My mother, who grew up in an especially poor and remote section of Quebec, Canada, in the 40's, used to tell me about a man in her young childhood who went by the name of, Roger Wilmette, who could cure toothaches and migraines and other assorted injuries and maladies just by touch. Word of this got around. She said he was a mysterious man who just appeared once in awhile in the area and no one knew where he lived, but everyone knew him for his healing powers. When he would come around, people would hear he was around and seek him out for help.
My Mom says that one night they were all sitting out by the campfire late at night and Mr. Wilmette joined the group. Discussion turned to his healing powers, with some in the group scoffing and making jokes about it while in his presence. She says Wilmette became annoyed at this, but remained quiet. One of the older, noisier, scoffing men in the group suggested Mr. Wilmette demonstrate his powers right there and then so everyone could see if he was fraud or not, and she said Wilmette thought about it momentarily, then accepted the challenge. He told the older man to bring him a chest, two pieces of blank paper, two paper-sized pieces of glass from picture frames, twine and a lock. The older man did. Everyone then went inside and sat around the kitchen table in the kitchen. The two blank pieces of paper were handed to and shown to everyone to confirm they were indeed blank. Wilmette then placed the two pieces of blank paper between the glass, wrapped the glass in the twine vertically and horizontally several times around, placed the glass inside the chest, and then placed the lock on the chest. He then tied a piece of the twine through the chest's lock-hole and also around the lock's shaft, and then tied the other end to the older man's large toe. he then faced the group and told the older man that if he felt any tug at all on twine to switch the light on right away, and the older man was sitting next to the lightswitch. When everyone was ready for the demonstration, Wilmette instructed that the kitchen light be turned off, and they were all pitched into blackness.
Several seconds passed, but no more than 30 seconds, and the older man yelled out that someone had just pulled on the twine. Another person switched on the light immediately. To everyone's amazement, the twine was still securely attached to the lock and chest and the other end still attached to the older man's toe and nothing had changed. The chest had not been moved an inch and all appeared undisturbed. Mr. Wilmette then instructed the chest be opened and the papers examined. The older, scoffing man who had the twine tied to his toe reached out immediately and grabbed the chest with the intent to make a fool out of Mr. Wilmette as a fraud. He took the lock off the chest, opened it, unwrapped the glass, took out the pieces of paper, and to everyone';s complete astonishment, including my mother's, there was Indian handwriting all across the pages, both front and back, complete with small hand-drawn pics of Indian teepees and stick figures wearing tribal garb in the margins.
This is a true story with no embellishments. This is exactly what happened that night.
