MEDIUM IN COURT

Manawatu Times, Volume LIII, Issue 6667, 21 July 1928, Page 1 (Supplement)

MEDIUM IN COURT

'.I r I - EVIDENCE IN TRANCE '' VJ. GIVES DETAILS OF BURGLARY i STRANGE GERMAN EXPERIMENT UNPRECEDENTED in judicial history is an experiment in court/carried out at the trial, at Insterburg, in East Prussia, of a woman charged with “fraudulently practising . as a Medium,” writes “The Daily Chronicle’s” Berlin corres- ':; pqndont. ; I ' v ;

In ;tto presence of experts on hypnotism, .telepathy and occult sciences, this elderly white-haired wife of the bead of, an agricultural school was tested-a? to the gift with , which she claims laibe endowed. By Auto-suggestion she passed into a traneiy and was then asked to detail an ■ unsolved crime mystei’y—a robbery jnA -lonely castle —of which she had no /previous knowledge. It was a burglary committed last February at a Schloss on a remote Prussian .estate that the trancewoman %as asked to describe wnilo “self-hypnotised” in court. ■ precautions had been taken, to verify that the “clairvoyant” woman, bad 1 : no prior knowledge of the castle crime. - ‘ e i Dramatic Dialogue Subsequent examination of the evidenc£r>jii|lclosed that, though there were 1 minor errors in the account given by the woman while in the trance, if corresponded with the facts. Experiments began with the woman sitting -bn A chair in the, centre of the court and holding a match-stick in her hand. - .; - ' After, about three minutes her head salik backwards, and she passed into a condition which doctors in court described as “undoubtedly one of a self-suggested hypnotic trance.” Then there came to her side a forester (the only person in court familiar with the crime in question), and a well-known Viennese specialist. Dr.. Th'oxna, who bad been summoned from Austria to assist the court. She was told that a theft had been committed; and then the crime was described in a. dramatic dialogue between- the forester and the medium (as the*Woman bad now become), ft ran ~as fallows; —

Forester; When did this happen? Medium: Last February. Forester; Where was it? Medium: In a big building.

Forester;■ What do you see? Medium; Silver objects gleaming. Forester: Where are yon now? - Medium: You are taking me into a large room. There are big carven chairs. . . • Forester: How old is the owner of the castle? .

Medium: Nearly ,70. Forester: No, older? Medium: Yes. Nearly 80. " But he is very elastic in his movements, and I see him riding. Forester: What else was stolen? Medium: Material of some kind. I cannot see it clearly,, Where are you taking me? Forester: What, does this material look like? Medium: I see now; it is fur. Forester: -What else did the thief do? Medium/! He sat- in the room, ate some meat and drank something. Forester: Do you see any other object that he held? Medium; Yes. It is lying on the window-sill. It is a pistol. Test for Unknown Names Dr. Thoma then took up the examination and asked the woman if she could name the thief. She hesitated a few seconds, murmured something indistinctly: and was then given a pencil and piece of paper and asked if she could write the name. This she did —that is to say, she wrote a name. There followed a similar test as to the name of the owner of the castle, and the medium answered that there were two syllables in the name, and

she appeared to be trying to say them but without success.

Again she was given pencil and paper, and, with her eyes closed, she wrote “Von Reibnitz.”

She was ' then awakened from the trance, and, once more in a normal condition, smiled at the court,, rose from the chair, and went back to her place in the dock As compared with the woman’s “reconstruction,” the circumstances of the theft, so far as they are known, show an amazing correspondence.

The owner of the castle is Herr von Reibnitz. He is 89 years of age. He rides daily. The articles stolen were a fur coat and, 12 silver coins. The thief had eaten the remains of a sausage and drank wine. He left a revolver, behind. ■ . ' • ’ Enormous interest and a lively discussion have followed this strange experiment in a court of law, but commentators are shy of jumping, to any conclusions. ■ * . It is pointed out that the crucial test is the Identity of the thief. He has not been traced, and even if the name written by the medium is the correct one, he is hardly likely to come forward and testify to her powers as a clairvoyant! ;) . f Telepathy is advanced as one explanation of the success of the expei’i-. ment. Frau Guenther-Gessers, the accused woman, has already been tried on the same charges in the lower court, which dismissed the case. This trial is taking place on the appeal of the Public Prosecutor of the province. She disavows any occult - gifts, claiming only intense powers of visualising places and persons. Her clients have actually included official detectives who have .gone to her for help in their investigations: and none of the witnesses so far subpoenaed by the prosecution has complained of feeling defrauded or deceived. One interesting point jurists make is that people she names as thieves are in danger of achieving that reputation even though they be innnocent. It is also revealed that arrests have actually been made on different occasions on the strength of statements the medium has made while in a state of trance.