Sandbox
Can a Medium make a table float in the air as William Branham claimed?
In 1965 William Branham makes this statement. "I was at a camp one time, where a minister and I went to see them in there. They had raised the table up from the floor, and had whisky glasses sitting over it; and taken that table, turned it back and forth. And guitar flying through the building; people’s clothes. Had this up, in the room. Said, this medium said, “I challenge anybody to knock it down.” Two man said, “I’ll get it down.” They grabbed it around the legs like that, and tried to hold it. It wouldn’t. Why, that table throwed them plumb across the floor."[1]
The floating or levitation[2] of objects was an extremely popular illusion in the last 19th and early 20th centuries. Harry Kellar[3] (1849-1922) became famous for his act which he called "Levitation of Princess Karnac". The act was an illusion. The assistant who was levitated was actually supported by an "S" shape metal bar which allowed Harry Kellar to move the hoop through the length of her body in either direction.
Is there any known proof that a table can be levitated as William Branham describes?
The most knowledgeable people in Mediumship, Spiritualism, and Magic have all offered rewards for anyone who could levitate an object. No one has ever been proved to be able to do it.
Below are two examples of famous and extremely knowledgeable performers who offered substantial rewards for anyone who could levitate an object.
1) Joseph Dunninger[4] (April 28, 1892 – March 9, 1975), known as "The Amazing Dunninger", was one of the most famous and proficient mentalists of all time. At the age of seventeen, he was invited to perform at the home of Theodore Roosevelt in Oyster Bay and at the home of the inventor Thomas Edison, both of whom were avid admirers of Dunninger. President Franklin D. Roosevelt invited Dunninger to the White House on a number of occasions to demonstrate his mentalist skills.[5] Through Scientific American magazine and his own organization the Universal Council for Psychic Research he also made an offer to any medium who could produce by psychic or supernatural means any physical phenomena that he could not duplicate or explain by natural means. No medium ever won the reward.[6][7]
2) James Randi[8] Born August 7, 1928, and is the founder of the Randi Educational Foundation.[9] This organization administered the One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge, which offered a prize of one million U.S. dollars to anyone who could demonstrate a supernatural or paranormal ability under agreed-upon scientific testing criteria.No one ever won the prize.
Footnotes
- ↑ William Branham, April 25, 1965, God's Provided Place Of Worship
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levitation_(illusion)
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kellar
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Dunninger#cite_note-6
- ↑ Samuel, Lawrence R. (2011). Supernatural America: A Cultural History. ABC-CLIO. pp. 48-51. ISBN 978-0-313-39899-5
- ↑ https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=kkwEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA74#v=onepage&q&f=false
- ↑ https://books.google.com/books?id=vlQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA106#v=onepage&q&f=false
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Randi
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Randi_Educational_Foundation