Class V.—Chairs and tables raised from the earth without contact with any person.
“A remark usually made when cases of this kind arise is: ‘Why do these things only occur with chairs and tables? Is this a privilege solely enjoyed by pieces of furniture?’ I wish to answer this by stating that I simply observed facts and report them without pretending to enter into the why and how; but, in truth, it is very evident that if any inanimate object of a certain weight can be lifted from the earth in the ordinary dining room, it could as easily be anything else than a chair or table.
“That such phenomena are not limited to furniture I have numerous proofs, as have other experimenters; the intelligence or force, whichever it may be, that produces the manifestations, can only operate with materials that are at its disposition.
“On five distinct occasions a heavy dining table was raised from the floor for a height varying from some inches to a foot and a half, under special imposed conditions that made fraud impossible.
“On another occasion a heavy table was raised to the ceiling, in full light, while I held the feet and hands of the medium.
“At another time the table raised itself above the floor, without any one touching it, but under conditions I had previously imposed in such a manner as to render the proof of the fact incontestable.” (Crookes.)
The phenomena observed in this class of experiments belong to those of movement without contact. Although these are difficult to obtain, I have noticed them several times; I have seen, in my own home, a massive table raised some distance from the floor ten or fifteen seconds after all contact had ceased. Dr. Gibier had the advantage of obtaining complete levitation and seeing the table turn and touch the ceiling with its four feet, under the mediumistic influence of Mr. Slade. The Doctor affirms this fact in his own book on the subject.
In the trial of August 31st, 1591, a phenomenon similar to the one narrated befell Francoise Fontaine, i.e., the fall of an iron door on the unfortunate girl; the elevation in the air of a washtub and its being emptied in the presence of the jailer and the prisoner Aufrenille. Francois Fontaine was evidently a medium with psychic effects.
Class VI.—Raising human beings in the air.
“This phenomenon has taken place in my presence four times, although in obscurity. The conditions under which these movements were performed, however, were completely satisfactory; but the ocular demonstration of such a thing is necessary to prevent the effects of our preconceived opinions; for example, upon that which is naturally possible or impossible, I shall only mention here cases in which the deductions of reason have been affirmed by the sense of vision.