The Veil Lifted: Modern Developments of Spirit Photography — John Shaqi
The Veil Lifted: Modern Developments of Spirit Photography
Religion
The Veil Lifted: Modern Developments of Spirit Photography
Spirit photography; Spiritualism
Ever since the appearance of the more than sensational “Real Ghost
Stories” and “More Ghost Stories”—which are, like the ghosts, still
appearing—a great and calm tolerance of the occult made manifest seems
to have diffused itself throughout English society. People are bringing
out their own private little bogey stories, of which they used to be
quite ashamed, and, what is more curious, they are bringing out their
bogey photos, both of which things reveal the fact how many more ghost
stories and ghost photos are about than people seem generally to have
imagined. Only the other day I was told of a young lady who went down
to Brighton to an ordinary photographer. She sat as an ordinary sitter,
suspecting nothing. The plate came out blurred all over; photographer
surprised, and on point of casting plate aside, when sitter begs to see
it, and further begs to have it printed off. Result—photo blurred all
over, sitter unrecognisable; when subjected to high magnifyer, milky way
of blue reveals innumerable faces, but all the same face! Recognised by
young lady at once as face of dead lover. This is the kind of story which
is becoming tiresomely common, and often bewilderingly well evidenced.
Now, unless I had thought this question of alleged appearances—palpable
enough to be seen, perhaps photographed—might have a grave side to it,
I should not have for two Sundays rung the changes, and the _pros_ and
_cons._ in the pulpit, and pointed out the momentous connexion between
such manifestations and our interests here and hereafter. People seemed
much impressed with this view. The fact is that every time I announced
the subject at St. James’s, Westmoreland Street, Marylebone, crowds were
unable to get seats, and I was in a way compelled to resume the topic
next Sunday, while thousands struggled in vain to get into my tolerably
spacious vestry after the sermon to catch glimpses of the selected photos
and spirit drawings there exposed to view. Well, this shows, I suppose,
that I had, if possible, under-estimated the toleration which I solicited
for this dubious subject, but which I hardly expected to win.
_“WILL YOU SHOW ME THE GHOST?”_
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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