Charles Bailey

He was a medium that produced many objects as apports (things which seem to have transported from one place to another) in séances. His ability to do that was prodigious and spectacular.

Dr Charles McCarthy, a famous Sydney physician, put him to test in March 1903. He was sewn into a stout, double-stitched canvas bag, which was sealed at the opening for his head and hands. Bailey 'produced' Babylonian clay tablets inscribed with cuneiform writing, coins, semi-precious stones, an Arabic newspaper, a number of live birds, a crab and a shark.

Bailey underwent a second series of test in June 1903. Before the test, he was stripped and searched, and made to wear a fresh suit of clothes and boxing gloves for the séance. Still, he was able to apports things.

Researcher Ivan Sanderson once said, 'We've got sound through matter, and sight through matter, why not matter through matter? Matter is 99% holes anyway, and anyone can squirt a jet of water through a chicken wire fence. Solving the problem is not that easy, especially when you think how can a solid pass through a solid.

On a number of times, Bailey was caught out in circumstances that strongly suggested that he has hidden his 'apports' about his person before entering the séance room. But he has convinced many. The things he has brought in can still be seen in Stanford University, California, United States of America.