Chapter VIII: Spiritualistic Manifestations

The gradual rise and suspension in mid-air of a human being, the uplifting of a table, and its removal from one point to another are spiritualistic “manifestations,” by dint of which Mr. Home, the celebrated American medium, for some time passed among us as a being possessing supernatural powers.

Science has succeeded in reproducing these surprising phenomena, and certain clever individuals have made them the basis of a very interesting exhibition.[37]

These stage illusions have an advantage over the real (?) marvel, in the fact that they are not in the least dependent on the goodwill of the spirits of the other world, and never fail, therefore, in producing their desired effect.

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_Scenic Effect of the Trick._--The stage upon which the spiritualistic manifestations are to be produced is devoid of all furniture, with the exception of a table, to all appearance tolerably heavy, and a single chair. The table is pushed back to one side of the stage.

A door at the back of the stage opens; a gentleman comes forward conducting a lady, whom he introduces to the audience as a “medium” of unusual power. The introduction completed, the gentleman brings forward the chair, places it in the centre of the stage, and the lady takes her seat upon it.

The pseudo-spiritualist in the first place relieves the lady of a large bouquet which she is holding in her hand. This he places on one corner of the table, and returning, with imperturbable gravity, makes passes, more or less mesmeric, in the direction of his subject.

After a little while the lady falls, or pretends to fall, asleep, and, still seated in her chair, rises gently in the air and remains suspended there, without any visible support; she then, in a dreamy sort of way, extends her hand towards the table, and forthwith this in its turn rises in the air, and comes near enough for her to take her bouquet, which, indeed, spontaneously offers itself to her hand. The table then returns to its former place, and in due time the lady, gently sinking to the ground again, wakes from her trance, rises from her chair, and leaves the stage.

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_Explanation._--The chair and the lady are lifted by means of a piece of unsilvered plate-glass fixed beneath them in a vertical position, and parallel with the spectators. The table is raised by a similar expedient, but somewhat differently arranged. The preparations for the trick are as follows:--

In the centre of the stage, and beneath the flooring, are fixed, in a vertical position, two wooden uprights, with grooves in which a thick but very clear sheet of plate-glass slides up and down. By means of mechanical arrangements, the nature of which will readily be imagined, the glass, sliding in these grooves, may be raised vertically above the flooring, passing through a slot cut therein. A wooden slab of about twenty inches square, securely fixed to the upper end of the glass, serves to support the chair and the lady seated in it. This tablet, when it is raised by the glass, is easily masked by the lady’s skirts, which fall naturally over it.

The tablet, however, being flush with the floor, leaves, on rising, a hollow space which it is necessary at once to fill up. To this end, a second tablet, forced upwards by springs or balance weights, takes the place of the first, again sinking down when this latter once more returns to its original condition.

The glass which supports the chair, if only it is sufficiently thick, need not be wider than the wooden slab. Its vertical position, indeed, enables it to carry a very considerable weight without risk of breaking.

The uprights, in which the glass slides, may be joined together by proper cross-ties so as to form a rigid framework. This framework, which is mounted on castors on its under side, and runs on a small tramway, may be moved to right or left, carrying with it the person above, so as to simulate suspension in space. For this purpose, there must be cut in the flooring a slot sufficiently long to allow free movement of the glass.

The following points must be attended to in order to ensure the success of the experiment.

1. In order to disguise the various slots and the edges of the openings, the flooring must be covered with a carpet whose pattern consists of stripes of some dark colour. A piece of the same material must be in like manner duly fitted upon the lower tablet.

2. The lighting of the stage must depend only upon diffused light, and must be so feeble as to amount only to a sort of twilight. The precise degree of light, however, is a matter to be ascertained by actual experiment. Neither the surface nor the edges of the glass must be perceptible from any portion of the hall, and the strength of the light must therefore be gradually diminished until that point has been reached. The more remote the spectators, the less subdued need the light be.

The ordinary “footlights” are not suitable for the purpose of this illusion, as their light is reflected in the glass, and thereby discloses the secret.

3. It is as well that the lady performer should be dressed in white, and that the chair and table should also be of a light colour, so as to be the better distinguished in the twilight.

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The raising and movement of the table are effected by the same means as already indicated for the raising of the chair; save that in this case the glass is _above_ instead of below the object to be raised. Instead of lifting the table by pushing it from below, it does so by drawing it up from above. A slot is cut in the ceiling, and through this is passed a piece of glass, which is fixed to the top of the table. The glass, being raised by similar appliances to those which we have described for the chair, draws up the table and causes it to move toward the lady. The one trick is in truth merely the converse of the other.

It will be found preferable, with a view to scenic effect, to place the table at one corner of the stage, and to make it advance to the lady in a diagonal direction.

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I subjoin a much simpler and decidedly less expensive plan, which (though without any disparagement of the method above described) I venture to suggest for moving the table, for the purpose of this trick.

A table should be made of very substantial appearance, but in reality extremely light. This table might be made either of pasteboard, very thin wood, or of pieces of cork; and suspended by very fine wires.[38] These wires would pass through slits of proportionate minuteness made in the ceiling. At a few paces distance, it would be impossible for the eye to detect either the wires or the slit, even with a greater degree of light than in the trick as above described. This is, at any rate, a method which I have myself employed, and which I have found a complete success.

FOOTNOTES:

[37] The performance in question was arranged by Messrs. Pepper and Tobin, in 1868, and was exhibited by them at the Polytechnic Institution (London).--R.-H.

[38] There is a wire sold, in the ordinary course of trade, which is nearly as fine as hair, and which would be quite strong enough for this purpose.--R.-H.