SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY
If the claim of the spiritualists to having achieved the materialisation
of the spirits of deceased persons were restricted to the mere ocular,
oral, and tactile evidence of the dark _seance_, the theory of
hallucination would account for much that is perplexing. But the problem
becomes complicated when the spiritualists come forward with proof that
their senses have not misled them. It is only a few months since that a
young man in the north of England, on photographing his mother and
sisters, was greatly startled to find his late father's face also on the
plate. He had not made use of the camera, we are told, for eighteen
months. Recently, too, a professional photographer in London was
commissioned to photograph a grave which was surmounted by a beautiful
basket of flowers. To his consternation, within the handle appeared the
facial lineaments of the deceased.
The earliest spirit photograph, as far as can be ascertained, dates from
1862, when an American photographer named Mumler, on developing a
photograph of himself, discovered the likeness of a cousin who had been
dead some dozen years previously. The case was investigated by Dr Mumler
of Boston, who considered that many of the "spirit photographs"
afterwards taken by Mumler were genuine, but that others were, in our
modern phrase, indubitably faked. This was put down to Mumler's desire
to cope with the unusual demand and satisfy his host of sitters.
Mumler, after twelve years' experience, writing to Mr James Burns, says:
"I have been investigated by the best photographers in America,
and have their testimony in my favour, given under oath; I have
been tried in a court of justice, and been honourably
acquitted; and, lastly, I have the evidence of thousands of
people who have had pictures taken, and recognised the
likenesses of their spirit friends, many of whom never had a
picture taken during life. I have been a humble instrument in
the hands of the Almighty, to place a link in the great chain
of evidence that binds the two worlds together. Flowers, birds,
and animals have frequently appeared upon the plates and one
lady was delighted to recognise by her side her faithful old
black retriever."
Not till ten years later did a photographer named Hudson succeed, with
the aid of a medium, in producing spirit pictures. The _modus operandi_
appeared simple. The sitter was posed before the camera, and the picture
was subsequently developed, when besides the sitter's own image there
appeared another figure or figures usually draped, with the features
blurred or only partly distinguishable. Usually these figures were
recognised unhesitatingly by the sitters as portraits of deceased
relatives or friends. Afterwards the practice of spirit photography
received a rude shock. They were examined carefully by professional
photographers, and some of them were found to bear clear marks of double
exposure, the background in each case being visible through the dress of
the sitter--a fatal defect in spirit photography. Moreover it was found
that in some cases the medium had dressed up to play the role of spirit.
Whereupon several of those who had professed to recognise the "ghosts"
now hastened to repudiate their recognition. But spirit photography was
not to be quashed so easily. The experiments went on, and faces and
figures appeared on the developed plate which seem to have considerably
baffled the experts. Sir William Crookes now resolved to put the matter
to a test by attempting to obtain a photograph of "Katie," the famous
"control" of Miss Cook, the medium. The young lady gave a series of
sittings in May 1874 at Sir William's house for the purpose. These
sittings took place by electric light, no fewer than five cameras being
simultaneously at work. The medium lay down on the floor behind a
curtain, her face muffled in a shawl. When the materialisation was
complete "Katie" would appear in the full light in front of the
curtain:
"I frequently," writes Sir William Crookes, "drew the curtain
on one side when Katie was standing near; and it was a common
thing for the seven or eight of us in the laboratory to see
Miss Cook and Katie at the same time, under the full blaze of
the electric light. We did not on these occasions actually see
the face of the medium, because of the shawl, but we saw her
hands and feet; we saw her move uneasily under the influence of
the intense light, and we heard her moan occasionally. I have
one photograph of the two together, but Katie is seated in
front of Miss Cook's head."
I have not seen these photographs of "Katie," but Mr Podmore has, and
when comparing them with contemporary portraits of Miss Cook herself he
is inclined to consider the likeness between the two sets unmistakable.
"The apparently greater breadth of 'spirit' face," he writes, "may well
be due to the fact that, whereas Miss Cook wore hanging ringlets,
'Katie's' hair is effectually concealed by the drapery, which in most
cases comes down over the forehead, and falls in two thick folds on
either side of the head, something like the headgear of a sphinx. Again,
as Miss Cook, when photographed, wore her ordinary dress, which
concealed her feet, the apparent difference in height on some occasions
between herself and the spirit figure cannot be relied upon. One piece
of evidence would, indeed, have been conclusive--that the ears of the
spirit form should have appeared intact, for Miss Cook's ears were
pierced for earrings. But the encircling drapery effectually concealed
both the ears and the hair of the spirit 'Katie.'"
The evidence for photographs of invisible people which we sometimes hear
abduced as adequate is surprisingly feeble. For instance, in a recent
anonymous and weak book, said to be written by a member of the Society
for Psychical Research, two photographs are reproduced which are said to
have been obtained under what are considered crucial conditions; but the
narrative itself at once suggests a simple trick on the part of the
photographer--viz. the provision of backgrounds for sitters with vague
human forms all ready depicted on them in sulphate of quinine.
Sir Oliver Lodge is of opinion that it is by no means physically
impossible that some of these temporary semi-material accretions might
be inadequate to appeal to our eyes, and yet be of a kind able to
impress a photographic plate; but here he confesses that the evidence,
to his mind, wholly breaks down, and he admits that he has never yet
seen a satisfying instance of what is termed a spirit photograph; nor is
it easy to imagine the kind of record apart from testimony which in such
a case would be convincing, unless such photographs could be produced at
will.
A conviction of fraud having entered the minds of the sceptically
inclined, the exposure of a certain Parisian photographer, Buguet, shook
the faith of the credulous. Buguet enjoyed in London an extraordinary
success. Many leading people sat to him and obtained "spirit
photographs," by them clearly recognisable, of their deceased
relations. No less than forty out of one hundred and twenty photographs
examined by Stainton Moses were pronounced by the sitters to be genuine
likenesses of spirits, and baffled the scrutiny of the sceptics.
Nevertheless Buguet was arrested and charged by the French Government
for fraudulent production of spirit photographs. At his trial Buguet
disconcerted the whole spiritualistic world by confessing, he said that
the whole of his spirit photographs were obtained by means of double
exposure. To begin with, he employed three or four assistants to play
the part of ghost. Nevertheless, in spite of his confession, in spite of
the trick apparatus confiscated by the police, at Buguet's trial witness
after witness, people high in the social and professional world, came
forward to testify that they had not been deceived, that the spirit
photographs were genuine. They refused to doubt the evidence of their
own eyesight. One M. Dessenon, a picture dealer, had obtained a spirit
portrait of his wife; he had been instantly struck with the likeness,
and had shown it to the lady's relatives, who exclaimed at once on its
exactness. The judge asked Buguet for an explanation. The prisoner
replied that it was pure chance. "I had," he said, "no photograph of
Madame Dessenon." "But," cried the witness, "my children, like myself,
thought the likeness perfect. When I showed them the picture, they
cried, 'It is mamma!' I have seen all M. Buguet's properties and
pictures, and there is nothing in the least like the picture I have
obtained. I am convinced it is my wife." As a result, many
spiritualists, including Stainton Moses and William Howitt, refused to
consider the case one of fraud. They regarded Buguet as a genuine medium
who had been bound to confess to imaginary trickery. Yet after this
spirit photography as a profession has not flourished in this country.
There is one professional who is responsible for many ghost pictures.
But in his productions appear unmistakable signs of double exposures.
You see the pattern of the carpet and the curtain of the study visible
through the sitter's body and clothes. In one instance at all events,
where the ghost represents a well-known statesman, the head has
obviously been cut from the photograph and the contour draped to hide
the cut edges. But the phenomena of spirit photography are abundant
enough in private circles.
I have before me as I write a number of reputed spirit photographs
obtained by private persons both with and without the aid of a
professional medium. In one sent me by a gentleman resident at Finsbury
Park, which is a very impressive specimen of its kind, the fact of a
double exposure is obvious to the least experienced in dark-room
matters. Notwithstanding, the photographer has apparently made a
speciality of this kind of work.
"In my collection [he writes] of over two thousand specimens
are portraits of Atlantean priests, who flourished about 12,000
years ago, Biblical patriarchs, poets, Royalties, clerics,
scientists, literary men, etc., pioneer spiritualists, like
Emma H. Britten, Luther Marsh, Wallace, and John Lamont. The
latest additions are, I am happy to say, my kind old friend
Mrs Glendinning, and a worthy quartette of earnest workers in
Dr Younger, Mr Thomas Everitt, Mr C. Lacey, and David Duguid."
One of the most curious instances of a ghost photograph occurred in the
summer of 1892. Six months previously a lady had taken a photograph of
the library at D---- Hall. She kept the plate a long time before
developing it, and when developed it showed the faint but clearly
recognisable figure of a man sitting in a large arm-chair. A print from
the photograph was obtained and shown, when the image was immediately
recognised as the likeness of the late Lord D----, the owner of
D---- Hall. What was more, it was ascertained that Lord D---- had
actually been buried on the day the photograph was taken. A copy of the
photograph was sent to Professor Barrett, who examined it and reported
(1) that the image is too faint and blurred for any likeness to be
substantiated; (2) that the plate had been exposed in the camera for an
hour and the room left unguarded; (3) that actual experiments show that
an appearance such as that on the plate could have been produced if a
man--there were four men in the house--had sat in the chair for a few
seconds during the exposure, moving his head and limbs the while.
Another ghost picture described by Mr Podmore was probably caused in a
similar way. A chapel was photographed, and when the plate was developed
a face was faintly seen in a panel of the woodwork, which the
photographer recognised as a young acquaintance who had not long since
met with a tragic death. "In fact," writes Mr Podmore, "when he told me
the story and showed me the picture, I could easily see the faint but
well-marked features of a handsome melancholy lad of eighteen. A
colleague, however, to whom I showed the photograph without relating the
story, at once identified the face as that of a woman of thirty. The
outlines are in reality so indistinct as to leave ample room for the
imagination to work on; and there is no reason to doubt that, as in the
ghost of the library, the camera had merely preserved faint traces of
some intruder who, during prolonged exposure, stood for a few seconds in
front of it."
In spite of all the damaging _exposes_ and these discouraging
explanations many intelligent persons the world over will still go on
believing in the genuineness of spirit photography. Let me give a few
examples of their testimony. M. Reichel, to whom allusion has already
been made, states that at one of Miller's _seances_ in America, held on
29th October 1905, those present suddenly heard a great number of voices
behind the curtain:
"Betsy told us that sometimes there are Egyptian women and
sometimes Indians who come in a crowd to produce their
phenomena. On October 29th and again on November 2nd I sent for
a San Francisco photographer, Mr Edward Wyllie, to see what
impression would be made on a photographic plate by the beings
who appeared. Some remarkable pictures were taken by
flashlight. Besides the fully materialised forms, there were
shown on the photographs several spirits who could not be seen
by the physical eyes.
"In one of the latter figures I instantly recognised an uncle
of mine, whom I had made acquainted with spiritualism about
twelve years previously, through the assistance of another
medium."
A correspondent sends me an interesting account of investigating
materialised spirits in daylight:
"Miss Fairlamb (afterwards Mrs Mellon) was the medium, and the
photographs of 'Geordie' and others taken in the garden in
broad daylight were quite successful. The conditions must have
been most harmonious, as 'Geordie' afterwards, when twilight
came on, walked about the lawn, and even ventured into the
house, returning to the tent, which served as a cabinet, with
an umbrella and hassock in his hands."
Dr Theodore Hausmann, one of the oldest physicians in Washington,
U.S.A., has devoted many years to this particular phase of mediumship.
He places himself before his camera in the study and photographs his
spirit visitors, who have included his father, son, and President
Lincoln. The opening paragraph in an article he wrote is as follows:--
"Grieving parents, the bereaved widow and mother, will only be
too happy if they can see the pictures of those again who were
so dear to their hearts, and whose image gradually will vanish
if nothing is left to renew their memories."
There have been many touching letters from relatives of grateful thanks,
who imagine themselves in this way to have received portraits of their
dear ones who have passed away.
In a work which I have come across in which spiritualism is by no means
supported Mr J. G. Raupert acknowledges:
"That as regards spirit photographs, he 'obtained many striking
pictures of this character, under good test conditions, and
attended by circumstances yielding unique and exceptionally
valuable evidence.... The evidence in favour of some of these
psychic pictures is as good as it is ever likely to be, and,
respecting some of these obtained by the present writer, expert
photographic authorities have expressed their verdict. Sir
William Crookes has obtained them in his own house under
personally imposed conditions, and many private experimenters
in different parts of the world have been equally successful."
This from an avowed opponent is striking testimony to some kind of
manifestation which is not, in intent, at least, fraudulent.