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Materialisation of M. Furtado, with a
death's-head (after Mme. Frondoni-Lacombe).
Said Charles Richet in Thirty Years of Psychical Research:
"On December 18, 1914, Countess Castelvitch, Mme. Ponsa, Mme. Furtado,
M. and Mme. Lacombe were present in the house of the Countess
Castelvitch. Through the table Mme. Furtado's husband was alleged to be
present, but that he would not allow himself to be photographed because
he had forgotten what his face was like, but he said that his companion
would come in his place. This companion was his mistress, he having been
separated from his wife; and in fact a veiled woman was photographed,
causing great fear in Mme. Furtado, who declared she would never be
present at any more séances. At the next séance (December 27, 1914), M.
Furtado announced his presence again and said, 'I have no face, but I
will make one,' and the phantom photographed is a tall person clothed in
white, but the face is that of a death's-head.
"It is difficult or impossible to imagine that these are frauds or
illusions. Fraud was not easy. In order to show a French officer, a nun,
a phantom with a death's-head, and an Arab soldier a whole series of
costumes would be needed, to be bought at a shop and to be used at the
séances where hands were held, if not rigorously, yet sufficiently well.
And why should this be done? If Mme. Lacombe wished to deceive she might
have given stranger things. There is no reason to suspect the good faith
of Mme. Furtado, who was very sceptical, nor of Mme. Ponsa, who was Mme.
Lacombe's intimate friend."
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