared. 

No mention is made of any actual discovery of fraud by our skeptical witness, who no doubt would have inspected the room corner for any sign of a trap door. No mention is made of anything suspicious about the corner of the room, such as a sign of a trap door,  and no credible explanation is made of anything that might explain such sights. The witness does not report the luminous forms rising up from the ground as they would if a trap door had been used.  The only attempted explanation is an unbelievable one: "If the drapery were raised or lowered the appearance could readily have been produced, and the person holding it would have been quite invisible."  This explanation is not believable because if luminous forms had come from elsewhere, their entrance into the small corner area from elsewhere in the room would have been reported by the witness; and the witness reported no such thing. The witness also fails to report seeing anyone suspiciously entering into the small corner, something the witness would have seen even in darkness, because of the ability of the human eye to see dimly in darkness after ten minutes or so in darkness.  At one point the witness suggests the possibility that "luminous paint" was used to make the glowing forms. But the witness was writing in 1886, and when I ask Google "when was luminous paint invented" I get an answer of 1908. 

Such a thing happens very often in this Seyfert report: extremely skeptical observers describing very spooky paranormal-seeming things that they fail to offer credible explanations for.