Mysterious Psychic Forces: An Account of the Author's Investigations in Psychical Research, Together with Those of Other European Savants
John Stuart Mill · en
10.35. Eusapia, again freeing her right hand, lifts it up above her
left shoulder, the fingers forward, at a distance of several inches
from the curtain, and beats four or five strokes in the air which are
heard to sound in the tambourine. Several persons think they see a
will-o'-the-wisp through the gap between the curtains.
Up to that point the gas has been gradually lowered. After the lapse
of a full moment I find that I can no longer read, but I can
distinguish very clearly the horizontal lines of my writing. I can see
the hour perfectly by my watch, as well as the faces of those present,
(that of Eusapia especially) turned toward the light. The gas is now
completely extinguished.
At 10.40, the gas being out, I can still read my watch, but with
difficulty; I still see the lines of my writing, though without being
able to read.
Eusapia wants somebody to hold her head, which is done. Then she asks
somebody to hold her feet. M. Baschet gets down on his knees under the
table and holds them.
M. Antoniadi cries, "I am touched!" and says that he has felt a hand.
I have very distinctly seen the curtain puffing out. Mme. Flammarion,
whom I see silhouetted on the bright glass of the window, her head
leaning forward, goes behind the curtain in order to assure herself
that the medium is not doing anything suspicious in the way of
motions.
One of the persons present having changed places, Eusapia utters
complaints: "_La catena! la catena!_" ("The chain! the chain!") The
chain is re-established.
At 10.45 the curtain is inflated again. A bump is heard. The round
table touches the elbow of M. Antoniadi. Mme. Flammarion, who has kept
looking behind the curtain, says that she sees the round table turned
over. Its feet are in the air, and it is moving to and fro. She thinks
she sees glimmers of light near the floor.
M. Mathieu feels a hand and an arm pushing the curtain against him. M.
Antoniadi says that he is touched by a cushion; his chair is pulled
and turns under him as if on a pivot. He is touched again on the elbow
by some object.
It is ascertained that M. Jules Bois is holding Eusapia's right hand
above the table; M. Antoniadi assures us that he is holding her left
hand, and M. Mathieu her feet.
The curtain is again shaken twice; M. Antoniadi is hit in the back
very hard, he says, and a hand pulls his hair. The only light
remaining is the little lamp with a shade, behind an easy-chair at the
farther end of the salon. I continue to write, but my strokes take all
kinds of shapes.