FAITH HEALING
“Those who first attributed a sacred character to this malady [epilepsy] were like the magicians, purifiers, charlatans and quacks of our own day, men who claim great piety and superior knowledge. Being at a loss, and having no treatment which would help, they concealed and sheltered themselves behind superstition, and called this illness sacred [said it was from the gods], in order that their utter ignorance [of medical science] might not be manifest... They used purifications and incantations... should the patient recover, the reputation for cleverness may be theirs; but should he die, they may have a sure fund of excuses, with the defense that they are not at all to blame, but the gods.” - Hippocrates, The Sacred Disease
HEALING BLINDNESS, WITHERED HAND
"One of the common people of Alexandria, well known for his loss of sight, threw himself before Vespasian's knees, praying him with groans to cure his blindness, being so directed by the god Serapis, whom this most superstitious of nations worships before all others; and he besought the emperor to deign to moisten his cheeks & eyes with his spittle. Another, whose hand was useless, prompted by the same god, begged Caesar to step and trample on it. Vespasian at first ridiculed these appeals and treated them with scorn... finally, he directed the physicians to give their opinion as to whether such blindness and infirmity could be overcome by human aid. Their reply treated the two cases differently: they said that in the first the power of sight had not been completely eaten away and it would return if the obstacles were removed; in the other, the joints had slipped and become displaced, but they could be restored if a healing pressure were applied to them. Such perhaps was the wish of the gods, and it might be that the emperor had been chosen for this divine service... So Vespasian, believing that his good fortune was capable of anything and that nothing was any longer incredible... did as he was asked to do. The hand was instantly restored to use, and the day again shone for the blind man." - Tacitus, Histories 4:81 (c. 110)
Lucian on 2nd century magic tricks:
SELECTING A SCHEME
Alexander [of Abonoteichus]...formed a partnership with a Byzantine writer of choral songs, one of those who enter the public competitions, far more abominable than himself by nature— Cocconas, I think, was his nickname,— and they went about the country practising quackery and sorcery, and "trimming the fatheads"—for so they style the public in the traditional patter of magicians...
...They concocted the project of founding a prophetic shrine and oracle, hoping that if they should succeed in it, they would at once be rich and prosperous—which, in fact, befell them in greater measure than they at first expected, and turned out better than they hoped. - Lucian, Alexander The False Prophet
SELECTING MARKS
...They began planning, first about the place, and next, what should be the commencement and the character of the venture... Alexander...preferred his own home, saying— and it was true—that to commence such a venture they needed "fat-heads" and simpletons to be their victims, and such, he said, were the Paphlagonians who lived up above Abonoteichus, who were for the most part superstitious and rich; whenever a man but turned up with someone at his heels to play the flute or the tambourine or the cymbals, telling fortunes with a sieve, as the phrase goes, they were all agog over him on the instant and stared at him as if he were a god from heaven. - ibid.
PROPHETIC REVELATION
In the temple of Apollo, which is the most ancient in Chalcedon, they buried bronze tablets which said that very soon Asclepius, with his father Apollo, would move to Pontus and take up his residence at Abonoteichus. The opportune discovery of these tablets caused this story to spread quickly to all Bithynia and Pontus, and to Abonoteichus... Indeed, the people of that city immediately voted to build a temple and began at once to dig for the foundations. Then Cocconas was left behind in Chalcedon, composing equivocal, ambiguous, obscure oracles, and died before long, bitten, I think, by a viper. - ibid.
DIVINE PEDIGREE
It was Alexander who was sent in first; he now wore his hair long, had falling ringlets, dressed in a parti-coloured tunic of white and purple, with a white cloak over it, and carried a falchion like that of Perseus, from whom he claimed descent on his mother's side. And although those miserable Paphlagonians knew that both his parents were obscure, humble folk, they believed the oracle when it said:
"Here in your sight is a scion
of Perseus, dear unto Phoebus;
This is divine Alexander,
who shareth the blood of the Healer!
- ibid.
FOAMING AT THE MOUTH
Alexander was a man of mark and note, affecting as he did to have occasional fits of madness and causing his mouth to fill with foam. This he easily managed by chewing the root of soapwort, the plant that dyers use; but to his fellow-countrymen even the foam seemed supernatural and awe-inspiring. - ibid.
ANIMATING A GOD
Then, too, they had long ago prepared and fitted up a serpent's head of linen, which had something of a human look, was all painted up, and appeared very lifelike. It would open and close its mouth by means of horsehairs, and a forked black tongue like a snake's, also controlled by horsehairs, would dart out. - ibid.
ANNUNCIATION
When at length it was time to begin, he contrived an ingenious ruse. Going at night to the foundations of the temple which were just being excavated, where a pool of water had gathered...he secreted there a goose-egg, previously blown, which contained a snake just born; and after burying it deep in the mud, he went back again. In the morning he ran out into the marketplace... Addressing the people from a high altar upon which he had climbed, he congratulated the city because it was at once to receive the god in visible presence. ibid.
SPEAKING IN TONGUES
Uttering a few meaningless words like Hebrew or Phoenician, he dazed the creatures, who did not know what he was saying save only that he everywhere brought in Apollo and Asclepius. - ibid.
NATIVITY OF A GOD
[Alexander] ran at full speed to the future temple, went to the excavation and the previously improvised fountain-head of the oracle, entered the water, sang hymns in honour of Asclepius and Apollo at the top of his voice, and besought the god, under the blessing of Heaven, to come to the city. Then he asked for a libation-saucer, and when somebody handed him one, deftly slipped it underneath and brought up, along with water and mud, that egg in which he had immured the god; the joint about the plug had been closed with wax and white lead. Taking it in his hands, he asserted that at that moment he held Asclepius! They gazed unwaveringly to see what in the world was going to happen; indeed, they had already marvelled at the discovery of the egg in the water. But when he broke it and received the tiny snake into his hollowed hand, and the crowd saw it moving and twisting about his fingers, they at once raised a shout, welcomed the god, congratulated their city, and began each of them to sate himself greedily with prayers, craving treasures, riches, health, and every other blessing from him. But Alexander went home again at full speed, taking with him the new-born Asclepius... And the whole population followed, all full of religious fervour and crazed with expectations. - ibid.
RAPID MATURITY OF A GOD
For some days he remained at home, expecting what actually happened—that as the news spread, crowds of Paphlagonians would come running in. When the city had become over-full of people, all of them already bereft of their brains and sense, and not in the least like bread-eating humans, but different from beasts of the field only in their looks, he seated himself on a couch in a certain chamber, clothed in apparel well suited to a god, and took into his bosom his Asclepius from Pella, who, as I have said, was of uncommon size and beauty. Coiling him about his neck, and letting the tail, which was long, stream over his lap and drag part of its length on the floor, he concealed only the head by holding it under his arm—the creature would submit to anything—and showed the linen head at one side of his own beard, as if it certainly belonged to the creature that was in view. - ibid.
DEITY ON DISPLAY
Now then, please imagine a little room, not very bright and not admitting any too much daylight; also, a crowd of heterogeneous humanity, excited, wonder-struck in advance, agog with hopes. When they went in, the thing, of course, seemed to them a miracle, that the formerly tiny snake within a few days had turned into so great a serpent, with a human face, moreover, and tame! They were immediately crowded towards the exit, and before they could look closely were forced out by those who kept coming in, for another door had been opened on the opposite side as an exit... This exhibition the scoundrel gave not merely once, they say, but again and again, above all if any rich men were newly arrived.
Next came paintings and statues and cult-images, some made of bronze, some of silver, and naturally a name was bestowed upon the god. He was called Glycon in consequence of a divine behest in metre; for Alexander proclaimed:
"Glycon am I,
the grandson of Zeus,
bright beacon to mortals!"
-ibid.
DIVINE ORACLES
When it was time to carry out the purpose for which the whole scheme had been concocted—that is to say, to make predictions and give oracles to those who sought them... Alexander announced to all comers that the god would make prophecies, and named a date for it in advance. He directed everyone to write down in a scroll whatever he wanted and what he especially wished to learn, to tie it up, and to seal it with wax or clay or something else of that sort. Then he himself, after taking the scrolls and entering the inner sanctuary—for by that time the temple had been erected and the stage set—proposed to summon in order, with herald and priest, those who had submitted them, and after the god told him about each case, to give back the scroll with the seal upon it, just as it was, and the reply to it endorsed upon it; for the god would reply explicitly to any question that anyone should put.
As a matter of fact, this trick...was obvious and easy to see through, but to those drivelling idiots it was miraculous and almost as good as incredible. Having discovered various ways of undoing the seals, he would read all the questions and answer them as he thought best. Then he would roll up the scrolls again, seal them, and give them back, to the great astonishment of the recipients, among whom the comment was frequent: "Why, how did he learn the questions which I gave him very securely sealed with impressions hard to counterfeit, unless there was really some god that knew everything?"
"What were his discoveries, then?" perhaps you will ask. Listen, therefore, in order to be able to show up such impostors. The first, my dear Celsus, was a well-known method; heating a needle, he removed the seal by melting through the wax underneath it, and after reading the contents he warmed the wax once more with the needle, both that which was under the thread and that which contained the seal, and so stuck it together without difficulty. Another method was by using what they call plaster; this is a compound of Bruttian pitch, asphalt, pulverized gypsum, wax, and gum Arabic. Making his plaster out of all these materials and warming it over the fire, he applied it to the seal, which he had previously wetted with saliva, and took a mould of the impression. Then, since the plaster hardened at once, after easily opening and reading the scrolls, he applied the wax and made an impression upon it precisely like the original, just as one would with a gem. Let me tell you a third method, in addition to these. Putting marble-dust into the glue with which they glue books and making a paste of it, he applied that to the seal while it was still soft, and then, as it grows hard at once, more solid than horn or even iron, he removed it and used it for the impression. - ibid.
ORACULAR OBSCURITY
Well, as I say, Alexander made predictions and gave oracles, employing great shrewdness in it and combining guesswork with his trickery. He gave responses that were sometimes obscure and ambiguous, sometimes downright unintelligible, for this seemed to him in the oracular manner. Some people he dissuaded or encouraged as seemed best to him at a guess. To others he prescribed medical treatments and diets, knowing, as I said in the beginning, many useful remedies. His "cytmides" were in highest favour with him—a name which he had coined for a restorative ointment compounded of bear's grease.
Expectations, however, and advancements and successions to estates he always put off to another day, adding: "It shall all come about when I will, and when Alexander, my prophet, asks it of me and prays for you." - ibid.
PAID ASSISTANTS
A price had been fixed for each oracle, a drachma and two obols. Do not think that it was low, my friend, or that the revenue from this source was scanty! He gleaned as much as seventy or eighty thousand a year, since men were so greedy as to send in ten and fifteen questions each. What he received he did not use for himself alone nor treasure up to make himself rich, but since he had many men about him by this time as assistants, servants, collectors of information, writers of oracles, custodians of oracles, clerks, sealers, and expounders, he divided with all, giving each one what was proportionate to his worth. - ibid.
PAID APOSTLES
By now he was even sending men abroad to create rumours in the different nations in regard to the oracle and to say that he made predictions, discovered fugitive slaves, detected thieves and robbers, caused treasures to be dug up, healed the sick, and in some cases had actually raised the dead. So there was a hustling and a bustling from every side, with sacrifices and votive offerings—and twice as much for the prophet and disciple of the god. - ibid.
THREATENING THE SKEPTICS
When at last many sensible men, recovering, as it were, from profound intoxication, combined against him, especially all the followers of Epicurus, and when in the cities they began gradually to detect all the trickery and [pretentious nonsense] of the show, he issued a promulgation designed to scare them, saying that Pontus was full of atheists and Christians who had the hardihood to utter the vilest abuse of him; these he bade them drive away with stones if they wanted to have the god gracious.
- Lucian of Samosata, Alexander the False Prophet
Hippolytus on 3rd century magic tricks:
UNHARMED BY BOILING CAULDRON
"The magician plunges his hands in the cauldron of pitch which appears to be boiling; but he throws into it vinegar and soda and moist pitch and heats the cauldron gently. And the vinegar having mingled with the soda, on getting a little hot, moves the pitch so as to bring bubbles to the surface and gives the appearance of boiling only." - Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies IV 4:6 (c.220)
BREATHING SMOKE
"[The magician] sends forth smoke from his mouth after a brief delay by putting fire into a nutshell and wrapping it in tow and blowing it in his mouth." - ibid.
CONJURING GODS & SPIRITS
"[H]aving prepared some closed chamber and having painted its ceiling with cyanus, [the magicians] put into it for the purpose certain utensils of cyanus and fix them upright. But in the midst a bowl filled with water is set on the earth, which with the reflection of the cyanus falling upon it shows like the sky. But there is a certain hidden opening in the floor over which is set the bowl, the bottom of which is glass, but is itself made of stone. But there is underneath a secret chamber in which those in the farce assembling present the dressed-up forms of the gods and dæmons which the magician wishes to display. Beholding whom from above the deceived person is confounded by the magicians’ trickery and for the rest believes everything which (the officiator) tells him." - ibid. IV 4:8
CONJURING A FLYING SPIRIT
"[The magician] manages that a fiery Hecate should appear to be flying through the air thus: Having hidden an accomplice in what place he wills, and taking the dupes on one side, he prevails on them by saying that he will show them the fiery dæmon riding through the air. To whom he announces that when they see the flame in the air, they must quickly save their eyes by falling down and hiding their faces until he shall call them. ... [he recites an incantation]... While he speaks thus, fire is seen borne through the air, and the spectators terrified by the strangeness of the sight, cover their eyes and cast themselves in silence on the earth. But the greatness of the art contains this device. The accomplice, hidden as I have said, when he hears the incantation drawing to a close, holding a hawk or kite wrapped about with tow, sets fire to it and lets it go. And the bird scared by the flame is carried into the height and makes very speedy flight. Seeing which, the fools hide themselves as if they had beheld something divine. But the winged one whirled about by the fire, is borne whither it may chance and burns down now houses and now farm-buildings. Such is the prescience of the magicians." - ibid. IV 4:9
CONJURING THE MOON & STARS
"[The magicians] show the moon and stars appearing on the ceiling in this way. Having previously arranged in the centre part of the ceiling a mirror, and having placed a bowl filled with water in a corresponding position in the middle of the earthen floor, but a lamp showing dimly has been placed between them and above the bowl, he thus produces the appearance of the moon from the reflection by means of the mirror. But often the magician hangs aloft near the ceiling a drum on end, the same being kept covered by the accomplice by some cloth so that it may not show before its time; and a lamp having been put behind it, when he makes the agreed signal to the accomplice, the last-named takes away so much of the covering as will give a counterfeit of the moon in her form at that time. But he anoints the transparent parts of the drum with cinnabar and gum.... And having cut off the neck and bottom of a glass flask, he puts a lamp within and places around it somewhat of the things necessary for the figures shining through, which one of the accomplices has concealed on high. After receiving the signal, this last lets fall the contrivances from the receptacle hung aloft, so that the moon appears to have been sent down from heaven. And the like effect is produced by means of jars in glass-like forms. And it is by means of the jar that the trick is played within doors. For an altar having been set up, the jar containing a lighted lamp stands behind it; but there being many more lamps (about), this nowise appears. When therefore the enchanter invokes the moon, he orders all the lamps to be put out, but one is left dim and then the light from the jar is reflected on to the ceiling and gives the illusion of the moon to the spectators, the mouth of the jar being kept covered for the time which seems to be required that the image of the crescent moon may be shown on the ceiling. But the scales of fishes or of the 'hippurus' make stars seem to be when they are moistened with water and gum and stuck upon the ceiling here and there." - ibid. IV 4:10-11
INSCRIBED LIVER
"[The magicians] display a liver appearing to bear an inscription. On his left hand (the magician) writes what he wishes, adapting it to the enquiry, and the letters are written with nut-galls and strong vinegar. Then taking up the liver, which rests in his left hand, he makes some delay, and it receives the impression and is thought to have been inscribed." - ibid. IV 4:13
SPEAKING SKULL
"Having placed a skull on the earth, [the magicians] make it speak in this fashion. It is made out of the omentum of an ox, moulded with Tyrrhenian wax and gypsum and when it is made and covered with the membrane, it shows the semblance of a skull... Having prepared the wind-pipe of a crane or some such long-necked bird and putting it secretly into the skull, the accomplice speaks what (the magician) wishes. And when he wants it to vanish, he appears to offer incense and putting round it a quantity of coals the wax receiving the heat of which melts, and thus the skull is thought to have become invisible." - ibid. IV 4:14
APSETHUS AND HIS PARROTS
"Apsethus the Libyan yearned to become a god... he wished at all events to appear to have become one, and seemed as if he might really effect this in course of time. For the foolish Libyans sacrificed to him as to some divine power, thinking that they must give faith to a voice from heaven above. For he collected and shut up in one and the same cage a great many of the birds called parrots; there being many parrots in Libya who imitate quite clearly the human voice. For some time he fed the birds and taught them to say 'Apsethus is a god': and when the birds had been trained for a long time, and repeated the saying which he thought would make Apsethus be considered a god, he opened the cage and let the parrots out in all directions. The noise of the flying birds went forth into all Libya, and their words reached as far as the land of the Greeks. And thus the Libyans being wonderstruck by the voices of the birds and not understanding the trick played by Apsethus, held him for a god. But a certain Greek having carefully studied the clever device of the so-called god, not only refuted him by the (mouth of the) same parrots but removed from the earth that human quack and rascal. The Greek shut up many of the parrots and taught them to say instead (of their former speech): “Apsethus shut us up and forced us to say: ‘Apsethus is a god.’” And the Libyans hearing the parrots’ recantation (and) all assembling with one mind burned Apsethus." - ibid. VI 1:8
MEDIEVAL CONJURING
Evans:
Sir David Brewster, who quotes [Benevuto] Cellini's [conjuring] narrative in his Natural Magic, explains that the demons seen [by Cellini] in the Colosseum "were...the images of pictures or objects produced by one or more concave mirrors or lenses. A fire is lighted and perfumes and incense are burnt, in order to create a ground for the images, and the beholders are rigidly confined within the pale of the magic circle. The concave mirror and the objects presented to it having been so placed that the persons within the circle could not see the aerial image of the objects by the rays directly reflected from the mirror, the work of deception was ready to begin. The attendance of the magician upon his mirror was by no means necessary. He took his place along with the spectators within the magic circle. The images of the devils were all distinctly formed in the air immediately above the fire, but none of them could be seen by those within the circle.
"The moment, however, the perfumes were thrown into the fire to produce smoke, the first wreath of smoke that rose through the place of one or more of the images would reflect them to the eyes of the spectators, and they would again disappear if the wreath was not followed by another. More and more images would be rendered visible as new wreaths of smoke arose, and the whole group would appear at once when the smoke was uniformly diffused over the place occupied by the images."
...Chaucer, in the House of Fame, Book III, speaks of "appearances such as the subtil tregetours perform at feasts" - images of hunting, falconry and knights jousting, with the persons and objects instantaneously disappearing.
Later on Nostradamus conjured up a vision of the future king of France in a magic mirror, for the benefit of Marie de Medeci. This illusion was effected by mirrors adroitly concealed amid hanging draperies. - Evans, The Old and the New Magic, 1906
VISIONS OF THE FUTURE
"The story goes that Nostradamus, the great trickster of France in the days of Francis and the Henries, showed the Queen Dowager Marie de Medicis a throne occupied by Henry the Fourth.
Upon a throne he had a confederate, costumed and 'made up' to resemble the Béarnais. In the wall of the room, at a point opposite him, an opening was made by which a plane mirror hidden in a canopy in another room should reflect the figure upon a second mirror naturally visible. As the two reflectors were set at the same angle, the picture presented by the second was an exact counterpart of the counterfeit prince."
- William H. Cremer, Hanky Panky: A Book of Conjuring Tricks, 1872
THE SUPERNATURAL CONSULTANT
There is a ritual common to all these q. The great Dr. Torralva admitted that he had in his service an angel of the order of good spirits named Zequiel. The late Mr. Stead was directed by a spook called Julia. Often these things are, of course, mere self-deceptions. Sometimes they begin in self-deception but end in fraud. Sometimes they are undiluted fraud from beginning to end. But the ritual is common to all of the manifestations of ancient witchcraft and modern spiritualism. There are three parties to their proceedings. There is the dupe or faithful believer, the medium or witch, and the angel or devil with whom the intermediary alone can converse. Mary Bateman explained that a certain "Mrs. Moore" [later "Miss Blythe" - ed.] was able to do miracles for her if she was approached by Mrs. Bateman with money in her hand. Money has always been the essential motive power of prophecy or miracle. If the victim would bring "four pieces of gold, four pieces of blotting-paper, and four brass screws," these Mary would give to "Mrs. Moore," who had power to "screw down" the evil influences which were at work. Considerable sums came to her hands by this simple method of collection, and as the evils were mostly imaginary and did not happen, the dupes were secretly satisfied at the wisdom they had shown in seeking the witch's protection.
One does not cry out loudly against a knave for robbing willing fools, but Mary was a bad woman in the way she terrorized poor girls in trouble and simple mothers who were in nervous fear of evil befalling a beloved child. For foul crime of this kind there is no excuse, but it is too often a resource of fortune-tellers even to-day. A certain Mrs. Stead was firmly persuaded by Mary Bateman that her child, a girl of fourteen, would be seduced and then commit suicide or be murdered by her seducer, unless her mother produced sufficient silver for "Mrs. Moore" to melt down and make a silver charm for her to wear until the danger was past. The poor woman scraped together seventeen shillings. This was melted down by "Mrs. Moore," and by some miracle of transmutation became a pewter charm which was worn, and the danger averted.
To give a certain sanctity to her misdeeds, Mary became one of the followers of Joanna Southcott. It is remarkable that when Joanna settled in Paddington in 1802 and began the practice of "sealing" the faithful, who were to be of the number of 144,000 certificated for the Millennium, Mary Bateman demanded and received the half-sheet of paper signed by Joanna and sealed with a red seal on the back. In 1809, when Mary Bateman was hanged at York, the "sealing" business came to an abrupt end. Some day, no doubt, the psychological nexus between imposture and religious mania and manifestations of religious excitement will be better understood. It is even possible that Mary in her distorted mind led herself to believe in Joanna as many reputable people did. I take it, however, that Mary Bateman had no authority from any leaders of Joanna's church to run miracles of her own, but doubtless she would have pleaded *vis major* for what occurred in her poultry-yard. - Edward Parry, Vagabonds All, 1926
PROPHETIC HEN
"Mary's character becoming too notorious, and her neighbours being continually disturbed by the clamours of her disappointed dupes, she removed to Black Dog Yard, and sought to attract notice by a miracle: she produced an egg, on which was inscribed, "CRIST IS COMING." As this was treated by all sensible persons as mere imposture, and the mis-spelling of our Saviour's name betrayed the source from whence it emanated, she prepared other eggs, with different inscriptions, and forced them, at different times, into the ovary of the hen, who, in the presence of many persons, deposited these in her nest. This was sufficient with the credulous to establish Mary's reputation: she shewed the eggs to crowds of visitors, who paid from a penny to a shilling for the sight." - W. & L. Rede, York Castle in the Nineteenth Century, 1831"Persons flocked from all quarters to see the wonderful eggs, and they who dared to disbelieve stood a good chance of being maltreated by the credulous multitude." - Sabine Baring-Gould, Yorkshire Oddities, Incidents & Strange Events, 1890
"It appears that Mary herself set little value on this prophetic fowl, for she sold it for a trifle to a neighbour, who kept it some time, but finding its eggs bore no more inscriptions, wrung its neck and dined off the miracle. - Rede, 1831
ANNE ROBINSON'S POLTERGEIST
"Anne, it appears, was anxious to have a clear house, to carry on an intrigue with her lover, and resorted to this [poltergeist] trick to effect her purpose. She placed the china on the shelves in such a manner that it fell on the slightest motion, and attached horse-hairs to other articles, so that she could jerk them down from an adjoining room without being perceived by any one. She was exceedingly dexterous at this sort of work, and would have proved a formidable rival to many a juggler by profession." - Charles Mackay, Popular Delusions, 1841
THE FOX SISTERS
"One thing that has impressed me with regard to almost all mediums that I have seen and investigated is their startling lack of originality. The methods that mediums use to impress and mystify dupes today differ in few essential particulars from the methods that were used by the first mediums who sprang up like mushrooms after 1848 the wake of the famous Fox sisters.
The Fox sisters, Margaret and Katie, were the founders of spiritualism as we know it today. They were two mischievous children of eight and six respectively, who lived on a farm at Hydesville, N.Y. To frighten their mother they began dropping apples and making other similar noises on the floor of their bedroom while they feigned sleep. Later they learned to produce the sound of rapping by clever manipulation of their fingers and toes, and in a short time the superstitious country folk imputed supernatural powers to them.
An older married sister saw commercial possibilities in the odd accomplishments of the children, and exploited them widely. That was the beginning of spiritualism, and, although Margaret Fox made a full confession in 1888, explaining in detail how she and her sister had fooled the public for years, spiritualism has continued to endure and the number of mediums has creased steadily."
- Harry Houdini, How I Unmasked the Spirit Fakers (1925)
SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY
BURIED ALIVE
The Times, in the course of the review of a book on Modern India, by Professor Monier Williams, says:
Mr. F. Sheppard...was informed that a man in a neighbouring village [Kavra district, Gujerat] was about to perform Samadh [being buried alive], so he dispatched a police orderly to stop the proceedings and arrest all concerned. On the arrival of the official the man had been buried about two hours. He was promptly disinterred—alive—but very weak, and died the next morning. A medical examination proved that the man died of heart disease. Certain hints led Mr. Sheppard to believe an imposture had been attempted, and on opening the house he found that
The grave was about three feet deep, being a hole dug in the floor of the inner room of the house; the wall of the room formed one side of the vault. As usual in India, the only light admitted to the room was through the door, and the unsubstantial nature of the roof was not likely to attract the attention of the villagers, but I satisfied myself that the occupant of the vault might with great ease have demolished the covering which was supposed to shut him off from the world. The vault was, of course, dark. I found therein the rosary of the deceased, and the chaplet of flowers which he had worn before self-immolation. There was sufficient room for me to sit in tolerable comfort. On one side of the vault I felt a small wooden plank let into the wall, and found that a trap door had been ingeniously contrived to communicate with the other room of the house. On going into the outer room into which communication had thus been opened, I found that a row of large earthen jars which are used in India to store grain had been arranged against the wall. The arrangement was neatly contrived, and was not likely to have attracted suspicion. Had the Bhat been a strong man and in good health he might, without any danger to life, and with only a minimum of discomtort, have emerged triumphantly after his six weeks’ samadh, and have earned a wide reputation, but the excitement and fasting were too much for him.
- Spurious Psychical Phenomena in India, The Spiritualist, 1878
James Randi:
Theosophy became the passion and the profession of the woman [Helena Petrovna Blavatsky] who insisted upon being addressed as "Madame." She claimed to bring messages from two "masters" or "mahatmas" named Koot Hoomi and Morya. These messages were often in the form of small bits of paper that floated down from the ceiling above her. She attracted many prominent persons to the movement by her performance of these effective diversions.
In India, HPB flourished as a cult figure for several years, until a housekeeper who had formerly worked as a magician's assistant exposed the tricks by which Blavatsky had been fooling her followers. Blavatsky blustered a great deal and threatened to sue, but instead chose to leave India, and never went back.
Next in England in 1885, her tricks were exposed by the Society for Psychical Research, when certain pieces of conjuring equipment were shown to be the means by which she produced the written messages from her mahatmas, and it was revealed that she had deceived a disciple by hiring an actor wearing a dummy bearded head and flowing costume to impersonate the mahatma Koot Hoomi. The exposure did little to shake the belief of the faithful of England, who have always been tolerant of those who would take advantage of them.
Madame Blavatsky wrote several mystical books, among them Isis Unveiled (1877), which was shown to have been copied from previous works of other authors, and The Secret Doctrine (1888). A basic part of the mythology given in these books is that mankind is passing through a series of seven "root races." These are: Astrals (pure spirits), Hyperboreans (from a now-vanished continent), Lemurians (who interbred with animals and thus went bye-bye), Atlanteans (who had psychic powers and secret energy sources, but went under during a cataclysm), and the Race of Hope, the Aryans. This fifth group was seized upon by the Nazi theorists, along with the Rosicrucian ideas, as a basis for their racial superiority notions.
After Blavatsky's death in 1891 from Bright's disease, a disciple named Annie (Wood) Besant (1847/8-1933), a former militant atheist, took over Theosophy along with Charles Webster Leadbeater (1854-1934). The religion, over the ensuing years, split up into several factions, each with its own charismatic guru, and it has never been the same since.
- James Randi, Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds & Hoaxes of the Occult & Supernatural (2005)
SEANCE GHOSTS
Houdini:
By an ingenious trick [the medium] had freed his hand to manipulate the trumpets and the guitar. "You could feel it if I raised my hand, couldn't you?" he had asked one of the sitters beside him, and, as he spoke, he actually raised his hand and did not put It back, but substituted an Indian relic - a stone - of about the size and weight of his hand, covered by a handkerchief as had been his hand. The sitter, feeling the weight of the stone upon his hand, supposed, naturally enough, that the medium's hand had been replaced after its withdrawal. On this trick rested almost entirely that medium's claim to the possession of psychic powers...
In the sheltering darkness, which makes it impossible for the sitters to observe anything he does, it is not necessary for the medium to be even a clever conjurer. Tricks that in the light would bring him nothing but a laugh of derision, in the darkness are startling and inexplicable.
I have caught a medium lifting a table - he claimed, of course, that the spirits did it - by squirming upward in his chair until the edge of the table was caught by a hook attached to his belt, while a confederate raised it a corresponding distance on the other side. Can you imagine a stage magician getting away with anything like that? Or can you imagine a stage magician impressing an audience by having his assistant tap certain persons on the shoulders and run his fingers through their hair? Under cover of darkness, though, and masked by the cloak of religion, such ridiculous trumpery becomes most impressive.
I remember in Chicago, quite a few years ago, a medium who had gained a big reputation by doing nothing more remarkable than the last thing I mentioned. This medium was a woman. She insisted upon being firmly held during her séances. Yet as soon as the room was made dark, the sitters felt taps on their shoulders and other parts of their bodies. Fingers were run through their hair. Their watches were snatched from their pockets and thrown to the floor.
I attended one of this woman’s séances and I was completely mystified. She seemed to have no accomplices. I knew she had not left her seat during her manifestations, for I myself was holding her. However, my experience and my common sense both told me that her work must be accomplished by some natural means, so the second time I visited her spiritualistic chambers I went prepared.
As soon as the light was extinguished I poured e bottle of indelible ink over my hair. In a few moments, as I expected there came a light touch on my head. I moved my head so as to encourage the caresses, and the "spirit" spent quite a little time in pulling my hair and disarranging it. And then, when the light went up, the secret of these mystifying manifestations was plainly disclosed, for the hands of a little old woman who sat in a far corner of the room - by far the most innocent appearing person present - were black with ink!
- Harry Houdini, How I Unmasked the Spirit Fakers, 1925
MESSAGES FROM GOD
James Randi:
[Rev. Peter Popoff] "called out" people from the audience fast and accurately. He named them, gave their ailments, named relatives, and even threw in an occasional street address for good measure...
Moments later, having practically knocked Popoff down to get close to him, Steve Shaw was back, grinning like a Cheshire cat. "He's wearing a hearing aid!" chortled Steve. "You can see the shiny plastic in there, clear as can be!"
Now what, you may ask, might Peter Popoff be doing with a hearing aid? We concluded that he had to be getting this wealth of information via some such device. ...In San Francisco we enlisted Bob Steiner, a magician and former chairman of the Bay Area Skeptics, who supplied us with technician and security consultant Alec Jason. This enthusiastic chap was equipped with highly sophisticated electronic "scanners" that would prove the undoing of Peter Popoff...
Supremely confident that her gimmick was impossible to detect, Elizabeth Popoff waltzed around the audience asking questions—and carefully repeating all the details given to her by the unsuspecting victims. Hanging from her arm was a huge handbag— from which every word was being transmitted upstairs to Peter Popoff...
High in the back area of the Coliseum, using an electronic scanner receiver, Bob Steiner and Alec Jason had quickly located the frequency used by the Popoffs - 39.17 Megahertz. A tape recorder was attached to the receiver, and every word was heard. When Popoff made his entrance, we heard Mrs. Popoff testing the communications channel: "Hello, Petey. I love you! I'm talking to you. Can your hear me? If you can't, you're in trouble... I'm looking up names, right now."
Transcribing the tape later on, we heard such commentary as: "I have a hot one for you. Robert Kaywood. He's got a chest condition that needs surgery. Robert Kaywood. Kaywood. Kaywood. He needs surgery. His veins aren't formed. He prays that God will heal him today." Later on, we heard: "Dean. She ... no, she should be there on your right side. Right side. No, that's not her! No, that's not her! In the blue.... Oh! That—that might be her. Okay. She lives at 4267 Masterson, and she's praying for her daughter Joy, who's allergic to food." This was followed by laughter from Elizabeth...
The old days of the tent-show healers are gone, but their replacements are among us, filling coliseums with many times the people the tents used to hold. They are louder, slicker, and richer by far, assisted as they are by technology that their predecessors would not have imagined. Now, reaching millions via television and radio, they flourish under the protection of the Constitution.
James Randi - Peter Popoff Reaches Heaven via 39.17 Megahertz, 1986
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