Science fiction may have only shaped the "brain ray" idea superficially. James Tilly Matthews, the first documented case of paranoid schizophrenia, complained that he was tormented by a criminal gang operating an "air loom", and he died before Jules Verne was born. This delusion, manifested in some form, appears to be inherent to the condition.

See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Tilly_Matthews

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Origin_of_the_%22Influen...