Just ran across this slide I prepared for my presentation a few years back and thought it would help it start this week off right. This device is a test apparatus for spirit mediums created by famous American chemist Dr. Robert Hare of Philadelphia, and features prominently in his cultural milestone work, 1855’s Spiritualism Scientifically Demonstrated. In the book, the highly respected scientist shocked the nation by publicly supporting the Spiritualist movement as genuine, based on tests performed with this instrument and others. This was the equivalent of a famous public scientific figure like Neil DeGrasse Tyson admitting that physics experiments had proven Heaven was real. It was a major—and shocking—event in American history that led to significant public outcry by skeptics and rejoicing by believers. The device itself was a blind test apparatus, with the medium sitting behind the dial so they could not see its face, and rolling the platform back and forth to produce messages with the rotating indicator. Unfortunately, Hare did not seem to account for possible fraudulent use of the device, such as the medium getting signals from confederates, and was highly criticized by the scientific community that had held him in such high regard before his experiments began. His obituaries make for some incredibly interesting reading as his peers try to make sense of the famous scientist’s final years. #seance #spiritualism #ouija #planchette #talkingboard #drroberthare #spiritoscope #ghost #spirit #occult #spiritmedium #psychic https://www.instagram.com/p/B7QtwSRFjtp/?igshid=19rllx5gw2mb1
