: The Case Against Spirit Photographs by Patrick C Vincent Smith W Whately Walter Whately - Spiritualism; Parapsychology; Spirit photography

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THE CASE AGAINST SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHS

BY C. VINCENT PATRICK AND W. WHATELY SMITH.

Spirit photographs have long been a source of controversy and discussion, and signs are not lacking that public interest in them is at least as keen as ever. A Society for the Study of Supernormal Pictures has, for example, been formed recently, and it is by no means uncommon to meet people who owe much of their belief in Spiritualism to the results they have obtained through photographic mediums. This considerable public interest would alone suffice to make the subject important, but, apart from this, it is clear that if all--or even a fraction--of what is claimed be true the phenomenon must be of unique value from the point of view of strictly scientific research.

Photographic phenomena differ from practically all others studied by psychical researchers in being, so to speak, permanently objective. If one could be sure that the results obtained were not due to trickery one would be in a far better position as regards the problems of their origin and so forth than one is in the case of other types of "physical" phenomena. One could collect spirit photographs, compare them with one another, correlate their differences with the varying conditions of their production, and generally study them at leisure--a procedure which is not possible with table-levitations, materialisations, or direct-voice phenomena. The photographic plate would, in fact, be the most powerful of all weapons of research if only we could eliminate all possibility of fraud. This is, as usual, the crux of the whole matter, and, as my collaborator and I hope to show, it is not nearly so easy to do as might appear at first sight.

The various fraudulent methods which are or may be used and the question of the reliance which should be placed on the statements of those who believe that they have watched the proceedings so carefully as to exclude the possibility of fraud will be discussed at length later in this paper. I may as well say at once, however, that I see no reason for believing that any spirit photographs are, or have ever been, due to any cause other than fraud.

But in view of the many methods of trickery which are available and the known incapacity of untrained observers to detect fraud the evidence at present available seems scarcely worthy of serious consideration.

During the last half-century--that is, practically since the introduction of the photographic plate--various abnormalities have been reported in developed photographs. Some of these have appeared to reputable observers to be incapable of natural explanation, and have been eagerly seized upon by spiritualists as proof of survival after death--the sensitive emulsion being supposed to have recorded the presence of spirits, otherwise invisible. It is evident that a permanent photographic record, if its genuineness can be established, would stand almost alone as evidence of the presence of the spirit-forms described by clairvoyants.

Various types of such photographic abnormalities must be distinguished:

It is not perhaps surprising to find that the spirit photograph originated in America, where it dates back to the days of the wet-plate process. The first recorded case comes from Boston, in 1862. One Mumler, an engraver by trade, made chemistry and photography his hobby; and having among his friends a professional photographer, he was frequently dabbling with plates and chemicals in his studio. Up to this time he had shown no mediumistic tendencies, although it is safe to assume that he must have known something of spiritualism, since this was attracting much attention in America at the time.

One day Mumler suddenly produced a photograph of himself, standing, with a chair by his side supporting a shadowy female figure. The face of this figure was not clear, though the upper part of the body was fairly well defined; below the waist it faded away. The chair and background were distinctly visible through the extra. He alleged that this was an untouched photograph, which he had taken by focussing the camera on the chair, inserting the plate, and standing by the chair for the period of the exposure. This picture raised a considerable stir, and Mumler published the following declaration in the press: "This photograph was taken of myself, by myself, on Sunday, when there was not a living soul in the room beside myself--'so to speak.' The form on my right I recognise as my cousin who passed away about twelve years since.--W. H. MUMLER."

"The packet of three photos may be obtained from Mr. Pitman, 20, Paternoster Row; price 3s. 6d."

Very few copies of Mumler's photographs still exist; they are all similar in their general characters to the first. Noteworthy points are that the spirits are always without legs, and are usually on the right of the sitter. A considerable number of his extras, indistinct though they were, were recognised by the sitters and their friends as the dead person whose photograph they were expecting. Naturally, cries of fraud were raised, and investigators, consisting of men of science and newspaper representatives, devised "test conditions" to eliminate this possibility. This they did to their own satisfaction, and obtained spirit extras; but on reading their accounts it is easy to see that ample loopholes were left for fraud. In some cases the camera and lens were minutely inspected, and Mumler's operations carefully supervised, but a glass plate provided by Mumler was used for the sensitised emulsion. In other cases where tests were instituted the developing-room was in complete darkness, no ruby light being used, which put the investigators completely in the medium's hands.

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