This little gyrating tripod is proving itself to be something more than
a nine days' wonder. It is finding its way into thousands of families in
all parts of the land. Lawyers, physicians, politicians, philosophers,
and even clergymen, have watched eagerly its strange antics, and
listened with rapt attention to its mystic oracles. Mrs. Jones demands
of it where Jones spends his evenings; the inquisitive of both sexes are
soliciting it to "tell their fortunes;" speculators are invoking its aid
in making sharp bargains, and it is said that even sagacious brokers in
Wall Street are often found listening to its vaticinations as to the
price of stocks on a given future day. To all kinds of inquiries answers
are given, intelligible at least, if not always true. A wonderful jumble
of mental and moral possibilities is this little piece of dead matter,
now giving utterance to childish drivel, now bandying jokes and
badinage, now stirring the conscience by unexceptionably Christian
admonitions, and now uttering the baldest infidelity or the most
shocking profanity; and often discoursing gravely on science,
philosophy, or theology. It is true that Planchette seldom assumes this
variety of theme and diction under the hands of the same individual,
but, in general, manifests a peculiar facility of adapting its discourse
to the character of its associates. Reader, with your sanction, we will
seek a little further acquaintance with this new wonder.
[Illustration: THE PLANCHETTE.]
The word "Planchette" is French, and simply signifies a _little board_.
It is usually made in the shape of a heart, about seven inches long and
six inches wide at the widest part, but we suppose that any other shape
and convenient size would answer as well. Under the two corners of the
widest end are fixed two little castors or pantograph wheels, admitting
of easy motion in all horizontal directions; and in a hole, pierced
through the narrow end, is fixed, upright, a lead pencil, which forms
the third foot of the tripod. If this little instrument be placed upon a
sheet of printing paper, and the fingers of one or more persons be laid
lightly upon it, after quietly waiting a short time for the connection
or _rapport_ to become established, the board, if conditions are
favorable, will begin to move, carrying the fingers with it. It will
move for about one person in every three or four; and sometimes it will
move with the hands of two or three persons in contact with it, when it
will not move for either one of the persons singly. At the first trial,
from a few seconds to twenty minutes may be required to establish the
motion; but at subsequent trials it will move almost immediately. The
first movements are usually indefinite or in circles but as soon as some
control of the motion is established, it will begin to write--at first,
perhaps, in mere monosyllables, "Yes," and "No," in answer to leading
questions, but afterward freely writing whole sentences, and even pages.
For me alone, the instrument will not move; for myself and wife it moves
slightly, but its writing is mostly in monosyllables. With my daughter's
hands upon it, it writes more freely, frequently giving, correctly, the
names of persons present whom she may not know, and also the names
of their friends, living or dead, with other and similar tests. Its
conversations with her are grave or gay, much according to the state
of her own mind at the time; and when frivolous questions are asked,
it almost always returns answers either frivolous or, I am sorry to
say it, a trifle wicked. For example, she on one occasion said to it:
"Planchette, where did you get your education?" To her horror, it
instantly wrote: "In h--l," without, however, being so fastidious as to
omit the letters of the word here left out. On another occasion, after
receiving from it responses to some trival questions, she said to
it: "Planchette, now write something of your own accord without our
prompting." But instead of writing words and sentences as was expected,
it immediately traced out the rude figure of a man, such as school
children sometimes make upon their slates. After finishing the
outlines--face, neck, arms, legs, etc., it swung around and brought
the point of the pencil to the proper position for the eye, which it
carefully marked in, and then proceeded to pencil out the hair. On
finishing this operation, it wrote under the figure the name of a young
man concerning whom my daughter's companions are in the habit of teasing
her.
My wife once said to it: "Planchette, write the name of the article I am
thinking of." She was thinking of a finger ring, on which her eye had
rested a moment before. The operator, of course, knew nothing of this,
and my wife expected either that the experiment would fail, or else that
the letters R-i-n-g would be traced. But instead of that, the instrument
moved, very slowly, and, as it were, deliberately, and traced an
apparently _exact circle_ on the paper, of about the size of the finger
ring she had in her mind. "Will you try that over again?" said she, when
a similar circle was traced, in a similar manner, but more promptly.
During this experiment, one of my wife's hands, in addition to my
daughter's, was resting lightly upon the board; but if the moving force
had been supplied by her, either consciously or unconsciously, the
motion would evidently have taken the direction of her thought, which
was that of writing the letters of the word, instead of a direction
unthought of.
While Planchette, in her intercourse with me, has failed to distinguish
herself either as a preacher or a philosopher, I regret to say that she
has not proved herself a much more successful prophet. While the recent
contest for the United States Senatorship from the State of New York was
pending, I said to my little oracular friend: "Planchette, will you give
me a test?" "Yes." "Do you know who will be the next U. S. Senator from
this State?" "Yes." "Please write the name of the person who will be
chosen." "_Mr. Sutton_," was written. Said I, "I have not the pleasure
of knowing that gentleman; please tell me where he resides." _Ans._ "In
Washington."
I do not relate this to disturb the happy dreams of the Hon. Reuben E.
Fenton by suggesting any dire contingencies that may yet happen to mar
the prospect before him. In justice to my little friend, however, I must
not omit to state that in respect to questions as to the kind of weather
we shall have on the morrow? will such person go, or such a one come? or
shall I see, or do this, that, or the other thing? its responses have
been generally correct.
To rush to a conclusion respecting the _rationale_ of so mysterious a
phenomenon, under the sole guidance of an experience which has been so
limited as my own, would betray an amount of egoism and heedlessness
with which I am unwilling to be chargeable; and my readers will now be
introduced to some experiences of others.
A friend of mine, Mr. C., residing in Jersey City, with whom I have
almost daily intercourse, and whose testimony is entirely trustworthy,
relates the following:
Some five or six months ago he purchased a Planchette, brought it home,
and placed it in the hands of Mrs. B., a widow, who was then visiting
his family. Mrs. B. had never tried or witnessed any experiments with
Planchette, and was incredulous as to her power to evoke any movements
from it. She, however, placed her hands upon it, as directed, and to her
surprise it soon began to move, and wrote for its first words: "Take
care!" "Of what must I take care?" she inquired. "Of your money."
"Where?" "In Kentucky."
My friend states that Mrs. B.'s husband had died in Albany about two
years previous, bequeathing to her ten thousand dollars, which sum she
had loaned to a gentleman in Louisville, Ky., to invest in the drug
business, on condition that she and he were to share the profits; and up
to this time the thought had not occurred to her that her money was not
perfectly safe. At this point she inquired: "Who is this that is giving
this caution?" "B---- W----." (The name of a friend of hers who had died
at Cairo, Ill., some six years before.) Mrs. B. "Why! is my money in
jeopardy?" Planchette. "Yes, and needs prompt attention." My friend C.
here asked: "Ought she to go to Kentucky and attend to the matter?"
"Yes."
So strange and unexpected was this whole communication, and so
independent of the suggestions of her own mind, that she was not a
little impressed by it, and thought it would at least be safe for her
to make a journey to Louisville and ascertain if the facts were as
represented. But she had at the time no ready money to pay her traveling
expenses, and not knowing how she could get the money, she asked: "When
shall I be able to go?" "In two weeks from to-day," was the reply.
She thought over the matter, and the next day applied to a friend of
hers, a Mr. W., in Nassau Street, who promised to lend her the money by
the next Tuesday or Wednesday. (It was on Thursday that the interview
with Planchette occurred.) She came home and remarked to my friend:
"Well, Planchette has told one lie, anyhow; it said I would start for
Louisville _two weeks_ from that day. Mr. W. is going to lend me the
money, and I shall start by _next_ Thursday, only _one_ week from that
time."
But on the next Tuesday morning she received a note from Mr. W.
expressing regret that circumstances had occurred which would render it
impossible for him to let her have the money. She immediately sought,
and soon found, another person by whom she was promised the money still
in time to enable her to start a couple of days before the expiration of
the two weeks--thus still, as she supposed, enabling her to prove
Planchette to be wrong in at least that particular. But from
circumstances unnecessary to detail, the money did not come until
Wednesday, the day before the expiration of the two weeks. She then
prepared herself to start the next _morning_; but through a blunder
of the expressman in carrying her trunk to the wrong depot, she was
detained till the five o'clock P.M. train, when she started, just two
weeks, _to the hour_, from the time the prediction was given.
Arriving in Louisville, she learned that her friend had become involved
in consequence of having made a number of bad sales for large amounts,
and had actually gone into bankruptcy--reserving, however, for the
security of her debt, a number of lots of ground, which his creditors
were trying to get hold of. She thus arrived not a moment too soon to
save herself, which she will probably do, in good part, at least, if not
wholly--though the affair is still unsettled.
Since this article was commenced, the following fact has been furnished
me from a reliable source. It is offered not only for the test which it
involves, but also to illustrate the remarkable faculty which Planchette
sometimes manifests, of calling things by their right names. A lady
well known to the community, but whose name I have not permission to
disclose, recently received from Planchette, writing under her own
hands, a communication so remarkable that she was induced to ask for the
name of the intelligence that wrote it. In answer to her request, the
name of the late Col. Baker, who gallantly fell at Ball's Bluff, was
given, in a perfect _fac-simile_ of his handwriting. She said to him:
"For a further test, will you be kind enough to tell me where I last saw
you?" She expected him to mention the place and occasion of their last
interview when she had invited him to her house to tea; but Planchette
wrote: "_In the hall of thieves_." "In the hall of thieves," said the
lady; "what on earth can be the meaning of that? O! I remember that
after he was killed, his body was brought on here and laid in the City
Hall, and there I saw him."