Observations placeholder

Albert De Rochas D'Aiglun - Levitation of the human body

L'écho du Merveilleux published, in its issue of March 15, 1899, under the signature of Mr. Gustave Ferrys, the report of recent experiments carried out in a very limited circle.

The medium was a little girl of 12 years old, named Jane, very well constituted, healthy and perfectly raised. Her state seems to remain always normal during the demonstrations and according to an observation which has often already been made, she is not the only one to provide evidence of her strength; for the phenomena to be realized, the members of the circle must always be the same and place themselves in a determined order.

These phenomena include non-contact displacements of objects, luminous apparitions and materializations that are outside our subject. I will limit myself to reproducing here the parts of the report that relate to the levitations of the medium.

"Jane is standing on the little table. My two hands touch her dress a little below the armpits; the other three attendants support the horizontal arms of the medium by touching only the forearms; at our request, the medium is removed by about ten centimetres and falls back upright on the platform.

Touching only the body of the medium and having my arms outstretched, it is materially impossible for me to remove it in this position. Jane, by the way, says after each experiment of this kind, she didn't feel any pressure anywhere. She is moved all over the place. I would particularly like to stress this important point.

"The previous experiment is repeated, but after the medium has left the table top, the table is pushed over alone and Jane slowly descends to the ground. I don't think I can, at this time, estimate its weight at more than one kilogram.

"One evening of levitations from the medium, a surprise was announced for the end of the séance. The medium is then placed upright; I have both hands a little below her armpits, my friends hold hands and forearms. Suddenly, I feel, by a movement of the shoulders, that the body has taken a horizontal position. The jointed feet had just abruptly left the ground and had made a quarter circle around the shoulders as the centre. By sharply removing my left hand, while keeping the right one under the left armpit of the medium, I extend it in the direction of the body and notice the horizontal position of the latter without any hand supporting it. This result is obtained three times in a row.

"Finally, to conclude the presentation of this kind of phenomena, I would like to recall a fact similar to the one mentioned by Dr. Corneille in his February article.

"Jane is standing with both feet on my knees. I place one of my hands on each of her shoes. As always, we touch the dress and arms. I ask for a levitation of the medium. The weight of her body soon decreases significantly... becomes nil and, finally, the feet leave my knees to fall back soon.

"I am trying the opposite test. I am now asking for a weight increase. The experiment was fully successful. The feet press so hard that they deflect and force me to hold them tight. I note with one hand that, by their position, my friends cannot contribute in any way to the production of this phenomenon. Without any exaggeration, the body weight is doubled.

"I remind you that the medium whose loving and gentle nature reflects all the beautiful frankness of childhood, declares that she feels no pressure, no push. A curious fact is worth mentioning that before Jane's feet leave the ground or knees, the body expands significantly and in the case of increased weight, the body contracts and must certainly decrease in length by at least two or three centimeters."

"Wishing to vary these effects infinitely, the table, in its answers, seems to be ingenious in combining other phenomena. It says to us:

- Put Jane on the platform.

- But, we say, it is not possible!

- I want to levitate to the wall.

- What do you mean? "The table answers that the medium will be stiff and that we have to put our hands slightly below her.

"We follow the little table that will take, by levitating, a suitable position, then Jane is laid with her loins on the table, head and feet supported by the four of us.

"The body soon loses weight; we no longer feel it on our hands that only touch the dress; it rises and moves horizontally back and forth; the feet hit the wall every time. The medium laughs and says, "Again!"

"As Jane bounces against the wall, like a rubber ball, I suggest that the table no longer being used for anything could well come out of the circle formed by the attendants. We reserve a passage for it; but it comes out, obviously alone, on the opposite side and will collapse with noise, in a corner of the apartment. Jane's body weight increases and returns to normal.

"A moment later, we get the experiment redone, but with this variant:

- When the medium is in the air, and levitates to the wall, you will slowly slide your hands towards the head so that the upper part of the body remains horizontal, without contact.

"Thus is done. Jane continues the levitations to the wall until our hands are all lifted from head to waist. More than half of the body remained alone, supported by the invisible. Then the medium, lying in the same position as before, is horizontally removed, straightened and placed upright on the table. Removed again, it rotates in the vertical plane and lies down slowly. Meanwhile, our hands, just touching the dress, just have to follow. The movements are slow and steady. It is impossible to reproduce them by force of arms, as we have since tried."