Mysterious Psychic Forces: An Account of the Author's Investigations in Psychical Research, Together with Those of Other European SavantsFlammarion, Camille
Philosophy
Mysterious Psychic Forces: An Account of the Author's Investigations in Psychical Research, Together with Those of Other European Savants
Flammarion, Camille
Parapsychology -- Investigation; Spiritualism
In the corner of the hall there was a piano, placed to the left of
Ochorowicz and Eusapia, and a little in the rear. Some one desired to
hear the keyboard touched. We at once hear the moving of the piano.
Ochorowicz can even see the displacement, thanks to a ray of light
which falls upon the polished surface of the instrument through the
window shutters. The piano then opens noisily, and we hear the bass
notes of the keyboard sounding. I utter aloud my desire to hear high
notes and low notes touched at the same time, as a proof that the
unknown force can act at the two ends of the keyboard. My wish is
granted, and we hear bass notes and treble notes sounded at the same
time, which seems to prove the action of two distinct hands. Then _the
instrument advances toward us_. It presses against our group, and we
are obliged to get up and move back with our experiment table, and we
do not stop until we have thus moved back several yards.
A glass half full of water, which stands on a buffet, out of reach of
our hands, was carried by an unknown power to the lips of Ochorowicz,
Eusapia, and another person, who all drank of it. This performance
took place in complete darkness and with astonishing precision.
We were able to prove the existence of a real hand not belonging to
any one present. We did it by means of the plaster cast and mould, as
follows:
Having placed a heavy basin filled with modelling-clay upon the large
table in the middle of the dining-room, we sat down with Eusapia
around the little experiment-table more than a yard distant. After
some minutes of waiting, the basin came of itself and stood on our
table! Eusapia groaned, writhed, and trembled in all her limbs; yet
not for a moment did her hands quit ours. Then she cried, "_E fatto_"
("It is done"). The candle is lighted again, and we find an irregular
hollowed place upon the surface of the clay. This hollow place,
afterward filled with plaster, gives us a perfect cast of the
contracted fingers of a hand.
We placed upon the table a plate smeared with lampblack. The
mysterious hand left there the print of the end of its fingers. The
hands of the experimenters, including those of Eusapia, _remained
white_. We next induced the medium to reproduce the impression of her
own hand upon another lamp-smoked plate. She did so. The layer of soot
removed by her fingers had deeply blackened them. A comparison of the
two plates enabled us to prove a striking resemblance,--that is to say
(to speak more accurately), the identity of the arrangement of the
spiral circles in the epidermis of the two hands; and we know that the
arrangement of these circles is unique in every individual. This is a
particular which speaks eloquently in favor of the hypothesis of the
double personality of the medium.
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