BOGUS MEDIUMS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5292, 27 June 1928, Page 2

BOGUS MEDIUMS.

SHOWING UP TRICKSTERS. ROGUES OF SEANCE ROOM. When a friend whom you know to be essentially sincere, sane, and levelheaded comes to you and says: “I have been to a seance and seen ghostly forms, felt the touch of ghostly hands, heard ghostly voices,, and received spirit messages in sealed envelopes," it would seem that there must be something in spiritualism, writes.. E. Cl've Maskelyne, in Pearson’s Weekly. When great thinkers, well-known scientists; and alert business men tell us how they ha,ve received spirit photographs which were exposed and developed under “test" conditions and unceasing supervision, it may well give us pause to- think. All that I would .ask is that, after reading this exposure of how these apparent miracles can be performed, you will take another thought over these things. It cannot hurt you, and it may save you untold disappointment.

It is impossible to give a detailed description of the scores of ways in which “materialisaji'ons” can be faked. But you will see how easy it is to produce a ghostly arm or hand by the simple process of wearing a long, black glove which has been daubed'. with luminous paint, this glove covered by a long cylinder of black material shrouding it from view.

HUMAN HAND “MATERIALISED."

The larkness' of the seance room, the tense expectancy of those who would lift the veil, and then —the medium rolls back the cylinder of black material and before your very eyes a human hand is “materialised.” Roll down the sleeve opce more and the hand “dematerialises,” after touching one or two of the sitters! The binding or. securing of the medium need not be considered fraudproof. There are scores; of ways of “countering” •tie-ups. One medium specialised in sitting .at a ta.ble with the other sitters all round, his arms, and theirs, being, fastened to the table with wire which was.- passed through eyelets in the table and then over each arm in turn, the ends, being finally twisted so that each sitter’s arras, and the medium’s, too, were securely held down to the table. Yet the moment the room was darkened phenomena occurred; and the moment the light went up every arm was found to be tightly fastened to the table as before. The explanation was that the medium provided himself with a pair of false cuffs of spine unyielding substance and 1 saw that his wires passed over these cuffs, or shirtsleeves. All he had to do was to withdraw his hands aiid produce the “manifestations.” The musical instruments which are frequently a part of the medium’s equipment should be carefully scrutinised, for they can contain any amount of necessary paraphernalia and ghostly draperies. The reading of sealed messages, and the giving of apparently unknown information are familiar incidents of the seance room, but here again trickery is as easy as in other cases; For example, I would allow anyone to write anything he liked on 'a plain card, place it in an envelope which he himself could seal, and which would be placed in. a position where it never left his sight. I'would) then repeat word for word what had been written on the card ins! : de the sealed envelope. This is how I would do it. READING THE MESSAGE. First I would .hand) the sitter a plain card, turn my back upon him whilsjt he wrote upon it, and ask him to hold it face downward)® so that I could not see the writing. Then I would hold out an envelope, flap towards him, again impressing upon him not to let me see the cai;d. He would, naturally insert it face downwards, and then take the envelope from me and carefully seal it. If he liked he coifld mark it, or fasten i't with sealing-wax. On my way to the table I would just smear the face of the envelope with alcohol. This, would niake it transparent, so that I could easily read the short message written on the card. Then I would place the envelope in full view of the sitter—flap towards him so. that, he could see the seals but not the dampened plain side—and wait till the alcohol had evaporated. There are various invisible inks and other preparations by which a medium can convey messages on to slates and paper. I could let a sitter select any slate. from amongst twenty, wash it with ,a sponge o.n both sides to make sure it was not prepared, and then hold it to his chest for five minutes. At the end of that time he would find a “spirit” message on that side which he had field against himself, and which I. had never touched. it is very simple. The message is written on all the slates in an jnvis-( ible preparation. The water with which he washed it is composed; of some chemic.al which develops the message as the slate dries.