Eusapia Palladino
Encyclopedia : E : EU : EUS : Eusapia Palladino
Eusapia Palladino (1854-1918) was a famous physical medium and spiritualist from the slums of Naples. In her early life she was married to a traveling conjuror. (Rawciffe 1952, page 321) In Italy, France, and Germany, it was recorded she displayed extraordinary powers in the dark: levitating and elongation of herself, apports of flowers, full physical materialization of the dead, the production of spirit hands and faces, levitating of tables, playing musical instruments under the table without contact, direct communication with the dead through her spirit guide John King, etc. The Europeans praised Palladino as being genuine. It was said she did not use the standard deceptions used by fraudulent mediums.
Eusapia dictated the lighting and the controls that were to be used. The finger tips of her right hand rested upon the back of the hand of a controller. Her left hand was grasp at the wrist by a controller sitting on her other side. Her feet rested on the top of the feet of her controllers and sometimes beneath them. A controllers' foot is in contact with only the toe of her shoe. Occassionaly her ankles were tied to the legs of her chair but they were given a play of four inches. During the sitting in semi darkness her ankles would become free. Generally she was unbound. There is an instance when a contoller cuts her free, so that phenomena may occur. Eusapia refused to allow someone beneath the table to hold her feet with their hands. Eusapia refused to levitate the table from a standing position. The table being rectangular, she must sit at only at a short side. No wall of any kind could stand between Eusapia and the table. The weight of the table was seventeen pounds. The table levitates to a height of 3 to 10 inches for a maximum of 2 to 3 seconds. When the table levitates there is also movement from Eusapia's skirt. (Podmore 1910)
In France, the United Kingdom and the USA she had been caught using tricks. Eusapia was an expert at freeing a hand or foot to produce phenomena. She chose to sit at the short side of the table so that her controllers on each side must sit closer together, making it easier to deceive them. Her shoes were gimmicked and unbuttoned in such a way that she could remove her feet without disturbing "control". Her levitation of a table began by freeing one foot, rocking table and then slipping her toe under one leg. Since she sat at the narrow end of the table this was made possible. She lifted the table by rocking back on the heel of this foot. A total levitation was produced by now switching the support of the table to her knees. She made light spirit rappings by pressing the tips of her fingers on table top and moving them. Louder raps were made by striking a leg of the table with a free foot. She could do these tricks in full light and not be caught. All the sitters at the table viewed her from different angles. Where one might catch her trick another could not. This confusion greatly aided her. (W.S. Davis 1910)
A photograph, taken in the dark, of a small stool behind her, that moved and levitated, revealed the stool sitting on Eusapia's head. After Eusapia saw this photo, the stool remained on the floor and immobile. A plaster impression taken of a spirit hand matched her hand. She was caught using a hair to perform "controlled" scientific experiments. In the dim light her fist wrapped in a handkerchief became a materialized spirit. (Podmore 1910)
When Eusapia's rules for control were not met nothing happened. When controls were loosened phenomena occurred. Palladino spoke only in Italian. Her spirit guide John King could only do the same. Palladino even admitted to a New York reporter she used tricks. She and her supporters said she had to. Her powers did not always work, something was expected.
As time passed Eusapia's amazing powers began to diminish. Her supporters claimed it was because she was growing older, not because of the tighter controls demanded by conjurors (magicians) and the scientific community, or the many times she was eventually caught cheating. Throughout the history of spiritism, and its relatively new child parapsychology, master conjurors have rarely been welcomed or heeded.
External links
References
- Occult and Supernatural Phenomena, Chapter Twenty-One, Eusapia Palladino by D.H. Radcliffe, Dover Publications, reprint of Psychology of the Occult, Derricke Ridgway Publishing co., 1952
- Mediums of the Ninteeth Century, Volume Two, Book Four, Chapter One, Some Foreign Investigations by Frank Podmore, University Books, 1963, reprint of 1902 edition
- The Newer Spiritism, Book One, Chapters Three and Four, Eusapia Palladino, Eusapia Palladino and the S.P.R by Frank Podmore, Arno Press, 1975, reprint of 1910 edition
- The New York Exposure of Eusapia Palladino by W. S. Davis, Journal of the American Society of Psychical Research, Pages 401-424, Vol 4, No. 8, Aug 1910, gives excellently detailed information from conjurors who were prepared for her skills and watched her very closely. At one point, the total levitation of the table, everyone even applauds.
Further reading
- Revelations of a Spirit Medium by Harry Price and Eric J. Dingwall, Arno Press, 1975, reprint of 1891 edition by Charles F. Pidgeon. This, extremely rare, often overlooked, and forgotten, book gives the "insider's knowledege" of 19th century deceptions.
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.