9781422280133

For a Séance in the Dark In the 19th century, telekinesis was associated with Spiritualism , a religious movement that believed in the communication between the dead and the living. Spiritualist mediums—people who could supposedly “channel” the voices of the dead—claimed they could move, levitate, or otherwise disrupt objects in a room during séances . Eusapia Palladino was an Italian medium who was reported to have levitated tables and made musical instruments play by themselves. Her powers were widely investigated during her visits to England,America, France, and Germany.While she managed to convince some people, others caught her using trickery—such as lifting a table with her foot to make it appear like it was floating—a few too many times.Today she is widely regarded as a very clever illusionist.

to paying customers. Whether she was a master illusionist or did have, as the committee believed, some sort of electromagnetic power remains a mystery lost to time. Spoonman Closer to our time, the Israeli illusionist and pro- fessed psychic Uri Geller is well known for his telekinetic abilities. He began his career in the 1970s and soon became one of the world’s most popular entertainers. In televised performances and live shows all over the globe, he bent spoons

The illusionist and professed psychic Uri Geller became famous for tricks such as bending spoons seemingly with his mind.

freaky phenomena

14