Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

by Professor Hoffmann

One of the tests offered by the mediums is the rope-tying trick, made so famous by the Davenport Brothers. It has been clearly demonstrated that it was merely a trick. The medium has in his hand a coil of rope about twelve yards long. The lights are extinguished, and a few seconds afterward, when the gas is lighted, he is seen securely fastened to a chair, his hands tied, and the rope made fast between his wrists. One of the company is requested to examine the rope and seal the ends of the knot. The gas is again extinguished, and a tambourine is heard bounding about the room. A hand—and a very material hand—claps the faces of the nearest persons, hats are knocked off, a bell is rung, arms are pinched, and various other manifestations occur which fully convince the astonished devotees that some one—spirit or otherwise—is evidently giving free vent to a playful and mischievous disposition. The medium, of course, claims that these manifestations are performed by spirits summoned by him; and he is believed, not because the spectators suppose that spirits could be so summoned and be made to manifest their presence, but that, because the medium is tied with a rope, the ends of which are so sealed as to prevent his getting free from the bondage into which the spirits have placed him, he cannot possibly be the one that played the tambourine, rung the bell, gave the blows, etc.—ergo, it must have been the spirits.

Now, had these faithful believers looked very carefully at the rope and the method of the tying, they would have discovered that the rope had previously been cut in halves, and then knotted with a fast knot in the middle. This knot is concealed by the medium before he binds himself, by holding it in his hand. The rope then, of course, looks like one continuous whole. When the gas is lowered, he places the two ends of the rope beneath him on the chair, and, in a manner which I can scarcely explain in writing or even by illustration, so binds himself, that by making a double running knot, and placing this double noose twice round his wrist, he can slip it, and thus free his hand at will. The knot may be concealed, because it is never touched or disturbed. When the room is again darkened, it is found to be a very easy matter for the medium to perform any of the usual manifestations.

Another test offered by a medium, and which was considered as convincing proof of the right of his claim of connection with the world of spirits, was the well-known sealed accordion test. The instrument was fast bound by tapes, and the tapes sealed at every note so as to prevent it being played in the ordinary way. As soon as the lights were out the accordion was heard to play, not too sweetly, but sufficiently well to show that the instrument was being manipulated. When the lights were again produced, the accordion was found just as it had been placed, fast bound by tapes, each note sealed, and the seals immaculate.

This trick may be performed by any of our readers without having the slightest introduction to the beings of another world. He has only to procure a small tube, place it in the valve-hole of the accordion, breath and blow into it alternately, and then by fingering the keys he will be able to produce precisely the same effect as our friends the mediums. In order to touch distant persons, or to make such things as guitars and tambourines play at different parts of the room, he has to conceal about him, or have hidden in some recess in the table or chair, a telescopic rod, extending several feet. To the end of this he fixes the tambourine or guitar, on the surface of which has been placed some phosphorus, and by waving the stick he makes it appear as if persons were floating over the heads of the company. The invisible hand is formed by a glove being fastened to the end of the tube. The glove is inflated or blown out through the tube, and when slapped on to the cheek of a person it has all the sensations of a cold hand striking the face. The glove covered with phosphorus and waved about is the mysterious hand, without any body, which caused so many to believe that a spirit was present.

At the end of this useful tube may also be fixed a reed trumpet or whistle, and by blowing through the tube sound can be evolved, and when the instrument is worked about in different directions a large but discordant band of spiritual musicians appear, to the materially and physically benighted listeners, to be in the room. To play the guitar, while floating in the air, seems a more difficult problem, but the reader will easily see how this is achieved. In the guitar is a musical box with a small piece of writing paper so placed as to touch the steel or vibrating tongues of the box, and this closely imitates the peculiar twang of the guitar.

When a medium, after having been caught in one or two of his performances, announces his intention of floating over the heads of the little world of spiritualists, they at once hold up their hands in silent admiration, and their belief in the invisible world becomes more vigorous. They then hasten to pay their guinea or two guineas to share in this manifestation of the spirit. The medium having called up the spirit from the “vasty deep,” the room is darkened and a bull’s-eye lantern is held at such a distance from the medium as to make his face appear vague and indistinct. He is then seen suddenly to rise, and in his aërial flight performs a beautiful curve. His face is sufficiently masked as to make the features indistinguishable; but, at the same time, to make the audience fully assured that it is his face. The lantern is made to follow him, and in a moment the face is lost in darkness, but for one instant only, and then as the gas is lit the medium is seen with his toes just touching the platform, and his form descending to its ordinary upright position. Messrs. Maskelyne and Cooke and others have well shown that this floating in the air is one of the grossest deceptions ever offered to the most gullible of audiences. First, there is ready to hand a lay figure, got up to resemble the medium or professor. Hanging from the top of the stage are two cords, concealed from the audience. When the medium prepares for his flight the bull’s-eye lantern is turned upon him, but the person holding the lantern, pretending that the focus is not altogether right, turns it away to arrange it, as it were. While this is being done, the medium quickly substitutes the lay figure. The ends of these cords are furnished with hooks, which are fastened on to the shoulders of the lay figure, and then the exhibitor by means of a pulley hauls the figure upward, the light being kept at such a distance as to just make the figure of the dummy visible, but totally unrecognizable. During one of the intervals of the lantern’s wanderings the dummy is removed, and the medium is seen descending, by merely raising himself on his toes and lowering himself, and when the full light is upon him sinking on his knees.

In spite of the exposure of the tricks played by mediums, there are still persons to be found who really believe that the tambourines, accordions, guitars, etc., are played by spirit hands, and that beings from the invisible world make a special journey at every spiritual séance.

Messrs. Maskelyne and Cooke have, in their popular entertainment, done a great deal to destroy the belief in the spiritual world founded upon the tests offered by mediums, and have clearly shown that the tricks which the mediums assert can only be done by spiritual agency might be performed by any ingenious person.

Another trick which has been performed by Messrs. Maskelyne and Cooke is that known as the spiritual musical box. An oblong piece of glass is suspended by means of four cords hanging from the ceiling, and upon this glass is placed a musical box. At the word of command the box begins to play, and when desired by the exhibitor or one of the audience, it suddenly ceases. The effect is really marvellous, but the secret of the trick is very simple. In the box there is placed a balance lever, which, when the glass is in the slightest degree tilted, arrests the fly-fan, and thus prevents the machinery from moving. When the performer gives the word of command, the glass is made level, and, the fly fan being released, the machinery moves, and a tune is played. When commanded to stop, the cord on either side is slightly pulled, the balance lever drops, the fly fan is arrested, and the music ceases.