Maria Vollhardt, medium Maria Vollhardt, medium Maria Vollhardt,
Medium Maria Vollhardt
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Maria Vollhardt Medium
The Berlin Physical Medium Maria Vollhardt
Maria Vollhardt was
a physical Medium whom Dr. F. Schwab, author of
Teleplasma und Telekinese (Berlin, 1923) made the subject of searching
studies for two years. Vollhardt, the wife of an official in the Berlin
Postal Ministry, produced telekinesis (movements of objects at a distance),
levitations, apports, ectoplasm and stigmata phenomena of a baffling
character.
In his book My Psychic Adventures (1924), psychical
researcher J. Malcolm Bird wrote of having seen a quantity of
irritated-looking puncture wounds, some actually bleeding, appear in a rough
square pattern on the medium's hand. The only suggestion he could make for
normal duplication was a battery of three or four forks or a section of
nutmeg grater. The mystery of how such wounds were produced deepened when
the sitters declared that they had seen on Vollhardt's hand a small object,
the shape of a bird's beak, or claw. They put a pot full of farina on the
table and asked for an imprint. They got itin the shape of a chicken's foot.
Once the Medium's hand was stigmatized across the hand
of one of the sitters who was controlling her. At each puncture, the medium
gave a sharp cry of pain. She stated that she felt as though an electric
current had entered at the skin and passed through the body.
Schwab observed the phenomenon some fifty times outside
the seance room in good light. When he made photographs with a stereoscopic
camera he got a picture of a sort of claw of several branches, poised upon
the perfectly controlled hand of the medium. He believed it was a
materialized symbol of the Medium's subconscious notion of oppression and
torture.
In 1925,
Maria Vollhardt figured in court proceedings. At a
seance given to a number of scientists and doctors, her arms, linked up in
the orthodox manner, were found, on the lights being turned up, encircled by
two massive rings. Albert Moll refused to believe in the penetration of
matter passing through matter and later declared in a book that the
Medium
must have had the rings concealed under her sleeves. The
Medium retorted
with libel proceedings and offered to demonstrate her powers before the
Bench. The offer came to nothing as
Albert Moll insisted that the demonstration
should be done in daylight.
Degner testified on behalf of Vollhardt. The court
found Moll guilty of calumny, but acquitted him as his statement was made
"in defense of justified interests." The
Medium appealed against the
acquittal and lost her case. Prof. Busch testified that the apports produced
were fraudulently introduced by the
Medium while in a "semi-conscious
condition."
Semolina is coarsely ground grain, usually wheat, with particles mostly between 0.25 and 0.75 mm in diameter. The same milling grade is sometimes called farina, or grits if made from maize. It refers to two very different products: semolina for porridge is usually steel-cut soft common wheat whereas "durum semolina" used for pasta or gnocchi is coarsely ground from either durum wheat or other hard wheat, usually the latter because it costs less to grow.
FARINA: Farina (from the Italian for "flour") is a bland-tasting meal made from cereal grains, nuts, or starchy roots. While Farina has been compared to grits, they are in fact very different - the only real similarity being that they are both hot cereals. Farina is finely ground wheat, while grits is made from corn, and is of a coarser texture. Farina is a protein-rich food often cooked in boiling water and eaten for breakfast or in puddings such as semolina. It is used as an ingredient in many dishes and in processed foods such as breakfast cereals and pasta.
Farina is made from the germ and endosperm of the grain, which is milled to a fine granular consistency and then sifted. Although the bran and most of the germ are removed, this cereal is sometimes enriched with Vitamin B and iron. Farina, by itself, is most often served as a breakfast cereal, but can also be cooked like polenta. "Cream of Wheat" and Farina Mills' "Farina" (see photo at right) are brand names of a type of wheat farina used for porridge.
With some slight modifications came from Wiki and Bird, J. Malcolm. My Psychic Adventures. New York: Scientific American Publishing, 1924.
