Paul Baumann article from 1976

[Steven Dufresne]

Would you allow Baumann to mind your children? Would you invest money with Bernie Madoff? If not, why is Testatika any different?

My answer to your first two questions is no surprise, no. And if Paul Baumann was a proven hoaxter, then I wouldn't try to replicate the testatika either. But he's not.
-Steve
http://rimstar.org   http://wsminfo.org

[wizardofmars]

Yes, there is some info revealed on Baumann in the undated and anonymous document 'A Privet Visit with Baumann and the Small Machines.', but it makes him look even less credible.

Baumann was in prison, he had a very limited amount of materials" , i.e. he did "it" with simple tools and a minimum of exotic stuff.

Later we get this tidbit which confirms he is a child molester and adds more details.

A former follower of the Methernitha, who left from there, once told me the "saga" how Baumann got the "knowledge" : Bauman was in jail due to mis-use of minor aged female members of the community. This went public, and he had to "sit" some 5 or 7 years. He had read books, by Baird Spalding "Live and doctrines of the Wise in the East", an un-believable story. But Baumann had these in jail. At night he could not sleep, wanted to study his books, but the electric light was switched off for the cell-block. Than he prayed to those "Entities" >and, see, once, a Being materialized in his cell and ask him of his desire. The "Angel" showed him, inspired him, how to get "enlightment", and Baumann went, in his free time, to build the first device. Some visitors from the community brought him material required. Since it was not probable that he would escape he was permitted to have some tools, do his funny circuits.

The book he is referring to is Baird T Spalding's 'Life and Teaching of the Masters of the Far East', which was written in the 1930's and has been a popular occult book for decades. Of course, anyone who reads the book today can identify it clearly as a Theosophist inspired fantasy in the style of Oliver, Blavatsky and Ballard. Spalding's claims have been long debunked - he never travelled to India but just made it all up for the money.

So the info from my perspective is as follows.

From the Sunday Mail newpaper article:

- Methernitha is a religious cult

- Baumann is a convicted child molester who served seven years in prison.

- Baumann became wealthy from the labor of his cult followrs

- Baumann claims to speak to visitors from outer space

And from this anonymous document 'A Privet Visit with Baumann and the Small Machines' - slightly less credible but along the same lines:

- Baumann is a fan of discredited occult tales from a 19th century hoaxer

- Baumann claims to speak to angels and entities

I'm surprised that so much effort has been put into replicating the Testatika machine and apparently zero effort into validating Baumann. The evidence is right in front of you that Baumann is the classic sociopath willing to do anything to gain followers and power, up to and including fake perpetual motion machines, space visitors and angels.

This quote is very telling:

When I looked at the back of the device and saw these rectangular plates before the disk was turning I noticed a weak pink glow "inside". This can be an optical effect. You see this in tinted Plexiglas a lot.  Baumann replied to my question why this was like that: well, this is the spiritual electricity. Does he talk drivel to make himself appear important!

That's exactly what you would expect from a conman.

Of course, we probably won't have to wait long for the trick behind the Testatika to be revealed. Most cults disintegrate when their founder dies. It's likely that one or more of the machines will become available for detailed study in the next decade.