foreign enigmatic figure in the French capital of Paris maintained it was possible his name was Alan cardick and what he achieved shook people's beliefs to the Core cardek died on March 31st 1869. this was the start of an enthusiasm and a movement that has lasted to this day in the mid-19th century cardek established spiritism in Paris can we communicate with the Dead this is one of the city's most mysterious affairs if we want to discover the truth this is where we must investigate [Music] I'm jean-marculary I've devoted my life to understanding paris's history studying its
secrets and wandering its Maze of streets the city holds many centuries-old Mysteries often these cases are dismissed as occult phenomena myths Legends or popular beliefs things have happened here though there are facts consistencies and bona fide Witnesses historians scientists and investigators of All Sorts have been unable to solve them [Music] time to reveal the most plausible theories and to get as close as possible to the truth [Music] here's Paris as you've never seen it before thank you [Music] our investigation begins in paris's biggest cemetery [Music] a place of Secrets and mystery per clashes [Music] it
is home to the grave of one of paris's most enigmatic figures Alan Karthik [Music] established a movement spiritism based on the idea that it's possible to communicate with Spirits his grave is the most visited Imperials almost 150 years after his death cardic still draws people from all over the world contact with the with the communicating with the Dead Alan cardex assertions still Fascinate those who believe in his tenets [Music] what if it were true did Alan cardig really find the means of communicating with the Dead [Music] the answer lies here in Paris [Music] foreign [Music]
to better understand the whole business we have to go back a few years [Music] it All Began in the United States with the birth of spiritualism in the 1840s the fox sisters participated in the movement's development on the night of March 31 1848 in a small farmhouse in Hydesville near Rochester New York tomorrow Margaret and Kate the daughters of a blacksmith John Fox made contact with a spirit the being communicated by wrapping on the walls and moving the furniture [Music] the events in Hydesville were far-reaching giving rise to a Nationwide craze that soon spread across
the Atlantic ated with Spirits at table turning seances where mediums acted as channelers or transmitters when spiritualism reached Paris with the gripping myth of the fox sisters it sparked the interest of a teacher by the name of hipolit Leon Denis was 50 at the time he taught chemistry physics anatomy and astronomy he'd written a number of school science textbooks and he was interested in somnambulism magnetism and hypnotism revive was motivated by two things the scientific progress of the 19th century and the explanation of occult phenomena [Music] foreign one day some friends told him about the
table turning phenomenon revai was intrigued he devoured reports on the topic it gradually became his passion this is where it all began a stone's throw from the opera house and department stores like pronto which would open 10 years later [Music] met 40 who took him to Madame de plen misson at number 18 Roy de LaGrange battalier one Tuesday at 8 pm [Music] was known for hosting seances to communicate with the Dead it was an eye-opener he made contact with a spirit named zephyrol who gave him the task of speaking for the deceased he then stopped
using the name rivay because the spirit told him we lived together a very long time ago in Gaul we were friends and your name was Alan carnic foreign how does communication with Spirits work how do mediums speak to the Dead is it through thought transmission [Music] you're a slightly more sophisticated explanations about how mediums work it's thought that mediumship is actually the ability of a medium to penetrate the unconscious minds of the people around them some psychoanalysts some psychiatrists experience this with their patients these phenomena exist they've been recorded well beyond spiritism they're found in
all civilizations in all societies and this is still very much the case today [Music] spiritualism was born in the United States with the fox sisters it was exported to Paris with Alan kartik he named the movement spiritism cardek developed this Doctrine and maintained it was possible to communicate with the spirits of the Dead some Adept today regard spiritism as the fourth revealed religion after Judaism Christianity and Islam [Music] if I had to Define spiritism in very simple terms I would say it's a philosophy of Life whose goal is the Improvement of the individual Alan cardig
wrote several books the most famous being the spirits book which was first published in 1857. there are 1058 questions in the most recent Edition the book was very popular and that has been translated into many languages spiritism took off in a big way in Paris [Music] on January the 1st 1858 cardek launched the rovu spirit at his home in the passage Santan at number 59. in it he published the messages of famous Spirits from down the centuries as well as ordinary people's accounts the periodical was a huge success three months later he founded the Parisian
Society of spiritist studies spiritist meetings were held at eight Rudy Martia from mid-october 1857 to April the 1st 1858. how could someone walking down this street today possibly imagine that this door once led to the Beyond [Music] some people maintained it was possible to converse with the spirits in different ways [Music] mediumship wrapping on objects voices from the invisible fluids of the spirits well before spiritualism and spiritism table turning had existed since time immemorial what a spiritist seance was like in cardex day nothing has really changed day or night a small group of people you
know friends acquaintances relatives no more than six or seven hide mirrors with a veil make sure the room is dark dim lights candles a small dining table or a pedestal table Place both hands on the table but very likely one person will conduct the Seance from start to finish if you intend to summon a specific spirit think very hard about this spirit and wish for its manifestation complete silence wait call this spirit is there anyone there a slight lifting of the table or a circular movement if something goes wrong and suddenly distresses you stop immediately
[Music] practice of table turning caught on among the Paris Smart Set big names from the art and literary worlds joined the movement [Music] many attended spiritism seances to communicate with the Dead [Music] torian sadhu tried his hand at psychic art because he was convinced that French Renaissance seremist Bernard palisi was invisibly guiding him author teofil gotier wrote short stories dealing with spiritism [Music] the astronomer kemi flamarion regularly saw the ghost of Galileo in 1887 while creating Sherlock Holmes Arthur Conan Doyle hosted spiritism Sciences foreign [Music] Adept of the movement cardek launched was this man the
great author Victor Hugo one of the 19th Century's most famous figures his house on the blast divulge in the heart of paris's mare District still stands today in Exile and surrounded by family and friends Hugo began to engage in table turning seances initially without success then one day after several fruitless attempts the table talked at last and everyone recognized the spirit communicating with them as leopoldene Hugo Victor Hugo's daughter Paulina died 10 years earlier a few months after her wedding she and her husband drowned in a boating accident on the sand Victor Hugo was devastated
by your death it was a huge shock for the entire family and it sparked an obsession with talking tables yes they held spiritism say answers every night and sometimes in the daytime too and this led to Victor Hugo producing some absolutely astonishing writings you speak to me as bodyless Souls speak to the living in my sleep your wind-blown robe flutters and rolls like spray blown from the deep Hugo seemed to lose himself in spiritism in his endless search for his beloved daughter leopoldene was just 19 when she died the fact that such a prominent figure
is Victor Hugo had practiced spiritism and made tables talk was incredibly important for the new spiritus circles and an Alan cardex periodical a number of Articles were devoted to Victor Hugo yeah the movement grew like Victor Hugo and his friends everyone in Paris wanted to turn tables cardek was hailed as God's chosen one people wanted to see him meet him hear him speak cardex books were read in Humble dwellings and palaces alike more and more followers embraced his Doctrine cardek Sean he seemed to have been entrusted with an almost Divine Mission the Emperor Napoleon III
invited him to the twilery's Palace so they could talk cardek thought spiritism could become the universal religion of mankind [Music] foreign ideas spread around the world and notably to Brazil when spiritism began to be disseminated in France it was The Preserve of the elite of the intellectual Elite of science there were all of these phases of experimentation of Investigation but in Brazil there was a totally different approach spiritism really took hold there through the implementation of the doctrine's moral aspect you have to know that Brazil has the largest number of spiritists in the world in
the region of three and a half to four million also because of the extreme poverty in the country the moral charity organized by the spiritists immediately found a huge and highly receptive audience when Carter died on March 31 1869 it triggered an enthusia and a movement that has lasted to this day this provides evidence of this too Brazilian followers regularly come to pay their respects at Alan cardek's grave in perlashes Cemetery [Music] cardick had passed away but all sorts of hoaxes would be exposed in table turning seances [Music] one of the two Fox sisters Margaret
expressed remorse at the end of her life and confessed to the hoax in a lengthy article in an American newspaper many people refuse to believe her though and the movement survived [Music] a famous medium idolized at the time was unmasked as a fraud during a seance with the French empress burjini so too were the Italian psychic ausapia balladino and the Russian occultist Helena blavatsky both Darlings of the Science World and the Royal courts of Europe myths were exploded [Music] George melies the celebrated Illusionist and future creator of the Cinematic spectacle was called as an expert
witness with his knowledge of special effects and Illusions he revealed how the spiritist's experiments were pure trickery spiritism mediumship Clairvoyance somnambulism Conjuring there was confusion the boundaries between science and Magic had been blurred thank you what parts did cardek play in all this [Music] in 1835 the City of Paris awarded a contract to a physicist magician called lacaz who sold all sorts of physics and Magic accessories in his store [Music] After the revolution of 1848 he opened a small theater in the Kareem Arena just off the chandelizi where he put on shows combining amusing physics
phantasmagoria and Curiosities summoning rapping spirits well before the Advent of spiritism [Music] foreign [Music] before it became the Folly Marini in 1865 then the teatra Marini [Music] thank you foreign had a ringside seat in the days when he was still known as rivai he had worked as a stage manager for la cas at the Marini so he was obviously aware of the magician's tricks he knew all about the devices used to create Illusions in these spectacles this is surely one of the keys to the mystery [Music] remains though why was there such a craze for
spiritism the answers are many it was the age people needed to believe in the first half of the 19th century the search was on to satisfy existential anxiety and understanding of electricity meant you could make Visions appear different beliefs scientific advances freak shows everything was jumbled up maybe revive sincerely believed maybe he got tangled up in a lie who knows the enthusiasm for Alan cardek reflects our interest and Fascination for the hereafter this investigation into the world of spiritism has shed some light on the mystery but Paris has other Mysteries [Music] the clues and keys
to these enigmas are to be found in old books lost in the capitals libraries in the city's streets or beneath its buildings by the light of a candle or in the dead of night by cross-checking documents archives and Records Paris has not yet revealed all of its secrets [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music]
