Omaha daily bee., 1910-05-12
Things You Want to Know $:;s:$ Their SS

While she did so she gave others oppor-
tunity to grasp her hsnd which was
found to be warm hand Of real flesh
and blood Then the lights went out, the
woman of the diaphanous robes and bright
Jewels gradually faded back into spot
OF light, which IN turn disappeared. At
! this juncture the lights were turned on
and the sitters examined the medium,
only to find him sull strapped to the chair
as firmly as ever.
Again the lights were put out and shortly
another little spot Of ghostly light ap.
peared II grew, and while 1t was expand
ing into The form of humanity sim an
other spot appeared, and in a short time
there appeared before the audience in-
| stead OF two little spots of light an ased
/ man and young boy. who. in the dim
/ red light were recognized by one of ths
/ sitters as his father and his son. There
/ could be no longer any doubt; he would
| swear on the Bible that they were his
/ father and his son. Did not the elder
ghost have the same heavy eyebrows that
characterized his father? Did not the son
! have the same light curly hair and
cherublc face and also the silvery voice
/ of his own son? And was he not clad in
the same clothes in which his son had been
]
! Conversation with them confirmed the
vision of his eyes; they told their names,
when they had died, and a dozen intimate
things OF purely family concern. Then
they ordered the lights out were trans
| formed again into spots OF light on the
| carpet and returned to their spirit world"
| -Four more appeared In turn with an ex-
! animation of the medium between times,
to see that he was still firmly strapped
and bound. Each was duly recognized by
some sitter present as a long lost friend,
with whom a convincing conversation was
held. After they all had disappeared as
| mysteriousy as they came the grand
finale was given in which all seven spirits
returned again conversed with their re-
ispective friends and then disappeared. Not
one of the thirty-flve sitters went away
upconvinced.
Now for the explanation. In the ceiling
of the cabinet there was a trap-door. While
the music box played the spirits descended
the ladder conveniently let down. The
diaphanous-robed lady was bare-footed and.
attired in night gown. When she got to
the bottom of the ladder she pulled vast
length Of the finest net from a pocket in
her gown. One OF her hands was painted
with luminous paint. on putting 1t out
from under the curtain the spot light on
which she waved around as she gradually
crawled from under the curtain and rose
to her full stature, represented the cloud
without form out of which she finally
materialized Spots of luminous paint rep
resented diamonds in the dark, and when
the dim lights were turned on cheap stones
gllttered where the paint had shone before.
She disappeared as she came. All the
others came as she did and disappeared
In the same way. The conversations were
made up in advance from the mediums
blue book and his personal Investigations
Mediums find that the most profitable
sltters in the world are the impression
; able old men who love to be Rugged and
kissed by spirits and who under such in
fluences become willing to part with their
cash more quickly. When the spirits by
J their tales OF soul mates and such things.
work these old gentlemen up to the point
; where they cannot restrain their desire
: for permanent naturalization any longer
the daffy old fellows are sent far away
I to keep the tryst, while the medium finds
IL convenient TO operate somewhere else
There are cases on record where such old
! men have spent $4,000 in such seanoes
] Or course. they never "squeal" Who
I | would under such circumstances?
Ot course, all materializations are not
E accomplished in the manner related above.
, sometimes the spirits have confederates
among the spectators. sometimes they
= crawl into the room through a secret
panel Sometimes hands or faces appear
in the shape Of simple masks or clay
4 hands covered with luminous paint What
! appears to be only a lead pencil in thu
D hand of the medium at the beginning of
!, seance is in reality a telescoped rod
three feet long. A pair of tongs can easily
= be concealed and they may lift the lum-
j nous head or hand out over tho audience
n In a startling way Sometimes the me-
dunn herself plays the ghost She NAV ba
e as big and fat as all outdoors but a black
U robe thrown over her shoulders NAV hida
e all the white except that sufficient to rem
s resent a petite figure.
e Anyone who is tempted to carry his in
$ vestlgations to the point OF grabbing the
:. ghost and suddenly striking a match would
4 better be warned. II has been tried. and
j. sometimes a blow over the head with a
o blackjack or some other uncomfortable
e experience has been the reward. This
f story of the ways and means Of ma
= terlalization" might be extended throue1,
t many columns without exhausting the
n subject. But however mysterious the
r naturalization" the explanation always
e is as simple as those here outlined
d By FREDERIC j. HAsKIH.
= Observation-Disclosures ana Magic
). II. slate-Writing Tricks.