Theresa Cheung - The Element Encyclopedia of the Psychic World - The Ultimate A–Z of Spirits, Mysteries and the Paranormal

A box or confined space thought to attract, store and release spiritual forces, enabling a mediumto produce phenomena. The use of cabinets to manifest paranormalactivity began in the mid-1800s with the Davenport brothers. The brothers had themselves bound and locked in a wooden cabinet, where they were supposedly incapable of moving, but somehow musical instruments would play as if guided by spirithands. Their act was a huge success, and until the early twentieth century cabinets or black curtains for the medium to retire behind were all the rage. Cabinets are rarely used by modern mediums.

A charismatic figure in the courts of eighteenth-century Europe, Cagliostro was a magician, alchemistand psychic healer. Born in 1743 in Palermo, Sicily, to a poor family, Cagliostro turned his natural psychic talent into a lucrative fortune-telling business. He travelled to Malta at the age of 23 to study the occultand later in London joined the Freemasons. Using the name ‘The Divine Cagliostro’, he spent most of his adult life among the royal courts of Europe, performing various occult arts, such as healing by the laying on of hands, conjuring spirits and producing an ‘elixir of immortal life’ with the aid of his beautiful wife, Lorenza.

Cagliostro’s success created resentment, and in 1785 in France he and his wife fell out of favour with the Queen over the Affair of the Diamond Necklace’. The Comtesse de La Motte set him up by swindling 1.6 million francs for a diamond necklace and then accused Cagliostro of stealing it. Alessandro and Lorenza were sent to the Bastille and tried for fraud.

Following his release, Cagliostro travelled to Rome, where he tried to set up an ‘Egyptian Freemasonry’ order. He was questioned by the Inquisition and sentenced to death in 1791. His sentence was later reduced to life imprisonment by Pope Pius VI. Cagliostro died of apoplexy on 6 March 1795, but for years after there were rumours that he was alive and had miraculously escaped.

From October 1875 to October 1876 Calvados Castle - more a chateau than a castle - was the focus of poltergeistactivity that forced the owners to leave. In the written accounts of the haunting, the people involved are identified only by their initials. The case has never been explained and remains a mystery to this day.

Calvados Castle was built on top of the foundations of an earlier Norman castle that had fallen into disrepair and apparently had been haunted ever since. In 1875 the castle was occupied by M. and Mme X, their son and his tutor, Abbe Y Almost immediately they began hearing noises, thumps and sighs and other unusual occurrences. M. X began to keep a journal of the strange phenomena. The following are excerpts:

This is October 1875. I propose to note down and record every day what happened during the night before. I must point out that the noises occurred while the ground was covered with snow, there was no trace of footsteps around the chateau. I drew threads across all the openings, secretly. They were never broken …

A very disturbed night … It sounded as if someone went up the stairs from the ground floor at superhuman speed, stamping his feet. Arriving at the landing he gave five heavy blows to the walls, so strong that the objects suspended on the walls rattled in their places …

Some being rushed at top speed up the stairs from the entrance hall to the first floor … with a noise of tread that had nothing human about it. Everybody heard it … It was like two legs deprived of their feet and walking on their stumps.

The family also heard what sounded like a body rolling down the stairs and saw chairs move around the room with no human hands to guide them.

Everybody heard a long shriek, and then another, as if a woman outside were calling for help. At 1.40 [am] we suddenly heard four cries in the hall, and then on the staircase …

It is no longer the cry of a weeping woman, but shrill, furious despairing cries, the cries of demons or the damned.

In addition to the shrieks and the moving objects, doors and windows flew open, the Bible was desecrated and the house itself was ‘shaken twenty times’. The person who was affected the most seems to have been the Abbe, who had ice-cold water thrown over him from nowhere on a sunny day and his locked room ransacked.

At first M. and Mme X believed humans to be responsible, and they bought two guard dogs, but when something invisible terrified the dogs as well they were forced to conclude that supernaturalactivity must be at work. Believing the house to be haunted, perhaps by its previous owner (a woman who had died unrepentant), M. X had an exorcismperformed by church officials, who believed the house to be ‘diabolically supernatural’. The exorcism didn’t solve the problem, and M. and Mme X finally decided to sell the castle and leave. There have been no reports of hauntings at Calvados Castle since.

Donald Campbell was one of the more colourful ghost hunters in recent times. In the 1960s he became the only person ever to hold both the world land speed record (403.1 mph, Lake Eyre, Australia) and the world water speed record (276.33 mph, Lake Dumbleyung, Australia).

Campbell had grown up with stories of Scottish ghoststhat allegedly haunted his family line, and he developed a deep interest in the psychicworld, becoming an active member of the Ghost Clubin London and taking part in many investigations. On the evening of 3 January 1967, Campbell was playing cards when he pulled what was known as a ‘bad luck hand’. If the hand was meant as a warning, Campbell chose to ignore it. The next day, while trying to break his water speed record on Lake Coniston in England, he lost control of his boat at speeds in excess of 300 mph. His body was finally located and recovered in May 2001.

Candles have cast a light on human progress for centuries, but little is known about their origin. We do know that they were used as early as 3000 BC in Egypt, but it is the Romans who are credited with developing the wick candle to light homes and places of worship at night.

For thousands of years candles have been used in burial ceremonies to dispel evil spirits, and superstitionsabout candles abound - from ancient Egyptians using candles to interpret dreamsto all of us asking for a wish to be granted when we blow out our birthday cake candles.

Candle magic

Candle magic is the use of candles in performing spells and rituals for granting wishes and desires. Different types and colours of candles are thought to have different magical meanings. For example, for new beginnings and energy it is suggested that white should be used; for change and courage use red; for happiness and health use orange; for communication and travel use yellow; for love and healing use green; for power and work use blue; for psychic development use blue or indigo; for love use pink; for house and home use brown; for secret desires use silver; for wealth use gold; and for banishing guilt use black.

To activate the magic of candles you should write your wish on a piece of paper and burn it in the candle, or engrave your wishes on the candle with a pin. You can also light the candle and focus your intention on your wish as you gaze into the flame.

It is said that the seventeenth-century treasure hunter Captain Kidd believed that carrying lanterns containing consecrated candles would conjure up the ghostsof the dead to help him in his quests. In American folklore, a candle left burning in an empty room will bring death to a family. In British folklore candle wax that drips around and not down the candle is a death omen, while in Germany a candle wick that splits in two spells misfortune. Typically the death omen is allegedly minimized by extinguishing the candle under running water or by blowing it out. Lastly, a candle that burns blue or dimly is thought to suggest a ghost is nearby.