Huge Orb Making Loops in the Sky Had 300 Witnesses

 In the Oakland Tribune, Volume 117, Number 176, 25 June 1990, which you can read here, we have this account of an orb seen by many witnesses:

"In 1965, Michel Figuet, helmsman on the French submarine Junon, spotted a 'huge ball of light' making loops in the sky over Fort-de-France, Martinique. There were 300 witnesses, including six naval officers who watched the phenomenon through binoculars."

In another old newspaper account, which you can read here, we read of a seance in which a medium (Stewart Alexander) was tied to a chair inside a small enclosed area called a cabinet. Typically such a "cabinet" was merely a small corner of a room cordoned off with curtains. We read of the appearance of a mysterious ball of light, with someone claiming to see a face inside such an orb. 

From Orb to Full-Sized Human Form?

 On page 497 of the October 20, 1906 edition of the periodical Light, which you can read here, we read an account of a seance with the medium C. V. Miller. The account is a summary of a German account by Joseph Peter given on page 586 of the periodical here. In the German account we have a diagram showing the viewing conditions, a typical affair in which a small portion of a room sealed off by curtains is designated as a "cabinet," and witnesses view various spooky phenomena arising from such a "cabinet." In the top left of the diagram we see an area marked "K" which is the "cabinet" referred to in the narrative below.  The "t" in the diagram designates windows. In seances such as these the area designated as a "cabinet" would always be searched to make sure it was empty at the beginning of the seance, or that it contained only the medium. 

We read the following in the account in the periodical Light:

"While Miller still sat outside the cabinet, the voice of ‘Betsy,’ his control, was heard from within the curtains, and there were some luminous appearances. After the medium had entered the cabinet various forms were seen, which did not come out of the cabinet, but appeared in front of the curtains, usually quite suddenly and unexpectedly, but in one case a luminous ball 'gradually assumed a human shape in full view of the company. The forms were not well seen on account of the dim light, and the features could not be recognised ; the outlines often appeared ill-defined. The first to appear claimed to be Frederika Hauffe, the ‘ Seeress of Prevorst,' who came again later, and spoke both times in German. Colonel Peter says expressly : ' I have repeatedly spoken with Mr. Miller ; he cannot speak the pure, fluent German used by the phantom.’ 

Soon afterwards, three forms were seen together in front of the cabinet, and one appeared to wear a shining diadem. They disappeared simultaneously, and soon a man’s form introduced himself by name to Mme. Nœggerath, and asked that his wife be told that he had shown himself. He passed in front of the semi-circle of sitters, and dematerialised at about a yard from Colonel Peter, taking leave of the company as he sank down to the ground.  'Mother Shipton,’ the English prophetess of three hundred years ago, also purported to appear, and then a little Indian girl, 'Susie,' came suddenly into the circle, no one could tell how. She said she had materialised behind Mme. Nœggerath's chair. A child's figure sang an American nursery rhyme, and then came the development of ' Dr. Benton ’ from a luminous ball. Immediately after this form had disappeared, ' Betsy ’ herself materialised (she had from time to time given explanations, apparently by the direct voice).... Some of the sitters saw her dark face and arms.  She disappeared suddenly, with a hasty farewell, as almost all the apparitions seen at this séance did—as suddenly as a light when it is extinguished. Miller came out of the cabinet almost at the same moment.

After remarking that the séance was not hold for the purpose of convincing sceptics, and that it was given disinterestedly to a few personal friends of the hostess, Colonel Peter gives his opinion as follows :— ' To the initiated, the phenomena at this sitting are convincing as regards their genuineness. The forms, though not plainly seen in detail, wore all so full of life, so genuinely human in their movements and general appearance, that none of the sitters had the slightest doubt of their reality. The voices were entirely different, not only in timber, but also in compass and articulation, and always characteristic....Then, again, the phantoms, without exception, both appeared and disappeared in front of the curtain ; moreover, one form materialised before our eyes, and another gradually dematerialised in full view. I consider it simply impossible to produce such a spectacle as this dematerialisation, under the same circumstances and in the same surroundings, by any trick or artifice whatever.' "

Although the events described may seem too astonishing to be credible, very many witnesses over many years in quite a few countries claimed to have seen very similar marvels at seances, particularly seances called materialization seances.  Witnesses at such seances would often report human forms or speaking human figures mysteriously appearing and mysteriously disappearing, in a way they were utterly unable to account for.  Such seances would almost always occur in private homes that offered no opportunity for stagecraft such as you might do in a theater equipped with trap doors and platforms that can rise and fall with the help of unseen stage workers.  You can read about such accounts in my eleven posts with a tag of "materialization," all of which can be read here by a reader continuing to press Older Posts at the bottom right. 

The account given above is similar to one given on page 219 of the periodical here, where we read Walter Appleyard tell of a seance in which "a luminous ball forming in the centre over the cabinet" appeared to transform into sights described as "two human forms." 

From Orb to Spirit Hand?

On page 2 of the November 2, 1878 edition of the Religio-Philosophical Journal, which you can read here, we have an account of strange orb events at a seance. Milton Allen of Chicago tells us this:

"One evening we observed a light of unusual size and brilliance forming, when to our astonishment, it darted to the table and rapped quickly, and sounded like a hard stone. It then moved away to the corner of the room and dissolved; but almost instantly it formed again, moved to the table swiftly and rapped as before. As it moved about and turned itself in all directions, we saw that it was oval in form and about as large as a goose egg—say five inches long, and three and half inches through. It was self-luminous and so intensely bright that it illuminated the top of the table so that we could see the sheet of paper and pencil lying on it when it moved near them. Pretty soon we observed something dark moving about on this wondrous ball of light, and directly we saw a finger, and then another, and then all four lingers of a hand moving over the ball. By request it moved about to each one of us so that we could examine it closely. The fingers were as perfectly formed as we ever saw and looked just as natural and life-like as the fingers of any of us sitting in the circle....

One evening there were two of these balls of light, one controlled by Miss M.’s father, and one controlled by Mrs. Allen’s mother. On this occasion we saw them forming in different parts of the room simultaneously and at least ten feet apart. They were very similar, one being a little larger than the other. The fingers were unlike; those on one ball being evidently a man’s fingers, and those on the other ball being the soft and rather fleshy fingers of a female. This last ball of light went to Mrs. Allen and rubbed her hand and arm and patted her on the head.  Sometimes these lights would come together and touch each other and rap simultaneously on the table and then separate twelve to fifteen feet apart and dissolve in vapor and reform again."

An Orb Forming Into a Face Matching His Mother's?

 In a post on this site not long ago I quoted a book by an anonymous witness claiming to have seen a ball of light transform into the figure of a child. I mentioned that an account like that is second-class evidence, because of the failure of the witness give his name.  Many similar accounts, I noted, were given by witnesses who gave their names, and also often gave their addresses. 

It did not take long after writing that post to find just such an account. On page 118 of the March 10, 1876 edition of the periodical The Spiritualist, which you can read here, we have an account by the named witness George Starnes, who gives his address. He describes observations he recently had at "the Spiritual Institution, 19,  Church Street, Islington."  He states this:

"Several spirit-hands now touched us; a hoop was placed round my neck, and a hand was distinctly seen to take it off. Several partly materialised forms were seen. A column of light was seen between a gentleman and myself, and Lilly afterwards informed us that my mother had tried to show herself, but had not power enough, but that she would probably succeed next time. On the last occasion a spirit—Daniel Watts—said in a loud distinct voice, ' Good evening, Mr. Bullock,'  and ' Good evening, Mrs. Bullock.'  He then  showed us some beautiful spirit lights. A long arm and hand were then projected from the cabinet and held out to me. I took the hand,  saying, 'Is this your hand, mother?' when my hand was violently shaken three times, and then lifted up as high as I could reach. The hand and arm were quite solid, and long and thin as my mother’s would be.

A hall of light was now seen at the aperture, which gradually resolved itself into the appearance of the face of my mother when on her death bed; this was repeated several times. Then a very large ball of light, quite opaque and intensely white, a living, moving mass of light such as I had never witnessed before, was seen to leave the medium’s body and ascend to the aperture; moving to and fro like an ambient flame, it took the shape of the head and face of my mother,  with a large high cap, with wide border, thus showing the full face,  which continued for about two minutes to nod to me and to turn itself about that I might view it in its various phases. I most distinctly traced in this representation the high cheek hones, the thin face, and taper chin of my mother, who has been ' dead ' about eight years. Another ball of light was now visible, a much smaller one, and this resolved into the head and face of a little child, and was at once recognised as a child belonging to a lady in the circle, which child had died some time ago."

Around page 295 of the document here, we have an account of many strange observations. One claim seems to refer to hypnosis when it refers to putting someone to sleep. We read this: 

"Madame Z. saw her own astral body form itself, at the distance of about one metre, on her right side, in the shape of a luminous, bluish cloud. When Mr. de R. put Mireille to sleep she saw a ball of light detach itself from her head, and remain on top of it."

As the account does not give real full names, as evidence it is inferior to the evidence provided by George Starnes, which meets several criteria of first-class evidence, such as a named witness reporting what he saw very recently, with the report being published soon after it was written. 

She Said the Orb Transfigured Into the Face of Her Deceased Son

On page 2 of the December 22, 1888 edition of the Religio-Philosophical Journal (which you can read here), we have an account entitled "A Voice From the Grave" by Amarala Martin. She says she attended a seance, without giving her name, and was merely given a number of 24 to identify her. Amarala reports several phenomena very widely reported at seances: the sound of mysterious voices, the appearance of mysterious luminous phenomena, and the levitation of an object.   In my the first 17 installments of my previous series of "Spookiest Years" posts, I gave a history of the astonishing spiritual manifestations reported between 1848 and 1889, which you can read in my posts here, here, here, here, here, here, here, 

here, here, here, here,  here, here, here, here, here and here . Amarala's reports of seance phenomena are similar to many reports quoted in those posts. The "direct voice" phenomenon she describes is like the phenomena described in this post. 

Amarala reports this:

"Independent spirit-voices were audible all over the room, many of them addressing their personal friends at the same moment of time. Musical instruments were thrumming and flying about pretty lively, among them a music box which was wound by some invisible force as it sped through the air. It stopped several times and rested on my head and on my lap, seeming much attracted to my locality. After this was repeated several times I felt what seemed like little fingers about my face and little arms around my neck, and heard a whisper saying distinctly:

'Mamma, mamma, I am here; your baby boy Martin. Look, while I try to show myself.'

In an instant there was a ball of light before me just a few inches away and out of it grew a face bearing the image of my child. Seeing it, Mrs. Lord, who was describing a spirit in another part of the circle, cried out, 'Oh! see, see that beautiful boy! Number twenty-four, he says you are his mother.'

The vision faded away before us all, but the voice resumed its story:

'Mamma, I passed away at sunrise one April morning, ...I don’t like this music box like I did my own that you hid in the folds of my dress and buried with me. You couldn’t bear to hear it any more when I was gone, could you?'

Here the investigators inquired whether or not these statements were true, and I told them they were, in every particular; and that only myself and one other person ever knew that the music box was buried with the [child].

It was also utterly impossible for Mrs. x or anyone in the circle to know of it. Here, then, was the little one whose body lay under the blossoms hundreds of miles away, telling me of incidents occurring years before, and proving the continuity of life and love beyond the grave."

The Mysterious Orbs and the Spooky Death Notification

 On page 375 of the June 22, 1934 edition of the periodical Light, which you can read here, we read the following account of observing mysterious orbs in a seance:

"MME. NIJINSKY, who recently returned to London, tells us of a strange experience of Rudi Schneider and his wife. Rudi said he had never sat with a Medium. Mme. Nijinsky took him and his wife to Miss Frances Campbell. During the sitting—which Rudi, we are told, hugely enjoyed—balls of light sprang up and skipped from Rudi to Mme. Nijinsky’s lap. Miss Campbell gave accurate descriptions of the family affairs of her sitters ; then she turned to Mrs. Schneider and said : 'I feel I must prepare you for a blow. Your brother has been shot to-day in Linz.'  Mrs. Schneider protested that it could not be true. Next day, however, a telegram arrived stating that in the riot which cost so many lives in Austria, Mrs. Schneider’s brother had been killed."

A Mysterious Blue Orb, Levitation and a Spirt-Hand Playing a Violin

 On page 187 of the March 21, 1935 edition of the periodical Light, which can be read here, we get two astonishing accounts. First, we hear of the sighting of an apparition:

"In the Revue Spirite Beige for February (Liège), Dr. Lucien Graux tells the following story. One night, M. Albert Lambert, of the Comédie Française, was silently going over his part in ' Ruy Bias'  in his private room, when there entered a man in a long cloak, who was the very image of the Ruy Bias of the title part of the play. The apparition commenced to recite Victor Hugo’s verses. Albert Lambert listened with every sense alert; it was as though revelation and enlightenment were coming to him from the other world. When he was afterwards questioned about this vision, the famous actor replied: ' You wish to know whether it was an illusion, whether I really saw, or only thought I saw? My emphatic reply is this : I both saw and I heard.' ”

Then we have an account of a mysterious blue orb appearing at a seance:

"An eye-witness has sent to the Neues Wiener Journal (Vienna, January 7th), an interesting account of a sitting with the young French Medium, Mile. Remy. The sitters were the guests of Professor Lyonel, and included two well-known University Professors, two medical men, and an engineer, who was in charge of an intricate set of control apparatus, including a camera for infra-red film photography, as well as one that registered even the faintest manifestation of light. The delicate-looking young girl sat down in an armchair and was then put into slight hypnotic sleep. After an interval of only five minutes, Professor Lyonel was touched by a hand and the correspondent by another; then the table on which the sitters’ hands were resting was raised by powerful pressure from below and levitated into the air. The wish was expressed that the hitherto sceptical investigators might be enabled to see what was taking place, and a second later an iridescent ball of blue light appeared close under the ceiling; and the ticking of the light-registering apparatus gave independent evidence of this fact. By the light of this ball of blue, the sitters saw that the table was raised six to seven feet above the floor. The light then sank down over the Medium’s chair, revealing the sleeping figure of the young girl; and so profound was this sleep that it was not broken when, next moment, with a loud report, the ball of light burst and disappeared.

The account ends: 'There followed ten minutes of expectant waiting, when suddenly the room was filled with the most marvellous but infinitely sad music of a violin. We had seen before the room was darkened that, amongst the instruments on its walls, there was a violin, with its bow beside it. But whose was the masterhand that was now playing it? Certainly not the Medium’s, for, under the controlling eyes of the apparatus, she could not leave her seat even for one second without being detected; and the strip of film which I was allowed to examine later on proved that throughout the seance Mile. Remy had never left her chair. But the photograph also showed a film-like hand hovering in the air, with the delicate tapering fingers of a woman—ethereally delicate, as if from another world than ours.' ”