FRAUD OF SPIRITUALISM

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXX, Issue 5406, 3 April 1929, Page 4

FRAUD OF SPIRITUALISM

HOW SPIRITS ARE MATERIALISED

A .MEDIUM’S CONFESSIONS.

So many “mediums,” profession to materialise; the spirits of those who have “crossed over,” have been exposed as frauds, that the majority of people refuse to regard the claims of spiritualists seriously. . In London there is an organisation called the Magic Circle, which includes among, its. members all the principal professional conjurers in the country, as well as some amate'urs. Owing to the great interest in spiritualism which began to develop in Britain during the war, when the relatives cf many of the soldiers in a.ction sought a means of getting, into communication with their dear ones, the Magic. Circle appointed froim its members an occult committee to investigate the claims of mediums.

Naturally professional conjurors, who live by mystifying the public, by their tricks, atie better than untrained inquirers to investigate the claims of mediums to produce supernatural manifestations.. But the investigations of this occult committee were not welcomed by the mediums who wore practising during the war, and in the years that followed. In fact, there has always beeyi hostility between the professional magicians and the professional mediumsi, and this hostility has been strengthened by the claims of the former to reproduce by trickery any of the spirit .manifestations of thq medium. The late J. N. Ma.skelyne, of the famous firm of. Maskelyne and Devant, which for more than a generation provided' London with a conjuring entertainment six nights a week, took an active share in exposing fraudulent mediums, and regarded all mediums as frauds. REVELATIONS. Mr Harry Houdini, famous for his exhibitions in releasing himself when tied up with chains and rapes, has also been a.n opponent of fraudulent mediums and their spirit manifestations.. Both of. them wrote books and magazine articles explaining how fraudulent manifestations wqte performed, and Houdini also explained how mediums released themselves after being tied to a. chair in a cabinet frpim which they operatedTYING UP THE MEDIUM. How does the fraudulent medium release himself from the ropes with which his hands, legs, and body are tied to a chair in the cabinet, with the object of preventing fraud in the production of spirit manifestations ? In “Revelations of a Spirit. Medium” the author, who declares that he never met a professipinal medium who was not a fraud, gives a detailed explanation of how he was always able to release himself, by stealing some; of the slack of the rope” while the tying up process was proceeding. “By sitting well forward on his chair when the ends of. were made; fast to the back rung, he could by sliding, back on his seat afterwards have the use of as much slack rope as any ordinary unselfish medium could wish,” he wrote. “The coat falls close up to the back of the chair, thus hiding a move of that kind. When the wrists have been tied, and arc- being drawn down to the .knees, to the chair-legs or together at the back, one twist of. the hand, and consequently the tv/o endfe of the rope, and by a reverse twist, when the time arrives, you have; all the slack you need, clr should go out of tjie business. There is never any'occasion to free but one hand. It wall astonish you to know what a, number of things you can accomplish with one hand, you: -mouth, and your elbow. If you fail to- get in the twist, do not allow it to di concert, you and result in your being hc-ipler ly tied. But if. they p ce.eed to tie your hands to your knees sit up straight, thus compelling them to tie around the fleshy part of the leg. All you have to do to. obtain the coveted slack is to lean forward and force your hands towards your knees, whe;re the leg is much smaller, and. the slack is yours to command. If they proceed to tie your hands to either the ficnt or back legs of the chair, and you ria not have an opportunity to twist on tjieiati without their obse.ving, which sometimes happens, sit very erect, and sh-orten yplur arms by not allowing tbiem to entirely straighten, and by elevating your shoulders, as in shrugging, thus make the distance from the point of your wrist, where the. rope is tied, to the topmost rung about 'four inches. It will always be their endeavour to tie below the top rang around the leg. By slipping down in your seat you ought to have all the slack you could possibly make use of. If they are tying behind you, turn the inside edges of your hand together, and when make the ends fast to the bottom rung, or any point below the hands, sit up straight, drawing the hands up just far enough to avoid it being observed, and there will be plenty of slack. You can by reversing thq tac-. ( tics used to free yourself get back, and leave every rape taut and! drawing by an extra twist to the ropes where they pass round your wrists.” As a itile the; persons whio tie the medium up are amateurs at the business, and so expert does, the medium become in releasing his right hand from the ropes that as icon as the black curtain is pulled aerdsaf opening of the cabinet, leaving the medium inside, the manifestations begin, before the persona who tied him have had time to leach their seats. The bell left inside the lcabi.net is rung by the medium anti not by c epi’it, the tambourine is thrown into the air, the strings of the guitar are twanged, and the sound! of the trumpet is, heard.