An instrument, also known as Rutots Spirit Indicator, intended to facilitate contact with spirit entities. The spirit indicator was invented by a young man named Vandermeulen, who died in 1930 while it was still in the testing stage. It consisted of two prisms and a fine wire triangle. The two prisms, one plain and one resinous, were mounted face to face on a board. The wire triangle was connected to the negative pole of a dry cell battery before being suspended between the two prisms. It was believed that spirit entities would generate electricity in the prisms. As the electricity was generated, it would drive the triangle away from the negative prism toward the positive prism where it would contact the wire connected with the positive pole of the battery. At that point a bell would ring. Researchers would then note the spirit’s presence and could engage in communication.
Following Vandermeulen’s death, his instrument passed to a Belgian scientist named Rutot, who worked with the invention and claimed that he had been able to establish contact with the spirit of the inventor. He published his report of his initial contact and subsequent experiments in the Bulletin du Conseil de Recherches Metaphysiques de Belgique (1930). U.S. psychical researcher Hereward Carrington attempted to reproduce Rutot’s results but was unable to confirm his findings. The instrument passed into oblivion as another failed attempt at developing a mechanical means to communicate with the dead.