Hours with the Ghosts or, Nineteenth Century Witchcraft: Illustrated Investigations into the Phenomena of Spiritualism and TheosophyEvans, Henry Ridgely
Religion
Hours with the Ghosts or, Nineteenth Century Witchcraft: Illustrated Investigations into the Phenomena of Spiritualism and Theosophy
Evans, Henry Ridgely
Blavatsky, H. P. (Helena Petrovna), 1831-1891; Spiritualism; Theosophy
During the year 1896 considerable stir was created by the investigation of
Dr. Hippolyte Baraduc, of Paris, in the line of "Thought Photography,"
which is of interest to psychic investigators generally. Dr. Baraduc
claimed to have gotten photographic impressions of his thoughts, "made
without sunlight or electricity or contact of any material kind." These
impressions he declared to be subjective, being his own personal
vibrations, the result of a force emanating from the human personality,
supra-mechanical, or spiritual. The experiments were carried on in a dark
room, and according to his statement were highly successful. In a
communication to an American correspondent, printed in the _New York
Herald_, January 3, 1897, he writes: "I have discovered a human, invisible
light, differing altogether from the cathode rays discovered by Prof.
Roentgen." Dr. Baraduc advanced the theory that our souls must be
considered as centers of luminous forces, owing their existence partly to
the attraction and partly to the repulsion of special and potent forces
bred of the invisible cosmos.
A number of French scientific journals took up the matter, and discussed
"Thought Photography" at length, publishing numerous reproductions of the
physician's photographs; but the more conservative journals of England,
Germany and America remained silent on the subject, as it seemed to be on
the borderland between science and charlatanry. On January 11, 1897,
the American newspapers contained an item to the effect that Drs. S.
Millington Miller and Carleton Simon, of New York City, the former a
specialist in brain physiology, and the latter an expert hypnotist, had
succeeded in obtaining successful thought photographs on dry plates from
two hypnotized subjects. When the subjects were not hypnotized, the
physicians reported no results.
[Illustration: FIG. 31--SIGEL'S ORIGINAL PICTURE OF FIG 30.]
As "Thought Photography" is without the pale of known physical laws,
stronger evidence is needed to support the claims made for it than that
which has been adduced by the French and American investigators. "Thought
Photography" once established as a scientific fact, we shall have,
perhaps, an explanation of genuine spirit photographs, if such there be.
6. Apparitions of the Dead.
In my chapter on subjective phenomena, I have not recorded any cases of
phantasms of the dead, though several interesting examples of such have
come under my notice. I have thought it better to refer the reader to the
voluminous reports of the Society for Psychical Research (England). In
regard to these cases, the Society has reached the following conclusion:
_Between deaths and apparitions of dying persons a connection exists which
is not due to chance alone. This we hold as a proved fact._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account