Apparitions and thought-transference: an examination of the evidence for telepathyPodmore, Frank
Philosophy
Apparitions and thought-transference: an examination of the evidence for telepathy
Podmore, Frank
Apparitions; Telepathy
The next account is taken from the _Annales des Sciences Psychiques_,
vol. iii. pp. 114-116. M. Hennique, the agent, had acted as agent in
four experiments at a distance with another percipient in the previous
year (_Annales_, vol. i. pp. 262-265). In the first the percipient saw
vague lights, and finally a vase of flowers (very clear); the agent
was looking at a lamp covered by a transparent shade, with a vase of
flowers painted on it. In the second the percipient again saw vague
lights, and then a luminous sphere; the agent was looking at the lamp
globe placed on the table in full light. In the third, the percipient
only saw brilliant lights, like stars or jewels; the agent was looking
at the word _Dieu_, in big letters. In the fourth the percipient,
to his astonishment, saw _nothing_; the agent had willed him to
see nothing. In each case the percipient's impression was recorded
in writing before any communication was received from the agent. In
the present case, it will be seen, the percipient received, not the
impression which the agent wished to transfer, but the image of another
object within the agent's field of vision, and which had entered his
thoughts in connection with this very experiment.
No. 36.--From M. LEON HENNIQUE and M. D.
"On Friday, the 8th of July last, my friend Hennique and I made a
further experiment in telepathy. Hennique was away from Paris, and
separated from me by a distance of 171 kilomètres. At midnight I
wrote to Hennique the following letter:--
"'PARIS, _July_ 8_th_, 1892, _midnight_.
"'MY DEAR HENNIQUE,--A friend came unexpectedly to dinner. At
10.30, looking through the open window at the blue sky under the
full moon, I thought all of a sudden of the experiment planned by
us, of the telepathic meeting that we had fixed for eleven o'clock
this evening, and my brain received at the same time the impression
of a puppet. It seemed to me that you were trying to show me a
little cardboard man fitted with strings to make his arms and legs
move.
"'Reminded by this impression of my telepathic duty, I said
good-night to my friend, and at eleven o'clock I waited, with my
eyes closed, in the darkness of the dining-room. Nothing happened
till twelve or fifteen minutes past eleven, when there appeared to
me for an instant a small black silhouette, a Chinese shadow, as
if you had cut out a little black figure and placed it in front
of a light; for the round part, which seemed to be its head, was
surrounded by a bluish halo. It was mostly this little black
sphere--which I thought was a head--that I saw; the body I rather
deduced than saw. 'D.'
"M. Hennique replied to me as follows:--
"'RIBEMONT (AISNÉ), _Sunday_, 10_th July_ 1892.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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