Nice things on the other side from Madame Brockman (7 photos)

The beginning of the last century was marked by a surge of incredible interest in spiritualistic séances and other similar events. To add ambience and stimulate clients’ desire to part with money painlessly, mediums of all stripes and ranks actively generated ectoplasm.





The term itself was introduced into use by the French physiologist and Nobel Prize winner in Physiology or Medicine in 1913, Charles Robert Richet. He proposed to understand ectoplasm as a jelly-like substance that was secreted by mediums during sessions. It acted as an indicator that the medium had made contact with the spirit, and gradually formed faces, hands and various images.



Charles Richet

It looked quite disgusting, since enterprising businessmen from the afterlife made it from paper, muslin, egg whites, gelatin, soap suds and even their own saliva. The eruption process looked quite sickening. What if we give it some aesthetics and turn it into an elegant show?





Medium with ectoplasm

This is what a creative medium from Chicago came up with in the mid-1920s, deciding to take a more subtle approach to captivating the public. During her sessions, Madame Brockman materialized lovely things like rabbits, flowers and doves straight from the spirit world.



Medium with ectoplasm

Spectators filled small theaters to watch this mystical demonstration. Scientists, doctors and psychologists were brought in to prove that her abilities were not entirely real.

During the performance, Madame’s husband was on stage, commenting on what was happening and giving explanations.

Beside Mr. Brockman were two closets large enough to accommodate his wife. Each of them was covered with a black curtain. Madame Brockman went into the first closet to change clothes and came out wearing a tight-fitting one-piece swimsuit, letting the audience know that there could be no live animals in the pockets or folds of her clothes. Several volunteers then came on stage to inspect the second cabinet and reassure the rest of the audience that it was empty and did not have any hatches or other deception mechanisms. Once this was established, Madame Brockman came inside and sat down on a chair. The woman was tied tightly to him with two long pieces of rope. The medium then fell into a trance as Mr. Brockman demanded complete silence. Volunteers were given the opportunity to look inside again and rule out any fraud. Mr. Brockman then closed the curtain and left his wife to work.



Madame Brockman materializes living objects from the world of the dead

A moment later, the silence was broken by a mysterious fluttering dove emerging from the closet. A touching white rabbit poked its head out from under the curtain and jumped onto the stage. Soon several more pigeons flew out of the closet and rabbits climbed. Mr. Brockman opened the curtain and his wife appeared on stage, showered with roses, carnations and other flowers.

Joseph Danninger, a magician who exposed many frauds, attended one of Madame Brockman's performances and easily determined that living animals and flowers did not come from the world of the dead. Instead, they came from one of the female volunteers working in cahoots with the Brockmans.



Joseph Danninger

“The animals and flowers were packed tightly into a strong black bag that the woman wore under her skirt,” Dunninger said. She made sure to be the last one to enter the office before the curtain closed for the last time, giving her the opportunity to unnoticedly empty her bag.” Then, Dunninger explained, Madame Brockman released one hand from the ropes to untie the bag and free the animals. After that, she simply hid the bag in her swimsuit.

The performance left everyone in amazement. Even Dunninger must have come away impressed. But not from the Brockmans, but from the volunteer who prevented everyone else on stage from discovering a bag of birds and rabbits between his legs.



Thus, it is important to choose the right helpers and assistants. For from the inconspicuous to nAt first glance, people's success may directly determine the success of an enterprise, especially if it is rather dubious.