Média Médiums

The interest in the question of the occult for a certain fringe zone of the scientific community came to a head in 1848 following the accounts of the spirit phenomena of the Fox sisters. Table-turning and other paranormal experiences, which became wide-spread in the United States and Europe during the second half of the 19th century, pushed researchers to consider these unexplainable events as new objects for scientific experimentation. In parallel to the numerous inventions which came into view at the beginning of the 20th century, a certain number of researchers attempted to produce tools and machines to analyse these phenomena in their laboratories. From the spirit telegraph to parapsychological applications for smartphone, the inventory of these often forgotten or little known technical objects allows a glimse onto a possible technical history of parapsychology which we propose to retrace. \n Philippe Baudouin is broadcast director at France Culture and the author of features for Arte Radi