Experimental investigation of the spirit manifestations, [electronic ...

OF THE EXISTENCE OF SI'IIUTS. 291were situated. Upon extimiiiation, the tuinljlcr was found to be brokeninto several hundred pieces, and what is still more stranj^c, the pieces werenot scattered around, but occupied a spot which did not exceed eight orten inches in diameter! It seemed as if the tumbler had collapucd ; eventhe bottom, thick as it was, was broken into many pieces. These facts occurredat the house of Mr. George D. Ilenck, dentist, in Arch street, who,with the other persons present on that occasion, will at any time corroboratethese statements.1G71. On another occasion, at the house of Mr. J. Thompson, of thiscity, during a sitting, I requested, among other things, that the spiritswould move the table without physical contact. Mrs. Thompson, ^Irs.]l ,and myself, the only persons in the room, drew back from thetable, and it was then moved some six or eight inches. In addition tothis, it moved from various points, and objects were retained on the table,when under ordinary circumstances, from the inclination of the table,they must have fallen off.1472. At a sitting at my own residence, some two years since, somevery strange phenomena occurred. At the close of the session, a youngman, of slender frame and constitution, (Mr. H. C. Gordon,) had his handthrown violently upon the centre of a large dinlng-table, weighing not lessthan eighty or ninety pounds. Some of the company were requested toraise Mr. Gordon's hand from the table. This, after much effort, was accomplished,and, strange to relate, the table accompanied the hand until itwas entirely Isolated from the floor. This was a result which I would havedoubted, had it not come under my own personal observation.1473. About the same time, a company of persons, whose names, as faras I can recollect, I shall mention, were seated around two tables, joinedtogether, in order to furnish room sufficient to seat the party. The housein which I then lived had two parlours, with folding doors. The twotables referred to occupied the entire length of the front parlour, leavingbarely room enough for the chairs at the front end of the room ; the otherend of the table extended quite to the folding doors, leaving, of course, nopassage on either end. It so happened that I was seated at that end" ofthe table projecting Into the doorway. The medium, Mr. Gordon, wasseated about midway of the tables, on the left, the other seats being occupiedby the rest of the company.1474. After a variety of manifestations had occurred, the medium wasraised from his seat by an invisible power, and, after some apparent resistanceon his part, was carried through the doorway between the parlours,directly over my head, and his head being bumped along the ceiling, hepassed to the farther end of the back room. In which there was no onebeside himself1475. Although all the Individuals present had not equally good opportunityof ascertaining the facts in this case, the room having been some-