The Veil Lifted: Modern Developments of Spirit Photography
Religion
The Veil Lifted: Modern Developments of Spirit Photography
Spirit photography; Spiritualism
There need not now be any question as to whether spirit photography
is possible. That was settled thirty years ago. There is nothing in
the whole range of psychic phenomena for which the evidence is more
conclusive. Had there been no other proof, the sworn evidence of
scientific men, bankers, merchants, lawyers, photographers, and others,
at the Mumler trial was overwhelmingly abundant. And since that trial
there has been an accumulation of evidence from various quarters,
yielding proof upon proof that spirit photography is a fact, and must be
recognised as such. Contradicted it can be; that is easy to do. Sneered
at it may be; that, too, is not difficult. A man may sneer at a fact
which he is unable to comprehend, but a sneer proves nothing. Neither
does an unsupported contradiction, whether the contradiction be made by a
single person, or be made as a formal resolution by a society.
Some of the witnesses who were examined on oath at Mumler’s trial were
experts, such as Samuel K. Fanshaw. That gentleman was one of the
best miniature painters and facial experts in New York, and was also
familiar with photographic manipulations. He said he went to Mumler an
entire stranger, sat for a picture, witnessed the whole process, and
received a likeness of his mother, which he said was more like her than
the one he had painted from memory. Mr. Livermore, banker, had three
negatives, in which his wife appeared in three different positions. He
was accompanied by Mr. Hitchcock, of the _New York Sun_, and Mr. Gurney,
a leading photographer. When Judge Dowling asked Mr. Livermore if he
recognised these pictures as likenesses of his wife, his answer was,
“_Unmistakably_.”
The spirit photograph of Abraham Lincoln has often been referred to. My
copy of it is now too faint for reproduction, but it may be stated that
when Mrs. Lincoln visited Mr. Mumler, she wore a thick crape veil, so
thick that no one could distinguish a feature of her face. She travelled
under an assumed name from Springfield (Illinois) to Boston, went direct
from the train to Mumler’s house, gave her name as “Mrs. Lindall,” and
did not remove her veil till the prepared plate was in the camera ready
to be exposed. She obtained an excellent picture of her husband, standing
behind her, with his hands resting on her shoulders, and looking down
with a pleasant smile.
Prominent Americans, whose names are well known in this country, received
through Mumler’s mediumship test spirit photographs of friends whom they
recognised. Amongst these may be mentioned the Hon. Henry Wilson, then
Vice-President of the United States, Judge Edmonds, and William Lloyd
Garrison.
[Illustration: THE HON. MOSES A. DOW, OF BOSTON, U.S.A., AND THE SPIRIT
OF MABEL WARREN, HIS LITERARY ASSISTANT AND ADOPTED DAUGHTER.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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