PALLADINO
Eusapia Palladino, an Italian, has to her credit the successful
deception of more philosophic and scientific men than any other
known medium, being regarded by some as the most famous of them all,
notwithstanding the fact that she seems to have made no pretence of
producing the class of miracles claimed by D. D. Home and many others.
Materialization was rarely resorted to by her and there is very little
variety in her program from 1892 up to the time of her death in 1918,
evidently being content to astonish investigating scientists with the
levitation and gyrating of inanimate things.[45]
Palladino was born in the Neapolitan district of poor peasants who
died when she was a mere child. Naturally bright, even shrewd, her
perceptive instinct seems to have developed early in life and continued
throughout her career though she had no education and to the end was
scarcely able to read or write.
Her first contact with the mysterious arts appears to have been when
she was a mere child of thirteen (1867) in the service of an acrobat or
_conjuror_[46] from whom she must have acquired some degree of skill
and knowledge of the uncanny which she may have coupled up with the
marvellous success achieved by Home, and her quick wit may have opened
visions of a change from poverty to that affluence which she saw was
the reward of the professional phenomena producer, for she began her
Spiritualistic work just following his successful operations in Italy
which served to spread Spiritualism in spite of Papal opposition. Her
part must have been learned well and her plans carefully laid before
she made her debut as a full fledged medium because she succeeded from
the start in baffling brainy men of science, and while as the wife of a
small shop-keeper she was very poor, she became wealthy within twenty
years after taking up mediumistic work.
She did not attract the attention of the public until about 1880 when
Professor Chiaia, who had been giving her a lot of attention without
detecting her methods, challenged Professor Lombroso, at that time
the most distinguished scientific man in Italy, to investigate her.
Professor Lombroso did, but failed to detect any fraudulent work though
his decision was delayed for so long a time that when it was finally
given it was claimed that his mentality had weakened considerably.[47]
In 1892 Palladino had begun to attract the attention of scientific men
in different Italian cities and had also been brought to the notice of
some of the English Spiritualists but it was not until 1894 that she
went to France. This trip was brought about through the influence of
Professor Richet, and Sir Oliver Lodge, Professor Sidgwick, and Mr.
Myers took part in the proceedings. On the return of Lodge and Myers to
England they aroused interest in Palladino by reporting her phenomena
to be genuine.
The first exposure of Palladino was made by Dr. Richard Hodgson in
1895. A committee from the English Society for Psychical Research,
consisting of Hereward Carrington, Hon. Everard Feilding, and Wortly
W. Baggally, which had held a series of test seances with Palladino in
Italy, brought her to England for a fresh try-out and another series of
sittings was held. Very early in the series suspicious movements on the
part of the medium were observed. Later Dr. Hodgson joined the circle
and was able to show conclusively that by clever manipulation--sheer
trickery--she was getting one hand free and with it making the
movements observed.
Her method[48] was to begin by allowing one hand to be firmly held by
the sitter at her side (say on the left) and let the fingers of her
other hand (right) rest on that of the sitter on her right. In the
course of some rapid spasmodic movements she would bring the sitters’
hands so close together that one of her own could do duty for two,
being held by one sitter while its fingers rested on the hand of the
other sitter,[49] leaving her (Palladino’s) right hand free to produce
the desired “phenomena” after which it was restored to its original
position. Other devices equally dishonest were observed or inferred.
All of these men were experienced seance observers[50] but the report
of their conclusions shows how easily such experts were deceived by
the very tricks which were later proved fraudulent by the New York
branch of The Society for Psychical Research. Mr. Feilding’s reports
were the least positive of the three and show that when the best
phenomena were observed the control was not complete and that the
stenographic notes were deficient, and when read over the day following
the sitting they seemed weak in comparison with a recollection of the
manifestations. That the final reports were based largely on these
recollections is indicated by Mr. Feilding’s statement that:
“We were forced from our proposed colorless attitude to one of almost
proselyting affirmation.”
When Palladino came to America in 1908 she was beginning to be world
famous and her reputation was established; she was a shrewd woman with
a large experience in the art of misdirection, and with a convenient
subterfuge of unaccommodating Spirit guides whenever her own resources
were exhausted because of some over-zealous observer. For twenty
years or more she had avoided detection because she had fixed the
conditions under which tests were made and consequently as scientific
investigations they were simply farces. But in New York conditions were
introduced which she did not approve for the simple reason that she did
not know that they existed. Another difference was that in New York
a number of rehearsals were held and each investigator was assigned
to a special part of the work, thus guarding against the old trick
of drawing the attention away from the place where a manifestation
suddenly developed. The result was Palladino’s downfall.
On her arrival in New York a group of Columbia professors became
interested in Palladino and arranged for a series of ten test seances
at one hundred and twenty-five dollars a sitting. Eight of the ten
seances had been held and though a majority of the professors were
satisfied that she was cheating they were unable to prove it. Although
the seances were being conducted secretly by the scientists one of
them, Professor Dickinson S. Miller, discussed Palladino’s best trick,
table levitation, with a friend of mine, Mr. W. S. Davis, himself
an ex-medium whose seances were always given under test conditions.
Davis not only explained to the Professor the probable method used
by Palladino but demonstrated it as well with the result that the
Professor declared that a full exposure of Palladino should be made
even if it cost ten thousand dollars and invited Davis to aid at
the next seance candidly admitting that he and his associates were
incapable of proper investigation.
Davis replied that scientists were not the kind of men he could work
with but if he would let him bring along a couple of “Flim-flam” men he
would help. Professor Miller consented to this arrangement provided the
men were palmed off as college professors as otherwise they would not
be admitted. Davis then sent for John W. Sargent, a past-president of
the Society of American Magicians, and for years my private secretary.
He also sent for another magician, James L. Kellogg. Both agreed with
Davis that his theory of Palladino’s method was correct. Professor
Miller then suggested, that in order to make the discovery complete and
to corroborate any and all observations, two other persons should be
selected to watch the feet of the medium. Davis accordingly selected
Joseph F. Rinn, another member of the magicians society, who had
assisted in various exposures of pseudo-mediums and Professor Miller
named Warner C. Pyne, a student at Columbia. It was agreed that these
two should be clad in black even to a head covering and smuggled into
the room under cover of darkness after the seance had convened and
were to sprawl under the chairs and table in order that their heads
might be near enough Palladino’s feet to detect any movement. I am
indebted to my friend Davis for the following inside story of the
sitting just as he gave it to me.
“After the arrival of Eusapia and Mr. Livingston and when both had
entered the seance room, Rinn and Pyne came downstairs and hid in
the hall where they waited for their signal. When we were introduced
and after the usual conversation, Eusapia said that she would begin.
Before she had time to pick her controllers, Professor Miller ushered
Kellogg and myself into the positions next to her. She took a seat at
the narrow end of the table and with her back close to the cabinet
curtains. (The cabinet was formed by placing curtains from the ceiling
to the floor, extending out from one corner of the room). Kellogg sat
at her right and I sat at her left. Eusapia sat close to the table
and her black dress touched the table legs. She placed her right foot
on the instep of Kellogg’s left foot and her left foot on my right
foot, which was her guarantee that her feet should play no part in
the production of the phenomena. We did not reduce the light at the
beginning of the seance.
“The rest of the party sitting around the table then placed their hands
on its upper surface and formed the well known chain. Eusapia stamped
Kellogg’s foot and mine and asked us if the control was satisfactory
which of course it was. Eusapia then drew her own hands away from ours
and soon light raps were heard. _They were such as are easily and
imperceptibly produced by sliding the finger tips upon the table top._
“We were next favored with responsive raps,--doubling up her hands she
beat the air with her fists in a jerky, spasmodic way when we heard
the light noises on the wood. The exhibition above board did not
occupy our entire attention. Every one in the party was interested in
the theory of using a foot as a lever to raise the table. As she beat
the air with her clenched fist, she correspondingly slid her feet away
until we felt the pressure on the toe end of our feet only, whereas
there had previously been pressure on the insteps. Kellogg and I both
suspected that she had succeeded in removing one foot and was making
the other do duty for two. From then on we commenced to get heavier
raps, as though she struck the table leg with her foot.
“In striking the table leg with the side of her shoe, thus producing
raps, Eusapia also got the exact position in which her foot should be
placed for levitation. When she rocked the table from side to side it
was only necessary to switch her toe an inch when the left leg of the
table would come down on it, then all she had to do was to elevate her
toe while the heel remained on the floor and either partial or complete
levitation followed.
“We looked pleased and Eusapia began to feel at home. With a little
rest, the rocking was resumed and she considered it safe to risk the
entire levitation. Holding Kellogg’s left hand up in the air with
her right she put my right hand, palm down, on the top of the table,
directly over the left table leg; then put her left hand over mine,
the tips of the fingers extending rather over my hand and touching
the table. No other hands were upon it. Then, after a few partial
levitations, the table went up into the air with every leg off the
floor. It was our first complete levitation. As beautiful as any on
record and _given under bright lights_.”
I asked Davis how he knew the levitation was fraudulent and he answered:
“(1) During the partial levitations I casually lifted my left foot,
passed it over the right foot in the direction of Eusapia and was
unable to touch her left leg in the place where it should have been.
(2) Her black dress touched the table leg and as she took her toe
suddenly out from under it, her dress moved accordingly. (3) By the
thud which the table made when it was deprived of its very material
perch. (4) By the fact that any juggler can perform the feat when the
‘_modus operandi_’ is fully understood, though perhaps not with the
same skill. (5) Every one present knew that the table was steadied at
the top by Eusapia’s hand, which rested upon mine, in turn bore down
over the table leg, held up presumably by Eusapia’s toe which formed
a perfect human clamp.[51](6) What Rinn and Pyne told us after the
seance. They said that from their position under the chairs they saw
Eusapia place her right foot upon Kellogg’s left and her left foot upon
my right, later they saw her tapping upon our feet with hers while she
made some changes in the position of her feet. They also saw her slide
her left foot away by a few hitches as her right was twisted around to
cover my right foot which had previously been under her left foot. They
distinctly saw Eusapia strike the table leg with the side of her foot
to produce the raps and they also saw her slide her toe under the table
leg and force the table up by toe leverage.”[52]
During his narration I asked Davis to tell me if this astute Italian
who had fooled the scientists of the world was not suspicious or did
not sense that she was being checked up in her movements.
“No,” he replied dryly, “once during the seance she asked every one to
stand up. Two of the ladies in their inexperience proceeded to obey the
command. We had two spies under our chairs and as we did not want her
to see them something had to be done immediately, so I pretended to
have severe cramps in my legs and while the interpreter told Eusapia
of it Sargent and Kellogg nudged the ladies to sit down and the medium
then resumed her seat.”
I will not bore the reader with a detailed account of the cabinet
phenomena at this seance under a subdued light but suffice to say that
Davis and Kellogg tricked her as before and were able to explain every
manifestation. The whole Miller seance was carried out as planned so
carefully that Palladino on the way to her hotel afterwards told the
Columbia student who had acted as interpreter[53] for her that she was
well pleased with the evening and that the seance had been one of the
most successful of the series.[54]
I quote by permission from a letter written me by Mr. Davis under date
of June 22, 1923:
“Rupert Hughes, in an attack upon Spiritism some time ago, said
that favorable reports on Palladino constituted a vast literature,
and he was right. The public libraries both in this country and
Europe contain many books in which it is claimed that it has been
‘_scientifically_ demonstrated’ that Eusapia possesses some occult
power.
“Generations for centuries will probably be influenced by these books.
They are only calculated to create superstition and ignorance and it
is a shame that they are permitted to circulate. Eusapia was one of
the world’s greatest mountebanks. Her dupes were our foremost men of
learning--they were not of the rabble. She was the greatest mountebank
produced by modern Spiritism, and she duped more scientists than any
other medium. In that respect D. D. Home does not compare with her. The
_important lesson in the case_ is that so-called ‘scientific’ testimony
is just about worthless. That is an important educational fact and a
valuable lesson to the general public.”
Mr. Davis is quite right in his view of the seriousness of the possible
danger and damage to the reading public from the effects of the grossly
misapplied energy of the prominent scientists who have so unqualifiedly
endorsed Eusapia Palladino as a genuine miracle worker, and the hosts
of Spiritualistic enthusiasts who have repeated their published
statements. Even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle unqualifiedly lauds Home and
Palladino as patron saints of his psychic religion (?). He accepts as
proof the fact that these learned scientists met their Waterloo in an
attempt to fathom the simple tricks of impostors, and like all other
Spiritualists refuses to accept the positive proof of the deception
secured by men schooled in the science of magic which at times is
as seemingly unexplainable as the more profound subjects of natural
science.
The reader should bear in mind that Mr. Davis’ _sincerity_ is just as
great as is Sir Arthur’s. _Sincerity_ is Sir Arthur’s strong magnet
and the reader should attach as much importance to _sincerity_ on
the part of an opponent. We must also take into consideration the
fact that Mr. Davis was at one time a _medium_ himself and he has had
much opportunity for observing the qualifications of scientists as
occult investigators. We must notice too the methods of conducting
the seances in which such diverse results were obtained. Those held
with only scientists as observers were under the full control of the
medium and all her conditions were conformed to, but in New York it
was practically a case of fighting fire with fire. It is proverbial
that “it takes a rogue to catch a rogue”--just so a trickster is more
capable of setting traps to detect trickery than the grave scientist
in his endeavor to solve the problem by mathematics or logic. In the
successful instance the plan of operation had been carefully worked out
in every detail, each participant was assigned a specific work to do
and did it. A number of rehearsals were held so that each person was
familiar with their part. All the conditions so strenuously adhered to
in previous seances, were safeguarded and the result was a successful
exposure.
[Illustration: EUSAPIA PALLADINO AND HER SEANCE TABLE]
When Carrington brought Palladino to this country he announced that he
did so in the interest of “science.” Publicity was not to be ignored
though and consequently the first seance was given before newspaper
men. William A. Brady (the theatrical man) occupied the seat of honor
which made it look as though Carrington hoped for some theatrical
business as a side issue to the seances with scientists at a hundred
and twenty-five dollars a sitting. It is also known that Carrington
made a contract with a popular magazine which gave it an exclusive
right to publish reports of the seances and naturally Carrington was
to have received a liberal fee. But Mr. Davis in 1909 furnished the
_New York Times_ with two articles making a sensational attack on
Palladino whereupon the magazine people cancelled their contract with
Carrington on the ground that Davis had put a “frost” on their plans.
As a result Carrington threatened the _Times_ with a suit for a hundred
thousand dollars damage. The threat was dropped after Palladino’s
complete exposure and her refusal to go to the Times Building and win
the two thousand dollar prize offered by Rinn. In all the seances
conducted by Carrington the program was the same and the phenomena
of precisely the same character as in the one which resulted in
Palladino’s complete exposure. The value of Mr. Carrington’s opinion
as evidence may be judged from excerpts from an article in _McClure’s
Magazine_ for October, 1909. In this article he answers his own
question “Does Eusapia Deceive Her Investigators?” by saying:
“Well do I know the condition of mind induced by one or two seances
with Eusapia. All one’s previous experience is refuted, and the mind
fails to grasp the facts or to accept them as real. It is incapable of
absorbing them. It requires several seances before one is convinced of
the reality of the phenomena, and of the fact that one’s observation
is not mistaken. Personally, I had to witness six seances before I was
irrevocably and finally convinced of the reality of the fact. Before
that, although I was quite unable to explain what I saw by any theory
of fraud or trickery, and although I was quite certain the facts were
not due to hallucination, still I could not believe them. I felt that
there must be a loophole somewhere; and I know that my colleagues
felt exactly as I did. But at the sixth seance when I was controlling
the medium myself, in such a manner that I was quite sure as to the
whereabouts of her whole body, and when it was, moreover, light enough
to see the whole outline of her body clearly,--when, in spite of this,
phenomena continued to take place all around us in the most bewildering
manner and under the most perfect test conditions, I felt that there
was no more to be said; certainty had been achieved; and from the sixth
seance onward, and forever after, I shall remain as certain that these
phenomena are facts, and form a part--however sporadic--of nature, as I
am that I write this article.”
The foregoing shows how vacillating the mind of Mr. Carrington was at
the time he was conducting the Palladino seances, and when after a
personal contest with the medium he stated his conviction he should
have known he was talking the impossible; that no one man could control
Palladino beyond the possibility of fraud and at the same time detect
her false moves. In the same article he writes:
“I may remark just here that this medium has been caught in trickery
from time to time, and will almost invariably resort to it unless
she is prevented from doing so by the rigidity of the control (that
is, the degree of certainty obtained in holding her hands and feet).
The reason for this is that Eusapia, knowing that the production of
genuine phenomena will exhaust her nervous forces, resorts to this
simpler method, if her sitters are sufficiently credulous to allow
it, in order to save herself from the painful after effects of a
genuine seance. Nearly every investigator has at one time or another
discovered this fraud, which is petty, and more or less obvious to any
careful investigator, and consists in the substitution of one hand for
two, and in the production of phenomena with the remaining free hand.
If, however, sufficient precautions are taken, it is a comparatively
easy matter to frustrate her attempts at fraud; and when this is done
so-called genuine phenomena are produced. Many of the phenomena are
so incredible that by far the simplest explanation is that fraud has
been operative in their production; but I can say positively (and I
believe the records will show this) that fraud was quite impossible
throughout our seances, not only because of the nature of our control
of the medium, which was rigidly exacting, but because of the abundance
of light. Any theory based upon the supposition that confederates were
employed is absolutely discounted: first, because the seances were held
in our own locked rooms in the hotel; and secondly, because throughout
the seances it was light enough for us to see the whole room and its
occupants. It is hardly necessary to add that we examined the cabinet,
the table, instruments, and all articles of furniture, both before and
after each seance.”
This last seems just as a manager might be expected to talk of the
merit of his own show. A salesman should not decry his wares.
There is no question but what Palladino was given to fraud.[55] In
personal conversations with Hon. Everard Feilding, W. W. Baggally, E.
J. Dingwall and Hereward Carrington, each stated positively that they
had caught her cheating and that they knew her to be a fraud. They
claimed that toward the end of her career she lost her occult power and
at such times as the Spirits failed her she would resort to trickery
rather than confess failure. They believed her a genuine medium because
of the things which she did under test conditions which they could not
explain, their knowledge of fraud being overpowered, apparently, by a
willingness to believe in the impossible simply because they were not
able to solve the problem.
If you go to a department store and ask for a well advertised bit of
merchandise and when you get home you find the clerk has substituted
“something just as good” you either report the clerk to the management
or else you do not patronize the store again; if you go to a tailor and
he sells you an “all-wool” suit and you find that most of the “wool”
grew on cotton plants you pass that store by when you are ready to
buy another suit; if you catch your best friend cheating at cards you
refuse to play with him again ever and a life-time friendship is broken
up. But Palladino cheated at Cambridge, she cheated in l’Aguélas, and
she cheated in New York and yet each time that she was caught cheating
the Spiritualists upheld her, excused her, and forgave her. Truly their
logic sometimes borders on the humorous.
F. W. H. Myers wrote in “Borderland” in 1896:
“These frauds were practiced in and out of the real, or alleged, trance
and were so skillfully executed that the poor woman must have practiced
them long and carefully.”
Palladino is summed up in these few lines.
My opinion is that Palladino in her crafty prime may have possessed the
agility and abundant skill in misdirection together with sufficient
energy and nerve to bamboozle[56] her scientific and otherwise astute
committeemen, but as time demanded its toll she probably lost her vim
and nerve and became unable to present her “performances” with the
success that attended her earlier demonstrations.
My old friend, John William Sargent, who died on September 24, 1920,
was one of the committee which finally dethroned Palladino, and I
believe it no more than just that the last word of this chapter should
be said by him.
“Eusapia Palladino is dead and I have little doubt that she departed
hence without forgiving me for the part I took in spoiling her business
in America by assisting in the exposure of her little bag of tricks.
It is an open question, however, whether the exposure of her trickery,
or in fact of any of the class of sensation mongers to which she
belonged, ever turned a soul from belief in Spiritism; some of the
leading newspapers, in commenting on her death, show that in spite of
the complete exposure of her methods, there still remains in the minds
of many intelligent people the conviction that she was far from an
impostor. I cannot understand how any reasonable person could see in
this woman anything more than a fairly clever charlatan, whose success
was due more to the credulity of her audiences than the skill of her
performances. What did all her exposures amount to? Those who believed
have continued to believe, and in spite of the old saw, ‘Truth is
mighty and must prevail,’ the name of Eusapia Palladino will be on the
lips of men long, long after her exposers are forgotten dust.”