Observations placeholder

About two months went by in this way and we were, well, very happy with what we saw, when one evening we were told to switch off the lamp. Immediately asked, immediately done and here we are in the deepest darkness.

Suddenly, in the silence of the night, we hear very clearly, on the sideboard that was one and a half meters behind me, an object that was moving. A few seconds later there was a clunk  on the table. What the hell was going on? At that moment, several blows being struck, my father lights up and we see...

In front of us, in the middle of the furniture, was the package of tobacco that my father had left on the sideboard before starting the séance!....

We had just witnessed an object transport!

Many more were to come!..... In these kinds of facts, I cannot remember the exact order in which we were given to observe them. It is therefore by chance that I will mention the main ones.

The Bell. - My mother had a bell to call the maid, which was usually placed on the fireplace in the room. One evening, we were all surprised to hear this bell ringing above our heads. After some very intense resonances, this small device suddenly began to rotate very quickly outside the circle we were forming, without stopping ringing. This phenomenon, which we witnessed several times, lasted about two minutes, so there was plenty of time to be aware of what was happening, despite the darkness of the room.

The Paper Dumpling. - Faced with all these demonstrations, my father no longer doubted anything and instead of waiting for the phenomena that his friends wanted to give us, he asked them to produce this or that thing.

Thus, one day, he expressed the desire to see a paper ball thrown in the face of one of us. After a few minutes, we heard a paper crumpling on the sideboard and as we listened, my mother shouted, "Ah! I just got the ball on my nose!"

This may seem laughable at first sight. However, I must point out the difficulty of throwing a paper ball so accurately in the dark that it just falls on the nose of an attendant. Moreover, we tried it ourselves, as an experiment, and if we sometimes managed to reach the head sometimes we could never succeed in touching this or that part of the face, designated in advance.

The glasses, the bottles, the decanter. - Gradually, the phenomena became more extraordinary. One evening, as we were in complete darkness, we perceived a strange noise from the doors of the lower part of the sideboard when they opened. Then, clearly, we heard that an object was slipping on one of the inner shelves, and as with the tobacco package I mentioned earlier, this slipping noise was repeated on the table a few seconds later. Four times in a row this noise was heard.

However, the spirit not telling us to switch the light on, we waited. Suddenly, from the middle, then from the top of the sideboard, the same friction came to us again, with the same result: the final slide on the table.

I assure you that we were anxiously wondering what was going on.

At that moment, on the request of the spirit, the lamp was lit and what did it present itself to our astonished eyes?

In front of each of us, a glass was placed!

There was a bottle of rum and a decanter full of water in the middle of the table!

This demonstration filled us with admiration, but that was not all. See what our friends from the other side did at another séance, with the same objects.

All these glasses, this bottle and this decanter being carried again one evening from the sideboard on the table, we were waiting in the darkness, when suddenly, a particular sound was heard, comparable to that of a bottle of Champagne whose cork is jumping. We were told, by later written communication, that this container had been opened by compressing the air contained in the bottle, it was this process that caused the cap to escape.

Then, twice, we distinguished a trembling noise as a result of the collision between a glass and the bottle and then, oh surprise! the sound of a liquid poured into one of the glasses.

When what the spirit wanted to do was completed, he asked us to ignite it by means usually used between us, i. e. many blows struck successively.

By what strange thing were our eyes drawn to it?

A glass was filled with a mixture of rum and water, but so exactly that by the meniscus formed, or realized perfectly, that a drop added to the liquid would immediately overflow it.

But why this liquid poured into a glass and especially why this glass so exactly full?

The explanation was simple.

If, in the dark, the glass had only been filled in some way, the experiment would have proved nothing. But in the dark, it is impossible to fill a glass so full that it cannot contain a single extra drop.

Moreover, as with the paper ball, my father and I wanted to try the experiment and we never succeeded. Either there was not enough liquid, or it was overflowing.

Intertwined movements of objects. - On another occasion, still in the dark, many objects that were on different sides of the room were carried on the table. On this one were glasses, bottles, decanters, coffee cups, the bell I already mentioned and many other utensils that I don't remember exactly.

Anyway, after having noticed the presence of all these objects, we heard the greatest charivari which, in these conditions, can be perceived.

Everything on the table began to slide, turning at full speed and without a single impact. However, there was no 30 centimetres distance between the different things brought in.

Now why this phenomenon and this noise.

As in the case before, the explanation was very simple.

If, in the darkness, all these objects, while stirring, had collided, there would have been nothing proven; but, the fact that glasses, bottles, decanters, coffee cups, etc., are animated by a rapid general movement and that, in the darkness, there is no collision or clash, this is still an impossible phenomenon for living persons to achieve.

Two glasses paid with their lives for the experiment that my father and I wanted to try in this respect.