A legal gentleman of some literary culture, who had become conscious of the reality and beauty of the spiritual philosophy, wrote several valuable articles, in which were given the clearest proofs of spirit identity. He was most anxious to get the picture of a dear boy whom death had carried away some years before, and whose absence, perhaps, made him at first inquire as to whether Spiritualism had any joy to give.
Under the signature of “Edina” this gentleman gives one of the most satisfactory bits of evidence it would be possible to get. He made attempts to get this portrait in Glasgow, but in vain; though the child’s sister, who was clairvoyant, saw him quite distinctly, “Edina” was not able to get his impress on the plate. I give the following from “Edina,” which surely places beyond a doubt that these spirit photographs are what they claim to be:—
“Seven separate attempts were made to get a spirit photograph of our lost one—twice in Glasgow and five times in Edinburgh—and on every occasion, although our family medium informed us that our son was in the room and standing before the camera, besides being assisted or attended by others of our relatives, now on the other side, nothing was got but faces of persons unknown to us. ‘Try and try again’ has, however, always been our motto in matters appertaining to the spirit world, and, though we were discouraged, we resolved to persevere. Two of the seven sittings were taken with Mr. David Duguid, in Glasgow, and he also came to Edinburgh and had two sittings, or trials, for photography in our house, and in the room in which our son was born and died, so that every favourable condition possible was complied with, but all in vain. Mr. Duguid was here early in April, 1892, giving his second painting séance, and he again kindly offered to make another effort to get what we desired. On this occasion, I am proud to report that our efforts have been crowned with conspicuous success. On the night previous to the day on which our eighth and successful sitting took place, a letter was automatically written by our daughter, in the handwriting we know so well, that of my wife’s eldest sister, who passed over twenty-eight years ago, and who has had charge of our son since he entered the spirit world. The letter gave us full directions as to next day’s experiment, and again requested it to be made in the bedroom referred to. Mr. Duguid was in Edinburgh the same night on which the letter came, but he merely called, left his camera, and arranged as to next day’s sitting. He returned next day at noon, and the photographic sitting was at once begun. The day was bright and clear, and the conditions seemed to favour a good sitting. The bedroom is a large one, being twenty feet long by about fifteen feet broad, and is well lighted by a plate-glass window, so that the light was excellent.
“Before dealing with the sitting, I premise that the dry plates which were to be used in the camera were purchased by us in a shop in Edinburgh on the day preceding Mr. Duguid’s arrival, and the chemicals required for the development of the negative were what remained of the supply purchased by us on the occasion of Mr. Duguid’s former visit. The sitting began about twelve o’clock, and four plates were first used by the medium. After an hour two more plates were tried, and then we ceased operations. These six plates were taken out one by one from the paper in which they were wrapped, by my second eldest daughter, in a ‘dark’ room, lighted with a small red lamp, and then handed by her to Mr. Duguid. He, in her presence, put each plate, as it was required to be used, into the dark slide, which he then took to the bedroom and inserted in the camera. By desire of the medium my wife and two daughters in succession, just before each photograph was taken, put one of their hands on the top of the camera for a second or two. As I have said, six of the twelve plates purchased by us were used at the sitting, and on development it was found that on four of them there was a child’s face and form appearing close to the sitters, who were my wife and two daughters before referred to. After the sitting closed, Mr. Duguid proposed to take the four plates with him to Glasgow to get them printed off; but pending his going home, he left the whole series with us overnight, and got them from us next day.
“In the interim, however, our anxiety as to the child’s face on the four negatives led us to attempt to print off an impression on some prepared paper we had left in the house from the last futile experiment. Accordingly, my second eldest daughter, who has had some experience in amateur photography, took the four plates I have above referred to, and put them to be printed at one of the windows. On examining the four impressions as they were printed off, we were gratified to find, on each of the four photographs or copies so printed, a clear and well-defined likeness of our departed son, not with a ‘shadowy’ or ‘filmy’ face, like some spirit photographs I have seen, but quite ‘human-looking,’ although a sweeter and more spiritual expression pervades the countenance than when in earth life. The portrait of our boy is as clear and distinct as the one we possess of Professor Sandringham, which is admitted, by every one who has seen it, to be a splendidly distinct spirit photograph. The first of the negatives which was printed off disclosed our boy sitting up in bed, just in the place where he died, and although, as I have said, his face is more spiritualised, and not so chubby as when in earth life three years ago, yet there is not the least doubt in our minds that it is our loved and lost one as he is now on the other side. The second photograph discloses him as clothed in a boy’s suit, and sitting on his mother’s knee. Here also the face is quite human-looking, and just our son as he looked about the close of his sharp and severe illness. The likeness in all the photographs is essentially the same. Over the figure in each photograph is a beautiful star, and the whole experiment has been a phenomenal success in spirit photography, besides being a source of great joy to us all.
“Mr. Duguid was never in my house in Edinburgh till the end of January last (1892). Two of our family went twice to Glasgow—once in 1890 and once in 1891—and had a sitting with him on the occasion of each visit. Faces came on the negatives on both occasions, but not the face wanted. At these sittings nothing was said to Mr. Duguid as to our family affairs, or the appearance of our boy, but he was told what we wanted, and did his best to get a satisfactory result. We were not disappointed at failure, because we knew, the difficulties attending the experiment. The only photograph we have of our son was got when he was two years old, and is not at all like what he was when he was taken from us. The photograph was shown by me to Mr. Duguid for the first and only time on the day succeeding the successful sitting, and after the negatives had been printed off in the manner before detailed. The dry plates were our own, and were never handled by the medium till he put them in the slide or box as before described. The chemicals were ours, and the development took place in the presence of my second eldest daughter, in the dark room before referred to, and to which we all had access during the whole process. I therefore claim that this demonstration has been a complete success, because every test condition has been complied with. As ‘Salem Scudder’ puts it, in a certain sensational scene in Dion Boucicault’s well-known drama of the Octoroon, ‘I guess the apparatus can’t lie.’ The apparatus, i.e., the camera, has certainly not lied to us. I have also to state that our family medium saw our son in the room ‘posed’ in front of the camera during the sitting and pointed out the place where he stood, before the medium put the slide into the instrument.
“It has been with considerable reluctance that I have alluded to so much that is sacred and personal in our family, but in the interests of spiritual truth, and for the sole purpose of showing that spirit photography, by an honest medium like Mr. David Duguid, is possible, I have deemed it necessary to give these facts, and they have been stated with all the care and minuteness of detail in my power. As I have said, we failed seven times; but the eighth trial gave us something to treasure for life. We are certainly under a deep debt of gratitude to Mr. David Duguid for the beneficent use of his mediumistic powers in literally ‘giving us back our dead,’ or rather, showing us our dear one clothed as he now is, in his spiritual body, as on the other side.
“These are the consolations of Spiritualism which the uninstructed cannot understand or appreciate. In my humble judgment Spiritualistic research should be prosecuted in the home, as, there only, results will be got of the best and purest kind. That at least has been our experience, and we gratefully acknowledge the mercies bestowed on us.”
Why should we not accept this as a truthful statement? The word of such a man as “Edina” would be accepted to the full on any other subject, but there is a deep-rooted antipathy in the public mind against the recognition or acceptance of spiritual phenomena. Florence Marryat, in describing the striking and marvellous incidents of her life, asks why she should be disbelieved in these matters any more than Lady Brassey, or Livingstone, or Stanley regarding their travels.