One does not wish to be too dogmatic, there may be such things as bona fide spirit photographs, and when satisfactory evidence is forthcoming one will be very pleased indeed to make the amende honorable and acknowledge one’s fault.
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.
II.—Historical
(C. Vincent Patrick)
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:
1. “Thought photographs,” “dream photographs,” photographs of “psychic auras,” and the like. These are rarely distinct, and as they have little bearing on spirit phenomena they will not be discussed here.
2. Photographs taken of a visible spirit form. Such have been taken at séances: e.g., by Sir William Crookes, of Miss King’s “control,” Katie. The photographs taken recently at the Goligher circle should perhaps be included in this category. Similar experiments might, perhaps, be carried out in a “haunted house”—provided that one can be found which bears investigation.
3. The more usual type of “spirit photograph,” with which this article is chiefly concerned. Here a plate is exposed upon a sitter or sitters, and on development an “extra” appears, varying from splashes of light to fully-formed features or figures. The presence of a medium is usually regarded as being essential for such phenomena; but similar appearances have occasionally been obtained by amateurs on several well-attested occasions, either unexpectedly, or upon plates deliberately exposed for the purpose, no professional medium being present.