The Mammoth Book of True Hauntings

by Haining, Peter

  The following night I went down again at Mlle Renaudot’s request, as she did not dare to remain alone in the room she was so disturbed, and I slept beside her. I heard some slight further noises, but was much less afraid. We slept very well, and then everything ceased.

  It seemed as if my presence interfered with the noises, for they became feebler after I came and then stopped entirely.

  Nevertheless, I heard them only too well. They were very impressive and extremely disagreeable to me.

  I also slept in Mme Bonnefoy’s bed with Mlle Renaudot on the nights of Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday; but we heard nothing more, fortunately for me, for I should not like to pass again through the half-hour of April 27.

  (Sg.) MARIE THIONNET.

  CHERBOURG, May 7, 1918.

  CESARE LOMBROSO was the leading Italian psychic investigator who had been drawn to the paranormal through his admiration for the work of the SPR and in particular that of W F Barrett and William James. Lombroso’s books such as After Death – What? (1908) earned him praise as “a champion of the new trend in human thought in psychiatry”. One of his most fascinating enquiries was into the powers of the leading Italian medium, Eusapia Paladino. At one of her séances – as he describes in Experiments With Eusapia (1908) – he claimed to have seen the ghost of his mother.

  A DEAD MOTHER’S KISS

  Location and date: Genoa, Italy 1903

  At the end of Eusapia’s séances, especially the more successful ones, true spectral appearances occurred, though much more rarely. Among the more important of these, inasmuch as it was seen by many and was repeated, I note not only the apparition of the deceased son of Vassallo, but also the one first confessed to me personally by Morselli (however put in doubt afterwards) of his mother, who kissed him, dried his eyes, said certain words to him, then again appeared to him, caressed him, and, to prove her personal identity, lifted his hand and placed it on the right eyebrow of the medium (“It is not there,” said Morselli), and then placed it on her own forehead, on which, near the eyebrow, was a little blemish. Morselli was seated at the right of Eusapia, while on the other side was Porro (see below).

  I myself had the opportunity of examining a similar apparition in Genoa in 1903. The medium (Eusapia Paladino) was in a state of semi-intoxication, so that I should have thought that nothing would be forthcoming for us. On being asked by me, before the séance opened, if she would cause a glass inkstand to move in full light, she replied, in that vulgar speech of hers, “And what makes you obstinately stuck on such trifles as that? I can do much more: I can cause you to see your mother. You ought to be thinking of that.”

  Prompted by that promise, after half an hour of the séance had passed by, I was seized with a very lively desire to see her promise kept. The table at once assented to my thought by means of its usual sign-movements up and down; and soon after (we were then in the semi-obscurity of a red light) I saw detach itself from the curtain a rather short figure like that of my mother, veiled, which made the complete circuit of the table until it came to me, and whispered to me words heard by many, but not by me, who am somewhat hard of hearing. I was almost beside myself with emotion and begged her to repeat her words. She did so, saying, “Cesar, fio mio!” (I admit at once that this was not her habitual expression, which was, when she met me, “mio fiol”; but the mistakes in expression made by the apparitions of the deceased are well known, and how they borrow from the language of the psychic and of the experimenters), and, removing the veil from her face for a moment, she gave me a kiss.

  After that day the shade of my mother (alas! only too truly a shadow) reappeared at least twenty times during Eusapia’s séances while the medium was in trance; but her form was enveloped in the curtain of the psychic’s cabinet, her head barely appearing while she would say, “My son, my treasure,” kissing my head and my lips with her lips, which seemed to me dry and ligneous like her tongue.

  ALBERT von SCHRENCK-NOTZING was the most famous German pioneer of psychic investigation and worked on numerous cases in his own country as well as with colleagues in Italy, France and Britain. A physician in Munich specializing in psychiatry, he founded the Gesellschaft fur Metapsychische Forschung and began a study of telekinesis and teleplastics which made him famous. Among his numerous books were Phenomena of Materialisation (1920) in which he claimed to have witnessed a number of genuine physical phenomena and discussed several of the leading mediums of his time including Will Schneider, Eusapia Palladino and Marthe Beraud known as “Eva C”. Schrenck-Notzing’s rigorous tests of “Eva C” were said to “have convinced Continental savants of the genuineness of the phenomena”.

  THE PHENOMENA OF MATERIALISATION

  Location and date: Munich, Germany, 1913

  In the sitting of 9th May 1913 the medium Eva C. was completely sewn into a tricot garment in one piece, which only left her hands free. Her head was enveloped in a veil, sewn on to the neck of the garment all round, and her hands remained visible in the light during the whole sitting, and took no part.

  The materialisation phenomenon, developed outside this cage, which enclosed her whole body, and could not, therefore, have been produced by rumination, unless we assume that the substance penetrated the veil. Such a penetration could be photographically proved under the same rigid conditions in the case of two different mediums. The process by which the material penetrated through the meshes of the veil has no connection with the act of rumination, and in this, as well as in previous occurrences, other hypotheses must be brought forward for an explanation.

  Finally, rumination presupposes an abnormal functioning of the stomach and gullet, as well as the dilatation of the walls of the stomach. In the two mediums with whom the author experimented (girls of twenty-six and nineteen respectively) such pathological peculiarities are not found, nor could they have been hidden from observation for four years. There are no indications pointing in that direction.

  It has also been objected that the medium can always prepare herself behind the closed curtain, so that there is always a possibility of making materialisations appear without any apparent participation by the mouth.

  This objection also does not apply. Hands and feet remained visible even when the curtain was closed. In a number of sittings the materialisation process even commenced during hypnotisation, and the author had hardly time to open the cameras. In the sitting of 17th May 1910, which also began with an open curtain, the author sat by the medium in the cabinet and observed the evolution out of Eva’s mouth of a flocculent substance, which in no way corresponded to the supposed scheme of rumination. The production of complete head images often took place so quickly after hypnosis (e.g., 1st June 1912) that the fraudulent technique required for rumination was rendered impossible owing to the shortness of the time available.

  On 1st June 1910 the phenomena were observed with an open curtain. At the sitting of 28th October 1910 the curtain was open from the beginning. Further records of curtains being open will be found in the reports of 3rd November and 28th December 1910, 7th June and 16th August 1911, and 11th September 1912.

  Although the above arguments, which could easily be multiplied, dispose of the hypothesis of the rumination of swallowed objects, that hypothesis was further investigated in a sitting on 26th November 1913 in Paris. The initial and final examination of the medium (mouth, nose, and hair, as well as a gynaecological examination), of the séance costume and the cabinet, conducted by the Paris physician Dr Bourbon, and the author, were negative. M. Bourdet and Mme Bisson were also present. Eva C. dined at seven o’clock. The sitting commenced at 8.45 p.m. in a feeble white light. Hands and knees were visibly inactive during the whole sitting. The medium did not leave her chair in the cabinet for a moment. The curtains were open while the phenomenon took place.

  Between 9 p.m. and 9.10 p.m. without the help of the hands or knees, a flowing white substance emerged from the medium’s mouth, which was inclined towards the left. It was about 20 inches long and 8 inches broad.
It lay on the breast of the dress, spread out, and formed a white head-like disk, with a face profile turned to the right, and of life size. Even after the flashlight was ignited the curtain remained wide open. At the same moment the author illuminated the structure with an electric torch, and found that it formed a folded strip, which receded slowly into the medium’s mouth, and remained visible until the sitting closed at 9.20 p.m.

  While in the state of hypnosis, the medium rose from her chair and took an emetic tendered to her by the author (1 gramme ipecacuanha and ½ gramme tartar emetic), was completely undressed while standing half in and half out of the cabinet, and examined in detail by the author and Dr Bourbon, who took charge of the séance costume, and also examined it carefully. The final examination of the cabinet and chair gave no result. Dressed in a dressing-gown, Eva C. was then laid on a couch in the room, and was not left unobserved for a moment.

  After two further doses of the same strength, vomiting set in at 9.30 p.m., which brought up the contents of the stomach. The quantity was about a pint, and was taken charge of by the author, who did not give it out of his hands until he handed it over to the Masselin Laboratory in Paris for analysis. The vomit was brown in colour, and besides the wafers taken with the powders there was no trace of any white substance such as observed by us. The detailed report of the Laboratory in question, dated 29th November 1913, closes with the words:

  “The final result of the examination shows that the vomit consisted exclusively of food products and the emetics, and contained fragments of meat, fruit, and vegetables, probably mushrooms, which were found in pieces of considerable size. The rest of the contents consisted of food in an advanced state of digestion. There was not the slightest trace of a body whose appearance or histological structure gave the impression of a foreign body, or of a substance not used for nutrition, and, in particular, there was no trace of paper or chiffon.”

  ERIC JOHN DINGWALL, anthropologist and, author, was for many years the Chief Research Officer of the British and American Societies for Psychical Research and claimed to have investigated over 3,000 cases, some of the more unusual of which he described in How To Go To A Medium (1927). Of these, he maintained that except for five ghosts, there was a logical explanation for every one he hunted. Only one case left him completely baffled, the events he witnessed while investigating a young English girl of extraordinary powers in 1923. He recounted the story later for Weekend Magazine.

  THE MYSTERY OF STELLA C

  Location and date: London, UK, 1923

  I believe that 95 per cent of all supernatural mysteries have a natural explanation. Perhaps I have been lucky to solve all but five of the 3,000 cases I have handled. But those remaining five have me completely baffled.

  I have attended thousands of Spiritualist séances, and spent months in America with Houdini, the greatest magician of them all, finding out how fake mediums work the tricks of their trade. But a 21-year-old English girl, Stella C., gave a performance that left me stumped.

  This was not the usual messages from the other side, the turning tables and blaring trumpets. This was far more uncanny.

  I arrived late at the meeting – too late to get a seat in the circle of chairs, so I sat outside it.

  Stella C. sat at a table beneath which a series of small objects had been placed on the floor. The idea was to see if a spirit force could be persuaded to move them.

  The red beam of a lantern threw the shadows of the objects on to a screen in such a way that if any material thing moved them, its shadow would also be projected on to the screen, which we could all see.

  When the main light was turned out I crawled to the table to see what was going on under it.

  There, slithering over the carpet towards the objects, was something so fantastic that I could hardly credit the evidence of my own senses. I can only describe the thing as looking like a small pigeon’s egg, attached to what seemed like a thick neck of macaroni. As the “thing” came into the beam of the lantern it stopped, gave a shudder and shot away into the darkness. But it threw no shadow.

  To this day I have no idea what it was. And remember, nobody knew that I was on the floor looking under that table.

  HARRY HOUDINI (born Erich Weiss), the most famous escapologist in history, was also fascinated by the supernatural and investigated a number of hauntings as well as numerous fake mediums, reporting the best of these in A Magician Among The Spirits (1924). In 1926 he also lent his name to a Bill going through Congress to outlaw all forms of fortune telling. On his death bed, Houdini promised to send a message from the “other world” and for half a century a group of followers met each year in the hospital room in Detroit where he died hoping in vain for a sign. Two years earlier, in April 1924 in a series of articles about his enquiries, Houdini related the following story of the remarkable events that occurred while he was attempting to expose what he called “yet another shabby fraud”.

  THE HOAX OF THE SPIRIT LOVER

  Location and date: Montana, USA, 1920

  One of the most remarkable instances of coincidence that ever came under my observation took place some years ago, in Montana, a coincidence so remarkable that if a story or a novel were built around it the incident would be considered so highly improbable that the yarn would be entirely unconvincing.

  The incident occurred quite unexpectedly during my attempt to expose a charlatan medium. It made my attempt unnecessary. The medium himself was a victim of the improbable coincidence and his boasted powers of materializing spirits were proved a shabby fraud.

  Three men came to my hotel room in the town in Montana, and asked me to aid them in exposing a medium whose powers seemed so miraculous as to admit of no explanation except supernatural aid. One of the three men was a minister of the gospel. All had tried to pick flaws in the medium’s powers, and had attended one of his séances without succeeding.

  One of the men, a lawyer, declared that he was about convinced of the reality of the medium’s pretended spiritualistic powers.

  “Were it not that to admit spiritualism opens the door for a wave of superstition and charlatanry,” he said, “I would quit right now and acknowledge myself convinced. The three of us attended a séance last night, in the third story of an office building. We locked the door, locked the window, examined the room carefully, examined the medium’s portable cabinet, and then the lights were extinguished, and spirit materializations took place. There was no possible chance for the medium to have confederates enter the room, nor is there any explanation of the materializations except that given by the medium.”

  I smiled, and agreed to do whatever I could to learn what deception the medium was practising in his séances.

  “It sounds very convincing,” I said. “But there must be some plausible, natural explanation. If, in my study of spiritualistic phenomena, I had accepted defeat every time I was baffled by something that I could not explain, then I would not have got very far with my investigations. Instead of saying that there is no explanation except an acceptence of spiritualism, I have said to myself merely, ‘I have not yet found the true explanation.’ It may be that I shall absolutely fail to pierce the methods of this charlatan who has tricked you. My failure would not prove that the medium had power to call spirits into materialisation. There is no reason we should accept spiritualism, which is contrary to all our natural experiences, unless we have absolute proof of it. Failure to disprove spiritualism is far from being positive proof of the reality of spiritualism. I am as open-minded as anybody else on this subject, but I want positive proof. Mere failure to prove fraud in any given ease is not a proof of spiritualism. It is simply an indication that the true explanation of the medium’s phenomena has not yet been fathomed.”

  It was the following might that I was to assist my friends in attempting to show up the medium. The more I pondered the deeception played on them, the more inexplicable seemed the materialization. I was certain that the alleged materialization was nothing more nor less than a flesh a
nd blood human being in the employ of the medium. There must be some way of entry to the room. My friends had locked the door and the window. It occurred to me that the medium or his confederate might have had a pass key, or he might have made his way over the transom, or the lock on the window might be broken. I have had too much experience in opening locks to believe very strongly in their power to keep people out of rooms.

  We met, late at night, in the third story of an office building, the minister, the lawyer, and myself. The medium and several men and women were already there. The third of the trio who had called on me arrived a little later. He was a grocer or confectioner – I do not remember which. The medium remarked that there were certain psychic influences in the room that worked against any spiritualistic manifestations, and looked pointedly, as he spoke, at the grocer, who was a small man with cold, skeptical gray eyes and rather a determined chin. I had been introduced to the medium as Mr Koehler, and evidently he did not suspect me.

  My eyes traveled around the room. There was but one window, and the door was secured by a Yale lock. It could be opened from inside. Immediately it flashed through my mind that the medium had a confederate in the room, who would open the door and admit the materialization, but the grocer pointed out to me that this could not be done, because there was a light burning in the hall, and this would be visible to those in the room if the door were opened. I answered, rather curtly, that it should be a comparatively easy matter to extinguish the light in the hall, and my friend merely shrugged his shoulders in reply.

  There were about a dozen in the room besides the medium when the séance began. Seven of these were women, although the usual proportion of women at a spiritualistic séance is much higher. The medium aroused my suspicions immediately by throwing a double curtain over the window, “to keep out the light,” as he explained. The night was dark, and only a very little light could enter the room from outside. One black curtain would be sufficient. When the medium used two, I felt sure that he wished to conceal the entrance of someone through the window after the room should be plunged in darkness. I had examined the window carefully before the curtains were put up, and satisfied myself that there was no means of getting to the window from outside, as there was a drop of two stories to the ground, and no fire escape near, but the action of the medium in arranging a double curtain over the window caused me to revise my theories.