This materialisation is wholly a recent species of manifestation. One of the first to testify to having seen a materialised figure at a _séance_ was the well-known S. C. Hall, who recognised during one of Home's _séances_ the figure of his deceased sister. Other mediums repeated the feat, and shadowy forms and faces began to appear and move about during their dark _séances_. It is a suspicious fact that in some cases these forms, made visible by a faintly luminous vapour, were accompanied by an odour of phosphorus. Sceptics naturally took great advantage of the alleged circumstance. Soon, however, a new medium, Florence Cook, was rumoured to have produced materialised forms in a good light which baffled all the sceptics. Miss Cook claimed to be "controlled" by a spirit known under the name of "Katie."
We have this account from a writer who early attended to examine the mystery fairly:
"In a short time, however, Katie--as the familiar of Miss B. was termed--thought she would be able to 'materialise' herself so far as to present the whole form, if we arranged the corner cupboard so as to admit of her doing so. Accordingly we opened the door, and from it suspended a rug or two opening in the centre, after the fashion of a Bedouin Arab's tent; formed a semicircle; sat and sang Longfellow's 'Footsteps of Angels.' Therein occurs the passage, 'Then the forms of the departed enter at the open door.' And, lo and behold! though we had left Miss B. tied and sealed to her chair and clad in an ordinary black dress somewhat voluminous as to the skirts, a tall, female figure, draped classically in white, with bare arms and feet, did enter at the open door, or rather down the centre from between the two rugs, and stood statuelike before us, spoke a few words, and retired; after which we entered the Bedouin tent and found pretty Miss B. with her dress as before, knots and seals secure, and her boots on! This was Form No. 1, the first I had ever seen. It looked as material as myself; and on a subsequent occasion--for I have seen it several times--we took four very good photographic portraits of it by magnesium light. The difficulty I still felt, with the form as with the faces, was that it seemed so thoroughly material and flesh-and-blood-like."