Mysterious Psychic Forces: An Account of the Author's Investigations in Psychical Research, Together with Those of Other European Savants
John Stuart Mill · en
We took every precaution not to be the dupes of complicity, of fraud.
Superhuman forces acting near us, so near that we heard the very
breathing of a living being,--if living being it were,--such are the
things our eyes took cognizance of for two mortal hours.
And when, on looking back, doubts begin to creep into the mind, we
must conclude that, given the conditions in which we were, the
chicanery necessary to produce such effects would be at least as
phenomenal as the effects themselves.
How shall we name the mystery?
So much for the report of M. Arthur Levy. I have no commentary to make at
present upon these reports of my fellow-experimenters. The essential
thing, it seems to me, is to leave to every one his own exposition and his
personal judgment. I shall proceed in the same way with the other reports
which are to follow. I shall reproduce the principal ones. In spite of
some inevitable repetitions, they will surely be read with extreme
interest, especially when we take into consideration the high intellectual
standing of the observers.
Report of M. Adolphe Brisson.
(_Seance of November 10_)
(There were present at this seance, besides the hosts of the occasion,
M. Prof. Richet, M. and Mme. Ad. Brisson, Mme. Fourton, M. Andre
Bloch, M. Georges Mathieu.)
The following are occurrences which I personally observed with the
greatest care. I did not once cease to hold in my right hand the left
hand of Eusapia or fail to feel that we were in contact. The contact
was only interrupted twice,--at the moment when Dr. Richet felt a
pricking in his arm. Eusapia's hand, making violent movements, escaped
from my grasp; but I seized it again after two or three seconds.
1. After this sitting had begun,--that is, at the end of about ten
minutes,--the table was lifted up away from Eusapia, two of its legs
leaving the floor simultaneously.
2. Five minutes later the curtain swelled out as if it had been
inflated by a strong breeze. My hand, never letting go of that of
Eusapia, pressed gently against the curtain, and I experienced a
resistance, just as if I had pressed against the sail of a ship
bellied out by the wind.
[Illustration]
3. Not only was the curtain puffed out, forming a big pocket, but the
perpendicular edge of the curtain that touched the window moved
automatically aside and drew back as if it were pushed by an invisible
curtain holder, making nearly this kind of a movement.
4. The curtain, inflated anew, took the form of a nose or of an
eagle's beak, projecting above the table about eight or ten inches.
This shape was visible for several seconds.