
When Mr. Smith's son, Eddie, came from the cabinet, he was
represented by a boy of about eight years of age, the son of one of
the female "spooks" upstairs.  He receives two dollars a night for
his services, the same as the larger spooks.  He was powdered until
he was very white, a blond wig put over his own hair, and dressed
as most boys are at the age Mr. Smith's son died.  Mr. Smith
recognized him by his size, his light complexion, and flaxen hair,
and the fact that he called him "papa" and gave his correct name.
His father was "made up" from the description given by the medium,
and acknowledged by Mr. Smith as correct.  Of course he knew his
own name, for it was given him by the slate-writer. . . .

We now come to a part of the phenomena that all spiritualists who
have witnessed it will swear by.  What is referred to is the
materializing and dematerializing of the spirit from the floor and
before your eyes.  In this you see first a small light, which grows
larger and larger, until there stands before you a fully formed
female or male spirit, as was described in Mr. Smith's experience.

In order to accomplish what he witnessed, the same spook who had
before been recognized by a gentleman as "his queen," prepared
herself in the following way: Divesting herself of all clothing she
donned simply a long chemise that reached her shoe tops.  She drew
on a pair of white stockings, and over them a pair of white
slippers.  Into her hair and ears she put rhinestone diamonds, and
around her neck a necklace of the same beautiful but valueless
stones.  On each ear lobe and around her neck were put small spots
of the luminous powder to represent the diamonds while it was dark.
Her face was powdered and her eyebrows and eyelashes darkened,
while a dark line was drawn under each eye.  She now took a black
mask that covered her head, and her "robe" in her hands, and went
down to the cabinet.  Arriving there, she put the black mask over
her head, to prevent the luminous diamonds being seen until the
proper time.  She carried her robe in a black bag.  Crawling from
between the curtains and under the table, she exposed on the floor
a small part of her robe.  This she shook and moved about, allowing
it to escape from the bag until it was all out.  She was now from
under the table and on her knees, and it was time the head show on
the form, so, getting close to the robe, she threw off and under
the table the black mask.  The shape was now the size of an adult;
she adjusted the robe to her person, and rapped for light.  As a
matter of course, when any light was made the luminousness of the
robe was drowned, and she appeared in simply a white costume.  The
necklace and eardrops could now be seen, but when the light was
such as to reveal them, the luminous spots had disappeared, leaving
the spectator to think the ones he now saw were the ones he had
seen in the dark.  The process of dematerialization will now be
apparent, and a description will only tire the reader.	One small
spook was all that was required, as he could be made to represent
boy or girl as was desired, by clothing him in the garments of
either sex.

At the close of the seance, the full force of "spooks" came into
the room.  After disappearing, they shinned up the ladder, drew it
after them, closed the panel and the trap in the floor above it,
replaced the carpet and pushed over the place a heavy bedstead from
which they took the castors.  They now carried the ladder
downstairs and concealed it in the coal house as they went through
it on their way home.  They will get their pay next day.

Should ever so close an examination of the cabinet be made, you
would not find anything wrong.	This particular medium has taken
investigators into the cellar beneath the cabinet, and the room
above it, scores of times, yet nothing was discovered.

You are not always to search for the trap in the ceiling, nor yet
in the floor.  A trap is not possible in the ceiling except a
closet is used as "cabinet," and the ceiling is of wood.  Where
this condition of things does not exist, you must search elsewhere.
The floor is a very likely place when it cannot be made in the
ceiling.  If you do not find it there, examine the base or
mopboard.  If it is in the mopboard you will find, upon
examination, that there is a joint in it near the corner of the
cabinet, but you will find it solidly nailed with about four nails
each side of the joint.  This appearance of extraordinary solidity
will be absolute proof that it is NOT solid.

The nails are not what they appear, but are only pieces about one
half inch in length, and do not even go through the board.  The
piece is fastened on the other side with a couple of bolts that
hold it very firmly in place.  There is a corresponding opening in
the mopboard in the next room, although no attempt is made to so
carefully conceal it, as no one is ever admitted to it.  Through
this trap the "spooks" enter the cabinet by crawling and wiggling.
It is not a very desirable trap, for the mopboard is scarcely ever
wide enough to permit of a trap that the spook could get through in
a hurry; besides, they must assume their costumes after they get
into the cabinet or tear them to pieces.  You can see how this
would make it very inconvenient.

If the room is wainscoted the spook will have all the sea room
necessary in his trap, for it will extend from just below the
molding on the top of the wainscoting to the floor behind the strip
of quarter-round. . . .

It is next to an impossibility to detect these traps by examining
in the cabinet.  They were constructed to avoid discovery, and no
pains spared to make them so absolutely perfect that not one chance
in a million is taken.	The proper place to seek for traps is in
the adjoining room, upstairs, or in the cellar.  One is foolish to
undertake to find a trap by thumping the walls or floor; for, if
you happen to thump one, the medium who is smart enough to make use
of a trap is also sharp enough to make provision for its being
thumped, and your sounding method goes for naught.[1]  Bear in mind
that when you are examining the cabinet, you are seeking at the
very place that is prepared most effectually to withstand your
investigations. . . .  Do not forget the MANAGER in your search.
He or she is never searched, or never has been up to date, which
has been the cause of many a failure to find the "properties" of
the medium when the seance was given in a room and cabinet
furnished by a stranger and skeptic.  Do not be deceived into a
belief that all of the sitters are strangers to the medium.  There
may be from one to five persons present who pay their money the
same as yourself, and who may appear to be the most skeptical of
anyone in the room.  They will generally be the recipients of some
very elegant "tests," and weep copiously great grief-laden tears
when they recognize the beloved features of some relative.


[1] It must be remembered that it is occasionally possible for the
medium to do away with traps altogether, either by having a con-
federate in the audience who produces all the phenomena--the medium
sitting bound meanwhile--or by some such simple device as the
following: Suppose the seance room is closed at one end by a pair
of folding-doors; these doors are locked, the key kept by a member
of the audience, while the keyhole is sealed, and strips of gummed
paper are also stretched across the crack between the doors,
sealing them firmly together.  Confederates enter the room, in this
case, by merely pushing BOTH doors to one side, they being so
constructed that this is possible.  A small space is now left
around the end of ONE door, through which the medium's confederate
creeps!


They are the most careful of investigators, and, when the medium's
trap is located in the door-jamb, will pound the walls, and insist
on the carpet being taken up, when they will get upon their hands
and knees and make a most searching examination of the floor.  They
are the closest and most critical of investigators, but they are
very careful to examine everywhere EXCEPT WHERE THE DEFECT IS
LOCATED.  Because one or two men seem to be making such a critical
investigation, do not allow that fact to prevent you making one on
your own responsibility.  Wait until they have finished and then
examine not only where they did, but more particularly where they
did NOT.  Their examination is only for the purpose of misleading
others.  Their "tests" are received in a way to cause those about
them to think they admit them very unwillingly, or because they
were so undeniable that they could do nothing else.

A great many will probably deny that confederates are ever
employed.  They are not, by mediums who are not smooth enough to
produce that which appears so wonderful as to make a good business
for them.  The writer would advise those mediums who give such rank
seances to employ a few floor workers (they are easily obtained),
and see what a difference it would make in the amount of business
they will do.  Get good ones, those who know human nature, and know
when they have said all that is necessary.  Most of them are
inclined to say too much, thus causing the ordinary man to suspect
that they are confederates.





End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Lock and Key Library/Real Life

