Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1891-05-30
SUPERNATURAL STORIES.
IN WHICH ARE RELATED SOME TRUE s" o.
RIES OF STRANGE EVENTS.


Iished in the GALAXY Magazine called
"Aut Diabolu, aut Nihil About two
years ago a somewhat enlarged version of
the same tale with the same title appeared
in BldchIroods magazine in London.
Whether the second version was clean
steal, or whether the author of the first
himself rewrote and republished it, do
not know; at any rate it was an uncom-
monty good story.
The gist of it was that company Of
young men of birth and education in
Paris were in the habit of assembling Pc
riodically for certain mysterious pur
pose. An outsider having secretly OBJ
tanned admission. saw from his place of
concealment, behind curtain, hand
some square room with bare, polished
floor and without furniture, brilliantly
lighted by gas jets along the cornices.
The company of young men in evening
dress stood around the room in circle,
with hands joined, and chanted some
sort of an incarnation. As it proceeded a
species of excitement was infused into
them-an electric sympathy of will and
definite purpose. The chant grew more
intense. AT length they Frustrated them
selves and, bending forward, kissed the
polished floor simultaneously. Where
upon the onlooker became aware that an
other figure was standing in the centerof
the circle. He was very tall, of stately
figure, clad, like the rest of the company,
in full dress his hair was black and crisp,
and his collntenance refined, polished,
and naughty. He glanced down at his
worshipers with an expression of cOnde-
scension, of scorn, of satanic composure,
such as could belong only to His Diabolic
Majesty himself, until the profound, fas-
tidlous wickedness of the whole perform
ance drew an involuntary exclamation
from the observer; the lights went out;
in the pitchy darkness he felt himself
seized and hurried away, and by fortu-
nate accident he lived to tell the tale.
This, say. is an excellent story; but
it might conceiv bly, be true. The con-
juring up of spirits is an ancient prac-
tice. Let number of persons, animated
by a consensus of purpose and desire,
meet together, arrange themselves in
symbolic order and attitude, and stimu-
late and intensity their common object
by harmonizing words and gestures-and
they will presently work themselves and
one another up to pitch of expectant
attention, the effect whereof upon their
minds and senses it would not be easy to
exaggerate. The apparition evoked by
the young Parisians was nothing less
than the essence of their combined con-
ception of the Eni Principle. The figure
resembled them much as the composite
photographs" lately in vogue unite the
prevailing traits of the contributing in
dividuals into derivative of them all;
it would have been strangeif an objective
result had not been obtained. We may
say, of course, that the result, while
seeming to be objective, was in fact SUBJ
jective; but what, after all, is a spirit?
Confident antci, zion and concerted
action are all tina, is necessary to raise
the devil. or any other specter. To the
same order of phenomena belong the
"manipulation" of spiritualism. In
spirtualistic circles the table becomes
the medium of sympathy or magnetic
communion between the persons who sit
around it. I have been amused by the
efforts of sceptical persons to prove that
stable tipping" is the result of prank or
of unconscious muscular action on the
part of the sitters. II believe in God AL
mighty, said one gentleman to me quite
seriously, land l know he wouldn't come
down here to work any such nonsense!"
Neither, suppose, would he, through the
medium of ruffians, murder innocent
people; or cause any other iniquitous or
ridiculous act; nevertheless, the world is
full of folly and iniquity. The gentle
mans statement had no application to
the matter in hand. The table is moved,
of course; but not by the pushing or pull
ing of hands and feet. The alternative
to physical hands and feet is not, how
ever, necessarily spirits. For my own
part, though have no particular objeo-
ton to the spirit theory, it seems to me
gratuitous, If the force must have a
name, the old one of animal magnetism
suits me as well as any. l don't know
what it means; but it seems to point to
living human beings as the source of the
phenomena, and that is satisfactory as
far as it goes.
Who the genius was who invented the
little table on wheels, with pencil on it,
l have never heard. He deserves the
thanks of the many people who have
been entertained by the little instrument.
A man of an inventive turn might
doubtless greatly improve upon 1t.
first heard of planchette about 30 years
ago; but the first one l possessed was
made by my own hand out of a bit of a
cigar box, in 1884. Summer visitors were
staying with us, and there were half
dozen children always on hand. l ex-
pected to amuse them for an evening or
two, but the fun lasted three or four
months and was even renewed the fol-
lowing year.
The grand initial march is that plan
chette will move, When you first sit
down to it, the idea seems so palpably
absurd that it is with difficulty you COM
pei yourself to remain in position. After
ten minutes of silence and immobillty,
you are tempted to give the thing Sec
ond jerk on your own account, and you
are morbidly suspicious of your partner
in the transaction. All of a sudden
planchette, with faint preliminary
crash, starts off and makes long, swing
ing, sidelong movement, marked by the
pencil with a straight dash. 1t takes
you by surprise, and you know you are
innocent in the matter; but you are con-
vinced your partner is guilty. He meets
your glance, and you see in his eyes his
own corresponding conviction regarding
you. No, you are both alike blameless.