THE PHYSICAL MEDIUMSHIP OF
FRANK KLUSKI
On
reviewing material dealing with physical mediumship in the last one
hundred years or so, I am constantly surprised regarding the paucity of
reference to the Warsaw medium Teofil Modrzejewski (1873-1943), who
worked under the pseudonym of Franek Kluski.
Kluski,
an educated man, a banker and writer, did not attract the level of
attention that was given to such mediums as Daniel Dunglas ('D. D.')
Home, Eusapia Palladino, Rudi Schneider and others. His short period of
mediumship lasted only seven years; the amount of information detailing
his activity is therefore limited. I am therefore indebted to the
Society for Psychical Research for material regarding Kluski.
As
a contemplative child, Kluski had experiences of OBEs (Out of Body
Experiences), and seeing deceased relatives and animals. Relevant in
view of what he would do in the future, Kluski recorded how other
children, when with him, would also see those who had died.(1) However,
it was not until 1918, after a seance with Jean Guzik, that Kluski's
mediumistic potential was recognized and the spectacular seances began.
The number of those attending ran into the hundreds and included a
variety of people, e.g. professors, soldiers, professional magicians
and parapsychologists; these undoubtedly witnessed what must have been
some of the most evidential demonstrations of life continuing after
death. Those attending 'were not the "usual crowd", but were totally
random and very numerous', and 'the testimony left by many of these
people is...an encounter with a magical world, that could not possibly
be achieved using pathetic little tricks and sleight-of-hand'.(2)
During
the period of Kluski's mediumship, the seances were conducted at
different locations, and a lighted environment was sometimes present by
means of a red lamp and a luminous plaque. There were over eight
hundred occurrences of visitants, with sitters recognizing some of
these as people who had died: 'They would start out as a kind of haze,
and gradually take shape and become more visible, with greater detail,
such as wrinkles and facial hair'...Great numbers of them appeared
virtually simultaneously, and often there would be an impression of
other presences'.(3) Prof. F. W. Pawlowski noted how the apparitions
appeared at some distance from Kluski, and while some walked around
normally, others would fly above the sitters' heads. Those who could
speak did so in his/her own language, and it appeared that they could
read the sitters' minds as they responded to what a sitter was thinking
before anything was said. Some chose to communicate by raps, but the
voices of those who did speak were reported to have been 'perfectly
clear and normally loud, but sound like a loud whisper'.(4)
Kluski
is also important to Spiritualist belief as he dealt a death-blow to
Christian anthropocentrism (that, illogically, teaches only human
beings survive death), as his seances enjoyed the presence of animals
returning. Sylvia Barbanell cited Pawlowski's testimony that sitters
experienced the materialization of various types of animals; he
recorded an instance of a dog materializing and jumping upon the laps
of the sitters, and in a seance with a red lamp, a hawk-like bird flew
around, with its wings beating against the walls: this occasion was
photographed. Validating a further feature of Spiritualist belief, i.e.
that bonds of affection are not broken by death, when certain persons
materialized in the Kluski seances, they would be accompanied by an
animal that left as soon as their human companion departed. The
significant feature, as Mrs Barbanell observed, is that the Kluski
seances demonstrated that all, rather than some animals survive
death.(5)
One
materialization brought an animal that resembled a lion that would lick
the sitters: this 'would stalk around, lashing its tail against the
furniture and leaving behind it a strong acrid smell'.(6) Another
visitor, referred to as the Pithecanthropus, was clearly intent on
making his presence known to the sitters: an ape-type being, it moved
the furniture and behaved 'rather roughly with regard to the sitters,
trying to lick their hands or faces'; often the seance had to be
prematurely ended when it became over- enthusiastic. Pawlowski related
how it grabbed one woman's hand to rub this against its face, and 'this
frightened her considerably and caused her to shriek'.(7) Those who
came to the seances from 'the other side' would comply with requests to
move furniture; despite being in darkness, they would do this without
any obvious difficulty; one such instance was the moving of a heavy
bronze statue. Kluski's seances may have been many things, but they
were hardly uneventful.
Relevant
due to the present popularity of the idea that communicators are really
only fragmented personalities ('psychons' or 'mindkins'), Dr Gustave
Geley, who participated in Kluski's seances at the Paris Institut
Metapsychique International, and in Warsaw, reported how 'All these
phantoms give the impression of being alive, and as normal as living
people'.(8) Pawlowski reiterates this view, adding that 'They made a
round of the sitters, smiling an acknowledgement of the familiar
sitters and looking curiously at the sitters they had not seen
before'.(9) In addition to the materializations, there
was the appearance of lights swiftly moving around the room, apports
and noises. Admittedly, Kluski was hardly a typical medium: he was not
only a proficient materialization medium but adept at producing
automatic writing, and deriving no financial benefit from this. He was
also seen in different locations away from where he was physically
situated, and was accompanied by lights and followed by noises and
odours; apparitions would appear in the daylight when he was not even
conducting a seance. Pawlowski mentioned how 'the apparitions'
persisted in interrupting Kluski's sleep by walking around his room and
going as far as illuminating themselves for his benefit. Pawlowski also
referred to a report that he had 'no reason to distrust', that Kluski
was not only transported to the seance room by the apparit-ions, but
also transported from the locked room and found asleep in a another
location. Furthermore, tests demonstrated there was a dramatic
reduction of temperature in the seance room with Kluski present, and
compass needles would move about violently when he was nearby.(10)
Kluski
is better known for the moulds that were produced when materializations
left an impression, these often being perfect in detail and indicated
not only materialization, but dematerialization. Prof. Charles Richet
and Geley conducted investigations into Kluski's mediumship in 1921,
and secretly introduced soluble cholesterin into the melted paraffin
wax that was present during the seance; this was to ensure that any
impressions left were actually made during this time (i.e. by adding
sulphuric acid, this would cause it to become violet-red and thereby
identify it as the substance they had provided). Richet records how,
when the seance took place, he and Geley held Kluski's hands and the
researchers later found that the mould had impressions of a
materialized child's hands and foot. Richet noted how experts testified
to the occurrence being 'an absolute mystery', and concluded by saying
that Geley's investigation into this aspect of Kluski's mediumship,
'gives irrefragable scientific demonstration of ectoplasmic
materialization'. He added that as a scientist, he found the concept of
such a thing being possible as 'very absurd', but adding 'Yes, it is
absurd: but no matter - it is true'.(11) Would that researchers be so
forthright and decisive now! There have been attempts to supply
non-paranormal explanations for the many moulds produced, but I believe
that people considering the subject with an objective stance would find
these quite fanciful; or, as Mary Rose Barrington observes, 'scraping
the barrel of speculation'.(12) For anyone wishing to consider the
subject of the moulds, I would suggest the writings by Geley and
Barrington (listed below).
While
precautions did vary considerably, Kluski still produced
materializations when strict procedures were followed, including
instances when he was naked or there was a lighted environment. In
fact, in some instances, the materializations provided their own light,
or picked up the luminous plaque in order that the sitters could see
them. Pawlowski reported how 'the light from the plaque is so good that
I could see the pores and the down on the skin of their faces and
hands'.(13) One frequent visitor not only provided enough light to
ensure that he could be seen, but this also illuminated the sitters and
much of the seance room.
The
factors that seemed to diminish the quality of Kluski's mediumship did
not arise through any controls imposed, but rather his health and the
weather; storms appeared to cause him considerable problems. It was
also observed that when Kluski was not in good health, the phenomena
diminished, e.g. the materializations becoming reduced in size. After a
seance, he was invariably exhausted, but also suffered from insomnia
apart from the vomiting of blood. Some of his health problems can be
attributed to a serious injury sustained through participating in a
duel at the age of twenty-seven. As stated, Kluski was hardly a typical
medium...
While
some Spiritualists may be satisfied with little more than odours,
touches, winds, and 'the quick shake of a tambourine', Kluski is an
excellent example of the true nature of Spiritualism and mediumship -
providing a link between the two planes of existence and effecting a
meaningful discourse between them. It is this type of physical
phenomena, the type witnessed in NAS demonstrations, that should be the
sole aspiration for all Spiritualists and Survivalists. The point at
issue is the need to pursue and attain communication, rather than
peripheral phenomena that do not edify; in the case of Kluski, it
became possible for the two worlds to be temporarily fused, and for
visible and audible evidence to be supplied in abundance. Surely this
is the actual purpose of Spiritualism?
It
is an absolute pleasure to read through the accounts of Kluski's
mediumship; he surely represents a considerable stumbling-block for
non-survivalists. I suspect that this is the reason why there has been
so little discussion about him by the materialists who prefer
speculation and wild conjecture rather than unbiased study of the
subject. But why should there be such animosity towards physical
phenomena, such as that found with Kluski? Simply because, 'They are
both signs and symbols of a specter that haunts the strongholds of
science: the specter of the direct power of mind and imagination to
transform the real world'.(14)
Bibliography.
(1)Gustave Geley, Clairvoyance and Materialisation,
trans. Stanley De Brath (London: Fisher Unwin, 1927), pp.201,203 (This
has photographs of the moulds, the materializations of the hawk and Pithecanthropus).
(2)Zofia Weaver, 'The Enigma of Franek Kluski', Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, (58), 1992, pp.293,294.
(3)Weaver, Ibid, p.295.
(4)F. W. Pawlowski, 'The Mediumship of Franek Kluski of Warsaw', Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, (19) 1925, pp.501,502.
(5)Sylvia Barbanell, When Your Animal Dies (London: Spiritualist Press, 1940), pp.90,91.
(6)Linda Williamson, Mediums and the Afterlife (London: Robert Hale, 1992), p.55.
(7)Pawlowski, Ibid, p.487.
(8)Cited by Mary Rose Barrington, 'Kluski', Psi Researcher, Winter 1993, p.9.
(9)Pawlowski, Ibid, p.501.
(10)Pawlowski, Ibid, pp.499,500.
(11)Charles Richet, Thirty Years of Psychical Research (London: Collins Sons, 1923), pp.543-545.
(12)Mary Rose Barrington, 'Kluski and Geley: Further Case for the Defence', Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, (60), 1994, p.106.
(13)Pawlowski, Ibid, p.486.
(14)Anita Gregory, The Strange Case of Rudi Schneider (New Jersey: Scarecrow Press, 1985), p.425.
NB. This article appeared in the November 1995 NAS Newsletter, their website thereafter,
And, is reproduced here by their kind permission.