THE TELEKINETIC THEORY OF LEVITATION by Elliott Coues

The alleged spontaneous and even intelligent movements of various inanimate objects, under some circumstances, with out the application of any known mechanical force, is a phenom enon which has never been explained to the satisfaction of scientific men. I do not think it possible to explain away the allegations of the fact on the assumption that all the persons who have testified to the evidence of their senses in this matter have been either mistaken or mendacious. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, I am obliged to assume the reality of the phenomenon of levitation; and intellectual integrity obliges me to seek some rational explanation of the well-attested occurrences which have become known as "table-turning." The theory of telekinesis which I have formulated seems to me at present to fit the facts better than any other.