GHOSTS THAT TALK.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3148, 18 December 1922, Page 7

GHOSTS THAT TALK.

Says Houdini. the magician: "I exposed a. medium in. Roehum, Germany, 20 years ago, by throwing ordinary tacks under his bare feet when he came out to the audience in a dim light and posed as a spirit from another world. To-day 1 would need a radio-receiving set to uncover his latest deception." Writing in Popular Radio (New York) Houdini goes on to way that, to the best of his knowledge, the lirst application of the principles of radio to spiritualistic manifestations was in 1852, when: Jonathan Koous, a farmer of Dover Village, Ohio, installed a "spirit machine —described as a "crude structure of zinc and copper for localising and collecting the magnetic aura." Rut in the magician's detailed account of this ancient trick he tells us that the apparatus consisted' merely of hidden speaking-tubes that led to a confederate in the next room, known as the "invisible girl." Then he proceeds to enlighten us further: — "The fraudulent mediums to-day are merely using various adaptations of the 'invisible girl.'- Instead of being in an adjoining room she is now so far away that she can not hear the questions asked without the aid of a. microphone concealed in the wall. Even at a considerable distance an opera-glass, properly focufised on the spot, serves the purpose of the peep-hole. "With a.n induction coi] coupled in the circuit with her telephone transmitter and batteries, she now sends out strong enough impulses to affect the sensitive receiver with a loop aerial concealed! inside the horn. This was, indeed, the lirst form of radio telephone. It employed 1 the same principles of induction without wires as the modern complicated radio apparatus, and it worked almost as well over a distance of 100 ft or more. The trick is a pretty one and would do credit to any magician, but it has fallen into the hands of unscrupulous psychic performers and consequently, because it is used for getting money under false representations, it should now be exposed. "With more modern apparatus and tlie pretence of spiritual communication, this simple illusion is now deceiving thousands and defiling the concept of life after death. . "Perhaps you who are reading tins article may attend the seance of a medium as clever as the woman who became nationally famous as a result of her work one evening in a Western city. While she was in the midst of her communion with the shades of those present, she stopped short. " 'I see a man murdered'!' she exclaimed. Then she described a violent death scene, giving the name of the man and the address in the city where he was actually murdered a few minutes before she received the 'spirit message.' The newspapers confirmed 1 her statements, and later spread her fame throughout the country. "From that time on people paid ridiculous prices for her services—until she was exposed. . . "The secret of her spiritualistic demonstration was simple. A radio antenna in the sole of her shoe received impulse* from a transmitting antenna in the rug upon which, she stood, and conveyed them to a. sensitive headphone hidden in a large bouquet of flowers on her shoulder. A reporter had telephoned the news of the murder to her confederate behind the scenes, who transmitted it by radbotelephoue. The receiver concealed in the flowers was not loud enough for the audience to hear, but when the medium leaned her head upon the flowers she could hear it distinctly. "Her feat' was a blow she had been aiming at sceptics' for some time. She had placed her reporters at police stations, hospitals, and 1 newspaper offices to wait for the news of a death by violence whioh would receive space in tho papers. "You understand this particular type of medium now, and are sure you will not bo fooled—but suppose you should meet the statistician-medium? She. wears a phone over one ear and a complete aerial 1 and receiving set ie concealed beneath a heavy wig, or it 19 concealed hi her hair. _ "She stands under a chandelier which 1 hides the transmitting antenna, or perhaps walks near a picture from which the radio waves issue. If she is a good radio-engineer, she may have a set so sensitive; that she can place her transmitting antenna in another room. Your name rolls off her tongue as soon aa vou enter. She tells you all 1 about, yourself, she seems to know as much about you as your intimate friends. " 'Your mother will be here shortly,' tshe remarks, casually, although yon had not told her your mother was dead and that she was the one you wished most to be near. . .

"Many a man has fallen a victim of such 'mediums, for he had no way of knowing that confederates had looked up his history while he was> waiting for the interview, and telephoned it via radio. The medium offers proof that he or she has not left the room to receive information, and 1 thereby ho gaine a few more gullible customers for Iris illicit traffic. "Radio at present is the greatest aid to the fraud mediums, and they are sure to take advantage of every new development. I hope that spirits will talk to us through radio instruments some day, but T will prefer to hear such messages in a scientist's laboratory rather than through the presentations of unscrupulous mediums. "If there are mediums who arc not fraudulent. 1 have yet to sec them."