Douglas
BLACKBURN
(Investigator 212, 2023 September)
In the latter part of the 19th century and early in this, tests
conducted on Douglas Blackburn and G. A. Smith by the Society for
Psychical Research revealed some of the most compelling scientific
evidence of the existence of thought transference, or telepathy.
In 1882, the heyday of Spiritualism, Blackburn, who was the editor of a
weekly journal in Brighton, met G. A. Smith, a 19 year old accomplished
hypnotist whom he considered to be a genius. Shortly afterwards they
entered into a compact practising thought-reading.
One of their exhibitions was described fully and enthusiastically in a
spiritualistic paper and attracted the attention of Messrs. Myers,
Gurney, and Podmore of the Society for Psychical Research who requested
a private demonstration.
The committee who designed the protocol for the test were very thorough
and cognizant of possible trickery. Blackburn, recounting the
experiment in the Daily News of September 1, 1911 had this to say:
“Smith sat at a table, his eyes padded with wool and bandaged with a
thick dark cloth. His ears were filled with a layer of cotton-wool and
plugged with pellets of putty. His entire body and the chair on which
he sat were enveloped in two very heavy blankets. I remember, when he
emerged triumphant, he was wet with perspiration, and the paper on
which he had successfully drawn the figure was so moist that it broke
during the examination by the delighted observers. Beneath his feet and
surrounding his chair were thick, soft rugs, rightly intended to deaden
and prevent signals by feet shuffles...a nice precaution...at the
farther side of...a very large dining room, Mr Myers showed me, with
every precaution, the drawing that I was to transmit to the brain
beneath the blankets. It was a tangle of heavy black lines, interlaced,
some curved, some straight, the sort of thing an infant playing with a
pen or pencil might produce...I took it, fixed my gaze on it, pacing
the room meanwhile...but always keeping out of touching distance of
Smith...I drew and redrew the figure many times, openly in the presence
of the observers, in order, as I explained, to fix it in my brain. I
conveyed to Smith the agreed signal that I was ready by stumbling
against the edge of the thick rug near his chair. Next instant he
exclaimed, “I have it." His right hand came from beneath the blanket,
saying, “Where's my pencil?” Immediately I placed mine on the table. He
took it and a long and anxious pause ensued...it occupied about five
minutes during which time I was sitting exhausted with the mental
effort quite ten feet away.
Presently Smith threw back the blanket, and excitedly pushing back the
eye bandage produced the drawing, which was done on a piece of
notepaper and very nearly on the same scale as the original. It was a
splendid copy.”
Smith subsequently became Edmund Gurney’s secretary and Blackburn went to South Africa where he became a successful writer.
Comment:
The Smith-Blackburn experiment was one of the first investigations
carried out by the Committee on Thought Transference set up by the
Society for Psychical Research in 1882, and at the time was alleged to
have provided the best evidence to date for telepathy. However, in 1908
Blackburn confessed that the act was fraudulent and had been
accomplished by sleight of hand - he had secretly drawn the image on a
cigarette paper and transferred it to the brass tube projector on his
pencil. When he stumbled against the edge of the rug this was the
agreed signal for Smith to exclaim, “I have it”, and to ask for a
pencil. Under the blanket Smith had a luminous painted slate which gave
sufficient light to see what was on the cigarette paper and to copy it
with great accuracy.
Further reading:
Brandon, Ruth. 1984. The Spiritualists. Prometheus Books. Buffalo, 14215. NY.
Hansel, C.E.M. 1980. ESP and Parapsychology. A Critical Re-evaluation. Prometheus Books. Buffalo. 14215. NY.
Kurtz, Paul. (Ed.) 1985. A Handbook of Parapsychology. Prometheus Books. Buffalo. 14215. NY.
From: Edwards, H. 1994 Magic Minds Miraculous Moments, Harry Edwards Publications