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199 lines
10 KiB
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___________________________________________________________________________
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| From : KeelyNet BBS | DataLine : (214) 324-3501 |
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| Sysop : Jerry W. Decker | Voice : (214) 324-8741 |
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| Co-Sysop : Ronald Barker | Voice : (214) 242-9346 |
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| File Name : GRAV10.ASC | Online Date : 07/18/94 |
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| Contributed by : SYSOP | Dir Category : ENERGY |
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| KeelyNet * PO BOX 1031 * Mesquite, Texas * USA * 75149 |
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For many years, I have studied levity (not THAT kind) stories and anecdotes
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for both organic and inorganic bodies. In all that time, this case was
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never stumbled across, until now. And it needs to be listed because of
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it's oddity. Imagine, being able to FLOAT in the air WITHOUT equipment.
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The only problem with this fellow was that he could NOT CONTROL the effect.
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This file is from the book, 'The Enigma of the Unknown' by John Macklin.
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The Man who Defied Gravity
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Between 1885 and 1890, countless thousands of people trooped cynically into
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a canvas booth on fairgrounds in America's mid-west and invariably emerged
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convinced that they had seen the impossible. Indeed, it seems as though
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they had. What they HAD SEEN - or, at least, what they THOUGHT they had
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seen - was a man floating serenely in mid-air like a gas-filled balloon.
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If Reynard Beck, known throughout America as "the Floating Wonder," was a
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hoaxer, he was an incredibly brilliant one, for the dozens of skeptics,
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doctors and scientists who had subjected him to EVERY KNOWN TEST, came away
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WITHOUT EXCEPTION more bemused and baffled than when they went in.
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Beck, it seemed, was a man who laughed at gravity. To enable him to lead a
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normal earthbound life he needed a special belt hung with lead weights. At
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night, he was lashed firmly into his bed. On one occasion when the straps
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came adrift, he rose up and floated gently through an open window.
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Everyone knew that MEN CAN'T FLY. The trouble was that in Beck's case,
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they just couldn't PROVE IT.
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Beck himself seemed utterly at a loss to explain his uncanny gift. When he
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recalled the day that he began to "float," he was unable to put forward any
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sort of rational explanation.
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Years later, he wrote of his experience: "It was in June 1884 that I went
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to bed quite normally, not dreaming that anything was wrong. When I woke
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up. I felt remarkably fit and was anxious to get out of bed and start the
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new day. But I did not land on my feet beside the bed - as I had
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anticipated. To my utter astonishment, I remained in mid-air - FLOATING
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AROUND THE ROOM."
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Petrified with fright, he grabbed hold of the headboard and slowly forced
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his feet down to touch the ground.
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"Then I sat down on the bed and did some serious thinking, I reached for
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the mirror hanging on the wall beside the bed and examined my face to see
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if any radical changes had occurred to it during the night. But there
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didn't seem to be anything wrong with me - and I didn't feel ill.
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Tentatively, I stood up again and tried to walk around the room. To my
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horror, I at once floated into the air again and remained there as though
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suspended on hidden strings.
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"I realized that if anyone ever found out about this, I was going to be in
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Page 1
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big trouble. Either I would be regarded as a freak and carted off for all
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kinds of experiments, or people might get the idea that I had made a deal
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with the Devil to make myself float in mid-air!"
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He floated around towards his chest of drawers, dug out a belt and to this
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fastened some lead weights he used for fishing. With the belt fastened
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around his waist, he found that he could remain on the floor and move about
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normally.
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For several days, the devastating discovery worried him intensely, but
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eventually, and perhaps inevitably, he soon got around to considering his
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fantastic discovery in an entirely new light.
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"Being able to float in the air might have all sorts of compensations. I
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began to realize what a new world it would open up."
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Eventually, he decided to give up his job and make his fortune. All he had
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to do was set himself up as a side-show - the people would flock to see the
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only man in the world who could FLOAT without artificial aids, and the
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money would come rolling in!
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So Reynard Beck billed himself as "the Floating Wonder" and became a side-
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show. People DID flock to him by the thousands - and all he did was SIT
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AND READ - but he sat FLOATING IN THE AIR while HE did so!
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His brother ran the side-show and they began to make big money. But they
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did not escape without trouble. On one occasion, spectators smashed up the
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side-show booth, believing they had been fooled, but were frustrated
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because they COULD NOT DISCOVER by what trick the Floating Wonder performed
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his seemingly impossible feat!
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But Beck did not just float when on exhibition. Friends testified that, in
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his private life, he found it impossible to keep his feet on the ground
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without help. To enable him to walk around NORMALLY, he wore the belt
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weighted with several pounds of lead. Obviously, he couldn't walk long
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distances with this added burden, which was not helped by the voluminous
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overcoat he wore to conceal the weights.
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When he sat down to eat, he strapped or tied himself into his chair,
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otherwise he would float to about ceiling height and JUST HANG THERE until
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someone hauled him down.
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Was it a trick? For years, every known method was used in an attempt to
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expose the Floating Wonder as the fraud everyone KNEW HE MUST BE.
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One investigator wrote: "Before the exhibition, I thoroughly searched the
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room, looking for wires, hydraulic ramps, hidden supports - anything that
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might prove a clue to the mystery. I found NOTHING. While Beck sat in a
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reclining position THREE FEET from the floor. I beat the air below and
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above him with a cane but met with no resistance. I came, with the utmost
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reluctance, to the conclusion that he WAS FLOATING UNSUPPORTED in thin
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air."
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After five years of touring the halls and fairgrounds - and getting rich on
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the strength of it - Reynard Beck abruptly announced one day that the
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uncanny gift to defy gravity had departed as suddenly as it had come.
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Certainly, he never made another public appearance. He returned home to
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the town of Dexter, in Kansas, and attempted to resume his life as an
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Page 2
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ordinary human being. But it was impossible.
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"For once a man has FLOWN IN THE AIR," he wrote with the simplicity of
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someone stumbling on a profound truth, "he can never be quite the same
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again..."
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Vangard note
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There are numerous accounts of religious ecstasy producing flight in
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devout believers. Spiritualist Daniel Home was photographed floating
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out of a 2nd story window as well as on many other occasions where
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people saw him levitate. Home said the spirits lifted him up.
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In India, at the Sifi shrine of Qamar Ali, there are two very large
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boulders that are routinely levitated by visitors who touch the stone
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with their index fingers and chant "Qamar Ali Dervish" in a certain
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chant as instructed by the resident priest. When this happens, the
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stone simply levitates. If just one finger is removed, the stone
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crashes to the ground. God, I want to DO THIS, videotape and make
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measurements.
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In the 1920's the Kowsky/Frost experiment used a quartz crystal excited
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by microwaves. The crystal expanded and levitated EVEN WITH A 1.5
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kilogram weight suspended from it!
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In Homestead, Florida, Edward Leedskalnin built the Coral Castle from
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native coral. He did this single-handedly, without benefit of hoists or
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block and tackle. The story is that he RE-DISCOVERED the secret the
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Egyptians used to build the pyramids. I've been there and seen how he
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cracked the stones apart with automobile leaf springs, heated up,
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inserted in a crack, then cold water poured on them to POP the stone
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apart. As to the way of lifting and moving these very large stones, the
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word is Leedskalnin SANG to them.
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An Egyptian painting showed the use of a vibrating wooden rod which
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caused stone to levitate when excited by a slap with this rod.
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There are numerous references such as 'stone floats in air as iron
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floats in water', a reference to the Biblical levitation of an iron
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axehead that had been accidentally thrown into the water. When the
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priest touched the water with his staff and chanted, the axehead floated
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to the surface to be retrieved.
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In various occult/metaphysical books, mention is made of the NAVAZ
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force, the dark side of Nature or it's equivalent. "Night is as
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pregnant as Day", for the seven colors of light that we see, there are
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seven 'black' colors that we cannot see. It is from these 'black'
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colors that the wheelwork of the Universe is driven.
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There are Fortean stories of voices coming from the sky throughout
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recorded history and in one case, an anchor that was caught in a church
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steeple. This anchor was attached to a rope that went up into the
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clouds. A man was shimmying down the rope to release it as people
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watched. They report that he seemed to have to 'swim' to get lower.
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The witnesses grabbed him from the rope when he got within reach and he
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appeared to be 'drowning'. The man died. So what gives?
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