medium were William Thackeray, Anthony Trollope, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Alexander Dumas and most of the crowned heads of Europe including Napoleon the Third.
“What makes this man unique in the history of psychic phenomena is the volume of testimony regarding his feats over a period of some forty years. Despite extreme hostility by critics, he was not once shown to be fraudulent.”
The exterior of a London townhouse. “A gathering at the home of Lord Adare including Mr. Charles Wynne, Mr. Saal, Mr. Hurt and Mr. and Mrs. Jencken. The most famous of D.D. Home’s many demonstrations.”
CUT IN. Four men around a grand piano, pushing down on it with all their strength; nearby, D.D. Home, arms raised.
The piano floats two inches from the floor.
“Push it down,” says Home. They try in unison. The piano rises higher. “Try,” says Home. They do as much as possible. In vain. The piano rises steadily until it hovers above their heads.
Then, as Home lowers his arms, the piano sinks to the floor without a sound.
The drawing room is not brightly lit but it is not at all dark. A fire burns in the grate. Several lamps cast soft illumination.
Home does something now which is, by any physical standard, impossible.
He grows.
He is a man five foot ten inches in height. Yet, standing beside Mr. Jencken who is noticeably taller, he begins to rise. His feet remain planted on the floor but, with audible crackling noises, Home
extends
himself.
Soon the top of his head is higher than that of Mr. Jencken. Before the incredulous gaze of the sitters, Home keeps growing until he is six foot, six inches tall.
“Daniel, will you show how it is?” asks Lord Adare.
Home unbuttons his coat to reveal a space of six inches between his waistcoat bottom and the waistband of his trousers. Moreover, he has grown in breadth as well, a veritable giant.
He then diminishes, regaining normal height and breadth.
He is weakened. It is a feat which drains him; he feels nauseous. He sits, the others watching in silence.
He regains himself and moves to the fire, picking up the poker from its rack. He jabs the end of it into the coals, causing them to flare. He then puts down the poker, draws in a deep breath and reaches into the fire.
He lifts out a red-hot ember twice the size of an orange.
Carrying it to the amazed group, he shows it to them. They wince, drawing back from its heat. He returns the ember to the flames, comes back to display his hand. No burns. It is un-scorched, not blackened in the least.
Returning to the fire, he stirs the embers into flame again—
this time with his hands
—and, kneeling, places his face among the burning coals, moving it about as though bathing in comfortable water.
He straightens then, picks up the same large burning coal he previously handled and returns to the group, blowing on the coal to make it brighter.
“I want to see which of you will be the best subject,” he says. “Ah! Adare will be the easiest because he has been the most with Dan.” (It is Home’s “control” who presumably speaks through this sitting.)
“Put it in mine,” says Jencken.
“No, no, touch it and see,” Home tells him.
Jencken does and gasps, burning the tip of his finger. Home then holds the coal within four inches of Mr. Saal’s and Mr. Hurt’s hands. They cannot endure the heat and pull their hands away.
Home turns to Lord Adare and says, “If you are not afraid, hold out your hand.”
Adare does so and Home makes two rapid passes over the hand, then puts the burning coal in it.
“Good Lord,” murmurs Adare. The others stare at him. “It feels scarcely warm,” he says.
Home laughs and takes the coal away, returning it to the fireplace.
He whispers then that, “the spirits are arranging something special; do not be afraid and, on no account, leave your places.”
He moves to the window and opens it wide, then leaves and walks into the adjoining room where they hear the window being opened