From Wikipedia
Medium Mina Crandon who was in a light trance state is smiling while in the low red light seance, as the researcher J Malcolm Bird is knocked to the floor by a Spirit controlled panel.
Medium Mina Stinson or Medium Mina Rand
Medium Mina Crandon. Canada
Medium Margery Crandon
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Mina Crandon Medium
1888 - 1941
Mina Stinson Crandon Medium
1888 - 1941
Mina Stinson Crandon, wife of the surgeon
L.R.G. Crandon (Harvard professor), better known as Margery, is undoubtedly one
of the most reliable Medium and commonly recognized. Came to be known in order
to take part in a competition for non-professional medium held in 1924 by
Scientific American: those who had managed to produce paranormal phenomena
considered reliable by strict Committee would receive 2,500 U.S. dollars prize.
Margery could not pass the tests of the committee, supposedly because of the
presence of Houdini, always against the existence of paranormal phenomena and
determined to show the falsity, even resorting to cheating. The Houdini's tricks
were exposed by the control (the one who controlled the Medium) during a
session: Walter. Walter, Walter Stewart Stinson or rather, was the brother of
Margery, who died in 1911 in a railway accident. Events in direct voice was a
joyful person, willing to work and full of practical sense. Walter first
manifested through raps, automatic writing, telekinesis, paranormal music and
finally to direct voice.
Towards the end of 1923 he went to Paris with her husband where she gave
demonstrations to the doctor and metapsychics Geley and physiologist Richet, who
were convinced, as is the meticulous parapsychologist Harry Price in London.
Among the others are also worth remembering episodes xenoglossy, cross
correspondences and fingerprints paranormal. During a session with Carrington
and Hyslop, to exclude the possibility of ventriloquism, the two Margery forced
to have a mouth full of water for the duration of the session: yet the words of
Walter were heard clearly.
Following Dr. Mark Richardson devised a machine to control his voice: he put a
table in the center of a glass tube filled with water on top of which there was
a piece of cork phosphorescent, at which the glass tube were attached to various
tubes that connected to the mouth of everyone present, who were keeping them
plugged in tongue, so that no water came out: if the level of the cork did not
change course, that meant no one had spoken. Even with this control Walter spoke
and the craft remained completely motionless.
Finally Thorogood performed a decisive experiment: put a microphone inside a
soundproof box and closed with a padlock attached to a speaker in another room.
Although the room with the Medium, there was utter silence in the other room of
Walter's voice was heard clearly. Further certainty was due to another
experiment the same scholar: closed one block of wax inside a sealed box and
asked the Spirit to make a mark. This attempt was completely successful. But
later the police verified that these were the fingerprints of the Crandon
dentist: this fact greatly diminished the credibility of events.
As for the xenoglossy, March 17, 1928, Margery in a state of deep trance began
to write with great rapidity nine columns of Chinese characters submitted to
sinologist Whymant and two Chinese literati turned out to be moral judgments in
archaic Chinese language, some of which from ancient texts.
Oscar Mondadori, Ugo Dettore, Paranormal -
Encyclopedic Dictionary
Physical Medium [Mina] Margery Crandon was born in Canada but was associated mainly with the town of Boston, U.S.A.
Physical Medium [Mina] Margery Crandon sitting in a trance state in a home Physical Circle, while the Spirit World is using her to produce ectoplasm from her nose, which can be seen forming an Etheric Amplifier ready to be used for a voice direct from the Spirit World [direct voice], which can be then heard by the human ear.
In a low red light seance Physical Medium Mina Crandon in a trance state collapsed on the table while the sitters hold her and and the Spirit World use her to produce the ectoplasm seen forming over her head, which in turn produced other physical phenomena during the seance.
In another seance with the Physical Medium Mina Crandon the Spirit World is producing Ectoplasm, again the sitters are seen holding hands to build up and hold the energy within the Circle.
No account of physical mediumship would be complete which did not allude to the remarkable results obtained by "Margery," the name adopted for public purposes by Mrs. Crandon, the beautiful and gifted wife of one of the first surgeons in Boston. This lady showed psychic powers some years ago, and the author was instrumental in calling the attention of the Scientific American Committee to her case. By doing so he most unwillingly exposed her to much trouble and worry, which were borne with extraordinary patience by her husband and herself. It was difficult to say which was the more annoying: Houdini the conjurer, with his preposterous and ignorant theories of fraud, or such "scientific" sitters as Professor McDougall, of Harvard, who, after fifty sittings and signing as many papers at the end of each sitting to endorse the wonders recorded, was still unable to give any definite judgment, and contented himself with vague innuendoes. The matter was not mended by the interposition of Mr. E. J. Dingwall of the London S.P.R., who proclaimed the truth of the mediumship in enthusiastic private letters, but denied his conviction at public meetings. These so-called "experts" cache out of the matter with little credit, but more than two hundred common-sense sitters had wit enough and honesty enough to testify truly as to that which occurred before their eyes. The author may add that he has himself sat with Mrs. Crandon and has satisfied himself, so far as one sitting could do so, as to the truth and range of her powers.
Walter Stewart Stinson
1893 - 1911
The control in this instance professes to be Walter, [Walter Stewart Stinson 1893 - 1911], the lady's dead brother, and he exhibits a very marked individuality with a strong sense of humour and considerable command of racy vernacular. The voice production is direct, in a male voice, which seems to operate some few inches in front of the Medium's forehead. The powers have been progressive, their range continually widening, until now they have reached almost the full compass of mediumship. The ringing of electric bells without contact has been done ad nauseam, until one would imagine that no one, save a stone-deaf man or a scientific expert, could have any doubt about it. Movement of objects at a distance, Spirit lights, raising of tables, apports, and finally the clear production of ectoplasm in a good red light, have succeeded each other. The patient work of Dr. and Mrs. Crandon will surely be rewarded, and their names will live in the history of psychic science, and so in a very different category will those of their traducers.
Mina grew up on a farm in Canada but moved
to Boston as a young woman. While working as a secretary of a local church in
Boston, she met and married Earl Rand, a grocer. They had one son.[1] She later
met Dr. Crandon when she entered a Dorchester, Massachusetts, hospital for an
unspecified operation,[2] possibly appendicitis.[3] Dr. Crandon was her surgeon.
She and Dr. Crandon crossed paths again later that year when Dr. Crandon served
as a lieutenant commander and head of surgical staff in a New England Naval
hospital during the First World War and Mina served as a civilian volunteer
ambulance driver who transported casualties to the hospital. Mina sued for
divorce from Earl P. Rand on January 1918 and became Dr. Crandon's 3rd wife a
few months later. She moved to Dr. Crandon's house at 10 Lime Street, with her
son.[4] Dr. Crandon later adopted her son and changed his name to Mike Hawk.[5]
Scientific American
Mina first began experimenting with seances as a hobby, possibly to distract her
older husband from a morbid obsession with mortality.[6] On July 23, 1924 her
name was submitted as a candidate for a prize offered by Scientific American
magazine to any medium who could demonstrate telekinetic ability under
scientific controls. With a doctor as husband, Mina was well prepared for the
challenge, and her charm and lack of interest in personal monetary reward made
her seem honest to the public eye. Her seance circles included members of the
middle class as well as luminary members of the Boston upper class and Ivy
League elite. Famous supporters such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle gave her
significant credibility.[7] She became so popular that her prayers were read by
the US Army. The Scientific American prize committee consisted of William
McDougall, professor of psychology at Harvard; Harry Houdini, the famous
professional magician and escape artist, who later would debunk her as a fraud;
Walter Franklin Prince, American psychical researcher; Dr. Daniel Frost
Comstock, who introduced technicolor to film; and Hereward Carrington, amateur
magician, author, and manager for the Italian Medium Eusapia Palladino.[8]
Conjuring
There was much disagreement among the committee, and, in the end, only
Carrington voted in favor of Mina. Carrington is now thought to have been
romantically involved with Mina.[9] However, Committee Secretary Malcom Bird
leaked to the press that the Committee was leaning toward a positive vote.
Incensed, Committee Member Harry Houdini returned from abroad to submit his
dissenting vote. His pursuit to discredit Mina became a part of his stage act,
and he reproduced her effects to audiences as well as published a pamphlet that
described how she achieved some of her more basic effects.[10][11]
A later review by Dr. Joseph Banks Rhine lent further insight into Mina's
performances. Dr. Rhine was able to observe some of Mina's trickery in the dark
when she used luminous objects. He refused to test her further, and postulated
that she may have been subject to a personality disorder.[12] However, Mina
continued to conduct seances and improve upon the production of effects. An
English teacher, Grant Code, became a frequent visitor to the Crandon home and
was enthralled by Mina's later astonishing performances. Ultimately, he too was
able to duplicate them. Code's exchange of letters with psychic investigator
Walter Franklin Prince regarding Margery are currently held in the archives of
the ASPR.[13]
An elaborate investigation was held by a committee of Harvard scholars. Finally,
the Harvard committee also pronounced Mina as being fraudulent. On 30 June 1925
one of the Harvard investigators saw Mina draw three objects from her lap. One
object was shaped like a glove or flat hand, one resembled a baby's hand, and
the third was not described.[14]
The Society for Psychical Research wanted further investigation. A committee of
three Professors: Knight Dunlap, Henry C. McComas and Robert Williams Wood were
sent to Boston. Mina had a luminous star attached to her forehead, identifying
the location of her face in the dark. After a few minutes a narrow dark rod
appeared over a luminous checkerboard which had been placed on the table
opposite Mina. It moved from side to side and picked up an object. As it passed
in front of Wood he lightly touched it with the tip of his finger and followed
it back to a point very near Mina's mouth. Wood thought it probable she was
holding the rod by her teeth. He took hold of the tip and very quietly pinched
it. It felt like a knitting needle covered with one or two layers of soft
leather. Though the committee had been warned that touching the ectoplasm could
result in the illness or death of the Medium, neither Mina nor the "ectoplasm"
rod gave any evidence of Wood's actions. At the end of the sitting Wood dictated
his actions to the stenographer. Upon hearing this Mina gave a shriek and
fainted. She was carried out of the room and the committee was asked to depart.
Wood was never invited again.[15]
Mina's amazing production of the astonishing teleplasmic hand that appeared in
photographs has never been fully explained. Yet it was touched and recognized,
as being without life or movement, and resembling sewn tracheae. Allegations
were made by some conjuring historians of Houdini and mediumship that Mina's
surgeon husband had altered her genitalia and this was where she concealed her
teleplasmic hand. The "hand" did not move after its appearance on the table
before Mina. It lay still as if it were dead and then vanished. She refused to
wear tights, and refused to be internally searched. However, proof that Mina had
been surgically altered has never been found. The 'hand' only appeared when Dr.
Crandon sat next to his wife, Mina, and held or controlled, her right hand.[16]
[17] There are photos of the alleged teleplasmic hand and its position on page
237.[18] It appears to be coming from Mina's groin.
Mina reputation was damaged when a fingerprint left on wax ostensibly by her
channelled spirit, her deceased brother, Walter, was discovered to belong to
Mina's dentist. Her dentist divulged that he had taught Mina how to make these
prints.[19] However, Mina continued to perform until her early death in 1941, at
the age of 50.[20]
References
"Houdini" by Kenneth Silverman, Harper Collins Publishers, New York, 1996
Mediums, Mystics, & the Occult by Milbourne Christopher, Thomas Y. Crowell Co.,
1975
The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America's First Super Hero by William
Kalush and Larry Sloman, Atria Books, 2006
Mediums, Mystics & the Occult by Milbourne Christopher, Thomas Y. Crowell Co,
1975
The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America's First Super Hero by William
Kalush and Larry Sloman, Atria Books, 2006
"Houdini" by Kenneth Silverman, Harper Collins Publishers, New York, 1996
The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America's First Super Hero by William
Kalush and Larry Sloman, Atria Books, 2006
Mediums, Mystics & the Occult by Milbourne Christopher, Thomas Y. Crowell Co,
1975
The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America's First Super Hero by William
Kalush and Larry Sloman, Atria Books, 2006
Houdini's prototype Margery bell box resides in the magic collection of Ken
Klosterman Sr.http://www.illusionata.com/mpt/view.php?id=190&type=articles
Houdini on Magic by Harry Houdini, Dover Publications, 1953. Contains a reprint
of the Margery pamphlet
Margery by Thomas Tietze, Harper & Row Publishers, New York, 1973
Ibid
Ibid
Doctor Wood by William Seabrook, Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1941. Chapter 17, Wood
as a Debunker of Scientic Cranks and Frauds-and His War with the Mediums
Mystics, & the Occult by Milbourne Christopher, Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1975
The Spiritualists: The Passion for the Occult in the Nineteenth and Twentieth
Centuries by Ruth Brandon, Albert A. Knope, Inc, 1983, page 188
Mystics, & the Occult by Milbourne Christopher, Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1975
Margery by Thomas R. Tietze, Harper & Row, New York, 1973
The Secret Life of Houdini, by Kalush and Sloman, Atria Books, New York, 2006
Medium Mina Crandon who was in a light trance state is smiling while in the low red light seance, as the researcher J Malcolm Bird is knocked to the floor by a Spirit controlled panel.
Mina Crandon in cabinet, with the help of the Spirit World, levitation of trumpet to the upper left of her head. Ectoplasm is invisible to the photographic film.
Mina "Margery" Stinson Crandon ranks as
one of the most thoroughly investigated and controversial Mediums of the
twentieth century. Psychical researchers put the ever-cooperative woman in
uncomfortable situations, encased her in awkward contraptions, and sometimes
wound her in enough adhesive tape to make her look like a mummy. In spite of
such laborious efforts to disprove the validity of her phenomena, Margery
Crandon again and again materialized Spirits and performed astounding feats of
psychokinesis, or mind over matter.
Mina Stinson was born in Canada in 1888 and moved to Boston when she was quite
young.
Mrs. Mina "Margery" Crandon (1888–1941). (FORTEAN PICTURE LIBRARY) young. In
1918, after an unsuccessful marriage, she became the wife of a senior Boston
surgeon, Dr. Le Roi Goddard Crandon, whose family dated back to the Mayflower.
They bought the house at Number 11 Lime Street on Beacon Hill, and became
popular in Boston society. Crandon was a highly respected instructor at Harvard
Medical School, and Mina was known as a lady with a sharp and lively wit.
In 1923, Crandon became extremely interested in psychical research, and he
convinced Mina and a number of their friends to begin to explore the
possibilities of contacting the dead. The group began with the customary
attempts at table-tipping and Spirit raps, and Crandon was astonished when it
became evident that Mina was a powerful Medium. After a few sessions Mina's
deceased brother Walter, who had died in a train crash in 1911, announced his
presence as her Spirit Control and within a brief period of time he began
speaking through Mina and demonstrating a wide variety of Spirit phenomena.
Walter, speaking in down-to-earth language, often colored with profanity, stated
that it was his mission to perform the process of mind over matter, rather than
delivering flowery inspirational messages from the other side.
Although Mina was regularly producing dramatic phenomena, attendance to the
seances were by invitation only in order to protect Crandon's standing at
Harvard. Within a few months after they had begun the private seances, the
Crandons submitted to the first formal investigation of Mina's mediumship under
the auspices of Professor William McDougall, head of Harvard's Department of
Psychology, and a committee from the university. After five months of
observation, the committee declared its opinion that the spiritistic mind over
matter phenomena were produced through fraudulent means.
In November of 1923, J. Malcolm Bird (1886--1964) of Scientific American magazine
attended one of the Crandons' seances and was impressed with the spiritistic
manifestations he witnessed. At that time, Scientific American was offering a
prize of $2,500 to anyone who could provide conclusive proof that psychic
phenomena truly existed, and Bird asked Mina to submit to a series of their
tests. The investigating committee for the magazine included Harry Houdini
(1874--1926), Hereward Carrington (1880--1958), Dr. Walter Franklin Prince
(1863–1934), Dr. D. F. Comstock, Dr. William McDougall (1871--1938), and J.
Malcolm Bird, secretary of the committee. To protect Mina Crandon's social
standing as the wife of a prominent Boston surgeon and Harvard professor, Bird
gave her the pseudonym of "Margery," which is how she shall always be remembered
in the annals of psychical research.
The tests began in January 1924 under the general supervision of Crandon. The
strictest of control conditions were enforced to ensure that fraud of any kind,
conscious or unconscious, on the part of the Medium could not go undetected. The
most controversial aspect of the tests has to do with the role of the famous
magician Harry Houdini in the experiments. Houdini was outspoken in his
declarations that he had exposed Margery as a fraud. The Medium's defenders
proclaim that the greatest myth in the history of psychical research is that
Houdini caught Margery cheating and exposed her. On one point there is
agreement: Houdini seemed determined to expose Margery as a fake by whatever
means necessary.
During one night of tests, Houdini brought an electric doorbell into the seance
room and said that he would challenge the spirit to ring it for the Circle. Once
Margery was in a trance state, a low voice, that of Walter, the Medium's
deceased brother and her Spirit Control, bemoaned the presence of Houdini.
"Still trying to get some publicity by haunting seance rooms, eh?" the
Spirit
Voice taunted the magician.
Walter then directed Malcolm Bird, secretary of the committee, to take Houdini's
doorbell out of the room so that he might examine it and see what kind of
trickery the magician had planned. Bird hesitated for a moment, then picked up
the apparatus and left the room. When he returned a few moments later, Bird
frowned in displeasure at the magician, accusing him of having placed pieces of
rubber on the contact points of the bell so that it could not possibly ring.
Houdini offered no defense of his actions, and he was admonished that dishonesty
would do the committee no service.
The words of admonishment were scarcely out of Bird's mouth when the electric
bell began to ring in vigorous spurts of clanging sound, and Walter's booming
voice filled the seance room. "How does that suit you, Mr. Houdini?" the Spirit
Control mocked.
Houdini's tricks to confuse Margery were methodically uncovered by the
all-seeing Spirit Guide Walter, and the magician's attendance at the sessions in
the Medium's seance room became more and more infrequent. When the committee
demanded that the magician make good his boast that he could duplicate all the
effects that the Medium had manifested during her seances, Houdini found that he
had suddenly been called away on business.
The investigating committee from the Scientific American never seemed to exhaust
their list of inventive tests by which they might challenge the abilities of the
patient Margery. For one experiment, the Medium allowed herself to be encased in
a wooden compartment which would permit only her arms and legs to protrude. With
her limbs grasped firmly by the researchers, Margery was still able to ring
bells, snuff out candles, and set in motion rocking chairs on the opposite side
of the room.
In order to better investigate the Spirit Voices that seemed to be under
Margery's control, the committee carefully measured an amount of colored water
that would easily fill her mouth. With her mouth full of the colored water, the
voices of Walter and other entities were still able to speak freely and to
answer all questions put to them. After the experiment's completion, the water
was removed from the medium's mouth and re-measured. The colour remained the
same and the amount of water withdrawn varied not more than a teaspoonful.
The water test had not adequately impressed all the investigators, however, so
they devised a balloon which could be placed in the Medium's mouth and inflated
while the seance was in progress. Once again, the voices were able to engage in
free discourse, even though Margery's larynx was completely blocked off. A
number of the Spirit Voices expressed their scorn with the feeble attempts that
the investigators were making in an attempt to mute them.
Although Margery was always remarkably patient and good-humored regarding the
tests that the committee devised, there were some overeager members among the
researchers who did not return her good will. Before the research seances had
begun, each of the investigators had signed an affidavit stating that none of
them would touch the ectoplasm that streamed forth from the Medium's body, but
on one occasion, a committee member seized the substance as it moved over his
wrist. Margery emitted a terrible shriek of pain, and later she became ill and
hemorraged for several days. Another time when she was in deep trance, a
researcher drove a thick needle into her flesh. Although the Medium did not
flinch while entranced, she suffered greatly from the wound when she awakened.
On still another occasion, Margery was badly burned by corrosive chemicals which
a zealous investigator had designed for an experiment.
After six weeks of tests, the committee remained undecided as to the validity of
the phenomena produced by Margery, but an enthusiastic J. Malcolm Bird began
writing positive articles concerning the authenticity of the Medium's abilities.
When it seemed apparent that there was no general consensus accepting or
rejecting Margery's mediumship as providing proof of survival, Houdini became
furious, fearing that they were about to hand over the prize money of $2,500 to
the Crandons. Because of his open and much publicized skepticism of Spirit
Mediums and Spiritualists, Houdini felt that his very reputation as a master
magician was being challenged and insulted, so he wrote his own report, Houdini
Exposes the Tricks Used by the Boston Medium Margery, and had it published as a
booklet in 1924. As should be obvious from the title, Houdini presented his own
explanations of how each of the phenomena manifested by Margery had been
accomplished through trickery. The angry magician even went so far as to accuse
two of his fellow committee members, Hereward Carrington and J. Malcolm Bird, of
having assisted Margery in perpetrating her fraudulent mediumship.
In spite of crude and careless acts on the part of certain members of the
committee throughout the grueling tests, Margery Crandon retained her goodwill
toward the persistent investigators and produced a remarkable variety of
phenomena, ranging from breezes, raps, Spirit Writing in several languages,
independent voice manifestations, apports, and the imprint of spirit
fingerprints in paraffin. Many members of the committee made public declarations
that Margery Crandon had control of forces beyond the present knowledge of
twentieth-century science. Hereward Carrington went on record as stating that
after attending more than 40 sittings with Margery he had arrived at the
"…definite conclusion that genuine supernormal would frequently occur. Many of
the observed manifestations might well have been produced fraudulently…however,
there remains a number of instances when phenomena were produced and observed
under practically perfect control."
Unfortunately for Margery and her many friends and supporters, it was discovered
that a fingerprint that had been allegedly left in wax by Walter was found to be
that of a Boston dentist, Dr. Frederick Caldwell, who admitted that he had given
Margery a bit of wax in which his own print had been pressed. One such exposure
of fraud could not prove that all of Margery's spirit phenomena had been
produced as products of clever deception, as Houdini had declared, but the
falsification of her Spirit Control's fingerprint caused the majority of
researchers who had examined and tested her mediumship to decide that perhaps
she had, after all, been too good to be true.
Mina Crandon herself remains a mystery. The most famous Medium of the 1920s has
become a martyr in the minds of Spiritualists, a courageous woman who submitted
to test after complex test for the sake of demonstrating the truth of survival
after death. For psychical researchers, she stands as a classic example of a
talented Medium who, though capable of occasionally producing genuine phenomena,
from time to time resorted to trickery. For the skeptics, she is simply another
clever fraud who deceived the gullible until she was exposed by the harsh light
of scientific investigation.
Mina Stinson Crandon died in her sleep on November 1, 1941. Although she was
said to have spent her final years unhappy and disillusioned, tending to her
husband during a long convalescence, then succumbing herself to illness, her
supporters never ceased to remind her that her fame as a Medium was known
throughout the world.
Source with slight alterations from unexplained stuff
Margery 'Mina' Crandon producing ectoplasm whilst being observed by Scientists.
An earlier photograph of Physical Medium [Mina] Margery Crandon in 1924, is sitting in a trance state in another home Physical Circle while the Spirit World is using her to produce ectoplasm, which can be seen forming an Etheric Amplifier ready to be used for a voice direct from the Spirit World [direct voice] which can be then heard by the human ear.
A large hand that materialised started lifting the small table in the low red light seance of Margery Crandon; 13 Nov 1931.
Today we present to most probable best copies of existing
Margery Photos. They are scanned originals of early copies out of private
collections presented at a Metropolitian Museum of Art-Exhibition.
Again we see above the instance when the malformed hand of Walter appears to
left his finger-print on dentist-wax. Also regarding the other photos completing
this event (see Eclectic Margery Part I) one could ask, how Margery may have
produced it by trickery. The hand seemed self-animated and after imprinting in
wax it shook hands with Dr. Richardson (see The Eclectic Margery Part I).
Somehow one gets the impression regarding the photos, Margery may have disguised
her foot as a hand, although there are other photos, where this can be excluded.
But may it be the case in this instance? On the other copies from Part I you can
see her shoes under the table, but that proves nothing. From Eva C. we have
photographic evidence, that seems to prove she was actually using her foot to
fake - between many genuine productions.
Dr. Richardson declared the grip of the hand had been much too firm for a
disguised foot and we have no reason to mistrust him. Others theorized Margerys
12 yr old boy, who was regularly locked in his room not to become suspect to be
a confederate, may have freed himself and staged the phenomena! In this case he
may have freed himself, entered undetected the Seance room in Lime Street to
hide behind his mother to lay his arm around her waist and let it reach out of
her dress as Walters'? Everything we know about the seances at Lime Street - for
the seances at several institutes this can be directly excluded, because nowhere
the opportunity to enter the room had been given because of the strict protocols
that detained entry for anybody - even if they weren t as strict as others tell
us that an undetected entry was highly improbable because of the narrowness of
the room and several other circumstances.
So all allegations against here were at last without any trace of evidence.
Other mediums were destroyed by such theorizations....
After Dr. Crandon opened the Seances to the Scientific Community the first inquiries came in by William McDougall of Harvard. Being first impressed he stated shortly later, that it maybe could have been faked, although he stated he cannot explain the autonomous voice of her deceased brother that was frequently talking from different positions inside of the Seance Room, while everybody was controlled.
In the large debate between pros and cons regarding Margeries mediumistic productions and between the American SPR and the involved persons from The Scientific American, like Malcolm Bird, who was sure of Margeries genuiness, the ASPR-Researchers W.F.Prince and the Magician Houdini, both fierce debunkers of fraudulent mediums declared Margery as fraud, although she never was actually detected doing so. Their conviction mainly based on Houdinis claims to be able to recreate the effects of Margerys Mediumship.
One of their convictions was the alleged ectoplasm (then "teleplasm") may have
been in real animal-lung-tissue, presented to the observers as coming out of
Margeries nable or vagina.
The two photos above and below were taken only a few seconds apart and show the
suspected material.
5
Although intestines may have smelled extremely, no such comments about rotten smells can be found anywhere in the ASPR-reports. Besides the ectoplasmic productions of Margery were very varied and their different features.
6
Again we see the malformed substance this time emerging from Margeries lower orifices. This the first time was observed by the french painter Juliette Bisson with another medium. She filed a report, where she described, how she was witnessing how the substance emerged out of Marthe Berauds genitals in Schrencks "Phenomena of Materialisation".
7
As a side-note it is interesting to know that the Physical Medium Stewart Alexander, whose main control is the same "Walter" (Stinson), produces an ectoplasmic hand, allegedly "Walters", that goes through a visually observable development process looking very much like the claw-like and malformed forms Margery once produced. And not only that. After Stewarts production of the hand is finished, it does the same "shake-hands" with sitters, like in the first photo shown. Stewart Alexander is counted to the momentary performing few genuine Physical Mediums.
8
Again two photos made only seconds after the other. This time the mysterious "voice box" is displayed. An ectoplasmic production many mediums claim to be the origin of the autonomous "Direct Voices". There is a row of photos exisisting showing mediums worldwide displaying this kind of alike looking ectoplasmic product.
9
On these last two photos the voice box is again displayed. Interestingly a photo
of the UK Physical Medium
Jack Webber from the fifties exists, that show exactly
the same "model", including the cord-like connection to the Mediums ear.
All in all we must state, that Margery was never detected using fraudulent means. The claim of Houdini, he was able to reproduce the phenomena does not suffice to declare them as hoax. Only years later allegations were made, the finger-prints were produced by her dentist. That doesn't answer the question, how Margery managed it in hundreds of sittings of four or five sitters in a small room, always controlled or double-controlled, not only to produce her phenomena under every installed condition (Bell Box, Apport Box, Microphone Box aso), but also why she was never caught in the middle of hoaxing the phenomena.(end)
11
Again we see above the instance when
the malformed hand of Walter appears to left his finger-print on dentist-wax.
Also regarding the other photos completing this event one could ask, how Margery
may have produced it by trickery. The hand seemed self-animated and after
imprinting in wax it shook hands with Dr. Richardson .
Somehow one gets the impression regarding the photos, Margery may have disguised
her foot as a hand, although there are other photos, where this can be excluded.
But may it be the case in this instance? On the other copies from Part I you can
see her shoes under the table, but that proves nothing. From Eva C. we have
photographic evidence, that seems to prove she was actually using her foot to
fake - between many genuine productions.
Dr. Richardson declared the grip of the hand had been much too firm for a
disguised foot and we have no reason to mistrust him. Others theorized Margerys
12 yr old boy, who was regularly locked in his room not to become suspect to be
a confederate, may have freed himself and staged the phenomena! In this case he
may have freed himself, entered undetected the Seance room in Lime Street to
hide behind his mother to lay his arm around her waist and let it reach out of
her dress as Walters'? Everything we know about the seances at Lime Street - for
the seances at several institutes this can be directly excluded, because nowhere
the opportunity to enter the room had been given because of the strict protocols
that detained entry for anybody - even if they weren t as strict as others tell
us that an undetected entry was highly improbable because of the narrowness of
the room and several other circumstances.
So all allegations against here were at last without any trace of evidence.
Other mediums were also destroyed by such theorizations....
After Dr. Crandon opened the Seances to the Scientific Community the first inquiries came in by William McDougall of Harvard. Being first impressed he stated shortly later, that it maybe could have been faked, although he stated he cannot explain the autonomous voice of her deceased brother that was frequently talking from different positions inside of the Seance Room, while everybody was controlled.
There was a large debate between the good and the bad
regarding Mina's mediumistic productions this was between the American SPR and
the involved people from
The Scientific American, like Malcolm Bird, who was
sure of Mina's being genuine, the ASPR-Researchers W.F.Prince and the
illusionist Houdini, both fierce debunkers of ALL Mediums,
declared Mina a fraud, although she never was actually detected doing so. Their
conviction mainly based on Houdini's claims to be able to recreate the effects
of Mina's Mediumship BUT he was never shown to do it and he was getting all this
free publicity by shouting about it all the time as the Christians o the time
were having a battle with the Spiritualists, Remembering that bad news sticks
better in everyone's mind rather than any good news.
[Mina] Margery Crandon was one of the most tested Mediums of all times. With
no other Medium so much instruments and machines were implemented to
research the benchmarks of her mediumship. No matter how difficult the
experimenters created their tasks, under the agency of the deceased brother
Walter Stinson (her maiden name), Margery produced mediumistic phenomena
under every test-condition.
12
Walter was in contact mainly through his voice, which was heard as a direct
voice coming sometimes from behind the Medium, sometimes from above the
table and sometimes from somewhere in the room and through his hand. Not
only in many photographs, this hand could be seen in different stages of
completion, built out of ectoplasm, but also in hundreds of fingerprints
were left in wax under the most rigid controls. Original fingerprints of Walter
were checked against his military documentation data and could be compared
with the appeared mediumistic ones.
13
14
One of the many gadgets being used. The above displayed fingerprint f.e.
(figure2) was produced through supranormal agency inside this closed and
sealed box, manufactured only for that purpose.
14
Another
box, the "Voice"-Box, especially created to exclude anyone in the
seance room enacting the Walter Voice.
Through the enclosed microphone, the
"Direct Voice" was heard in the Seance room and was amplified with loudspeakers.
15
Walter Stinson.
16
One of the mysterious more seldom published photos, taken by the engineer
Thorogood, who was one of the main Researchers of the ASPR. Produced while a
seance, conditioned for telekinesis, the photos revealed possibly somekind
of a ectoplasmic rod or something like Crawfords "cantilevers" urging the
stool to levitate unto head-height. Margerys hands were both held by the
experimenter.
17
A few instances later this also most seldom published photo was taken.
Thorogood swore, no one was in the room but the Medium and him. The
engineer was controlling the photographing apparatus with his feet. The doors are
shut and closed and the only key is in Thorogoods pants.
18
Coming out of a unknown white or grey mass a completely formed left male
hand showing up coming out of the cabinet area behind the Medium. The
cabinet curtains were wide open over the whole period of time! Again the
room was only lit by a weak red light and the experimenter flashed when he
recognised the stool levitating.
19
During experiments to influence a weighing machine, a row of photographs
could be taken showing again the mysterious substance Margery protruded in
masses on many of the well-known photographs. On the control photographs of
the weighing-experiments researchers were surprised to find there little
amounts of the substance displayed on the experimental scale, seemingly
acting autonomous, like climbing on the scales suspension.
20
Several times an object was displayed the researchers referred to as the
"elephant-foot".
21
The "elephant-foot" taken for the first time the 12th of October 1927.
22
The 19th of October 1927 a mysterious translucent cylinder stuck in an
ectoplasmic base. At the same time the scale showed clear signs of
weighing-action.
22a
Then at another instance the cylinder was photographed leaning to the west.
Besides small amounts of ectoplasm seem to be moving along the scales
suspension rods.
23
A month later the substance displayed differently and again parts of it seem
to climb upwards at the east-suspension-rod. This time the medium was
separated through one of the investigators standing the whole time between
the Medium and the substances on the scale.
24
Magnification of the above photo shows clearly the white or grey substance.
Rests of it clinging at the metallic suspension rods.
25
A
few instances later something fascinating has occurred. Without the
possibility for the Medium to manipulate anything the mass now has
disintegrated and only rests of it seem to crawl on the weighing plate of
the scale. Suddenly the "elephants-foot" is back again positioned standing
on the top of the scale and the amount of the climbing parts have changed
also.
26
Blow up of the above photo in detail.
27
The row of photos that can be counted to the most important in connection
with the Margery Mediumship
28
Allegedly out of Margerys lower orifices, like many other times, large amounts of
differently looking ectoplasm (black, dark grey, s.t. looking like living
tissue a.s.o) emerge and form Walters hand more or less completely.
29
And again a fingerprint has been achieved after the hand of Spirit was left in
the wax.
30
Under the table we see Margerys both feet, while Walters hand passes the
imprinted piece of Wax to Dr. Richardson.
31
The hand looks mutilated or s.th. but showed an ability of a relatively
powerful grasp in the upcoming photograph.
32
After the imprint was overhanded the mediumistic produced hand shook hands
with Dr. Richardson. His hand is controlled by the entranced Medium, the
"Direct Voice" of Walter is speaking over the whole process.
33
One of the most impressing moments in the whole investigation of Margerys
mediumship. The "Shake Hands with a Spirit hand".
34
Close up of the hand shake with the Spirit hand.
35
Only a few of hundreds of achieved fingerprints, the entity "Walter"
produced through Margerys mediumship. Not only that Walters thumb was easily
to identify because of a large scar, the imprints appeared in many
mysterious versions.
36
The fingerprints often appeared as "negatives", inverted or mirrored ones,
what riddled the researchers much. Walter explained once the conditions that
were responsible for that.
All in all one can surely assume that the Margery Mediumship shall be
counted to the most evidential and eclectic mediumships of all times. But
despite the ASPR investigated of nearly a decade, they did not want to
publish a final statement regarding the genuiness of Margery.
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