Citation

The objective of this article is to describe an attempt to replicate the  phenomenon of alleged bodily magnetism as described in a book by the  leading figure of Czechoslovak parapsychology Břetislav Kafka  (1891-1967). In his book, in addition to experiments focused on hypnotic  phenomena in therapeutic practice, he describes one experiment that is  the focal point of this paper. It describes the alleged phenomenon of  bodily magnetism, which causes the illumination of a light bulb without  connection to electrical power. The bulb is held in one hand as the  fingers of the other hand are waved over the bulb. According to Kafka’s  claims, this act of illumination should be possible for every second or  third person. The author of this article has repeated this experiment  with students from an Experimental Psychology seminar at the University  of Ostrava, with negative results. Following modification of the  conditions to match Kafka’s historical circumstances, the author was  ultimately able to successfully repeat this experiment with illumination  other than bodily magnetism.