Carlos Mirabelli  (1889-1951)  was, according to Inglis,  'the most remarkable physical medium in recent history, outshining even  [D.D.]  Home in his ability to produce phenomena'.  Playfair says much the same thing:  'Mirabelli was surely the medium to end all mediums.  You name it, and he is said to have done it'.  Carlos (Originally, Carmine),  a Brazilian of  Italian parentage  (ironically, his father was a Lutheran clergyman),  was born in Botucatu, and after leaving school, worked in a shoe shop where he found himself in the midst of  poltergeist activity:  'The shoe boxes took to leaving their shelves and flying around the shop, sometimes even accompanying him out into the street'. 

Consequently, and regrettably, he was incarcerated in an asylum.  However, those who cared for him decided to carry out tests and discovered his ability to move objects without physical contact with them.  It appeared there was an excessive nervous activity in Carlos that prompted such activity, and while this in itself was abnormal, he was not found to be insane and was duly released.

Realizing his remarkable talents, Carlos put them to use and in the early stages, usually demonstrated them for entertainment purposes.  News of  his abilities eventually reached Europe by virtue of  a Portuguese leaflet entitled, O Medium Mirabelli.  This was followed by an account in the German parapsychological publication, Zeitschrift fur Parapsychologie, in August 1927;  the publishers were initially sceptical about the claims being made and sought confirmation about the witnesses from the Brazilian consul in Munich.  The consul confirmed the integrity of the witnesses, further adding that fourteen of  them were personally known to him. When reports about Carlos reached Britain, the SPR's overall stance was to reject them as being absurd;  in its Journal, it referred to some of  Carlos's feats and despite having been attested by over five hundred persons, they were considered as being  'far too good to be true'.  However, the following month, reference was made again to Carlos, and while admitting  'the numberless disappointments which physical phenomena have brought Psychical Research',  the writer agreed that  'such evidence as this cannot be ignored'.

Certain persons, e.g. Count Perovsky, believed that Carlos should be brought to Europe;  however, apart from a number of  prominent researchers already being occupied, the resources to do this were not available.  The following year, yet another note was made that two investigators, Prof. and Frau Driesch, had witnessed phenomena produced through Carlos's mediumship, and while they were less than that reported earlier, Prof. Driesch had  'signed a statement not unfavourable to the genuineness of  some of  them',  e.g. they had witnessed object movement at some distance from the medium, and in a good light.

The situation was problematic as European researchers did not have confidence in Brazilian researchers whom they believed lacked the necessary expertise.  Therefore, an impasse ensued:  European researchers could not investigate Carlos first-hand, but they would not rely upon the findings of  their colleagues in Brazil. Indeed, as Beloff  points out, the reports of  Carlos's mediumship involving the full materializations of  known persons in the full light were  'altogether too far out to gain credence outside Brazil'.  Although researchers did eventually travel abroad and meet Carlos, this was at the end of  his mediumistic career by which time his powers had waned.  Unfortunately, there was the further factor that the SPR was still very much suffering from its sceptical opinion about physical mediumship, and it is evident that the Europeans lost a possibly unique opportunity to witness a level of mediumship that had not been seen before.

It is because of  this, comparatively little was said about Carlos in Europe, and certainly so when considering his spectacular mediumship, although a limited amount of  discussion does arise very occasionally.  In 1992, Guy Playfair  (who in 1973 interviewed witnesses of Carlos's mediumship)  raised the matter of  a photograph of  Carlos levitating, and discussed how fraud must have taken place in view of  the markings on the photograph.  He repeated the opinion expressed earlier, that he believed Carlos indulged in this simply through his  'anxiety to put on a good show' for foreigners, and it is unlikely that he relied upon fraud in view of  what was witnessed by so many people.  As Dingwall related, such levitation's, sometimes to a height of  two metres and lasting several minutes, had been  'in the presence of  a number of  people and in full view of  the public'.  The most detailed work about Carlos's mediumship was that by Eurico de Goes who investigated Carlos, and believed that through this, he had communicated with his wife; this was apart from witnessing over a hundred materializations, some of  which were able to be present with sitters for lengthy periods of time.

During the peak of Carlos's activity, Europeans either scoffed at the reports crossing the Atlantic, or called for investigation that could not actually be funded.  Meanwhile, Carlos continued to demonstrate his abilities in Brazil that resulted in an investigation being organized.

One such instance that prompted the desire to consider his abilities was when Carlos dematerialized in daylight, and reappeared ninety kilometres away:  the event being witnessed by many people.  Furthermore, through automatic writing, various personages communicated in their native tongue, about specific matters with which they had been involved, and Carlos would write many pages at a truly remarkable speed in the language of  the communicator.  Additionally, he also drew portraits of people who had died,  'which were identified by surviving relatives'.

The statements that exclaim Carlos's mediumship are surely not exaggerated; his mediumship also included healing and even musical phenomena when those nearby would hear different types of  music.  Dingwall referred to an amusing instance when 'many persons'  heard drums beating and trumpets blaring, and  'bottles and glasses which were standing together then began to move and strike one the other... producing perfectly harmonious sounds'.  In the case of  his healing work, in which he had a number of  successes, he was prosecuted for practising medicine but not being qualified to do this.  It was by virtue of  so many people, including many respected academics, coming forward to support him and testify to his abilities, that it was decided a formal investigation had to be carried out.

The investigation was conducted by the Cesar Lombroso Academy of  Psychical Studies founded in 1919, and commenced with the different investigators considering various aspects of  the phenomena:  the report of  Carlos's mediumship, published in 1926, include how:  'the medium spoke 26 languages, including 7 dialects;  and wrote in 28 languages, among them 3 dead languages'.  Of  this, Inglis added,  'this was remarkable enough, as Carlos had had so little formal education; but the physical manifestations surpassed any that had ever been reported, anywhere'.   Indeed, Carlos's ability to facilitate materializations, as witnessed by the investigators, was surely one of  the most marvellous demonstrations ever seen.

The investigation that was conducted into Carlos Mirabelli's mediumship involved three hundred and ninety-two sittings for different types of  phenomena, and in sixty-three of  these, physical phenomena was produced:  the sittings were held in daylight, or with bright artificial lighting.  In one, Carlos was levitated and remained so for some minutes;  furthermore, in a sealed room, raps were heard together with a voice that was recognised by Dr Souza, one of  the investigators, as being that of his daughter who had recently died.  If this was not enough, the girl materialized and embraced her father.  Her pulse was felt by a doctor who was one of  the sitters, and she responded to questions asked of  her; moreover, she was photographed with her father before she dematerialized in front of  the ten investigators who were there.  During this time, Carlos,  'lay as if dead in his chair'.

In one of  the seances, after the room was filled with the odour of  roses, a bishop, Camargo Barros, who had died only recently, materialized and was carefully examined by the doctor.  During these events, Carlos was secured to his chair, in trance, and fully visible.  The bishop told the sitters to witness his dematerialization which duly occurred, after which the room was filled with the odour of  roses again. Another instance of  recognition was when a person materialized and was recognized as Prof. Ferreira who had recently died.  He was examined by the doctor, and  'a photograph was then taken after which the form became again cloudy and disappeared'.  During the seances, the investigators also noted the drastic changes in Carlos's physical state, i.e. his temperature would vary, as would his pulse rate and respiration.

A further example that demonstrates the spontaneous nature of Carlos's mediumship was the occurrence of  the materialization of  Dr de Menezes.  On this occasion, a bell on the table levitated and began to ring in the air;  Carlos awoke from trance and described a man whom he could see.  Suddenly a man, as described, materialized, and two sitters recognized him as de Menezes.  When the doctor present attempted to examine the materialization, he fainted when the form decided to float away.  Fodor refers to how,  'the figure began to dissolve from the feet upwards, the bust and arms floating in the air'.

One incident that provides some idea of  the sheer marvel of  witnessing Carlos's mediumship was when an Arab appeared above the table and  'then the form descended and took its place among the observers'.  He was then closely examined by three doctors for over half an hour and photographed:  'The sitters thereupon surrounded the table and watched the figure slowly rise into the air, remain floating for ten or twelve seconds and then suddenly disappear'.  A further example of Carlos's proficiency was when in 1934, during one of  his seances, flowers materialized, and bottles, a chair and keys moved about the room, and a picture was lifted from the wall, floated in the air and then hit one of  the sitters on the head. Meanwhile, Carlos wrote an essay, in French, of  nearly two thousand words.

There were also instances of  Carlos dematerializing from the sealed seance room to another room, and the seals on his bonds being found untouched. When he disappeared, some of  the sitters remained in the seance room while others went to search for him:  'He was soon discovered in a side room lying in an easy chair and singing to himself'.  It cannot go unnoticed how Dingwall mentioned that Carlos 'submitted himself  to the severest tests of... investigators, passively suffered being tied and stripped, until doubt was excluded'.

It was this type of  activity that prompted some investigators outside Brazil to believe that Carlos's mediumship could not be ignored;  Dingwall was one such person.  Faced with so many reports of  spectacular phenomena, witnessed by hundreds of  people and sometimes photographed, an answer was clearly required. In 1930, Dingwall wrote of  Carlos's mediumship in the Journal of  the American Society for Psychical Research, the contents of  which have already been cited above.  He said that the phenomena was  'so extraordinary indeed that there is nothing like them in the whole range of  psychical literature'.  Relevant in view of what the Europeans were saying, he also argued that,  'It would be easy to condemn the man as a monstrous fraud...  But I do not think that such a supposition will help even him who makes it'.  Despite this, the best that Dingwall could say on his own behalf was that he could not make any decision; he said that Carlos could be a fraud and the materializations were his confederates but admitted  'confederates are human beings and human beings do not usually rise into the air, dissolve... and float about'.

The possibility of  fraud seemed improbable in view of  the many witnesses and photographs, and that seances were conducted in the light.  Hallucination would not provide a this-worldly explanation either, as the events were photographed. Dingwall realized, much to his discomfort, that Carlos's mediumship would pass by without any European investigation as,  'The chaos in which psychical research finds itself at present prevents any really valuable systematic work being done'.  It cannot go unnoticed that Dingwall's report was published by the American SPR rather than the British SPR.  It was in 1933 when Carlos was seen by Mary S. Walker of  the ASPR, and she was impressed by what she saw, although by this time, Carlos's powers had diminished.

The following year, Theodore Besterman visited Carlos and then produced a very negative appraisal of  the mediumship in the SPR's Journal;  however, Playfair points out that in respect of  some of  the things stated, Besterman  'overstated his case'.  Indeed, as Besterman was forced to admit, while suggesting all manner of 'explanations'  for Carlos's mediumship, in one case he was unable to do this and said that his most likely explanation for the feat witnessed was  'practically impossible',  and  'any other fraudulent method is difficult to conceive'.  A typical example of  the behaviour of  some researchers is well illustrated by Beloff's note:  he states that he corresponded with both Dingwall and Besterman in 1972, and 'neither was willing to stand by his original endorsement yet neither could offer any coherent reason for changing his mind'.  When Barrington comments on Besterman's stance, she observes:  'having witnessed phenomena he could not explain  (a substantial blackboard about 2 ft 6 in square revolved several times when placed on top of a bottle)  he decided in the end that it had to be, somehow, fraudulent'.

In contrast to what the British researchers were saying, the effect of  Carlos's mediumship on those who saw it was decisive.  One example is when in 1933, Carlos was handcuffed and bound, and flowers floated into the seance room through a locked window, and a statue promptly pursued them.  During this time, Carlos spoke in Arabic to one of  the sitters who realized that it was the voice of  his mother who had died nearly thirty years earlier:  the sitter, an investigator, 'became a Spiritist on the spot'.  When the time came for the secretary, a German man, to read the minutes, he realized that he had not brought his spectacles with him.  A German voice then spoke, saying that he was the man's father and would get them for him and,  'the spectacles promptly appeared in the secretary's hands'. At another seance, Carlos was held by two sitters, whereupon he began to glow in the darkness,  'lighting up the whole room'.

Playfair notes that while Carlos received payment in some instances,  'it is also quite certain that he gave a lot of  money away and was a generous and kind-hearted person'.  Although Carlos was a Spiritist, the possibility that he sometimes  'helped things along',  the often bizarre type of  phenomena that occurred, and his extrovert behaviour, did not always endear him to his fellow Brazilian Spiritists:  'He led a somewhat Bohemian life... He was a big spender, who would think nothing of buying ten suits or a dozen pairs of  shoes at a time, only to give most of  them away.  Some Spiritists would therefore not associate themselves with Carlos, and Playfair comments on how one of  the leading Spiritists was always apprehensive about meeting Carlos;  this was because  'everything seemed to get smashed up when he was around',  i.e. a reference to how objects would suddenly start to move and fly about in Carlos's presence.  In fact this type of  activity affected Carlos's personal life:  '[his sons]  in fact led lives somewhat remote from their father, since their mother did not greatly appreciate having the table cutlery flung across the room by unseen hands or having the furniture pile itself on top of  her, so she and the children lived apart from Mirabelli by agreement'.

Carlos was particularly fond of  animals and opera, and involved in the foundation and running of  the Sao Luiz House of  Charity.  As is typical in a country dominated by the Roman Catholic church, Brazil suffers from the extremes of  immense wealth for the few, and widespread severe poverty for the many, and this charitable organization was constantly used by those needing assistance.

Carlos also suffered the consequences of  practising his mediumship in a Catholic country by having to appear in court on fifteen occasions to answer charges that were raised against the work that he did.  Notwithstanding these problems, he successfully demonstrated the reality of  survival to many people in a truly extraordinary way.

Despite the reservations expressed in this country, there seems to be no valid reason why the monitoring by the Brazilians should be seen as unsatisfactory.  Moreover, in view of  the number of  witnesses involved, the phenomena observed, and the mode in which these occurred, there can be little doubt that Carlos Mirabelli was a physical medium of  very considerable ability.

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