The Case Against Spirit PhotographsPatrick, C. Vincent
History
The Case Against Spirit Photographs
Patrick, C. Vincent
Parapsychology; Spirit photography; Spiritualism
Experiments have on several occasions been made by amateurs,
deliberately trying for spirit extras, and exposing scores of plates,
usually without success. The unsuccessful attempts of Russell,
Beattie, Dr. Williams, and more recently Dr. Pierce, have already
been alluded to. Experiments of rather a different nature have been
carried out by a Frenchman, Dr. Baraduc. His most interesting--if
somewhat gruesome--result was a series of photographs taken over the
death-bed of his wife, at the time of, and for some hours after,
death. The negatives showed globes of light floating over the bed,
which gradually increased in size and brightness, and coalesced in the
later photographs. The circumstances certainly seem to exclude fraud,
and it is very difficult to understand how the progressive series of
photographs could have been obtained by accidental means, such as a
pinhole in the camera. His results are very interesting, but need
repeating by other experimenters; in any case, they have absolutely
nothing in common with the conventional spirit photographs which show
faces and figures.
V.--THE FAIRY PHOTOGRAPHS
(C. VINCENT PATRICK)
The so-called “Fairy Photographs” recently published by Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle and Mr. E. L. Gardner do not strictly come under the
heading of “spirit photographs,” but may not inappropriately be
considered here. We have no evidence of the conditions under which
they were taken; as Sir Arthur explains, such “rare results must be
obtained when and how they can.” We have therefore to learn what we can
from an examination of the photographs, or of their reproductions. At
first sight they look like genuine untouched photographs; their general
appearance is excellent, and if frauds, they are certainly good ones.
On examining them more carefully, however, a considerable number of
points are found requiring explanation. Some of these have no doubt
been noticed by different observers; the principal criticisms of the
different photographs are these.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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