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Again, I would like to be sure that nothing special is in the room

In document 21 Days (Page 82-85)

There we go:

Keen: “On the floor a few feet in front of the medium there was a black coated piece of board, about 180 cm by 60. After I had checked underneath to satisfy myself that nothing was concealed below it, the following items were placed on it: a cardboard trumpet, the end of which was coated with luminous paint; a mouth organ; a rattle, and two drum sticks, all of which were to play a part in the séance. In addition there was a pair of pliers which were employed by Bianca to cut the ties to release her husband after the sitting, and two wooden rings which were brought into the room from the anteroom at the medium’s request after my wife had taken a number of photographs.

A microphone was suspended from the wall near the door, the other end being connected to a Sony personal tape recorder located on a small table. The only other

equipment was a small flexible table lamp with a red bulb and fixed shade. It was placed on a small table in the corner on the medium’s left, outside the curtain, together with a glass of water. In the opposite corner was a large tape recorder playing music. The light was controlled by Paul who sat alongside me, while the music player was the responsibility of Bianca, who had to make frequent changes in the music played and the volume requested, at the behest of spirit communicators. Both Paul’s hands held my right hand throughout the séance, save for about five minutes when they were needed to switch on and manoeuvre the light during the brief period when ectoplasmic extrusions were being shown.”

Zammit : “On the mantelpiece in the room was a set of drum sticks and a glass of water. Beside the séance leader’s chair was a CD player with a music CD, a small lamp with red globes and a simple cardboard cone, the end of which was lined with luminous tape. In physical mediumship circles this is called a trumpet and is used as a simple megaphone to amplify spirit voices.

Thirty minutes prior to the beginning of the séance we set in motion an MP3 recorder with a very sensitive microphone which recorded the entire 90 minute session.”

Well, not being in a laboratory, I think that this is more or less as far as I would go in terms of precautions. What happened during the séances, then?

Unless we want to spend hours on this, we have to stick to the summaries provided by the two authors. Let’s see how Montague Keen recaps the phenomena:

“The evening was notable for the

Timothy was responsible for the widespread reports of touches and boisterous noises, as well as the delicate management of the ectoplasm and the ordering of the correct degree of red light to enable us to see the medium but not harm him.

In terms of physical phenomena, the following were reported.

1. The trumpet, the luminous large end of which was seen to be performing a variety of patterns and aerobic adornments in the air, was operated at great speed and with considerable precision, and was pressed quite hard against my chest at one stage.

2. My head was tapped sharply several times, apparently by the luminous end of the trumpet during the aerial demonstrations.

3. I was vigorously slapped on both knees as an introduction to the first supposedly materialised entity.

4. My tie was unknotted, ripped off, and thrust with great precision in the narrow space between the chairs on which my wife and I were sitting. It was later found on the carpet beneath the chairs.

5. The appearance some time during the séance of a cut on the lower side of the base of my right thumb. It was made without my knowledge or awareness, and was some 2cm in length with congealed blood along the line of what would have normally been considered to be a scratch. My wife’s pre-séance picture shows no sign of any cut on my hand, whereas that taken immediately after the sitting does. My hand was held firmly by my immediate neighbour, Paul, throughout the sitting, normally with both hands, save for the few minutes required for him to adjust the red light. The scar was still faintly visible twelve days later.

6. The two rings of equal dimensions but different woods were found on the left arm of Alan, sitting opposite me and alongside Bianca. Towards the end of the séance he had reported that someone was trying to force the rings over his wrist. When I tried to pull them over his hand to remove them he complained that it was painful, although later succeeded in doing so. He contrasted this with the relatively gentle pressure experienced when the rings had been pushed over his wrist during the séance.

7. While holding my wife’s right hand with my left, leaving my index finger protruding, we were both touched by a warm, soft and seemingly human hand for about fifteen seconds.

8. There was tap dancing of an apparently expert kind, as well as extremely fast drumming on the ceiling during the Irish jig music.

9. A silver tie pin surmounted by a cat was apported as a gift to Bianca, purportedly through the mouth of the medium as he extruded ectoplasm.

10. At the end of the sitting, following the withdrawal of the final communicator, the light was slowly turned up. It revealed David Thompson still tied to his chair, and gagged, in the middle of the room, some two meters from its original position inside the cabinet. It had been moved over the top of the black board and its several instruments.

When the medium had recovered sufficiently to face the light, and the gag had been removed and retied to shield his eyes from the flashes, my wife took a number of post-sitting photographs. These included one showing the cardigan reversed. Having checked that the ties were still in place, I watched as Bianca used the pliers to cut each of the ties fixing the buttons to the buttonholes, and examined the arm and leg bindings as she cut the ties before the straps could be unfastened.”

Hold on – you mean the cardigan was reversed with the medium tied to the chair and

In document 21 Days (Page 82-85)