“There are numerous instances in which heavy objects, such as tables,
chairs, ropes, etc., have been moved when the medium never touched
them. I will mention a few striking cases.
“My own chair turned half way around while my feet were on the floor.
“In full view of all the people present, a chair started from a far
off corner and advanced slowly to a table while we were watching its
movement.
“On another occasion an arm chair came from to the place we were
seated, and then, on my demand, slowly returned backward a distance of
three feet.
“During three consecutive _seances_, a small table crossed the room
under conditions I had especially fixed in advance, in order to
respond victoriously to all objections that might possibly be raised
against the reality of the phenomenon.
“I repeated on several occasions the experiment considered as
conclusive by the “_Dialectic Society_,” that is to say, the movement
of a heavy table in a full glare of light, the backs of chairs being
turned towards the table about one foot of distance, each person being
in a kneeling posture upon his chair, the hands placed upon the back
above the table, but not touching it.
“On one of these occasions, the experiment took place while I walked
all around the table in order to see how each person was placed.”
(_Crookes_).
In our own seances, with Madam Rosine, L.B., we have seen, ten or
twelve times at least, a small table on rollers, advance towards us as
though moved by a force of attraction or repulsion.
A similar phenomenon was very often produced in my office, under the
mediumistic influences of M. D. with a strength of extraordinary
propulsion, which seemed to originate in brute force. The traces of
violent shocks of a table against my bureau still remain to testify to
the results of this occurrence.
CLASS V.—_Chairs and tables raised from the earth without contact
with any person._
“A remark usually made when cases of this kind arise is: ‘Why do these
things only occur with chairs and tables? Is this a privilege solely
enjoyed by pieces of furniture?’ I wish to answer this by stating that
I simply observed facts and report them without pretending to enter
into the _why_ and _how_; but, in truth, it is very evident that if any
inanimate object of a certain weight can be lifted from the earth in
the ordinary dining room, it could as easily be anything else than a
chair or table.
“That such phenomena are not limited to furniture I have numerous
proofs, as have other experimenters; the _intelligence_ or _force_,
whichever it may be, that produces the manifestations, can only operate
with materials that are at its disposition.
“On five distinct occasions a heavy dining table was raised from the
floor for a height varying from some inches to a foot and a half, under
special imposed conditions that made fraud impossible.
“On another occasion a heavy table was raised to the ceiling, in full
light, _while I held the feet and hands of the medium_.
“At another time the table raised itself above the floor, without any
one touching it, but under conditions I had previously imposed in such
a manner as to render the proof of the fact incontestable.” (_Crookes._)
The phenomena observed in this class of experiments belong to those of
_movement without contact_. Although these are difficult to obtain, I
have noticed them several times; I have seen, in my own home, a massive
table raised some distance from the floor ten or fifteen seconds after
all contact had ceased. Dr. Gibier had the advantage of obtaining
complete levitation and seeing the table _turn and touch the ceiling
with its four feet_, under the mediumistic influence of Mr. Slade. The
Doctor affirms this fact in his own book on the subject.
In the trial of August 31st, 1591, a phenomenon similar to the one
narrated befell Francoise Fontaine, _i.e._, the fall of an iron door
on the unfortunate girl; the elevation in the air of a washtub and
its being emptied in the presence of the jailer and the prisoner
Aufrenille. Francois Fontaine was evidently a _medium_ with _psychic
effects_.