The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1853-03-12
From the Ohio State Journal
Spiritual kappIugs

As the splrt ipocklngs are rugro.sng the ri.
.rn,jon oi lhou>rnj. uf our 'cllnw citizens ~ va
r,ous places, aud N fact in almost every neigh
borhoDd in the United Satr. and aS our vicinity
la, been, and is now. visited hy the so cdliri
Spirits from the Spirit Land and hy th. agency
Of n certain class Of p'r-ons cal ed inaduns."
condsscending to converse with mankind, aud
convey certain revelations heretofore unknown to
man
! Now, for the benefit Of the curious in these
mrttcrs, | will give y.u an account Of somG ex.
I 'riments made n, this place. On Friday even.
ing the ith inst, = number Of pei sous met at the
office Of J. d. West Esq, among whom were four
( me l'ums. A stand such rs is used for the ordn
ary purposes in house, being four square, with
/ -four feet, was placed in the center Of the room
and he mediums laced themselves around 49,
with their hands on the iopof tho stand and SOON
they notified the assembly that the Spirits were
Visiting the intsrrogatori.s Of persons wishing to
converse, and upon questions being asked, the ar
swers were, a. usual gwen in the affirmative by
the stand raising towards the strongest medidm.
lu order to ascertain what the cause Of th. 50 com
muncntions were, caused the feet Of the stand
to BE placed upon h,t pieces Of cork, which is
non conductor of electricity and on the top Of the
stand ! placed six fiat pieces of cork, on the top
which placed two iXhts Of common window
glass (nnother non conductor After having done
,his, the mediums placed their hands on the glass
aud soon infprmtdus us that the Spirits were again
in waiting. then caused the hands of the me.
dums to be wrapped in silk the better to destroy
ths communication hetwson the mediums and the
stand. ! then took piece Of copper wire, the
one of which was fastened to piece Of cork, and
wrapped it around the wrists Of eaci, OF the me.
dun., and con lnued from one to the other and
from the last one piece Of wrapped copper wire.
r., Il
extending from the mediums out n, the window.
the end Of which was fastened around piece Of
iron and place below the surface uf the earth.
A soon as thi. was all Gone, the mediums
could no longer cause the stand to raise nor could
answers be procured from the Spirits to questions
asked although several trials were made A
numb, Of questions were asked but no response
could he had from the Sprrlts--they seemed 10
b. operating in another direction That is. the
Spirits were spirtiny themselves away upon the
wires, in, presume, the same manner that the
electric flld is being conveyed by lightning
rod. or by the telegraph. The fact OF the escape
of Ihs electricity along the ercs was proven by
tue trembling Of the wires as it seemed To pass
swav. resembling the beating Of the pulse. !
al.p made another experiment. n f"llovs:
After taking "tt the glass, silks and wires. the
medium. soon informed u that tie Spirits would
write any name IN piece of paper field it up
tightly anil lay ton thr stand, and hfn request
81 the person to leave the room so that no per
..n in the room could know what WAS written.
The mediums inquired Of the Spirits about tho
contents Of the paper, and elected the following
answer: That the prr,uo who's. name was writ
ten thereon. died n, the age of ten years. Of the
small poX' he paper was immediately cpcncd
and Judge of the surprise OF The mediums, nnd
also Of number # pcr,uus present who were Le.
LEVERS in the spirit knocking " hen the name Of
Sampson was found written upon the paper
/ Now. what greater evidence can he I,guit.d Of
the f,l,y Of tho whole humbug, than the fore
gong experiments provei That. instead ot Spirit-.
it i. clertricty ccniiollrd 10y the will # either af
the mediums or Of some one resent that causes
the knockings J.Cng SHAFrLR.
We the unjer,.n-d committee, who we're
present and under whose immediate a"tics and
supervision the experiment. If Jarob SbaFr',
above named. were conducted certify that the
abnve statements arc truo and correct and that
the same was done fairly ani lmphrti,lly.
RnBrnr SuIfLn, J MooGE,
j u. GRAHAM, j. b. WE-r,
]. p PHuAp., VINCENT iiuTsoS,
RlcH.Rp RuaAps, T. LONGsuoRR.
/ Reyn,lIsbur., Ohio, Feb. ilh, 1858.
B. The Spirit Rnppngs, Mc'n ersm, and
Biology, believe all have the same origin in
Eec,rIciIy, rs can prove by far experiments.
Flst Place ia, Mrsmcr-e or subject. un chair,
aud put Oh him suit uf .l.k clo.hlug, or wrap
the rnpn in -i!k, and have no other clothing on
him. Then wrap the Mrsmcrizcrs vrb, with
copper Nrc aud attach another pscs of copper
wire long cnou.h To reach out uf the house ft,t,n
on. end io piece iron place 1t below the sur
face If The earth, So as tu convey of the electric
tluld, in the same manner a. the above expert
ment. Sum up the " hole Of the experintn. To.
gslher. and You will find 1t to be nothing more or
les. than one Of the lmmulahle laws uf nature
that all terrestrial substances are psrvadcd with
7 the electrical illid. the connecting link between
mind ard matter that may be called into activity
in various ways, in u greater or less degree. and
then controlled by ,hs will Of the operator, or
some other person present JAcon snRrrLi.