More Machines of the Paranormal

The Boston medium Mina Crandon, aka Margery, used a number of devices to communicate with the dead, and also to establish the authenticity of those communications.  This is one of her voice machines, but I’m not entirely sure which one it is.  Oh wait, this must be the “spirit bell box.”  Those are clearly bells inside.

Although Margery’s feet and hands were held or tied during seances, the bells in the box would ring out during the seance, supposedly rung by the spirit of Margery’s dead brother Walter.  However during one demonstration, Houdini felt Margery’s feet manipulate the box, just as J. B. Rhine saw Margery use her feet to recover a spirit megaphone that had temporarily gotten away from her.

That is Margery in the picture, but I don’t know who the two men are. 

2 thoughts on “More Machines of the Paranormal

  1. I have never seen this device before before, so thank you very much for posting. If I had to make a guess I would say it might be related to the Harvard investigation where at least some of the tests were designed by the investigators. To my knowledge this is not one her regular devices. The bell box that I am familiar with was a wooden box that had a metal clapper and could be pressed with the feet, and that was what she used in the sitting with Houdini. I really enjoy your blog, by the way! Beautifully crafted and all very interesting.

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