SÉANCES AND MISCELLANEOUS SPIRIT TRICKS.
A test which made the Eddy Brothers famous was their “light” and
“dark” séances. Horatio Eddy gave what he termed a “light séance,”
and William was famous for the “dark séance.” Instead of using a
cabinet of wood, Horatio formed one simply by stretching a couple
of shawls or curtains across a corner of the room, thus making
a triangular inclosure. A table containing the usual musical
instruments, bells, tambourine, guitar, etc., is placed in this
space. The medium sits on a chair in front of this curtain, to
the left hand side. Next to him, on his right, sits a gentleman
selected from the audience, and to the right of this gentleman, a
lady similarly chosen. William Eddy now pins across the breasts of
the two gentlemen a third shawl, attaching the ends to the curtain.
(Fig. 39.) Previously to this, however, Horatio has grasped with
both his hands the gentleman’s left arm; the lady is requested
to grasp the gentleman’s right arm. In this position neither can
make a movement but what one of the others would be immediately
cognizant of it. Presently there is a commotion among the articles
on the table behind the screen; they appear floating in the air
above the top of the curtains, some coming through and tapping the
trio on the head. A hand comes through the curtain and writes a
message on the slate held by William Eddy. Numerous other tests
are performed--all in subdued light, not darkness. Now, to raise
the veil from this mystery: In grasping the left arm of the person
in the center, the medium first grasps the gentleman’s left arm
with his, the medium’s, left hand, fingers being spread apart as
far as possible. With this hand he presses quite hard, and takes a
light hold of the same arm, but above the left hand. If the medium
gently and carefully removes the right hand, the action cannot, by
sense of touch, be detected. Sometimes, so as to enable him to use
both hands, another ruse is also employed. A piece of heavy sheet
lead is cut in the shape of the medium’s hand. This is placed in
his left hand. With this hand he grasps the skeptic’s arm. Being
made of lead, the hand easily conforms or bends to the shape of the
arm, and, what is more, if the real hand of the medium be quietly
removed, the leaden hand remains behind, giving the same sense
of touch as if the actual hand were there. (Fig. 40.) Of course,
with the hands free, the medium can stealthily glide between the
curtains, grasp and manipulate the instruments, and throw them to
the floor, immediately replacing his hands gently.
[Illustration: Fig. 39.--The Light Séance.]
[Illustration: Fig. 40.--The Mystery Explained.]
A rather clever test used in a dark séance, given by Miss Annie
Eva Fay, is one in which the hands are not bound. Miss Fay made
cotton, bandage and tape-ties a success, and sometimes varied her
séance by not using a tie, but by continually clapping her hands
together during the darkness. She also had her mouth filled with
water. Nevertheless, the usual manifestations occurred. The horn
“tooted,” the tambourine and guitar floated, bells rang, etc.
The dodge she employed was this: Instead of clapping her hands
together, she slapped one against her forehead, which gave the same
sound, and gave her one hand at liberty. She also swallowed the
water. She was now at liberty to blow the horn, ring bells or the
like. When she was finished, she refilled her mouth with water from
a bottle concealed on her person, and again resumed, clapping her
hands together instead of striking one hand against her forehead.
An investigator suspected the idea of the water and once came
prepared with a glass of milk, which he requested the medium to
use instead. She consented. The horn tooted just the same, and the
medium’s mouth still contained the milk. She had simply inserted
the end of the horn in one of her nostrils. Another time she merely
emptied the liquid into one of the hand bells on the table and held
it upside down in her lap. Still another “wrinkle” is the use of a
rubber ball with a hole in it. This can readily be attached to the
horn, and squeezing the ball does the tooting.
Dr. Henry Slade was, of course, identified and recognized as the
principal slate-writing medium, but at various times he presented
other phenomena, one of which was the playing of an accordion
while held in one hand under the table. The accordion was taken
by him from the table with his right hand, at the end containing
the strap, the keys or notes at the other end being away from him.
He thus held the accordion beneath the table, and his left hand
was laid on top of the table, where it was always in plain view.
Nevertheless, the accordion was heard to give forth melodious
tunes, and at the conclusion was brought up on top of the table
as held originally; the whole dodge consisting in turning the
accordion end for end as it went under the table. The strap end
being now downward, and held between the legs, the medium’s hand
grasped the keyboard end, and worked the bellows and keys, holding
the accordion firmly with the legs and working the hand, not with
an arm movement, but mostly by a simple wrist movement. Of course,
at the conclusion, the hand grasped the accordion at the strap
end, and brought it up in this condition. Sometimes an accordion
is tied with strings and sealed so the bellows cannot be worked.
This is for the dark séance. Even in this condition the accordion
is played by inserting a tube in the air-hole or valve and by the
medium’s using his lungs as bellows.
In regard to dark séances and materializations, I would state that
they are so barefaced and bold it is hardly worth while to worry
about them. What cannot be done in the dark? Spirit costumes,
to be donned later by the medium to impersonate people from the
other world, are concealed in strange places under the very eyes
of the investigators--in the body of the guitar, in a drum, about
the person of one of the circle of skeptics, who is really a
confederate, or behind the surface of a wall. Time and place make
all the difference in the method of work used by mediums. In their
homes mediums have any number of accomplices, who enter the room
under cover of darkness by various means--one way, by means of a
trap in the floor. This opens upwardly; the carpet does not have
to be cut, and can also be well tacked down. The trap is not cut
square, but triangularly, across the two sides of the room in one
corner. Through this trap the confederates, disguised as spirits,
enter from the cellar below and vanish. Another method is to gain
admittance from an adjoining room. Between the two rooms are
sliding doors, misnamed “folding” doors. The space in one of the
walls is not only large enough to receive its own single door, but
also a portion of the other. Before commencing the séance, the
doors are locked and the key kept by a committee. The doors are
also sealed with court plaster across their joints, and said court
plaster sealed with sealing-wax. The confederates are not obliged
to push the doors apart; they simply slide both at the same time
toward the side previously mentioned. This side receives one door
and a portion of the other, thus leaving an opening for a person
slyly to creep through.
Sometimes, in the circle of investigators, there are five or six
confederates. Three of these are placed or seated together. Now,
if all in the circle join hands, it seems no one could assist the
medium without the fact being discovered; but in the center, one
of three confederates, sitting together, releases the hands of his
companions, and, in the dark, “cuts up” all the tricks he wishes
and returns to the circle again, no one being any the wiser. Of
course, if one confederate were seated between two of the skeptics,
he would not dare let go his hands; but when a friend is placed
each side of him, it makes no difference. A test often used, when
everybody, medium included, is sitting at a table, is the wire
test. A copper wire is threaded through the shirt sleeve of every
male member present, and through the sleeve of the ladies’ dresses,
the wire being fastened to the table by staples. When the lights
are put out, the spirits “raise Cain” again. It is the medium
again. The wire did not go through his shirt sleeves, but through
two short extra shirt sleeves, or cuffs, which he wears over the
real sleeves. All he has to do is to slip out of these, produce the
manifestations, and slip back into the cuffs again.
[Illustration: Fig. 41.--Ground Plan of Cabinet.]
A test that caused more talk and wonderment than all the rest of
the cabinet tricks combined is the chair and net test. The medium
enters a very small cabinet, just large enough to contain him when
sitting down in a chair. The cabinet is closed by a single door,
locked with a padlock, the keyhole of which is sealed; the door is
also sealed all around the edges. A fish-net so finely meshed that
even the finger of the medium could not be pushed through, is now
placed over this cabinet and tacked to it all around the bottom.
This miniature cabinet is set in the cabinet proper, and a chair,
with the usual bell, tambourine, etc., placed beside it. Doors are
closed, and immediately the fun begins. Bells, tambourine, and
horns all play together. A sudden fall of the chair and instruments
is heard, and the cabinet doors being opened, everything is found
strewn about; the smaller cabinet is, however, still found as it
was left, with the netting over it and seals undisturbed. Again
the large cabinet is closed, and almost immediately it is opened
from the inside, and out walks the medium; and the netting on the
smaller cabinet is examined once more, and likewise the padlock
and seals, everything is found intact. The whole trick depends
upon the construction of the smaller cabinet. Fig. 41 represents a
ground plan of the apparatus. The floor is not nailed or fastened
to the sides. There are four battens or strengthening pieces, one
in each corner of the cabinet, running from top to bottom; these
are securely fastened to the floor, but not to the sides of the
cabinet. Over these battens is laid a strip of wood that is really
made fast to the cabinet. This leaves in each corner a socket or
pocket the height of the cabinet, and in these work, telescopic
fashion, the four battens which are made fast to the bottom. The
bottom is set inside of the cabinet, not on the outside. It is
only tacked to the sides of the bottom of cabinet. It will now be
readily observed that the medium has only to stand up in order
to raise the main part of the cabinet quite a height above the
bottom, as seen at Fig. 42. It is held in the above position by a
concealed catch. The medium can now produce manifestations, and,
as he is about to drop the cabinet back into the bottom, he gives
the leg of the chair a jerk and over it goes, and down drops the
cabinet. There is also a catch that automatically locks the bottom
firm to the cabinet, so as to allow inspection of the same.
[Illustration: Fig. 42.--The Trick Cabinet.]
The above manifestation was in use long before the wire cage test,
and is considered by some mediums more convincing than the latter.
While speaking about the wire cage test, I may as well describe
one form of it. There are numerous makes, but the one explained
will serve as a sample of the rest. A cage composed of uprights
and cross-bars of iron is made fast to an iron frame containing a
small door through which the medium enters. Sometimes the door is
done away with and the bottom of the cage is separated from it. The
medium sits on this bottom, and the cage is lifted and placed over
him. The bottom and cage are padlocked together or bound with wires
and sealed.
[Illustration: Fig. 43.--The Wire Cage.]
No matter what method is used, the results are the same; the medium
can play the instruments or escape, as he may see fit. The wire
cage is, we shall say, of a design similar to that shown in Fig.
43. There is no door to it, and the cage being secured by a wire
bottom padlocked on or nailed fast to the floor. A close inspection
of Fig. 44 will help to expose the fraud. The lower cross-bar is
not riveted through the frame at its end, but ends square against
it, and a false rivet head, having no connection with it, is
riveted on the frame where this cross-bar is supposed to emerge.
All of the upright rods are made fast only to this cross-bar. In
the other cross-bars they simply go through holes, not closely,
but loosely, to ensure then to be slid up and down. The tops of
these rods are riveted, but not made fast to the frame at the top.
The center rod is not made permanent in the lower cross-bar, but
is fastened so it can be turned around one way or the other. Now,
where all these rods are supposed to come through the lower part
of the iron frame are rivet-heads representing the heads of the
rods, should they have come through. The bottom frame is drilled
half way through for the end of each rod to enter a little, the
middle rod is tapped with a thread like a screw on its end, and its
corresponding hole is also tapped. It will now be seen why this
rod was left to turn. By pulling cross-bar down and then screwing
this middle rod tight, everything is solid; but unscrew the rod and
raise the cross-bar, and all the upright rods will travel with it
and the medium is at liberty. And we have another spirit mystery
laid bare. I could describe numerous other tricks and devices of a
like nature, but a few are as good as a quantity; sufficient, in
fact, to place the investigator on his guard against being duped by
like contrivances.
[Illustration: Fig. 44.--The Cage Opened.]
I believe a few words in regard to spirit photography will not be
amiss. These are made or produced in various ways: First, a glass
with an image on it of the desired spirit form could be placed in
the plate holder, in front of the sensitive plate, so that the
image on the glass would act on the sensitive plate. The size and
distinctness of the resulting spirit form would vary according to
the distance between the two plates. Second, a figure clothed in
white can be introduced for a moment behind the sitter and then be
withdrawn before the sitting is over, leaving a shadowy image on
the plate. Third, a microscopic picture of the spirit form can be
inserted in the camera box alongside of the lens, and by a small
magnifying lens its image can be thrown on the sensitive plate with
that of the sitter. This is the trick used when the skeptic brings
his own plate for the negative. Fourth, a glass with the spirit
image can be placed behind the sensitive plate after the sitting
is completed, and afterward, by a feeble light, the image can be
impressed upon the plate with that of the sitter. Fifth, the silver
nitrate bath could have a glass side, and the image impressed by a
secret light while the glass plate apparently was being coated with
the sensitive film. Sixth, the spirit form can be printed first on
the negative and then the living sitter by a second printing, or
the spirit can be printed on the paper and the sitter’s portrait
printed over it. Seventh, a sensitive plate can be prepared by
what is known as the dry process, the spirit form being impressed
on it; and then, at a subsequent time, the portrait of the living
sitter can be taken on this same plate, so that the two will
develop together. Eighth, take a solution of sulphate of quinine
and paint on the background screen a picture of any one; when it
dries it is invisible to the naked eye. Still, when the picture
is taken, the painted picture is very plainly seen on the glass
negative. Ninth, small pictures are taken on thin, transparent
celluloid and fastened against the front lens of the camera, and
when the photograph is taken the picture appears. Of course, the
above are by no means all the methods, but enough to illustrate the
possibilities of obtaining two pictures on the same plate or at one
sitting.