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Photographing Invisible Beings by William T.
Stead. It was during the South African

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War that my father obtained one of
his best authenticated spirit photographs. So I

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think that it is well to give
here his own account of his experiments in

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that direction, he writes, while
recording the results at which I have arrived,

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I wish to repudiate any desire to
dogmatize as to their significance or their

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origin. I merely record the facts, and although I may indicate conclusions in

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inferences which I have drawn from them, I attach no importance to anything but

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the facts themselves. There is living
in London at the present moment, an

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old man of seventy one years of
age, a man of no education.

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He can write, but he cannot
spell, and he has for many years

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earned his living as a photographer.
He was always in a small way of

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business, a quiet and offensive man
who brought up his family respectively and lived

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in peace with his neighbors, attracting
no particular remark. When he started in

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business as a photographer. It was
in the days when the wet process was

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almost universal, and he was much
annoyed by finding that when he exposed plates

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other forms than that of the sitter
would appear in the background. So many

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plates were spoiled by these unwelcome intruders
that his partner became very angry and insist

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that the plates had not been washed
before they were used. He protested this

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was not so, and asked his
partner to bring a packet of completely new

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plates with which he would take a
photograph and see what was the result.

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His partner accepted the challenge and produced
a plate with which had never previously been

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used. But when the portrait of
the next sitter was taken, there appeared

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a shadow form in the background.
Angry and frightened at this unwelcome appearance,

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he flung the plates to the ground
with an oath, and from that time,

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for very many years he was never
again troubled by the occurrence of a

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similar phenomena. About ten years ago, he became interested in spiritualism, and

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to his surprise and also to his
regret, the shadow figures began to reappear

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on the background of the photographs.
He repeatedly had to destroy negatives and ask

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his customer to give him another sitting. It did his business harm, and

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in order to avoid this annoyance,
he left most of the photography to his

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son. I happened to hear of
these curious experiences of his and sought him

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out. I found him very reluctant
to speak about the matter. He said,

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frankly, he did not know how
the figures came. It had been

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a great annoyance to him, and
it gave his shop a bad name.

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He did not wish anything to be
said about the matter. In deference,

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however, to repeat it. Pressing
on my part, he consented to make

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experiments with me, and I had, at various times a considerable number of

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sittings. At first I brought my
own plates half plate size. He allowed

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me to place them in his slide
in the dark room, to put them

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in the camera, which I was
allowed to turn and side out, and

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after they were exposed, I was
permitted to go into the dark room and

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develop them in his presence. Under
these conditions, I repeatedly obtained pictures of

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persons who were certainly not visible to
me. In the studio, I was

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allowed to do almost anything that I
pleased, to alter the background, to

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change the position of the camera,
to sit at any angle that I chose,

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in short, to act as if
the studio in all belonging to it

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was my own, and I repeatedly
obtained what the old photographer called shadow pictures,

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but none of them bore any resemblance
to any person whom I had known

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In all these earlier experiments. The
photographer, whom I will call mister B

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made no charge, and the only
request that he made was that I should

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not publish his name or do anything
to let his neighbors know of the curious

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shadow pictures which were obtainable in his
studio. After a time, I was

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so thoroughly satisfied that the shadow photographs
or spirit forms were not produced by any

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fraud on the part of the photographer, that I did not trouble to bring

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my own marked plates. I allowed
him to use his own, and to

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do all the work of loading the
slide and of developing the plate without my

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assistance or supervision. What I wanted
was to see whether it would be possible

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for me to obtain a photograph of
any person known to me in life who

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has passed over to the other side
the production of one such picture, if

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the person was unknown to the photographer
and he had no means of obtaining the

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photograph of the original while on Earth, seemed to me so much better a

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test of the geniusness of the phenomena
that could be secured by any amount of

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personal supervision of the process of photography, that I left him to operate without

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interference. The results he obtained when
left to himself were precisely the same as

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those when the slides passed only through
my own hands. But although I obtained

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a great variety of portraits of unknown
persons, I got none whom I could

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recognize. In a conversation with mister
b as to how these shadow of pictures,

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as he called them, came on
the plate, I found him almost

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as much at sea as myself.
He said that he did not know how

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they came, but that he had
noticed that they came more frequently and with

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greater distinctness at some times than at
others. He could never say beforehand whether

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they would come or not. He
frequently informed me when my sitting began that

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he could guarantee nothing, and often
the set of plates would bear no trace

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of any portrait to save mine.
He was very reluctant to continue the experiments,

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and used to complain that after exposing
four plates with a view to obtaining

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such pictures, he felt quite exhausted, and sometimes he complained that his ERDs

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seemed to be turned upside down,
to use his own phrase. I usually

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sat with him between two and three
in the afternoon, and on the days

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which I came, he always obstinated
from the usual glass of beer which he

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took with his midday meal. If
I came unexpectedly and he had had a

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single glass of beer, which formed
his usual beverage, he would always assure

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me that I need not expect any
good results. I, however, never

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found any particular difference in the results. We often discussed the matter together,

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and he was evidently working out a
theory of his own, as any one

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might under such circumstances. He knew
that when he was excited or irritated,

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he got bad results. Hence he
often used to keep a music box going,

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for the music, in his opinion, tended to set up good and

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tranquil conditions. He said, he
thought something must come out of him.

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What he did not know, but
something was taken out of him. And

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with this something, he thought,
the entities, whoever they were, built

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themselves up and acquired sufficient substance to
reflect the rays of light, so as

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to impress the sensitive plates in his
camera. He also thought that his old

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camera had become what he called magnetized, and although it was an old fashioned

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piece of furniture, which I not
only examined myself, but had examined by

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expert photographers, nothing could be discovered
within or without it, which would account

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for the results attained. He also
was of the opinion that even although he

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did not touch the photographic plate,
it was necessary for him to touch or

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to hold his hand over the photographic
slide, and also to hold his hand

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over the plate when it was in
the developing bath. His theory was that

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in some way or other this process
magnetized the plate brought out a shadow portrait.

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One peculiarity of almost all the shadow
pictures obtained in the series of experiments

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is that they have around them the
same kind of white drapery which is so

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familiar to those who have taken part
in a materializing seance. Sometimes this drapery

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is more volumeous than others. Often, when the conditions are good, the

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form which it first appears with its
head encompassed with drapery, will appear on

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the second plate without any drapery.
On asking mister B. What explanation he

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could give for this, he said
he did not know, but he believed

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that the bodily appearance assumed by the
spirit was very sensitive and needed to be

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shielded from currents which might harm it. But when harmony prevailed, they could

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venture to remove the drapery and be
photographed without it. Whatever may be the

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value of mister B's theory, there
is little doubt that something is given off

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from the body which can be photographed
the white mist that appears to emanate from

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his forms into cloudy folds, out
of which their protrudes a more or less

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clearly defined face with human features.
Sometimes this white and misty cloud obscures the

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sun. In other times it seems
to be condensed, as if it were

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in the process of being worked into
a definite form, for the completion of

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which either time or some other conditions
were lacking. It was also noticeable that

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the entity, whoever it may be, which builds up the form, who

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was giving off sufficient solidity to impress
its image upon the plate in the camera,

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having once created the form, will
use it repeatedly without any change of

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position or expression. This will,
no doubt seem a great stumbling block to

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many. But the fact is as
I have stated it, and our first

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business is to ascertain facts, whether
they tell for or against any particular hypothesis.

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It may be that the disembodied spirit, in order to establish its identity,

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constructs out of the aura given off
by the photographer or other medium,

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a mask or cast bearing the unmistakable
resemblance to the body which it wore in

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its sauzure in here on earth.
Once built it up for use in the

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studio, it may be easier to
employ the same cast again and again,

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instead of building up a new one
at each fresh sitting. Upon this point,

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however, I shall have something to
say further on. I was very

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much interested in the results I obtained, although as none of the photographs were

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identified, I did not deem the
experiment completely successful. I was very anxious

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to introduce mister B to devote some
months to an uninterrupted series of experiments,

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and asked him on what terms I
could secure his services. But he absolutely

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refused. He said he did not
like it. It made him unwell,

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made people speak ill of him,
and it did not matter what terms were

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offered. He would not consent.
He was an old man, he said,

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and he could not find out how
these things came, and in short,

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neither scientific curiosity nor financial consideration would
induce him to consent to more than

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an occasional sitting. I therefore dropped
the matter, and for some years I

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discontinued my experiments. I had a
friend who often accompanied me to mister B's

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studio, where she had been photographed
both with and without shadow pictures appearing in

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the background. We often promised each
other that if either of us passed over,

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we would come back to be photographed
by mister B if possible, in

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order to prove the reality of spirit
return. Shortly after this, my friend

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died. But it was not until
nearly four years after her death, at

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the request of a friend who was
very anxious to know whether she could communicate

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with those on the other side,
that I went back to mister B's studio.

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He had always been slightly clairvoyant and
clary audian. He told me that

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a few days before I had ridden
asking for the appointment, my deceased friend

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had appeared in the studio and told
him that I was coming. This reminded

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me of her promise, and I
said at once that I hoped he would

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be able to photograph her. He
said he didn't know. He was rather

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frightened of her, for reasons into
which I need not enter, but if

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she came, he would see what
he could do. My friend and I

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sat together. The first plate was
exposed, nothing appeared in the background.

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When the second plate was placed in
the camera, mister B nodded with a

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quick look of recognition. We saw
nothing. After he had exposed the second

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plate, and before he developed it, he asked us to change seats.

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We did this, and as he
was exposing the third plate, he said,

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I am told to ask you to
do this, And when he closed

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the shutter, he said, it
is Missus M. On the fourth plate

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there appeared a picture of a woman
whom I had never seen before, and

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whom my friend had never seen.
Neither had mister B. When the plates

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came to be developed, I found
the second and third plates contained unmistakable likeness

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of my friend, Missus EM.
These portraits were immediately recognized by my friend

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as un stapable likeness of the deceased
Missus M. It will be objected that

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she had frequently been photographed by the
same photographer, and that he had simply

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faked a photograph from one of his
old negatives. I don't believe that this

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is possible, for these portraits,
although recognized immediately by everyone who knew her,

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including her nearest relative, are all
quite different from any photographs she had

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ever taken in life. She certainly
never was photographed enveloped in white drapery.

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Nor do I believe that mister B
had any negative of any of her portraits

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in this possession. But I fully
admit that from the point of view of

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one who wishes to exclude every possibility
of error, the fact that missus m

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had been frequently photographed in her lifetime
by the same photographer renders it impossible to

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regard these photographs as conclusive testimony as
to their authenticity as a photograph of a

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form assumed by a disembodied spirit.
I have mentioned that on the fourth plate

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there appears a portrait of an unknown
female. On my return, I was

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showing the print of the shadow picture
to a friend when she startled me by

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declaring that the shrouded form which appeared
behind me in the photograph was a portrait

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of her mother, who had died
some months before in Dublin. I had

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never seen her mother, and my
friend did not know of her existence.

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Neither did the photographer, nor does
he to this day. It was only

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many months afterwards that I was able
to obtain a photograph of my friend's mother,

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But it was taken when she was
a comparatively young woman and bore no

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manner of resemblance to the portrait of
the lady who appeared behind me. Her

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daughter, however, had not the
slightest hesitation in asserting that it was her

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mother, that she had recognized her
instantly, and that it was a very

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good portrait of her as she appeared
in the later years of her life.

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This startled me not a little and
convinced me that I had good prospect of

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attaining some definite results as an outcome
of my experiments. Mister B in curse

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by this success, was willing to
continue his experiments, and this time I

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insisted upon paying him for his work. From this time onward, the occurrence

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of photographs that were recognizable on the
background of the photographs taken by mister b

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became frequent. Sometimes the plates were
marked, but not invariably. For my

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part, I attached comparatively no importance
to the marking of the plates in the

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closed supervision of the operator. The
test of the geniusness of a photograph that

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is obtained when the unknown relative of
an unknown sitter appears in the background of

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the photograph was immeasurably superior to the
precautions any expert, conjurer or trick photographer

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might evade. Again and again I
sent friends to mister B, giving him

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no information as to who they were, nor telling him anything as to the

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identify of the person's deceased friend or
relative whose portrait they wished to secure.

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In time and time again, when
the negative was developed, the portrait would

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appear in the background, or sometimes
in front of the sitter. This occurred

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so frequently that I am quite convinced
of the impossibility of any fraud. One

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time it was a French editor who, finding the portrait of his deceased wife

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appear on the negative when developed,
was so transported with delight that he insisted

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on kissing the photographer, mister B, much to the old man's embarrassment.

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On another occasion, it was a
Lancashire engineer, himself a photographer, who

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took marked plates in all possible precautions. He obtained portraits of two of his

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relatives, and another of an eminent
personage with whom he had been in close

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relations. Or again it was a
near neighbor who, going as a total

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stranger through the studio, obtained the
portrait of her deceased daughter. I attached

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no importance whatever to the appearance of
portraits of well known personages, which might

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easily be copied from existing pictures.
But I attached immense importance to the reduction

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of the spirit photographs of unknown relatives
of sitters who were unknown to the photographer,

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who received them solely as a lady
or gentleman who was one of my

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friends. Although as I have said, I do not attach much importance to

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photographs appearing of well known men,
I confess that I was rather impressed by

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one of my most recent experiments.
I received a message from a medium in

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Sheffield who was unknown to me,
saying that Cecil Rhodes, who had then

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been dead about nine months, had
spoken to her clariodiantly, and had told

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her to ask me to go to
the photographers, and that he would come

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and be photographed. The medium was
a stranger to me, and I confess

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that I received the message with considerable
skepticism. However, when she came up

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to town, I accompanied her to
the studio. She declared that she saw

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Cecil Rhoads and that he spoke to
her, and that he was standing behind

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me when the plate was exposed.
When the plate came to be Deville,

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although there was one well defined figure
standing behind me and several other faces half

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visible in the background, there was
no portrait of Cecil Rhodes. I was

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not surprised and went away. A
month afterwards, I went to have another

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sitting with the photographer. I chatted
with him for a short time, and

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then he left the room for a
moment. When he came back, he

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said to me there was a round
face, well set up man here,

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with a short mustache and a dimple
in his chin. Do you know him?

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No, I said, I do
not know any such man. Well,

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he seems to be very busy about
you. Well, I said,

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if he comes up stairs, we
shall see what we can get. I

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don't know, said he. When
I was sitting he said, there he

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is, and I see the letter
R. Is it Robert or Richard?

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Do you think I don't know any
Robert or Richard? I said. He

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took the picture. He then proceeded
with the second plate, and said,

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that man is still here, and
I see behind him a country road.

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I wonder what that means. He
went into the dark room and presently came

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out and said, I see road
or roads? Do you know any one

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of that name? Of course,
I said, Cecil Roads. Do you

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mean him as died in the travesol
lately? Said he? I said,

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yes, Well, he said,
was he a man like that? Well?

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He had a mustache, I said, And sure enough, when the

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plate was developed there was a Cecil
Roads, looking fifteen youngers than when he

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had died. Some other plates were
exposed. One was entirely blank. On

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two others the mist was formed into
a kind of clot of light, but

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no figure was visible. The fifth
had a portrait of an unknown man.

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And on the sixth, when it
came to be developed, there was the

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same portrait of Cecil Roads that had
appeared on the first, but without the

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white drapery around the head. Of
course, it may be said that it

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was well known that I was connected
with Cecil Roads, and that the photographer

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therefore would have no difficulty in faking
a portrait. I admit all that,

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and therefore I would not have introduced
this if it had not stood alone as

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any evidence showing that it was a
bona fide photograph of an invisible being.

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But it does not stand alone,
and I have almost every reason to believe

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in the almost stupid honesty. If
I may use such a phrase of the

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photographer. I am naturally much interested
in these latest photographs of the African colossus.

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They are, at any rate,
entirely new. No such portraits to

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the best of my knowledge, and
I have made a collection of all I

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can lay my hands on, exactly
resembling those portraits which I obtained at mister

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B's studio. I will conclude the
account of my experiments by telling how I

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secured a portrait under circumstances which preclude
any possibility of fate fraud. One day,

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when I entered the studio, mister
B said to me, there is

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a man come with you who has
been here before. He came here some

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days ago when I was by myself. He looked very wild, and he

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had a gun in his hand,
and I did not like the look of

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him. I don't like guns,
so I asked him to go away,

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for I was frightened of the gun. And he went away. But now

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he has come with you and he
has not got his gun any more,

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so we will let him stop.
I was rather amused at the old man's

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story and said, well, see
if you can photograph him. I don't

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00:21:37,519 --> 00:21:41,400
know as I can. He said, I never know what I can get,

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which is quite true, for often
the photographs which he says he sees

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clairvoyantly do not come out on the
plate. While he was photographing me,

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I said to him, if you
can tell this man to go away,

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you can ask him his name.
Yes, said he will you do so?

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I said, yes, he said, after seeming to ask the question

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mentally, he said, he says
his name is Piet Botha. Piet Botha,

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I said, I know no such
name. There are Lewis and Philip

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and Chris Botha. I have never
heard of a Piet. Still, they

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are a numerous family, and there
are plenty of Bothas in South Africa.

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And it will be interesting to ask
General Botha when he arrives whether he knows

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of any Piet Botha. When the
negative was developed, sure enough, there

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appeared behind me a photograph of a
stalwart, bearded person who might have been

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a Boer or a Russian Malejoui,
but who was certainly unknown to me.

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I had never seen a portrait of
any one which bore any resemblance to the

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photograph. When General Botha arrived,
I did not get an opportunity of asking

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him about the photograph. But some
time afterwards I asked mister Fisher, one

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of the delegation from the South African
Republics, to look at the photograph and

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if he got an opportunity to ask
General Botha if he knew of such a

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man as p Ate Botha. Mister
Fisher said he thought he had seen the

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face before, but he could not
be certain. He departed with the photograph.

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Some days afterwards, mister Wessel's,
a member of the delegation with mister

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Fisher, came down to my office. He said, I want to know

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about that photograph that you gave mister
Fisher. Yes, I said, what

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about it? I want to know
where you got it? I told him.

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00:23:37,160 --> 00:23:41,839
He replied disdainfully, I don't believe
in such things. It is superstition.

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00:23:42,480 --> 00:23:47,920
Besides, that man didn't know mister
b He has never been to London.

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How could he come there? What
I said, do you know him?

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00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:56,680
Know him? Said mister Wesseles.
He is my brother in law.

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Really, I said, what did
they call him Pietris Johannes Botha, But

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we always called him piate for short. Is he dead? Then? I

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00:24:08,559 --> 00:24:15,400
said, Yes, said mister Westle's
he was the first Boer officer who was

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killed in the Siege of Kimberly.
But there is a mystery about this.

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00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:23,799
You didn't know him, no,
I said, and never heard of him?

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00:24:25,519 --> 00:24:30,440
No, I said, But he
said, I have the man's portrait

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in my house in South Africa.
How could you get it? But I

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00:24:34,279 --> 00:24:40,400
said, I never have had it. I don't understand, he said moodily,

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and so departed. I afterwards showed
the photograph to another Free State Boer

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who knew Piate Botha very well,
and he had not the slightest hesitation in

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declaring that it was an unmistakable likeness
of his dead friend. This is a

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00:24:56,960 --> 00:25:02,759
plain, straightforward narrative of my experiences. They are still going on. But

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00:25:02,839 --> 00:25:06,359
if I continue them forever, I
don't see how I am going to obtain

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00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:11,400
better results than those which I have
already secured. At the same time,

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00:25:11,519 --> 00:25:15,519
I must admit that when I have
taken my own Kodak to the studio and

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taken a photograph immediately before mister B
had exposed his plate. I got no

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results. The same failure occurred with
another photographer whom I took, who took

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00:25:26,359 --> 00:25:30,839
his own camera in his own plates, and took a photograph immediately before and

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00:25:30,920 --> 00:25:36,920
immediately after mister B had exposed his
plate and secured no result. Mister B's

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00:25:36,960 --> 00:25:40,920
explanation of this is that he thinks
he does, in some way or other,

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magnetize, as he terms it,
the plate, that there is some

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00:25:45,519 --> 00:25:49,480
effluence from his hand which is as
necessary for the development of the psychic figure

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00:25:49,839 --> 00:25:56,559
as the developing liquid is for the
development of an ordinary photograph. This explanation

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would no doubt be derided, as
I presume Wiseacres would have derided the first

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00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:07,920
photographs when they insisted upon the necessity
of darkness while developing their plates. What

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00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:11,240
I hold to be established is that
in the presence of this particular individual,

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00:26:11,640 --> 00:26:17,000
mister B, who at presence is
the only person known to me who is

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00:26:17,039 --> 00:26:22,720
able to produce these photographs, it
is possible to obtain, under test conditions

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00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:29,920
photographs that are unmistakably portraits of deceased
persons. The said deceased persons being entirely

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00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:34,119
unknown to him, and in some
cases equally unknown to the sitter. Neither

338
00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:40,279
was any portrait of such person accessible
either to the sitter or the photographer.

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00:26:40,559 --> 00:26:45,440
Neither was either the sitter or the
photographer conscious of the very existence of these

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00:26:45,480 --> 00:26:51,480
persons, whose identity was subsequently recognized
by their friends. I am willing to

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admit that there is no conceivable conditions
in the way of marking plates and supervising.

342
00:26:56,880 --> 00:27:00,799
The actions or the operations of the
photographer are of the least use in

343
00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:07,079
so much as an expert conjurer can
easily deceive the eye of the unskilled observer.

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But what I do maintain is that
it is impossible for the cleverest trick

345
00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:18,000
photographer and the ablest conjurer in the
world to produce a photograph at a moment's

346
00:27:18,039 --> 00:27:23,759
notice of an unknown relative of an
unknown sitter, this portrait to be unmistakably

347
00:27:23,799 --> 00:27:29,960
recognizable by all survivors who knew the
original in life. This mister b has

348
00:27:30,079 --> 00:27:33,519
done again and again, and it
seems to me that a great step has

349
00:27:33,559 --> 00:27:41,279
been made towards establishing the possibility of
verifying by photography the reality of the existence

350
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of other intelligences than our own.
The photographer alluded to in this article is

351
00:27:47,200 --> 00:27:52,480
mister Borisnell. He died shortly after
it was written, and although farther experimented

352
00:27:52,519 --> 00:28:00,960
with others, he never obtained such
convincing and satisfactory results. End of photographing invisible beams