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As Above So Below
The Bizarre Case of the Teleporting Pansini Brothers
In 1901, a humble mason and architect by the name of Signor Mauro Pansini moved to the small town of Ruvo di Puglia, in the Bari countryside of Italy with his family. It was an idyllic, charming little town, surrounded by a mosaic of olive groves and vineyards, a great place to live a quiet life of solitude and raise their two young sons, Alfredo and Paulo. At the time it must have seemed like a dream come true to live there in their modest home near the Palazzo Municipale. The family moved in and began restoration work on the quaint, old house, but within days of moving in their dream house would turn into a bit of a nightmare, and it would all spiral into an account of poltergeist activity, strange happenings, and teleportation.
It began with things seeming to be moved around and misplaced without anyone able to figure out how or why. This might have been chalked up to just forgetfulness, but then they started to witness objects and furniture move on their own, and this would only increase in intensity. As the days went on, objects began launching from their resting places to fly across rooms and smash into walls, and there were often found household items that had been twisted and broken as if in a rage. On some occasions even large, heavy pieces of furniture were overturned or sent flying, and by all appearances it seemed to them as if they were being haunted by some particularly violent and destructive ghosts. Perhaps unwisely, the family decided to hold a séance in order to try and communicate with the spirits that were tormenting them, and this seems to have only made things worse. Shortly after this séance, the paranormal activity became even more explosive and terrifying, to the point where Mauro now believed that this might not be ghosts after all, but rather demons.
One day, things got even stranger still, when one of their sons, 7-year-old Alfredo, suddenly went into a deep trance and began to speak in languages he had no way of knowing, such as French, Latin, Greek, using what was described as “a strange voice, like an orator.” He would snap out of it without remembering anything, and from there the trances would get steadily get both more frequent and more bizarre. He would say in these trances that the spirits would bring them everything they needed, and sure enough food would appear on the table or in their pantry as if out of thin air, often right before their eyes. When asked why this was happening Alfredo claimed that he had chased away the evil spirits in the house and that they were now replaced by good spirits. A report in the newspaper Giornale d’Italia would say of it:
Then one day the weirdest phenomenon of all would happen when the mother was discussing what to do with a Bishop as the boys remained in their room, but when they went to see them they were gone. Astonished as to how the boys could have gotten out without them noticing, they moments later got a call from another local that told them that the boys were wandering around several miles away. Thinking that they had disobeyed the order to stay in their room and had snuck out, their angry father locked them in their room, but once again they somehow got out, and this time had appeared at their uncle’s house many miles away, seemingly instantaneously. On another occasion they disappeared into thin air right out of a moving carriage, only to be found at their intended destination when the carriage arrived. These instances of what seemed to be teleportation continued, and a report in Giornale d’Italia would explain of the phenomena:
In every instance the children were found in “a state of profound hypnosis,” and could not remember what had happened. These strange episodes of teleportation were investigated by a medical advisor to Popes Leo XIII and Pius X named Joseph Lapponi, who set up an experiment to test the claims. He purportedly locked the boys in their room and sealed off all escape routes including windows and other doors within the house, yet even then the boys vanished and reappeared instantaneously several miles away, right under everyone’s noses. Other scientists and doctors studied the boys as well, but no rational explanation could be found. Before long the bizarre story was all over the news and was being talked about all over Italy, with speculation rampant as to what could be causing these strange powers. Everything from witches, to the Devil, to portals or powers of the mind were thrown around, but according to a spirit supposedly speaking through Alfredo during one of his trances, it was the spirits dematerializing them in one place and rematerializing them in another, just as they had done with the food on the table. The explanation of most skeptics was that this was merely “ambulatory automatism,” in which a person would basically go into a trance and feel compelled to walk around without realizing it, very much like sleepwalking but awake, but others disagreed with this conclusion. One report in the Annals of Psychical Science would say of it:
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In 1901, a humble mason and architect by the name of Signor Mauro Pansini moved to the small town of Ruvo di Puglia, in the Bari countryside of Italy with his family. It was an idyllic, charming little town, surrounded by a mosaic of olive groves and vineyards, a great place to live a quiet life of solitude and raise their two young sons, Alfredo and Paulo. At the time it must have seemed like a dream come true to live there in their modest home near the Palazzo Municipale. The family moved in and began restoration work on the quaint, old house, but within days of moving in their dream house would turn into a bit of a nightmare, and it would all spiral into an account of poltergeist activity, strange happenings, and teleportation.
It began with things seeming to be moved around and misplaced without anyone able to figure out how or why. This might have been chalked up to just forgetfulness, but then they started to witness objects and furniture move on their own, and this would only increase in intensity. As the days went on, objects began launching from their resting places to fly across rooms and smash into walls, and there were often found household items that had been twisted and broken as if in a rage. On some occasions even large, heavy pieces of furniture were overturned or sent flying, and by all appearances it seemed to them as if they were being haunted by some particularly violent and destructive ghosts. Perhaps unwisely, the family decided to hold a séance in order to try and communicate with the spirits that were tormenting them, and this seems to have only made things worse. Shortly after this séance, the paranormal activity became even more explosive and terrifying, to the point where Mauro now believed that this might not be ghosts after all, but rather demons.
One day, things got even stranger still, when one of their sons, 7-year-old Alfredo, suddenly went into a deep trance and began to speak in languages he had no way of knowing, such as French, Latin, Greek, using what was described as “a strange voice, like an orator.” He would snap out of it without remembering anything, and from there the trances would get steadily get both more frequent and more bizarre. He would say in these trances that the spirits would bring them everything they needed, and sure enough food would appear on the table or in their pantry as if out of thin air, often right before their eyes. When asked why this was happening Alfredo claimed that he had chased away the evil spirits in the house and that they were now replaced by good spirits. A report in the newspaper Giornale d’Italia would say of it:
The trances and strange phenomena would continue to surround Alfredo, and no one could figure out what was going on. Alfredo’s family was convinced that their son was being possessed, and so finally decided to have him sent to a seminary school in a church for his own safety, where he would spend the next three years. It is reported that during this time the phenomena and the possessions completely stopped, with life gathering some semblance of normality once again, but as soon as Alfredo returned, the strange incidents started all over again with as much intensity as ever, and not only that, Alfredo’s younger brother Paulo would also start experiencing the mysterious trances as well.
Then one day the weirdest phenomenon of all would happen when the mother was discussing what to do with a Bishop as the boys remained in their room, but when they went to see them they were gone. Astonished as to how the boys could have gotten out without them noticing, they moments later got a call from another local that told them that the boys were wandering around several miles away. Thinking that they had disobeyed the order to stay in their room and had snuck out, their angry father locked them in their room, but once again they somehow got out, and this time had appeared at their uncle’s house many miles away, seemingly instantaneously. On another occasion they disappeared into thin air right out of a moving carriage, only to be found at their intended destination when the carriage arrived. These instances of what seemed to be teleportation continued, and a report in Giornale d’Italia would explain of the phenomena:
In every instance the children were found in “a state of profound hypnosis,” and could not remember what had happened. These strange episodes of teleportation were investigated by a medical advisor to Popes Leo XIII and Pius X named Joseph Lapponi, who set up an experiment to test the claims. He purportedly locked the boys in their room and sealed off all escape routes including windows and other doors within the house, yet even then the boys vanished and reappeared instantaneously several miles away, right under everyone’s noses. Other scientists and doctors studied the boys as well, but no rational explanation could be found. Before long the bizarre story was all over the news and was being talked about all over Italy, with speculation rampant as to what could be causing these strange powers. Everything from witches, to the Devil, to portals or powers of the mind were thrown around, but according to a spirit supposedly speaking through Alfredo during one of his trances, it was the spirits dematerializing them in one place and rematerializing them in another, just as they had done with the food on the table. The explanation of most skeptics was that this was merely “ambulatory automatism,” in which a person would basically go into a trance and feel compelled to walk around without realizing it, very much like sleepwalking but awake, but others disagreed with this conclusion. One report in the Annals of Psychical Science would say of it:
This explanation would also not explain any of the poltergeist activity that surrounded the whole thing. In the meantime, the Pansini boys would pull off countless disappearing acts, always appearing miles away instantaneously, often out of locked rooms or even in full view of witnesses, inspiring awe, fascination, and even fear wherever they went. This would continue for years until the boys reached puberty, after which the episodes stopped and they seem to have lost their powers. The case has gone on to be much discussed, but it is hard to tell how much of it actually happened and just what was going on here. What happened to this family and what was the meaning of the haunting and possessions? Could these two boys really do what everyone said they could do, teleporting around in the blink of an eye? Is there some rational explanation for this, or is it all an example of powers we may never understand? There is no real way to know, and the story of the Pansini brothers remains one of the strangest tales of supposed human teleportation there is.
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