Eva Carrière (born Marthe Béraud 1886 in France, died 1943),"Erotic Ectoplasmic Birth: Vaginas and Scientific Probing in the Age of Spiritualism"
Retrieved 18 August 2019. also known as Eva C, was a fraudulent materialization medium in the early 20th century known for making fake ectoplasm from chewed paper and cut-out faces from magazines and newspapers.

Biography

Béraud was born 1886 in France, the daughter of a French officer. She became engaged to Maurice Noël, a soldier who died in the Congo from tropical disease in 1904 before the marriage could take place. Béraud lived with General Elie Noël and his wife at Villa Carmen in

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

. She claimed she developed her

psychic A psychic is a person who claims to use extrasensory perception (ESP) to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance, or who performs acts that are apparently inexplicable by natural laws, ...

ability after the death of her fiancé. In 1905, she held a series of

séance A séance or seance (; ) is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word ''séance'' comes from the French word for "session", from the Old French ''seoir'', "to sit". In French, the word's meaning is quite general: one may, for example, spe ...

s at Villa Carmen and sitters were invited. In these séances she claimed to materialize a spirit called Bien Boa, a 300-year-old Brahmin

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

. However, photographs taken of Boa looked like the figure was made from a large cardboard cutout. In other sittings

Charles Richet Charles Robert Richet (25 August 1850 – 4 December 1935) was a French physiologist at the Collège de France known for his pioneering work in immunology. In 1913, he won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "in recognition of his work on ...

reported that Boa was breathing, had moved around the room and had touched him. A photograph revealed Boa to be a man dressed up in a

cloak A cloak is a type of loose garment worn over clothing, mostly but not always as outerwear for outdoor wear, serving the same purpose as an overcoat, protecting the wearer from the weather. It may form part of a uniform. Cloaks have been and a ...

helmet A helmet is a form of protective gear worn to protect the head. More specifically, a helmet complements the skull in protecting the human brain. Ceremonial or symbolic helmets (e.g., a policeman's helmet in the United Kingdom) without protect ...

and beard. A newspaper article in 1906 revealed that an Arab coachman known as Areski, who had previously worked at the villa, had been hired to play the part of Bien Boa and that the entire thing was a

hoax A hoax is a widely publicized falsehood so fashioned as to invite reflexive, unthinking acceptance by the greatest number of people of the most varied social identities and of the highest possible social pretensions to gull its victims into pu ...

. Areski wrote that he made his appearance into the room by a trapdoor. Béraud also admitted to being involved with the hoax. In 1909, Béraud changed her name to Eva Carrière (Eva C) to hide the fraud of her past and began a new career as a psychic. Béraud had a sexual relationship with a woman 25 years her elder, Juliette Bisson (1861–1956), with whom she performed during her seances.Kalush (2006). ''The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America's First Superhero''. Atria Books. p. 419. Beraud died in 1943.

Investigations

Carrière's psychic performances were investigated by

Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Ho ...

, author of the ''

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...

'' mystery series. He believed that her performances were genuine and that she was not engaged in any deception. Another famous psychic investigator of the time,

Harry Houdini Harry Houdini (, born Erik Weisz; March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926) was a Hungarian-American escape artist, magic man, and stunt performer, noted for his escape acts. His pseudonym is a reference to his spiritual master, French magician ...

, observed one of her séances and asserted that they were fraudulent. Houdini was never convinced by Carrière and likened her performance to a magician's trick, the Hindu needle trick. The physician-psychical researcher

Albert von Schrenck-Notzing Albert Freiherr von Schrenck-Notzing (18 May 1862 – 12 February 1929) was a German physician, psychiatrist and notable psychical researcher, who devoted his time to the study of paranormal events connected with mediumship, hypnotism and telep ...

, investigated Carrière and believed the ectoplasm she produced was genuine. The psychiatrist

Mathilde Ludendorff Mathilde Friederike Karoline Ludendorff (born Mathilde Spieß; 4 October 1877 – 24 June 1966) was a German psychiatrist. She was a leading figure in the Völkisch movement known for her unorthodox (esoteric) and conspiratorial ideas. Her thi ...

wrote that the experiments of Schrenck-Notzing were unscientific and that he had been duped by tricks of Carrière. In the Schrenck-Notzing psychic sessions with Carrière the scientific controls were scarce and there was evidence that she had freed her hands in the

room. Carrière has been described as "perverse and neurotic". She was well known for running around the séance room naked indulging in

sexual Sex is the biological distinction of an organism between male and female. Sex or SEX may also refer to: Biology and behaviour *Animal sexual behaviour **Copulation (zoology) **Human sexual activity **Non-penetrative sex, or sexual outercourse ** ...

activities with her audience. Her companion Juliette Bisson would, during the course of the séance sittings with Schrenck-Notzing, introduce her finger into Eva's

vagina In mammals, the vagina is the elastic, muscular part of the female genital tract. In humans, it extends from the vestibule to the cervix. The outer vaginal opening is normally partly covered by a thin layer of mucosal tissue called the hymen ...

to ensure no "ectoplasm" had been loaded there beforehand to fool the investigators, and she would also strip nude at the end of a séance and demanded another full-on gynecological exam. The psychic sessions of Carrière with Schrenck-Notzing have been described as

pornographic Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of Human sexual activity, sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults,

. The photographs that were taken during the séances show Carrière in the nude emerging from her cabinet and others revealing fake ectoplasm strings hanging from her breasts. Another photograph revealed ectoplasm in the shape of a deflated and disembodied

penis A penis (plural ''penises'' or ''penes'' () is the primary sexual organ that male animals use to inseminate females (or hermaphrodites) during copulation. Such organs occur in many animals, both vertebrate and invertebrate, but males do n ...

. According to historian

Ruth Brandon Ruth Brandon (born 1943) is a British journalist, historian and author. Biography Brandon began her career as a trainee producer for the BBC, working in radio and television. She moved to work in freelance journalism and as an author. She is th ...

, Juliette Bisson and Carrière were in a sexual relationship together, and they worked in collaboration with each other to fake the ectoplasm and

erotic Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, scul ...

ize their male audience.

. (1983). ''The Spiritualists: The Passion for the Occult in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries''. Weidenfeld and Nicolson. pp. 152-160. In 1920, anthropologist

Eric Dingwall Eric John Dingwall (1890–1986) was a British anthropologist, psychical researcher and librarian. Biography Born in British Ceylon, Dingwall moved to England where he was educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge (M.A., 1912), and the Univer ...

and physician-psychical researcher V. J. Woolley tested Carrière in London. They found no evidence of psychic phenomena, discovered that her ectoplasm was made from chewed paper, and said "the séances proved negative". Ruth Brandon wrote that Carrière produced some of her effects by regurgitation, hiding her ectoplasm in the séance cabinet and using her secret accomplice Juliette Bisson. According to

Harry Price Harry Price (17 January 1881 – 29 March 1948) was a British psychic researcher and author, who gained public prominence for his investigations into psychical phenomena and exposing fraudulent spiritualist mediums. He is best known for ...

, the photographs of her ectoplasm taken with Schrenck-Notzing looked artificial and two-dimensional, made from cardboard and newspaper portraits, and that there were no scientific controls, as both her hands were free. In 1920, Carrière was investigated by the

Society for Psychical Research The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) is a nonprofit organisation in the United Kingdom. Its stated purpose is to understand events and abilities commonly described as psychic or paranormal. It describes itself as the "first society to condu ...

(SPR) in London. She was also investigated in 1922 and the result of the tests were negative. In 1954, Donald West wrote that Carrière's ectoplasm was made of cut-out paper faces from

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

s and

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

s, on which fold marks could sometimes be seen from the photographs. A photograph of Carrière taken from the back of the ectoplasm face revealed it was made from a magazine cut out, complete with the letters "Le Miro". The two-dimensional face had been clipped from the French magazine ''Le Miroir''. Back issues of the magazine also matched some of Carrière's ectoplasm faces. In 1913, a Miss Barkley in an article in the newspaper ''Neue Wiener Tagblatt'' exposed the fraud of Carrière:

Miss Eva prepared the heads before every séance, and endeavoured to make them unrecognizable. A clean-shaven face was decorated with a beard. Grey hairs became black curls, a broad forehead was made into a narrow one. In spite of all her endeavours, she could not obliterate certain characteristic lines.

Carrière used cut out faces of

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...

, King Ferdinand of Bulgaria, French president

Raymond Poincaré Raymond Nicolas Landry Poincaré (, ; 20 August 1860 – 15 October 1934) was a French statesman who served as President of France from 1913 to 1920, and three times as Prime Minister of France. Trained in law, Poincaré was elected deputy in 1 ...

, and the actress Mona Delza.

Gordon Stein Gordon Stein (April 30, 1941 – August 27, 1996) was an American author, physiologist, and activist for atheism and religious skepticism. Biography Stein was born in New York to Jewish parents, and from an early age took an interest in science. ...

. (1996). ''The Encyclopedia of the Paranormal''. Prometheus Books. p. 520. Also in 1954, Rudolf Lambert, an SPR member, published details of fraud which had been covered up by many early members of the Institute Metapsychique International (IMI).Sofie Lachapelle. (2011). ''Investigating the Supernatural: From Spiritism and Occultism to Psychical Research and Metapsychics in France, 1853-1931''. Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 144-145. Lambert had studied

Gustav Geley Gustav Geley (13 April 1868 – 15 July 1924) was a French physician, psychical researcher and director of the Institute Metapsychique International from 1919 to 1924.ectoplasm. Various "materializations" were artificially attached to Eva's hair by wires. Geley never published his discovery. Eugéne Osty, the director of the Institute, and members Jean Meyer,

and

all knew about the fraudulent photographs, but were firm believers in spirituality phenomena, so demanded the scandal be kept secret.

Gallery

Image:Bien Boa fake spirit.gif, The spirit Bien Boa, which was discovered to be a dressed-up man Image:Eva C fake ectoplasm made from newspaper.gif, Carrière with fake ectoplasm made from the French magazine ''Le Miroir'' Image:Eva C medium 1.png, Carrière during a séance Image:Eva C medium 4.png, Carrière with fake ectoplasm

References

External links

Eva C by C. M. de Heredia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carriere, Eva 1886 births 1943 deaths Bisexual women French fraudsters French psychics French female criminals French spiritual mediums

Biography

Investigations

Gallery

See also

References

Further reading

External links