“From the center of the table rose two metallic uprights connected at the top by a revolving steel shaft. The shaft supported a transverse steel arm from whose extremities were suspended two large steel spheres enclosing magnets. Beneath the spheres there appeared [..] a very curiously constructed fixture, a sort of oval platform, formed of a peculiar combination of magnets and metals. Directly above this were suspended a number of zinc and copper plates, alternately arranged, and said to correspond with the brain as an electric reservoir. These were supplied with lofty metallic conductors, or attractors, reaching upward to an elevated stratum of atmosphere said to draw power directly from the atmosphere. In combination with these principal parts were adjusted various metallic bars, plates, wires, magnets, insulating substances, peculiar chemical compounds, etc… At certain points around the circumference of these structures, and connected with the center, small steel balls enclosing magnets were suspended. A metallic connection with the earth, both positive and negative, corresponding with the two lower limbs, right and left, of the body, was also provided.”
when charged with electricity the 'new motor' as it was dubbed moved with a vibratory and pulsing motion.. charging the device was performed during a procedure involving special garments of metal plates and gemstones as well as ritual actions.. during which one of the female members of the cult claimed to have experienced the symptoms of Labor Pains despite not being pregnant, which the cult saw as symbolically giving birth to the new messiah.
the cult claimed the machine had been animate during this event, but it stopped shortly after. deciding their location was to blame, they dismantled the machine and moved it to a nearby town, but before they could repeat their ritual or even rebuild the device, the shed in which they had stored it was broken into by an angry mob from a nearby church and the parts smashed. the cult collapsed not long after without building a replacement.
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other than being an interesting historical tidbit, what interest does this account have? well in BTS it has any number of spinoffs. could the "the Association of Electricizers" have been an actual supernatural group masquerading as great men of history? if so what plan or plot could the creation of this cult and machine have part of? what was the machine, which was built with mechanical and spiritual elements in the minds of its creators? what would it have done had it been successfully activated? was it actually destroyed, or was that a cover up to hide a device the society of the time was not ready for? could the cult have continued on in secret, perhaps developing improved versions of the 'new engine'? what other devices might they have produced from this odd melding of science and spiritualism?
this exotic group, or their successors, could well become a major element in a BTS campaign, as protagonist, antagonist, or even merely as a producer of exotic devices. certainly the idea of melding machine and the supernatural can be seen in BTS.. the Psi-mechanic for example, or the dimensional devices in the old BTS main book's adventure in the haunted house. the technowizards of Rifts certainly have elements in common with Spear's ideas as well.
http://www.forteantimes.com/features/ar ... chine.html
http://coilhouse.net/2011/03/john-murra ... chine-god/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Murray_Spear
http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2014/02 ... d+Blend%29
