WEBVTT - Season 06 Episode 34 Extra: Your Electric Feel

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<v Speaker 1>Dear listeners, we've reached the end of another unexplained season,

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<v Speaker 1>so I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank

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<v Speaker 1>each and every one of you from the bottom of

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<v Speaker 1>my heart for taking the time to listen to the show.

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<v Speaker 1>A big shout out to those of you have been

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<v Speaker 1>with us from the beginning, but even if you're listening

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<v Speaker 1>to the show for the first time, thank you so

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<v Speaker 1>much for giving us a shot. I know there's a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of other stuff out there that is equally deserving

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<v Speaker 1>of your time, so again, it's much appreciated, whether you're

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<v Speaker 1>a straight up fan of horror and the weird, or

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<v Speaker 1>you just like listening because the monotonous tone of my

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<v Speaker 1>narration sends you instantly to sleep. You're all welcome, and

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<v Speaker 1>I remain forever your humble servant. We've just got one

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<v Speaker 1>more unexplained extra few to conclude season six, but don't fret.

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<v Speaker 1>We'll be back very soon at the end of June

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<v Speaker 1>with season seven for our seventh year of the podcast,

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<v Speaker 1>which is frankly astonishing and once again all thanks to

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<v Speaker 1>you listeners. So without further ado, thank you so much

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<v Speaker 1>again and see you on the other side. Welcome to

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<v Speaker 1>Unexplained Extra with Me Richard McLean Smith, where for the

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<v Speaker 1>weeks in between episodes we look at stories and ideas that,

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<v Speaker 1>for one reason or other, didn't make it into the

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<v Speaker 1>previous show. In last week's episode, She's Electric, we trace

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<v Speaker 1>the strange tale of fourteen year old Angelique Cottan from

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<v Speaker 1>Normandy in France, who, in eighteen forty six, after a

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<v Speaker 1>series of heavy electrical storms, was said to have displayed

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<v Speaker 1>an unusual ability to move objects without touching them. Often,

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<v Speaker 1>when I come across this kind of story, the first

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<v Speaker 1>assumption made by the people exposed to the apparent supernatural

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<v Speaker 1>event tends to be that some kind of haunting is

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<v Speaker 1>taking place, or that Topesky poltergeist is to blame for

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<v Speaker 1>the strange disturbances. It's unusual, then, that Angelique story seems

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<v Speaker 1>to begin and end with the speculation that she was

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<v Speaker 1>single handedly responsible for the peculiar goings on. There have

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<v Speaker 1>been similar reports of strange powers afflicting people before and

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<v Speaker 1>since the case of Angelique Kotan. In the year sixteen

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<v Speaker 1>eighty six, a man called Brigman's who lived in Brussels,

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<v Speaker 1>was said to be similarly affected. A commission was appointed

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<v Speaker 1>by local magistrates to investigate his condition, and the unfortunate

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<v Speaker 1>sufferer was pronounced a sorcerer. Luckily for him, he managed

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<v Speaker 1>to make an escape and might have been burnt alive

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<v Speaker 1>if he hadn't got away. Then, in America, in the

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<v Speaker 1>early eighteen eighties, two so called electric girls were brought

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<v Speaker 1>to the public's attention. Lulu Hurst, who took the name

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<v Speaker 1>Georgia Wander, and Annie Abbott, whose sobriquet was the Little

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<v Speaker 1>Georgia Magnet presented themselves as having powers very similar to

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<v Speaker 1>those apparently exhibited by Angelique Cotan, making their names at

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<v Speaker 1>stage performers. Their act involved them moving heavy pieces of

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<v Speaker 1>furniture around, often held down by seemingly strong men. However,

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<v Speaker 1>Hearst subsequently wrote in an autobiography that her so called

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<v Speaker 1>powers were in fact nothing more than a stage trick.

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<v Speaker 1>To day, the hypothetical psychic ability, by which a person

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<v Speaker 1>is said to be able to move objects without a

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<v Speaker 1>physical interaction, is known as psychokinesis. Experiments to prove the

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<v Speaker 1>existence of this phenomenon of being criticized for lack of

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<v Speaker 1>proper controls and repeatability, and are generally regarded as pseudoscience.

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<v Speaker 1>One story that emerged out of Sweden in nineteen nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>is certainly strange enough to make you think again. On

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<v Speaker 1>April fifteenth, nineteen forty eight, a body was pulled out

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<v Speaker 1>of Shechechen Harbor in Poland. It was identified as forty

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<v Speaker 1>year old Swedish sailor Gustave Zander Nord, who had last

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<v Speaker 1>been seen in January after he disappeared from the steamship

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<v Speaker 1>he worked on, which had been docked in Shechechen Harbor

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<v Speaker 1>at the time. A great deal of mystery surrounded the

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<v Speaker 1>man's death, with some claiming it wasn't gnawed at all.

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<v Speaker 1>What was perhaps stranger, though, was the story that came

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<v Speaker 1>out two years previously concerning the man's early life. It

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<v Speaker 1>was a priest named Ernest Bieker who revealed all to

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<v Speaker 1>a Swedish newspaper in nineteen forty six. Some time toward

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<v Speaker 1>the end of nineteen nineteen, Bieker received a letter from

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<v Speaker 1>an elderly couple from the village of Jorgoa, just outside

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<v Speaker 1>of Aorbloer in East Sweden. The couple had been having

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<v Speaker 1>some problems with their grandson and had come to believe

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<v Speaker 1>that he was possessed. They wanted Baker to conduct an

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<v Speaker 1>exorcism on him. Dismissing their concerns, Baker ignored the letter

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<v Speaker 1>and forgot all about it until a few weeks later,

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<v Speaker 1>when a friend of his brought more news at the

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<v Speaker 1>peculiar grandchild and insisted that everything the grandparents were saying

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<v Speaker 1>was true. Worried that he'd made a terrible mistake, the

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<v Speaker 1>priest set out immediately to pay the family a visit.

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<v Speaker 1>What he found in their home troubled him greatly. The

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<v Speaker 1>couple's grandson was Gustav Nord, who was twelve years old

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<v Speaker 1>at the time. The boy was born in nineteen o

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<v Speaker 1>seven and had endured a tough upbringing, frequently punctuated by

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<v Speaker 1>violence at the hands of his father. By nineteen nineteen,

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<v Speaker 1>his parents were separated and had effectively abandoned, leaving him

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<v Speaker 1>to be brought up by his grandparents. Gustav was said

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<v Speaker 1>to have been a relatively normal boy until sometime in

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<v Speaker 1>the winter of nineteen nineteen, when he was caught up

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<v Speaker 1>in a fight between his uncle and his neighbour. He'd

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<v Speaker 1>been so scared that he fled his home and hid

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<v Speaker 1>in a barn until things had died down. That night,

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<v Speaker 1>when he returned home, strange things began to happen. It

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<v Speaker 1>started with wrappings on his bedroom wall, then chairs began

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<v Speaker 1>to move, and eventually Gustave was apparently thrown out of

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<v Speaker 1>his own bed. As things escalated, it said that the

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<v Speaker 1>phone began to ring of its own accord, lights flashed

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<v Speaker 1>on and off, and objects were levitated off the ground.

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<v Speaker 1>Unlike Gustav Nord's grandparents, the priest Ernst Bieker didn't think

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<v Speaker 1>the boy was possessed, but instead was somehow directly responsible

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<v Speaker 1>for the strange activity. This idea was in turn picked

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<v Speaker 1>up by the boy's estranged father, who, on hearing about

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<v Speaker 1>all the peculiar stories surrounding his son, returned suddenly in

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<v Speaker 1>an attempt to exploit him, giving him the name the

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<v Speaker 1>Electric Boy. He is said to have taken him around

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<v Speaker 1>local towns, forcing him to perform for money, until local

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<v Speaker 1>authorities eventually stepped in and put a stop to the abuse.

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<v Speaker 1>Gustave is then said to have been sent for treatment

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<v Speaker 1>at a psychiatric hospital, though the precise details of what

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<v Speaker 1>occurred there are unknown. The case eventually came to the

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<v Speaker 1>attention of psychologist and sometime parapsychologist Sidney Ulrights at Sweden's

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<v Speaker 1>Uppsala University. Ulverretz collected numerous testimonies from the boy's family

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<v Speaker 1>and several locally as officials who got involved in the case.

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<v Speaker 1>Ulretz believed that Nord's power had something to do with

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<v Speaker 1>animal magnetism. The idea was conceived by German physician Franz

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<v Speaker 1>Anton Mesmer back in the eighteenth century. Mesmer formulated the

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<v Speaker 1>theory that all animate things are connected by some kind

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<v Speaker 1>of magnetic force or fluid, which permeated the entire universe

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<v Speaker 1>and was present all around and inside of us, Much

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<v Speaker 1>like the way gravity affects the ocean tides. Mesmer claimed

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<v Speaker 1>that our bodies could also be fundamentally acted on by

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<v Speaker 1>outside electromagnetic forces. According to Mesmer, most illness was caused

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<v Speaker 1>by a disruption of this magnetic force insiderus. If the

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<v Speaker 1>force could be manipulated back to its natural state, therefore,

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<v Speaker 1>the illness would be cured. Despite his idea being roundly

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<v Speaker 1>dismissed by the science establishment of the day, it became

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<v Speaker 1>wildly popular in French society, where Mesmer applied his trade.

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<v Speaker 1>At first, Mesmer encouraged his patients to swallow iron filings

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<v Speaker 1>that he then attempted to move through the body with magnets. However,

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<v Speaker 1>he soon dispensed with his tools, claiming that he could

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<v Speaker 1>instead just manipulate the magnetic force using only his hands

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<v Speaker 1>and his mind. Perhaps Gustav Naud thought Sidney Alretz had

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<v Speaker 1>similarly been able to tap into this universal force and

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<v Speaker 1>had found a way to manipulate it. As Mesmer's popularity sowed,

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<v Speaker 1>many attested to the undeniable efficacy of his technique, which

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<v Speaker 1>was credited with curing all manner of ailments. Medical practices

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<v Speaker 1>at the time could often be quite brutal and disturbing,

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<v Speaker 1>involving painful procedures applied without anesthetic. Part of Mesmer's appeal

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<v Speaker 1>was the relatively benign nature of his treatments in comparison,

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<v Speaker 1>which often amounted to little more than being touched or

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<v Speaker 1>drinking what he claimed to be magnetized water. There's been

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<v Speaker 1>much speculation about Mesmer's intentions towards some of his patients. Certainly,

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<v Speaker 1>his tactile processes, which included a fondness for touching women

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<v Speaker 1>on the lower abdomen and inner thighs, could be said

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<v Speaker 1>to be sexually abusive. Disturbed by Mesmer's emergence and the

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<v Speaker 1>questionable nature of his work, France's then King Louis the

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<v Speaker 1>sixteenth appointed a scientific commission to investigate his theory. Members

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<v Speaker 1>of the esteemed commission included founding father Benjamin Franklin and

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<v Speaker 1>Joseph Ingne Schieton, after whom, as you may have guessed,

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<v Speaker 1>the famed execution is instrument the guillotine is named after.

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<v Speaker 1>The committee found Mesmer's theory to be completely without merit,

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<v Speaker 1>a conclusion which is maintained to this day. Interestingly, however,

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<v Speaker 1>despite there being no truth to Mesmer's central idea, whatever

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<v Speaker 1>he was doing often seemed to have a genuine physical

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<v Speaker 1>impact on its patients. It is now widely considered that

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<v Speaker 1>what he had inadvertently stumbled upon was the power of suggestion,

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<v Speaker 1>and he's been credited with helping to pioneer what would

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<v Speaker 1>become known as the placebo effect. The term Mesmerism, named

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<v Speaker 1>after Franz Anton Mesmer, has since come to be associated

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<v Speaker 1>much more with the process of hypnotism, which was developed

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<v Speaker 1>significantly by Scottish surgeon James Braid in the nineteenth century.

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<v Speaker 1>After spending considerable time studying what it was about the

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<v Speaker 1>idea of animal magnetism that actually had an effect on people.

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<v Speaker 1>As for Gustave sander Nord, the Electric Boy, no definitive

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<v Speaker 1>conclusion was ever reached about his apparent powers. After his

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<v Speaker 1>body was taken out of Schetchen Harbor in Poland, he

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<v Speaker 1>was laid to rest in the city where he was found,

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<v Speaker 1>where you can still find its gravestone to day. This

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<v Speaker 1>episode was written by Richard McLain Smith and Diane Hope.

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<v Speaker 1>Unexplained is an Avy Club Productions podcast created by Richard

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<v Speaker 1>mc clain Smith. All other elements of the podcast, including

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<v Speaker 1>the music, are also produced by Richard McLain Smith. Unexplained.

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<v Speaker 1>The book and audiobook, featuring stories that have never before

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<v Speaker 1>been featured on the show, is now available to buy worldwide.

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<v Speaker 1>You can purchase from Amazon, Barnes, and Noble Waterstones, among

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<v Speaker 1>other bookstores. Please subscribe and rate the show wherever you

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<v Speaker 1>listen to podcasts, and feel free to get in touch

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<v Speaker 1>with any thoughts or ideas regarding the stories you've heard

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<v Speaker 1>on the show. Perhaps you have an explanation of your

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<v Speaker 1>own you'd like to share. You can reach us online

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<v Speaker 1>at Unexplained podcast dot com, or Twitter at Unexplained Pod

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<v Speaker 1>and Facebook at Facebook dot com. Forward Slash Unexplained Podcast