Claim: 100 Years Old Moulds of Wax Gloves are Evidence of Ectoplasmic Materializations

[SkepticSteve]

Within a recent interview on Theories of Everything, journalist Leslie Kean claimed that scientists collected about 100 years ago evidence of ectoplasmic materializations from sessions of a Polish medium named Franek Kluski (1873-1943), who alledgly was able to materialize entire human body parts during his seances. She especially claims, that recorded wax impressions of hand gestures are impossible to produce with a normal human hand going into the wax, as it would have to dematerialize succeedingly, as the the recorded gestures are otherwise too complex (e.g. displaying angled fingers or interlocking hands) and wax impressions too thin and thus normal 'material' hands would destroy the mould if they would go out of the impression.



She goes a lot more into detail in a recorded talk she gave at the Archives of the Impossible. Specifically, referring to the scientists as being Charles Richet (Nobel Prize winner, originator of the term 'ectoplasm', 1850-1935) and Gustave Geley (1868-1924) and claiming that both ensured that the paraffin moulds were recorded under controlled conditions. She also claims that many of the hands are too small and child-like to have originated from any of the adult participants in the seances:



Still frames of the paraffin impression of the alleged "ectoplasmic" hands from Leslie Kean's talk:

The wikipedia articles about Franek Kluski, Charles Richet and Gustav Geley are ripe of fraud allegations and ascriptions of credulous behavior :

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franek_Kluski
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Richet
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Geley

Specifically, with allegations of Kluski having been caught 'red-handed' with the the after effects of a seance in which he was rumored to have dipped his buttocks into a bowl of paraffin, Richet being alleged of approaching his interest into psychich research with naiveness and Geley of having been tricked by frauds and having compiled files (though unpublished) containing dubious photographs as evidence.

I still don't feel like any of the provided background information on the involved individuals sufficiently debunks the specific claims about the wax gloves: Meaning thinness, complex gestures, partly child-like sizes and removal of the hand without breaking the mould. So I think it is still an interesting topic to figure out what techniques could have been used to achieve this about 100 years ago.

@Mick: How about some "seances" in your garage? I am sure you can only benefit from smoother and softer skin? ;-)

 

[Mendel]

So I think it is still an interesting topic to figure out what techniques could have been used to achieve this about 100 years ago.

Sleight of hand.

James Randi has demonstrated that scientists are easy to fool; what you need as observer is a magician. If you want to know how to "materialize" something, talk to the people who can pull a rabbit from an empty hat.

 

[deirdre]

She especially claims, that recorded wax impressions of hand gestures are impossible to produce with a normal human hand going into the wax, as it would have to dematerialize succeedingly, as the the recorded gestures are otherwise too complex (e.g. displaying angled fingers or interlocking hands) and wax impressions too thin and thus normal 'material' hands would destroy the mould if they would go out of the impression

https://www.jstor.org/stable/24974719
Dr. Gustav Geley and the "wacky wax hands" company describe how it is done.

For this operation a tank is provided containing paraffin wax

...
The materialized "entity" is asked to dipa hand or foot, or even part of the face, into the melted wax, repeating this process two or three times. A coating of wax is at once formed, closely adherent to the part so dipped. This coating hardens very quickly in the air, or by being dipped into cold water provided in the neighboring tank, then the hand or other organ is dematerialized and the "glove" remains behind. The "glove" is afterwards filled with plaster of paris ....
...
The operation usually began after a wait of about 20 minutes and was accomplished very quickly...in one or two minutes.

Source: https://youtu.be/W5xDI6XZ4ZA?t=31

 

[deirdre]

PS. They are not 100 year old wax gloves, i think the title will confuse alot of people. They are 100 year old Plaster of Paris casts.

 

[deirdre]

PSS. I especially love Dr. Geleys line about how they asked the entity to repeatedly dip their hand into the wax. On the paranomal medium shows i've seen they cant even get the entity to turn on flashlight or "give us a sign" on demand Although in fairness, our modern day mediums do seem rather annoying, maybe the Victorian mediums weren't so off putting to spirits!

 

[MapperGuy]

So many questions. How much did the wax molds weigh? Tells you how much force an entity can lift. How, exactly, where they made, while the dipping part is explained what is missing is how the de-materialization happened? With the mold already resting on a solid surface? In mid-air, with the mold then falling several feet onto a hard surface (and possibly being distorted by the impact)? While making the plaster casts did they just fill the mold and then melt the wax? Was any attempt made to remove the wax in pieces, preserving some of original shape (including for example any fingerprints)? Done carefully the wax could be re-assembled into the original shape, for exhibition perhaps?

Wax should preserve the fingerprints of the entity, for comparison with known fingerprints of the deceased? Or the medium's assistant more likely?

 

[Mendel]

I still don't feel like any of the provided background information on the involved individuals sufficiently debunks the specific claims about the wax gloves: Meaning thinness, complex gestures, partly child-like sizes and removal of the hand without breaking the mould.

thinness, complex gestures, withdrawing the hand without breaking the mold: all done by elementary school kids:

Source: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd5WjupR738


the big thing with woo and conspiracy theories is that, much like click-bait, they play off people's credulity/incredulity, which thankfully means it usually breaks down once you get past that and look for evidence. (stop trusting people who don't.)

 

[Mendel]

partly child-like sizes

in silicone moulds, the process to shrink a mould is to use solvents mixed in the material, make the mould, and have it shrink as the solvents evaporate.

though I still think it'd be simpler to have a child-size mould ready (made beforehand) and switch it out using sleight-of-hand.

 

[deirdre]

I haven't checked the source material, but:

Article:

Contrary with other mediums (like Eva C. who was completely stripped and searched), the experimenters judged unnecessary to physically search Kluski. Geley did note that the medium always wore tight-fitting clothing, and that he would spontaneously empty his pockets upon arrival at the lab. Also, both prior to and following the sessions, Dr. Geley would conduct medical examinations on the medium, and discretely use this opportunity to check for any suspicious objects.

Source: https://www.metapsychique.org/the-kluski-hands-moulds/

Article:

With regard to copies from hands smaller than those of the medium—or clearly different—it is well known that previously prepared gloves have been repeatedly found hidden among the medium's and/or other accomplices' clothes (Coleman 1994a; Polidoro 1995). It would not be difficult to conclude, though, that particularly complex molds could have been shaped with extreme care before a séance took place by the medium himself or his accomplices in the dark, jumbled up with other molds forged at the moment of performing the Spiritualist occurrence.

Source: https://skepticalinquirer.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/2009/03/p22.pdf

Coleman, M.H. 1994a. Wax molds of 'spirit' limbs. JSPR 59, 340–346. ———. 1994b. The Kluski molds: a reply. JSPR 60, 98–103. ———. 1995a. Correspondence. JSPR 60, 183–185. ———. 1995b. Correspondence. JSPR 60, 350–351.
Dettore, Ugo (ed.). 1981. L'uomo e 1'ignoto. Milano: Armenia Editore.
Geley, G. 1923. Materialized hands. Scientific American (November).
Giovetti, P. 1988. I misteri intorno a noi, Milano: Rizzoli.

Polidoro, M. 1995. Viaggio tra gli spiriti. Camago (VA): Sugarco.

 

[JMartJr]

Shoot, Mendel beat me to it. Anyway, here's another vid of the process, this one specifically with a couple clasping hands. Far from being impossible, it appears to be trivially easy.


Source: https://youtu.be/PRwDbY8L_Vk?t=154

Cued up to t eh hand dipping part.


Source: https://youtu.be/PRwDbY8L_Vk?t=239

Cued up to the hand pulling out part. It seems the secret to getting your hand out of the wax is to just pull your hand out of the wax. (in other videos I've seen the vendor use a toothpick to poke tiny vent holes in the finger tips to let some air in to make it even easier.)

 

[Ann K]

Just google "paraffin hand molds" and you'll get instructions to do it at home. One important step seems to be the liberal application of hand lotion before dipping into the wax, which makes a lot of sense to me.