Metapsychical Phenomena: Methods and ObservationsMaxwell, J. (Joseph)
Philosophy
Metapsychical Phenomena: Methods and Observations
Maxwell, J. (Joseph)
Parapsychology -- Investigation
The medium is a young man of twenty-four years of age, of good family,
and fairly well-educated. He has been well brought up, and his manners
are good. He is a commercial clerk. He is a tall, strong, well-built
young man, apparently in robust health. He is intelligent, but does
not strike me as having a very strong will. He is easily influenced
by his comrades, and was particularly so by the medical student whose
irrepressible tendency to cheating I have already spoken about. The
student had a great ascendency over the medium, and, in spite of my
advice, induced him to experiment too frequently, almost daily. It
was easy to foresee the result: the imprudent student and medium
both presented visible nervous troubles at the end of a few weeks.
The seances were held in the evening with a round table which had a
double top; they began in the light, but, in obedience to the behests
of the table, total obscurity was speedily obtained. I have always
thought that obscurity was asked for by one of the two tricksters,
who was then able to give himself up to his heart’s delight, and do
as he pleased with his confiding group. They had invited some of
their friends—students or doctors—and I was extremely sorry for these
new-comers, in that they should have been present at such suspicious
seances.
To be quite exact, I ought to say that, though I was convinced these
young men frauded, I was not always able to bring it home to them. I
generally seated myself beside the most turbulent of the two young men,
and the hand which I held never once left mine. But the other hand and
the other trickster had more liberty, and some of my co-experimenters
verified fraud.
Moreover, I suspected fraud, because of the appearance of the
phenomena, which were of an extremely rough character. The table,
raised from the floor, was at times thrown against the observers with
so much force, that they have occasionally been seriously hurt. This
never happens with true phenomena. The thin top of the table was
broken; a ‘phenomenon’ which was caused by exaggerated pressure or
violent blows destined to imitate loud raps. Real raps never break a
table; its feet are sometimes demolished, when the levitated table
falls abruptly, but this is the only damage I have ever observed at
serious seances.
Notwithstanding the more than suspicious conditions under which we
operated, I am not sure that all the phenomena were simulated. In these
seances, there seems to have been a mixture of much that was false with
a little that was true. A longer observation would have permitted me to
come to a more definite conclusion, but the seances were discontinued.
Of the phenomena, the authenticity of which appeared probable to me, I
will mention raps. Many of them were obtained in the light and without
apparent contact; they had all the aspect of the authentic raps I have
so frequently observed. But owing to insufficient control, I do not
feel able to affirm their reality.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account