The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism, Fraudulent and Genuine: Being a Brief Account of the Most Important Historical Phenomena, a Criticism of Their Evidential Value, and a Complete Exposition of the Methods Employed in Fraudulently Reproducing the Same |
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The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism, Fraudulent and Genuine; Being a ... Hereward Carrington No preview available - 2012 |
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Popular passages
Page 395 - I myself have held a red-hot coal in my hands without injury, when it scorched my face on raising my hand. Once, I wished to see if they really would burn, and I said so, and touched a coal with the middle finger of my right hand, and I got a blister as large as a sixpence ; I instantly asked him to give me the coal and I held the part that burnt me, in the middle of my hand, for three or four minutes, without the least inconvenience.
Page 396 - Mr. Home again went to the fire, and after stirring the hot coal about with his hand, took out a red-hot piece nearly as big as an orange, and putting it on his right hand, covered it over with his left hand, so as to almost completely enclose it, and then blew into the small furnace thus extemporised until the lump of charcoal was nearly white-hot, and then drew my attention to the lambent flame which was flickering over the coal and licking round his fingers...
Page 338 - Fox it seems only necessary for her to place her hand on any substance for loud thuds to be heard in it, like a triple pulsation, sometimes loud enough to be heard several rooms off. In this manner I have heard them in a living tree — on a sheet of glass — on a stretched iron wire — on a stretched membrane — a tambourine — on the roof of a cab — and on the floor of a theatre.
Page 397 - ... until the lump of charcoal was nearly white-hot, and then drew my attention to the lambent flame which was flickering over the coal and licking round his fingers ; he fell on his knees, looked up in a reverent manner, held up the coal in front, and said, ' Is not God good ? Are not His laws...
Page 374 - I was sitting with Mr. Home and Lord Adare, and a cousin of his. During the sitting Mr. Home went into a trance, and in that state was carried out of the window in the room next to where we were, and was brought in at our window.
Page 52 - How true these last remarks are is demonstrated by the statement, made in The Revelations of a Spirit Medium (p. 92), that an old wire mask frequently used at materializing seances had been recognized " by dozens of persons as fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, cousins, sweethearts, wives, husbands, and various other relatives and friends. None but the medium knew that it was only a fiftycent wire mask, hence none but the medium could enjoy the humor of the occasion.
Page 337 - Proceedings S. P R., Vol. IV., p. 30. 340 and, whilst, in this constrained condition, with the muscles of the arms and legs all in tension, I asked for the knocks to come. Immediately a brisk pattering of raps followed my request. All the while the child remained quite motionless. My reason for making this experiment was to test the late Doctor Carpenter's muscular theory of the cause of the sounds. Had Doctor Carpenter been present, I feel quite sure he would have admitted that here, at any rate,...
Page 376 - On one occasion I witnessed a chair, with a lady sitting on it, rise several inches from the ground. On another occasion, to avoid the suspicion of this being in some way performed by herself, the lady knelt on the chair in such manner that its four feet were visible to us. It then rose about three inches, remained suspended for about ten seconds, and then slowly descended.
Page 338 - I have heard these sounds proceeding from the floor, walls, etc., when the medium's hands and feet were held, when she was standing on a chair, when she was suspended in a swing from the ceiling, when she was enclosed in a wire cage, and when she had fallen fainting on a sofa. I have heard them on a glass harmonicon, I have felt them on my own shoulder, and under my own hands. I have heard them on a sheet of paper, held between the fingers by a piece of thread passed through one corner. With a full...
Page 377 - European folk-lore." 2 Indeed, there is hardly a phenomenon that is so frequently recorded as is this phenomenon of levitation. And, " when we find savage biraarks in Australia, fakirs in India, saints in mediaeval Europe, a gentleman's butler in Ireland, boys in Somerset and Midlothian, a young warrior in Zululand, Miss Nancy Wesley at Epworth, in 1716, and Mr. Daniel Home, in London, in 1856-70, all triumphing over the law of gravitation, all floating in the air, how are we to explain the uniformity...