Mrs. Deane gave me the choice of two packets of plates upon this occasion, and I admit that the effects may very well have been on the plates before the exposure. None the less, they were probably quite genuine as supernormal pictures. Such a statement may raise a smile from Mr. MacCabe or from Mr. Paternoster in Truth, but I have the advantage over them in the fact that I have had practical experience of the matter at issue.
Fig. 12.—Photograph of Mr. Wm. Jeffrey and his daughter, showing ectoplasmic bag. (See p. [37].)
Fig. 13.—Photograph taken immediately after that shown by [Fig. 12]. Position of sitters is unchanged, but the ectoplasmic veiling now contains an excellent likeness (slightly distorted) of Mr. Jeffrey’s deceased wife.
Fig. 14.—Psychic likeness of Agnes, daughter of Dr. Allerton Cushman. A life-like picture obtained by Dr. Cushman through a surprise visit paid to Mrs. Dean. (See p. [63].)
Fig. 15.—A normal photograph of Agnes Cushman for comparison with [Fig. 14].
But I am bound to give my reasons for such a statement, or I might well be branded as credulous. My reasons are that I am convinced that this magnetising process is perfectly unnecessary and Mrs. Deane, within my knowledge, obtains her best results when there has been no possibility of knowing who her sitter will be. The very finest result which I know of in psychic photography was that obtained by Dr. Cushman with Mrs. Deane. Dr. Cushman, a distinguished scientific man of America, had suffered the loss of his daughter Agnes some months before. He went to the Psychic College without an appointment or an introduction. When he arrived he found Mrs. Deane in the act of leaving. He persuaded her to give a sitting, and then and there he obtained a photograph of his “dead” daughter which is, he declares, unlike any existing one, and is more vital and characteristic than any taken in life. When I was in the States I showed this picture on the screen as in [Figure 14], and there was abundant testimony from those who knew Agnes that it was a life-like picture.