A Great Tool for the Serious Scholar of the "Spookiest Years"

"The first fact capable of proof is this: that during the last 18 years, while physical science has been progressing with rapid strides...a continually increasing number of persons maintain their belief in the existence of beings of the nature of those we have hitherto postulated as a bare possibility. All these persons declare that they have re­ceived direct and oft-repeated proofs of the existence of such beings. Most of them tell us they have been convinced against all their previous notions and prepossessions. Very many have previously been materialists, not believing in the existence of any intelligences disconnected from a visible, tangible form, nor in the continued existence of the mind of man after death. At the present moment there are at least three millions of persons in the United States of America, who have received to them satisfactory proofs of the existence of invisible intelligences ; and in this country [England] there are many thousands who declare the same thing. A large number of these persons continually receive fresh proofs in the privacy of their own homes, and so much interest is felt in the subject that two periodicals are supported in this city, several on the continent, and a very large number in America, which are exclusively devoted to disseminating information relating to the existence of these invisible intelligences and the means of communicating with them. A little enquiry into the literature of the subject, which is already very ex­tensive, reveals the startling fact, that this revival of so-called supernaturalism is not confined to the ignorant or superstitious, or to the lower classes of society. On the contrary, it is rather among the middle and upper classes that the larger proportion of its adherents are to be found; and among those who have declared themselves convinced of the reality of facts such as have been always classed as miracles, are numbers of literary, scientific, and professional men, who always have borne and still continue to bear high characters, are above the imputation either of falsehood or trickery, and have never manifested indications of insanity." -- Alfred Russel Wallace,  co-founder of the theory of evolution by natural selection, "The Scientific Aspect of the Supernatural," 1866, page 10 (link).

The evidence for paranormal phenomena is extremely deep and diverse, consisting of reports of a wide variety of phenomena 

In my first 17 installments of my previous series of "Spookiest Years" posts, I gave a history of the astonishing spiritual manifestations reported between 1848 and 1889, which you can read in my posts here, here, here, here, here, here, here, 

here, here, here, here,  here, here, here, here, here and here . The whole series can be read in a single free online book here, which allows the convenience of reading the whole series by finger-swiping, after you have pressed the [] icon at the bottom. One minor disadvantage of reading the online book is that it is in reverse chronological order. 

In general I followed a rigorous standard in writing that series: the standard of always searching for the earliest publication reporting some particular event. So, for example, if it was reported that some astonishing paranormal event occurred in a particular city on one particular day, I would make every effort to get the earliest available report claiming such a thing.  

There is no substitute for studying the earliest available observational report of some occurrence. If you are repeating second-hand or third-hand or fourth-hand accounts, there is too much of an opportunity for error.  Second-hand or third-hand or fourth-hand accounts are particularly prone to error when they involve summaries of observational reports rather than full direct quotations of such reports.  There might be embellishments of the original report which grow with each retelling. 

After writing the posts above, I discovered a very valuable resource for serious students of the spooky phenomena reported in the nineteenth century.  The resource is the SSOC page here, which is part of the site at www.iapsop.com. We have a link to hundreds of books and documents, most of which pertain to paranormal phenomena. Each of the books and documents can be directly read for free from this page, without any paywalls or sign-ins. One great thing about the page is its chronological sorting. All of the books and documents are in chronological order. So, for example, if I want to see exactly what was being written about paranormal phenomena in the year 1850, I need merely scroll to the books in the list with a publication date of 1850. The page includes links to almost every English-language book written about the paranormal during the years 1800 to 1920, including many books written by skeptics. 

One of the advantage of a resource such as this page is that the serious scholar can discover the utter enormity of the written testimony in favor of the reality of paranormal events between the years 1848 and 1880. We have links to very many books describing such manifestations, and these books make up a total of very many thousands of pages. And such testimony is only a fraction of the written testimony that appeared at this time, because most of the testimony is contained in periodicals and newspapers that you can read at www.iapsop.com. Such newspapers often offer the best type of first-hand eyewitness testimony, such as testimony signed by multiple named witnesses who describe in the greatest detail events they saw at a particular named location on a particular named day, with the day typically being a few weeks prior to the date of publication, and the account very often written on the same day the events were seen.  

Using the site I have been able to find some publications I was hoping to find, but unable to find on www.archive.org.  For example, while researching my post on the year 1850, I found a quotation of a very interesting statement by C. W. Hammond reporting the most astonishing phenomena. But I declined to quote the statement, because I had not found the original document. So all I said about the statement was this:

"On page 39 we have a long 1850 statement by a Charles Hammond quoted 'from a pamphlet by D. M. Dewey.' I have not been able to find the original document. "

But now using the SSOC page on www.iapsop.com (http://iapsop.com/ssoc/) I am able to find the original 1850 document by Dewey. So let me quote the very interesting account by C. W. Hammond. He describes getting communications under a tedious system in which the alphabet is recited, and mysterious raps are heard after particular letters were recited, with the corresponding letter being written down. When he refers to "the family" he means the three Fox sisters and their mother. On page 27 of the document, C. W. Hammond states this in a letter to Dewey:

"In compliance with your solicitation, I will proceed to lay before you a brief statement of  what has fallen under my observation, in regard to the 'mysterious sounds' and 'demonstrations,'  purporting to be made by intelligent spirits, who once inhabited an earthly tabernacle....On my next visit I was much-more successful. During the interval I had prepared my mind with certain questions, touching events unknown to the family, and of a remote date. The  sounds told me my age precisely, though my appearance is such as to indicate a difference· of eight or ten years. The names of six of my nearest deceased relatives were given me.  I then inquired, ' Will the spirit, who now makes these sounds, give me its name?' Five sounds directed me to the alphabet, which I repeated until the name of 'Charles' appeared, which answered to an infant child whom we consigned to the grave in March, 1843. To my inquiries, it gave me a true answer in regard to the time it had been in the spirit-land, and also the period since my eldest sister's death, which was nearly eighteen years, the latter fact ·not being recollected then, I found true by dates on my return home. Many other test questions were correctly answered; and yet, notwithstanding . the origin of these sounds seemed inexplicable, I was inclined to impute them to mesmerism or clairvoyance. However, as the spirit promised to satisfy me by other demonstrations when I came again, I patiently awaited the opportunity.

On the third visit, I was selected from a halfdozen gentlemen, and directed by these sounds to retire to another room, in company with the ' three sisters' and their aged mother. It was about eight o'clock in the evening. A lighted candle was placed on a large table, and we seated ourselves around it. I occupied one side of the table, the mother and the youngest daughter the right, and two of the sisters the left, leaving the opposite side of the table vacant. On taking our positions the sounds were heard, and continued to multiply and become more violent until every part of the room trembled with their demonstrations. They were unlike any 1 had heard before. Suddenly, as we were all resting on the table, I felt the side next to me move upward. I pressed upon it heavily, but soon it passed out of the reach of us all, full six feet from me, and at least four from the nearest person to it. I saw distinctly its position ; not a thread could have connected it with any of the company without my notice, for I had come to detect imposition, if it could be found. In this position we were situated, when the question was asked, ' Will the spirit move the table back where it was before ? — and back it came, as though it were carried on the head of some one, who had not suited his position to a perfect equipoise, the balance being sometimes in favor of one side and then the other. But it regained its first position. In the meantime the ' demonstrations' grew louder and louder. The family commenced and sung the ' Spirit's song,' and several other pieces of sacred music, during which, accurate time was marked on the table, causing it to vibrate; a transparent hand, resembling a shadow, presented itself before my face ; I felt fingers taking hold of a lock of my hair on the left side of my head, causing an inclination of several inches; then a cold, death-like hand was drawn designedly over my face ; three gentle raps on my left knee ; my right limb forcibly pulled up, against strong resistance, under the table ; a violent shaking, as though two hands were applied to my shoulders ; myself and chair uplifted and moved back a few inches ; and several slaps, as with a hand, on the side of my head, which were repeated on each one of the company, more rapidly than I could count. During these manifestations, a piece of pasteboard, nearly a foot square, was swung with such velocity before us as to throw a strong current of air in our faces ; a paper curtain attached to one of the windows was rolled up and unrolled twice ; a lounge, immediately behind me, was shaken violently ; two small drawers in a bureau played back and forth with inconceivable rapidity ; a sound resembling a man sawing boards, and planing them, was heard under the table ; a common spinning-wheel seemed to be in motion, making a very natural buzz of the spindle ; a reel articulated each knot wound upon it ; while the sound of a rocking cradle indicated maternal care for the infant's slumbers  These were among many other demonstrations which I witnessed that evening, amid which I felt a perfect self-possession, and in no instance the slightest embarrassment, except a momentary chill when the cold hand was applied to my face, similar to a sensation I have realized when touching a dead body. That any of the company could have performed these things, under the circumstances in which we were situated, would require a greater stretch of credulity on my part than it would be to believe it was the work of spirits. It could not, by any possibility, have been done by them, nor even attempted, without detection. And I may add, that, near the close of the demonstrations at this visit, there was a vibration of the floor, as though several tons in weight had been uplifted, and suddenly fallen again upon it. This caused everything in the room to shake most violently for several minutes, when the force was withdrawn.

I have also tested the intelligence of these spirits in every way my ingenuity could invent. On one occasion, I wrote a word on a slip of paper privately, placed it in my wallet, went there, and the sounds, through the alphabet, spelled that word correctly as I had written it. That word was ' Sybil.'

 On the 29th of February, inst., the two youngest sisters made my family a visit. Here the sounds were heard — questions involving subjects wholly unknown to them were answered — a large, heavy dining-table was moved several times — and, on expressing thanks at the table to the Giver of all Good, some six or eight sounds responded to every sentence I uttered, by making loud and distinct sounds in various parts of the room. 

Yours, truly,

 C. Hammond. 

Rochester, Feb. '22, 1850."

Below is another example of some of the evidence of the paranormal that can be discovered at the SSOC page here,  We have a diagram showing an example of a levitation of a table that was witnessed by the author W. J. Crawford:

You can see the diagram on page 8 of the book here. The next page gives us the diagram below, illustrating a change in position of the table the author observed:

You can ponder the type of engineering that would be needed to cause a table to move in such a way.  The starting position (1) could conceivably be produced by having the table suspended by some incredibly thin nylon wire of a type that had not yet been invented in 1919 when the book was published: a wire so thin it would not be noticed by a careful observer. To achieve the transition from position (1) to position (5) you would need to have a mechanically operating trolley system, like the trolleys used to move cameras when filming some types of movie shots. Such a trolley could drag the suspended wire across the room. The problem is that such a trolley would be a mechanical device observable from the ceiling, where anyone could notice it; and no such thing was observed.  

Reports of Dramatic Paranormal Activity in the House of the Physicist Dolbear

 The book Forty Years of Psychic Research by Hamlin Garland is an astonishing account of observation of the paranormal. At its beginning Garland says that he was living in Boston in 1891, a young novelist who was an agnostic evolutionist who enjoyed the Darwinist writings of Herbert Spencer. He was asked to join a new research society that would research paranormal phenomena, one called the American Psychical Society. Although inclined to disbelieve in the type of things that might be investigated, Garland was attracted to the idea that a physicist (Professor Amos E. Dolbear) would be one of the investigators, so he agreed to serve on the board of directors of the new society. Journals published by this society (which included some articles by Garland) can be read here. 

On page 10 Garland reports observing the phenomenon of slate writing, the mysterious appearance of writing on slates either untouched by human hands or tied together. Usually when this would occur a piece of chalk would be put between two bound slates observed to be blank before the tying; and the bound slates looked rather like this:

Here is Garland's account:

On pages 13-14 Garland reports a favorable experience with another slate-writing medium:

On page 16 Garland gets an amazing account from the physics professor Dolbear:

On pages 19 to 20 we have a narrative from Garland that is one of countless narratives by respectable reliable witnesses testifying to the paranormal movement of a table. Garland is introduced to a young medium, and he and the medium merely touch the top of a table with their fingertips. He says, "With both of us standing and only the tips of our fingers touching its top, the table rose completely from the floor and hung about twenty inches from the carpet." In full light he asked the young medium to stand away from the table, and the table continued to levitate, even though he could see there was no contact between the medium and the table. Garland says, "The table was being lifted by an unknown force, and was held suspended in the air for a minute, possibly longer." See my six posts with a tag of "table turning" to read many similar accounts. 

On page 25 Garland reports a variation of the phenomenon of slate writing, one in which writing mysteriously appears under the base of goblet filled with water. He says this:

Garland requests that a specific name be written underneath the base of the goblet, the name William Dean Howells. He reports the name was mysteriously written under the round base of the water-filled goblet. On page 27 Garland says he was extremely satisfied with the result of this test, and convinced it was evidence of something supernormal:

On page 28 Garland is involved in another test of slate writing, one involving a medium identified as Mrs. Flower. Garland requests that the word "Constantinople" be written on the slate, but is told that "they" don't know the spelling. Garland then requests that there be written something like a lightning bold, in yellow, within a circle. On the next page he reports that this request succeeded:

No one who has read my two previous posts with the tag of "slate writing" should be surprised by this account. Successes in very strict tests of paranormal slate writing were very widely reported in the years before Garland's tests. 

Garland states this:

About page 34 Garland begins to discuss some tests he made with what is called a trumpet medium, a type of medium who may be involved in seances in which there seems to occur mysterious voices, sometimes identified with spirits of the dead. On page 36 Garland asks the medium a good question, and gets a response that will "ring a bell" with any serious scholar of out-of-body experiences. We read this:

When Garland first got this report, he probably thought to himself something like:  well, that's a weird claim --no one else has reported something like that. At the time almost no one had reported out-of-body experiences. But anyone today who has studied this topic will recognize these claims. They are two of the most common features in reports of out-of-body experiences.  You can read many other cases of people reporting both of these things in my post here. 

Pages 38 to 45 discuss various tests with the same medium, which Garland says were highly successful. Garland tied up the medium with silk threads (which he says are impossible to untie once they are knotted). Then in a state of darkness various objects seemed to be levitated mysteriously, and also mysterious voices were heard.  Garland says this all occurred in front of several seated witnesses. The account is less convincing as evidence than some other accounts of similar phenomena, because (1) no exact observation date is given; (2) the real name of the medium is not given, only a pseudonym of "Mrs. Smiley"; (3) we lack an observation report that was published soon after the phenomena were observed; (4) the only person writing an account of these events is Garland. 

Garland said he arranged for the same medium to travel to Boston, so that tests could be done to some members of the American Psychical Society. The first of these were failures. But still remembering the previous successful test, Garland arranged for a test at the home of the physicist Dolbear. The test was very successful. The date of the test is given: November 10, 1893.  The only people present besides the  medium were Garland, Dolbear and his wife. 

On pages 56 to 57 we read of how the medium was elaborately tied up to a chair with silk threads that are supposedly impossible to untie. Also a newspaper was placed on her knees, to cause a sound alert if she tried to move. On page 60 we read that something like two dozen books started flying mysteriously from bookshelves in the room. We also read that when Mrs. Dolbear (the physicist's wife) requested that a candy box be brought, the candy box was retrieved from part of the room and "shoved down upon Mrs. Dolbear's hand," as if by some invisible hands. We read this:

We read on pages 61-63 of disembodied voices speaking and performing various wonders. A personality of "Mitchel" identifies himself as a deceased soldier who fought in the American Civil War. This is the strange phenomenon called "direct voice phenomenon," discussed in my post here. On page 64 we read this: 

"The table was grasped and shaken violently from side to side as if by a powerful impatient man; and yet the newspaper on the psychic's knees uttered no sound and the threads tied to the chair legs remained unbroken! Such violent side-to-side motion requires two hands."

On page 66 Garland reports that when the lights were turned on, the medium was found just as she had been set up, tied up in the chair, her legs still tightly tied to the table legs. She was found with a weak pulse and cold skin. She had apparently been in a deep trance as all the strange phenomena were occurring.

On page 68 we have Garland confronting the skeptical physicist Dolbear with the results they have just observed, such as something like two dozen books inexplicably flying out of Dolbear's own bookcase:

Page 69 of the book is rich in the psychology of stubbornness. We have a portrait of a physicist who simply won't give up his belief dogmas, no matter what he has observed. 

Showing excellent psychological insight, Garland predicts on the next page that if the physicist Dolbear meets one of his colleagues, he will not mention a word of what he saw during this seance in which so many inexplicable things happened such as dozens of books flying out of a bookcase. Sure enough, Dolbear wrote in 1897 a long book First Principles of Natural Philosophy which talked for hundreds of pages about scientific investigation, but which failed to make any mention of Garland, mediums or the paranormal phenomena Dolbear had seen. It was just as if Dolbear's rule was "I will banish from my memory everything I see or read about that contradicts my belief dogmas." And that seems to be the rule of the great majority of scientists today. 

There follows in Garland's book a description of quite a few experiments in which many equally strange things happened in seances of the same medium, although results on any one day seemed to be unpredictable, with quite a few days producing unimpressive results. Conversely, on other days, under the strictest test conditions in which the medium was all tied up to a chair, there reportedly occurred results such as writing on sheets of paper that were blank at the beginning of the test, with all witnesses present denying they did anything to produce such writing. 

Around page 112 and the following pages, Garland gives more reports of dramatic successes doing experiments with slate-writing.  On page 118 he reports a dramatic success when testing an unnamed medium in Chicago. While he held the medium's hands and also controlled the medium's feet, a metal cone was seen rising up from the floor and flying around the room mysteriously:

On page 187 Garland quotes a later letter from Dolbear, in which Dolbear states this:

"I didn't make out how some of the things were done. For instance, how the books, 24 of them, got off of the shelves, without Mrs. Smiley's hands being free, she was tied good." 

I will in a later post discuss many other equally striking claims made in Garland's book. If the topic of this post interested you, check out my free 292-page book "Eeriest Events," now available on www.archive.org using the link here. The book discusses phenomena such as near-death experiences, out-of-body experiences, apparition sightings, deathbed visions and precognitive visions.  Using the native www.archive.org file viewer in single-page mode,  you can conveniently read the whole book by finger swiping. Scholars who are interested in following the links may prefer to download the book as a PDF file, which will allow opening links by right-clicking on a link. 

More Newspaper Accounts of Spiritual Manifestations

Let us look at some newspaper accounts of spiritual manifestations, accounts different from those in my earlier post "Newspaper Accounts of Spiritual Manifestations." Below is a newspaper account of spiritual manifestations from 1867.  We read of mysterious rap sounds that seemed to be able to answer questions correctly. 

"The people of our neighborhood have been for a week past very much excited by spiritual manifestations in a house at the Springfield Furnace Mine Bank. The inmates of the house are persons of integrity and good standing. An orphan girl, a member of the family, who was the special medium or victim of this phenomenon of spiritual communication, also bears a good character. The rapping always commenced about nine o'clock in the evening, and continued until after midnight. Before appearing each night, the medium experienced a dullness beginning at her feet and extending upwards. Then a low tapping was heard over the floor, like some one walking, growing louder as it approached the girl, ending in loud knocks, like the stroke of a mallet. One moment, it was overhead, then under the floor, on the wall, &c. It would respond by distinct raps to every question. It was asked how long since Mr. Lincoln died, and the number of years was immediately given. So in regard to the lapse of years since Stephen A. Douglas died.

A member of the family becoming vexed at the noise and confusion, remarked, 'I am not afraid of you, my trust is in God,' when there was such a succession of 'thundering knocks' that a portion of the plastering fell from the wall. People came from a distance to investigate the matter, believing it to be collusion or trickery, and went away firmly convinced that it was an intangible, unsubstantial
spirit, and found that 'there are more things in heaven and earth than were dreamed of in their philosophy.'  The rappings continued one week. The girl had several convulsions, after which she
sank into a partial trance and the noises  were heard no more."

You can read the account here:

https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85054846/1867-09-12/ed-1/seq-1/

N. P. Tallmadge served two terms as the US Senator from New York and served as the governor of a US territory.  A newspaper account  from 1853 has a letter by Tallmadge. Tallmadge describes a seance in which there were communications claiming to be from the then-deceased US senator John Calhoun. He describes movements and levitations of a heavy table, which very many respectable witnesses claimed to see during this period. Tallmadge states this:

"During the above communication of Calhoun, the table moved occasionally, perhaps a foot; first one way and then the other. After the communication closed, we all moved back

from the table, from two to four feet—so that

no one touched the table. Suddenly the table

moved from the position it occupied some three

or four feet, rested a few moments, and then

moved back to its original position. Then it

again moved as far the other way, and returned to the place

 it started from. One side of

the table was then raised, and stood for a few

moments at an angle of about thirty-five degrees,

 and then again rested on the floor as us

usual.

The table was a large, heavy, round table, at

which ten or a dozen persons might be seated

at dinner. During all these movements no person 

touched the table, nor was any one near it.

After seeing it raised in the manner above mentioned. 

I had the curiosity to test its weight

by raising it myself. I accordingly took my

seat by it, placed my hands under the leaf, and

exerted as much force as I was capable of in

that sitting posture, and could not raise it a

particle from the floor. I then stood up in the

best possible position to exert the greatest

force, took hold of the leaf, and still could not

raise it with all the strength I could apply. I

then requested the three ladies to take hold

around the table, and try altogether to lift it.

We lifted... and did not raise it a particle. We

then desisted, fearing we should break the table. I then said, 'Will the spirits permit me to raise the table?' I took hold alone, and raised it without difficulty. After this the following conversation ensued:

'Q,. Can you raise the table entirely from

the floor? A. Yes - '

'Q. Will you raise me with it? A. Yes;

get me the square table.'

The square table was of cherry, with four

legs, a large size tea table. It was brought out

and substituted for the round one, the leaves

being raised. I took my seat on the centre;

the three ladies sat at the sides and arms resting upon it. This, of course, added to the weight to be raised, namely, my own weight of the table. Two legs of the table were then

raised about six inches from the floor, and then

the other two legs were raised to a level of the

first, so that the whole table was suspended in the

air about six inches above the floor. While thus

seated on it, I could feel a gentle vibratory motion as if floating in the atmosphere. After being thus suspended in the air for a few moments, the table ... let down again to the floor....

I was then directed to put the guitar on the

drawer. We were all seated as before, with

our hands and arms resting on the table.

The guitar was touched softly and gently,

and gave forth sweet and delicious sounds like

the accompaniment to a beautiful and exquisite

piece of music. It then played a sort of symphony, in much 

louder and bolder tones. And

as it played these harmonious sounds, becoming

soft and sweet, and low, began to recede, and

grew fainter and fainter till they died away on

the ear in the distance. Then they returned

and grew louder and nearer, till they were

heard again in full and gushing volume as when

they commenced.

I am utterly incapable of giving any adequate

idea of the beauty and harmony of this music.

I have heard the guitar touched by the most

delicate and scientific hands, and heard from it

under such guidance, the most splendid performances. But never did I hear any thing that fastened upon the very soul like these prophetic strains drawn out by an invisible hand from the Spirit World."

The account by Tallmadge has further astonishing details, such as the mysterious production of a line of text, written in handwriting matching Calhoun's.  You can read the rest of the account using the link here:

https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88064476/1853-06-11/ed-1/seq-1/

Accounts like the one above were very commonly given by many distinguished witnesses at this time, as you can read about by reading my posts   here, here, here, here and here.  Accounts like the one above were often the best type of testimony, in the sense that they appeared as newspaper accounts published a small number of days after the claimed observations, accounts signed by multiple named witnesses, often more than four. 

The account below appeared in the February 22, 1851 edition of the widely respected anti-slavery newspaper The Liberator. We have an account of events on January 22, 1851, which were received by the newspaper with a cover letter dated January 25, 1851, which means the account below must have been written within a few days of the occurrence of the events. The first sentence of the account implies it was written on the same day as the events reported. We read this:

"We, the undersigned, having witnessed, this day,

at the house of Mr. Leroy Sunderland, (No. 28

Eliot street, Boston,) the following phenomena, deem

it proper, in this way, to make mention of them.

When we entered the room, there were some ten

persons surrounding a table, conversing with the

spirits; and as many more in the room as spectators, 

watching the movements of the others. Mrs.

M. Cooper was the medium. There were constant

and frequent rappings upon the table, and responses

to various and ingenious test questions, all of which

were admitted to be answered correctly; and the

company expressed themselves as being satisfied

with the answers given. We saw no motion of the

medium which would indicate that she had, personally, any thing to do with the responses given ; and we think she could not have had. The rappings were made on the table, without exception.

After this circle had retired, we, the undersigned,

surrounded the same table, when the following occurrences were observed:—

1. In answer to the question, ‘If any of our

guardian spirits were present?’ loud and prompt responses were heard

 upon the table, the vibrations of

which were distinctly felt by our hands ; and we are

positive that Mrs. Cooper did not touch the table at

all.

2. We then asked the spirits if they would give

us some physical manifestations, and we were promptly answered by raps in the affirmative. The table

was then immediately moved in various directions,

from one to two feet; and, at our request, was, quite

a number of times, turned over into the laps of those

surrounding it. In two instances, it was raised entirely from off the floor, and we are positive that no human instrumentality was employed in producing these results.

For the purpose of varying the experiment, we all

took hold of the top of the table, holding it clear of

the floor in our hands, when it was violently shaken,

while yet so suspended, as if its standard had been

seized by strong hands, and it apparently varied in

weight from twenty to two hundred pounds.

3. Among the test questions proposed and satisfactorily answered, 

was one by G. F. Farley, Esq., of

Groton, Mass , substantially as follows: —

‘ What relation is this spirit to me?’ 

Ans. ‘Your brother.’

‘ What was your given name?’ 

Ans. ‘Perez' which was spelled out promptly by the alphabet. Mr. Farley then stated, to the astonishment of the company,

that this was his brother’s name, and that he died

some fifty years ago—facts unknown to any other

person present.

[Mr. Farley himself may be referred to for the

truth of what is here stated.]

In the evening of the same day, we met again,

with an addition to our circle. [Mr. Farley, of Groton, and G. A. Somerby, of Wayland, were present

at both sittings,] and in the evening, Mr. George E.

Haskell, Dr. Z. Rogers, Moses Babcock, and Dr. L.

B. Larkin, of Wrentham, were also present. The

circle was formed in Mr. Sunderland’s back parlor,

as before, when the following, among other phenomena, were produced. On holding each other’s hands,

so that no hand was at liberty in the room, a centre

table, around which we were sitting, was raised up from

the floor five times, and let down with considerable

force, so as to shake the floor. Once or twice, the

raps were made, not on the table, but with it, the

table being used by the spirits, as we were assured,

to rap with, on the floor. Five times the table was upset and turned over, so that it fell sideways upon the floor, with violence....

We can only say, that we have been profoundly

impressed with the conviction that no human agency whatever was used in the production of  the phenomena we have described.

Signed, Boston, Jan. 22, 1851.

C. P. Kibbee, M. D., Springfield, Mass.

Rufus Elmer, 

Nelson L. Elmer, 

Theodore M. Smith, Boston,

George E. Haskell, 

Z. Rogers, Charlestown, 

Moses Babcock"

You can read the full account using the link below:

https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84031524/1851-02-28/ed-1/seq-4/

An 1876 newspaper article notes the death of the medium Daniel Dunglas Home. Below is a quote from the article (I'll correct the misspelling of Home's middle name):

"The death of Daniel Dunglas Home, as reported by cable dispatch from Paris, recently, terminates the career of the most famous Spiritualist and medium of modern times. The New York World affects to doubt his departure from this life, as if only the half of what has been told of Mr. Home is true. To suppose him dead merely because he happened to leave his corpse would be as absurd as to suppose so because he happened to leave his great-coat or his umbrella behind him.

He was born in Scotland, and came to this country when a mere child. He made his first conspicuous successes in Springfield and in Boston between the years 1851 and 1853. In this city he was hailed as a prophet by numbers of highly-educated persons, but finally in 1855 he went to Europe. In London he was warmly welcomed by several coteries of the aristocracy, and he made a very strong impression upon the mind of Queen Victoria herself. The Duchess of Sutherland was one of his most open proselytes and believers. In Paris be was made for a time 'the rage' by the undisguised interest which the Emperor Napoleon took in him and in his alleged miracles. He was frequently summoned to the Tuileries, and he gradually acquired a very considerable influence with the Emperor.

He married a Russian lady of noble birth in 1856. She died in 1862, and Mr. Home married a Russian princess. He was a particular favorite at the court of the Czar, and claimed in private to have converted the Czar to spiritualism. The many strange tales of spiritual phenomena contain nothing to rival the demonstrations of Mr. Home. Besides the ordinary phenomena of rapping, table tipping, writing and playing upon musical instruments, they include in his case visions seen by the medium, appearances of hands, arms and spirit forms seen by other persons, 'levitation' or the preternatural uplifting of the medium, elongation and shortening of his body by several inches, and his handling of fire and heated objects without hurt. It has been again and again affirmed of Mr. Home by witnesses of unimpeached character that they have seen him plunge his hands with impunity into a blazing coal fire, seat himself upon heavy mahogany dinner-tables and rise with them several feet into the air, and after floating horizontally head foremost out of the window at a height of many yards from the ground, sail tranquilly around a castle tower and come in again unharmed at the other side."

Home being tested by a leading scientist (in tests described here)

Such was the fame of Daniel Dunglas Home in 1874 that when Scientific American on January 31, 1874 published a summary of the investigations of the eminent scientist William Crookes regarding Home, Scientific American merely referred to "the medium Home," without giving his first name, as if it thought everyone knew his first name. At the time Scientific American was more of a newspaper than a magazine. The first part of the summary is below:

Most of the second part of the summary is below:

The third part of the summary is below:

The items above are all a summary of the book of William Crookes that can be read here, where you can read the details in nice clear type. Crookes (discoverer of the element thallium) said he detected no trickery from Home, who he had subjected to very careful tests. By the 20th century a publication such as Scientific American always showed a complete amnesia about such observations. Its writers never mentioned a word about such matters. It became a taboo to ever mention that one of the leading scientists of the 19th century (William Crookes) had reported observing such wonders as levitation and the appearance of luminous spirit hands floating about.

Rating the Reliability of Reports of Unexpected Paranormal Phenomena

 It is very common for humans to report seeing or hearing something that seems to be paranormal. But reports of such observations vary in quality. How can you can judge the quality of a report? Below is an informal system in which an observation report is assigned a number of stars that can vary between 0 and 6. A six-star observation report is one that has the most weight as evidence. 

Add 1 star if we have first-hand testimony or testimony exactly quoting what a witness said he saw

People can make mistakes when reporting what someone else saw. They may misinterpret or poorly remember what someone said.  It's much better to have a first-person account spoken or written by the person who claimed to have seen something.  One of the lowest quality reports of the paranormal we can imagine is someone saying something like, "Long ago my friend said that she saw something she thought was a ghost," without giving an exact quotation.  Similarly, a newspaper report saying "Mrs. Wilson says she saw a UFO" is offering a bit of evidence inferior to an exact quotation from Mrs. Wilson about what she saw. 

Add 1 star if we have a named and reliable witness 

You often read online and in books or magazines reports of unnamed single witnesses claiming to see amazing things. Such reports tend to have less value as evidence than reports coming from named witnesses.  The reason is partially that an unnamed witness may feel that he is free to lie without any consequences.  So, for example, if I read a stunning UFO story told by someone with an anonymous user name such as metssuperfan, it has relatively little weight as evidence. It also has lesser weight as evidence when a writer tells us that Mr. B. saw such and such a thing, without listing a full name. It also has little weight when a named witness with a record of lying reports seeing something. But it has much more weight if a named and reliable witness reports seeing something. 

Add 1 star if a written dated eyewitness report was made very soon after the observation occurred, with the report being quoted, or the account being such a report

The longer a gap has passed between an observation and someone's recollection of the observation, the greater the chance that the recollection may be inaccurate.  So your mother's story about a ghost she says she saw twenty years ago does not have nearly as much evidence weight as your mother's written account of what she saw on that night, written on the same night as the observation. Credibility is increased when we have someone's report of what that person saw  when an observation was fresh in his memory. 

Add 1 star if the observation report was published very soon after the observation occurred

Dated written reports are a good thing to have, but it is even better if such reports are published soon after the claimed observation. Such a thing helps to prove that the claim of an observation was made very soon after the claimed observation date. If someone has a written dated page saying that he saw the ghost of his mother, with the date being two days after his mother's death, that suggests (but does not prove) that such a claim of seeing a ghost occurred at the reported date. There is no proof because the person could have written the report at a much later time, and put an earlier date on the report. But if the report is published soon after the claimed observation, then we have proof that the observation claim did occur by a particular date. The publication of a report also lends credibility by putting the witness "on public record" of having seen a particular thing. 

Add 1 star if the observation report was made by multiple witnesses who agree with each other

It is rather obvious that the more witnesses we have of something occurring, the more credible is the observation report. 

Add 1 star if the observation report is backed up by physical evidence such as a photo or video

The fact that people are sentenced to prison very frequently based solely on eyewitness testimony shows that physical evidence is not a necessity for a credible observational report.  But when physical evidence such as a photo or video exists, it provides additional strength to the credibility of an observational report. 

Let's give some examples of using this system:

Example #1: Reddit user georgiaguy23 says he remembers his mother Ida long ago saying that she saw a UFO. Rating: 0 stars. 

Example #1: Joe Smithson says he remembers his mother Ida long ago saying that she saw a UFO. Rating: 1 star, but only if Ida is a trustworthy person.  If Ida is a shady character, the rating is 0 stars. 

Example #2: Joe Smithson quotes a letter written by his mother Ida on June 8, 2023, saying she saw a ghost about twenty years ago. 1978.  Rating: 2 stars, if Ida is a trustworthy person.  

Example #3: Joe Smithson quotes a letter written by his mother Ida on June 9, 1993, saying she saw a ghost on June 8, 1993.  Rating: 3 stars, if Ida is a trustworthy person.  The short gap of only one day between the report and the claimed observation event merits an additional star in the rating. 

Example #4: David Honderstram publishes a report on June 12, 2024 saying that he saw a ghost ten years ago. Rating: 3 stars, if David is a trustworthy witness. 

Example #5: David Honderstram publishes a report on June 12, 2024 saying that he saw a ghost the previous day (June 11, 2024). Rating: 4 stars, if David is a trustworthy witness.   

Example #6: David Honderstram publishes a report on June 12, 2024 saying that he saw a ghost the previous day (June 11, 2024), and quotes his brother as saying that he also saw the ghost. Rating: 5 stars, if David is a trustworthy witness.

Example #7: David Honderstram publishes a report on June 12, 2024 saying that he saw a ghost the previous day (June 11, 2024), and quotes his brother as saying that he also saw the ghost. David also has a photo showing what he says is the ghost he saw. Rating: 6 stars, if David is a trustworthy witness, and the photo holds up to scrutiny.

Some reports of the paranormal do not qualify as 5-star reports using the system above. An example is the very interesting tale of hypnotic clairvoyance told on page 248 of The Psychology of the Future by Emile Boirac. Boirac quotes a report of a subject who reportedly displayed the most astounding clairvoyance, describing what was going on as a man met with two others very far away. In the account the very specific details given are soon verified as correct. But there are some reasons why the account fails to qualify as five-star evidence using the system above. First, Boirac does not give us the full name of the person who gave the account, merely saying it was provided by Jean B.  Secondly, Boirac's book dates from 1918, but the account is of events that supposedly occurred in 1892, with the account not published before Boirac's 1918 book. So sadly the report only earns one of the five stars mentioned above. 

But very many reports of the paranormal qualify as 5-star reports following the system above. In the 1870's very many people holding seances were very good at publishing very detailed reports of the observations, with the reports very often published very soon after the observation event. Examples of such reports are quoted in my posts here and here. In those posts are actually some examples of reports of the paranormal which should be rated 5 or 6 stars using the rating system above. The observations claiming materializations of Katie King during the seances of Florence Cook were reported in  many different extremely detailed eyewitness accounts by very many reliable witnesses, typically giving their full names and often giving their addresses, over years of observation, with the reports very often being published soon after the day of observation, and with photographs being published as corroboration. The reports appeared in the Spiritualist newspaper during 1872 and 1874. Examples of such reports are quoted in my posts here, here and here.

Here is an example of a report that must be rated highly. Using the system above, we can rate is as 4 stars or 5 stars. The report appeared in the December 10, 1938 edition of the Psychic Observer publication here. We have three witnesses testifying on November 21, 1938 to phenomena they say occurred quite recently, on October 12, 1938.  The one-month gap might be a justification for granting only 4 stars rather than 5. 

See page 5 of the document here for more testimony in favor of such wonders. 

If you ever see something that you think may have been paranormal, you should make a dated record of your observation as soon as possible, noting as many details as you can. Even if you doubt you will ever publish your account, you should either:

(1) Write a detailed report on a piece of paper or electronic document, as soon as possible, and record the date and time.

(2) If the account was particularly noteworthy, such as an account of seeing an apparition or a UFO, you ideally should use your smartphone or camera to make a video of you describing what happened, and make sure to mention the date. 

Such a record will be very valuable in establishing the credibility of your observation, should anyone later challenge the credibility of the observation, or should you ever want to help establish the credibility of what you saw, or publish an account.  The advice above also applies to anyone witnessing a crime or witnessing something that might be the center of a lawsuit. 

Let us now look at a case of a report of the paranormal which should be rated as a 5-star report according to the system above. It is a report by seven named witnesses of seeing on Monday, March 23, 1901 an apparition of the deceased Julia Murray while near a coffin which contained Julia's dead body. The report was published in a newspaper on Friday, March 27, 1901. The image below shows part of the newspaper report:

You can read the full newspaper account here:

https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030193/1901-03-27/ed-1/seq-3/

We have seven named witnesses who all say they saw an apparition of the late Julia Murray on Monday, March 23, 1901. We even have the addresses of the witnesses. The accounts include these:

• Giving firsthand testimony, Mrs. Mary Corbalis states she a vision of Julia Murray came from behind a picture on the wall, becoming an apparition surrounded by "white, filmy clouds." She says the room lit up dramatically, and that Julia wore a wreath of roses.  
• Giving firsthand testimony and using an old word for ghost ("shade"), Rose Kearns tells of seeing the same thing, saying, "The shade of Julia Murray appeared there. I saw it." Rose says the apparition "appeared to have something on the head," saying that some said it was a wreath.  (The article has apparently used a section header misstating Kearns' first name as Kate.) 
• Giving firsthand testimony, Rose McGowan says, "I looked and saw Julia in white and a wreath of roses at her head, the most beautiful thing I ever saw." She says Julia bowed her head slowly, and put her hands together in prayer. 
• Giving firsthand testimony, and using the old word "shade" meaning a ghost or apparition, Mary Regan says, "I saw the shade of the young girl who was dead," saying "her features were plainly distinguishable."
• Giving firsthand testimony in a separate newspaper account dated one day later (March 28, 1901), Katie Kane states she saw a brilliant light on the wall, and saw Julia with a wreath of flowers around her head, and also clouds around her head. 

The same apparition sighting is described in the news report here and here. 

Let's look at another case of a report of an apparition, one that appears on page 80 of Volume II of the nineteenth century book "Bristol Past and Present." We read this:

"Of the rise of the church of Dr. Blomberg, who about this time held a prebendal stall in this cathedral, a curious story is related. When the English forces were in possession of Martinique, in the seven years’ war, his father, Major Blomberg, was detached from head-quarters to a distant part of the island, and while there died of a violent fever. The morning after his decease a Col. Stewart was surprised while in bed at head-quarters by the appearance of Major Blomberg in regimental dregs, who, in answer to an alarmed inquiry why he was not with his detachment at his post, assured his interrogator that he was no longer alive. ‘I died yesterday,’ said he, ‘at seven in the morning’; and then delivered an earnest request that his friend, on his return to England, would attend to the welfare of his young son, then in the island, by seeing him put into possession of an estate to which he was entitled, the deeds of which were secreted in the private drawer of an old chest, in a house that he named in Yorkshire. He then disappeared, leaving Col. Stewart in the greatest astonishment, but that gentleman directly called to Captain Mounsey, who slept in the same room, and inquired if he had seen Major Blomberg, to which that officer replied that he had not only seen him but had heard everything he had said, which he repeated to Colonel Stewart, and they both made notes of the event. Soon after advice arrived of the death of Major Blomberg upon the same morning and at the same hour as had been mentioned by Colonel Stewart to his brother officers, who had hitherto treated the matter with derision. In company with his guardian, Colonel Stewart, the boy, at the conclusion of the war, returned to England, and the story having reached the ear of Queen Charlotte, she appointed him one of her pages. The papers were found as indicated, and, after law suit against the undue possessor of the estate in question, young Blomberg was finally put in possession. He afterwards entered the church, became chaplain to the Prince of Wales, married and settled at Burrington, in Somersetshire, and was appointed a prebendary in Bristol Cathedral. The story is stated to be on the authority of Dr. Blomberg’s own handwriting."

Now at first, this sounds like a very convincing piece of evidence. We hear of an apparition sighting, one that is seen by two witnesses. The apparition's claim to be a person who just died is proven correct. You might think an account like this should be scored highly, but using the system here, it merits no more than about three stars.  The problem is that we have no first-hand testimony, and we don't know how long the gap is between the reported events and the date of the account given above.  The story supposedly comes from a respectable Colonel Stewart, but we have no first hand testimony from him or anyone else. Even if we make generous assumptions that the report of multiple witnesses is correct, and that the witnesses wrote down what they saw soon after seeing it, and that the physical evidence corroborating the apparition's words was actually found, the report above can be given a rating of no higher than about three stars.  The Colonel Stewart account cannot be given the five stars that the Julia Murray account merits. 

We have below an interesting account that might well be true, given all of the other evidence that has been gathered for telepathy and clairvoyance. But under the system discussed above, the account can only be given about two stars. We at least have a named witness, and a quote from the witness. But the testimony is vague, with no testimony of exactly what was seen or experienced. And there is no corroboration in the form of testimony from the traveling soul-mate. What exactly does the witness mean when claiming "my mental self has traveled with Captain Leslie"? We don't know. Accounts of the paranormal lacking details cannot be rated very highly. Conversely, in the Julia Murray account cited above, the level of detail is excellent.