The Veil Lifted: Modern Developments of Spirit Photography
Religion
The Veil Lifted: Modern Developments of Spirit Photography
Spirit photography; Spiritualism
The publication in the _British Journal of Photography_ of Mr. Taylor’s
Paper, with the proceedings of the meeting at which it was read, has
aroused a wide-spread and deep interest in the subject. The principal
portions of it, and, in some instances the whole of the Paper, together
with editorial comments, have subsequently appeared in newspapers and
journals in Canada, Australia, India, America, and other countries. As
his experiments will be a matter of historical interest, many scientific
men will be pleased to have his Paper in this book form, with the
reproductions of two of the psychic pictures which he obtained on his
photographic plates.
The term “spirit photographs” is generally used to describe photographs
of psychic entities who cannot be seen by ordinary persons, but can be
photographed by a medium, or with the help of a medium, and with the
co-operation of these unseen entities. Such portraits are obtained both
indoors and in the open air, with and without a background, by natural
light and by artificial light; and, in the case of “materialised” forms
at séances, which are visible to every person present, the portraits have
sometimes been taken by light produced by the spirits, the exact nature
of which is unknown.
The following may serve as a rough classification of what are called
spirit photographs:—
1. Portraits of psychical entities not seen by normal vision.
2. Pictures of objects not seen nor thought of by the sitter or by the
medium or operator; such as flowers, words, crosses, crowns, lights, and
various emblematic objects.
3. Pictures which have the appearance of being copied from statues,
paintings, or drawings. Sometimes these are busts or heads only. The
flatness in some photographs of this class is supposed, by persons who
have _not_ investigated the subject, to be proof that the photographs are
produced in a fraudulent manner.
4. Pictures of what are called materialised forms visible to normal sight.
5. Pictures of the “wraith” or “double” of persons still in the body.
6. Portraits on plates which developers have failed to bring into view,
but that can be seen and described by clairvoyants and by mediums when in
trance and whose descriptions agree, though made independently.
There are, also, portraits that cannot be classed as photographs, as
they have not been taken by the agency of a camera, or by exposing the
prepared plate previous to development of the image.
Those who desire further information than is contained in this volume on
the subject of spirit photography should read the following:—
A series of important articles by the late Mr. Stainton Moses (M.A.
Oxon), in _Human Nature_, Vols. VIII. and IX., 1874-75. The volumes
may be had on loan from the Library of the Spiritual Institution, 15
Southampton Row, W.C., or from the Library of the Spiritual Alliance,
2 Duke Street, Charing Cross. The subscription to either Library is a
guinea a year.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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