There’s a hilltop park in Lynn, Massachusetts that offers beautiful views of land and sea. Though there’s no indication of it now, it was once the site of a singular occurrence relating to the spiritualist movement of the 19th century. A former minister attempted to build a machine that would be imbued with life and serve as a savior for humanity.
John Murray Spear was a prominent social reformer and Universalist minister, having been ordained in 1830. After over twenty years with the Universalist church, he broke away from it in 1852 to pursue Spiritualism. The following year, he and some of his followers arrived at High Rock Hill in Lynn, MA.
At this point, the Hutchinson family owned High Rock Hill. They had gained great notoriety as singers, and were interested in progressive ideas and the supernatural. They had built a number of cottages on the property and welcomed various visitors. Spear was given accommodations and began his project in a wooden shed there.
The south entrance to the park
Spear believed that he was in contact with a group of spirits known as the “Association of Electricizers.” It consisted of many famous names, such as Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. These spirits gave him instructions on how to build a model machine that could change the world. It would be capable of perpetual motion due to an inexhaustible supply of power that it would harness from the magnetic energy of nature. Like a biological organism, the device would be animated by a living spirit. The mechanism was sometimes referred to as the “New Motor” or the “New Motive Power.” It took nine months to build at a cost of $2,000.
Cabin dating to the time of the event
Although the machine was not meant to visually resemble a human, many of its components were intended to represent different functions of the body. In the book The Educator, A. E. Newton gives a firsthand account of the device:
[U]pon the centre of an ordinary circular wood table, some three feet in diameter, were erected two metallic uprights, six or eight inches apart; between these, and reaching from the one to the other, near their tops, was suspended on pivots a small steel shaft, which was crossed at its centre by another shaft, about six inches in length, on the extremities of which were suspended two steel balls enclosing magnets. The first-named shaft was nicely fitted with sockets at its extremities, so that the balls could revolve with little friction. Beneath these suspended balls, between the uprights, and in the centre of the table, was … 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 … 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 the structure, and connected with the centre, 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.
Prior to the machine’s completion, one of Spear’s female followers (who is sometimes referred to as Mrs. N) claimed to have experienced a powerful vision. In it, she was told that she would be “the Mary of a New Dispensation.” Around this time, the woman started feeling symptoms of pregnancy, though she was not expecting. When Spear learned of this, he requested that she come to High Rock.
After arriving there, it’s reported that this woman felt labor pains for two hours. The belief was that she was giving birth to a spiritual, rather than a physical, child. It would be this spirit that would inhabit and give life to the mechanism. Once her labor had ended, Spear and others claimed that the device made subtle movements or pulsations. These movements supposedly continued for some weeks later, while this woman stayed with the machine to nourish it. It’s unclear exactly what this means, but during that same time period, various people would sit around the machine with their hands on it in order to impart vital energy. It’s possible this was intended to be the machine’s nourishment.
This tower was built about 50 years after Spear’s stay
The completion of the machine and its initial motion were a cause for great excitement for Spears and his followers. Praise was heaped upon the device. It was referred to with various effusive titles such as, “Physical Savior,” “the New Messiah,” “Heaven’s Last Best Gift to Man,” “The Great Spiritual Revelation of the Age,” and “The Philosopher’s Stone.”
Unfortunately for Spears, the adulation was short lived. It became apparent that this mechanical messiah wasn’t really moving in any profound way. The pulsations previously seen had only been in small spheres suspended by wires. The specific mechanism that was intended to revolve, and thus serve as a motor, never once moved. It seemed this mystical device built for perpetual motion wasn’t even achieving temporary motion.
In regard to reactions, one view put forth was that the machine was indeed inspired by spirits, but those spirits had simply gotten things wrong. Since they had once been human, it was incorrect to think that they had advanced knowledge. Another published opinion viewed the endeavor with a great deal of skepticism, essentially saying that it seemed to be the product of imagination and shouldn’t be taken seriously.
After its failure to work, the machine was taken to Randolph, NY. The hope was that this location would have better electrical conditions. Spear writes in a letter that public sentiment turned against him due to ridicule and misrepresentation. One night, an angry mob tore the machine to pieces and trampled it. In the letter, Spear remained hopefully that someday humanity would be ready for this new technology. Some wonder if Spear simply made up the story of the machine’s destruction in order to put the whole endeavor behind him.
Today, High Rock is a public park. Walking the grounds, it’s interesting to think that such an extraordinary occurrence happened there. A stone observation tower, built in 1904, dominates the peak. While Spear was there, a wooden tower would have stood on that spot. One of the Hutchinson’s cottages appears to remain, so one wonders if it ever played host to the New Motive Power. Street parking is available around the area. Keep in mind that, if you decide enter the park at its south end, you will have a lot of stairs to climb to get to the top.
The whole incident of this mystical machine is a powerful example of how belief can drive a person in unexpected ways. Unfortunately for Spear, his dream of limitless energy was not fulfilled and, instead, sat motionless. One does wonder if the machine still exists somewhere, however. It would certainly be a fascinating artifact of the changing beliefs of the 19th century.
View from the top of High Rock
View out at a different angle
Location:
High Rock Tower Reservation
30 Circuit Ave
Lynn, MA 01902
Sources:
Britten, Emma Hardinge. Modern American Spiritualism: A Twenty Years’ Record of the Communion Between Earth and the World of Spirits. United States: The author, 1870. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Modern_American_Spiritualism/g_tZAAAAMAAJ.
Gordon, William Robert. A Three-fold Test of Modern Spiritualism. United States: Scribner, 1856. https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Three_fold_Test_of_Modern_Spiritualism/q2oAAAAAMAAJ.
“High Rock Tower.” City of Lynn Website. http://www.lynnma.gov/about/highrocktower.shtml.
Podmore, Frank. Modern Spiritualism: A History and a Criticism. United Kingdom: Methuen & Company, 1902. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Modern_Spiritualism/ykXOAAAAMAAJ.
Spear, John Murray. The Educator: Being Suggestions, Theoretical and Practical, Designed to Promote Man-Culture and integral Reform, with a View to the Ultimate Establishment of a Diving Social State on Earth. Edited by A. E. Newton. Boston: Office of Practical Spiritualists, 1857. https://archive.org/details/educatorbeingsu00spea.
Written by A. P. Sylvia
