John Murray Spear

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Clergyman John Murray Spear attempted to build a mechanical New Messiah in 1854 which ran on electricity. Many have referred to this device as "the God Machine".

[edit] Back story

In 1853, a former Universalist minister named John Murray Spear climbed to the top of High Rock Hill in Lynn, Massachusetts, with a handful of followers. They were given a wooden shed where they could work and spent nine months creating the "New Motive Power" ("The God Machine"). It was a mechanical Messiah, that was supposed to raise up all of humanity and Spear, a medium, created it under spirit supervision. He claimed to be in contact with the 'Band of Electricizers' a group of spirits that included Benjamin Franklin, who were interested in giving mankind new technology.

The group spent a small fortune creating the thing out of copper, zinc and magnets, all carefully machined, as well as a dining room table. At the end of nine months, Spear and the "New Mary," an unnamed woman, went through a bizarre ritual that mimicked giving birth and the God Machine supposedly came to life. Unfortunately, it didn't do much (some observers said nothing at all) and Spear allegedly moved the thing to Randolph, New York where it was smashed to bits by angry farmers. No known image of the "New Messiah" exists, but several illustrations [1] have been made based on descriptions of the machine.

[edit] References

The Remarkable Life of John Murray Spear: Agitator for the Spirit Land, by John Benedict Buescher, University of Notre Dame Press, 2006, ISBN 0268022003