"Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, for I am the great and powerful OZ"
You may know L. Frank Baum wrote the Wizard of OZ, but did you know in 1901 he wrote The Master Key, an electrical fairy tale much about levitation?!!! From the preface, "Who knows? These things are quite improbable, to be sure; but are they impossible? Here is a fairy tale founded upon the wonders of electricity and written for the children of this generation. Yet when my readers shall have become men and women my story may not seem to their children like a fairy tale at all."
The Master Key - An Electrical Fairy Tale "Founded upon the mysteries of electricity and the optimism of it's devotees. It was written for boys, but others may read it."
by L.Frank Baum (c) 1901 The Bowen-Merrill Company, 245 pages
From Chapter 3, "When you wish to travel, said he, attach this little machine to your left wrist by means of the band...When you desire to rise into the air set the indicator to the word 'up' using a finger of your right hand to turn it. When you have risen as high as you wish, set the indicator to the point of the compass you want to follow and you will be carried by the proper electric force in that direction. To descend, set the indicator to the word 'down'. Do you understand?"
You can imagine how much trouble and adventure Rob gets into with this levitation watch, one of three electrical gifts given to him by the Demon of Electricity. On page 13, Rob tells the Demon about Tesla, "...and he's in communication with the people in Mars!"
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