Henry Novra

“ Ventriloquists almost always exaggerate nature, especially as a means of indicating distance; and they make up the illusion by prompting their audiences to imagine the effects they fail themselves to represent completely; as any one may see any night of his life in the case of Herr Von Joel, who persists in looking and inducing his audience to look for his “leetle singing lark,” up in the ceiling of Evans’s supper room.
With the assistance of this sort of prompting, it is really extraordinary what ventriloquists can accomplish, and the extent to which they can affect a sympathising audience. ”

“ Home sent past the window an inflated dummy of gold-beater’s skin to represent himself, as many more wary persons have a tendency to suppose. I do not think so for a couple of reasons, either of which is quite sufficient. In the first place, though Mediums must run unusual risks whenever they favour us with unusual performances, it would be too much to risk the ludicrous discovery of a great dummy figure from the sputter of a chance lucifer match or the sudden flash of a concealed lantern. ”

“ The inspector soon ascertains that “the table has not been raised by mechanical means from below,” and as this is what he looks for (it is to be observed that those who are impressed by the phenomenon invariably harp on this) , he is at once satisfied, and he rises to the surface with the blood in his head, and his inquisitiveness completely frustrated. It is not an easy matter for any but very wary persons to detect the real means of support, if the circle is closely packed and there is a sufficiency of the great conniving medium Crinoline. ”

“ During the séance you need not confine yourself to the particular knocks already described, you may give others with the sharp edge of the sole of your boot against the foot, or kicks straight up against the bottom of the table. Any mysterious noise that you can succeed in making—by creaking the leather of your boot against the wood—will pass for a rap. When your audience is pretty far gone, you may trust to chance inspirations. ”

“ Fig. 21.I assume was the instrument which executed the exquisite music described by the narrator, and which was so far beyond the compass of a stolid leather bellows.
The air was wild, and full of strange transitions; with a wail of the most pathetic sweetness running through it. The execution was no less remarkable for its delicacy than its power. When the notes swelled in some of the bold passages, the sound rolled through the room with an astounding reverberation; then, gently subsiding, sank into a strain of divine tenderness. ”

“ Home, who sat next the window, would equally account for their “creasing and crumpling on the floor” for a considerable time afterwards; and they could be returned in like manner. So, also, flowers could be grasped and distributed, with the assistance of the lazy-tongs, or disengaged hand, to any person in the circle. “The substance of what seemed a hand, with white, long, and delicate fingers, rose slowly in the darkness, and, bending over a flower, suddenly vanished with it. ”

“ In the majority of instances I assert that the Mediums fail altogether of producing anything that should move an instant’s wonder. In the performances of Mr. Home, which I am about to examine, there is a little more art and a little more adroitness, and though the results are more striking, the machinery, when I have explained it, will be found to be ridiculously simple in proportion to its effects on the bewildered and mystified spectators. ”

“ I will be more explicit as to the means of operating on the under surface of a sofa-table, stated to be the vehicle in this instance; but, first of all, I wish to explain the secret of the undula ting motion, and how that motion might be gradually increased ad libitum.
The absurdity of the device is its extreme simplicity as compared with the effect on the wondering spectator. “If the hands of the ladies had any influence upon the movements of the table, such influence,” says the writer, “must have operated at right angles, or in opposite directions.” ”

“ There are tables which may be made so to stand partly on one of their massive squarish claws, and partly on the castor; and it is too much to attribute this propensity to spiritual influence, unless the writer had ascertained that the table could not be made to balance itself by ordinary manipulation, all Mediums being absent. The circumstance that nothing slid off or toppled over, but “the vase of flowers, the books, the little ornaments, remained as motionless as if they were fixed in their places,” is really according to ordinary experience, instead of contrary to it. ”

“ Home will meet some half dozen persons (myself included) , to be named by the Editor of this Magazine, and, under the conditions which they will prescribe, as essential to a full and fair examination, will prevail on the Spirits to manifest themselves more clearly, or if, under such conditions, they will even repeat the effects mentioned in the “Cornhill” narrative, I will, if I fail in accounting for the phenomena on some known laws of nature, at once admit Mr. Home’s pretensions as a Medium of the Spirit world. ”

“ While he or others are thus occupied, you may, if the opportunity present itself, seize a man’s foot under the table and bend it backwards and forwards; but should previously satisfy yourself (this is very material) that he has on leather, and not dress boots with silk tops, or he will be enabled to detect, with painful certainty, that he is seized not by a single hand, but by a pair of feet encased in women’s boots, and those boots without a doubt yours. ”

“ The lady at the side has simply to draw her feet underneath her chair, insert her knees beneath the bar which runs from leg to leg, alternately raise and depress either heel, and a rocking motion is easily established, the deflection being proportioned to the length of the table. I can obtain such a motion of the sofa-table at which I am writing, but I am obliged to command the Spirits to desist, because I desire to finish a readable sentence which shall not be a rocking enigma to the compositor. ”

“ The persons opposite are thrown into confusion by the unexpectedness and rapidity with which they are driven backwards on their chairs; and this very confusion, as is perfectly obvious, would prevent a steady attention on their part to the means “from whence the impetus is derived.” So far, there is nothing at all remarkable; nor after the table has been stopped by a sofa is it in any way strange that it should be tilted up after some preliminary straining (which accounts for some cracks and knocks) by the leverage power which I know that the limbs of Mediums can exert. ”

“ It would be just as impossible for him, as it proved for Robert-Houdin, on a certain well-known occasion, to communicate with the capricious spirits through the ordinarily successful medium Mr. Home. To make a free observation of the spirit world it will be found that we require an incognito; for the spirits are shy, the spirits are fastidious, the spirits are averse to every overture, if it comes from a suspected, because suspicious, inquirer. The spirits would not shake hands with me, for the spirits have no professional esprit de corps ”

“ Home himself, should be brushed away as so much dust which is simply calculated to mislead us.
When we come to the substantial allegations of the narrative, I find that the writer describes the séance as commencing about nine o’clock in the evening in a spacious drawing-room, no matter where. The company consisted of eight or nine ladies and gentlemen who took their seats at a round table in the centre of the room. In other parts of the room there were sofas and ottomans, and between the centre table and three windows, which filled up one side of the room, there was a large sofa. ”

“ There was no professional Medium in the party, and the extreme improbability that each successive batch included some person equally adroit and equally disposed to keep up the deception is conclusive as to the alternative that this was a mechanical table. As I remarked, mechanical or electrical apparatus is more frequently resorted to than is commonly imagined, and is the peculiar resource of private exhibitors. It is, however, the object of all Mediums to vary their agencies as much as possible, in order to frustrate the tests which may be employed for their detection. ”

“ It is really the object of Mediums to depend on machinery as little as possible, for machinery is not only unintelligent, it may not only fumble and make mistakes, but it precludes that triumph of a medium’s art, the submitting to the preliminary or subsequent test of an examination. ”

“ You may next place a Bible under the table for the spirits to turn over the leaves; of course you can kick them over with your feet, or as the book, on account of its thickness, refuses to keep open in one place, you can put your foot aside, and invite the sitters to look under the table, and see the leaves turning over without your assistance. When the company have resumed their original positions you may slip your right foot under one leaf, place your left firmly on the page, and lifting the toe of your right boot, turn up the corner and tread it sharply down ”

“ In this position, a desire having been expressed to the following effect, “the carpet is examined, and the legs and under surface of the table are explored, but without result.” A good deal depends on the question, Who is the examiner? There are none so blind as those who won’t see; but, assuming the inspection to be bonâ fide, still it may be made perfectly clear to any one that “there is no trace of any connection between the floor and the table,” for the means of support is not thence derived. ”

“ If my readers will really let their minds dwell on this combination for a moment, and if it does not tickle them, they must be deficient in a sense of humour.
“We must now,” says the writer, “have been in utter darkness, but for the pale light that came in through the window, and the flickering glare thrown fitfully over a distant part of the room by a fire which was rapidly sinking in the grate. ”

“ To get up an effective séance, the Medium should procure an assistant to engage the attention of the sitters while she manipulates.
Great care must be taken to preserve a natural manner, yet the Medium must never be off her guard, and never make a slip. She must never admit that any of the phenomena emanate from herself, but continually protest that she has no hand in the matter. ”

“ As far as I could hear, he afterwards began turning himself rapidly round, and in a loud powerful voice vociferated for Tornga with great impatience, at the same time blowing and snorting like a walrus. His noise, impatience, and agitation increased every moment ”

“ It would have been impossible to shift the feet or the hands, so as to attain this celerity without a derangement of the body, of which the contiguous sitters would have been sensible. Therefore I have not the slightest doubt that the lazy-tongs was the source of these phenomena, especially when I find the necessity for their employment, which arose at a subsequent stage of the performance, and to which I shall advert when I mount to that higher stage of the great Cornhill Mystery. ”

“ Now, I particularly point to this as one of the results which can be produced by the simplest agencies—so simple, that it would be astonishing that any one should regard it as mysterious, but for the assistance which the imagination of the witnesses themselves affords to the simple device of the performer. ”

“ As soon as the spirits decline to rap correctly, or earlier, if you please, you may suggest to the company that they may even be touched by spirit hands. To indicate their power, place a hand-bell underneath the table and ring it with your feet; then commence (by the methods already described) pulling the ladies’ dresses and gentlemen’s trousers, pinching their feet and ankles, and even lifting their legs off the ground, by clasping them round the ankle, as in figure 4. ”

“ If the performer has thin soles and no heels, he will be able to accomplish this on a soft carpet almost without noise, and he has simply to desist when attention is directed to his feet; or, if a lady is the source of the earthquake, her crinoline will conceal her pedal play. ”

“ A wary person may, however, easily frustrate this process by running through the alphabet, and studiously avoiding all emphasis, or by designedly emphasising, which is worse, the wrong letter, so that you find you are compounding utter nonsense,—that, in fact, he is leading the spirits by the nose to a brick wall. Of course you get out of this difficulty by saying that the spirits are uncertain or capricious, or that, for the sake of mere fun, they wilfully perplex you. ”

“ After this, the secret of the Medium’s power is the flexibility of her lower limbs. Her legs must do the work of arms, and her feet must be educated to act like hands. Any one who doubts this potentiality of the human frame knows nothing of its relation to the Quadrumana, or of the feats of the Indian jugglers. The Indian jugglers, as is known to the initiated, produce their most extraordinary effects by this very capacity. And therefore, we say, it is no use to contemplate coming out as a Medium unless you are provided with flexible legs and manipulative feet and toes. ”

“ Home; and this is so important, that I am solicitous not to lose a word of the writer’s description, and extract it that we may see just what it amounts to.
Mr. Home was seated next to the window. Through the semi-darkness his head was dimly visible against the curtains, and his hands might be seen in a faint white heap before him. Presently he said in a quiet voice, “My chair is moving—I am off the ground—don’t notice me—talk of something else,” or words to that effect. It was very difficult to restrain the curiosity not unmixed with a more serious feeling, which these few words awakened ”