Witchcraft in the Home Rendered curious by the recent spiritualistic recordings of ladies being conveyed through the air , Mr Walter Thornbury , the well known litterateur , paid half a crown for admission to a seance in Hamburg Square . Two professional mediums requested the visitors to join hands , and the gas was turned down . One sceptic was struck on the head by a speaking trumpet , sofa cushions and an antimacassar were flung at another . But Mr Thornbury left in a hardened state of unbelief 1871