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Famous Frauds As you read through this section you are sure to recall some of the names mentioned here. These are some of the most famous physical mediums from the late 19th and early 20th century who were, at the time, world famous due to their ability to produce fantastic manifestations from the spirit world. Each of these, regardless of any degree of psychical power, or lack thereof was debunked as frauds by scientific investigators of psychical research. When the rest of the world, like lemmings, was enthralled by the illusionary workings of these mediums and believed the events produced to be genuine, psychical researchers did not. Going against the popular opinion of the day the researchers exposed these money hungry, attention needy egotists for what they really were – frauds and thieves. By the time the “Roaring 20s” rolled around in America the Spiritualist movement was already in rapid decline due to the exposure of these mediums brought about primarily by psychical researchers as well as others who were now following their lead. Noted stage magician Harry Houdini (1874–1926) also exposed fraudulent mediums that produced physical materializations, spirit writing, spirit photography and other bogus phenomena by demonstrating how they were created in his act. The famous circus owner P.T. Barnum, the man who coined the phrase “There’s a sucker born every minute” even got into the act by exposing false spirit photography. As fascinating as their lives may have been the research of Houdini and Barnum is another issue. In this section we will be focusing on the fraudulent mediums and their exposure. Before you begin reading about the Abraham Lincoln Slate Writing it is probably in the best interest of the readers who are not familiar with “spirit writing” to have a brief explanation of this phenomenon detailed as there are two kinds of spirit writing; automatic writing and slate writing. Automatic writing entails the production of scripts which are created without the control of the conscious mind. This act was also referred to as trance writing. In cases where trance writing in concerned it is believed that an entity such as the spirit of a deceased person supposedly guides the hand of the medium to produce communications and other such scripts. Slate writing, is a form of communication in which the spirit entity itself writes with the chalk or slate pencil. The procedure to produce purported slate writings is for the medium and one “sitter” to take their seats at opposite ends of a small table. A small fragment of slate-pencil or chalk is placed under the table for the use of the spirit-writer. The medium and the sitter would then grasp a corner of an ordinary piece of slate which they would hold firmly against the underside of the table. If the séance was successful the medium and the sitter would hear a scratching sound, as if someone were writing on a slate. After a few moments three loud raps would indicate the conclusion of the message. At this the slate would be removed from under the table and would be found to have been partly covered with writing which would be either a general message allegedly from the spirit world or an answer to some question previously written down by the sitter. Pierre Louie Ormand Augustus Keeler & the Abraham Lincoln Slate Writing History & Exhibit A most famous piece of slate writing communication was “produced” by Keeler which was allegedly written by the spirit of Abraham Lincoln. The slate, which is on display, is exhibited in at the Lily Dale Spiritualist Camp Museum in western New York. The message, written in chalk, reads: “We come to you, sir, because we see you are spreading the truth in the right way. I understood this phenomenon while in earth life, and had I lived, should of proclaimed it to the world. Press forward my brother. Never let thy step stray from the path of progress and truth. Your friend, Abraham Lincoln.” It should be noted that, if this was indeed Lincoln’s spirit writing on this slate, he mentioned that he “understood this phenomenon.” This would be a reference to the well known fact that that Lincoln’s wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, regularly attended séances and at one time even held one in the White House’s Red Parlor. President Lincoln accidentally stumbled upon the session and intently observed the events with curiosity. On a separate occasion the president accompanied his wife to a séance at a private home. The president, however, was a skeptic. It has been suggested that Lincoln’s limited involvement and attendance at such events was due to a desire to protect his wife. Mrs. Lincoln turned to spiritualism during her period of bereavement over the death of their eleven-year-old son, Willie, in 1862. Analysis Even apart from the self-serving nature of the Lincoln message, which really is only an endorsement of spiritualism and of Keeler’s latest phenomena, the message does not seem to be authentically President Lincoln’s style, which is deduced from his preserved writings. When we look just a bit deeper we note that President Lincoln typically signed his letters and writings with “A. Lincoln.” He reserved the more formal full signature “Abraham Lincoln” for presidential documents. Several elements found within of the text are suspicious, including the use of “thy” in the last sentence. Thy, which is an archaic form of the word “your,” is uncharacteristic of Lincoln. Thy is often used by pretentious writers trying to sound poetical or wishing to affect a pseudo-biblical tone. Also another uncharacteristic trait and one of the most obvious and significant in the message is is where “Lincoln” wrote “should of” instead of should have. This is an unmistakable grammatical error, a mistake that Lincoln would not have made. Even with the other glaring contradictions we now look to the script itself to provide information about the message on the slate. Since Keeler’s writings were supposedly done by Lincoln’s own hand (so to speak) the writing should match preserved samples of Lincoln’s writing. When comparing samples of Lincoln’s writings while he was in office to the script on the slate it has been found that the script on the slate is unquestionably not that of Lincoln. Some of the most tell-tale signs of the slate script are that it is written with a backward slant where as Lincoln’s own writing has a normal slant to it. Also the specific style of the individual letters is not contoured the way Lincoln’s were in any of his documents. To conclude, the “Lincoln” message is a forged fraud. In all reality it was probably scrawled by Keeler himself during the séance, when the lights were low and he had some cover to work by. Over the years, since it was first produced, the “Lincoln” message has been studied by many people, most of which came to the same conclusion as has been evidenced here.
The Peculiar Phenomenon of Henry Slade Henry Slade (1835-1905) was a widely known American medium with what could be called, at best, a checkered career. Slade is arguably the best-known slate writer within the history of Spiritualism and for good reason. Slade claims to have been the first one to have discovered the slate writing technique. Besides slate-writing, Slade produced partial phantasmal materializations and strong telekinetic phenomena. Slade’s slate writings were a phenomenon that skeptics and believers were bitterly divided over in both America and in Britain. Exposure
On
several instances however, Slade was caught with prepared slates or in
other forms of fraudulent behavior. The writing on the slate was of two
kinds. The general messages were very legible and clearly punctuated,
but when the communication came in answer to questions it was clumsy,
scarcely legible, abrupt and vague. It bore traces of hasty work under
difficult conditions as these impromptu messages could not be prepared
in advance. The Infamous Hydesville Knockings of Margaret and Kate Fox History & Exhibit Near Rochester, New York the new found interest of Spiritualism received a pair of its youngest and most notable contributors in 1848 – Kate and Margaret Fox. Margaret Fox, eight years of age at the time and her sister Kate, about six-and-a-half, claimed to have the ability to communicate with the dead, as was evidenced by strange rapping noises when spirits were purportedly in their presence. The girls would question the spirit and the spirit would, in turn knock thrice for “yes” and once for “no.” As the girls mediumistic abilities increased the answering system changed from three knocks for “no” to just two. Their mother who, after a short time, became frightened as the knockings increased in frequency could not take it any longer. She asked the neighbors to come to the house and proceeded to tell them about the strange occurrences. Word of the girls abilities spread and by 1849 the Fox sisters would conduct the first public demonstration of their mediumship abilities at Corinthian Hall in New York. A Murder at the Fox Home After a time all of the neighbors were convinced some one had been murdered in the house and that is why the spirit was there. The girls were asked to communicate with the spirit to confirm the belief that a murder had occurred in the house. During a brief session of communication the spirit confirmed that there was indeed a murder than had occurred in the house. From the “evidence” everyone concluded that the murder must have been committed somewhere in the house. From this point the family and the neighbors went door to door throughout the surrounding area in an attempt to get the names of people who had formerly lived in the house. They found finally a man, by the surname of Bell. The rumor then spread quickly this was the man who had committed the murder and that the mysterious noises in the house came from the spirit of the murdered person. In the End, a Confession of Fraud Throughout her life Margaret Fox had been able to produce peculiar knocking sounds which were believed to be spiritual manifestations. Her trickery was performed in such a skillful manner that it would baffle all attempts at discovery for four decades. It was Margaret who was the most expert of the Fox sisters at creating the noises and it was she who was first brought before the public as a medium. The following is a direct quote from an interview with Margaret Fox in the New York World newspaper of October 21, 1888 concerning her mediumistic abilities and the alleged spirit knockings: “I think that it is about time that the truth of this miserable subject “Spiritualism” should be brought out. It is now widespread all over the world, and unless it is put down soon it will do great evil. I was the first in the field and have the right to expose it.” “My sister Kate and I were very young children when this horrible deception began. I was eight, and just a year and half older than she. We were very mischievous children and we wanted to terrify our dear mother, who was a very good woman and very easily frightened. At night, when we went to bed, we used to tie an apple to a string and move the string up and down, causing the apple to bump on the floor, or we would drop the apple on the floor, making a strange noise every time it would rebound. My mother listened to this for a time. She could not understand it and did not suspect us of being capable of a trick because we were so young.” “That’s the way we began. First as a mere trick to frighten mother, and then, when so many people came to see us children, we were frightened ourselves and kept it up. We were then taken by Mrs. Underhill (the girls older sister) to Rochester. It was there it that we discovered how to make the other raps. My sister Kate was the first one to discover that by swishing her fingers she could produce a certain noise with the knuckles and joints, and that the same effect could be made with the toes. Finding that we could make raps with our feet - first with one foot, and then with both - we practiced until we could do this easily when the room was dark. No one suspected us of any trick because we were such young children. We were led on by my sister purposely and by my mother unintentionally. We often heard her say, "Is this a disembodied spirit that has taken possession of my dear children?”
Spirit Paintings of the Campbell Brothers Among the phenomena that mediums produced during high point of Spiritualism in the US “spirit paintings.” These paintings were artworks which were created in various types of media and produced under conditions which would suggest superhuman intervention such as near or complete darkness or unusually short periods of time. It was soon after the debut of slate-writing that spirit paintings also began to appear. At first the pictures were drawn with a simple slate pencil, but at time progressed ornate paintings were rendered with colored chalks or oil paints. The Campbell “brothers” were not actually brothers at all, as they were unrelated. They were a gay couple who used the name as a cover in a time when differences in sexual orientation were less tolerated. The “brothers” were Allan B. Campbell (1833-1919) and Charles “Campbell” who was born Charles Shourds (1926). The Campbells' “spirit” artists produced pastel and oil portraits, one of which is a striking 40 x 60-inch painting of Allan Campbell's spirit guide, Azur. This particular painting was produced in 1898, during a single sitting which lasted only an hour and a half. In a signed statement, six witnesses, all of which were spiritualists, described the conditions under which the painting was produced: “On the evening mentioned we met at the cottage of the Campbell Brothers on the hill we entered the house and proceeded to their Egyptian séance room. Across the bay window at the end of the room was hung a large silk curtain, where stood a small table and a blank canvas of which the measurements were 40 inches by 60 inches. Each one in turn went up to the canvas and magnetized it by passing his hands over the surface. We then placed whatever marks we pleased on the back, some placing names, some numbers, some marks to suit their fancy. Mr. Allan Campbell then invited one of the circle to sit with him in the impromptu cabinet with the silken curtain enclosing them; each member of the circle in turn sat within the cabinet with Mr. Campbell. Every time the curtain was withdrawn we saw the partly finished picture of Azur. During the entire séance there was light enough for us to see everything perfectly and note the gradual growth of the painting on the canvas. Mr. Allan Campbell was entranced and Azur, using his organism, gave us some very beautiful words of welcome and lessons of a high order. He spoke of the stars and their significance, which we fully realized afterwards. After some music, additional lights were brought, the curtain withdrawn, and lo! The picture was complete. It represented Azur with arms uplifted as in the act of speaking and fully life size. While we were admiring it, there came at the back of the head a six-pointed star, which is now distinctly seen.” Analysis Q. It was stated that the picture was only observed in stages, so how could it be fraudulently produced under the conditions described and in such a short time for this size of oil painting? A: Skeptics of the day who exposed fraudulent mediums and the like fount that there were two major techniques used for spirit paintings rendered in oils. The first method is for the medium to take an ordinary oil-painting and lightly glue around the edges. Before the glue is dry another piece of blank canvas is placed over the painting so that there is the illusion of a blank canvas. As soon as the opportunity presents itself and medium is alone in the cabinet he or she may carefully peel off this outside piece of canvas. In order for the medium to produce the impression of the painting still being wet he or she would quickly brush over the painting with poppy-oil. The second method of creating a fraudulent spirit painting was to use chemicals to disguise a prepared painting on the canvas. This was done by varnishing the oil-painting, allowing the varnish to dry, and then cover the whole of the surface of the varnished painting with a mixture of white zinc powder and water. After this process is complete the canvas will have the appearance of being blank. When the medium is ready to “paint” the picture all they have to do is to lightly brush over the canvas with a wet sponge and the painting will appear as it did before. With the second technique the zinc could be sponged off incrementally so that the picture seems to develop in stages. This would also cause the painting to appear as if fresh paint was still on the canvas when it would be brought before the viewers. No matter which method the medium would use the sitters' marks on the back of the canvas was a poor failsafe to prevent substitution.-All this did was give the sitters a false sense of authenticity as canvas swapping was a common ploy amongst spirit-painting mediums. Now, as a final point, we must be address how “star-shaped halo” appeared on the painting as the sitters were examining it. In assessing this phenomenon from a purely psychological standpoint we are led to believe that the star, which is not particularly bold in the painting, was not noticed by the sitters at first. Then, when someone noticed it and the attention of the sitters was focused on it they were deceived by the power of suggestion into thinking it had spontaneously materialized. The Bangs Sisters of Chicago History & Exhibit Elizabeth S. and May E. Bangs were reportedly mediums since childhood; however their “gift” of spirit painting did not appear until late 1894. The Bangs sisters offered an array of mediumistic phenomenon such as clairvoyance, séance trumpet effects, spirit materializations, automatic writing, spirit typewriting, and slate effects. In spite of the other phenomenon produced the Bangs sisters were most famous for their alleged ghost-rendered paintings. On their business card they advertised “Life Sized Spirit Portraits a Specialty.” Fraud Exposed The Bangs sisters had been exposed as frauds many times. Once, a minister by the name of Stanley L. Krebs sat for a demonstration that purportedly involved producing a spirit to reply to a multi-paged letter that the Reverend had been instructed to bring. This letter was to be sealed in an envelope so that no trickery could take place. At the beginning of the séance the sealed letter was placed between two slates which were then bound with string. Thanks to careful observation (and the use of a small mirror that permitted viewing under the table) Krebs was able to see how the bound slates were secretly wedged apart and the envelope dropped into Elizabeth’s lap. From there the envelope was transferred to a tray on the floor and drawn under a closed door. In time, after Elizabeth’s sister had done the work of steaming open the envelope and penning a reply, the seemingly impossible effect was complete. As far as the sisters “specialty” goes, they were known to have used a variety of techniques to produce their “spirit portraits.” The most common method was to have the sitter bring a photograph of the dead person to be painted, leave it overnight, and the following day the spirits would paint the portrait. In cases of one-day service the photograph was supposed to be concealed from the sister’s view. This however, does not create any authenticity as they may have gotten access to the photo much in the same way that they did with the letter. Analysis How were the pictures actually produced? The evolution of the sister’s techniques would seem consistent with deception. The early cabinet method suggests the pictures were simply painted by the sisters out of patrons' view where the most recent productions which were said to be “done in five minutes” involved the substitution of a previously prepared picture. The substitution would involve two identical, paper-mounted canvases in wooden frames which were held face to face against the window. A short curtain was hung on either side and an opaque blind was drawn over the canvases. With the light streaming in from the rear the canvases appeared to be translucent and blank. After a quarter of an hour the outlines of shadows began to appear and disappear as if the invisible artist made a preliminary sketch, then the picture began to grow at a feverish rate and when the frames were separated the portrait was found on the paper surface of the canvas next to the sitter. This effect was reproduced by stage magicians who were probably inspired by the Bangs sisters' phenomenon. One incident is particularly revealing: A couple who had sought a picture of their deceased son concluded that the resulting image resembled him only "in a general way" and "was not even a fairly good portrait. The couple did not have a photograph of their son. This alone would convince many skeptics that the Bangs sisters were frauds all along and lacked the mediumistic talent to properly create and complete the picture.
William Mumler's Spirit Photography
Spirit
photography was an incredibly widespread phenomenon during the
nineteenth century. This “new” form of photography found its start in
Boston, Massachusetts in 1862. The man behind the incredible phenomenon
was William Mumler who was, by trade, a photographer. The premise of
Mumler’s spirit photography was that departed spirits could be revealed
when photographed. Mumler offered proof of his technique in photos he
had taken in his studio. There spirits would appear as translucent
images floating beside or behind the living subjects who were also being
photographed. Exposure The tenants of spirit photography were taken to court in New York City in April of 1869. On the docket was a case which would be the preliminary hearing for William H. Mumler. Mumler was charged with fraud for selling photographs that he claimed to have images of ghosts or spirits in them. Before the trial even began P.T. Barnum volunteered to testify against him. As Barnum prepared his testimony he asked Abraham Bogardus, a respectable and knowledgeable photographer, to prepare a set of images which were to be identical, save for the fact that one photograph would be as it was taken and the other would have a “spirit” in it. Barnum posed for these photos and, thanks to Bogardus, the “spirit image” of Abraham Lincoln could be seen floating behind Barnum's right shoulder in one photo. Barnum felt that he should demonstrate that “spirit photographs” could be easily manufactured by any competent photographer. Also, during the trial, Barnum felt that he should make a point to differentiate between his own “entertainment” and those of the spirit photographers. Barnum argued that despite his reputation for occasionally misleading the public, “I have never been in any business where I did not give value and entertainment for the money.” The hearing attracted nationwide attention including the front cover of Harper's Weekly. In the end, the judge reluctantly decided to drop the charges against Mumler, citing a lack of evidence. The judge explained “… although I may personally believe that trick and deception had been practiced by Mumler, I my capacity as magistrate, was compelled to decide that the prosecution had failed to prove their case. |