Mike Conley's Tales of the Weird: Medium claimed he could levitate

For centuries, saints, mystics and Hindu fakirs of India have claimed to have the ability to fly or levitate. To them, it is a sign of holiness or spiritual enlightenment.

In the 19^th and early 20^th centuries, the religious movement of spiritualism was quite popular in both North America and Europe. Numerous mediums claimed to have the ability to communicate with the dead. And some of them also said they could levitate as well. Those mediums who could rise up into the air during a séance stated that they were under the power of supernatural forces.

One of the most famous of these was Daniel Dunglas Home, the Scottish-born spiritualist who could reportedly speak with the dead, levitate into the air and produce weird rappings and knocking sounds during séances. In the Victorian era, his supernatural abilities kept people spellbound in both America and Europe.

Years later, English spiritualist Colin Evans claimed to do the same thing. And he even produced photographic evidence of his strange abilities.

In 1938, Evans hosted a séance before an audience at Wortley Hall in Finsburg Park, London. He promised that they would witness a miracle that evening. Apparently, he made good on his promise.

A famous photograph from that performance shows Evans floating up into the air with people seated all around him. He appears to be caught up in some sort of trance, which was to be expected whenever a medium supposedly levitated. This photograph was published in English newspapers as proof that Evans had the ability to not only talk to the dead but levitate as well.

You can see the photo yourself by visiting this Web site http://antigravitypower.tripod.com/BioGravity/ColinEvans.html. Other pictures were made of this session that seemed to indicate Evans stayed up in the air for an extended period of time.

But in this and other photos, the members of the audience are not looking directly at Evans who is floating above them. And some of their eyes are glowing.

The reason is these photographs were taken using infrared light in darkness. His body appears to be in an awkward position and he is holding some kind of cord in his left hand.

In fact, it did not take long for skeptics to charge that Colin Evans as a fraud. The photographic evidence that he produced as proof of his abilities would instead be used against him.

Skeptics contended that the cord leading from Evans’ hand means that it was he who triggered the flash-photograph. His feet are a blur above the seat of his chair and his body is in a partially crouched position. Plus, his trousers are all bundled up.

In other words, those photographs merely showed Evans jumping into the air above his audience. His movement was captured by the flash, which he himself activated with that cord.

Even the famed English ghost hunter Harry Price suspected that something fishy was going on. He wrote about “another unsatisfactory séance” that was held by Evans at Regent’s Park in London on May 27, 1938. At this event, Evans claimed to have levitated before a group of people in complete darkness. But the people who attended this séance were not convinced and asked for their money back, according to a Web site.

In his book “Ghosts Caught on Film: Photographs of the Paranormal,” Melvin Willin comes to the defense of the maligned medium. “Either (Evans) was a master of mass hypnotism, or he really was using spiritual powers to defy Earth’s natural laws,” writes Willin.

Today, stage magicians and illusionists like David Copperfield and Criss Angel have perfected the ability to levitate before an audience. But both they and their audiences know that it is a magic trick. They do not claim to be under the influence of supernatural forces or contacting the spirit world whenever they rise into the air.

Contact Mike Conley at 652-3313, ext. 3422 or e-mail nconley@mcdowellnews.com.