Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 89.djvu/792

778 fell when he opened the first door.



Nearly all these effects, and a number of others, were produced by comparatively simple means. It is important to have someone in charge of the chamber who can talk—or whisper hoarsely and convincingly, in order to make a pound of raw beefsteak and a chunk of ice which are used occasionally sufficiently terrible. But, of course, the more mechanical and electrical effects there are, the better.

All the electric shocks came from a small but active induction coil operated by three or four dry cells. One pole of the coil was connected with fine wires that suspended the skull outside the entrance (Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, A), with the door-knob at the entrance (Fig. 2, B), and with the one at the exit C. The other pole was connected with a number of steel door-mats properly placed as D, E, and F.



The flabby objects which strike the victim's face are merely rubber football bladders (hot-water bags would do as well) kept moist, and suspended from the ceiling at the average height of the face. They are merely drawn back and allowed to swing into the face of the victims (Fig. 3). It was necessary to use the scheme diagrammed because every movement of the phosphorescent hands was visible.

The baby's skull was a papier-mache candle-shade picked up at a ten-cent store. The illusion of the crawling on the lips was produced as follows: The skull was coated with tinfoil which was connected with insulated wires to one of the poles on a medical coil, the other pole of which was attached to a metal floorplate located where the victim would stand. The coil was tuned down so low that the shock could not be felt in any other part of the body except the sensitive lips, and gave them exactly the impression of numberless small crawling objects. The bright light which flashed in the eves was merely a pocket flashlight; the sound which accompanied it was made by a sharp blow with a hammer on a piece of sheet-iron suspended from the ceiling.