tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37009960404119032032024-03-14T04:44:15.682-05:00 Mysterious PlanchetteA survey of curious devices for speaking to the dead.
MysteriousPlanchettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05255974881959480527noreply@blogger.comBlogger59125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3700996040411903203.post-1784666114774383452016-07-10T20:30:00.000-05:002016-07-10T20:30:04.900-05:00A Week of Kokkuri!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAAaaDQilvw0axtKkFpic0eMF5f9DtK9OzJ3ZGz4gGpNt4PQwwlDD5Yw-oe5l2076QKGoJp-gdU2-_mE70bH-bj7XYZLYmEW2mfRoJyCzkN9ubPr-fd8RzKYrSaXuinJLOE9XNGtZYWWU/s1600/Kokkuri_Post-Prelim_Two_Text.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAAaaDQilvw0axtKkFpic0eMF5f9DtK9OzJ3ZGz4gGpNt4PQwwlDD5Yw-oe5l2076QKGoJp-gdU2-_mE70bH-bj7XYZLYmEW2mfRoJyCzkN9ubPr-fd8RzKYrSaXuinJLOE9XNGtZYWWU/s640/Kokkuri_Post-Prelim_Two_Text.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Starting Monday morning, July 11th, my <a href="http://www.facebook.com/MysteriousPlanchette" target="_blank">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/mysteriousplanchette/" target="_blank">Instagram</a> accounts will be hosting a special event, which I'm calling "Week of Kokkuri!" I've spent the last couple of years laboriously researching table-tipping, talking boards, and spirit communication devices in Japan, slowly prying the lost secrets of these devices from antique manuscripts and other sources. And the discoveries are incredible!</div>
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I invite you to 'like' or follow those pages and join me.<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "小塚明朝 Pro R";"> I’ll be doing daily posts
(with some special bonus posts on some days) and debuting some photographs and
illustrations that likely haven’t been seen by Westerners in over a hundred
years. I think you'll enjoy it!</span></div>
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MysteriousPlanchettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05255974881959480527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3700996040411903203.post-44392811477993228662016-06-14T12:27:00.001-05:002016-06-14T19:39:05.682-05:00"High & Sacred Communications": The Seybert Dial Trials, 1857<i>"<span style="font-family: inherit;">Do not the dry bones rattle now?"</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This was the inquiry said to have been put forth by none other than Shakespeare, on July 21, 1857, through a previously-undiscovered array of alphabet dials and spirit communication devices invented, used, and refined by Philadelphia philanthropist Henry Seybert, most famously know for the namesake endowment that would sponsor the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seybert_Commission" target="_blank">Seybert Commission</a> 30 years hence. Check that date again--that's 1857--<i>less than a decade</i> out from the birth of Spiritualism, and in the earliest years of the appearance of mechanical alphabetic séance apparatus. For our game, that's<i> eeeeeaaarly</i>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The excerpt appears in an incredible séance journal recently uncovered by my friends and colleagues John Buescher and Pat Deveney of <a href="http://www.iapsop.com/" target="_blank">IAPSOP</a> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">at the Kislak Center for Special Collections,
Rare Books and Manuscripts at the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library of the
University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and is part of the Seybert
Commission collection there. It is now part of <a href="http://www.iapsop.com/ephemera/" target="_blank">IAPSOP's Ephemera Wing</a>, along with <a href="http://www.iapsop.com/archive/materials/wing_ephemera/1857__henry_seybert_device_dial_seances_notes.pdf" target="_blank">partial transcripts</a> I made of the device-relevant passages, of which the document is predominantly composed.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9hIch5E0exv8-zoaiBv0cdzZ0C9JH201XCV-s5v2x6J44y5AQ7t6Z42rVAPV7MXkQN-gRtZMNK9M6pm2yewWLf0FUOb3UO3IdtkGvb-XtAKVajvfEIfhshtTgU5D856eZD5Cqp_D0DJ0/s1600/SeybertPost1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9hIch5E0exv8-zoaiBv0cdzZ0C9JH201XCV-s5v2x6J44y5AQ7t6Z42rVAPV7MXkQN-gRtZMNK9M6pm2yewWLf0FUOb3UO3IdtkGvb-XtAKVajvfEIfhshtTgU5D856eZD5Cqp_D0DJ0/s640/SeybertPost1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFF06Ba_xd9ddp5jdD7ncimVIO1DaqDjwjGcmtrMFQ6YANh0wSCrNJjVvwbpHh_fl08A-owzywvajrIrfEoDe36fVW7avcVxtIp57c_BEplK0DUQQArzH8K7OouofIB-Gf94FVbatruYE/s1600/SeybertPost2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Titled "<a href="http://www.iapsop.com/archive/materials/wing_ephemera/1857__henry_seybert_device_dial_seances.pdf" target="_blank">Spiritual Communications obtained with the Aid of Instruments through the Mediumship of Miss Catherine Fox and H.C. Gordon</a>," the journal dates from April-September, 1857, and consists of 72
pages of séance transcripts describing Seybert's efforts to test and
refine a series of very early spirit communication devices with the aid
of several mediums -- Kate Fox, H.C. Gordon, and S.B. Brittan among
them. The transcripts record the communications of these mediums, guided
by the spirit of Henry's deceased father, famed chemist and Congressman <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Seybert" target="_blank">Adam Seybert</a>, along with a
host of celebrity spirit guides that include Benjamin Franklin, George
Washington, Napoleon, and Isaac Newton, as they seek to adjust and
refine the apparatus being used to solicit the communications. </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFF06Ba_xd9ddp5jdD7ncimVIO1DaqDjwjGcmtrMFQ6YANh0wSCrNJjVvwbpHh_fl08A-owzywvajrIrfEoDe36fVW7avcVxtIp57c_BEplK0DUQQArzH8K7OouofIB-Gf94FVbatruYE/s1600/SeybertPost2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="76" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFF06Ba_xd9ddp5jdD7ncimVIO1DaqDjwjGcmtrMFQ6YANh0wSCrNJjVvwbpHh_fl08A-owzywvajrIrfEoDe36fVW7avcVxtIp57c_BEplK0DUQQArzH8K7OouofIB-Gf94FVbatruYE/s640/SeybertPost2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"New modes of communication" is the central focus of the document, and the spirits fluctuate from <br />
approval to disapproval of instruments from one séance to the next.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />The
specific number of devices tested is difficult to determine, though
there was at least one "Alphabetic Rod" or "Semicircular Dial" -- a
table-mounted, pulley-controlled device that drove a vertical rod to
spell out messages, that relied on table-tipping movements to spell out
messages similarly to the <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-first-three-part-2-peases-spiritual.html" target="_blank">Spiritual Telegraph Dial of Isaac Pease</a>, which
had debuted only a few years prior. They also call to mind other early contrivances, such as those <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.blogspot.com/2013/06/sometimes-truth-is-hiding-in-plain-sight.html" target="_blank">revealed by Emma Hardinge Brittan</a> in Modern American Spiritualism, or even <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.blogspot.com/2014/01/outfoxing-oneself-moodie-spiritoscope.html" target="_blank">Susanna Moodie's "spiritoscope,"</a> which also had a Fox Sister's connection and took place contemporaneously with Seybert's trials. </span></span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg97kZYniMyR1cnzgXtUzcyGStgt6Vdam3iOvRK1mSDGOpy2FRxKNIv-1aVFhdxcE65oP-nL4bLCQUiaPlZHqgITw17XYFsvHeqQN7K4cIA3Ga7zO2JoEOGWntPMzVHHgTDsBa5UsAsZOc/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-06-14+at+11.55.59+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="36" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg97kZYniMyR1cnzgXtUzcyGStgt6Vdam3iOvRK1mSDGOpy2FRxKNIv-1aVFhdxcE65oP-nL4bLCQUiaPlZHqgITw17XYFsvHeqQN7K4cIA3Ga7zO2JoEOGWntPMzVHHgTDsBa5UsAsZOc/s640/Screen+Shot+2016-06-14+at+11.55.59+AM.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Constant improvement and modification of a parade of new and old instruments created for communication makes<br />
determining what's what difficult, as passages like this demonstrate.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />Other communication machines mentioned in the transcripts include a "keyed instrument," a "new sliding instrument," a "wooden
dial" built by trial participant Mr. Alhauss, a "cog dial" that may have
been separate from the Alphabetic Rod, and the vaguely-defined
"Telegraph," along with several false starts and discarded devices.
Operating in the same time and locale that Dr. Robert Hare performed his
famous public trials with his own Spiritoscopes (and who was something of a rival of Seybert's in his early chemistry career, a profession he gave up on after receiving his father's substantial inheritance), the transcripts of
Seybert's trials provide a window into the early evolution of alphabetic
spirit communication devices. </span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwVXQyx9R7ps20PShdYXoMDur4UCDjkCX_H7WbcwiEVbMlwyZfQUc75C3yliVpfzNJzweSpAvTYx1kc76XbvRuDDs8lVOLmkWIiGKbGr9cAHgAAj_8z69mr1KHqudIQPM4Wy3tdsLaxjY/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-06-14+at+12.04.27+PM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwVXQyx9R7ps20PShdYXoMDur4UCDjkCX_H7WbcwiEVbMlwyZfQUc75C3yliVpfzNJzweSpAvTYx1kc76XbvRuDDs8lVOLmkWIiGKbGr9cAHgAAj_8z69mr1KHqudIQPM4Wy3tdsLaxjY/s640/Screen+Shot+2016-06-14+at+12.04.27+PM.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A new day, a new dial. It has a pin, and a rod, and an alphabet, and that's about all we know! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span>As linked above, IAPSOP has both <a href="http://www.iapsop.com/archive/materials/wing_ephemera/1857__henry_seybert_device_dial_seances.pdf">photofacsimile images of the original journal</a>, and <a href="http://www.iapsop.com/archive/materials/wing_ephemera/1857__henry_seybert_device_dial_seances_notes.pdf">my own notes and transcribed excerpts from that journal</a>. I discovered when transcribing the document that Seybert italicized his own inquiries to the <i>right</i>, and the spirits' answers to the <i>left</i>, so that might help you make more sense of it if you read it for yourself. And I DO encourage </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">you
to investigate this amazing document for yourself, as it is an
incredibly fascinating perspective into some of the earliest experiments in
mechanical spirit communication in existence, and well worth the effort. Let me know what you discover!</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span>MysteriousPlanchettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05255974881959480527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3700996040411903203.post-23823832087004299442016-02-29T17:28:00.002-06:002016-10-16T08:08:22.425-05:00An Explosion of Discoveries: Psychographs Here, There, and Everywhere!I know the blog's been an on-again, off-again affair this year. Since I became a regular columnist for the Society for Psychical Research's publication, <a href="http://www.spr.ac.uk/page/spr-publications-parapsychology" target="_blank"><i>Paranormal Review</i></a>, I have to spent a lot of time I previously spent writing here, there. And since the SPR prefers first-run materials, a lot of my backlog posts here (I have several dozen) that I had not yet published have been reserved for future use there. And that's OK, as long as word gets out of new discoveries and research in one format or another!<br />
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That, and I can't seem to just write a short, casual blog post. This is no exception.<br />
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For example, we haven't even chatted about last year's OuijaCon, which was hosted by the <a href="http://www.tbhs.org/" target="_blank">Talking Board Historical Society</a> (where I now serve as official Historian!) in Baltimore. It was a pretty amazing, first-of-its-kind event, with the world's top collectors and talking board enthusiasts of every conceivable stripe in attendance. I finally had the pleasure of meeting not one, but TWO descendants of T.H. White, and my lecture on his life and work seemed well-received, along with the usual lectures and discussions on séance apparatus history.<br />
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Another curious event at OuijaCon was the research project of Danish experimental psychology researcher Marc Andersen. Marc's research focuses on religious and
spiritual studies and associated phenomena and
spirit communication devices, and he brought his team to OuijaCon to conduct experiments utilizing eye-tracking goggles in an effort to document behavioral patterns and responses when using talking boards. It was a fascinating experiment, and I know we all look forward to seeing the results! <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrqRzSOB5Wjo7pBRMjhoI0Au4EL3lZD3kE9M9YjCN40dm7HKl9UVSZy_7iyB9DQ-6xYX8eEBxA9Qpma9xNP7P5KA8BjLWEDwf_s_cyVKJcfXKjA2f-RUxFx9th6BnnLiYU1SkbsZZTsk0/s1600/OuijaConBlogMarc2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrqRzSOB5Wjo7pBRMjhoI0Au4EL3lZD3kE9M9YjCN40dm7HKl9UVSZy_7iyB9DQ-6xYX8eEBxA9Qpma9xNP7P5KA8BjLWEDwf_s_cyVKJcfXKjA2f-RUxFx9th6BnnLiYU1SkbsZZTsk0/s640/OuijaConBlogMarc2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The test board for Marc Andersen's team, with goggles to track eye movements of participants. Enjoyed toying around on the Ouija with my friend Gene Orlando of the <a href="http://www.museumoftalkingboards.com/" target="_blank">Museum of Talking Boards</a>! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Since OuijaCon, Marc and I have kept up a friendly correspondence, bonding over our interest in historical seance apparatus. And in an illustration of perhaps why we go through all of this trouble to begin with, my slide of Wagner's Psychograph in my own presentation struck a chord of recognition with Marc, who had also investigated the writings of Danish researcher <span class="_5yl5" data-reactid=".am.$mid=11430942074776=2727504de29512d6948.2:0.0.0.0.0"><span data-reactid=".am.$mid=11430942074776=2727504de29512d6948.2:0.0.0.0.0.0"><span data-reactid=".am.$mid=11430942074776=2727504de29512d6948.2:0.0.0.0.0.0.$end:0:$text0:0"><a href="https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=da&u=https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Lehmann&prev=search" target="_blank">Alfred Lehman</a>, who described experiments in spirit communication, including the use of p</span></span></span>sychographs. And those discussions with Marc turned up some interesting...no--INCREDIBLE--discoveries!<br />
<br />
I went one direction, and some deep research uncovered a brand new illustration of...well...a very early talking board. Depictions of talking boards
before the advent of the Ouija are rare enough. We have some sporadic
developments in the talking board, <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.blogspot.com/2013/06/sometimes-truth-is-hiding-in-plain-sight.html" target="_blank">some of which</a> I've <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-new-indicator-1871.html" target="_blank">written about before</a>. Hell, we're incredibly lucky to have the <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv84domDulr09VS-vZRO1RyZKXc28C-JlAjb1v-CEHxu79cFfCiKDww72Kw-lUHPlLE81LO7GTm9G6Ew5SqdM-NEFALIPo_xuBe7FM21EMYlEHDJh_9GrlGAXQxgjUoYBFzRrgoTWXhNs/s1600/Psychograph1.jpg" target="_blank">contemporary illustration of Wagner's Psychograph</a>. But the modern conception of a talking board: an
alphabet board with an independent index--is tough to find before the advent of the Ouija. And at first that's exactly what I thought this illustration depicted: there's a rounded-top tray with
the classic arch of characters on it, and the medium's hand is resting on what appears to
be a small, flat planchette. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOLiArnIhQkB3wfS8baPhOd_1EYZwdiQMNRgv2L27fslrypZ_nR-05fq6dJitXob-bbvyU3YGwt9pS4oeTSopdNhXcf9ZK2XfuKYN0nkzl55PohT4FhXSv86VsAxUmaO48s7mfX60n0EE/s640/1877_Illustrirte_Zeitung_Leipzig_Table_Turning_6_SMALL.jpg" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The mysterious illustration, from the 1 December 1877 <i>Illustre Zeitung </i>in Leipzig.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
But
the small round pieces that terminate each corner of the planchette caused
me to wonder if the illustrator got it right or not. Were those round points the illustrator's attempt at depicting the connecting knobs of a psychograph? I was lucky enough to acquire the original article along with the ilustration, so, I turned to my old friend and fellow freelance writer Tom Ganz for a bit of translation from the original German. It turns out my suspicions were on to something:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span data-offset-key="9scd1-0-0" data-reactid=".f.1:6.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.$editor0.0.0.$9scd1.0:$9scd1-0-0"><span data-reactid=".f.1:6.0.$right.0.0.0.0.1.0.0.$editor0.0.0.$9scd1.0:$9scd1-0-0.0">German Spiritualists normally use the "Psychograph" to communicate with the Ghostworld. A Psychograph is a finely polished wood board, which shows on top two rows of letters, depicting the alphabet together with the two words 'yes' and 'no'; an instrument resembling a scissor is fixed to the lower part of the wooden board, on which children can let wooden soldiers exercise. Our picture is leading our reader into a gathering of spiritualists. The session is opened with a prayer. From here on, one of the attendant ladies takes over the role of the medium. As soon as she lays here fingers on the scissors that instrument starts moving, making the pin wander from letter to letter. The medium spells out word after word to the assembled audience. First, the guardian spirit shows itself to the circle, than other ghosts show up, sometimes pretty frivolous ones. Nobody is allowed to interrupt what’s happening with speaking out loud, and also nobody thinks he is getting deceived, although a brilliant self-deceit can't be ruled out. </span></span></i></blockquote>
I'd seen the German term for scissor, "<span class="_5yl5" data-reactid=".2s.1:$mid=11437489285825=246e756a521bb9ec522.2:0.0.0.0.0"><span data-reactid=".2s.1:$mid=11437489285825=246e756a521bb9ec522.2:0.0.0.0.0.0">schere,</span></span>" before. It, along with "<span class="_5yl5" data-reactid=".2s.1:$mid=11437489292039=2f9dbe658dd8defe352.2:0.0.0.0.0"><span data-reactid=".2s.1:$mid=11437489292039=2f9dbe658dd8defe352.2:0.0.0.0.0.0">storchschnabel</span></span>" (literally "cranesbill," referring to a <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=pantograph&biw=1440&bih=710&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiwgcjr3ZDLAhWEgCYKHdqBANEQ_AUIBygC" target="_blank">pantograph</a> writing device--see below) is commonly used in reference to the distinctive scissoring action of the psychograph's framework. Rather than using now-familiar planchettes to indicate letters, users (singly, as show in the above illustration, or, more commonly, in small groups) would place their hands on the terminal ends of the criss-crossed framework, which would then mysteriously move and pivot in the distinctive "scissoring" action familiar to user of the era as being inspired by the movement of writing pantographs, used then to replicate or enlarge drawings, as seen in this period engraving:<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUKpZrrq4SeQp2pBbDOvkunDyvgiEkeZ3aKRru2Qo6bDffmHKVPUpb6v0vhd9KG3V66muCGvLkQnh6iq4YNyH_QNvpsccjEBcw5FpiXhNmddW3mMbBPU_tRA8XM_FyCaUADxZ_OdaeoVU/s1600/Pantograph.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUKpZrrq4SeQp2pBbDOvkunDyvgiEkeZ3aKRru2Qo6bDffmHKVPUpb6v0vhd9KG3V66muCGvLkQnh6iq4YNyH_QNvpsccjEBcw5FpiXhNmddW3mMbBPU_tRA8XM_FyCaUADxZ_OdaeoVU/s400/Pantograph.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The distinctive "scissoring" mechanic of psychographs was inspired<br />
by pantographs--early drawing replication devices.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So, while the article's descriptions distinctly rule out the illustration depicting a flat planchette board, and therefore a true talking board 9 years previous to its advent in 1886 in America, it's even better, for me, in that it is a brand new illustration of a psychograph! I was lucky enough to acquire two of these original illustrations, and recently had the pleasure of surprising my friend and collaborator <a href="http://www.robertmurch.com/" target="_blank">Robert Murch</a> with his own copy for his birthday!<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, Marc found some more evidence in his native tongue, and it opened the floodgates of discovery into some previously-unseen devices. To see what I mean, let's look at this little slice of utter amazement. I think my peers will vouch for me to say that a data dump of new devices on this scale is fairly unprecedented. It's more than a slice--its a whole damned breadbasket!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9SnDv73zdw8oNDu9_dgj4eVDPqVg4bkcYr_ojMO0k1imKJWHFpMNNk0hD5_sbsucwUxApZ1TfkkB4H06jL6xK-xAIxTTwcEvwcuaZt6-1FonOHaMnjGYkaB4zjmwkcfFlzxVou8-tfVg/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-02-24+at+9.45.57+AM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9SnDv73zdw8oNDu9_dgj4eVDPqVg4bkcYr_ojMO0k1imKJWHFpMNNk0hD5_sbsucwUxApZ1TfkkB4H06jL6xK-xAIxTTwcEvwcuaZt6-1FonOHaMnjGYkaB4zjmwkcfFlzxVou8-tfVg/s640/Screen+Shot+2016-02-24+at+9.45.57+AM.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo produced in collaboration with Nordiska Museet and www.mysterousplanchette.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The collection of the Nordiska Museet in Stockholm, Sweden contains two psychographs. The first was donated to the museum on my birthday, May 12, 1939, by Lotten Falkenberg. This one is interesting because it relies on a stand that goes on top of an alphabet board, rather than attaching to the table as Wagner's original design. The museum's original collection pictures displayed an unfortunate tangle of half-assembled and incomplete devices, so I contacted them and offered a partnership to instruct them in the proper assembly of the devices, share my knowledge of these apparatus, and sponsor a new photoshoot to capture these items in all of their glory. It took us a while to get it all organized, but now we can finally see that unique "Storchschnabel" or "cranesbill" design of a true criss-crossed psychograph in the historical flesh!<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiktptuR5elIWaTND18nOYYly5XLdBLMj2EGZAqMgh0ik7xlI5Y_kC2mUorOdI6_gLGl7v01XYFokXuS9jCKPKCnKjBHL0KaSgY18dn2tF27_nuYMwm5QCSCaRcEWWqDTOMlJMYvWFv38c/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-02-24+at+9.46.17+AM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiktptuR5elIWaTND18nOYYly5XLdBLMj2EGZAqMgh0ik7xlI5Y_kC2mUorOdI6_gLGl7v01XYFokXuS9jCKPKCnKjBHL0KaSgY18dn2tF27_nuYMwm5QCSCaRcEWWqDTOMlJMYvWFv38c/s640/Screen+Shot+2016-02-24+at+9.46.17+AM.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo produced in collaboration with Nordiska Museet and www.mysterousplanchette.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigyrcy4SiI9TRhT1tfLh3s8Jy6aBb5vq5cvXe_Pwda0N4GJVgsPuTxzK7BmUiAXN9yk5U1swP7BmAeTuiQnIdEnOii-YGqpdh_BhNwYhMm-6NpUp6_DEowswDvTSCbqL5jHIV7uyweCqc/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-02-24+at+9.46.33+AM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigyrcy4SiI9TRhT1tfLh3s8Jy6aBb5vq5cvXe_Pwda0N4GJVgsPuTxzK7BmUiAXN9yk5U1swP7BmAeTuiQnIdEnOii-YGqpdh_BhNwYhMm-6NpUp6_DEowswDvTSCbqL5jHIV7uyweCqc/s640/Screen+Shot+2016-02-24+at+9.46.33+AM.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo produced in collaboration with Nordiska Museet and www.mysterousplanchette.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
There is another very similar psychograph in the Nordiska Museet. This one was in a few pieces, and when originally photographed the right arm was spun around the wrong way and the base disconnected, but all but one of the main components are there, minus the missing alphabet board. Like the other specimen, it has the turned-wood leg supports, but includes a screw to attach it to the table, just as Wagner's device is known to have had. It's just beautiful, with the turned knobs and the lathed legs that display lots of care and workmanship. Look at those tiny little ivory or bone wheels inset in each leg! <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbTKSGCPLC8KMbK5FxEfewhDGU7OL8m0DWL3Jhy4wpRQLdVmhAf0KDyfd6x8fcX-0Bu1Zci8Rm9A3q2KKMDJcWSFOarAA9mzacVPZgJYHy90qUH82LX9XBM2B-ZlfIeG-H6Dq1bm4etmU/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-02-24+at+10.05.25+AM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbTKSGCPLC8KMbK5FxEfewhDGU7OL8m0DWL3Jhy4wpRQLdVmhAf0KDyfd6x8fcX-0Bu1Zci8Rm9A3q2KKMDJcWSFOarAA9mzacVPZgJYHy90qUH82LX9XBM2B-ZlfIeG-H6Dq1bm4etmU/s640/Screen+Shot+2016-02-24+at+10.05.25+AM.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo produced in collaboration with Nordiska Museet and www.mysterousplanchette.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHiSn9H3jPm5POgMHjHeo-kz1sROVyFz6e66_-yiGuFuaqEFHMb-idusNj6_Rrl2Q_AQBcZ-xB7A-uDhERIrnSJCC5ly6Yf14IZjVD1gwJYz1g0uVZu3bP21YWf1A2JvJQUxZgf9BCWec/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-02-24+at+10.54.56+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="408" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHiSn9H3jPm5POgMHjHeo-kz1sROVyFz6e66_-yiGuFuaqEFHMb-idusNj6_Rrl2Q_AQBcZ-xB7A-uDhERIrnSJCC5ly6Yf14IZjVD1gwJYz1g0uVZu3bP21YWf1A2JvJQUxZgf9BCWec/s640/Screen+Shot+2016-02-24+at+10.54.56+AM.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo produced in collaboration with Nordiska Museet and www.mysterousplanchette.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Are either of these devices an original Wagner?<br />
<br />
Not
likely. The primary point of contradiction is that in contemporary
descriptions of Wagner's device, which are <i>quite</i> detailed. We know that Wagner's alphabet was printed in 5 rows, and the digits in two rows. And there
is no mention of Wagner's original device having the legs that support
the arms of the device. In fact, the presence of such support is
directly contradicted in those descriptions: a prominent complaint was
that Wagner's device was prone to sagging, and the inventor often relied
on an optional upright arm strung with catgut to shore up the arms and
counteract the pressure of sitter's hands, which was described contemporaneously but not illustrated until the 1920s. <span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">Adolf Diesterwegstraße's 1899 treatise, <i>Presentation of
his life and his teaching and selection of science writings, Volume 2</i>, specifically states that "</span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">two points [BH: The table clamp, and the index]
support the whole thing on the table</span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">."</span> Are the support legs a later refinement? Perhaps, but even by 1854, as we're
hearing the last of Wagner in London (or anywhere for that matter), the
<i>Morgenblatt fur gebildete Leser</i> depicted the device, as you can see below, and there are no
supporting legs beneath the arms, and the index is located on the inside, not the outside, of the device. There's also the fact that there are significant structural differences, primarily in the locations of the joints and the arm length and design that leads to the table clamp.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXmD_HRgrcxkrnhvq-mPB_-u_OtzTnqGCkSrzdY8aCIx9xlQs3ucxu8XnjG90k6_OmLHdc-UPFqnvmcf15-wmQ4_LlafbC32LDSIJztZKLnJW1TpHKsbRzJCQuSmxSQAwJ8TSu1jDAaoY/s1600/Wagner_Psychograph_Duo_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXmD_HRgrcxkrnhvq-mPB_-u_OtzTnqGCkSrzdY8aCIx9xlQs3ucxu8XnjG90k6_OmLHdc-UPFqnvmcf15-wmQ4_LlafbC32LDSIJztZKLnJW1TpHKsbRzJCQuSmxSQAwJ8TSu1jDAaoY/s400/Wagner_Psychograph_Duo_2.jpg" width="350" /></a></div>
But this illustration
leaves out another key element calling its accuracy into question: the
pane of glass covering the alphabet sheet that facilitated the smooth
movement of Wagner's device, which was described in contemporary accounts, as well as the London patent (a "glass slab or other non-conductor").<br />
<br />
There's another key difference: the paddles that terminate the arms where the users placed their hands. The Morgenblatt illustration shows paddles cut-out from the same piece of wood as the arms, which conforms to the contemporary descriptions that the arms ended with "w<style><!--
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disks 4 to 5 inches in diameter on their ends, used to receive the
hands in order to charge the
instrument with vital energy</span>." These devices, however, have small lathed knobs of ebony, in a departure from the descriptions of the 1850s. While it could be a refinement by Wagner, there are just a few too many points of departure. <br />
<br />
The discovery of these specimens is cause enough for excitement, but they are only the start! In the collection of the Kulturmagasinet Museisamling in Helsingborgs, Sweden, there is a possibly complete specimen whose armature closely matches the second Nordiska Museet example, but with a near-identical board to the first example. Here, we can see the paper-covered alphabet board component of the device, only a little worse for wear. Note the similarities of the indented/dimpled knobs and the protruding tab from the swivel base. All three specimens, in fact, seem closely related in manufacture, though no specimens carry any signifying manufacturer's mark. While their are significant differences in the style of the legs, all 3 artifacts have rounded knobs on the underside of the innermost joints, rather than full legs. There are the indented knobs, and overall the thickness of the arms and overall construction is very similar when we compared them forensically.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="528" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwhrwc40nfviSDZTTRqzg4JS5usIPoaYXGfvMc7bsyN4g1wi9j9IFLHoS1VF87TtgVvTQkaHNbLJdNYVPsMikxZ306-fITr3gQmqUiHIBZyimJBw-uUIMV4RFfFUDlERrKUIiSBdtAtCA/s640/Screen+Shot+2016-02-24+at+10.18.12+AM.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo produced in collaboration with Kulturmagasinet Museisamling and www.mysteriousplanchette.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFNZizeKlFpG9DF9_Hh4fLyAHhOIEUspE2YjMNVVEKc67NZmaznCt28FUJ1tqzXZ_5UZjLUfZqqX6KaogQ8KNzgojQS3-NltwChPZOAh3HuT5pzc0qAXC9StvPvGn2ViXhjGHyLE50y1U/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-02-24+at+10.18.23+AM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="412" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFNZizeKlFpG9DF9_Hh4fLyAHhOIEUspE2YjMNVVEKc67NZmaznCt28FUJ1tqzXZ_5UZjLUfZqqX6KaogQ8KNzgojQS3-NltwChPZOAh3HuT5pzc0qAXC9StvPvGn2ViXhjGHyLE50y1U/s640/Screen+Shot+2016-02-24+at+10.18.23+AM.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo produced in collaboration with Kulturmagasinet Museisamling and www.mysteriousplanchette.com</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Here, the presence of the board gives us other clues that point to this not being an original Wagner: the alphabet is Swedish, with the additional vowels of <span class="_5yl5" data-reactid=".r.$mid=11435948185806=2f0b4dbaca5b4f12963.2:0.0.0.0.0"><span data-reactid=".r.$mid=11435948185806=2f0b4dbaca5b4f12963.2:0.0.0.0.0.0">Å, Ä, and Ö</span></span>. Of course, that makes sense given the current whereabouts of these artifacts, but Wagner originally pitched his device in Berlin, and latter advertised his psychographs to an English market in London. That the alphabet boards are in the Swedish alphabet, not German or
English (Wagner's two known markets), and that ultimately makes their
most probable origin the country where they now reside. Also, given that their donators of the Nordiska Museet specimens were prominent and enthusiastic Spiritualists who are known to have used the devices before their donation (as well as a fantastic writing planchette they also donated!), it puts their more likely production in the 1910s-1930s range, rather than the 1850s.<br />
<br />
Overall, these are amazing discoveries in the world of talking boards, and I'm so excited to share them with you. For those able to attend my Lily Dale lecture late last year, I actually debuted to that audience the psychograph I produced as a mockup in preparation for the museum photoshoots, which I modeled to properly convey photo angles to my distant photographers. The night before the lecture, myself, my friend Chloe Heydt (of <a href="http://www.thehauntedhauswife.com/" target="_blank">Haunted Hauswife</a> fame), and my partners-in-crime Mandi Shepp, librarian of the incredible <a href="http://www.lilydaleassembly.com/inside-lily-dale/marion-skidmore-library/" target="_blank">Marion Skidmore Library</a> and her awesome husband Chris, gave my model psychograph a spin, and I capture it on film--perhaps the first use of a psychograph device of this style since the museums' specimens above were donated and locked away! Enjoy the psychograph in action!<br />
<br />
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MysteriousPlanchettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05255974881959480527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3700996040411903203.post-20889871899162644722015-10-28T09:51:00.003-05:002015-10-28T09:51:53.416-05:00Ghosts & Gadgets: Here, There & Everywhere!It's been about a month since Ronni Thomas' new short film, <i>Ghosts & Gadgets</i>, debuted at the <a href="http://calendar.raindancefestival.org/films/ghosts-and-gadgets" target="_blank">Raindance Film Festival</a> on the biggest screen in London. The film is a retrospective of my research into spirit communication devices and features my collection of historical automatic writing planchettes and other seance apparatus. My friends at <a href="http://morbidanatomy.blogspot.com/2015/10/ghosts-and-gadgets-communicating-with.html" target="_blank">Morbid Anatomy Museum</a> in New York helped sponsor its production, and Ronni and the <a href="http://midnightarchive.kinja.com/antique-devices-used-to-communicate-with-the-dead-1735514738" target="_blank">Midnight Archive</a> crew are true visionaries, condensing my enthusiastic ramblings right down to something worth watching. And they were an absolute blast to spend a few days with while they were here filming. It's been a long time coming, and I invite you to finally view the end result, <i>Ghosts & Gadgets</i>:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Ii6Ds-msPps/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ii6Ds-msPps?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<br />And the reception's been great so far! Check out what some of the following articles have to say on the film!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://pictorial.jezebel.com/how-the-inventions-of-the-19th-century-brought-people-c-1738264920" target="_blank">"How the Inventions of the 19th Century Brought People Closer to Talking with the Dead"--www.jezebel.com</a><br />
<br /><a href="http://www.bustle.com/articles/119539-what-is-a-planchette-ghosts-and-gadgets-mini-documentary-teaches-us-about-devices-used-to-communicate" target="_blank">"What Is A Planchette? "Ghosts And Gadgets" Mini Documentary Teaches Us About Devices Used To Communicate With The Dead"--www.bustle.com </a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://nerdist.com/mini-doc-explores-the-history-of-devices-designed-to-talk-with-the-dead/" target="_blank">"Mini-Doc Explores the History of Devices Designed to Talk with the Dead"--www.nerdist.com</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.cultofweird.com/paranormal/spirit-communication-devices/" target="_blank">"Ghosts And Gadgets: Communicating with the Spirits"--www.cultofweird.com</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://boingboing.net/2015/10/20/meet-a-collector-of-ghostly-ga.html" target="_blank">"Meet a collector of ghostly gadgets and antique paranormal tech"--www.boingboing.net</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ronni-thomas/" target="_blank">"WATCH: Antique Spirit Communication Devices"--www.huffingtonpost.com</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://laughingsquid.com/a-short-documentary-that-explores-the-history-of-the-planchette-and-other-devices-used-to-communicate-with-the-dead/" target="_blank">"A Short Documentary That Explores the History of the Planchette and Other Devices Used to Communicate With the Dead"--www.laughingsquid.com</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://realitysandwich.com/318864/ghosts-and-gadgets-communicating-with-the-spirits/" target="_blank">"Ghosts And Gadgets: Communicating with the Spirits"--www.realitysandwich.com</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.dailygrail.com/Spirit-World/2015/10/Conduits-the-Afterlife-Watch-Wonderful-Short-Documentary-About-Spirit-Communica" target="_blank">"Conduits to the Afterlife - Watch a Wonderful Short Documentary About Spirit Communication Devices"--www.dailygrail.com</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.artmag.top/photo/Museum/studio-visit-with-richard-timperio.a/ghosts-and-gadgets-communicating-with-the-spirits-a-new-film-by-ronni-thomas-for-morbid-anatomy-museum-presents.html" target="_blank">"Ghosts And Gadgets: Communicating with the Spirits: A New Film by Ronni Thomas for Morbid Anatomy Museum Presents!"--www.artmag.top</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.neatorama.com/2015/10/23/Ghosts-And-Gadgets-Communicating-with-the-Spirits/" target="_blank">"Ghosts And Gadgets: Communicating with the Spirits"--www.neatorama.com</a><br />
<br />
And the hits just keep coming! Thank you so much to Ronni Thomas, the Midnight Archive crew, and Morbid Anatomy Museum for this fantastic film!MysteriousPlanchettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05255974881959480527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3700996040411903203.post-12492415845396312092015-08-27T08:09:00.002-05:002015-08-27T08:13:32.823-05:00The Kirby & Co. ConundrumFinally back from an incredible trip of Lily Dale--which you can read/see all about on my <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MysteriousPlanchette" target="_blank">public facebook page</a>--and have a clear morning to explore some new discoveries made just before my departure! <br />
<br />
A recent acquisition by Gene Orlando of the <a href="http://www.museumoftalkingboards.com/" target="_blank">Museum of Talking Boards</a>--the lucky dog--has turned my attention back to the age-old question that's plagued me about <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.com/Manu_Portal/kirbyandco.html" target="_blank">Kirby & Co's</a> planchettes for several years now: "<i>What's what, and which is which, in the Kirby & Company planchette catalog?</i>"<br />
<br />
To see what I mean, take a look at a golden-era ad for Kirby & Co planchettes that lists all 5 offered models offered as of May 1869, in that month's edition of the <i>American Phrenological Journal:</i><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1b6l5CWw9LupcpFr6kjx-XyYfHwnmddzMwEAKmolzS5o1zeTsFhE110yscy8rQubv5_Mt5MAys1h6plhbr79Nsk0vPoO5SxNplH0qSV_2UZ1ayhfp-cn_8ceHi6vNLFN8nDZ_iihA99w/s1600/1869+American+Phrenological+Journal+-Kirby+Ad-CLEAN.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1b6l5CWw9LupcpFr6kjx-XyYfHwnmddzMwEAKmolzS5o1zeTsFhE110yscy8rQubv5_Mt5MAys1h6plhbr79Nsk0vPoO5SxNplH0qSV_2UZ1ayhfp-cn_8ceHi6vNLFN8nDZ_iihA99w/s400/1869+American+Phrenological+Journal+-Kirby+Ad-CLEAN.jpg" width="395" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Five advertised Kirby & Co models; May 1869 <i>American Phrenological Journal</i> </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This ad is pretty late in the game for Kirby & Co; in fact, it is among the last from the surviving record. The New York firm, led by brothers John and Charles Kirby, had produced planchettes from very early on in the 1868 craze, beginning with their first advertisements for “Planchett [sic] Boards” in early April 1868 editions of the <i>New York Times</i>. Within a week of these first ads, they are dropping "Patent Applied For" claims in ads in the <i>New York Evening Post</i>.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLdG1Kb_VzV74m6TUrAi0hmhyphenhyphenKI688lycAbka4HhhBDUDbs9zLsdytI2quP5A5U0aG-a6x7PMnKajThcNVRWHPE4sftedn2GzGDJ-rfP9HYRCjDkp_ANEt0u5krbpqbJGXCWtCJCmZ8PA/s1600/1868+June+29+Quincy+Whig+Woodruff+%2526+Pfeiffers.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLdG1Kb_VzV74m6TUrAi0hmhyphenhyphenKI688lycAbka4HhhBDUDbs9zLsdytI2quP5A5U0aG-a6x7PMnKajThcNVRWHPE4sftedn2GzGDJ-rfP9HYRCjDkp_ANEt0u5krbpqbJGXCWtCJCmZ8PA/s640/1868+June+29+Quincy+Whig+Woodruff+%2526+Pfeiffers.png" width="244" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Quincy Whig</i>, June 28, 1868</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
By that summer, Kirby & Co. is distributing planchettes to other dealers, including George H. Whitney of Providence, RI, Strickland & Co stationers and booksellers of Milwaukee, who advertised the No.1 and No. 2 Kirby planchettes, and probably Woodruff & Pfieffer’s “under the Opera House” shop, which sold planchettes as “No. 1 $1.50, No. 2 $3.00, No. 3 $4.00,” which corresponds with the prices and models of Kirby & Co planchettes. <br />
<br />
Success and popularity bred imitators, or so Kirby & Co. claimed. And that's funny, because evidence overwhelmingly supports that Boston bookseller G.W. Cottrell had the lead on planchette manufacturing by a solid 8 years with his "Boston Planchette," thanks to Dr. H.F. Gardner and Robert Dale Owen. Meanwhile, glazier Cyrus H. Farley of Portland, Maine even had an early claim to manufacturing the boards before Kirby, which may have led to a partnership, as later reported in the <i>Springfield Republican</i>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"He manufactured quite a number which he sold at the Cretan fair in Boston [MP: Easter weekend, March]. He attempted to awaken an interest in the subject in the mind of Boston people, but everybody laughed at him. He then went to New York and enlisted the efforts of Mr. Kirby, and since that time Farley and Kirby have manufactured over 34,000 planchettes." </i> </blockquote>
I'll explore this relationship in a later article, and how it might have led to the "No. 4" plate glass planchette. For now, whatever their claims and protestations of originality, which as we know could not be substantiated for a device invented 15 years previously in Paris (see <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.com/History/history1.html" target="_blank">my site</a> or my <i>Paranormal Review</i> article, "<a href="http://www.academia.edu/14681237/Fall_of_the_House_of_Felix_-_Paranormal_Review_74_Spring_2015_" target="_blank">Game of Firsts</a>," for more information on planchette's earliest days), Kirby & Co. began warning against so-called imposters with patent claims. By early July, Kirby ads in the <i>NY Evening Post</i> and in the <i>Boston Journal </i>(right in Cottrell's territory) warns of imitator planchettes “of inferior make are in the market, under various names and changes to avoid Patent, and are apt to mislead the public.”<br />
<br />
There is no evidence that Kirby & Company actually <i>had</i> a patent of any kind for their planchette. In fact, the only planchette patent from the period is New Yorker Ralph Jennings' "Little Wonder" planchette from July, which was predicated on an unusual "spinner" attached to a spindle sprouting from the shield-shaped board, as a proper means of "significant improvement" that would have qualified it for a patent application. And it's curious to note that an 1868 <i>Springfield Republican</i> article specifically states that the Boston Planchette's inventor, G.W. Cottrell, sold the "Little Wonder" in his Boston bookstore, while another article accused Cottrell of being a Kirby turncoat--a distributor gone rogue with his own infringing product, which evidence doesn't support. But the bad blood between Cottrell and Kirby is a significant tangent for another article. <br />
<br />
If Kirby & Company had any claim to a patent an an items others had been making for years, if would have had to have come through a "significant improvement" on the device, like Jennings' spinner. In Kirby's case, it <i>might</i> have come in the form of the “New Patent Wheel” of their “No. 1” planchette.<br />
<br />
So which planchette is the No. 1? Well...that's why we're here.<br />
<br />
Initial Kirby & Co. ads only list the "No. 1" and "No. 2." By July, the company was advertising their "No. 4"--the plate glass planchette. It follows that their "No. 3" "India Rubber" planchette (actually made of ebonite) would have predated this one slightly, being assigned previously in sequence, and present in ads (see above) before the glass planchette appears. And while those two make for fitting climaxes to any review of Kirby planchettes, they are also the easiest to identify, so here they are, as we work backward:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr6iRQWwgS9aHmrlI3rrgGE2wg7MyjnEVeNFKiAgnPKZ1m_vA1eH6i0P5FmPGyBNjN0zA_maZdu1DWI1sZSD49yEyWpN4TzCY0UfuoJS97FppoVKVNxFmGHSg2kdGd9xDMMxumFppFVgI/s1600/Glass-Rubber-KirbyWheel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr6iRQWwgS9aHmrlI3rrgGE2wg7MyjnEVeNFKiAgnPKZ1m_vA1eH6i0P5FmPGyBNjN0zA_maZdu1DWI1sZSD49yEyWpN4TzCY0UfuoJS97FppoVKVNxFmGHSg2kdGd9xDMMxumFppFVgI/s640/Glass-Rubber-KirbyWheel.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">To the left is the Kirby & Co. "No. 4" Plate Glass Planchette, 1868. At right is the Kirby & Co "No. 3" India <br />
Rubber Planchette, 1868, manufactured in ebonite, an early form of vulcanized rubber patented by <br />
Charles Goodyear. This material may provide important clues to Kirby's patents and manufacturing <br />
partners. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
These unusual forms reflect a company with considerable resources and partnerships at its disposal, and the reported sales numbers of planchettes during the 1868 craze and numerous ads reflect Kirby's market dominance of the devices. One news story reported sales up to December, 1868 numbering 34,000, while <i>The Round Table</i> newspaper put the number at "over 200,000." With such numbers, variation of product is the <i>norm</i>, not the <i>exception</i>. Which is what makes identifying everything from "No. 2" on down--all the wood board models--so difficult.<br />
<br />
And this is compounded by the fact that we're not only contending with <i>two</i> different designs. In May, 1869, months after the great craze and the holiday season rush for the devices, Kirby & Co. began advertising their new “No. 0” budget planchette, “a good substantial board” for $1.00 in the <i>American Phrenological Journal</i>. <br />
<br />
Which leaves us with three wood model boards to categorize:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"<b>No. 0</b>
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A good substantial board...$1.00”<br />
"<b>No. 1</b>
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A superior Planchette with new patent wheel...$1.50"<br />
"<b>No. 2</b>
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With improved Pentagraph wheel, highly polished...$3.00"</blockquote>
Given that "good," "substantial," "superior," and "improved" are all fairly subjective terms, this isn't easy. And "new patent wheel" versus "improved Pentagraph wheel" was, before now, we think, anyone's guess. And gauging <i>polish</i>? <i>Sheesh</i>. But we do have some clues, and multiple boards for comparison, so let's take a look.<br />
<br />
The most recent addition to the Kirby pantheon that sparked the discourse is a beauty. Notably, it is lacking the normal scooped "cutout" at the cleavage of the heart that is so distinctively "Kirby" in other boards, giving it the same "normal" heart shape of the glass and rubber planchettes produced by the company. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiEuvWx1C7yKggTRQasL7DRFrb3eILWO1EqDxJMahSgF-sHCFlZXN0AuOajsVY4RaHchtfg3bFJ6BULiUEIIQeIVX1hFxB1UZngaGcia411Z__zjK9kHyI6ZGcQeHUY3d7oTrQwluCGrg/s1600/Orlando_Kirby_Duo_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiEuvWx1C7yKggTRQasL7DRFrb3eILWO1EqDxJMahSgF-sHCFlZXN0AuOajsVY4RaHchtfg3bFJ6BULiUEIIQeIVX1hFxB1UZngaGcia411Z__zjK9kHyI6ZGcQeHUY3d7oTrQwluCGrg/s640/Orlando_Kirby_Duo_2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Goodyear-wheeled Kirby Planchette, photo courtesy of the Museum of Talking Boards. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
But this isn't the only truly heart-shaped Kirby known--we've got one here in the Mysterious Planchette archives, too. The wood, polish, shape, and label all compare favorably. So we have a match on the top end! But the differences in the castors and wheels are noticeable. Let's take a look and compare, and bear witness to some of the most beautiful hardware ever produced for planchettes!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsyf648BHUYWv-Y858wEWSdsyiotqVdaey6LgMsZNnIpbPGJSpKkYFAdEjuqSiSr_yBsTje7pbuHU5y2EU774-YAJLjcTMhn-Kj_Q6p37HUkkWbAEvtAa9TgIE3T45Jn243dhyFZTggC4/s1600/OrlandoKirbyWheelCOMP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsyf648BHUYWv-Y858wEWSdsyiotqVdaey6LgMsZNnIpbPGJSpKkYFAdEjuqSiSr_yBsTje7pbuHU5y2EU774-YAJLjcTMhn-Kj_Q6p37HUkkWbAEvtAa9TgIE3T45Jn243dhyFZTggC4/s640/OrlandoKirbyWheelCOMP.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Orlando "Goodyear" castor and wheel, left, and the Hodge specimen, right.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The differences between the two castors are obvious. The castors on the MoTB specimen have a simple brass shaft and petite base, with a relatively simple straight-cut axle fork. And, as you can see from the previous picture, the shaft extends through the wood plank and is secured by two flathead screws on the board's topside. The piece from our collection, on the other hand, does not penetrate through, and is secured with a short integrated wood screw from the underside. These castors have intricately cast bases, and the axle forks are cast or stamped pieces folded around the central shafts, and their axle pin housings contains matching scrollwork. But is this an <i>improvement</i> over lathed brass? Is it <i>superior</i>? More <i>desirable</i> from a Victorian mindset? That's our problem--the cast castors certainly look nicer with more embellishments, but is it considered finer crastmanship or cheaper manufacturing through a casting or stamping process? We don't know. Do note that both planchettes have a high polish on the topside and matching labels--a selling point we know was advertised for the "No. 2." <br />
<br />
The wheels are just as different. The Hodge specimen has a thick wood wheel, likely mahogany. The MoTB specimen, on the other hand, is hard rubber, and is stamped "Goodyear's P.T. N R Co." which, our internet sleuthing revealed usually appears on buttons from the Civil War era, and means:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDbz7i4ZeGRZtsKHbA8UMq0i4JNx0i6n9UGfAnTEdgQ0wvvp82k4lWjNP5xeG7DkYaa6zB-Al-OzNLL922JB79ai9L1w1hh7gcn_6Al8GgyY5mo8MTBkuiakisQ89RYs5thbFZCYyfMkQ/s1600/GoodyearButton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDbz7i4ZeGRZtsKHbA8UMq0i4JNx0i6n9UGfAnTEdgQ0wvvp82k4lWjNP5xeG7DkYaa6zB-Al-OzNLL922JB79ai9L1w1hh7gcn_6Al8GgyY5mo8MTBkuiakisQ89RYs5thbFZCYyfMkQ/s200/GoodyearButton.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A period Goodyear button<br />
that should look familiar.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"The most
common [Goodyear] company [patent] back marks to find are from: Novelty
Rubber Co. (N.R. Co.); India Rubber Comb Co. (I.R.C. Co.) . During the
life of the patent Charles Goodyear held (rubber hardening process), all
buttons made of hard rubber had to carry evidence of his patent. Many
carry just the word Goodyear's and "P=T", an abbreviation for Patent and
the year 1851."</i> [<a href="http://www.vintagebuttons.net/rubber2.html" target="_blank">source</a>]</blockquote>
So, these wheels were manufactured by New York's Novelty Rubber Company under the Goodyear patent. What to make of this? Not much more than face value, I'm afraid. It does open up the intriguing possibility that the company also manufactured the "No. 3" India Rubber planchette--Kirby, being a bookseller, certainly didn't do it themselves. So that's a great discovery for me to explore!<br />
<br />
When the true-heart-shaped Kirby first arrived on my doorstep, and again when I saw this new one, I thought was that it must be a "No. 0"--it lacked the distinctive scoop cutout you'll see from the more well-known Kirby designs (as you'll see below). It just seemed more...<i>basic</i>. Is it just an early model before the scoop "improved" other Kirby planchette models? But maybe the high polish puts it as a "No. 2" model, and these are what Kirby considered "improved Pentagraph" wheels? We. just. don't. know.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggx-iR0XB8gnZW_GOX7Rx7Cd6Zzt7gEaD5KAU4WNhHJB9fPUDNG8NbQNaILZnG89T38pXANxuwmNRjHS-EPtNnDUMLTb2uIYl38UGa6rsBNh2KkJ01Es0zY-8wrgOg9xAY6TCvtxJlaqw/s1600/KirbyAd2Large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggx-iR0XB8gnZW_GOX7Rx7Cd6Zzt7gEaD5KAU4WNhHJB9fPUDNG8NbQNaILZnG89T38pXANxuwmNRjHS-EPtNnDUMLTb2uIYl38UGa6rsBNh2KkJ01Es0zY-8wrgOg9xAY6TCvtxJlaqw/s400/KirbyAd2Large.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1868 Kirby & Co. planchette ad--note classic "Kirby Scoop."</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Another option is that the Goodyear wheels designate a "No. 1" due to the fact that the Goodyear design is, technically, patented, as the advertisement designates for that model. In other words: the "patent wheel" refers to the Goodyear patent on the wheel material, <i>not Kirby's patent on the wheel design</i>. But even then, <b>it could be any model</b>. <br />
<br />
Once we crack open the different variations of castors and wheels in the more traditional Kirby shape--the scooped cutout-heart--things get even more confusing. For starters, the castor style on the Hodge
specimen is repeated on another Kirby in the Museum of Talking Boards
collection: this time on a board with the traditional Kirby cutout-heart
shape, seen below. There's absolutely no consistency in combined shapes and castor types to settle on only 3 wood model types from the 1869 ad!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvg_uAya-WTjS-0ov54liY48B0boe0lnFBU9oCKplrwsYqTprf4azLg6qQYYx0XI-8Ci1sH1ILu-yqysupNGP-h1AkzO_yeUbE1IrkNePLG-SYGGIC2Y7R-xC7TtejXXIBlRU_L99O_lk/s1600/OrlandoKirbyWheel_DUO.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvg_uAya-WTjS-0ov54liY48B0boe0lnFBU9oCKplrwsYqTprf4azLg6qQYYx0XI-8Ci1sH1ILu-yqysupNGP-h1AkzO_yeUbE1IrkNePLG-SYGGIC2Y7R-xC7TtejXXIBlRU_L99O_lk/s640/OrlandoKirbyWheel_DUO.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The other Museum of Talking Boards Kirby & Co planchette. Note it has identical castors to the Hodge heart-shaped<br />
plank, but on the more traditional "cutout-heart" board. It is also worth noting this board has little to no polish. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Let's confuse matters even more, shall we? The below photograph depicts a very important planchette belonging to the Missouri History Museum. This one's special because it was a gift from Robert Dale Owen, one of the two men responsible (the other being Dr. H.F. Gardner) for originally importing planchettes to Boston in 1859, where G.W. Cottrell is said to have made copies for sale in his shop in 1860. But turning our attention to its design, we can see that here, in a bit of tit-for-tat here, we've got the same style of castors we find on the MoTB's Goodyear-tire planchette, with what appears to be the same black rubber wheels, again <i>on a cutout-heart board</i>. Also note the box designates this as an "Improved" planchette. Could it be that the shape itself is what Kirby & Co considered the improvement over the earlier, simpler heart-shaped design? <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHY6W4yLpIdXiHyGpaR5W3UIyo5bd7H4b6gEw9axi1G1vS5FyOb9_4uNWj5lxj50tU7RNNyPnL1CVrFSbZlkEwsF7czitD_Ml6cs8SPwfLlz6ATnKCwdvwyhrx0q5IxpWLhz3vxa4hK2s/s1600/Wilson-OWenKirbyDUO.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHY6W4yLpIdXiHyGpaR5W3UIyo5bd7H4b6gEw9axi1G1vS5FyOb9_4uNWj5lxj50tU7RNNyPnL1CVrFSbZlkEwsF7czitD_Ml6cs8SPwfLlz6ATnKCwdvwyhrx0q5IxpWLhz3vxa4hK2s/s640/Wilson-OWenKirbyDUO.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Matthew Wilson planchette, a gift from Spiritualist Robert Dale Owen, in the Missouri History Museum.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Lastly, we have the Longfellow Kirby, in the collection of the Longfellow National Historic Site, which includes the house and artifacts of American author Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. It has the cutout-heart shape, once had a fine polish (long scarred and worn away over much of its top), and casters we haven't yet seen in the above specimens. The base is large in diameter and flat, and unstamped, with a beveled flange supporting the upright shaft that has a small retainer/tension screw for adjusting the planchette's sensitivity. A flathead screw secures the castor to the board through the topside. The brass axle fork isn't straight like the Goodyear models--it kicks out to give the castor a little more height, and the wheel is bone, not wood or rubber. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsetYI-PPHchpJ9WGGADrC8gEHKMbJ6MWcEjQbhME_uPobhfesQAZcD4DAdhz1cV939W5OftJYXsEfV70sHYqa-h_ZN0dXoWW0PT4MJV5VcGiXFux3196g6tzA1diPNTRPvI-1Ehw1V6g/s1600/LongfellowKirbyWheelDUO.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsetYI-PPHchpJ9WGGADrC8gEHKMbJ6MWcEjQbhME_uPobhfesQAZcD4DAdhz1cV939W5OftJYXsEfV70sHYqa-h_ZN0dXoWW0PT4MJV5VcGiXFux3196g6tzA1diPNTRPvI-1Ehw1V6g/s640/LongfellowKirbyWheelDUO.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Longfellow Kirby, courtesy of the Longfellow National Historic Site (<cite class="_Rm">www.nps.gov/long/</cite>).</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Now, I'm not a betting man. But in my years researching planchettes, I've come to know what a period pantograph castor looks like. And that's the source of the earliest planchette castors--they were manufactured by scientific instrument makers used to producing castors for the writing-duplicating/enlarging devices known as pantographs. My favorite planchette article ever, <i>Confessions of a Reformed Planchettist</i>, actually recounts a scientist's dismay at being unable to find a scientific instrument maker to undertake a personal project of his due to them all being booked making pantograph wheels to keep up with the planchette craze. See the similarities for yourself:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeM5-RVi2P-IULJU-BlvfN3KE4IqDOy8AsZ2kGD5dm5T_qy0NWu59N-ajZp4rWqFTAjf5Fga7gJpPHOro7o_tIyLbQJB7xspxOA6-UQ-L2OwwX6rN1S-9Zv2u4Rp6l4v8FfX0DOSZLrzU/s1600/PantographWheels.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeM5-RVi2P-IULJU-BlvfN3KE4IqDOy8AsZ2kGD5dm5T_qy0NWu59N-ajZp4rWqFTAjf5Fga7gJpPHOro7o_tIyLbQJB7xspxOA6-UQ-L2OwwX6rN1S-9Zv2u4Rp6l4v8FfX0DOSZLrzU/s640/PantographWheels.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="irc_su" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;">Period Pantograph Castors by W. & S. Jones, left, and Elliot Bros, right, who also produced some of the first UK planchettes. </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
But this also isn't the first time we've seen this style of casters in this article, even on a Kirby. If we revisit the plate glass and India rubber models from up above, we find a familiar form, inset screw and all:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEyeLjMgJKzdo13v_sXxVH35Cj5OiTDiyn5oiue2-NLSiv3NpYHcaLxa8UtzEKceOQMnfotVoTRONt1Er3eXiI-dvhPCuqqycfscArUWDhoNY4vN4-uCqfSOaxYY6WLtg07PPnRr-zc_A/s1600/Kirby_Pantograph_Castors_Comp_Duo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEyeLjMgJKzdo13v_sXxVH35Cj5OiTDiyn5oiue2-NLSiv3NpYHcaLxa8UtzEKceOQMnfotVoTRONt1Er3eXiI-dvhPCuqqycfscArUWDhoNY4vN4-uCqfSOaxYY6WLtg07PPnRr-zc_A/s640/Kirby_Pantograph_Castors_Comp_Duo.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The pantograph-stye castors of the Kirby "No. 4" plate glass planchette, left, and the "No.3" India Rubber board, right.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This leads me to consider if the "improved pentagraph wheel" listed as a feature of the "No. 2" isn't our biggest clue of differences between these models--these castors with the set screws certainly appear more traditionally "pantograph-y" than the other models, and they have bone or ivory wheels, which were a feature of most high-end pantographs of the era. It's just a thought, not confirmation, and doesn't really get us any closer than we were.<br />
<br />
I could really throw a hardball at this hardware and start talking about the various Kirby & Co. "clones" that may or may not have been perpetrated by G.W. Pitcher, and have near-identical hardware and even shapes...but let's call it a day, shall we? Here, as at last we close our retrospective of Kirby & Co planchette castors, we really arrive no closer that we were before to settling the conundrum of their model number system.<b> If</b> I had to guess, I'd say the wooden-wheeled models are possibly "No. 0" models, the "new patent wheel" description of the "No. 1" refers to the patented Goodyear wheels, and the "improved Pentagraph wheels" points toward the pantograph-style castors and bone wheels common to pantographs of the period, making the bone-wheeled models like the Longfellow "No. 2s". Wood < Rubber < Bone? Doesn't really leave room for the heart-shape=early/scoop cutout="Improved" theory, but it's something. I supposed we'll just have to dig up a few more models, and see what we can come up with!MysteriousPlanchettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05255974881959480527noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3700996040411903203.post-63786954951027993012015-03-30T10:43:00.001-05:002015-03-30T10:43:22.533-05:00The New Indicator, 1871<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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IAPSOP.com <a href="http://www.iapsop.com/" target="_blank">doubled in size</a> last August. As our steadfast founder <a href="http://ehbritten.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-majors-and-minors-spiritual.html" target="_blank">announced in December</a>, we now have a near-complete run of the <i>Spiritual Telegraph</i>, and extensive run of the <i>Progressive Thinker</i>, added to the <i>Harbinger of Light</i> and <i>Carrier Dove</i> holdings, and, well, added about 10,000 pages of new material. This effort is invaluable, and expanding exponentially, so pick a link and get to work on something!<br />
<br />
So these days it comes as little surprise when little gifts drop into my inbox from Marc, John, or Pat when they're out in the field or Marc's processing articles in queue. Sometimes we just turn the page and there's a gem that didn't even take the trouble of searching--just educated eyes looking at it for the first time in years. And we like surprising one another, so... Such is this discovery, and it's a double-whammy.<br />
<br />
As the calendar turned to the 1870s, the writing planchette's bright star has
fallen after a phenomenal rise just 3 years previously, and we're in a
couple decades-long lull before the arrival of the talking board, in a
period where all sorts of evolutionary dead-ends and false-starts in
spirit communication devices will arrive and depart, all on the way to
the ultimate refinement in Kennard's Ouija in 1890. It is a prolific
period, however, bringing us <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.blogspot.com/2014/03/new-improved-lost-tuttle-psychograph.html" target="_blank">Tuttle's Psychograph</a>,
Lippitt's Psychic Stand and Detector in the mid-1870s (which the patent
office rejects), the "L.K." table in Savannah in 1876, Frederick
Becker's strange alphabet board patent in 1880, and others known and
unknown. <br />
<br />
And now, thanks to <a href="http://www.iapsop.com/archive/materials/medium_and_daybreak/" target="_blank"><i>The Medium & Daybreak</i></a> we have not one, but TWO new devices to add to the
archives. In the January 20, 1871 edition,
Richard Bewley made a suggestion of an "indicator" or "telegraph" to
facilitate spirit communication. It's a great little contrivance, modifying a planchette to run on a baseboard and "plate-glass
strips on which the alphabet is inscribed." <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>A
NEW INDICATOR.</b> <br />To
the Editor of the Medium and Daybreak.<br />Sir,—With
pleasure I send you a description of a telegraph I have found efficient; it
will spell out words as fast as an ordinary writer can take them down. I have
tried all the alphabetic methods, from calling over the alphabet, discs, and
pointers, &c., and planchette and other experiments for facilitating
communications, and have found the one I am about to describe a great improvement,
and both simple and inexpensive. Take your planchette, and instead of the
pencil substitute a third wheel or castor; procure a piece of board about 24 inches
long, three-quarters of an inch thick, and as wide as the planchette is long;
cut three grooves in it lengthways—one on the outer edge sufficiently wide and
deep to receive the edge of a strip of window plate-glass of the same length as
the board, and about two inches and a half to three inches wide; the other
two grooves are to form a tramway for the castors, and their place will be
determined by the distance between the back and front castors; put a stop at
each end of the front groove to prevent the planchette running beyond or off
the base-hoard. On the glass plate paint or paste the letters of the alphabet.
The plate now standing at right angles to the base-hoard, the glass may be either
cemented in the groove or removable at pleasure. To operate, place your altered
planchette on the tramroad, and the point of the heart will be on a level with the
letters, and in moving along point to them in succession, stopping at the one
to be noted till the word is formed. I find it saves time to pull the carriage
back to the A end and let the invisible operator push it forward to the next
letter. I hope I have made the description sufficiently plain; if not, I shall
have pleasure in giving you any further information.—Yours, &c.,</span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="BodyCopyIndent">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Richard
Bewley.</span></span></div>
<div class="BodyCopyIndent">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Uttoxeter,
January 16,1871.</span></span></div>
</blockquote>
Just one edition later, an interested reader suggested a refinement to Bewley's instrument, who communicated some suggested simplifications in the January 25 edition <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRi3770_V0bZJHeI1XrLQXB8NwsbKzLd9Z5_HIeuVZXaGsF3FvIPKnb0Z9A_67Jq-xK82SmZgEVtTK1Jj0Zq1n_SbKmi6SJHlEYA0htJhIh3Ys5Lg_D7PVpD5_y72Y3JaFGykaVXRkPBk/s1600/1871+January+27+Medium+&+Daybreak+NEW+INDICATOR+Talking+Board.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRi3770_V0bZJHeI1XrLQXB8NwsbKzLd9Z5_HIeuVZXaGsF3FvIPKnb0Z9A_67Jq-xK82SmZgEVtTK1Jj0Zq1n_SbKmi6SJHlEYA0htJhIh3Ys5Lg_D7PVpD5_y72Y3JaFGykaVXRkPBk/s1600/1871+January+27+Medium+&+Daybreak+NEW+INDICATOR+Talking+Board.jpg" height="353" width="400" /> </a></div>
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The "Psychologist" author of the letter not only suggest refinements, but constructed one of his own envisioned devices, which he was kind enough to illustrate for the world. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwNKvSbBtnz86EjLy3o4SfrjlXI6vx5cQkerx3QTO_5vqaGMPte3rLg0dIx_qLPOx-TCRrdVmvYO87MuYeBZWCfi0iJTaaQoxRc1SaoS8Xi8tbG5X2NXMXuuJlB_NPqFY-EK0KZULFA0Y/s1600/1871+January+27+Medium+&+Daybreak+NEW+INDICATOR+Talking+Board-ILLO.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwNKvSbBtnz86EjLy3o4SfrjlXI6vx5cQkerx3QTO_5vqaGMPte3rLg0dIx_qLPOx-TCRrdVmvYO87MuYeBZWCfi0iJTaaQoxRc1SaoS8Xi8tbG5X2NXMXuuJlB_NPqFY-EK0KZULFA0Y/s1600/1871+January+27+Medium+&+Daybreak+NEW+INDICATOR+Talking+Board-ILLO.jpg" height="300" style="cursor: move;" width="640" /></a></div>
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As it turns out, the refined device fits snugly with an evolutionary branch of talking boards of which <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.blogspot.com/2013/10/boards-of-future-past-downe-patent.html" target="_blank">Downe's Snitch Baby</a> is a member. In casual conversation, collectors lump such instruments in the "dial plate" category, even as we know it is inaccurate, since there's no true dial as we find on Tuttle's device, Hornung's <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-first-three-part-3-hornungs.html" target="_blank">Emanulector</a>, or Pease's <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-first-three-part-2-peases-spiritual.html" target="_blank">Spiritual Telegraph Dial</a>. But "slide plates" or "slide dials" aren't all that accurate either, and just don't roll of the tongue. <br />
<br />
The device is pretty basic, and all the components of a talking board in place: a wooden board, the printed alphabet, and a planchette that relies on autonomous movements of its users. Why such designs didn't suffer the same flare-up in popularity as planchettes before them, or Ouija afterward, is one of history's mysteries. How Tuttle's Psychograph, with its can't-loose-it dial and concise design--wasn't the king of them all still amazes me, but, then again, maybe that's just the power of marketing.<br />
<br />
So, dear readers, we ceremoniously place the "New Indicator" in the pantheon of similar devices, and wait for another to appear.<br /><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB-A1jmSvETsWqPn7sHiWrF87J1Oy5j-sooZ55iqzPuSMnaVioTHrIhH6YHf5iZrxikrTDgMtGggXg2Fa2vnrNDBDhRB_DoRurTlTmx2FtRxYySCRj4hbgjh3G1lpudAQlNUkfIuTemU8/s1600/NEWERSlideEvolutionLarge2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB-A1jmSvETsWqPn7sHiWrF87J1Oy5j-sooZ55iqzPuSMnaVioTHrIhH6YHf5iZrxikrTDgMtGggXg2Fa2vnrNDBDhRB_DoRurTlTmx2FtRxYySCRj4hbgjh3G1lpudAQlNUkfIuTemU8/s1600/NEWERSlideEvolutionLarge2.jpg" height="640" width="299" /></a></div>
<br />
Want to hear me talk a lot more about this stuff, only in person? I'll be hosting and lecturing at <a href="http://www.tbhs.org/events/ouijacon-2015/" target="_blank">OuijaCon April 22-25, in Baltimore</a>. If you are anywhere along the Eastern Seaboard at that time, I encourage you to attend! <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
MysteriousPlanchettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05255974881959480527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3700996040411903203.post-22200713200921479102015-02-03T08:41:00.001-06:002015-02-03T08:41:48.554-06:00Mysterious Planchette on Paranormal PodcastI haven't been on the radio in a couple of months, so I'm excited to share my recent sit-down with Jim Harold of the Paranormal Podcast. As you'd expect, we waxed poetic on the finer points of seance artifact collecting and the history of spirit communication devices. I think you'll enjoy tuning in!<br />
<h1 class="entry-title" itemprop="headline">
<a href="http://jimharold.com/spirit-communication-devices-ouija-paranormal-podcast-368/" target="_blank">Spirit Communication Devices and Ouija – The Paranormal Podcast 368</a></h1>
MysteriousPlanchettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05255974881959480527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3700996040411903203.post-3265487089433004352014-12-16T10:17:00.002-06:002015-12-31T08:30:55.776-06:00Lippitt's Last Stand, 1873-76The Boston booksellers Colby & Rich produced--or distributed--a
number of spirit communication devices during their tenure as a <a href="https://archive.org/search.php?query=publisher%3A%22Boston+%3A+Colby+%26+Rich%22" target="_blank">prolific publisher</a>
of Spiritualist texts. They produced planchettes long after the fad had
faded, still advertising them for true believers as late as 1877, and
in that same year offered the "Mediometer," which was some as-yet
undiscovered device meant to attach to a planchette--perhaps a shield or
cover of some sort--to prevent fraud.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaxH0eK0Fc2uR8ytwBRQIT-ybVgQGrR9zm4q1xI5is82GaCiuYldXrhE_1EmTr6M18jExqbbzHRn_VbJtloehaY4UZnSoVCXomBUUy8PhUk0laf5P_IUOx91D_H89yJXWAGJlI9VEZ_fs/s1600/1877+Colby+&+Rich+Planchette+++Mediometer.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaxH0eK0Fc2uR8ytwBRQIT-ybVgQGrR9zm4q1xI5is82GaCiuYldXrhE_1EmTr6M18jExqbbzHRn_VbJtloehaY4UZnSoVCXomBUUy8PhUk0laf5P_IUOx91D_H89yJXWAGJlI9VEZ_fs/s1600/1877+Colby+&+Rich+Planchette+++Mediometer.jpg" width="221" /></a></div>
<br />
And
there's a strange undercurrent among their devices that users <i>of</i> them
must be protected from using them fraudulently to preserve the veracity
of communications received <i>through</i> them. One such device, and perhaps
their most intriguing, was Lippitt's Psychic Stand & Detector. The
apparatus was invented by lawyer and Civil War veteran <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_J._Lippitt" target="_blank">General Francis J. Lippitt</a>,
a close friend and confidant of Helena Patrovna Blavatsky who
corresponded with him frequently in the 1870s regarding spirit
communications with the ever-present spirit guide, John King.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidwEJLl2Ich6p3C-R8-EGX4M7RpiEs2xlGhWvJ69mKquBzqIE-bmfOIjTGKTu0JPsGAq6bOOPWp2HIIfZw-aCn_W_xND-S2oMoQ040ITYPyUvMBv7tO0v64qksaQ_W-gH0a20I3rt-zDQ/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-12-14+at+11.33.19+AM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidwEJLl2Ich6p3C-R8-EGX4M7RpiEs2xlGhWvJ69mKquBzqIE-bmfOIjTGKTu0JPsGAq6bOOPWp2HIIfZw-aCn_W_xND-S2oMoQ040ITYPyUvMBv7tO0v64qksaQ_W-gH0a20I3rt-zDQ/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-12-14+at+11.33.19+AM.png" width="280" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Psychic Stand inventor, Francis J. Lippitt.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Lippitt reflected on the contrivance in 1881 in the January 8 edition of <i>Mind & Matter</i>
as an "oval stand, the size of a small cardtable, the top of which
would tilt up under pressure." The operation took two people: the
medium, who "sat at one end, with her hands placed lightly on the top"
and an observer, who sat opposite and watched "a small metallic aperture
or window on the under side of the stand, always invisible to the
medium." Lippitt goes on: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"The
movements of the stand top under the medium's hands caused letters of
the alphabet to appear at this little window, by which communications
were spelled out with more or less rapidity; no one besides the medium
touching the table. The communications came sometimes in answer to oral
questions. Sometimes in answer to mental questions, and at other times
spontaneously, without any questions being put at all."</i></blockquote>
The operation brings one other device immediately to mind: <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-first-three-part-3-hornungs.html" target="_blank">Hornung's Emanulector</a>. There are some differences, of course: Hornung's apparatus was built to <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXbAY_kJ8HBSrd3P4ZvxUmHN4Sp7LKCv2z24CMGFZitwHkFl4Y61M4Gpbc59Z4IFEBRwovHT7JGf4EN_5rcENHKJ-pZLzzG45K4772ycoOiOvstp5S3QPrADr6iSNc912G5dmJ9ugpVjY/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-01-21+at+9.21.40+AM.png" target="_blank"><i>attach</i> to a pre-existing table</a>,
the tilting of which caused the inner disk to rotate and expose a
selected letter shielded from the user and only observable by a second
party. The Psychic Stand ad hints that the device <i>may</i> have also had interchangeable alphabet disks ("an alphabet the medium cannot see, and the<i> location of which may be changed</i>
at the pleasure of the observer"), which the Emanulector also boasted,
though it just may be that the observer could reset the alphabet's
starting point with a quick turn. So, it seems in application is was
essentially an Emanulector-like device built into a tabletop. <br />
<br />
The
invention has an interesting and particularly troubled history. The
first hints of the device come not long after its conception, in summer
of 1873, when Lippitt sought to patent the idea using his working
prototype. The resulting mess became national news when the patent
office declined his patent, as the officer's statements (published by
Lippitt and Robert Dale Owen in multiple public sources) sparked a flood
of bad press from Spiritualists when the rejection letter admitted the
device's novelty, but then stated "the Office cannot concede the truth
of spiritualism; as, though individual scientists may have given the
phenomena some attention, scientific men as a body or in any great
numbers have never conceded their reality," and derided such admissions
as "injurious to society." The patent office conjectured that by
approving a device meant to facilitate spirit communication (though
Lippitt strongly reminded them his test device might also <i>disprove</i>
the reality of Spiritualism), they would be giving government
endorsement of such beliefs. The office was kind enough to suggest to
Lippitt that if he tempered his application and downgraded the device's
claims to a "game table" or other amusement device, he stood a much
larger likelihood of patent approval.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCXp1yQHMhyphenhyphenS3a6mC7V3kRgRNIv_rx-rK5fIIDbrJjDsptIeFbF7V70hcWRQuPGCW8JBAVcxC8jdoEzI-Hv_GgzRZP3Z9fTuDZwsOECKBCOVdfXVawWK4hXMcwa_pz09bqxs_oSNi0sc/s1600/1873+November+12+Boston+Evening+Transcript+Lippitts+Psychic+Stand.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCXp1yQHMhyphenhyphenS3a6mC7V3kRgRNIv_rx-rK5fIIDbrJjDsptIeFbF7V70hcWRQuPGCW8JBAVcxC8jdoEzI-Hv_GgzRZP3Z9fTuDZwsOECKBCOVdfXVawWK4hXMcwa_pz09bqxs_oSNi0sc/s1600/1873+November+12+Boston+Evening+Transcript+Lippitts+Psychic+Stand.png" width="252" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The November 12, 1873 <i>Boston Evening <br />Transcript</i> covered some of the patent controversy.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
But
Lippitt rejected the notion of soliciting his serious scientific
invention as a mere amusement or parlor game, and instead appealed the
decision, and was again--and finally--rejected. The patent office cited
other examples of patents rejected on the same basis, including an
application by Isaac Pease for his <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-first-three-part-2-peases-spiritual.html" target="_blank">Spiritual Telegraph Dial</a>,
which is going to be fun to investigate. Lippitt failed to yield where
others had or would. The 1868 Jennings planchette patent, the 1880
Becker talking board patent, and, most importantly, the Elijah Bond
Ouija patent in 1890, all (among others) made patent claims on a "toy
fortune telling device" or, in the case of Ouija, a "toy or game," and
left more spiritual interpretations of their operation to the
imaginations of consumers.<br />
<br />
After the patent setback and
public feud, the device goes underground for a couple of years, from the
perspective of modern evidence. And while there are no known records
that mention the device in 1874, in 1875 Lippitt shows up again testing
and refining the device, which he reported to none other than his
friend, Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=mW3DLdgqpLIC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank">Letters to Theosophy's founder</a>
indicate that Lippitt was immenently concerned with the device's
fool-proof veracity.
His writings report that he performed a series of tests during "daily
sittings" in Boston between May 28 and June 28, 1875, "with that
excellent medium Mrs. M.A. French" of Washington D.C.<br />
<br />
<b>DETOUR:</b>
You may be wondering if this is perhaps May French, the daughter of
celebrated medium Elizabeth J. French (who developed Emma Hardinge
Britten). It's a good guess, and would have been an intriguing tangle of
prominent Spiritualists, but it is not meant to be. The medium is
Monisa Antoinette French, described in 1871
as "visionist and clairvoyant" working in Boston, and later listed as a
trance medium and clairvoyant working out of Washington D.C. in the May
15, 1880 edition of the <i>Religio-Philosophical Journal</i>. So we never need plow this field again, my colleague Marc has <a href="http://ehbritten.blogspot.com/2014/12/e-insurance-elizabeth-j-french-may.html" target="_blank">broken down all the evidence</a> for your consumption over on his ever-reliable Chasing Down Emma blog. <br />
<br />
Lippitt recollected the seances in the January 8, 1881 edition of <a href="http://www.iapsop.com/archive/materials/mind_and_matter/mind_and_matter_v3_n7_jan_8_1881.pdf" target="_blank">Mind & Matter</a>,
when he wrote in to publicly defend charges that his friend Blavatsky
had never controlled spirits. And the contents of those recollections
are verified by Lippitt's contemporaneous correspondence with Blavatsky
herself, who at the time was seriously ill after suffering a fall in
Philadelphia that threatened to have her infected leg amputated. The
communications are curious because Lippitt notes in his return
correspondence to Blavatsky that a mysterious "overscript" in blue
pencil--messages from John King--appears as scrawled postscripts in
Blavatsky's correspondence, which Lippitt noted with curiosity "was probably written by J.K. after your letter was sealed."<br />
<br />
So
it comes as little surprise that the main focus of the Psychic Stand
test seances are the communications with John and Katie King, who was at
that time making her rounds in spiritualist circles, first
materializing with Florence Cook in London in the early-to-mid 1870s,
and more recently, equally controversially--and closer--with Jennie and
Nelson Holmes in New York, which Blavatsky railed against in her letters
to Lippitt, chastising Francis for assisting in fundraising efforts for
the couple who had recently been turned out as frauds. [MP: It is also worth noting that these very well may be the same people behind the
Holmes & Company Alphabetic Planchette from the 1868 craze, but
that'll take some digging to confirm.] <br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
What
is curious is that Lippitt actually wrote to Blavatsky's
kind-of-sort-of-husband, Michael Betanelli, on June 2, and asked him to
petition the severely-ill Blavatsky to send John King to the test
sessions at French's home, and requested she send the spirit the following day at 5 pm. Right on queue,
John King showed up, as "the stand began to work with a rapidity and
precision never before witnessed, indicating a new and powerful
control." King introduced himself, and shared some dire news about
Blavatsky's health, which improved over the course of the seances. <br />
<br />
The
reported communications are about what you'd expect, but one, in
particular, I found pretty amusing. On June 30, Blavatsky responded to
Lippitt's inquiry about a confusing jumble
of letters received through the Psychic Stand (according to the 1881
recollection, it looked something like "<i>IESH at des MINSE RHINGO URSLA TOLK TSHE BOS TIS VY LKIST</i>"). Blavatsky's reply was that the jumble was actually written in a
<i>cyphered alphabet</i>, in 4-5 different languages, including “the Kabbalistic employed by Rosicrucians and other
Brotherhoods of the occult sciences,” and hints that John King “knew how to
write that way, <i>of course</i>.” [MP: Emphasis mine]</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It
is also noteworthy that HPB is not allowed to
reveal the translated communications because she is not at liberty to
share
them, though she eventually "translated" the messages and confirmed the
presence of the spirit of "Omniloff," a "Russian officer in
Caucasus...killed in last war with Schamill." The correspondences
further state that King has “done all that he could do towards
helping you with your stand—but he is not allowed the poor fellow to do
more,” proposing that Lippitt’s device was refined with suggestions of
the
spirit <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-ghosts-in-machine-koons-spirit.html" target="_blank">first summoned by Jonathan Koons in 1853</a>. Also curious to note that HPB states “<i>he</i> [King] <i>is not even permitted
to manifest himself any more, except by letters he writes or words he
spells—unless I</i> [HPB] <i>am alone with him</i>.” </div>
<br />
So, finally, after patent disputes, seance trials, and input
from some of Spiritualism's most prominent influences and spirit guides,
the device did make it to market, with ads appearing in 1876. It sold
for $3.50, which is equivalent to approximately $75 these days.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0aF0VufxlpaUFLLeMX_s9yAPLKhFcEX81ZOv3bwciWGMTr1zgSLyHzthiAWc_D-fJIZ1hJ_tvI-hzsE3EpP9gCVtnWrQlkI40GbbF7XYhDfsC5WUjoAG1FM3RuoQToEylm218D728OtE/s1600/Lippitt_Psychic_Stand_Ad_9-23-1876_Banner_of_Light.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0aF0VufxlpaUFLLeMX_s9yAPLKhFcEX81ZOv3bwciWGMTr1zgSLyHzthiAWc_D-fJIZ1hJ_tvI-hzsE3EpP9gCVtnWrQlkI40GbbF7XYhDfsC5WUjoAG1FM3RuoQToEylm218D728OtE/s1600/Lippitt_Psychic_Stand_Ad_9-23-1876_Banner_of_Light.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
What's curious is that <span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Francis J. Lippitt wrote extensively on his own life before his death, publishing </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">his autobiography, <a href="https://archive.org/stream/reminiscencesfr00lippgoog#page/n4/mode/2up" target="_blank"><i>Reminiscences of Francis J. Lippitt, written for his family, his near relatives and intimate friends</i></a>,
in 1902 just before his death that year at the age of ninety.
Surprisingly--or not--that book contains not a single admission of his
advocacy or enthusiasm for Spiritualism, much less any hint of his
invention. Even the book where he <i>did</i> write about his seance experiences, 1888's <a href="https://archive.org/details/physicalproofsof00lipp" target="_blank"><i>Physical Proofs of Another Life</i></a>,
there's nary a trace of the device, communications with it, or the
patent controversy, which is unusual in that the book is a retort to the
Seybert Commission, and Lippitt certainly had an axe to grind with the
government. And, sadly, the text contains no illustration of the device, and I've found none in the references sources here or on <a href="http://iapsop.com/">IAPSOP.com</a>, where the gettin' is best. So, for now, this is what we know--now on to the patent archives to see what's what!</span>MysteriousPlanchettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05255974881959480527noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3700996040411903203.post-16508287541172344342014-11-20T08:03:00.002-06:002014-11-20T08:29:53.589-06:00The Invisible Girl: Houdini Evaluates Koons, 1922<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyICtp6l4wkdRjlRn-6iTUIS1lVyAXe7dKDxhyphenhyphenu5xhZYi85bAdUMGeGJw8k-ptpjRi61zBsumZVV6tSFG4T_McRaQoEAC5kRJ4MZ4BOLjgHcPbkvqjy6AsLgAE_g-p1S5Re9PKhRHiFKc/s1600/HoudiniPopularRadio1922-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyICtp6l4wkdRjlRn-6iTUIS1lVyAXe7dKDxhyphenhyphenu5xhZYi85bAdUMGeGJw8k-ptpjRi61zBsumZVV6tSFG4T_McRaQoEAC5kRJ4MZ4BOLjgHcPbkvqjy6AsLgAE_g-p1S5Re9PKhRHiFKc/s1600/HoudiniPopularRadio1922-2.jpg" height="400" width="375" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In this photograph, made for <i>Popular Radio</i> magazine in 1922, Houdini <br />
demonstrates the concept of the "Invisible Girl," the hollow Buddha <br />
receiving radio transmissions from a nearby confederate. Houdini was <br />
convinced Koons used a similar method in the 1850s. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Posting a curious artifact stumbled across while putting all the puzzle pieces of the Koons family together, uncovered while researching <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-ghosts-in-machine-koons-spirit.html" target="_blank">Koons' "Spiritual Machine."</a> It appears Houdini weighed in on the table's true
purpose--though generations later and wholly incorrectly--when he
claimed in the <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=9LI5AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA2-PA28&lpg=RA2-PA28&dq=koons+spiritual+machine&source=bl&ots=pTf40QeWWi&sig=UyvFK-7iP0CryNxXyF1VU-bHjvY&hl=en&sa=X&ei=VSr_U_qBHMrLgwSLooHIBA&ved=0CFQQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=koons%20spiritual%20machine&f=false" target="_blank">October 21, 1922 Literary Digest</a>
that Koons' table was merely an elaborate transmitter for a hidden
accomplice, which demonstrates his failed understanding of the reported
phenomena, more than anything:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"...the
first application of the principles of radio to spiritualistic
manifestations was in 1852, when Jonathan Koons, a farmer of Dover
Village, Ohio, installed a “spirit machine”—described as a “crude
structure of zinc and copper for localizing and collecting the magnetic
aura.” But in the magician’s detailed account of this ancient trick he
tells us that the apparatus consisted merely of hidden speaking-tubes
that led to a confederate in the next room, known as the “invisible
girl."</i> </blockquote>
It's an interesting theory, anyway, and one that Houdini himself was able to aptly demonstrate. But as we've come to expect from Houdini's séance-busting efforts, the means are overly-elaborate, and a reflection of the magician's reliance on mechanical means to produce manifestations. Houdini must not have known that the spirit room was not located in the proximity of the Koons' farmhouse, and was a simple freestanding, dirt-floored log cabin routinely inspected by hundreds if not thousands. And he likely didn't research the accounts of the crowds that often assembled <i>around</i> the room during seance sessions, hampering any chance of an outside confederate. No, as is usual for Houdini and his other like him--as much as I love them the whole motley crew--the magician resorts to grand mechanical theories to explain relatively simple psychical phenomena, and fails to account for the skills of a talented medium in a dark room filled with believers. But it's an act I'd most certainly like to experience. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7d3GVlPHGh4qxvARCOMooOA0Cdg_HqJgSuPU_sn6lQTO36nOlgbjRxcP_n3En4zisUMDcqID5t42ao-9CHVHWTN17XsX46Sab6vVmt-JIjJMRIpibRBY83_euVoc1cLnHYbAF9HvsrTE/s1600/HoudiniPopularRadio1922.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7d3GVlPHGh4qxvARCOMooOA0Cdg_HqJgSuPU_sn6lQTO36nOlgbjRxcP_n3En4zisUMDcqID5t42ao-9CHVHWTN17XsX46Sab6vVmt-JIjJMRIpibRBY83_euVoc1cLnHYbAF9HvsrTE/s1600/HoudiniPopularRadio1922.jpg" height="400" width="390" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The same article includes another variation of the wirelessly-transmitted<br />
spirit communication apparatus, in a spirit trumpet we would dearly love<br />
to document should any readers know of its whereabouts.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
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<br />MysteriousPlanchettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05255974881959480527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3700996040411903203.post-39427047746779343532014-10-30T14:47:00.002-05:002014-10-30T14:47:40.324-05:00The Mysterious Planchette in the PapersIt's been a busy Halloween season here at Mysterious Planchette. We had the pleasure of filming with Ronni Thomas' <a href="http://www.themidnightarchive.com/newsite/" target="_blank">Midnight Archive</a> series last month. Ever-amazing, I am absolutely thrilled at the prospect of seeing my collection documented by this amazing filmmaker. Though not yet out, the trailer is below for your enjoyment.<br />
<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/LJT75PfeudM?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
Then there's the latest issue of the SPR's Paranormal Review. <span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">I wrote the lead story for this issue, which deals with the important
topic of preserving archives and artifacts in the spiritual and occult
disciplines, and features articles from the attendees of this summer's
"<a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.blogspot.com/2014/07/utrecht-artifacts-part-1-beelmaterial.html" target="_blank">Preserving the Historical Collections of Parapsychology</a>" conference in
Utrecht. I hope you'll enjoy my contribution: "Ghosts in the Machines."
Thank you to Dr. Leo Ruickbie for having me on board!</span></span>. You can head <a href="http://www.spr.ac.uk/news/paranormal-review-special-report-preserving-collections-parapsychology" target="_blank">over here</a> and see what you can do about getting yourself a copy.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPkXqxcKRptgKB_4NS4gxJl5ra-wQKW7xQmcSUTrrAegT_cL0BQ67-udh0b_7UChlsF1oAg8Gc0FrAerpfsuTgen7BRfbfYv29ZtLF47aqx6RtRDNNM5gVXIgKGR2unck_fayGsNkUdyc/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-10-30+at+2.34.12+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPkXqxcKRptgKB_4NS4gxJl5ra-wQKW7xQmcSUTrrAegT_cL0BQ67-udh0b_7UChlsF1oAg8Gc0FrAerpfsuTgen7BRfbfYv29ZtLF47aqx6RtRDNNM5gVXIgKGR2unck_fayGsNkUdyc/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-10-30+at+2.34.12+PM.png" height="400" width="290" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.spr.ac.uk/news/paranormal-review-special-report-preserving-collections-parapsychology" target="_blank">Click here to get your copy!</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Another article--oddly enough with the same great title--was just released online by Collector's Weekly, and can be found <a href="http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/ghosts-in-the-machines-the-devices-and-defiant-mediums-that-spoke-for-the-spirits/" target="_blank">here</a>. It features the fruits of an incredible 2-hour interview I had with the author, Lisa Hix, and has quite a few device shots from the Mysterious Planchette archives. Do check it out! <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWckTVWW51WZOrAYCbzNA2ziLbaqmu_fSfm5L473qTnQlf_O0BPDSRr-hF1my3W2ZactVtHDSv5OtqN43UFPUKP1poDNBTH_iJa7nzTB6oja39J0Wq3xcMt4rIoBPrKs-bieupWw2Vr64/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-10-30+at+2.39.23+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWckTVWW51WZOrAYCbzNA2ziLbaqmu_fSfm5L473qTnQlf_O0BPDSRr-hF1my3W2ZactVtHDSv5OtqN43UFPUKP1poDNBTH_iJa7nzTB6oja39J0Wq3xcMt4rIoBPrKs-bieupWw2Vr64/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-10-30+at+2.39.23+PM.png" height="382" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/ghosts-in-the-machines-the-devices-and-defiant-mediums-that-spoke-for-the-spirits/" target="_blank">Click here to read!</a></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Stay tuned, true believers. The madness never ends! MysteriousPlanchettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05255974881959480527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3700996040411903203.post-59851945550998404352014-09-09T09:37:00.002-05:002014-09-13T08:39:04.316-05:00More Bang for My Buck: The Bangs Williams Restoration<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLZ1qs5O0CJChg11ws_e0nty88RkoKzSDoV5N3-aBApRPd0lC1nbz9wPEv5Wi1nYge1zAQe4bkNW1JpBJu9t7sl6H8E-VIT81-L8JdiR2Sp7euaDlf1R6ozbj1XZdZmvxJDr1IE8WKorU/s1600/BangsFixPost2.1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLZ1qs5O0CJChg11ws_e0nty88RkoKzSDoV5N3-aBApRPd0lC1nbz9wPEv5Wi1nYge1zAQe4bkNW1JpBJu9t7sl6H8E-VIT81-L8JdiR2Sp7euaDlf1R6ozbj1XZdZmvxJDr1IE8WKorU/s1600/BangsFixPost2.1.jpg" height="492" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A beautiful and complete box for the N. Bangs Williams Insulate Planchette from Michael McDowell's "Death<br />
Collection" housed at Northwestern University.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I use strange internal nomenclature in my collection, and
it is patently obvious when I handle one of my most treasured
planchettes. Items I acquire from other collectors get tagged with that
collector's surname--it helps me keep track of credit and
favors--preceded by any historical names attached to the item (which is
rare, but <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-nicholl-higginson-planchette.html" target="_blank">it does happen</a>),
then the actual manufacturer, if known. For that reason, there's no
item in my collection with a more convoluted name than my Burgum-Vespia
N. Bangs Williams Insulated Planchette.<br />
<br />
If you are familiar with my site, you should already know the <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.com/Manu_Portal/bangwilliams.html" target="_blank">Bangs Williams "Insulated Planchette."</a> Besides the colorful character that produced it, it is one of the more elegant and unusual products of the <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.com/History/history2.html" target="_blank">First Great Craze</a>,
and went through several variations. There's what appears to be a
standard model (at least, more commonly encountered model)--unadorned
back, label underneath, and intricately-cast apertures and castors,
which come in either single-post or double-post wheel housings. The
"insulated" moniker comes from the sleeve of bright red rubber nestled
between the castor and the plank, to insulate the wood, of course,
presumably for purposed of channeling vital energy and animal magnetism.
There's also a more rare variant, which includes a couple of cast metal
tubes on the planchette's topside, possibly for further "insulation."
Regardless of model, the shield-shaped device is well-constructed and
really an incredible relic in its own right. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLCb06elE8X30QVRNT5lUOoWU9dSQ4NcGw3CLpqT9zt-lDFL69aXBqFTx9_6jHzgk5cza-NocjfdOYWsSTwZWt2nEljiqpgIM1gKcq6wJUAarAtFZPMqD4bEu1yI-pnY_rDTOENS_SDBc/s1600/BangsFix1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLCb06elE8X30QVRNT5lUOoWU9dSQ4NcGw3CLpqT9zt-lDFL69aXBqFTx9_6jHzgk5cza-NocjfdOYWsSTwZWt2nEljiqpgIM1gKcq6wJUAarAtFZPMqD4bEu1yI-pnY_rDTOENS_SDBc/s1600/BangsFix1.jpg" height="492" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Burgum-Vespia N. Bangs Williams Insulated Planchette in its unrestored state, from the Hodge Collection. Note<br />
the broken posts and missing upper wheel housings.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The prefix
of my specimen's name comes from the planchette's historical owner,
John Fulton Burgum. Mr. Burgum (1854-1933) was a cabinetmaker, painter,
and wood-worker in New Hampshire, and son of a famous carriage painter
and inventor whose work is <a href="http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/64466101/concord-ornamental-painter-john-burgum-artistry-carriage-painting" target="_blank">still admired today</a>.
We don't know much about John F. Burgum's spiritual beliefs or a
measure of his planchette enthusiasm, but he was kind enough to leave
the
remnants of a smeared ink stamp on the underside of this particular
specimen: John F. Burgum, 40 Central Square, Keene, NH. It's that nearly-imperceptible black stippling right there between the castors in the pics above. The date is too
smeared to determine accurately, but appears to be 1887. We're lucky, at
least, that the planchette survived the shop fire that unfortunately
killed Mr. Burgum in 1933. <br />
<br />
I acquired the planchette
from my good friend Andrew Vespia. Andrew and I go way back, and our
meeting as fellow talking board enthusiasts and our subsequent bonding
with <a href="http://www.robertmurch.com/" target="_blank">Bob Murch</a>
helped spark a collaboration and unprecedented cooperation among
collectors that persists to this day, and for that I will always be
eternally grateful. It was, in fact, at a reunion of the 3 of us last
year at Andrew's Houston home that we made the long-overdue trade, and I
brought the Burgum planchette home to nest. Thank you, Andrew!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs2KpfSkIzCHubK_EiU5KCCqB7AQ3ivxykZDgbXvfMmMFnrS1DC41iylwilBUEO6DjnwOJ7rEz7wi2M_lvovx85Gkclp6t7QaETx9x1dh4Ov9Wic2NRPedrpfqpFh1LOxwRB-mTUAa0DM/s1600/BangWilliams2TopLarge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs2KpfSkIzCHubK_EiU5KCCqB7AQ3ivxykZDgbXvfMmMFnrS1DC41iylwilBUEO6DjnwOJ7rEz7wi2M_lvovx85Gkclp6t7QaETx9x1dh4Ov9Wic2NRPedrpfqpFh1LOxwRB-mTUAa0DM/s1600/BangWilliams2TopLarge.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another Bangs Williams planchette variation with tubes that act either<br />
as insulators or to charge Odic force.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
When
Andrew originally acquired the item, its upper wheel housings were long
gone--snapped off right at the post. This just left the base frames and
a tiny nub of the central swivel post, and I can only imagine when and
where in its history someone sat or stepped on this treasured item and heard two
tiny snaps reverberate through their backside. I had long sought to
restore the item to its original--and functional--state, but how?<br />
<br />
I
already knew the Bangs Williams was rare. Andrew's was one of a few I
had allowed to slip through my fingers at auction over the years before I
got more serious about things, and, of course, the minute I got serious
about acquiring one for my own, they stopped appearing. So, I had to be
content with visiting Andrew's in Houston a few times a year for a while there. Knowing it would one day need a restoration in any case, I made notes of where those others might have wound up on the off chance
I would have an opportunity to perhaps take a casting of the upper
wheel housing so I might restore it on the chance I acquired it.<br />
<br />
One possible source was the Strong Museum of Play, which <a href="http://www.thestrong.org/online-collections/nmop/3/48/89.621" target="_blank">houses one Bangs Williams.</a>
And, as luck would have it, Murch took a research trip there last year
to document their catalog holdings. But as good of pals as we are,
asking him to cast a mold in the middle of an important research trip
wasn't reasonable, and I wasn't able to join him there as I usually do. I
got lots of incredible photographs, though, and was able to note a few
manufacturing differences (different label print, metal wheels) thanks
to Murch's efforts. Thanks, Bob!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBdkZ2A4jlzEgeYuoBB11ckJOBkC37Ua5ZvvTg-9BtebuDv0_yH8tRcofgrdv5KH1AGLcFhd6-BYgnYE3vmTMe2QMvuTcwA8UcD1eq7DOjWhTSNCsxp7j8BMlI-iD62zAAEQFzdmQjIak/s1600/BangsFixPost2.2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBdkZ2A4jlzEgeYuoBB11ckJOBkC37Ua5ZvvTg-9BtebuDv0_yH8tRcofgrdv5KH1AGLcFhd6-BYgnYE3vmTMe2QMvuTcwA8UcD1eq7DOjWhTSNCsxp7j8BMlI-iD62zAAEQFzdmQjIak/s1600/BangsFixPost2.2.jpg" height="392" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Bangs Williams planchette, with box, from Michael McDowell's "Death<br />
Collection" housed at Northwestern University.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Then another,
previously unseen, specimen popped up on my radar. The amazing <a href="http://findingaids.library.northwestern.edu/catalog/inu-ead-spec-archon-1527" target="_blank">Michael McDowell "Death Collection"</a> now housed at Northwestern University's <a href="http://www.library.northwestern.edu/libraries-collections/evanston-campus/special-collections" target="_blank">McCormick Library of Special Collections</a>
contains an Insulated Planchette. What's better, this one was complete
in an original box. On top of that, the McDowell collection houses
thousands of spiritualism-related photographs and ephemera, so a was a
fantastic opportunity to not only get a possible casting, but do a favor
for the research community by documenting and sharing those important
holdings. After viewing that amazing collection, I only wish I'd had the chance to meet <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_McDowell_%28author%29" target="_blank">Michael McDowell</a> while he were alive. He had an amazing passion for his collection that I certainly understand.<br />
<br />
Within a week of the discovery, I planned the
trip for the following month. Once on the ground there, I spent the
first day taking over 1,500 photographs of the collection's Spiritualism
contents--primarily an amazing trove of spirit photography we'll soon be debuting on <a href="http://iapsop.com/">IAPSOP.com</a> for research and comparative purposes. After the photographs were done, I started begging the amazingly accommodating curators--Benn and Scott--to allow
me to take a mold of their specimen's wheel housing. Their preservationists were away at a conference,
however, and an answer would have to wait until the following morning.
So with dwindling hours on my second and final day there, I showed up to
fantastic news--they would let me take the mold I needed!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_xVJNLmMqz_EBGUNtmzkiygO7K75RZ8824Wzrlyd7lcmzI-7TQuYBPWz16ym5IISE9pvx5VUkhEnVdamgPH3ULMZwskhUNdYWc92Ss2RRr_qJOx1zp0J3u31-IA22icnnxKLLSpHkHCw/s1600/BangsFixPost2.3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_xVJNLmMqz_EBGUNtmzkiygO7K75RZ8824Wzrlyd7lcmzI-7TQuYBPWz16ym5IISE9pvx5VUkhEnVdamgPH3ULMZwskhUNdYWc92Ss2RRr_qJOx1zp0J3u31-IA22icnnxKLLSpHkHCw/s1600/BangsFixPost2.3.jpg" height="425" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The goal! Would it be possible to take an exact mold of this wheel housing without disassembling it and restore<br />
the Burgum-Vespia specimen to its former glory?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
There
were a few rules, of course. I wasn't able to disassemble the device in
any way, and I had to take some extra steps to ensure the molding
compound wouldn't harm the item. This meant I would have to mold the
entire wheel housing--wheel and all--and later trim a casting to get
just the parts I needed. I took two moldings, just to be sure, and took slightly different approaches to each hoping that one or the other would be accurate. While I normally prefer a liquid compound that you can pour around the molded object, I wasn't going to be able to take that stuff on the plane with me, it being liquid and all, and so I used a two-part, malleable dental compound that had a decent working time.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW1Ay95ngAjzH5E9WG7LVNurSGYtwydze9eg5lwobYQDP7erY-f9x6YC3AgNwUXWBmRCS6egLI2uy53Il30Q1xJOk0NZjbjgEiaP64XaV-oHxQee5HTaqXp5DVbroKo2TGuPrXflgZLKE/s1600/BangsFix2.2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW1Ay95ngAjzH5E9WG7LVNurSGYtwydze9eg5lwobYQDP7erY-f9x6YC3AgNwUXWBmRCS6egLI2uy53Il30Q1xJOk0NZjbjgEiaP64XaV-oHxQee5HTaqXp5DVbroKo2TGuPrXflgZLKE/s1600/BangsFix2.2.jpg" height="212" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Taking the mold! Some index cards help me keep the apparatus balanced as each half of the compound was applied, <br />
creating a two-part mold, half of which can be seen, right.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It was harrowing. There was no
way to know if I'd gotten a good mold until I got home to cast it, and I'd come a long way to get it with no promises. I secured the two molds, packed up my things, and left to spend the afternoon with a great new friend, Court, a Ouija collector from the golden age who had amassed an impressive collection of Chicago-area boards in the early 80s, and was nice enough to sit with me over lunch and swap tales of collecting, acquiring, and our mutual paranormal interests. It was the highlight of the trip, and I wish we lived closer for more great visits like that one! With a few boards in hand from Court's collection headed to my own, I departed for home with a hard drive full of spirit photographs and high hopes that my own Bangs Williams planchette would soon be restored. The
original plan was to cast the wheel housings in plaster, shave off the wheels and hollow
out the inner housing, then remold the modified piece and recast in
metal. After several attempts, it became obvious that plaster wasn't working out too well, so I opted for another material:
Smooth Coat 325 "Liquid Plastic."<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQeVJTliPqnvF8bwfZVok7xAvXld6tEcUfFC2mE_d4RaQSR72y0EPx_AWpT4GJ7iD4nuMhDuZsMJ-7WDR9fubmj7nSXOalFHd8LTq4DIwjBFh5drBPDQwnRPM45RQ7sjQ8Nt-xhl5O2Y4/s1600/BangsFix2.3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQeVJTliPqnvF8bwfZVok7xAvXld6tEcUfFC2mE_d4RaQSR72y0EPx_AWpT4GJ7iD4nuMhDuZsMJ-7WDR9fubmj7nSXOalFHd8LTq4DIwjBFh5drBPDQwnRPM45RQ7sjQ8Nt-xhl5O2Y4/s1600/BangsFix2.3.jpg" height="212" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Casting the housing! Works in progress with drying molds, left. <br />
Center: a few attempts before and after cleanup. Right: a fresh casting right out of the mold!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The liquid plastic, like the silicon molding, is a two-part material that pours in smoothly as a liquid, which is important when you are doing detail work, then quickly turns viscous before hardening. When my trial run produced a near-perfect casting
of the housing that was easy to work with a razor after the initial
setting, but cured to a surprisingly rock-hard, durable consistency overnight, I
rethought the trials of metal casting and elected to just stick with the
base substance. It was perfect in heft and weight, was tough and dense, and ultimately comparable to the cheap pot-metal the original castors were manufactured from. And I do plan on doing that in the future. But as it was, this material had just a touch of flexibility,
which would allow for press-fitting, which was an important endgame
consideration to not modify the planchette from its unrestored state.<br />
<br />
Which brings up an important note. When undergoing restorations that are anything more intrusive than repairing separated
veneer, my first consideration, always paramount, is to not modify the original device in any way just to make it work. It was the same consideration I took in <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.blogspot.com/2013/05/a-fix-called-wanda.html" target="_blank">restoring Haffner's Wanda Tipping Table last year</a>, and this non-intrusive philosophy of restoration was the <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.blogspot.com/2014/07/utrecht-artifacts-part-1-beelmaterial.html" target="_blank">topic of my lecture to archivists at my Preserving the Historical Collections of Parapsychology conference in Utrecht</a>. It's a simple philosophy: <i>if you can't restore an item in such a way that it can quickly and easily be restored to its original, pre-restoration state, then simply don't do it.</i> And that's the approach here--the goal was to have a set of replacement wheels and housings for display, that could be easily removed to restore the item to its original state--exactly like museum dinosaur skeletons have replacement bones to show complete specimens. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhduPc0XWs_hHOMubVcJw9jg4EcBFW2u93eiQ5ogP6mNCvh0n7vat0vrmovCx4BT9HIC2LcTAecQgOO2visAJ_l7ss06rn7T6RLjJxMZNI-RXUCpgSkTAOKnfZ94_szR1L1RPa7dMYdL2w/s1600/BangsFix2.4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhduPc0XWs_hHOMubVcJw9jg4EcBFW2u93eiQ5ogP6mNCvh0n7vat0vrmovCx4BT9HIC2LcTAecQgOO2visAJ_l7ss06rn7T6RLjJxMZNI-RXUCpgSkTAOKnfZ94_szR1L1RPa7dMYdL2w/s1600/BangsFix2.4.jpg" height="212" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Left: the cast wheels carefully separated from the housing. Center: the results! Perfect castings of the <br />
wheel housing in a hard and durable substance. Right: initial press fitting of the housings. Great fit!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The result of the casting were fantastic, capturing <b>every</b> detail of the wheel housing--every curve, every bump and imperfection and every miniscule pit--fantastically replicating both the shape and texture of the original. The final cast was one-piece, and included the wheels, so with a careful carve of the Exacto knife I removed the cast portions of the wheels, which left me with the holy grail of the project--two complete, flawless castings of the Bangs Williams wheel housings! I drilled them and carefully popped them over the nubs of the base's central shaft for a test fit. I started to get very excited when I saw how tight they fit without having to make any modifications whatsoever to the planchette!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmYEs4WuMiJnMu5DM1vq7WKkvRSVNE0zCf8ZQJxplaChQAk-6cwu7d-WflUtRmjk0qM0Vbpe16xHddbIqXlHLIw4gcDI1_Xwx5Pje67gYRzKBMyWnIgrXSfEuYyO9ngL6rZ1mE105Cbvc/s1600/BangsFix2.6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmYEs4WuMiJnMu5DM1vq7WKkvRSVNE0zCf8ZQJxplaChQAk-6cwu7d-WflUtRmjk0qM0Vbpe16xHddbIqXlHLIw4gcDI1_Xwx5Pje67gYRzKBMyWnIgrXSfEuYyO9ngL6rZ1mE105Cbvc/s1600/BangsFix2.6.jpg" height="213" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anticipation swells! Left: the first couple of coats! Center: matching paint with Rub n'Buff and wargame hobby paint. <br />
Right: the final press-fit led to an incredibly strong fit that's difficult, but certainly not impossible, to remove.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Matching the paint turned out to be a fairly simple affair. I have painted miniatures for use in tabletop RPG games since my high school years, so I turned those years of experience--and years of accumulated materials--toward constructing a matching paint scheme. As it turned out, the Antique Brass "Rub'n'Buff" was a near exact match, so I undercoated with that, and then applied a slightly darker mixture of a bronze metallic wargame hobby paint. Just before the paint dried fully, I grabbed some dark dirt out of the back yard, and gave it a good, harsh, grinding tumble in my hands to help further roughen and dirty it up to match my planchette's less-than-pristine castor bases. I opened my palm, plucked them out, and PERFECTION! The wheel housings soaked up the paint perfectly, the tone matched exactly, and the dirt-aging was spot-on. The ever-so-slight flexibility of the plastic meant that by drilling a hole just slightly smaller than the base's protruding mounting post, I could hold the post in place with some padded pliers and jam the wheel housing onto the post to mount it. Nothing else was needed--the press-fit was incredibly snug, and it takes some effort to pop them off! Now I just needed wheels to get this planchette rolling!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilOkqvGXA_ocH7ynR9l15_LXk7hWRXjuWRQwTmWUOq0hUWKrKXK3-cZHcjY5ND5fiKWJ7D-28klrMeZnfdo75Dc2nTO4U2orAR3_HMVJXV_AxJQ6gfSzyBLGFS4JaDjUw93oe3Zbp0-4c/s1600/BangsFix2.5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilOkqvGXA_ocH7ynR9l15_LXk7hWRXjuWRQwTmWUOq0hUWKrKXK3-cZHcjY5ND5fiKWJ7D-28klrMeZnfdo75Dc2nTO4U2orAR3_HMVJXV_AxJQ6gfSzyBLGFS4JaDjUw93oe3Zbp0-4c/s1600/BangsFix2.5.jpg" height="212" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Turning new wheels! Left: harvesting blanks from period wood recovered from the frame of an antique portrait. <br />
Center: comparing shapes, sizes, and angles to the wheel castings. Right: the blanks mounted for shaping, with one <br />
specimen already completed--a perfect match to the original!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I have accumulated an incredible stock of period materials to work from on projects like this, primarily harvested from demolished homes, but also from picture frames and other antiques destined for the junk heap. That was where I acquired the solid piece wood panel that was perfectly matched to construct my replacement wheels--an antique frame. The material was consistent with the cheaper, porous wood used in the original wheels of the McDowell specimen, and using my rotary tool in combination with various sandpaper grits made for a fairly quick and easy wheel construction that allowed me to match the angles and sizes of the originals perfectly. <br />
<br />
Mounting the wheels to the wheel housings was a fairly easy affair as well. From the same frame where I'd harvested the wood, I gathered up a couple of slim mounting nails that had the perfect diameter and patina to match the original axles of the McDowell planchette. I used press-fitting again, snipping them off at just the right length, and the entire unit just came together so quickly once I had all the components that I forgot to stop and take pictures for posterity until I was done!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJzmPueKWAKdQCkBQrt-CTyBotkOAwYBbhqJYdcDqnHYBJEYyY50FermMeEyKfdLOquajo-z50US05toLYuynRGBTv6l_oawvZAvqNHLgttbwaRlkIkHE7GsbZEm2rGLgu5c9AudxwktM/s1600/BangsPost17.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJzmPueKWAKdQCkBQrt-CTyBotkOAwYBbhqJYdcDqnHYBJEYyY50FermMeEyKfdLOquajo-z50US05toLYuynRGBTv6l_oawvZAvqNHLgttbwaRlkIkHE7GsbZEm2rGLgu5c9AudxwktM/s1600/BangsPost17.JPG" height="640" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The restoration COMPLETE!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I am incredibly happy with the restoration. There may come a time when I revisit casting the wheel housings in pot metal like the originals, but for now, any difference is simply not noticeable. The planchette wheels around wonderfully, and I was surprised at just how smoothly it actually operates. It was a fun challenge that took me halfway across the country to meet some great folks, and a project I had looked forward to for some time. I like to think that the planchette's former owner, Mr. Burgum--himself a woodworker--would be proud of the effort <i>and</i> the results. I can't thank my hosts at Northwestern enough for the opportunity that made this all possible, and Court for the fantastic chance to make his acquaintance and break bread with him while I was on my quest. Thank you! <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6biJPGbogeyf1mI70Mh1h8eJdr2ZQbPYPH4Ypa8wxiSEGUnzR8xB0hK_D6HedxCfxZ7hG3CILVBuNgVRC_OUlbKZ253q24XXl-DwnqvBwrTDaKaopLCp-0sbs1F7aixgGH2BciTze0-w/s1600/BandCourt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6biJPGbogeyf1mI70Mh1h8eJdr2ZQbPYPH4Ypa8wxiSEGUnzR8xB0hK_D6HedxCfxZ7hG3CILVBuNgVRC_OUlbKZ253q24XXl-DwnqvBwrTDaKaopLCp-0sbs1F7aixgGH2BciTze0-w/s1600/BandCourt.jpg" height="640" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thanks again to my friend Court for some wonderful hospitality during my trip to Northwestern. Court collected <br />
Ouija long before most of us, and even
tried to establish a talking board collector's club in the 1980s. His
<br />
collection fantastically documents Chicago-area boards from the
1930s-40s--and I'm happy to have had the<br />
chance to meet him after a long
trial tracking him down!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />MysteriousPlanchettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05255974881959480527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3700996040411903203.post-61590728567077507042014-09-02T10:34:00.001-05:002014-09-02T10:34:06.403-05:00The Ghosts in the Machine: Koons' "Spirit Machine"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2de3bdu5iJv7r81ruviJ1z7ak9KMzp7k9i8-5p1pqKlf_Rd-e2OaOkaf4HL2RTvRwxIPkiUXC-zohvwiDGZE4M2vx5RoEZKR9KaHe2jt4BsBPaOsC3Yi8aWXjTvgkWsKNCMhZWlSPtws/s1600/koonsheadline.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2de3bdu5iJv7r81ruviJ1z7ak9KMzp7k9i8-5p1pqKlf_Rd-e2OaOkaf4HL2RTvRwxIPkiUXC-zohvwiDGZE4M2vx5RoEZKR9KaHe2jt4BsBPaOsC3Yi8aWXjTvgkWsKNCMhZWlSPtws/s1600/koonsheadline.jpg" height="53" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="tr_bq">
My research into Jonathan Koons and his family's "spirit room" has brought me down some unexpected avenues, including making some fantastic new friends that just-so-happen to be the direct descendants of Jonathan Koons. Beyond a <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-creationist-at-seance-table-young.html" target="_blank">brief blog post</a> on a curious observation made during some deep research, I've posted surprisingly few accounts of my research work on Koons. I've fallen so far down the well, from formulating a 15,000-word spirit room timeline document, to mapping out the historical boundaries of the Koons farm, to locating Jonathan's fiddle and the precious family photographs of the major personages in the flesh (even handling an original letter written by Nahum!), that it has all just seemed too much to break down into little posts along the way. There'll be a big payoff, for sure, particularly in my spirit communication device book, but for now the file just keeps bigger and bigger, until I'll probably wind assimilating it all in a comprehensive biography or something. We'll see. </div>
<div class="tr_bq">
<br /></div>
<div class="tr_bq">
I'd very much like my work to correct the sensational blog posts and seasonal news stories that are great about cherry-picking some of the more exciting (and often exaggerated) bits, but fail to recognize just how important the Koons manifestations were in the birth of a new phase of Spiritualism--one that is at once the dawn of a new era, and at the same time the first knell of the death-bell that will signal Spiritualism's great downfall as a major power some decades later. At the very least, the Koons family is <a href="http://ehbritten.blogspot.com/2014/01/sanguifying-usquibaugh-koons-hunting.html" target="_blank">finally beginning</a> to <a href="http://ehbritten.blogspot.com/2013/02/spirits-of-trade-part-deux.html" target="_blank">get its due</a>, thanks to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/184377468263278/photos/p.855213161179702/855213161179702/?type=1&theater" target="_blank">the work of </a>some enterprising occult historians who I'm proud to associate with (that's Marc Demarest there, along with Lis Warwood, but we've also got John Buescher and Pat Deveney in the mix here), so here's hoping that a decade from now, the formative influences of Jonathan, Nahum, Abigail, and the rest (and let's not forget their neighbors and collaborators, the Tippie family) get the proper historical recognition they deserve. </div>
<br />
But here, if I <i>stick to my roots</i>, I tell myself, and <i>focus on the artifacts that sparked your interest</i>, I'll be OK revealing a little here without opening a too-big can of worms and feeling I have to write a new post for every new discovery, because there's a lot going on, and not all of it ready for the public just yet. But let's do that. Let's talk devices. Let's <i>finally</i> talk Koons' "Spiritual Machine."<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi31u2iHsk6ZEy09KJjAFwjMA7g-tuIhwQPLDudWQQ4YBqkBqCf7OA1PK5ndKXbz-lxYAsDcmZqxKHEAIvxnr0FqzWpFC2ObS6jqy-890V5KkkfLuRHHQKtv19NDnqkc6g0OhnbQiJ9QeY/s1600/1854+November+4+Cleveland+Plain+Dealer+Koons+Spiritual+Machine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi31u2iHsk6ZEy09KJjAFwjMA7g-tuIhwQPLDudWQQ4YBqkBqCf7OA1PK5ndKXbz-lxYAsDcmZqxKHEAIvxnr0FqzWpFC2ObS6jqy-890V5KkkfLuRHHQKtv19NDnqkc6g0OhnbQiJ9QeY/s1600/1854+November+4+Cleveland+Plain+Dealer+Koons+Spiritual+Machine.jpg" height="452" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Koons' Spiritual Machine, as first illustrated in the November 4, 1854 <i>Cleveland Plain Dealer</i>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It was November of 1852, just four-and-a-half years removed from earth-shattering events in Hydesville, New York, when Jonathan Koons had the revelation to build the spiritual machine. He'd spent the prior seven months, when not tilling the hard, rocky soil of his Athens County, Ohio farm, contemplating revelations he'd received from a medium that he'd set out to debunk many months prior: that he himself was "the most powerful medium on earth." Table-tipping, automatic writing, and spirit rapping ensued among the family séances, and eventually the message was received that led to the table's construction:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>...at length there was a promise extended to me through the mediumship of my eldest son, (aged sixteen years) </i>[MP: Nahum Ward Koons]<i> that if I would construct a table according to a draft drawn by the spirits through my son as the medium, and place it in a private room for their own use, that then I should have incontrovertible evidence of the existence of spirits, to which I immediately acceded, and the same was built and placed in a private room, and furnished with paper and pencils, as requested through medium agency, when the spirits commenced writing without any medium agency whatever, in said room; which fact removed every lingering doubt from my mind, for the room was kept constantly closed against the entrance of my own family, or any other person during the time the writing was performed</i>. </blockquote>
In another credit-where-credit-due moment here, we see it was the "spiritual machine" itself that was instrumental to the manifestations of the spirits on the Koons farm, with their famed spirit room--which gets all the fanfare, really--merely meant to house the artifact. Thanks to the machine--as Emma Hardinge Britten put it--"collecting and focalizing the magnetic aura used in the manifestations," an amazing array of previously unheard-of phenomena took place: dark séances, a cacophony of spiritual music played on a small orchestra of floating instruments, spirit writing, luminous spectres and ghostly appendages glowing in the soft light of phosphorous, and mysterious whispers of the spirit "King" issuing forth from Nahum's tin trumpet. Phenomena <i>all</i>, as my colleague Mr. Demarest recently stated, "<b>at least</b> as important for the subsequent history of the Spiritualist movement as the Fox Sisters."<br />
<br />
So what was the machine responsible for all of this? We are incredibly fortunate that the<i> Cleveland Plain Dealer</i> (and also <a href="http://www.iapsop.com/archive/materials/spiritual_universe/" target="_blank"><i>Spiritual Universe</i></a>) took the reports seriously enough to feature the machine in their November 4, 1854 edition, which was subsequently reprinted in part in the <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Scientific_American_-_Series_1_-_Volume_010_-_Issue_21.pdf" target="_blank">February 3, 1855 edition</a> of <i>Scientific American</i>. Others documented some of its finer points as well, including the <i>Anglo-American Magazine</i>, so let's look at it piece by piece according to some of these sources and see exactly what's going on in this illustration.<br />
<br />
According to the <i>Plain Dealer</i> [<i>PD</i>], which provided the original number-coded illustration, the base of the "queer piece of mechanism" was a six-legged table "about six feet long by two and a half feet high. The table and the wood portion of the machinery is cherry, which is stained and varnished." The <i>Anglo-American</i> [<i>AA</i>], in an <a href="http://ehbritten.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-lesson-we-desire-to-teach-e-v.html" target="_blank">article authored by E.V. Wilson</a>, noted the top was "30 inches wide, supported by six legs, in it are four drawers (GG) which contain nothing save a few dishes of paint, brushes, pencils, charts, &c., for the use of the spirits..."<br />
<br />
Resting on the tabletop was a 4-foot high wooden framework (22) supported by an upright post topped with an ornate glass knob (A). This framework consisted of either two or four curved wooden pieces that, as Wilson described, were "somewhat in the shape of the letter <i>f</i>." Attached to the outside of this frame were two important components: drums--a larger <a href="http://www.fielddrums.com/uploaded_images/0609a-728220.jpg" target="_blank">bass</a> (C) and a smaller <a href="http://www.fielddrums.com/uploaded_images/31591-794754.jpg" target="_blank">tenor</a> (B)--"firmly secured to the machinery and to the table by wires"[<i>PD</i>]. The spirits would beat mightily on these drums to announce their arrival to the room, or play them "in a masterly manner" [<i>AA</i>] to accompany Jonathan's fiddle playing, and are frequently mentioned in descriptions of the spirits' materializations in the room.<br />
<br />
As described by the <i>Cleveland Plain Dealer</i>, three rods or bars ran parallel to the tabletop, with various ornamentation of glass knobs, small bells, and wires. On the topside there was a
lower "steel bar about half an inch square"(EE) and an upper "bar of
wood with three glass knobs attached wound with wire and ending with a
scroll"(44) that rested on the lower steel bar. Below the table, there
was "an eight-sided wooden bar suspended under the table by copper
wires,
with a number of wires running the whole length of the bar"(HH). <br />
<br />
The "copper wires wrapped with zinc" are extremely important to the spirit machine's construction, and not just to bind the whole thing together. The wires were "woven into a kind of net work with copper and tin plates," that served as a sort of battery to facilitate the spirits' design of their "electrical machine." The table, at its core, was exactly that, designed by the spirits "for collecting and retaining electricity" so that through this energy they might manifest in the charged confines of the spirit room. <br />
<br />
The alternating tin and copper plates would, in theory, constitute a basic <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltaic_pile" target="_blank">voltaic pile</a>, even if it was missing the electrolyte component. There were several such stacks: "double plates of tin and copper" (33) located close to the table's center where the upper steel and wood bars converged; the much larger "double plates, fastened together, one plate of copper the other of tin" (DD) that seemed to be either hanging from the frame or supported by the steel bar's scrollwork; and the smaller copies nestled at the corners where the framework met the table, described again as "double plates of copper and tin attached to the wires" (FF).<br />
<br />
The appearance or configuration of these copper plates are hard to realize in two dimensions. Some clues may come from the “celebrated medium from Nashville, Tennessee,” Mr. H.B. Champion, who described the table after a September 1855 visit to the room:<br />
<blockquote>
<i>“The two drums are fastened with copper wires upon wooden supporters at the top of the table. This table is intersected with copper wires wrapped with zinc. On the upper cross wire hang some <b>copper plates, cut in the form of doves</b>, to which are suspended a number of small bells, which the spirits sometimes ring.” </i>[MP: emphasis mine]<i><br /></i></blockquote>
This description may explain the strange shape of the "plates" in the <i>Plain Dealer</i> illustration, though there they were described as "leg-of-mutton tin and copper plates," so that inconsistency is puzzling, given that the latter description hints the plates took the form of <a href="http://chestofbooks.com/food/recipes/White-House/images/LEG-OF-MUTTON.jpg" target="_blank">simple oval, raised-rim dinner plates</a>, even if the illustration does not depict them as such, and appear more dove-like in shape. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEi64_6AMwaN9X_lBlhn3AlsL8d0r_SuAaPOmO8XhCOqZ8CYeErOruiGMwETriCfGmExM-ME4-G54xXAvXo358PU7_55ZtwJuD5b8M9-cGamF-3h05lCMVjbMq0A0VAGoAtwf72yf0gwI/s1600/Koons+Spiritual+Machine+Breakdown.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEi64_6AMwaN9X_lBlhn3AlsL8d0r_SuAaPOmO8XhCOqZ8CYeErOruiGMwETriCfGmExM-ME4-G54xXAvXo358PU7_55ZtwJuD5b8M9-cGamF-3h05lCMVjbMq0A0VAGoAtwf72yf0gwI/s1600/Koons+Spiritual+Machine+Breakdown.jpg" height="374" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The fully annotated illustration of Koons' "Spiritual Machine" from the more clear <i>Scientific American</i> illustration.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The complicated voltaic plates, copper wires, bells, glass knobs, and wooden framework where not all that littered an already busy table: "by the side of the machinery, lies a violin, an accordeon, a triangle, two drumsticks for the large and two for the small drum. There is also on the table a common sized dinner bell, an harmonica, a tambourine, and a tin trumpet about two feet in length."<br />
<br />
Of course, that last bit there's pretty darned important, too, but more on that later.<br />
<br />
There are a few other interesting tidbits to mention as well. Though Jonathan Koons was clearly the spiritual machine's creator, his neighbor and collaborator, John Tippie, had an identical table-machine housed in an identical room, just 3 or so miles away over a rough country road, and many early accounts of visitors show that both rooms were equally popular, with guests frequently swapping back and forth between the rather poor accommodations to experience similar manifestations, music, and messages (indeed, from the same spirits) in the Tippie Rooms that they'd experienced in Koons'. So there were <i>two</i> of these amazing machines. <br /><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn09IWX9AQSdCAsaKaTBIHcFX4bfhHr8pwy2ZIx3Ofsqc7bWRhmcDqfgHprwgv-Ve-DK9ywwn2eBzFUdbexZAwlsGl9MWws-YRhIh_y3_8zuGqXLcN2X88vG5wdI42Fr36GjWOybyz5cY/s1600/Jonathan_and_Nahum_Koons_1857CROP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn09IWX9AQSdCAsaKaTBIHcFX4bfhHr8pwy2ZIx3Ofsqc7bWRhmcDqfgHprwgv-Ve-DK9ywwn2eBzFUdbexZAwlsGl9MWws-YRhIh_y3_8zuGqXLcN2X88vG5wdI42Fr36GjWOybyz5cY/s1600/Jonathan_and_Nahum_Koons_1857CROP.jpg" height="344" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jonathan and Nahum, approximately 1857, as the spirit room came to an end and the family left Ohio. My efforts<br />have documented many family photographs and tintypes of Jonathan, Nahum, Abigail, and others, and will make<br />their more proper debut in my upcoming book on spirit communication devices.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I've always found it curious that Koons' device faded into the background. Even among the more sensational blogs and local news outlets that tend
to pick up stories of the Koons spirit room around Halloween, there is
little to no mention of the device. And that's likely because the
cursory research performed to produce such articles skim the surface
historical accounts, which themselves often either dismiss the machine
or fail to mention it outright, which seems unusual given its creator's
belief that the machine was <i>solely responsible for the phenomena</i>, and the room merely to <i>house it</i>.
The instruments are there, often in detailed lists. The heavenly music. The glowing hands.
The target pistols. The spirit writings. The trumpet messages of King. But so few
mention the huge, crazy-intricate machine at the head of the room
responsible for making it all happen. It <i>is</i> a curious observation. Why, for instance, does the disarmingly similar (and contemporaneous) New Motive Power table of John Murray Spear garner the focus that it does <i>on the device itself</i> while Koon's machine failed to get much recognition even in period reports? It may be that what was experienced behind that closed door was
ultimately more important to visitors than any concerns of the metaphysics
of how and why the spirits appeared. Even J. Everett's <i>Communications From Angels</i> mentions the machine
only by reprinting Koon's own account of its creation, and gives no
further mention of it in its 95 pages of detailed reports on the room's
phenomenon. Perhaps its owners simply accepted its role and didn't emphasize its importance to visitors. Maybe it's because the Koons machine actually <i>produced</i> the petitioned phenomena,
which in itself was more exciting than a decorated table, while Spear's machine wasn't <i>exactly</i> the New Messiah they'd promised, leaving only its intentions and its hollow, inanimate shell to discuss.<br />
<br />
But the efforts of the Koons family did produce entirely new categories of phenomenon, even if "spirit machines" didn't start popping up all over the country the way spirit rooms emulating Koons' did. Nahum's trumpet mediumship birthed an entirely new mode of mediumship, for instance. All over the country, the lights started going out in séance rooms, signaling the slow decline of the first-generation rappers and heralding the new vanguard of manifesting mediums in the vein of Florence Cook and Eusapia Palladino. New words will eventually spring up to describe the forces responsible: Teleplasm. <i>Ectoplasm</i>. Mumler and others will begin claiming they can capture materialized spirits on film by the early 1860s, and growing rich in the trade of spirit photography. It goes on and on, until mediums trying to satisfying the insatiable need for physical phenomenon first sparked by Koons are getting caught by the glare of smuggled flashlights or manhandled by skeptics prancing around the séance chamber in their muslin robes, signaling an increasing schism within the movement it will not well endure. <br />
<br />The waterways of Koons' influence snake their way into so many classes of spiritualistic phenomena--many of which are simply so commonplace and "trope-y" in our modern era that we take their origins for granted now--that it can be difficult to trace it all back to the headwaters. But the efforts of that family in podunk Ohio in the early 1850s produced both trickling streams and rising floodwaters, all of which I'm thrilled to navigate. <br />
<br />
So, there's our physical examination of the Koons device. In future installments, we'll more properly discuss the phenomena for which the spiritual machine was responsible, follow the breadcrumbs back to Nahum's nascent spirit trumpet mediumship, examine the Koons' lingering effects on the Modern American Spiritualism and their contributions to its decline, and, God-willing, even explore the site itself. Godspeed!MysteriousPlanchettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05255974881959480527noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3700996040411903203.post-39297985047186670602014-08-25T08:20:00.002-05:002014-08-25T10:28:14.552-05:00Brussels Artifacts: Christian Chelman's SurnateumIn 1996 I left my small hometown and moved to Austin to gain my degrees from the University of Texas, and began working at a small shop called <a href="https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2480/3546077992_d9eb43f8d8_z.jpg?zz=1" target="_blank">Lone Star Illusions</a>--previously a hologram store that had morphed into an eclectic gift shop. There was a magic counter there, and as the new guy, I was assigned to learn all manner of cheap red-plastic S.S. Adams tricks to perform to cajole customers into buying them. I embraced it, and before long was in charge of ordering better quality stuff, and getting better as a magician while performing to larger and larger crowds in the shop, where the small magic counter started to dominate sales. It was pretty neat. <br />
<br />
But I soon discovered and embraced another form of magic, what I've always called the red-headed stepchild of the magic community: bizarre magic. Heralded by godfathers like Tony Andruzzi, Eugene Burger, Charles Cameron, and Doc Shiels, bizarre magic focused less on 'watch me trick you' and more on 'let me tell you a story,' which were invariably darkly and almost always occult-themed, with surprise twists and <i>subtle</i> magic effects that just synthesized all the life influences I had had up to that point and focused them into an intense interest in further explorations of occult history.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Christian_Chelman(par_Y.Swolfs).jpg/220px-Christian_Chelman(par_Y.Swolfs).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Christian_Chelman(par_Y.Swolfs).jpg/220px-Christian_Chelman(par_Y.Swolfs).jpg" height="400" width="288" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Surnatéum's incomparable curator, Christian Chelman.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I quickly discovered Eugene Burger's <i>Spirit Theater</i>. Scott Davis' <i>Séance</i> magazine (both available from my friends at <a href="http://www.hocus-pocus.com/">www.hocus-pocus.com</a>). There were <a href="http://www.dragonskull.co.uk/m_tomich.htm" target="_blank">Mary Tomich's</a> amazing Thaumysta Magic Company effects. And Steve Bryant's great <a href="http://littleegyptmagic.com/magicz.htm" target="_blank">Little Egypt Gazette</a>. But the English translation of Christian Chelman's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Capricornian-Tales-C-Chelman-Christian/dp/B002YN9SWC" target="_blank">Capricornian Tales</a> was <u><i>it</i></u> for me, synthesizing the storytelling aspects of bizarre magic with <i>genuine antique artifacts</i> in a way that played to my own antiquarian aspirations and the types of resonance I wanted with audiences. It changed everything. Before too long, I was corresponding with Christian and other practitioners and deep into developing new routines with some of the antiques that were quickly piling up in my small flat. And I acquired my first old, worn Ouija and Selchow & Righter 'Scientific Planchette' in a then-new marketplace called eBay, for use in effects for my <a href="http://www.dragonskull.co.uk/b_hodge.htm" target="_blank">séance-inspired show of haunted antiques</a>. <br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dragonskull.co.uk/photos/small3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.dragonskull.co.uk/photos/small3.jpg" height="400" width="299" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Earliest origins, circa 1997.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It's been a fair number of years since I retired the haunted antiques show, stopped practicing my Elmsley Count and Ascanio Spread, and left performance behind me. But the love of old, resonating objects and the desire to accumulate them--a trait inherited from my father--took hold, and my collection--particularly of planchettes--grew over the years. Which is what brings us here, isn't it?<br />
<br />
So, all these years later, with the opportunity to again call upon my old friend after many fallow years, I took a train to Brussels at the close of the <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.blogspot.com/2014/07/utrecht-artifacts-part-1-beelmaterial.html" target="_blank">conference in Utrecht</a>, and made my way through the haunted streets and ethereal alleyways there to Mr. Chelman's immaculately curated <a href="http://www.surnateum.org/English/" target="_blank">Surnatéum: The Museum of Supernatural History</a>. <br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/6611/surn05web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/6611/surn05web.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">But one wing of the remarkable Surnatéum.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The draw was the unique set of artifacts in the museum's holdings. The profuse number of sacred and profane objects on display the Surnatéum would take many more blogs to cover than I am capable of producing, and many of the more important artifacts are on display in the digital galleries. No, what drew me to Christian after all of these years was something very special indeed.<br />
<br />
We've talked about the <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.blogspot.com/2014/01/dont-knock-it-til-youve-tried-it.html" target="_blank">earliest origins of table-tipping</a> here before. It's something that my colleague Marc Demarest and I have been <a href="http://ehbritten.blogspot.com/2014/08/june-1853-satanic-table-agency-in-leeds.html" target="_blank">mapping out</a> for some time now. The summer of 1853 was when the phenomenon hit France, and after a brief flare of popularity in the 'everybody's doing it' vein, the <i>tables tournantes</i> returned underground to a set of specialized enthusiasts. And we <i>think</i> from that body, this incredible item may have emerged.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJA4_fjXx31xtK86EM_erokqAmuKFbzlzffivG7caBBp4zmIoU82tyJLK2yj2yHg-pb8cW-_WP03JXmgXjfdP7OkcCGT4Sj2JL6Ch9w5Q0Fbt58K0UOv_2WEiWN3uW12vSZwxk9lBkoXs/s1600/CChelmanTableBlog1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJA4_fjXx31xtK86EM_erokqAmuKFbzlzffivG7caBBp4zmIoU82tyJLK2yj2yHg-pb8cW-_WP03JXmgXjfdP7OkcCGT4Sj2JL6Ch9w5Q0Fbt58K0UOv_2WEiWN3uW12vSZwxk9lBkoXs/s1600/CChelmanTableBlog1.jpg" height="400" width="321" /></a></div>
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Discovered first in a Parisian flea market then brought to Brussels by a dealer familiar with Mr. Chelman's esoteric interests, the table appears quite old, and custom-crafted as it stands--it is most certainly <i>not</i> a piece of ordinary furniture modified for spiritual use. It stands just under 32-inches in height and is carved of oak. The top rotates freely and comes off with a gentle tug. Christian notes that the central column is carved in the likeness of an Acanthus leaf, which symbolizes immortality via death and rebirth--an important Spiritist doctrine. While the top appears at first to be some leather overlay, it is actually an intricately-carved lace pattern on a solid piece of oak. The three small insets contain the words "Spiritisme," "Christ," and "Moïse," (representing a trinity of Spiritism, Christianity, and Judaism) and the 3 columns contain a letters and numbers correspondence system with a lowercase alphabet. The first column, for example, reads: "a-1, b-2, c-3, d-4, e-5, f-6, g-7, h-8, i-9." Curiously, the continuing alphabet on the other two columns restart the number sequence at "1," and run 1-9 for j-r and 1-8 for r-z. We'll get back to that momentarily.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt2y5wmAg6s9SqPKxl1JTBAfgMU_AAECqV-bPMi58OiZsgyA8aukej1Df-O1J_QaDrm5cZiMymDy8zptV8COoUron1DGHeOkygGpLPShox_oGWe1vTHqlKHZ31MBbRrUOAvU8XG7-SrFA/s1600/CChelmanTableBlog2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt2y5wmAg6s9SqPKxl1JTBAfgMU_AAECqV-bPMi58OiZsgyA8aukej1Df-O1J_QaDrm5cZiMymDy8zptV8COoUron1DGHeOkygGpLPShox_oGWe1vTHqlKHZ31MBbRrUOAvU8XG7-SrFA/s1600/CChelmanTableBlog2.jpg" height="425" width="640" /></a></div>
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The table may be a variation of what Kardec termed a "<i>Table Girardin</i>" in his 1861 <i>Le Livre des Mediums,</i> describing a type of alphabet-engraved turning table employed by the medium Madame Emile be Girardin: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="gtxt_body">
<i>"This instrument consists of an upper movable stand, of
from thirty to forty centimetres in diameter, turning freely and easily
on its axis, in the manner of a roulette. On the
surface, and at the circumference, are traced, as on a dial, letters,
figures, and the words yes and no. In the centre is a fixed needle. The medium resting his fingers on the edge of the
table, this turns and stops when the desired letter is under the needle.
Notice is taken of the letters indicated, and thus words and phrases
are rapidly formed. It must be remarked that the table does not slide
under the fingers, but the fingers, remaining on it, follow the
movements of the table."</i></div>
</blockquote>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWb9fGIwuftUqwuaYYYgfnmbr-ScmFnDOt_FBOfOdEXMrZDzOvVj7ipdky5eZjy7icSOZubVbcj4NqzBHMnXBQaw83YnmWMCAtmL8YGKVMbFGDDl2eLNd3kFL2ZsaWnf2dfi-k79jFvAs/s1600/CChelmanTableBlog9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWb9fGIwuftUqwuaYYYgfnmbr-ScmFnDOt_FBOfOdEXMrZDzOvVj7ipdky5eZjy7icSOZubVbcj4NqzBHMnXBQaw83YnmWMCAtmL8YGKVMbFGDDl2eLNd3kFL2ZsaWnf2dfi-k79jFvAs/s1600/CChelmanTableBlog9.jpg" height="400" width="336" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The medium Madame E. Le Roux at play at the <i>tables <br />tournantes</i>, 1909. Note ghostly face over shoulder. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Mr. Chelman's table has many--nay, most--of these characteristics: it turns freely on its axis and contains the alphabet, though not arranged as a dial. From previous investigations of pictures of the table, I had expected the top to contain a central housing for a missing needle or index, but after seeing it in person, it is obvious that isn't how it was designed to be used--the central inset that looks deep in photographs is just a shallow lathe depression. And in any case, the alphabet columns do not lend themselves to proper pointing by an index--the letters would need to be arranged dial-like, as on a true <i>Table Girardin</i>, rather than stacked as they are.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8cG-fuW5qygbITaN4KCaRt_aUDF0Icsu2ryt4kEaqpb2DZo9JHGaF9FJJMH7XwAkJZbBO0QspLDpX1Zm9Q-Gg8h6PwmuEjTl9mhwrohi85oy1hsvAba0d1pDH7EYEfXFRcJ-v5yEZZys/s1600/CChelmanTableBlog3.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8cG-fuW5qygbITaN4KCaRt_aUDF0Icsu2ryt4kEaqpb2DZo9JHGaF9FJJMH7XwAkJZbBO0QspLDpX1Zm9Q-Gg8h6PwmuEjTl9mhwrohi85oy1hsvAba0d1pDH7EYEfXFRcJ-v5yEZZys/s1600/CChelmanTableBlog3.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The alphabet system has long since lost any highlights that would make the letters readable. To capture them, we<br />
resorted to corn starch to fill them in for documentation.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So what to make of its use? Christian has long theorized that the table would be used in conjunction with alphabet-calling or spirit rapping, with the table turning autonomously to the proper column, and raps indicating by number which letter the spirits wished to choose. It's certainly the most reasonable possibility, if a touch convoluted, particularly compared to normal alphabet calling, as it hardly seems a more expedient method to arrive at communications. Mr. Demarest has some theories of his own that I'll try to persuade him to post, revolving mostly around the lack of a "0" binary and the resulting problem that the table<i> can't actually signal any numbers without spelling them out, since numbers equal letters on this table</i>. But I can't think of any other way it might be used.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhstWgBazll8sV5k80peTQM-j2OuFtyS1DN-2yh8oTFcsV1F19I_zlcKthRVqwzOeohTB0nZHJcIS435RA4QEyuVAvWx7la03Y9V73kM9TdHFatJhs5rbtpzg2C3zPs843rXRebGkG2lLA/s1600/CChelmanTableBlog5.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhstWgBazll8sV5k80peTQM-j2OuFtyS1DN-2yh8oTFcsV1F19I_zlcKthRVqwzOeohTB0nZHJcIS435RA4QEyuVAvWx7la03Y9V73kM9TdHFatJhs5rbtpzg2C3zPs843rXRebGkG2lLA/s1600/CChelmanTableBlog5.jpg" height="630" width="640" /></a></div>
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Christian--who is a well-versed Spiritualism historian, mind you--has an interesting theory: one born of the mind of a true magician. The spindle and central housing for the table's top has a recess--a significant gap between the spindle's resting point and the tabletop. Christian believes this may have once allowed a small <i>horistonotus uhlerii</i>--a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Click_beetle" target="_blank">click beetle</a>--to be secreted away there on its back to continuously <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYr5Ah5cmDw" target="_blank">produce the necessary raps</a>. Since the upside-down beetle wouldn't be able to right itself without enough distance to flip, chances are it would keep trying and keep clicking, which is what the ones that sneak into my house do on our wooden floor. It's an interesting theory, and while there's no evidence I have seen that such beetles were ever exposed as the cause of spirit rappings, <i>and </i>there's no way to control those raps to ensure a comprehensible communique, it <i>is</i> an intriguing suggestion.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtnhqdaddWfsmis6YwqJjkBSYoyN2R9mzfFp0E9rnCERAP-7njPJ0SGizQDRHhKS9y0uIsR0nbeU3VZM-YjbjnXGI2suv61hVgTbU_R8pDRkHrwPORD371WyF-L6SaA7n0RtGpUL5hkE8/s1600/CChelmanTableBlog4.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtnhqdaddWfsmis6YwqJjkBSYoyN2R9mzfFp0E9rnCERAP-7njPJ0SGizQDRHhKS9y0uIsR0nbeU3VZM-YjbjnXGI2suv61hVgTbU_R8pDRkHrwPORD371WyF-L6SaA7n0RtGpUL5hkE8/s1600/CChelmanTableBlog4.jpg" height="640" width="425" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Might this recess once have housed a click beetle to produce mysterious rappings?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Another deduction by the Surnatéum's curator is why I think Christian is singularly-qualified to be this artifact's caretaker. Christian spotted a series of deep, smooth grooves in the tabletop's underside. See the picture below. We know that fraudulent table-lifting was often accomplished through the use of wrist-strap contraptions or hooks used to leverage the table while the medium or magician kept their hands on the tabletop, fingers outstretched and seemingly free from undue influence. While such contraptions were typically reserved for larger and more imposing furniture that seems by its sheer bulk to be <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB0n4Ur97L8" target="_blank">too large to lift independently</a>, it could have presented an incredible climax to a séance if the evidence means the table was indeed used in this manner. But there's also the problem with the table's top popping off fairly easily, and hardly being heavy enough to impose the pressure to wear down such grooves, so it may be damage totally unrelated to that idea. There's just no way of knowing.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfdEU9NfyFHrqqhBJ1z8ggf1ECcqAwGGSiZORWOav52w8IjV8Kfa_tHzcz-vxIa34qAuUkF1CsYAnXeuq2INtnbWNM_skbIHLq6ZC91KU8R6K6H4wGNLdMRnvMk3IFQK5LgL8fbOBkkB0/s1600/ChelmanSlide3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfdEU9NfyFHrqqhBJ1z8ggf1ECcqAwGGSiZORWOav52w8IjV8Kfa_tHzcz-vxIa34qAuUkF1CsYAnXeuq2INtnbWNM_skbIHLq6ZC91KU8R6K6H4wGNLdMRnvMk3IFQK5LgL8fbOBkkB0/s1600/ChelmanSlide3.jpg" height="492" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The mysterious worn grooves on the table's underside. Lower right, Dunninger<br />
displays table-lifting apparatus that may be responsible.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The opportunity to have this table in my hands is something I have looked forward to for a very long time. It has so many fascinating aspects, and poses as many questions as it answers. It's true age is anyone's guess, as are its origins, though it is undoubtedly French. It <i>could</i> date as far back to the early 1850s, or sometime well past the turn of the century. To wager an educated guess, however, and given the vogues of spirit communication in France (and the downturn of rapping as a communication medium), the 1850s-1880s is the most likely span of dates for the table's construction. If it is what we believe it is, it is just a singularly incredible artifact, and, to me, the cornerstone of the Surnatéum's holdings. <i></i><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Surnatéum's fabled curator holds his prize.</td></tr>
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The tour of the Surnatéum's archives was far from over for me, however. The collection and library is incredibly vast, and covers multiple stories. Within, I beheld one of the most amazing and convincing fiji mermaids I have ever seen, and one of the world's very few <u>genuine</u> vampire-killing kits. In fact, Christian's collection of first-edition vampire lore may be one of the most extensive privately-held collections. There's an <i>entire</i> wing of native fetishes and fortune-telling devices from several continents. I could have persisted there, like a stubborn thorn, for days. But with only a few spare hours, I trained my eye on the remaining spirit-related devices.<br />
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The pictures will mostly speak for themselves. Christian owns a number of glass slides similar to my own, which portray spirit photography or scenes of ectoplasm production and séances in progress. The collection also contains an ingenious set of small slides complete with a portable viewer, with film slides featuring the trumpet and physical mediumship of Leonard Stott, among others. <br />
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There was an entire folder of automatic writing and seance reports, some Spiritualism-and-fortune-telling-based games from Europe, and a ghost-hunting kit from a Belgium reporter who indulged in psychical research. A complete early Fuld Ouija on a high shelf as well.<br />
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There were at least two specimens of rapping hands, the Thayer specimen complete with a Victorian mourning ring.<br />
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And, last but not least, and sure to thrill readers who are also talking board fans, there's an amazing hand-crafted "Oui-Ja" board out of France. It is a massive specimen that could easily be a tabletop, and in fact could be made from one. The planchette is a beauty, mounted with a carved skull. The piece has a matching end table that holds the planchette, which seems an intentional companion piece. Another flea market find, nothing else is known about the item, though Christian believes it is post-war.<br />
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I could continue with the Curator's array of first edition Spiritualist texts, the massive library of <i>esoterica magica</i>, the room full of African tribal fetishes and sap oracles, the strange biological specimens, and the massive assemblage of occult items, but I'll leave you free to explore to the mysterious and mist-shrouded halls of the <a href="http://www.surnateum.org/English/index.html" target="_blank">Surnatéum's digital incarnation</a>. <br />
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I want to thank Christian not only for his long friendship and correspondences which I have
not maintained as well as I should, but also his fellowship and
hospitality. I can honestly say that without both his work in magic and the occult, and his guidance through my long-gone days as a young bizarrist, my interests would not have been so severely cultivated, and I likely would not be here talking about esoteric topics to the wide audience I've achieved. A million times, "Thank You." <i>Una lingua numquam satis est!</i><br />
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I can think of no better coda to close this series recounting my European tour. We'll return to our regular smorgasbord of posts shortly. MysteriousPlanchettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05255974881959480527noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3700996040411903203.post-11637712318152602622014-08-11T08:26:00.001-05:002014-10-20T22:23:57.732-05:00Utrecht Artifacts, Part 2: Slates, Ghost Lamps & Miscellany <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Continuing where I left off from Utrecht in <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.blogspot.com/2014/07/utrecht-artifacts-part-1-beelmaterial.html" target="_blank">Part One</a>, we now arrive at the Harmonia/Beelmaterial Spiritische Museum's array of spirit slates, spirit paintings, and ghost call-bells. With the gap between blogs posts as I find time to write, more and more distance comes between now and the European tour itself. It was such a whirlwind I had little time to digest it while there, but now, looking back, it becomes more and more amazing with each recollection, from the acquaintances made to the artifacts I was able to handle and document. And I am thrilled to see that my peers were equally impressed by the experience, as well as with my lecture, "Preserving the Physical Artifacts of Psychical Research."</div>
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Leslie Price had some kind words for me in the latest issue (August 2014) of <a href="http://www.psychicnews.org.uk/" target="_blank">Psychic News</a>, judging my lecture "one of the most remarkable" of the conference. And he makes a further challenge to readers that I encourage them to take up: <i>"In listening to this [Brandon's lecture], I thought of the hundreds of Spiritualist churches which may have such equipment, perhaps lying forgotten in cupboards. By means of photography and the internet it’s now possible to get these appraised by Brandon Hodge, who is making an international survey of such devices.</i>" <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.blogspot.com/2014/06/london-artifacts-part-1-cps-spirit.html" target="_blank">Such opportunities</a> are one of the great joys of this self-appointed task, and I would love nothing more than for the difficult job to become all the easier, with such institutions soliciting my aid, rather than me having to seek them out. Do <a href="mailto:pegleg@prodigy.net" target="_blank">contact me</a> with questions about any and all items you may discover at your various churches and archives. <br />
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Tom Ruffles gives us a similar review of the conference with a <a href="http://tomruffles.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/preserving-historical-collections-of.html" target="_blank">daily breakdown on his blog</a>, and I encourage you to read it in its entirety. He discusses not only my representation of <a href="http://www.iapsop.com/" target="_blank">IAPSOP</a>, but also my preservation lecture, and gives a very nice summary of its main points. Similar overviews are given for the other lectures at the conference, all of which were incredibly informative. Do give it a read. </div>
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But what of the remaining Utrecht items? There are many, actually. Far too many to cover here, and far too many for me to even document in their entirety while <i>in</i> Utrecht. Fortunately, Wim and his compatriots have done an outstanding job of that on their own, and I was able to concentrate on those spirit communication items most of interest to me for my upcoming book. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ghost lamp featured in the May 1936 edition of <i>Spiritische Bladen.</i></td></tr>
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I think the single most astounding artifact in the collection is the surviving ghost lamp. The purpose of ghost lamps were two-fold. Such contraptions signaled the arrival or presence of spirits so that séances could begin, and it could serve in the same capacity as spirit raps or modern flashlight séances by blinking on and off to indicate positive and negative responses, or even respond to alphabet-calling.</div>
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Ghost lamps and call-bells gained some traction among Dutch Spiritualists during the 1930s. The Dutch periodical <i>Spiritische Bladen</i> published an article on their use and construction in its May, 1936 edition, which my lovely friend and amazing science photographer <a href="http://www.scienceart.nl/" target="_blank">Loes Modderman</a> was kind enough to translate for me. At its heart, the device is little more than a battery-operated bulb and a simple switch that takes the form of an easily-manipulated balance or scale, so that a slight tip one way or the other of the scale's balanced arms causes the switch to engage and the light to briefly flash. In this way, it was designed so that spirits with enough ectoplasmic fortitude could manipulate the device to signal their arrival, tipping the switch with a ghostly appendage so the bright light of the lamp flashed out into the darkened séance chamber to let the sitters know they were ready to communicate. That seems the only illustrated purpose of the device, but Wim informs me of other accounts where communication indeed took place on the alphabet-calling model.</div>
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The crudely-constructed device shown in the how-to illustrations in the <i>Spiritische Bladen</i> pales in comparison, however, to the artifact I was able to document. It is not the most astounding piece of carpentry, but it is obvious that great care and consideration was taken in its construction. The carved and trimmed wood box is dark-stained, and measures approximately 8-inches across and 6-inches high. The ghostlamp went through at least two evolutionary forms in its long life: first constructed to house a battery in its frame, it was modified at some point in its history and wired for electric power. </div>
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Two circular brass plates and a crooked connector serve as the balanced switch, which tips to either side with the slightest breeze to activate the small lamp. It is so sensitive, in fact, that it may go a long way in explaining why there's a loop for wall-installation on the back of the device--obviously constructed for tabletop use, it may be that the slightest nudge of the table tipped the scale and triggered the light, and its creators saw fit to hang it nearby on the wall to escape undue influence on its operation. </div>
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We discussed plugging it in and giving it a go, but were worried we might inadvertently spark an electrical fire, so we resisted the temptation and let the historical object lie. </div>
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Another closely-related object--though much more crude, and a much less old--is the collection's call-bell. Its use would be nearly identical to the ghostlamp, only providing a ring to signal the spirit's desire to communicate, rather than the flashing light. This device's origins or how the more modern piece came to be included in the collection are unknown, but there's some question if the device even works as one supposes--there is no switch wire or balance, and we guessed that plugging it in would either cause it to ring continuously, or to not work at all. It may be that it was never finished, is missing an integral component, or it was simply an early attempt by an inexperienced enthusiast. It's still a lovely inclusion to the collection! <br />
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The Harmonia archive holds several important spirit slates, many of them with preserved messages intact. There are more than pictured, but were difficult to photograph and document since some have a glossy film tacked over the slate in an effort to prevent the chalk spirit writing from smearing or disappearing. It seemed no matter which angle I attempted to photograph from, I either got a nice reflection of my own head and camera, the glare of lights, or a nice grid from the reflection of ceiling tiles. Such are the challenges of working in the field. I did manage a good shot of one such "direct schrift" slate, however, with a message dating from April 20, 1932:</div>
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Another slate contains preserved writing in a number of colors--this time in English:<br />
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Another pair of slates is noteworthy for their construction. Unlike most paired slates which are identical in all respects, and usually just regular school-slates used in the period, this pair seems specially-constructed to gather spirit writing. In the picture below, note how the bottom slate is deeper and recessed. The top slate would be bound, lid-like, above the other, and the resulting space left ample room for spirits to manipulate the chalk between the slates. The method isn't novel, and is one of the most common forms of obtaining spirit writing--but the design consideration is. Just a wonderful pair that, while lacking the preserved writing of its companions, shows the time, thought, and consideration that went into the item to foster the belief in what it could accomplish.<br />
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Lastly, for just a bit of slightly-off-topic fun, the collection includes a real screen used for Rhine ESP testing. In use, the screen would be stationed between the tester and the tested, and the results shown by sliding aside the wooden slat window. Wim informs me that he has pictures of this very screen in its historical use, so I promise to share those as they become available. Just a lovely artifact that was a lot of fun to examine.<br />
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I can't thank my hosts enough for this incredible opportunity to document this amazing collection, and I'm grateful for all the new friends and researchers that attended the conference and opened their minds to other sides of our respective disciplines. Thank you again to Wim, Loes, and all of our lovely hosts for their hospitality and assistance during my stay in Utrecht. Now, onward to Brussels to examine more incredibly important artifacts in the collection of one of the world's most enigmatic magicians!MysteriousPlanchettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05255974881959480527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3700996040411903203.post-48133653087939867102014-07-23T09:01:00.000-05:002014-10-20T22:34:59.457-05:00 Utrecht Artifacts, Part 1: The Beelmaterial Spiritische Museum's Boards, Trumpets & PlanchettesAfter an unfortunately short stay in London, my family and I headed to Amsterdam, narrowly making our flight in the process. There's nothing like rounding the corner dragging your bouncing luggage behind you after a crazy sprint through a ridiculously long terminal, only to see them closing the gates. And my wife did it with a 1-year old strapped to her chest. Whew!<br />
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The purpose for the trip was actually the impetus for the entire journey--an invitation to lecture at the <a href="http://hetjohanborgmanfonds.nl/" target="_blank">Preserving the Historical Collections of Parapsychology conference in Utrecht</a>. While the opportunity to share my knowledge and learn from other scholars of esotericism is enticing on its own, I was also drawn there to document the discoveries of Wim Kramer and his colleagues of the Beelmaterial Spiritische Museum collections, an amazing preserved archive of spirit communication devices and other artifacts dating collected in the 1930s by a Dutch Spiritualism museum. <br />
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Each morning, I took a lovely train ride through the countryside to Utrecht to attend the conference. While Amsterdam was a little nerve-wracking for me--it has an awful lot of cyclists zipping through its narrow streets--Utrecht was like a dream: this amazingly preserved medieval town dripping with charm. It was the perfect setting for our gathering.<br />
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My first order of business was to discuss the <a href="http://www.iapsop.com/archive/index.html" target="_blank">IAPSOP</a>'s mission, and how it relates to others doing similar work, such as Walter Meyer zu Erpen and John Reed and the WISE Wiki, Wim's HJBF Archive Projects, Shelley Sweeney and the Hamilton Collections, Eberhard Bauer and Andreas Fischer and their work with the IGPP, and so many others. The esteemed Leslie Price joined us from the College of Psychic Studies, and I got to meet the wonderful Loes Modderman! What an incredible assembly of occult scholars, archivists, and esotericists! I encourage you to <a href="http://hetjohanborgmanfonds.nl/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/PHCP-Brochure-2014_small.pdf" target="_blank">download the sizable conference manifest</a> and give it a good read--there are summaries of all of the lectures and profiles of the featured speakers that are well worth exploring.<br />
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I recall that as John, Walter, Shelley and I approached the conference gates for the first time, Wim greeted us and asked me if I needed to be in handcuffs--the items were already on display upstairs, you see, and he knew just how excited I was to get my hands--and lens--on these items I'd admired for so long, and traveled so far to see. Luckily, handcuffs weren't necessary, and Wim will be happy to know I didn't sneak in any secret fondling when he wasn't looking. Let's take a look at some of the artifacts from this amazing treasure trove!<br />
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The collection contains much more than I was able to document, so I focused primarily on devices, at the expense of numerous spirit paintings, automatic writings, and other artifacts. All told, I photographed a talking board, a spirit trumpet, 3 planchettes, 2 ghost lamps, several spirit slates with preserved writing, a couple of spirit paintings, and a few other assorted surprises, the first set of which we'll examine here.<br />
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Wim and his counterparts rediscovered these items in May, 2010, lodged in a box in the attic of the HARMONIA Dutch Society of Spiritualists, in a building that had been the Utrecht chapter since 1922. Before coming to rest in the attic there, the items had been collected and housed by a gentleman in Haarlem (a town near Amsterdam) in his "Spiritualistic Museum," from 1935-1941. He often hosted small exhibitions at HARMONIA's public meetings, and published several short articles in the Dutch Spirirualists' magazine <i>Spiritische Bladen</i> about the items, which is how we know of their provenance.<br />
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Little is known about the items and their histories beyond their tenure as museum artifacts. The spirit trumpet is a beauty: a sturdy single-piece horn that--as has become so common in my trumpet documentation--doesn't match the dimension of any other trumpet I've recorded. This isn't all that surprising: if someone wanted a spirit trumpet, particularly a non-telescoping one, they are simple affairs to construct, and in the period could be acquired from a local tinsmith fairly cheaply. But there was also an <i>industry</i>, so it is always difficult to differentiate between commercially-manufactured and locally-produced items. And I believe the latter instance is the case here. The trumpet has four rings of tape with thick luminous paint still attached. Just a beautiful and classic specimen. <br />
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The collection contains a couple of talking boards, though one is a later-model Parker Bros added more recently. The other is quite an interesting specimen, however, and one of Dutch origin. At first glance at the above picture, it may seem commercially-produced: its letters arch nicely and uniformly and have a great font, for example. But up close, it's obvious that this is a handmade piece or one produced on a very limited basis locally. The board's bright yellow and glossy black paint is thickly slathered on all dimensions and has a strange texture to it, almost like it dried with a Saran Wrap or gauze-like texture on it. Indeed, it almost still looks wet or <i>tacky</i> to the touch. It is constructed of hardboard. There is no planchette with the board, though it may be that the gold planchette among the trip below was meant for it, though they aren't much of a match. Of course, it has Dutch phrasing: "Ophouden" for "Stop/Cease/Finished" and "Goedenavond" for "Good Evening." And, of course, "Nee" and "Ja," which lends itself rather nicely for the board's "Neeja" nickname.<br />
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The trio of planchettes is really what brought the collection to my attention, and what incredibly beautiful specimens they are. All three are handmade, and I was reminded of the handmade CPS planchettes I had just visited in London. I'll examine the pointing planchette first, because it <i>may</i> be a companion to the handmade talking board, though I don't think this is the case. It doesn't match the board in any way, and its construction seems more in line with its older companions, shown below. It is made of plywood with two substantial supports that hold smooth pegged legs of some plastic or bakelight material, and a neat little metal arrow as an index. The gold paint looks distinctly of the spray-paint variety, and is a subtle metallic gold. Whether this plank once had a companion board or was used in more of a tabletop alphabet card capacity is unknown, but it really is a great piece.<br />
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My favorite item in the collection is this handmade automatic writing planchette. Its shape is so unusual and distinct, and unlike anything I had seen previously. The hardware is not the most effective. In a topic I've discussed before, it seems a lot of woodshop crafters and even commercial entities--including the Psychic Science Institute discovered in our fresh London foray--resorted to ball-bearing components for wheels that were not made to be smoothly-rolling castors. Wheeled pantographs were obsolete technology by this time, so the petite castors so common to the first generation of planchettes weren't commonly available. So, other hardware had to be used, and it is my belief that these components are repurposed door and cabinet hardware meant to keep closed doors closed, because there is an internal tension--likely a spring--that pushes the ball-bearing up against its housing and keeps it from freely rolling. I have similar hardware in my own home from the 1940s. This tension can be felt when pushing down on the ball-bearing and feeling the springiness beneath. Now, given that it is still a smooth ball-bearing, it likely still glides smoothly over a wooden tabletop or paper, but not quite as smoothly as one might suppose, because the tension keeps the ball from actually <i>turning</i>. There's also a simple little turn-screw pencil aperture that's very effective, and still holding its pencil after all these decades! By far my favorite of the bunch, and one of my favorite planchettes of all time.<br />
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The pattern of homemade construction and hardware continues in a <i>third</i> planchette, this one less elegant and fantastical in shape, but no less efficient. Blocky and triangular, this automatic writer seems made from the same stock of wood as its counterpart. Its ball-bearing castors are bulkier and lack the spring-tension of the type likely used for doors or cabinets, and are more likely small furniture castors similar to the "Roll-A-Weight" brand that were sold here in the States in small four-packs. Without that tension, the ball-bearings would have served their purpose much better, and this would have been the best-working specimen of the bunch. The pencil aperture is just a simple screw and a small metal retainer embedded in the wood, and the pencil use would have to have been small. Beyond its museum origins, no account of its use of messages received through the item have survived, which would have been absolutely incredible, but we're lucky to even have it!<br />
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We're luckier to have some surviving script related to other artifacts in the Beelmaterial Spiritische Museum collection, but we'll need to wait for our next installment in Utrecht Artifacts, Part 2: The Beelmaterial Spiritische Museum's Slates, Ghost Lamps, & Miscellany. Stay tuned, folks, for the continuation of our review of this incredible cache of artifacts! </div>
MysteriousPlanchettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05255974881959480527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3700996040411903203.post-65586779027179441192014-07-14T08:01:00.002-05:002014-10-20T22:42:58.264-05:00London Artifacts, Part 3: The CPS Talking Boards<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The CPS' central stairwell, stretching<br />
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The trip to the College of Psychic Studies (the review of which started in <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.blogspot.com/2014/06/london-artifacts-part-1-cps-spirit.html" target="_blank">Part One</a> of this series) was a whirlwind, mostly due to the mad rush of being in London a day late and having to trek immediately there from Heathrow. But through the distant lens of hindsight, I can see just how incredible those few short hours were. It wasn't all about the devices, mind you. There's a certain atmosphere that comes from being in hallowed halls once wandered by Sir Conan Doyle, and that hosted seances by Eileen Garrett and a veritable who's-who of 19th-and-20th-century mediums. I could spend another several blog posts just examining the artwork of the CPS, from their nearly-life-sized portrait of D.D. Home, their bust of one of my favorite mediums, J. J. Vango, and numerous frames of spirit-influenced art and portraits of important mediums who have visited or held residence in the college over its many years. And then there's the Stainton Moses archives themselves, boxes stacked upon one another just waiting to be explored further, containing all manner of glass slides of seances and spirit phenomena, spirit photographs, automatic writing, clairvoyant tools...the list just goes on and on. And, of course, there's the library itself and the undocumented wonders its texts contain, which IAPSOP is in the process of assisting in order to digitize as much of these rare tomes as possible. Maybe next trip I'll have the chance to examine these other discoveries. more closely. For now, let's continue where we left off from Parts One and Two, and examine the talking boards in the collection of the College of Psychic Studies.<br />
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As with the Psychic Studies Institute planchette we investigated in <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.blogspot.com/2014/07/london-artifacts-part-2-cps-planchettes.html" target="_blank">Part 2</a>, two of the talking boards in the CPS holdings were not only unknown to us, but largely <i>unknowable</i> due to utter lack of markings or identification of any sort--they didn't even have and sort of name or variant of "Ouija" that we usually use as a starting point for studying boards. Instead, we had wood of a decently-fine grade, some degree of commercial craftsmanship, and letters and numbers. And that was it. <br />
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I did make a few observations, the most important of which was the applique of the letters and numbers: they are not printed or screened, and they aren't stickers. They are <i>decals</i>, of that sort familiar to airplane modelists that must be moistened, then carefully applied, often with tweezers--they are known as "waterslide" decals. They have a distinctive film around their perimeter, and carefully scrutinized in the right light, it was obvious each letter had a distinct film halo that gave them away. And it turns out, 2 of the 3 boards present--both of the wooden boards--had this sort of application. Could they be related?<br />
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The second wood board had the type of decal application, though with some differences, particularly with the size of the "Yes" and "No" and the numbers, as well as the alphabet's font. The board was also more square, and finely framed. But, again, no markings or label. But with the same type of decals, similar plywood, and identical (and telling) placement of letters (three rows, A-I, J-T, U-Z), there was a high probability the boards were related.<br />
<br />
As with <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.blogspot.com/2014/07/london-artifacts-part-2-cps-planchettes.html" target="_blank">the discovery of the PSI planchette's identity</a>, the answer was only a few hours off. When a properly-labeled PSI planchette popped up on eBay that evening, complete with the "BCM/PSI-LON" address, it gave us a keyword to research. And that turned up an old auction listing with a talking board identical to the first wooden CPS specimen, <i>complete in its original box</i>. The box identified a proper non-BCM address of 18 Worton Way, and from there, and with a little education from our mate and international-man-of-mystery Glenn Rinker, we were able to properly assign the board as a creation of the Psychic Science Institute, and date it to the late 1940s-late 1950s through ads placed in <i>Prediction</i> magazine. And in the confirmation of one, it is highly likely that the second, framed version is also a product of PSI, given the near identical means of construction and unique nature of the decals and overall design. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFfPT6WLF9WIz8Rb-jy-5p0PveXqIEB5z-wgR5Dzp1Ycb8S0m8-8uRpk-SN032ndyNnsLOTCT0RkH79e-fgXSJj3YZ1IERvOJjEQnWr0PaXLp-O8_wkEe3pA9C_9V4AgIKzYOzsYC3KSc/s1600/1949+Prediction+Magazine+Planchette+Ouija+Ad+18WW_1949_DEC.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFfPT6WLF9WIz8Rb-jy-5p0PveXqIEB5z-wgR5Dzp1Ycb8S0m8-8uRpk-SN032ndyNnsLOTCT0RkH79e-fgXSJj3YZ1IERvOJjEQnWr0PaXLp-O8_wkEe3pA9C_9V4AgIKzYOzsYC3KSc/s1600/1949+Prediction+Magazine+Planchette+Ouija+Ad+18WW_1949_DEC.JPG" height="180" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Why not? A 1949 <i>Prediction</i> magazine ad for Psychic Science Institute's <br />
planchettes, Ouija, and other "psychic appliances." </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The final board would not reveal its secrets so easily. Its manufacture is uncommon, as it is constructed from some laminate--what is most likely cut Formica, or possibly <a href="http://retrorenovation.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/kitchen-countertop-retro-cusheen045.jpg" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Cusheen</a>. The construction is identical to <a href="http://www.mmfind.com/MMFIndFiles/ProductImages/786_550_2830221_EngravedWallSigOL.jpg" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">classic office door plaques and hallway signs</a>, with a thin sheet of Formica set on a chipboard type material.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9Dec5aEW8EJm0Sj1vUH-Qfq1Bu-05hKUkxCwDQj76sDJ3-ZdcRhxweuZF81ale5fhU2alJbeFR3-qEQmNuq-FBu6E3n0kjOgfcwYge7hwndU_VHyWp4K_xzT38cYRt_4BapRF-60_7fw/s1600/CPS3.5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9Dec5aEW8EJm0Sj1vUH-Qfq1Bu-05hKUkxCwDQj76sDJ3-ZdcRhxweuZF81ale5fhU2alJbeFR3-qEQmNuq-FBu6E3n0kjOgfcwYge7hwndU_VHyWp4K_xzT38cYRt_4BapRF-60_7fw/s1600/CPS3.5.jpg" height="481" width="640" /></a></div>
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Now, if my arm was twisted toward wagering a guess, it would be that this is also a Psychic Science Institute board, and what we're seeing is a decade-long evolution in the manufacture of that company's products. Which way that evolution goes I wouldn't hazard a confirmation, but it's likely they began with the wood-and-waterslide-decal boards, then moved toward engraved Formica as that technology became available <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formica_%28plastic%29" target="_blank">after entering the European market after World War II.</a> The 3-row arrangement is the same as the other boards (A-I, J-T, U-Z) as is the placement and general arrangement of the alphabet, numbers, and Yes/No. There's also one additional piece of evidence: the planchette of this board is identical in <i>construction</i>--but not <i>shape</i>--to the planchette included in the old PSI eBay board auction. That is to say, it's a thin, single-ply sheet of wood paneling with some felt pads glued underneath. So there's that. And this planchette is an exact match to yet another PSI specimen--this one wooden like the first two--from the silver screen (see below). With all of the evidence, as well as PSI's proximity to CPS, my money's on this board also being a Psychic Science Institute specimen.<br />
<br />
A notable appearance of the PSI talking board, again brought to our attention by our ever-affable colleague Glenn Rinker, is 1972's <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LewJ-WObwto" target="_blank">Tales from the Crypt</a>, </i>in that fantastic talking board and planchette-writing scene with Peter Cushing (at the 36:00 mark). Besides getting to see a Selchow & Righter Scientific Planchette in use, we're given another likely PSI variant here, most closely resembling the first specimen we looked at above, though with red "Yes/No" letters, and with a planchette that matches our Formica variant exactly. With all the similarities, the evidence seems more and more compelling that these are all fruits from the same tree...<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYA1UZLn3XETHO_wji3Q-fLIbEbxag7gjgoOzRMVmKy_K0mn2-X_4hw0gW7bKNWUp_bQ636NK9w_HDQ_PrZyvnbfvd4qDC5A64tts8LGRAHcsEj3KE5u27Hr-Qhd_Ddzu2t6agaQEH65c/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-07-07+at+8.52.21+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYA1UZLn3XETHO_wji3Q-fLIbEbxag7gjgoOzRMVmKy_K0mn2-X_4hw0gW7bKNWUp_bQ636NK9w_HDQ_PrZyvnbfvd4qDC5A64tts8LGRAHcsEj3KE5u27Hr-Qhd_Ddzu2t6agaQEH65c/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-07-07+at+8.52.21+PM.png" height="344" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peter Cushing seeks guidance on a PSI talking board before turning, naturally, to his reliable writing planchette for<br />
the real goods--a warning of D-A-N-G-E-R!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Before concluding my overview of the CPS collections, I want to post a triptych of some of the other marvels of the visit, which includes hints of some of the less-explored wonders that I'll have to make sure I have more time for next trip, including the massive and beautiful oil painting of D.D. Home, the magnificent bust of the medium J.J. Vango, and William Stainton Moses' personal scrying crystal, with his own archives curving in the view behind it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu1KFVacguB5ul4vCbyu0RGhNRYdGDhTi7TrnibytVta5_9IKnZW3L8x5V5qwdVJ929m9WEWl69hyphenhyphenBxrOykZS8JJOW3Nt4ERvZM11IuHboohzua1X-VJZjcxAHHliY6BKhSVGctaWbNtI/s1600/CPS4.6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu1KFVacguB5ul4vCbyu0RGhNRYdGDhTi7TrnibytVta5_9IKnZW3L8x5V5qwdVJ929m9WEWl69hyphenhyphenBxrOykZS8JJOW3Nt4ERvZM11IuHboohzua1X-VJZjcxAHHliY6BKhSVGctaWbNtI/s1600/CPS4.6.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></div>
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A fitting end to this tribute to my visit to the CPS, and I would like to again thank the college for their wonderful hospitality, the generosity of their principal Gill Matini, and, of course, my friend Leslie Price, for taking the time to escort me through it all. I hope my research has been able to shed a little light on the items in their holdings, and tell them a little bit they didn't know before. Next up on our tour is the PHCP conference in Utrecht, where I visited to not only lecture on behalf of IAPSOP and my own device research, but similarly catalog a host of incredible items from the Beelmaterial Spiritische Museum. Stay tuned! <br />
<br />MysteriousPlanchettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05255974881959480527noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3700996040411903203.post-9293089940172386252014-07-07T08:46:00.000-05:002014-10-20T22:22:28.223-05:00London Artifacts, Part 2: The CPS PlanchettesContinuing where we left off in <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.blogspot.com/2014/06/london-artifacts-part-1-cps-spirit.html" target="_blank">Part 1</a> of my visit to the College of Psychic Studies in London, I want to examine the planchettes in the college's holdings before moving on to their talking boards in Part 3. So let's get to it, shall we?<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDCWcaU9gVBrWBi9OpM1sYjKuxYDl_OcWhf1mfRkG0VBlvRa6gLy4XGBQ_UPDdWM_nWc1yR7js6VQ3TBtEjnbG0d1rlA3tPlV4Lk3ox4pQPCBH-okDSV3wPSijydxW1RPbaHWj1fOeahk/s1600/CPSFront.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDCWcaU9gVBrWBi9OpM1sYjKuxYDl_OcWhf1mfRkG0VBlvRa6gLy4XGBQ_UPDdWM_nWc1yR7js6VQ3TBtEjnbG0d1rlA3tPlV4Lk3ox4pQPCBH-okDSV3wPSijydxW1RPbaHWj1fOeahk/s1600/CPSFront.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The CPS Library in a photo from <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/psychicstudies/pins/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Pinterest</a>. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The CPS owns 3 talking boards and 4 writing planchettes. Like the trumpets, we are dealing with devices where identification is very difficult, and provenance has unfortunately been lost--the devices have lingered in the holding in various states of display and storage for as long as anyone can remember, which for my host Leslie Price dates back as far as 1968.<br />
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The rumor of planchettes in the collection is what first drew me to it. Unlike the trumpets, I had not been provided any sneak-peeks online, so I really had no idea what to expect. The first finding nearly knocked me over in surprise when Leslie retrieved it from storage:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLdHp7b0glD5kOBno_SDu5UAXb9-ckAWMBxB9VMh8-3wYqiXD7M0D1eGAZ1cNaRVTFl1hJkQazjuXYLIcIyu33mdeU4X6Uh2EL_9X7jtXSeH-RaOp29RPrFwi9N1yRg0ertF11wbLw2Fs/s1600/IG23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLdHp7b0glD5kOBno_SDu5UAXb9-ckAWMBxB9VMh8-3wYqiXD7M0D1eGAZ1cNaRVTFl1hJkQazjuXYLIcIyu33mdeU4X6Uh2EL_9X7jtXSeH-RaOp29RPrFwi9N1yRg0ertF11wbLw2Fs/s1600/IG23.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The "bearskin rug" planchette, date unknown.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I've dubbed this specimen the "bearskin rug" planchette. It has a companion, which we'll get to in a minute, but it is a fantastically-constructed homemade planchette with some age to it. While the era is unknown, it does have brass hardware and ivory wheels, the latter of which we rarely see after the turn of the century. The shape is unlike anything I'd ever seen before, and facilitates the unusual 4-wheel construction. One wheel is unfortunately long-missing, and I'd love the opportunity at restoration to get this old bird back in operational order. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcuxZXvAPYdcUr9Xakbb3VMgGm0MZ0VPCAjpCI8fclRFgi8xeCphXc9Ajb7UI4sP3r7XqaIgsptkWqcJFdgDcHxkQG_ycOk88KMQafQWNC4t0DLM2nC2K6Je_EVQ23JBHgQh2BEqqyFyw/s1600/CPSPost2.3.jpg" height="266" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Note strange aperture and horizontal orientation.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The most unusual aspect of the planchette isn't its shape, however--it's the pencil aperture. There is an unusual central retaining joist on the plank, which is aligned with what should be an aperture. But it's built to hold a round rod <i>horizontally</i>, and inserting a pencil would position the lead facing <i>forward</i>, rather than <i>down</i>, which isn't going to produce any automatic writing results unless your paper is mounted upright, and even then, you can't produce script without any movement on both as <i>x</i> <u>and</u> y axises. And beyond that, it would only fit a very small, but necessarily long, pencil. And that front joist has a small retention spring within, so it would hold something relatively securely, but something else is going on here...<br />
<br />
Let's explore this perplexing construction with an examination of the planchette's sister board:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7kfwVwGA-y9JZ_DdRtXVAgJYTVqoqnSQdAvgLl8x38EOi71VrRMgS9lrX9YH_kYAAZYn3qhxitWXAM4iDEeC8w-NB8xZ5sKBv_x_NVviX02uBXoxSeCtzdR22izpTMntuMxYqXksXT3s/s1600/IG22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7kfwVwGA-y9JZ_DdRtXVAgJYTVqoqnSQdAvgLl8x38EOi71VrRMgS9lrX9YH_kYAAZYn3qhxitWXAM4iDEeC8w-NB8xZ5sKBv_x_NVviX02uBXoxSeCtzdR22izpTMntuMxYqXksXT3s/s1600/IG22.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The heart-shaped companion planchette--note relocated wheel wells.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The companion piece is more traditionally heart-shaped, but with the same 4-wheel construction. And, sadly, it also has a couple of missing ivory wheels. The wheels were actually moved and re-attached at some point in the plank's history, either to give them fresh support from old nail-holes or perhaps to correct some balance issues. Like its sister, it has an unusual central joist of sorts that lines up with the front aperture. But this one's different, in that whatever rod it once held would have to be <i>flat</i>--rather like a small door-bolt, which very well may be the source of the hardware. There's no pencil--not even a flat construction pencil--that's going to fit in that slim opening, and there's the same issue of orientation.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2OHGvEnRVhxfj63JjfGd1oEuX5BoCPZeb98PGmfYn2Q710kktDnoPjqEHJ6ia0iq_WcwX9yILcdsH1uwjT2sIH71XbQoa8juph-ioOUqzJHT6sNj-PLBVHj0s4Zm05qm_mfXpEpwW37k/s1600/CPSPost2.5.jpg" height="266" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Castor and aperture detail.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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But there's other evidence of what was going on here with both planchettes. The heart-shaped piece has some distinctive fading that indicates there was once something <i>there</i>--a bar that once ran nearly the entire equatorial length of the board. I think, in theory, that there was a flat brass attachment that would be held in place between the central guide and the front retainer, and would jut forth from the front of the planchette, and subsequently hold a vertical pencil <i>that way</i>--assuming, of course, that it's a pencil it once held. If that's indeed the case, it really harkens back to planchette's primordial form: the <i>corbeille a béc </i>(<i>"beaked basket"</i>), or <i>ngọc cơ</i>, still in use among Cambodian Spiritists, and which has a jutting writing implement displaced somewhat from the main body of the apparatus: <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbJbNdlTyO8g12EnzpOFxMJmVKcsv16TmILg3EpF335b_7dUHc_VlFpByjx3EAFckuWvi4GvhnnDBxCkP60cLzEtlLAZF5akjYw-iuVXQOR2bB49CghrpLkLqx_qegn6LHEdqTyeAHBJU/s1600/corbeilleabec.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbJbNdlTyO8g12EnzpOFxMJmVKcsv16TmILg3EpF335b_7dUHc_VlFpByjx3EAFckuWvi4GvhnnDBxCkP60cLzEtlLAZF5akjYw-iuVXQOR2bB49CghrpLkLqx_qegn6LHEdqTyeAHBJU/s1600/corbeilleabec.jpg" height="230" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Cambodian <i>ngọc cơ </i>basket planchette. Note extended writing implement.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It's really the only way to explain what's happening here--the retainer and aperture isn't built for a pencil, or chalk, or anything sort of writing instrument I can identify--it's just evidence of a missing part, that <i>that</i> part is what held the writing implement. Of course, I'm open to other interpretations here.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfWY5LdxP0vu7QVdQny8RmmYtoZMUIsVE58TyTKKg9azcH9UyJ9kf6AXsJrFmrHe53Yah9KG79LpPRuIi-GzBBzzzKYlc9Cv7vo6kuop7l-bT9Q7OQNTGRupQoJvjtJapacNYgd7Qw3Pg/s1600/CPSPost2.1.jpg" height="320" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Possible types of hardware used in the plank's construction. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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There's a last-minute discovery that hit us just before this blog goes to press, fortuitously made when ever-reliable friend and collaborator <a href="http://www.robertmurch.com/" target="_blank">Bob Murch</a> was offered an illustration from a 1907 issue of the French weekly, <i>Le Monde Illustré</i>. The illustration shows a "un medium typtologue" (who may be named in the still-waiting-for-the-issue-to-arrive-so-we-can-translate-it text) at work on an alphabet table, with a curiously-shaped planchette. The CPS "bearskin rug" planchette is not only the first 4-wheeled planchette I've ever encountered, but also the only one with that unique shape--the planchette pictured in this illustration is the <i>second</i>. And the drawing's planchette sure seems to be <i>busy</i> around the front end with the indicator jutting from its main board, and while I note it is depicted with <i>pegs</i>, not <i>wheels</i>, at the very least we have a depiction of a planchette very similar to the CPS specimen in actual use, in Paris, in 1907. The description to the picture leads to the next page of the scan, which we don't yet have--stay tuned for more analysis of this incredible find!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVUBObXJ7b42yV7DvhykrC2aNpT4p02jRY3RXM9FMgXheaVjKsA15iM3zxOt68EVIHXpnJgniCPLkagTXThmnrmbfWPHRt6RcJOHKCIzrzE6O9UNLA2e3jLiBvn2xsWOlYbuuXeNs6bR0/s1600/1907+French+Alphabet+TableDetail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVUBObXJ7b42yV7DvhykrC2aNpT4p02jRY3RXM9FMgXheaVjKsA15iM3zxOt68EVIHXpnJgniCPLkagTXThmnrmbfWPHRt6RcJOHKCIzrzE6O9UNLA2e3jLiBvn2xsWOlYbuuXeNs6bR0/s1600/1907+French+Alphabet+TableDetail.jpg" height="640" width="468" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The "bearskin rug" depicted? An illustration from <i>Le Monde Illustré, </i>1907. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Together, these two planchettes are a wonderful pair, even if incomplete, and the care and craftsmanship put into their construction is obvious. One hopes that they saw heavy use in the CPS's hallowed halls, and I hold out hope that Leslie will run across some strange brass hardware somewhere in the archives that completes the devices and solves the mystery of their intended use and construction.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFHji6GaNyolH8o8-eH3HeF4MljN8DHe21FUD4tVxdHODbIkkzlJ-fqcCsoQnhyphenhyphenrivucRAU6fWQrEyaXb0O3Z3B09y4d3moZCt3gMQKfvbtd-tQQwkamK-TS7HdyeKUJda4FaPSOqLbPc/s1600/IG21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFHji6GaNyolH8o8-eH3HeF4MljN8DHe21FUD4tVxdHODbIkkzlJ-fqcCsoQnhyphenhyphenrivucRAU6fWQrEyaXb0O3Z3B09y4d3moZCt3gMQKfvbtd-tQQwkamK-TS7HdyeKUJda4FaPSOqLbPc/s1600/IG21.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The paddle planchette--a close approximation of Ouija's 1890s'-era pointer.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Another planchette was cause for a start when Leslie introduced me to it--a very traditionally paddle-shaped plank stained in a rick, dark patina. It is a lovely specimen, and most likely another handmade item. It immediately reminded me not only of the classic Kennard planchette of Ouija's Bond-patent era, but also more specifically of the Kennard-style index of Robert Murch's mysterious "London Ouija," which as far as we've been able to determine is a product of Elijah Bond's failed attempt to introduce the Ouija to the UK market. Despite the similarities, this device is singular, and while it only has smooth brass tacks as terminals on its tapering rear legs to act as any sort of castors, and no aperture hardware to speak of, it is a lovely piece that also seems to carry some age with it. As with much of the CPS holdings, here's hoping some clue to its identity shows up in their archives to help us tell this piece's story. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnBq9Jhoj6-2EzDMU9vJGAhB7vQibxo6vqBUpMak6nh1BNEg9yfMMmxmHZh-bhbVOgAFmDiDqKWv2dY11tRvxjnHX5gS-oyK7HtXHfc3b6lSvVyIv_CusomSaGx3Q6mshy49fGNjSucEU/s1600/IG24.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnBq9Jhoj6-2EzDMU9vJGAhB7vQibxo6vqBUpMak6nh1BNEg9yfMMmxmHZh-bhbVOgAFmDiDqKWv2dY11tRvxjnHX5gS-oyK7HtXHfc3b6lSvVyIv_CusomSaGx3Q6mshy49fGNjSucEU/s1600/IG24.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A 1940s-50s-era PSI planchette. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
We know more about the CPS's fourth and final planchette. When I felt its slim board through the tissue paper in which it was wrapped, I immediately guessed it was a Two Worlds planchette. They were popular devices, I'd already seen a couple of Two Worlds trumpets, and its board was super-thin as we see in their Weyers Brothers-produced boards. But rather than a 30s-era plank, I unwrapped something dating a little later. It's a lovely little shield-shaped plank, with ball-bearing castors that are unfortunately stiff, likely due to the fact that the hardware isn't made to roll so much as provide tension to hold cabinet doors shut or some such--I've seen similar castors on planchette still for sale to this day, and eventually I'll figure out the true purpose of those castors, but that's a good guess.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghREiDSQ5_YjVPriydvzphPxtXdR4IfsEDf3dxsYknusLtfWZzkFxh6v_0FLfmqQYg2WViqyEGVjVEjdUDmwe6TLIh5P2DCshti1NxrOhhX-ceGbhNtFQjNh9ic5yZakFwHC2LNvae1BI/s1600/CPSPost2.2.jpg" height="425" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The code cracked! Within a few short hours, a similar planchette appeared on an online auction site with a less-<br />
obscured label (inset), giving us the vital legibility we needed to discover the planchette's true origins!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
It's
funny how quickly a frustrating mystery was solved in this case. It
never happens this fast, folks! As you can see from the pictures, the
planchette carried a stamp, but the ink was worn and very obscure--a
frustrating discovery to know that all the information you need to ID
the item was <i>right there</i>, and its faded remains are only stay
behind to taunt you. So, with the stamp and quality of construction, it
was obvious we had a commercially-manufactured item--we just didn't know
who, when, or where. But I didn't have long to wait before a vital clue
showed up--this time in the form of a near-identical specimen on eBay
showing up <i>later that evening</i>, <i>from the attic of a Spiritualist church not far away</i>,
with a more intact label. While the "C" and the "O" were a little tough
to decipher, a few googled variations actually revealed another old
eBay auction for a talking board by the same company that clarified
everything: the label reads "Copyright BCM/PSI-LON. London. W.C.1
Design" and the box had an "18 Worton Way" return address. My pal and frequent guest commenter Glenn Rinker educated me on what I
was looking at with these abbreviations, and even forwarded me a matching
advertisement, to boot:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHqKLYvEPmqF2gDasqXgeOdO84tfs9qCbrueC6NdhdBbS0RKziyLloIMt4HRUfE8qfE-ok8n1v-6m23aaDYTAy_sPjmpxuznUpU6uSwOLv7JmBJ5pTk8ubgJF12sW-qTzdhehu9dPHqsk/s1600/PSI-LON+Ad+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHqKLYvEPmqF2gDasqXgeOdO84tfs9qCbrueC6NdhdBbS0RKziyLloIMt4HRUfE8qfE-ok8n1v-6m23aaDYTAy_sPjmpxuznUpU6uSwOLv7JmBJ5pTk8ubgJF12sW-qTzdhehu9dPHqsk/s1600/PSI-LON+Ad+2.jpg" height="185" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
According to Glenn, BCM stands for "British Commercial Monomarks," and is an anonymous postal service <a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/89642105" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">similar to a PO Box for businesses</a>, except that they receive your mail, then forward it to your proper address--an obviously attractive way for psychics and mediums to conceal their proper addresses. And "Psi-Lon" is the company's address abbreviation for BCM (in short, their PO Box designation) that stands for "<u><b>P</b></u>sychic <b><u>S</u></b>cience <u><b>I</b></u>nstitute--<u><b>LON</b></u>don." They advertised planchettes and other devices in the 1940s-1950s, and we'll examine a
couple of their talking boards in Part 3 of our London examinations.
It is unknown what connections there may be between that group and the CPS. Looks like this company also produced a spirit trumpet, which also may match up
with one or another of the CPS trumpets, but we'll have to wait for
those particular auction items to arrive to know for sure. </div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
So there you have it. An incredible assortment of automatic writing planchettes, courtesy of the College of Psychic Studies. We'll conclude our examination of their devices in Part 3, as we turn toward their talking boards and an extra-special item connected to the college's founder I had the rare privilege of documenting. MysteriousPlanchettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05255974881959480527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3700996040411903203.post-78966068834586896742014-06-26T07:54:00.001-05:002016-11-30T10:17:47.733-06:00London Artifacts, Part 1: The CPS Spirit TrumpetsThe last several summers have always been flurries of activity rushing to-and-fro to document as many spirit communication devices as possible, and these days I need little excuse to book travel to far-off destinations in search of desired answers in the history of spirit communication devices. I was honored this year to be invited to speak at the PHCP Conference in Utrecht, Netherlands, and never one to miss an opportunity, I promptly contacted other institutions in the region or along the way to make the most of it: namely London's <a href="https://www.collegeofpsychicstudies.co.uk/" target="_blank">College of Psychic Studies</a> and Christian Chelman's <a href="http://www.surnateum.org/English/" target="_blank">Surnateum</a> in Brussels. And while the traveling is always teeth-rattling difficult when you cram too-much-transit in too-little time, the payoff is always well worth it. This summer's start is no exception.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzL6NpP47X3-XtdplVd3BEB_xVaBHOkAkX5xGuoqoMNxHkj__U3kjQ3enRIfmThbAzei-HK9-J_hqaUrlCjlkF0zR6juoZOCqQt9s-DnyVAm5dI0Xm9pkuxJzW_Tal4wNtB_SmiKekO00/s1600/CPSPost15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzL6NpP47X3-XtdplVd3BEB_xVaBHOkAkX5xGuoqoMNxHkj__U3kjQ3enRIfmThbAzei-HK9-J_hqaUrlCjlkF0zR6juoZOCqQt9s-DnyVAm5dI0Xm9pkuxJzW_Tal4wNtB_SmiKekO00/s1600/CPSPost15.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My awaiting destination: London's College of Psychic Studies.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The very first leg of our journey was ill-fated. Everything was perfectly in place, but my wife Adie and 11-month old daughter Elliot and I found ourselves on a flight to North Carolina that suffered engine failure halfway there, and after the plane landed back in Austin safely, we whiled away the rest of the day waiting for the plane to be fixed as the window to our connecting flight slowly closed. So, we made it to London a day late, and had the extra joy of having to drive 3 hours to Dallas to make the flight. This also meant I had no time to settle in before my morning appointment with my friend Leslie Price at the College of Psychic Studies. I literally landed, went through customs, and taxied directly to the CPS, where I was welcomed by Leslie, the college's wonderful principal, Gill Matini, and their friendly staff. They could have kept me waiting all day in the front library and I'd probably have been just as happy perusing their incredible shelves of esoterica all day! The history of the venerable college is <i>incredibly</i> rich, and a veritable who's-who of Spiritualism--including William Stainton Moses and Arthur Conan Doyle, among many others--and I encourage you to <a href="https://www.collegeofpsychicstudies.co.uk/about/page/id/1" target="_blank">delve a bit into their history</a> to get a scope of their collection's significance. <br />
<br />
I was visiting to document some fantastic artifacts in the college's holdings which I've long-hoped to photograph. I'm beginning here with a study of the CPS's incredible array of spirit trumpets. Unfortunately, trumpets are notoriously difficult to identify. Absent of boxes or packaging, very few carry any sort of maker's mark, and labels are unheard of. I've spent the last two years researching and cataloging every trumpet, manufacturer, and trumpet medium I can uncover, and even the resulting 65-page, 45,000-word timeline document doesn't really help answer that primary question: <i>who</i> made <i>what</i>? Of course, identifying trumpets with special provenance is even more difficult, but CPS had a few surprises in store for me. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigCGnSpeWWjoq4tBaZXgdlKUBZP-NrZMDQA9EloQaoIzjFu_wzu1JM6iAMkcuCl0AFrubpwAwnPnoOJuePa6mS4wMdQhBSCe9FAyhV58sW83tbU1YMbqO_Y77IrTl2K1fynt-wGnOXvUU/s1600/CPSPost13.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigCGnSpeWWjoq4tBaZXgdlKUBZP-NrZMDQA9EloQaoIzjFu_wzu1JM6iAMkcuCl0AFrubpwAwnPnoOJuePa6mS4wMdQhBSCe9FAyhV58sW83tbU1YMbqO_Y77IrTl2K1fynt-wGnOXvUU/s1600/CPSPost13.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mr. Leslie Price in the midst of the William Stainton Moses archives.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I arrived prepared to document a staggering 11 spirit trumpets. This was Leslie's tentative observation, and backed up by a <a href="http://travellingcalavera.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/psychic-studies-london-9.jpg" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">picture found online</a> that showed about the same number of trumpets on display in a glass case--or, at least, the picture hinted at how many the case contained--even if determining what was what through the photograph was impossible. I was sure that we were dealing with at least some trumpets in multiple disassembled piece, however. Another picture of the collection I found on pinterest (see below) shows <i>almost</i> everything that was waiting for me when I arrived, and confirmed that thought--looks like there's just a couple of pieces missing from Leslie's count in this shot:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC9UPmIHnUCLz8ZerQE7ceOJx3R0EP1BndfYzZfV08FANhnBCSPkIxnyKfqin_UDS0scpfufCOEwQvqIccOP1GoWgDypkxZQdBcY1nzGcmkyljyihdbZoLac8_Z4dYIpuqreldUH2fOd8/s1600/CPSPost9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC9UPmIHnUCLz8ZerQE7ceOJx3R0EP1BndfYzZfV08FANhnBCSPkIxnyKfqin_UDS0scpfufCOEwQvqIccOP1GoWgDypkxZQdBcY1nzGcmkyljyihdbZoLac8_Z4dYIpuqreldUH2fOd8/s1600/CPSPost9.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo of most of the CPS's spirit trumpet collection pieces at <br />
<a href="http://www.pinterest.com/psychicstudies/pins/">http://www.pinterest.com/psychicstudies/pins/</a>, which also has<br />
some lovely shots of the college!</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After my arrival and introduction to the William Stainton Moses archives and the wonders therein, a boxed, yet incomplete Two Worlds specimen was the first discovery. While the label was missing, the box was intact and matched the odd brown leatherette material of the box in my collection. But the box only contained the mouthpiece end of what presumably should have been a two-piece trumpet. While Two Worlds <i>did</i> produce a one-piece trumpet, the bell end was not rolled as it should be if it were a one-piece item. And though the 14-inch long section <i>could</i> serve as a trumpet as-is, without the bell section it would remain incomplete.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT6fN4JLQV1dZtESSuMdh96SGB-A7krTTGezoRBznHFdtUmqJjjEZiqTZsCNcTXcTPQZhW_6TH8F1YEQfgjsTGAMFrit22_GRoG1HMrX_sXU1GpkUch-hCs6hwS1heZr1_fOtpWdj2r08/s1600/CPSPost4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT6fN4JLQV1dZtESSuMdh96SGB-A7krTTGezoRBznHFdtUmqJjjEZiqTZsCNcTXcTPQZhW_6TH8F1YEQfgjsTGAMFrit22_GRoG1HMrX_sXU1GpkUch-hCs6hwS1heZr1_fOtpWdj2r08/s1600/CPSPost4.jpg" width="432" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Part & Pieces, or, Two-and-a-Half Worlds: Unpuzzling what-goes-where with the <br />
CPS specimens and putting it all back together. Lower left is the boxed mouth-<br />
piece section, and above are the two loose bell-ends, with the middle picture<br />
being the obvious match. At right is a complete specimen already assembled,<br />
leaving one loose, unmatched, and lonely bell-end. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So, imagine my surprise as Leslie led me to another section of the archive housed elsewhere in the college, and there before me was a hodge-podge arrangement of more trumpets--the remaining 10, in fact. Without hesitation, I gathered no less than three Two Worlds bell-ends: one of which (likely the more tattered of the trio, which also displayed the old residue of luminous tape) would undoubtedly match the downstairs boxed specimen, making that our first complete trumpet. There was another match--the cleanest of the three was an obvious pair to another nearby mouth-end section, which itself held a loop of waxed cord running through it. Assembled, we had a second complete Two Worlds specimen to go with the downstairs boxed one, which left us, unfortunately, with an unpaired bell-end that had no companion, but made a third trumpet positively ID-ed. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwPU5tUpqgO0PaWvV2UbVgHSRgoq54f4HK2iwfzf8QVrqn9Jt5qawOUmVnDzy29d1D31haCzSB3KeWXjokF__j5kV8aqhMKsDzSCKPvK5EZUXYRz6WegvK8viNnBRJAtFc4zmD47xf1ok/s1600/CPSPost3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwPU5tUpqgO0PaWvV2UbVgHSRgoq54f4HK2iwfzf8QVrqn9Jt5qawOUmVnDzy29d1D31haCzSB3KeWXjokF__j5kV8aqhMKsDzSCKPvK5EZUXYRz6WegvK8viNnBRJAtFc4zmD47xf1ok/s1600/CPSPost3.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The CPS's "almost-Eckel's" trumpet. Some differences in the company's standard-issue trumpet, but also carrying <br />
some of the classic markers of an Eckel-produced product. Note lovely hand-print artifact in luminous paint. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The fourth close-positive ID after gathering and assembling the pieces was CPS's 3-section Eckel's trumpet. Well, <i>maybe</i> an Eckel's. Oh, hell, I don't know. It's a close match at first glance, but then the details start casting doubt on the ID. The bell-end, for example, is rolled over a hoop, rather than folded and crimped. The bell-end ribs that are always our first marker of an Eckel's trumpet are in the right place, but the main body crimp is not stamped with the expected "E.A. Eckel" or "Anderson, Ind." imprints. The section ends are missing their usual ribbed bumps, and are instead folded. And the rivets are not the same style, and close to the same placement, but a bit further spread apart, and there's a mid-section rivet absent on most standard Eckels.<br />
<br />
Lastly, there's the curious addition of some sort of retainer or tension bar riveted where the sections come together, ostensibly to keep the trumpet from coming apart mid-seance. Whether they are original--a feature I've never seen on another trumpet--or a later aftermarket addition, is unknown. <br />
<br />
But perhaps my favorite feature of the trumpet is the remnant of luminous paint on the bell. The ribs had a thick coat spread around their circumference, and there was a distinctive handprint--a thumbspot and fingers--wrapping around the bell. Its origins or purpose are completely unknown, but if it was put there by accident, it was never corrected, so it seems intentional. Just a lovely piece, all the way around, but, like so many other trumpets (and the remainder of those in the CPS holdings), impossible to positively ID. Maybe it's an Eckel's--an early or late production (I own at least one
variant that's even more different than this one is from a standard issue Eckel's, for example)--but for
now we'll give it a tentative Eckel's assignment in a sea of
spirit-trumpet ID uncertainty.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdHYvcKVK1HIlvCzA8oCoBhgEjZPj50mD0qtTePAEkufjDxF0ega8oDQbhWPlzSkHNx7MNjaedEbDuwuw-arcZCBBGoPGTVayrzYFYMKfgt70jfcw3Y57-S1q7zQcPKgqNyd7-ENJNW40/s1600/CPSPost10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdHYvcKVK1HIlvCzA8oCoBhgEjZPj50mD0qtTePAEkufjDxF0ega8oDQbhWPlzSkHNx7MNjaedEbDuwuw-arcZCBBGoPGTVayrzYFYMKfgt70jfcw3Y57-S1q7zQcPKgqNyd7-ENJNW40/s1600/CPSPost10.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An unidentified spirit trumpet. Professionally and stoutly made, but of unknown manufacture.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The remaining three trumpets, fortunately, were all one-section trumpets, so no more problems with missing pieces. But, since none were boxed, stamped, or marked, they cannot be ID-ed, and the college records no special provenance for them. There was a stout, sturdy, and heavy specimen that very nearly more of a tube than a proper cone, with a rolled bell and mouthpiece and a stout tack-weld holding it together at the seams. This may very likely be a handmade or locally-made specimen, which, like most single-section trumpets, would be a simple matter to produce, and always leaves us second-guessing one-off makers versus commercial manufacturers. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyFCJM5c7iKNbTxj4idhLIn_o8xjSh_jJX7wH5pojfNgWD2Kx_2MFtoxZGu2zEqX85zOHlUJ2BAjUSkFlFhaedw0mW6HDVLVJhhwUuI7gKjM4JGf43bt_5E29j4ejeS9s59c-CnVHBKYU/s1600/CPSPost12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyFCJM5c7iKNbTxj4idhLIn_o8xjSh_jJX7wH5pojfNgWD2Kx_2MFtoxZGu2zEqX85zOHlUJ2BAjUSkFlFhaedw0mW6HDVLVJhhwUuI7gKjM4JGf43bt_5E29j4ejeS9s59c-CnVHBKYU/s1600/CPSPost12.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Though possibly a Two Worlds trumpet, it is most likely this is a Psychic Science Institute specimen, 1940-50s. Note luminous tape remains.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The two remaining specimens are lovely examples, and also provide us with an ID conundrum, and either or both could be either Two Worlds single-piece specimens from the 1930s, or 1950s Psychic Science Institute (PSI) trumpets. We know from a <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjqVkHbs7EL6GPn4LXcmXAAuSYV10V2HIWPyaQ37elu41RbHGtv3xwfBlUdcSzphWnqakhPz9HtR27_wonhguvUyRljeV7wkpImdGXmVu_6mQDCjITae6xa_vRhlAa-cW2I5qg4iaSsmE/s640/HB_KS_1936.JPG" target="_blank">previous post's ad study</a> that Two Worlds produced both one and two-piece trumpets, and either of these could be a contender. The first trumpet is a quite long single-piece trumpet with the remains of luminous tape on the bell and intact tape on the mouthpiece, which is quite wide. Its bell end is rolled similar to the known Two Worlds specimens, and the mouthpiece is folded outward. The crimped seam is very, very similar to the Two Worlds style, and I am sad to say that in the frenzy of picture-taking while at CPS, I did not do a direct in-hand comparison. The other remaining trumpet is very similar, though shorter, with a rolled bell-end, a crimped and similarly-wide mouthpiece, and intact luminous tape on its bell. There's no indication that Two Worlds produced more than one size of these single-section trumpets, so it is likely only one or the other will be properly ID-ed as being manufactured by them, though <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.blogspot.com/2014/07/london-artifacts-part-2-cps-planchettes.html" target="_blank">Part 2 of this series</a> further discusses the strong possibility that one or the other of these were offered by PSI. Only time, study, and new discoveries will tell, and there are worse fates than future trips taken to confirm theories! <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb_wJIwuAFESKzDfArHaWOMCe3sQCi4EQE7zIGBUvjynVjEO75fhbJh7WbkEn_5Pi6gbt-bOa-ZUOXnAZDghcpfVq57mhRXj_R1_TTwXUwirDzmoT-zU0FMSjHHaXAFixx0xJ-Kxe34VA/s1600/CPSPost11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="164" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb_wJIwuAFESKzDfArHaWOMCe3sQCi4EQE7zIGBUvjynVjEO75fhbJh7WbkEn_5Pi6gbt-bOa-ZUOXnAZDghcpfVq57mhRXj_R1_TTwXUwirDzmoT-zU0FMSjHHaXAFixx0xJ-Kxe34VA/s1600/CPSPost11.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another possible Two Worlds or PSI single-piece trumpet. This one has luminous paint glommed over its wire-rolled bell-end. </td></tr>
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The final surprise the archives held for me in the trumpet department was a curious wooden box. It looked not unlike one of those vintage wooden <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRY75FqR8jhaN0fz4cae-aYCKNF_CAAIPxUicDgeZWISWkL_-YlP_w4Lv_Tx8-iizydENst4JJ5vCvko0QLgjKbzIOVFN_31E-UQOugsZSiGYbxzhw-d8O9afYIn9h9L_Dcmbip6Li78I/s1600/Velveeta+Box+1.jpg" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Velveeta cheese boxes</a>, and had a hand-carved name and address on it:<br />
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While the CPS stored the box with the trumpets, there had not been an attempt to match it with a trumpet in years. Moreover, no one had really questioned the owner of the box or its place in the collection until I started making inquires, at which point Leslie immediatelybhad a "lightbulb" go off, and realized it was the property of H. <u>Dennis</u> Bradley, a trumpet medium famous in his day for direct voice mediumship, and a student and champion of another famous trumpet medium, George Valiantine. The address even matches Bradley's business in life. Bradley's personal accounts of his own trumpet mediumship are recounted in 1925's <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/109321666/The-Wisdom-of-the-Gods-H-Dennis-Bradley" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>The Wisdom of the Gods</i></a>, and may give some indication of the origins of CPS's trumpet:<br />
<blockquote>
"<span class="a" style="left: 273px; top: 4162px; word-spacing: -1px;">It was towards the end of July, 1924, that I made my first effort to obtain direct and independent </span><span class="a" style="left: 273px; top: 4267px; word-spacing: -2px;">spirit voices.</span><span class="a" style="left: 273px; top: 4476px; word-spacing: -1px;"> When I suggested the experiment to my wife, she was amused, and declared that it would be</span><span class="a" style="left: 273px; top: 4580px; word-spacing: -1px;"> absolutely impossible. So I refused to make any attempt on that evening.</span><span class="a" style="left: 273px; top: 4790px; word-spacing: -1px;"> Two evenings later, however, the experiment was made. There were only three sitters: my wife, </span><span class="a" style="left: 273px; top: 4894px; word-spacing: -1px;">her mother, and myself.</span><span class="a" style="left: 273px; top: 5103px; word-spacing: -1px;"> We sat in my study at Dorincourt ; a <span class="fourgen_highlight fourgen_highlight_selected">trumpet</span>—<u>a collapsible aluminium <span class="fourgen_highlight">trumpet</span> for amplifying</u></span><span class="a" style="left: 273px; top: 5208px; word-spacing: -1px;"><u> sounds, which Valiantine had left with me on his return to America in March last</u>—was placed on a </span><span class="a" style="left: 273px; top: 5313px; word-spacing: -1px;">table in the centre of the room. We got the raps on the table as before, and after twenty minutes or </span><span class="a" style="left: 273px; top: 5417px; word-spacing: -1px;">so the <span class="fourgen_highlight">trumpet</span> was lifted and each of us was lightly touched.</span><span class="a" style="left: 273px; top: 5626px; word-spacing: -2px;"> Then a hissing sound was heard, as if someone was endeavouring, under great difficulties, to</span><span class="a" style="left: 273px; top: 5731px; word-spacing: -3px;"> articulate something.</span>" </blockquote>
Is Bradley's trumpet in the CPS collections the same trumpet he inherited from Valiantine? There's no way to know for sure, but it's a fun thought to inspire the look for further evidence. Of course, there's also the matter of <i>which</i> trumpet goes <i>where</i>. There's one size and style of trumpet that fits the box like a glove: the two-section Two Worlds trumpets, and there's two-and-a-half of them in the archives. Bradley's trumpet would have been well-used, and I have suggested CPS pair the more battered matching sections with the box for display. <br />
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Lovely collection, and a fascinating history on these items. I am incredibly grateful to the CPS for welcoming me and allowing me to document the items, and to Leslie for the incredible tour through their hallowed halls. Stay tuned, true believers, for a breakdown of the host of other artifacts I researched during my short stay in parts 2 and 3!<br />
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MysteriousPlanchettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05255974881959480527noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3700996040411903203.post-18855757704842172632014-05-22T08:32:00.002-05:002014-05-22T08:32:21.256-05:00The Creationist at the Séance Table: A Young Earther Visits Koons' Spirit RoomWork continues on the big talking tables book. For the last few months, the wheels have been spinning in the sand of 1853. It really is amazing just how much this year changed the entire dialogue of Spiritualism. 1848 will always, of course, get all the credit as Spiritualism's birthday, but it is 1853 when things truly start <i>happening</i>. The Year Ghosts Broke, as it were. <br />
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The <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.blogspot.com/2014/01/dont-knock-it-til-youve-tried-it.html" target="_blank">tables tournantes phenomenon</a> hits Germany in March, then France by the summer, making tipping tables a bonafide worldwide phenomenon. The bandwagoneer mediums without the talents for rapping start finding <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.blogspot.com/2014/02/talking-tables-march-1853-packs-medium.html" target="_blank">mechanical means to circumvent their shortcomings</a>. For the tech-junkies, it's also the first year we have real cooperative-communication apparatus: Wagner's <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-first-three-part-1-wagners.html" target="_blank">Psychograph</a>, Hornung's <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-first-three-part-3-hornungs.html" target="_blank">Emanulector</a>, and Pease's <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-first-three-part-2-peases-spiritual.html" target="_blank">Spiritual Telegraph Dial</a>. <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.com/Manu_Portal/roberthare.html" target="_blank">Dr. Robert Hare</a> starts to make his turn toward Spiritualism. <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.com/History/history1.html" target="_blank">The planchette is born</a>. John Murray Spear tries to <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Remarkable-Life-John-Murray-Spear/dp/0268022003/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1394630774&sr=8-1&keywords=Buescher+Spear" target="_blank">spark the Second Coming</a> with his New Motive Power. And, of course, <a href="http://ehbritten.blogspot.com/2012/04/notes-for-historykoons-hunting.html" target="_blank">Jonathan Koons</a> and John Tippie construct their spirit rooms, which birthed entirely new species of phenomenon--dark séances, physical manifestation and spirit-speaking through trumpets--as well as their "Spiritual Machines" in the spirit-designed tables used as conduits for John King and his tribe of discarnate entities (King himself being another enduring "first" to be put to use by subsequent generations of mediums. The remaining phenomena were also <a href="http://ehbritten.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-little-things.html" target="_blank">liberally borrowed by the Davenports</a>).<br />
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While trying to figure out a good narrative flow for a smorgasbord of events that all pretty much happen at once, I ran across an interesting snippet from the Ohio Spirit Rooms' waning days. Found in the November 19, 1855 <i>Cleveland Leader,</i> the account provides an interesting paradox, and is particularly fitting given the recent and widely-viewed evolution vs. creationism debate between <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6kgvhG3AkI" target="_blank">Bill Nye and Ken Ham</a>. In this case, the correspondent is only designated as "G," and while in Athens County on private business, sought out the Tippie spirit room to experience the reported phenomenon for himself.<br />
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He wasn't impressed. In fact, he found the Tippies wholly unprepared to host his party, being told that "the spirits had left" to the extent that no manifestations would be forthcoming that night. Something <i>did </i>manifest in G's quarters on the Tippie farm that evening, however. Fleas. And bedbugs. <i>Armies</i> of them. So, the following day, after a "breakfast fully in keeping with their lodgings," off to Koons went G, intent on seeing his manifestations at one farm or another.<br />
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Koons was able to deliver. But the agitated party of Mr. G. came prepared with skepticism, though he claimed he was not previously "prejudiced toward Spiritualism." After a thorough criticism of Koon's fiddle "hoe down" and the other presented phenomenon--Mr. G. keenly compares the distances most physical manifestations involved, measured against the length of outstretched arms of mediums perched on a centrally-located table in the room's small confines--Mr. G. turned his ire toward the spirit guide John King himself. His skepticism was either voiced in mid-seance or merely palpable: his party was not allowed to touch the manifest spirit-limbs, and one or more may had been hit on the head with a floating tambourine. Once the tin "dinner-horn" began issuing the "sharp, shrill" voice of John King, the spirit informed the party of his usual biography--that he was 14,500 years old--and became somewhat hostile toward the sitters themselves:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Koons:</b> "Why King, you have a band of very mischievous spirits with you tonight, have you not?" <br />
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<b>King:</b> "Yes, mischievous spirits for mischievous folks."<br />
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<b>Spectator: </b>"That's right! You've hit it, you're some!"<br />
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<b>King:</b> "Yes, we're some, and here's at it."</blockquote>
And it's here that the focused retort to King's posturing reveals an interesting Creationist in the midst of the Spiritualists.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Mr. G: </b>"Grave conversation for an individual who professes to have existed 8,500 years before an account given of the creation of the world in an old, attenuated, dilapidated, and superannuated book called the Bible..."</blockquote>
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It is striking, I think, in its specificity. By the numbers, Mr. G believes in an Earth only 6,000 years old, putting him firmly in the <a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2007/05/30/how-old-is-earth" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Earth-Age-Calculation-by-Genesis-Generations </a>camp. Given the current state of American news media, the exposure of such Creationist views these days are fairly well-known. But in 1855, Young Earth theories have largely disappeared with the onslaught of the scientific revolution, which among Protestants largely pushed the theories toward more reasonable Old Earth Creationism that relied on Biblical metaphorical interpretations. We still have around 60 years before George McReady Price's <i>The New Geology</i> shows up on the landscape, 45 years before the early 20th-century rise of Christian Fundamentalism marked by the opening of Riley's Northwestern Bible and Missionary Training School, and over 100 years before Morris' current-zeitgeist-shaping <i>The Genesis Flood </i>and subsequent Institute for Creation Research rose to cultivate the current generation of fundamentalists' thinking. <br />
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It isn't that Young Earthers were extinct during the period, or that adherents had yet to evolve toward that belief. But they were exceedingly rare, and Mr. G's appearance there in Ohio is noteworthy and deserves observation. It isn't particularly <i>telling</i> of anything in particular, but it is <i>interesting</i>, at least, and so we put it here, tiny web-based bookmark in place, to let you do with the information as you will.<br />
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Stay tuned for much, much more on the Koons and Tippie spirit rooms. I've initiated an ambitious project to seek out the original locations in order to visit and document the sites, and have been blessed with the kind assistance of two branches of Koons descendants to aid me in the search, with some startling revelations along the way. The dialogue--and the credit that Koons and Tippie deserve--is shifting back to their favor, and I intend to cement it there, the best I can, in the pages of my book. Eyes ever open, dear readers. MysteriousPlanchettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05255974881959480527noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3700996040411903203.post-17283286162715341862014-05-06T09:09:00.003-05:002014-12-11T09:19:48.602-06:00The Man Who Knows: Alexander's Luminous Ouiji<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7eBD_h2WzaseG4bzn5yXDKMnUXfYQKcZZiJl1_lFof2fy5pvCh68xNdh8JTwvMV3Jr6yeEuNx8W9Dba8wIDFDUnOSXXe_YtxIt1XTM0hm4m4SFlYpLsQJAJ1LQ12jCI1oqPfC7-z-gEc/s1600/AlexLongThumbnail.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7eBD_h2WzaseG4bzn5yXDKMnUXfYQKcZZiJl1_lFof2fy5pvCh68xNdh8JTwvMV3Jr6yeEuNx8W9Dba8wIDFDUnOSXXe_YtxIt1XTM0hm4m4SFlYpLsQJAJ1LQ12jCI1oqPfC7-z-gEc/s1600/AlexLongThumbnail.JPG" height="400" width="160" /></a>Readers will recognize the "Man Who Knows" byline as a reference to the famous magician Claude Alexander Conlin, better known as just "Alexander" or "the Crystal Seer." My website has a <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.com/Manu_Portal/alex.html" target="_blank">page dedicated to him</a>, and I've long been on the search for his publishing company's long-lost product, the "Alexander's Original Luminous Ouiji Divining Board."<br />
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Alexander produced a number of spirit-related items, including <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4W3caHotRWMyb41y-A-q4Bt1QMZ791ZX3kjN0ASX7wsujBW1kNliSLwUBBTxR3TcZstvE6ASvikbbsE4o8vnjDClcC2d1VZICZAdEnJoOO1viAo4-gQAHhTdrI_GH_yShqYU5t1BrMaE/s1600/042.jpg" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">spirit trumpets</a>, <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAP3ytluUUMJMccO8nKTPNdTqH5C_FZa9yPylT_mzXdsXa5oJb8C2j5bjwDi0XUvc2JRmPRb0hEcphjupbvEbyblSez7MQVZa1b528RLyuhJxR_bsJF-48l6NxnN2kgqgZF1UC-oJID-M/s1600/031.jpg" target="_blank">spirit slates</a>, a <a href="http://p2.la-img.com/928/24926/9089842_1_l.jpg" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">rapping hand</a>, and his aforementioned "ouiji" board. We knew about the item from contemporary advertisements--predominantly a sales sheet--and from it, we knew we actually weren't looking for a true talking board <i>per se:</i> we were looking for a writing planchette, with a talking board <i>accessory</i>.<br />
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We looked. And looked. I even remember how collectors' hearts jumped when a poorly-considered fake once popped up at auction. That sparked me to post a more reasonable facsimile to try to get the right kind of exposure to the item, which, in the end, helped significantly. Because now--finally--we have it! <i>I</i> am the man who knows. That is, I know what Alexander's lost product, the rare and elusive Luminous Ouiji, looks like. And now, so will <i>you</i>.<br />
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The family that owns this incredible device recently contacted me to share it. It has been a treasured heirloom for 3 generations, and it has an amazing story to tell. For matters of privacy and at the request of the family, I've changed all their names, but they know who they are, and I want to take the opportunity to thank them publicly for all of their help and kind assistance--without people like them willing to share their history, that history becomes lost, and I'm so glad this story was entrusted to me. A thousand times "Thank you."<br />
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Given the mythological implications, I think it fitting that we owe the planchette's survival to three sisters. The trio lived in Nampa, Idaho--a religious community called "New Jerusalem" by its early settlers, who were mostly farmers. Nampa wasn't a metropolis by any stretch of the imagination, but it became an important railroad town when multiple lines converged in the area beginning in the 1880s. With the railroad came money--particularly from the gold and silver mining boom of nearby <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_City,_Idaho" target="_blank">Silver City</a>, Idaho--and the influx justified the building of Nampa's <a href="http://www.idahopress.com/app/artwork/beforeafter/6_b_NampaTrainDepot2.jpg" target="_blank">famously-fancy train depot</a> as well as the extravagant <a href="http://imgc.allpostersimages.com/images/P-473-488-90/37/3784/3V9IF00Z/posters/nampa-idaho-exterior-view-of-the-dewey-palace-hotel-c-1909.jpg" target="_blank">Dewey Palace Hotel</a>, built in 1902.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFjKdN_CBlrpEOA9izMWw3QvbqJhJUqhPEsf6t_44_WDZN6_IP0UNw1kbWJLsb9ajK8QIrBRJrAhKMUP-G5gBkM_1oqPB1FCHBKmqZlzhX2bli8hE7iRDVcRBbvYBKg-zgFdYUqkROP4w/s1600/Homestead.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFjKdN_CBlrpEOA9izMWw3QvbqJhJUqhPEsf6t_44_WDZN6_IP0UNw1kbWJLsb9ajK8QIrBRJrAhKMUP-G5gBkM_1oqPB1FCHBKmqZlzhX2bli8hE7iRDVcRBbvYBKg-zgFdYUqkROP4w/s1600/Homestead.jpg" height="448" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The family homestead, built around the turn of the century, which hosted decades of talking board séances.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Newly prosperous communities attract new settlers, of course, and as the clock turned on a new century, a young woman--Anya--traveled to Nampa, where her family wintered their sheep herd. There, she met her soon-to-be husband, a young farm laborer named Roy, recently transplanted from Iowa. They married and settled in what would become the family's multi-generational homestead, with Roy building the house with the help of his father and 2 brothers. Nan, their eldest sister, was born first in 1904. She was followed by Margaret two years later and, finally, the youngest, Gran, in 1912. Anya left Roy when little Gran was only 3 weeks old, and from then on would have only an intermittent presence in the young girls' lives. With their father working as a carpenter and mail carrier for the US government, the trio largely raised themselves, with 6-year-old Margaret calling little Gran her "baby." The resulting bonds that grew between the sisters were understandably strong. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirwSsfyi3ORFjW7Z6i-F6QyyTFJptQ6Vcra3p_SPYUhvTQsOsRSdDNMlTjQJVVTLjlEXSmAaZPCs9DZ5HEUO1PsXDBEyM5-tFfhe-rHce0AlKT_h-DzqrQOTsV2e5YFbV9YvSkAaMOwIU/s1600/wyrdsisters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirwSsfyi3ORFjW7Z6i-F6QyyTFJptQ6Vcra3p_SPYUhvTQsOsRSdDNMlTjQJVVTLjlEXSmAaZPCs9DZ5HEUO1PsXDBEyM5-tFfhe-rHce0AlKT_h-DzqrQOTsV2e5YFbV9YvSkAaMOwIU/s1600/wyrdsisters.jpg" height="298" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Sisters: Nan, Margaret, and Gran.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
From family accounts and the historical record, the sisters seem both fiercely independent for the age, and unswervingly devoted to their larger family demesne. It was a different age, and the close-knit sisters did not ever stray long or far from the homestead, which through the decades remained the epicenter of the sister's lives. The house was conveniently-located, after all. Except for Gran's stint as a clerk at a dry-goods store, the trio even worked together just a few blocks from the home at the local telephone exchange beginning in the late 1920s, which was notably housed in the Dewey Palace Hotel. In burgeoning Nampa, the sisters walked everywhere from that house, so much so that Nan wouldn't even bother with a driver's license until 1957! When Gran married in the 1930s, her husband moved in
with <i>her</i> into the home, though they eventually relocated to begin their own family. Around the same time, the middle sister, Margaret, married briefly, and while she lived with her husband's family for a short time on their
nearby farm, she eventually returned to the family
homestead with her daughter. Like Margaret, Nan married only briefly but had no children, and she would herself live in the house until she passed away in the 1980s.<br />
<br />
And at some point between those walls, intermingled with life's trials and tribulations, an interest in communicating with the other side took hold.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoXx0oh3aeQY70VbCFE1JKlJpPeFrmH0_m9pYnZLMH0sJM5yFv2i97i4_ckX6eV-hMi52FBTHPuYpnnt02_6DAEPuJGex5rIx5iKvyxJ_yNthyphenhyphenu-0WN-xZ-6DQbgpj-iFFjfooLtSQnG8/s1600/Switchboard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoXx0oh3aeQY70VbCFE1JKlJpPeFrmH0_m9pYnZLMH0sJM5yFv2i97i4_ckX6eV-hMi52FBTHPuYpnnt02_6DAEPuJGex5rIx5iKvyxJ_yNthyphenhyphenu-0WN-xZ-6DQbgpj-iFFjfooLtSQnG8/s1600/Switchboard.jpg" height="449" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The sisters had a knack for communications of all kinds--here they are among the crew of the telephone exchange housed in the Dewey Palace Hotel, just a few blocks from their home, about 1929 or 1930. That's Nan standing far left, Margaret standing center, and Gran seated second from left. The family claimed two of those chairs when the exchange disposed of them, and, like Alexander's Ouiji, they became treasured heirlooms and the favored bar seats in the family home!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It is unknown exactly when the three sisters turned toward Spiritualism, though according to family lore, their interest in séances began in the 1920s, and it is thought they were attending a group or circle that sparked their home explorations into conversations with the other side. The sisters were all coming of age then--Nan and Margaret were teenagers in 1920--and were likely were swept up by the <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.com/History/history4.html" target="_blank">national upsurge of interest</a> in fortune-telling and the supernatural (Nan also owned tarot, for example) following the Great War. The period marked a spike in the popularity of Ouija boards, most famously manifested by Rockwell's zeitgeist-capturing moment featured on the <a href="http://yesteryeargazette.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/ouija-board.jpg" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">May 1, 1920 cover of the Saturday Evening Post</a>. It certainly follows a regional pattern--in nearby Boise, in particular, the newspaper record shows séances became quite popular in the early 1890s with the Ouija's first craze, and interest in the supernatural in the area seems to conform to national ebb-and-flow right up through the 1960s.<br />
<br />
It is similarly unknown where the sisters acquired their distinctive (and now quite rare) Alexander Luminous Ouiji Divining Board. At the very least, it seems an obscure choice. But if the sisters' interest in séances waxed in the 1920s, it was during the height of Alexander's touring career, and the family speculates that one sister or another may have even attended one of his shows, though it is unknown if the board might have been acquired there or if they were even offered for sale as part of his touring set. But it <i>is</i> known that beginning in 1919, Alexander had his C. Alexander Publishing Company in Los Angeles, which sold all manner of Spiritualist, New Thought, astrological, and esoteric texts through both his storefront and mail order. His offerings included, of course, his "Luminous Ouiji Divining Board," and the sisters are equally as likely to have purchased the device through mail order.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3xXNg6yz5aUGFb4gRi23BhZjY_B915upXmMkMDEFuQhaC8JSC5Qsd3A6A5umtgjSlvlx_V_HB2tWKxiZu9k000bG8ujxSIpPKOcc61y3mA6P5RpoTJm5lvhyphenhyphenMdt_9B0-xvCMwg5GXU-g/s1600/AlexanderAd.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3xXNg6yz5aUGFb4gRi23BhZjY_B915upXmMkMDEFuQhaC8JSC5Qsd3A6A5umtgjSlvlx_V_HB2tWKxiZu9k000bG8ujxSIpPKOcc61y3mA6P5RpoTJm5lvhyphenhyphenMdt_9B0-xvCMwg5GXU-g/s1600/AlexanderAd.jpg" height="640" width="484" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alexander's ad for his "Original Luminous Ouiji Divining Board"<br />Image courtesy http://vintagemagician.blogspot.com </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
However the sisters acquired the set, it was a cherished item, and the three took up its enthusiastic use. The planchette was said to have responded best to the youngest sister, Gran, who appears to also have been the most enthusiastic user. Her older sister Nan kept "5-year" journals that included accounts of séances and the messages they received, which unfortunately have not survived. The board's use was not equated with diabolism in any way, but rather spiritualism, and family members recall the communicators identifying themselves as deceased ancestors.Then as now, the family had an ease and matter-of-factness with use of the board very hard to find in post-<i>Exorcist</i> days when the Ouija has taken on a more complicated persona. <br />
<br />
The talking board was no passing fad, either. The sisters continued using the board enthusiastically for decades, and even the next generation took on the board's use, with its current owner (Gran's daughter) and her cousins fondly recalling talking board sessions under her mother's watchful eye, where it was "around their whole lives." Gran's daughter was the most talented user of the new generation, and shared with me that her very unique name was even given to her mother when she asked the ouiji board what her new daughter should be named! And when she was older--particularly in her high school years--she sat with Gran to consult the Ouiji on matters of life and love. As the family grew larger and more spread out, the board stayed with Nan in the family home, and when she passed away 40 years ago, the board was inherited by her niece--Gran's daughter--who occasionally indulged in its use with her own family, and says her eldest daughter works it well herself. Of course, such generational details are a rare treat for us talking board historians, and I appreciate the family sharing their family's history with the device so openly.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Fbd1TIBvpTN6uRr1yTyU1USDEY8RE1hWJoLE8VzbdfANWJcQ0yPl6ToPpAy7IEkKBtZg0Tt3phlVcr574ie4h-9cFHy_P6HybXMOxVAfxO0wlmJF_s5ErSD8SDN99_S1oAkUtt15D3w/s1600/AlexanderAdLarge+2.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Fbd1TIBvpTN6uRr1yTyU1USDEY8RE1hWJoLE8VzbdfANWJcQ0yPl6ToPpAy7IEkKBtZg0Tt3phlVcr574ie4h-9cFHy_P6HybXMOxVAfxO0wlmJF_s5ErSD8SDN99_S1oAkUtt15D3w/s1600/AlexanderAdLarge+2.JPG" height="400" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
I've been engaging in a bit of self-debate of the device's classification. Alexander's ads emphasize the automatic-writing properties of the planchette, with the main focus being on that part of the device, and the included alphabet card being the secondary or backup use of the item. Even a casual reading of original advertisements shows that the device referred to as the "luminous ouiji divining board" or just "board" <i>is always the planchette itself</i>. The planchette holds the luminous component (earlier assumptions were that the alphabet sheet held the dot), the planchette does the divining, and, well, it <i>is </i>a board, after all, but not in the sense that we've come to assume with the focus of ouija and talking boards being the alphabet component itself, and not the index or pointer. The talking board component is only referred to as the "diagram" in the ads, which downplays its significance. In that sense, Alexander's product is more akin to the British planchettes like <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.com/Manu_Portal/images/WeyersBrosLarge.jpg" target="_blank">Weyers Bros</a>, <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.com/Manu_Portal/twoworlds.html" target="_blank">Two Worlds</a>, and Glevum Games' "<a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.com/Manu_Portal/images/BMDark2Large.jpg" target="_blank">Mysterious Planchette</a>," all of which were marketed and sold as planchettes, but included fold-out alphabet or message sheets and removable indexes to replace the pencil when pointing was preferred.<br />
<br />
Semantics? Only slightly, and I think in this case, Alexander's plain intention and the focus of the planchette over the alphabet board, not to mention its assumed use, put it fairly in both talking board and planchette camps, but inarguably tilted toward the side of automatic writing. However, whatever the manufacturer's intention as to their product's main mode of use, the sisters' use was quite the opposite, and no family members recall any sort of automatic writing attempts with the board. So there's that.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIIQOE8IrbWjX7guTul-CYTPt4SJuQeVkGBzhAcw8vYJMa-Eq7ElOc__8cxLs91JA34VwTscg7WPpV7uL7w5ffighprPVBDNU88n6KbVdj2YZSDAczsXgUvp0FyIantpVqjSImH3e8xHc/s1600/Alexander21.4WMWEB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIIQOE8IrbWjX7guTul-CYTPt4SJuQeVkGBzhAcw8vYJMa-Eq7ElOc__8cxLs91JA34VwTscg7WPpV7uL7w5ffighprPVBDNU88n6KbVdj2YZSDAczsXgUvp0FyIantpVqjSImH3e8xHc/s1600/Alexander21.4WMWEB.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All that remains: the complete Alexander set.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Which goes a long way toward explaining the set's current condition. Even well-used talking boards tend to stay in relatively fair shape throughout the years, suffering, at most, warping or wood separation from humidity or lacquer wear. But despite the board's wooden tray, the overlaid card itself is only heavy paper, and the years have understandably not been kind. Many of the letters--and all of the numbers--have worn away with the passing of the planchette for decades, and tape was added over the years to repair tears and other damage, and now obscures much of the board.<br />
<br />
Even in its heavily-damaged state, the alphabet card reveals its secrets. Its layout is typical of most talking boards: a double rowed of arched letters (plus an ampersand), with a straight line of numerals beneath. Below that, there's the misspelled "Good-By" just above the board's full name in small font. The upper left corner has Alexander's famous turbaned headshot, while the upper right has a nice crescent moon. And the lower corners contain some unique messages: "Lucky Star" and "Misfortune Brewing." All in all, a fairly typical talking board design.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimzZQRNgEGKWET4cFx2zMmuSm4N7FJLryv4Y5KxgXvv2LzMJlk1ntoysSaE4_qqGFkiMqM90dFY1RaDAcUihig72__d457fW3HYOkl5xVhfoEHdPCITkd-pmDnNj9bke-WN_Sqz29IYTQ/s1600/Alexander2DSCN1593+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimzZQRNgEGKWET4cFx2zMmuSm4N7FJLryv4Y5KxgXvv2LzMJlk1ntoysSaE4_qqGFkiMqM90dFY1RaDAcUihig72__d457fW3HYOkl5xVhfoEHdPCITkd-pmDnNj9bke-WN_Sqz29IYTQ/s1600/Alexander2DSCN1593+copy.jpg" height="464" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The tray's backside</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The tray is an interesting inclusion. The ads do not directly describe it, and its mentions of the "board" refer instead to the luminous planchette which was Alexander's focus with the set. Alexander calling the alphabet component a "diagram" in the ads didn't seem to indicate the inclusion of a "hard" item like the frame. We surmised at first that the tray might have been built by the sister's father to frame the diagram card, though the family was quick to say that was an impossibility--Roy was very superstitious of the board and did not approve of its use, so was unlikely to have built such a tray. In addition, the advertisements <i>do </i>show a similar tray in the illustrations as a bed for sheets of automatic writing, so it seems more likely that the tray was part of the original set, which could have come with interchangeable blank sheets and the alphabet card. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh946EpRYxNphoPz_DuuPuuz5ZwQn3jeg8KNoFHhlqiYg1a8wEZoK8tZzQoU8VAXu9pFGiv_i8ZJ1YkJuo4kjJ-UTHRYJpRVWzwwOPKf45s2SRLF35hWeX2ycp3K7i4aCA4kY1Am1YOPRw/s1600/Alexander21.2WMWEB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh946EpRYxNphoPz_DuuPuuz5ZwQn3jeg8KNoFHhlqiYg1a8wEZoK8tZzQoU8VAXu9pFGiv_i8ZJ1YkJuo4kjJ-UTHRYJpRVWzwwOPKf45s2SRLF35hWeX2ycp3K7i4aCA4kY1Am1YOPRw/s1600/Alexander21.2WMWEB.jpg" height="400" width="360" /></a></div>
<br />
The core of the set--the planchette itself--is full of surprises. The lithographed top is pretty much what was expected from the ad's description and illustration. It turns out the luminous dot is not on the alphabet diagram as had been previously assumed, but instead right there where Alexander's turban's crystal is, though the family reports it has not glowed in quite a number of years. This is a characteristic of long-faded <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luminous_paint#Radium" target="_blank">radium paint</a>, of which this dot is most likely painted. The same substance shows up on many of the luminous bands of period spirit trumpets, and was popular for the characteristic glow that helped illuminate the objects in darkened seance chambers. The care and storage of such devices with our modern knowledge of radioactive substances is something we should take seriously in these cases (and reflect precautions we've taken here in the Mysterious Planchette archives with some of our luminous bands), though there are no reports of any of the sisters glowing like the famed <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium_Girls" target="_blank">Radium Girls</a>, so that's good to hear. Be careful around that stuff, folks. <br />
<br />
What's underneath is even more revealing. There is no pencil aperture, but rather an ingenious design that incorporated a pencil in the hollow of the leading leg. Like the alphabet card, the planchette has suffered significant damage. Years of use on the papered top have worn the lithograph significantly, and the luminous dot glob is held on by tape. An unfortunate chew-toy session by the family puppy in the 1970s destroyed one leg and damaged the others, though the family recalls an important facet of the device now lost to too much puppy-love: there was a removable "foot" that plugged into the front leg to even it up with the others when the pencil was removed, and that plug, along with the rear feet, once had those all-important felt coverings. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVTw4ZFpCCp6sfhIzAorOR56U-7jguWD69y-Eo6Tvlik1QposWpc1v8dvhMB4RTfkd39RaFGXWNy30U8hJ2MEBwm0-JqXtXLuduIJAAvvxcGRmvWOrTSLI_CSVEqXCUVTkUXHwuOYZoCE/s1600/Alexander21.1WMWEB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVTw4ZFpCCp6sfhIzAorOR56U-7jguWD69y-Eo6Tvlik1QposWpc1v8dvhMB4RTfkd39RaFGXWNy30U8hJ2MEBwm0-JqXtXLuduIJAAvvxcGRmvWOrTSLI_CSVEqXCUVTkUXHwuOYZoCE/s1600/Alexander21.1WMWEB.jpg" height="395" width="400" /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">So
that solved the mystery of the illustration's lack of pencil aperture
protruding from the planchette's top, and the only notable inaccuracy of
the <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.com/Manu_Portal/images/AlexanderMockLarge.JPG" target="_blank">facsimile</a>
I'd posted on my page a few years ago--though it turned out to be an
important facet in confirming the planchette's identity and bringing the
family to me. </span></span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimogKAGG1EZDMGh6XM23zzhyphenhyphenBmCe3NEOVaBqPoJXfGNBN2UNETXRu9xT6eW_AtFp0PyxFvkmCmQmVIP0Z8_5HnRFcYE0r_K-NDK7EDr-NeDgZ2YuXFwV5tzd_9VIhHfR2n_SO0MQMdRqI/s1600/Alexander2DSCN1586+copy.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimogKAGG1EZDMGh6XM23zzhyphenhyphenBmCe3NEOVaBqPoJXfGNBN2UNETXRu9xT6eW_AtFp0PyxFvkmCmQmVIP0Z8_5HnRFcYE0r_K-NDK7EDr-NeDgZ2YuXFwV5tzd_9VIhHfR2n_SO0MQMdRqI/s1600/Alexander2DSCN1586+copy.jpg" height="316" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Castor leg detail</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Overall,
it's an amazing--and amazingly rare--find. As of right now, and until
other discoveries come to light, it's the sole survivor. The fact that
it has such an incredible and treasured provenance makes its rediscovery
all the more satisfying, and I wish I could reach back through the ages
to ask those three vivacious sisters all about what the items said to
them, even as I thank their daughter and grandson for all of their help
in telling their story. It's a fantastic find, and I'm glad to hear it's treasured status as an heirloom. It couldn't be a more special or loved device, and that's rare for a talking board these days. Thank you, thank you.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNzlkMeSDiBViWGEpqb4ENqFO-942dT9XmZGsschzoQ4OB4IQeZ9tXw1tK2ka83hhpAJ_R_zAdE9rczVW0sbuWNeBFIT2zfCRDuXgepeUzoJHIGONmkgeQBx71AlT2YoyiwKl4DUXQjBk/s1600/WyrdSisters2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNzlkMeSDiBViWGEpqb4ENqFO-942dT9XmZGsschzoQ4OB4IQeZ9tXw1tK2ka83hhpAJ_R_zAdE9rczVW0sbuWNeBFIT2zfCRDuXgepeUzoJHIGONmkgeQBx71AlT2YoyiwKl4DUXQjBk/s1600/WyrdSisters2.jpg" height="357" width="400" /></a></div>
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MysteriousPlanchettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05255974881959480527noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3700996040411903203.post-53532074132497591072014-04-08T08:32:00.000-05:002014-04-08T08:32:07.337-05:001854: Dickens & the Psychograph<div class="gtxt_body">
From Charles Dickens, writing to Rev. James White from the Tavistock House on March 7, 1854:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="gtxt_body">
<i>Mrs._________ has gone stark mad—and stark naked—on the<span class="gstxt_hlt"> spirit-rapping </span>imposition.
She was found t'other day in the street, clothed only in her chastity,
a pocket-handkerchief, and a visiting-card. She had been informed, it
appeared, by the spirits, that if she went out in that trim she would be
invisible. She is now in a madhouse, and, I fear, hopelessly insane.
One of the curious manifestations of her disorder is that she can bear
nothing black. There is a terrific business to be done, even when they
are obliged to put coals on her fire. </i></div>
<div class="gtxt_body">
<br /></div>
<div class="gtxt_body">
<i>_________ has a thing called a Psycho-grapher, which writes at the dictation of spirits. It delivered itself, a few nights ago, of this extraordinarily lucid message : </i></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="gtxt_body">
<i>"x., y., z!"</i></div>
</blockquote>
<div class="gtxt_body">
<i>upon which it was gravely explained by the true believers that "the spirits were out of temper about something." Said _________ [MP: don't you just LOVE those Victorian privacy parameters???] had a great party on Sunday, when it was rumoured
"a count was going to raise the dead." I stayed till the ghostly hour,
but the rumour was unfounded, for neither count nor plebeian<span class="gtxt_body">
came up to the spiritual scratch. It is really inexplicable to me that a
man of his calibre can be run away with by such small deer.</span></i></div>
<br />
<i>A propos of
spiritual messages comes in Georgina, and, hearing that I am writing to
you, delivers the following enigma to be conveyed to Mrs. White : —
</i><br />
<div class="gtxt_body" style="text-indent: 1em;">
<br /></div>
<div class="gtxt_body" style="text-indent: 1em;">
<i>"Wyon of the Mint lives at the Mint."</i></div>
<div class="gtxt_body">
<br /></div>
<div class="gtxt_body">
<i>Feeling my brain going after this, I only trust it with loves from all to all."</i></div>
</blockquote>
<div class="gtxt_body">
Wagner is, of course, <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-first-three-part-1-wagners.html" target="_blank">in London around this time</a>, attempting to gain footing with Psychograph sales where it seems he failed in Berlin:</div>
<div class="gtxt_body">
</div>
<div class="gtxt_body">
</div>
<div class="gtxt_body">
</div>
<div class="gtxt_body">
</div>
<div class="gtxt_body">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcCpv-r9OEHsBRUMc9hCgY8wp-cZGiUKVsA_Q_H2a92IJXCvvwJryiVd7Y32YaZGM-K4ara9c49i6kxsaiOrBDJFA2eURIB5nse7gQaZIFjXyKfmdGLCPW2QBKbE05KXZx-SaDjamrYSk/s3200/1854+February+7+and+6+Morning+Post+Wagner+Psychograph+Ad.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcCpv-r9OEHsBRUMc9hCgY8wp-cZGiUKVsA_Q_H2a92IJXCvvwJryiVd7Y32YaZGM-K4ara9c49i6kxsaiOrBDJFA2eURIB5nse7gQaZIFjXyKfmdGLCPW2QBKbE05KXZx-SaDjamrYSk/s3200/1854+February+7+and+6+Morning+Post+Wagner+Psychograph+Ad.png" height="152" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Psychograph ad, <i>Morning Post</i>, February 7, 1854, exactly 1 month prior to Dickens' letter.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="gtxt_body">
<br />
<br />
</div>
MysteriousPlanchettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05255974881959480527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3700996040411903203.post-85483358699127663472014-04-03T08:21:00.000-05:002014-04-03T08:22:29.021-05:001868: A Planchette Miscellany<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Stuart_Phelps_Ward" target="_blank">E. Stuart Phelps</a>, writing in the November, 1868 <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=ftsBAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=planchette&hl=en&sa=X&ei=w1s9U6PBKLXesASb84DoBQ&ved=0CEkQ6AEwAzi2Ag#v=onepage&q=planchette&f=false" target="_blank"><i>Indiana School Journal</i></a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"In the winter of '67-8 the uncanny looking word sprang into very black advertisements in our American cities; and to-day a counter without Planchette is a fossil. They trundle in the windows of the tract-house and tobacco stores, dance among opera scores and Sunday school books—heart-shaped Planchettes, square Planchettes, Planchettes for eight dollars and Planchettes for fifty cents, Planchettes of walnut, ash, mahogany, gutta percha, tin, glass,—Planchettes on pegs, coils and pentagraph wheels. <br /><br />Planchette confront you at dancing parties and in the minister's study, in the drawing room and in the "settin' room"—is a substitute fur the weather and Charles Dickens in the "social circle"—and the end thereof who can tell?<br /><br />Like most, discoveries, in is eminently simple. Why did nobody ever think to stick a pencil through a little board before?"</i></blockquote>
If it's a checklist, we've a ways to go. Still on the lookout for a square planchette, and one of tin. To date, a pegged planchette from the era has remained elusive, as has one on coils. MysteriousPlanchettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05255974881959480527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3700996040411903203.post-25055702851815829152014-03-20T10:20:00.000-05:002014-03-20T10:20:21.665-05:00New & Improved: The Lost Tuttle Psychograph<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV9mbCF0XfCW7n2Tkmc9NW_GWikWZ_RTqfgkl7ORGB6j9s79GfRFC9BxZqdDIM72XfpJqqjc_1gV1__1hyphenhyphen3fq6dRdljayM98Cihyphenhyphen-9DUxApjOERjuZhfM7E60Bm6RBzlC04IExMkkNlUY/s3200/Screen+Shot+2014-03-20+at+8.29.34+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV9mbCF0XfCW7n2Tkmc9NW_GWikWZ_RTqfgkl7ORGB6j9s79GfRFC9BxZqdDIM72XfpJqqjc_1gV1__1hyphenhyphen3fq6dRdljayM98Cihyphenhyphen-9DUxApjOERjuZhfM7E60Bm6RBzlC04IExMkkNlUY/s3200/Screen+Shot+2014-03-20+at+8.29.34+AM.png" height="210" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A trio of Tuttles--the Hodge, Orlando, and MacNeil specimens. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
As far as my records show, there are six known surviving Tuttle Psychographs. First invented by Hudson Tuttle around 1880, his <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.com/Manu_Portal/hudsontuttle.html" target="_blank">Tuttle Publishing Company</a> produced his "dial planchette" in an extraordinarily long run, as it was still advertised as late as 1915--five years after Tuttle's passing. And we know that the <i>Psychic Observer</i> offered Tuttle Psychographs for sale as late as 1949, though whether these were leftover/NOS at the time or newly-made replicas still remains to be seen.<br />
<br />
The most unusual thing about the six specimens is the tremendous amount of variation between them. I've spent months staring at the pictured Psychographs and the other three known survivors, and rely on a set of distinguishing markers in an attempt to trace the device's evolution. There's the font, which differs wildly from the smaller, more precise font of the Hodge specimen to the wide, bold font of the Orlando specimen with its unique sweeping tail on the "A." There are variations of the circle on which the letters sit: either one line or two lines, but at least two specimens with breaks in the printing that might serve to assign them similar dates. Some specimens have other weird print variations--the <i>Psychic Observer </i>ad, for example, shows unusual spacing between "W XYZ," and the "Don't Know" is italicized and misaligned--properties which show up on at least one recently-discovered surviving specimen. There's an inverse-printed model with dark paper and light letters, and variations in the wood and shape used for the wheel. And the comparative starting point of the "A" relatively to the board's bottom is always different between models--9-o'-clock on one, 10-o'-clock on another. Such variations are easily picked out in the pictures above, and there are many.<br />
<br />
And don't even get me started on the instructions printed on the boards' backs. They differ way more wildly than the front print, and present a whole new set of clues and comparisons to analyze.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX_ylxKB9roPza4PEVgNA4jQH_o_j5_X9hdo-DUiaoJHa501nIz1pr5qKQewE1ViWm61u4FF31ITgmFqIn-jpxh-0xIwBRZ0GYoF6IiS42WlEDExBXjVmoK9SO3pnm3hiDnl3_A1-pJjc/s3200/Screen+Shot+2014-03-20+at+9.04.12+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX_ylxKB9roPza4PEVgNA4jQH_o_j5_X9hdo-DUiaoJHa501nIz1pr5qKQewE1ViWm61u4FF31ITgmFqIn-jpxh-0xIwBRZ0GYoF6IiS42WlEDExBXjVmoK9SO3pnm3hiDnl3_A1-pJjc/s3200/Screen+Shot+2014-03-20+at+9.04.12+AM.png" height="104" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Buchanan's <i>Journal of Man</i>, May 1889</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
There's more forensic analysis to take place there, for sure, particularly cross-referencing the advertised prices, which fluctuated almost as much as the design: from $1.00 post paid, to $1.00 plus .12 cents postage, to $1.25, to $2.50, with the prices printed on the back of each Psychograph. <i>And the price doesn't necessarily increase over time</i>, and can be demonstrated to actually be the opposite. So we should be able to correlate ads with specimens given enough data. A recent ad discovery, for example, containing the same base price and shipping printed on the board, along with the same endorsements printed in both the ad and the board's back, <i>may</i> place the Psychograph in the Mysterious Planchette collection, pictured far left in the trio pic above, at 1887, when it looks the more modern of the three and was even once suspected to be a 1949 model due to the general clean condition, modern-ish font, and lack of wear. And, of course, <i>any</i> of these could be the 1949 model, and depending on how closely the replica hewed to the original, or whether or not it was new-old-stock, we'd never really know without further evidence.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf4tbdksyfDzWd_M7KntVkGN3SnbfCoB4UKam5cKDvVE0QcqTQEekwSijRfhiB8S5gg8HCzt6hXBdYn9gQOsbQ7lDyalEB1eVEGQFPj-R_5W2Uce6AXj35S7PynkPsbYbqc3xX_kgSy5o/s3200/TuttleUseLarge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf4tbdksyfDzWd_M7KntVkGN3SnbfCoB4UKam5cKDvVE0QcqTQEekwSijRfhiB8S5gg8HCzt6hXBdYn9gQOsbQ7lDyalEB1eVEGQFPj-R_5W2Uce6AXj35S7PynkPsbYbqc3xX_kgSy5o/s3200/TuttleUseLarge.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Psychograph in use.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We'll keep on the trail and report back in. Lots of variations, and too many holes in the data to be sure right now. At least I have one good-looking spreadsheet. <br />
<br />
But forensics on the surviving Tuttles aren't exactly what inspired today's post. It's the forensics of the <i>non</i>-surviving Psychograph that has my attention this morning. <br />
<br />
Thanks to the <a href="http://www.iapsop.com/archive/index.html" target="_blank">IAPSOP</a>, we've known about the "new attachment" to the Psychograph for some years now, and without a surviving model to compare, the descriptions have been difficult to decipher. Take, for instance, the December 3, 1887 <i>Religio-Philosophical Journal</i>'s letter from Tuttle himself explaining the new addition to the Psychograph: <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXVqH9je5JiopwXTfTh5fzb7DQKZCcKbt39TuctWT4sxxUBTAJYk7-fXJtaKihQktnwHrDK51C8dA18bhvdEAvexjws9uwLOs_BoQfkdssxqpFmENDdE92LU7_htTy1dpKXrrDIq5Z7E4/s3200/1887+December+3+Religio-Philosophial+Journal+Tuttle+Psychograph+IMPROVED.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXVqH9je5JiopwXTfTh5fzb7DQKZCcKbt39TuctWT4sxxUBTAJYk7-fXJtaKihQktnwHrDK51C8dA18bhvdEAvexjws9uwLOs_BoQfkdssxqpFmENDdE92LU7_htTy1dpKXrrDIq5Z7E4/s3200/1887+December+3+Religio-Philosophial+Journal+Tuttle+Psychograph+IMPROVED.jpg" height="640" width="269" /></a></div>
<br />
So, we've got "an extra alphabet be placed on one half of the revolving table [the top disk]," and a "stationary index placed so as to mark the letters passing under it." So, <i>two</i> indexes now--one on the wheel pointing to letters on the board, and one on the board pointing to letters on the wheel. Geez. The Psychograph already being a very expedient means of alphabetic communication--dare I say faster than the Ouija--it seems strange to add an additional alphabet on top of the disk, with a second index to point to that alphabet. Or how that alphabet offers any more expediency that the primary one on the board's base.<br />
<br />
Pondering other configurations, it seems the only way to imagine this description really is to have another arc of letters pasted on top of the disk, and a stationary index attached to the base of the board that hovers over the revolving disk in order to point out the second set of letters. While I don't know if each index pointed to the same letter at the same time--this seems likely to avoid confusion--I suppose I just don't understand the purpose. As it is, there's only a 180<span class="st">° arc of movement to arrive at any given letter of the alphabet in either case, which is hardly inexpedient. But it is a curiosity, and might be worth an unobtrusive mockup on a surviving board to see how it might have been a favorable variation. </span> <br />
<br />
Despite the stated shortcomings of the secondary index possibly becoming bent in the mail, we know the improved Psychograph was still in circulation at least two years later, as Marc recently discovered in the <a href="http://www.iapsop.com/archive/materials/religio-philosophical_journal/rpj_1889-indexed.pdf" target="_blank">April 13, 1889 <i>Religio-Philosophical Journal</i></a>, which details the improved version being given as a gift to William Emmette Coleman. It is likely this variation, like every other configuration of the Tuttle Pschograph, eventually gave way to a new design, and that the improved version was either sold concurrently with the original version or eventually proved too troublesome and was abandoned. Given the unlikelyhood of every known surviving specimen pre-dating an 1887 addition that persisted until 1915, one or the other scenario seems likely. <br />
<br />
I look forward to seeing a surviving specimen with the attached improvement, so check your attics, folks, and report in!<br />
MysteriousPlanchettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05255974881959480527noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3700996040411903203.post-72566137290700921332014-03-06T08:50:00.000-06:002014-03-06T08:59:53.741-06:00Vermont, 1869: The Blanchard ContrivanceWorking with enthusiastic and knowledgeable collaborators is incredibly rewarding. From the threads Marc and I <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.blogspot.com/2014/01/dont-knock-it-til-youve-tried-it.html" target="_blank">chase down in tandem</a>, to Pat Deveny's heads-up on <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3700996040411903203#editor/target=post;postID=7256613729070092133;onPublishedMenu=posts;onClosedMenu=posts;postNum=0;src=link" target="_blank">illustrations of the Emanulector</a>, from my burgeoning friendship with <a href="http://josephacitro.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Joe Citro</a> over spirit trumpets and spirit-rapping machines in Vermont, to Bob Murch and I's constant <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.blogspot.com/2014/01/dont-knock-it-til-youve-tried-it.html" target="_blank">unraveling of talking board history</a>, there's always a certain assurance knowing that while you're always looking out for them, they're looking out for you, too. <br />
<br />
Bob recently forwarded an interesting snippet of planchette history as he plumbed the depths of new newspaper archives that arrived online. As is so often the case, it was preceded with "<i>I know you've probably already seen this buuuut</i>," which these days always makes my ears perk up, because I know that when I hear this, someone's found something obscure enough that they think is noteworthy, and they <i>know my research well enough to know when something's really noteworthy</i>. And that's comforting, in and of itself.<br />
<br />
That's the case here, a little snippet Murch ran across in the January 9, 1869 edition of the <i>Weekly Journal Miner</i> of Prescott, Arizona. The skeptical article is titled "<i>Planchette--What Is It?</i>" and has some interesting acknowledgements and footnotes of planchettes' history: the automatic writing experiments of Dr. Patton, mentions of Kirby's penultimate planchette models in the <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.com/Manu_Portal/images/KirbySetLarge.jpg" target="_blank">India rubber</a> and <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.com/Manu_Portal/images/KirbyGlassNo4Large.jpg" target="_blank">glass models</a>, and even an account of a wire planchette made by "bending wire into the shape of a triangle, with spiral twists of the same for the two legs." But it's the account of the "test planchette" of Dr. Virgil W. Blanchard of Bradford, Vermont, that caught Bob's attention, and subsequently mine:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2R_1EvDxiNvjuafxr_TjjLCS9ZZie_9uUwzos2cUqLVoy0k5iRVobWCppOxdPvlb7c8ONFBJSPUcQezhtaDVQlystRNfLosm0FVCTWS8zhhMW8H297-n_mFPIRGQo_n3R-KgTju5A4V0/s1600/BlanchardDevice1869.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2R_1EvDxiNvjuafxr_TjjLCS9ZZie_9uUwzos2cUqLVoy0k5iRVobWCppOxdPvlb7c8ONFBJSPUcQezhtaDVQlystRNfLosm0FVCTWS8zhhMW8H297-n_mFPIRGQo_n3R-KgTju5A4V0/s1600/BlanchardDevice1869.jpg" height="295" width="400" /></a></div>
Luckily, Bob's right up the street from the Boston Public Library, which houses a microfilm collection of the <i>Watchman, </i>so he's graciously going to chase this thread down for me and see if we can't get a better description. What we have is intriguing, though. It is a little hard to quite imagine what they are describing, but breaking it down, we have:<br />
<ul>
<li>A balanced fingerboard that tilts between to upright supports</li>
<li>An attached cord mechanism that drives a wheel, and its pointer, around a dial</li>
<li>An alphabet dial with a "hundred divisions" </li>
<li>Tipping the fingerboard causes the wheel to revolve around the dial</li>
<li>The operator cannot see the dial, the account later mentions. </li>
</ul>
It is clear that we have, at least partially, a wheel-and-dial alphabet board in the same manner as, say, a Tuttle Psychograph. But then there's the whole balanced fingerboard and wheel-and-cord bit that makes the driving mechanism's description somewhat obscure and hard to reconstruct, even imaginatively. We await the original description in hopes of a better depiction or, dare we hope, and illustration? <br />
<br />
The point of the device was to debunk the planchette as a method of spirit communication, and, according to the account, it was successful in that regard since the operator could not see the dial, in a test reminiscent, obviously, of Dr. Robert Hare. Dr. Blanchard himself was an interesting fellow, and worth following up, given the number of patent applications his name is attached to. It is also interesting to note that Blanchard wasn't the first to experiment with these so-called lever boards--we've seen them before, as well--again with Dr. Hare.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPVk4L4-QkNyPYDE5j4_f0OMs7VLT6SA2bxAtWWLIVqoE3Rn3oBH8cqCCo6n2ZRVdo_MyDelvizB1GbSgJVBuuxGleYC2QdP4byGs2G4sy74zugPa35ZpBRXIz7Es7K-ukLIw-BHN5gGo/s1600/leverboards.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPVk4L4-QkNyPYDE5j4_f0OMs7VLT6SA2bxAtWWLIVqoE3Rn3oBH8cqCCo6n2ZRVdo_MyDelvizB1GbSgJVBuuxGleYC2QdP4byGs2G4sy74zugPa35ZpBRXIz7Es7K-ukLIw-BHN5gGo/s1600/leverboards.jpg" height="400" width="321" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dr. Hare's "Spiritoscope" 'lever-boards.'</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Stay tuned! For now, we'll add Dr. Blanchard's contrivance to our list of lost test mechanisms, and graft yet another evolutionary branch on the tree of talking board history. Thanks, Murch! And head's up, Joe--we've got another mysterious device to track down in the wilds of Vermont!MysteriousPlanchettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05255974881959480527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3700996040411903203.post-4553126830509035672014-02-10T23:20:00.003-06:002014-02-10T23:20:53.653-06:00Talking Tables, March 1853: Pack's "Medium Table"<a href="http://ehbritten.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Marc</a> and I have undergone the same tactic we recently used in mapping out the evolution of spirit trumpet mediums and mediumship, and decided to take all of the accumulated evidence on the earliest years of table-turning (in this case 1849-1853) from our respective blog posts and other evidence since gathered, and created a chronological timeline of accounts. It has shaped up nicely and, I think, verifies our working theory: that the "physical phenomenon" of mysteriously moving tables begins with the Fox Sisters as early as 1849, and, as news spreads, cooperative, non-mediumistic table-tipping morphs into a popular parlor entertainment. In America, at least, it is near-synonymous with, yet still distinct from, spirit rappings, and is more often than not attributed to some spiritual agency. By 1852, <i>communications</i> are being received through the tables' tappings and tiltings. We know table-turning enters Europe the following year, most likely via Bremen, Germany, in March of 1853, and from their spreads over the Continent and to the UK by the summer, where it is viewed somewhat more pragmatically, and assigned an <i>animal magnetic</i> cause for a time before some sects settle on the explanation of spirit manifestation already long-adopted by Americans. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Pij1VWgnpY" target="_blank">We can see clearly now. The rain is gone.<br /></a> <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh28gMxgokMkemCcJUzLg_Box6fIwet_2i7IygZbiWPnvbOE-wcNLqmX9sWs-hWh-MPBS0FGCUmU27_xPyktHfBAs3gNS1UKjgM1t9AZu_MCgGENRbuX1qmMqkOUbCuNrD5YD5fWM4LJu0/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-01-30+at+8.43.42+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh28gMxgokMkemCcJUzLg_Box6fIwet_2i7IygZbiWPnvbOE-wcNLqmX9sWs-hWh-MPBS0FGCUmU27_xPyktHfBAs3gNS1UKjgM1t9AZu_MCgGENRbuX1qmMqkOUbCuNrD5YD5fWM4LJu0/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-01-30+at+8.43.42+PM.png" height="522" width="640" /></a></div>
During all of our digging, I ran across a fantastic account of a great mechanism. I've long been on the hunt for some manufactured, specialized tipping-table appearing this early in the record. It just seemed to make sense that among the <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-first-three-part-1-wagners.html" target="_blank">Wagners</a> and <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-first-three-part-2-peases-spiritual.html" target="_blank">Peases</a> and <a href="http://mysteriousplanchette.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-first-three-part-3-hornungs.html" target="_blank">Hornungs</a>, some burgeoning entrepreneur would take advantage of table-tipping's popularity and market something to ride that wave. This thought seemed confirmed after glimpsing an interesting snippet in Ronald Pearsall's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Table-Rappers-Victorians-Occult-Ronald-Pearsall/dp/0750936843" target="_blank"><i>Table Rappers</i></a> that a manufacturer in Florence produced a table specifically for turning, sold under the advertising byline "<i>It Moves!</i>" Unfortunately, as we often find in his study, Mr. Pearsall failed to provide documentation of any sort on this claim, and while I have little doubt that he found <i>something</i>, <i>somewhere</i>, we can't confirm the discovery without knowing his source.<br />
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But now we have something. One of the earliest spirit-rapping-and-table-turning expose texts--and now by far my favorite for its detailed descriptions--is Reverend H. Mattinson's <a href="http://ssoc.selfip.com:81/texts/1853__mattison___spirit_rapping_unveiled.pdf" target="_blank">Spirit Rapping Unveiled!</a> I'm really taken with Reverend Mattinson's enthusiastic efforts to debunk the spirit rapping and table-turning fervor that has swept the nation as he's writing. In particular, I enjoy his plain, pragmatic language and efforts to shed light on a subject that he <i>doesn't see as being all that mysterious</i>. I particularly like his real-time breakdown of alphabet calling, as he and a friend indulge in some experimentation, spelling out simple sentences to one another as they call through the alphabet again and again, to not only show the ruthless inefficiency of the method, but also the improbability of the veracity of massive blocks of alphabet-called spirit communications that are being published at the time, given that even their expedited, rapid process <i>produced only 240 <u>characters</u> per hour</i>. That's less than two tweets, folks. <br />
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But on to the mechanism: Hiram Pack's "Medium's Table." Mattinson's account is a personal one, gathered when he was approached after a lecture in Hartford, Connecticut, by a man who claimed that a cabinet-maker friend of his had been approached about creating a fraudulent table for a rapping medium, with the caveat that the craftsman would be oath-bound not to reveal the method. Which he didn't accept, leaving him free to divulge the inquiry:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiR-Wj5Q-MI1jiHpFCQ2w8NqsDbh7tcRPEcVTuVroAcokasMTjPAebGOSFpKkr91zJkKw4E74En645SIhtjJvK0EV5mBHfObSdGR1D-Cp1D80i2e_wTcKXtp9vWVB1yzuz4301W-pcoQc/s1600/PackRappingTable.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiR-Wj5Q-MI1jiHpFCQ2w8NqsDbh7tcRPEcVTuVroAcokasMTjPAebGOSFpKkr91zJkKw4E74En645SIhtjJvK0EV5mBHfObSdGR1D-Cp1D80i2e_wTcKXtp9vWVB1yzuz4301W-pcoQc/s1600/PackRappingTable.jpg" height="382" width="400" /></a></div>
This set Mattinson on the hunt, and, as chance would have it, directly to the cabinetmaker Hiram Pack, who not only admitted to the manufacture of at least two such tables, but penned a lovely detailed affidavit for Mattinson, dated March 25, 1853, which the Reverend subsequently published:<br />
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I think it's lovely, particularly for its details--the internal hammer, the wires, the routed recess and hollow resonating chamber. It reminds me, of course, of how Houdini and Dunninger often resorted to complicated descriptions of possibly non-existent mechanisms to describe mediumistic phenomenon when, more often than not, a good medium just needed a dark room and a believing audience. But then again, in the absence of the biological propensity for repeated, resonating knuckle-cracking, maybe some mediums felt the need for a mechanical means to ply their trade.<br />
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The tables are now, no doubt, in some stodgy old estate or Manhattan skyrise, with the owner nary-aware that a subtle nudge with their foot or hand on a concealed trigger could set the spirits a'knocking. I'm sure my wife would be <i>thrilled</i> each night at dinner with the retinue of bad jokes I'd have at my disposal if only I had spirits to answer. When I shared the account with Marc, he wanted to make sure the account wasn't too convenient on the part of the author, so he quickly confirmed Mr. Pack's identity and NYC residency in the 1850 census (no occupation listed), found is occupation as "cabinetmaker" in Brooklyn in 1869, and spotted him again in the New Canaan, CT census of 1870, where he's listed as a chairmaker. We have a winner, folks.MysteriousPlanchettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05255974881959480527noreply@blogger.com0