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in the "spirit world." Moreover,
they said, we can establisb commu–
nication with those on the "other
side."
This contact is usually made
through the agency of a medium at
a séance. A séance (French for "a
sitting") is a meeting for the pur–
pose of obtaining spiritistic phe–
nomena. The medium (usually a
woman) is the focal point of a
séance and acts as the organ of
communication witb "departed
spirits."
Séances became the rage in fash–
ionable society throughout
Europe and America in the
last century. ln brief, a séance
is conducted as follows:
A small group of people sit
in a circle around a table, usu–
ally holding or at least touch–
ing hands. The room is quiet
and dark. The medium then
goes into a trance or semi–
trance, a state resembling
deep hypnosis.
While in the trance, the
medium purports to convey
messages from the spi rit
world to those around the
table. The messages often
come by way of a "control," a
departed spi rit tbat associates
itself with the medium and
passes on messages from other
spirits.
sought an answer lo this question.
He threw out challenges to medi–
ums to prove to bis satisfaction the
authenticity of their activities. He
claimed he could duplicate by
purely physical means any effect
they produced in the course of a
séance.
During the course of 30 years of
witnessing alleged examples of
communications with the "next
world," Houdini declared he had
not "found one incident that sa–
vored of the genuine."
What Houdini often did uncover
Sometimes the medium
simply repeats to the partici–
pants around the table what
she is told by her "control"–
or describes what she sees in
the spirit world. At other
times, the control spirit or an–
other spirit speaks directly
through the medium.
Tbe Fox sisters of Hydesville, New York,
gained worldwide attention in 1848 by
establisbing contact with tbe "spirit world."
On occasion, the partici–
pants themselves hear spirit
voices coming from outside the
medium, often from somewhere
overhead. In rare instances, a
spi rit creates a vague visible form
for itself and partially material–
izes--creating a ghostly appari–
tion for all to see!
Many have come away from
séances convinced of the authentic–
ity of the phenomena. Others have
suspected fraud. What is the
truth?
/ s
communication between the
"two worlds" possible?
The famous stage magician
Harry Ho udini ( 1874-1926)
16
were extremely clever frauds and
skillful illusions perpetrated by
charlatans and unscrupulous medi–
ums on trusting victims.
Darkened rooms provided the
perfect setting for fraud. Con–
cealed microphones, wi res, mir–
rors, projectors, ventriloquism,
sleight of hand and other inge–
nious techniques combined to pro–
duce a variety of spectacular ef–
fects convincing to the gullible.
Houdini caught scores of embar–
rassed mediums red-handed in
such frauds.
Based on his investigations,
Houdini concluded tbat spmt1sm
was riddled with trickery, deceit
and fraud. Other investigators have
agreed that the percentage of fraud
is high.
But are
al/
mediums fakes?
By
no means!
There are many
serious mediums who have stood
up u nder the most
rigorous
scrutiny of investigators. Despite
meticulous testing, they have given
no evidence of any type of fraud.
Are these mediums, tben, really
in contact- as they believe-with
the dead?
Splrlt Photographs
The art of photography- in
its infancy when modero
spiritism was born-soon
came to the aid of spiritists in
convincing the public of life
beyond the grave.
Hundreds of photographs
have been taken over the
decades purporting to show
vaguely materialized spirits
actual ly caught by the cam–
era! Many spiritists consider
such photos to be· the out–
standing proof of their beliefs.
A large percentage of these
photos, however, have been
shown to be bogus- the re–
sul ts of " doctored" or re–
touched negatives, double ex–
posures, trick lighting effects
or other deceptions. But oth-
~
ers have stood up to the tests
'5
of investigators.
~
But again- are these pbo–
~
tos
proof
of life after death?
Electronlc Communlcatlon
And now- a spectacular fur–
ther development in the world
of spiritism.
As mentioned at the beginning
of this art icle, experimentation
has reportedly produced an elec–
tronic device enabling the opera–
tor to engage in two-way, tele–
phone-like conversations with the
dead- a type of Ouija board with
a voice!
It was the great inventor Thomas
Edison who first conceived the pos–
sibility of instrumental communi–
cation with the dead. But experi–
menters had to admit failure in
establishing an electronic link with
the spirit world-until the late
1950s.
The PLAIN TAUTH