The C. A Lindblom spirit alarm
The electric sptirit bell
Dr Cagliostro´s cabinet of curiosities has a long and intriguing history. Some of our objects and artifacts have, through the years, caused so many strange events that the Museum itself has become a magical curiosity.
One of the more unusual devices we have commissioned is without doubt the C.A Linblom Spirit alarm. Since 1921 it has successfully protected our exceedingly rare copy of the dreaded Necronomicon.
Towards the end of the 1910s a myriad of threats towards the museum were received. Some of these were deemed so serious in their nature that the former curator was forced to suddenly terminate the ongoing European tour and go underground for several years. During this time he decided to commission a curious alarm device to protect our most sort after object, the forbidden black magic tome - The Necronomicon.
The construction of the device is based on a vague sketch made in 1869 by the Swedish writer August Strindberg. At the time Strindberg was staying in Hotel Orfila in Paris, and considered himself tormented and haunted by both demons and men. Amongst the many incomprehensible notes that were scribbled with a shaky hand on the stained sketch, the following can clearly be read:
A device that is to warn me when the unearthly servants of my enemies draw near. For what doors and locks can possibly stop their indescribable and horrid ability to reach through that, which in our earthly dimension, is the most solid matter?
Strindberg’s construction is based on the idea of creating a so-called ‘spirit bell’ – something that was frequently used during séances of the time. His groundbreaking idea was to improve its sensitivity, reception, and volume, using electricity. Unfortunately Strindberg never realized his electric spirit bell, but during the same period a contemporary was busy working on a similar idea but with much greater success.
Nikola Tesla
The idea that spirits and other invisible unearthly beings emit a measurable electromagnetic field had begun being discussed among the academia of the time. It was rumored that Austrian inventor and scientist Nikola Tesla was working secretly to create an instrument able to measure these energies. In effect this would allow the user to detect these hitherto undetectable, invisible beings. A powerful and much sought after ability to be sure, and in future articles we will return to Tesla and his influential work in this area.
The concept by August Strindberg and the theories of Nikola Tesla were finally combined by the C. A. Linblom Company in the Swedish city of Stockholm and the resulting device was patented in 1921. From that time onwards it has succeeded in protecting the display cabinet containing our copy of the highly sought after tome - The Necronomicon. It continues to be rumored that the National Library of Sweden, The British Museum, and The Bibliotec National in Paris, have taken our lead in installing C. A Lindblom´s alarm in certain highly classified rooms in their own collections.
In 1941 the patent for the device was bought by an unknown buyer using the Italian law firm Società Italiana Brevetti and as a result the future development of the device is difficult to predict.
What is clear is that this curious alarm device constructed by the C. A Lindblom Company for Dr Cagliostro´s cabinet of curiosities played a central role in the dramatic events that followed the museums somewhat incautious purchase of a shrunken head from the Ecuadorian Amazon...