The action of turning or moving a table without the use of any apparently adequate means, as by a number of persons placing their hands or fingers upon it; such movements being ascribed by some to spiritual agency (cf. TABLE-RAPPING). So Table-turner, one who practises table-turning.
1853. Ann. Reg., 67. When the apparatus was kept in sight it proved to possess a corrective power over the mind of the table-turner.
1855. Smedley, etc., Occult Sc., 200. Faraday explains table-turning by involuntary muscular action.
1860. Jeaffreson, Bk. about Doctors, II. 38. The vagaries of … electro-biologists, spirit-rappers, and table-turners.
1861. Hook, Lives Abps., I. vii. 421. The superstitions of the age, ranking with our mesmerism and table-turning.
