Photographing Invisible Beings by William T. Stead. It was during the South African
War that my father obtained one of his best authenticated spirit photographs. So I
think that it is well to give here his own account of his experiments in
that direction, he writes, while recording the results at which I have arrived,
I wish to repudiate any desire to dogmatize as to their significance or their
origin. I merely record the facts, and although I may indicate conclusions in
inferences which I have drawn from them, I attach no importance to anything but
the facts themselves. There is living in London at the present moment, an
old man of seventy one years of age, a man of no education.
He can write, but he cannot spell, and he has for many years
earned his living as a photographer. He was always in a small way of
business, a quiet and offensive man who brought up his family respectively and lived
in peace with his neighbors, attracting no particular remark. When he started in
business as a photographer. It was in the days when the wet process was
almost universal, and he was much annoyed by finding that when he exposed plates
other forms than that of the sitter would appear in the background. So many
plates were spoiled by these unwelcome intruders that his partner became very angry and insist
that the plates had not been washed before they were used. He protested this
was not so, and asked his partner to bring a packet of completely new
plates with which he would take a photograph and see what was the result.
His partner accepted the challenge and produced a plate with which had never previously been
used. But when the portrait of the next sitter was taken, there appeared
a shadow form in the background. Angry and frightened at this unwelcome appearance,
he flung the plates to the ground with an oath, and from that time,
for very many years he was never again troubled by the occurrence of a
similar phenomena. About ten years ago, he became interested in spiritualism, and
to his surprise and also to his regret, the shadow figures began to reappear
on the background of the photographs. He repeatedly had to destroy negatives and ask
his customer to give him another sitting. It did his business harm, and
in order to avoid this annoyance, he left most of the photography to his
son. I happened to hear of these curious experiences of his and sought him
out. I found him very reluctant to speak about the matter. He said,
frankly, he did not know how the figures came. It had been
a great annoyance to him, and it gave his shop a bad name.
He did not wish anything to be said about the matter. In deference,
however, to repeat it. Pressing on my part, he consented to make
experiments with me, and I had, at various times a considerable number of
sittings. At first I brought my own plates half plate size. He allowed
me to place them in his slide in the dark room, to put them
in the camera, which I was allowed to turn and side out, and
after they were exposed, I was permitted to go into the dark room and
develop them in his presence. Under these conditions, I repeatedly obtained pictures of
persons who were certainly not visible to me. In the studio, I was
allowed to do almost anything that I pleased, to alter the background, to
change the position of the camera, to sit at any angle that I chose,
in short, to act as if the studio in all belonging to it
was my own, and I repeatedly obtained what the old photographer called shadow pictures,
but none of them bore any resemblance to any person whom I had known
In all these earlier experiments. The photographer, whom I will call mister B
made no charge, and the only request that he made was that I should
not publish his name or do anything to let his neighbors know of the curious
shadow pictures which were obtainable in his studio. After a time, I was
so thoroughly satisfied that the shadow photographs or spirit forms were not produced by any
fraud on the part of the photographer, that I did not trouble to bring
my own marked plates. I allowed him to use his own, and to
do all the work of loading the slide and of developing the plate without my
assistance or supervision. What I wanted was to see whether it would be possible
for me to obtain a photograph of any person known to me in life who
has passed over to the other side the production of one such picture, if
the person was unknown to the photographer and he had no means of obtaining the
photograph of the original while on Earth, seemed to me so much better a
test of the geniusness of the phenomena that could be secured by any amount of
personal supervision of the process of photography, that I left him to operate without
interference. The results he obtained when left to himself were precisely the same as
those when the slides passed only through my own hands. But although I obtained
a great variety of portraits of unknown persons, I got none whom I could
recognize. In a conversation with mister b as to how these shadow of pictures,
as he called them, came on the plate, I found him almost
as much at sea as myself. He said that he did not know how
they came, but that he had noticed that they came more frequently and with
greater distinctness at some times than at others. He could never say beforehand whether
they would come or not. He frequently informed me when my sitting began that
he could guarantee nothing, and often the set of plates would bear no trace
of any portrait to save mine. He was very reluctant to continue the experiments,
and used to complain that after exposing four plates with a view to obtaining
such pictures, he felt quite exhausted, and sometimes he complained that his ERDs
seemed to be turned upside down, to use his own phrase. I usually
sat with him between two and three in the afternoon, and on the days
which I came, he always obstinated from the usual glass of beer which he
took with his midday meal. If I came unexpectedly and he had had a
single glass of beer, which formed his usual beverage, he would always assure
me that I need not expect any good results. I, however, never
found any particular difference in the results. We often discussed the matter together,
and he was evidently working out a theory of his own, as any one
might under such circumstances. He knew that when he was excited or irritated,
he got bad results. Hence he often used to keep a music box going,
for the music, in his opinion, tended to set up good and
tranquil conditions. He said, he thought something must come out of him.
What he did not know, but something was taken out of him. And
with this something, he thought, the entities, whoever they were, built
themselves up and acquired sufficient substance to reflect the rays of light, so as
to impress the sensitive plates in his camera. He also thought that his old
camera had become what he called magnetized, and although it was an old fashioned
piece of furniture, which I not only examined myself, but had examined by
expert photographers, nothing could be discovered within or without it, which would account
for the results attained. He also was of the opinion that even although he
did not touch the photographic plate, it was necessary for him to touch or
to hold his hand over the photographic slide, and also to hold his hand
over the plate when it was in the developing bath. His theory was that
in some way or other this process magnetized the plate brought out a shadow portrait.
One peculiarity of almost all the shadow pictures obtained in the series of experiments
is that they have around them the same kind of white drapery which is so
familiar to those who have taken part in a materializing seance. Sometimes this drapery
is more volumeous than others. Often, when the conditions are good, the
form which it first appears with its head encompassed with drapery, will appear on
the second plate without any drapery. On asking mister B. What explanation he
could give for this, he said he did not know, but he believed
that the bodily appearance assumed by the spirit was very sensitive and needed to be
shielded from currents which might harm it. But when harmony prevailed, they could
venture to remove the drapery and be photographed without it. Whatever may be the
value of mister B's theory, there is little doubt that something is given off
from the body which can be photographed the white mist that appears to emanate from
his forms into cloudy folds, out of which their protrudes a more or less
clearly defined face with human features. Sometimes this white and misty cloud obscures the
sun. In other times it seems to be condensed, as if it were
in the process of being worked into a definite form, for the completion of
which either time or some other conditions were lacking. It was also noticeable that
the entity, whoever it may be, which builds up the form, who
was giving off sufficient solidity to impress its image upon the plate in the camera,
having once created the form, will use it repeatedly without any change of
position or expression. This will, no doubt seem a great stumbling block to
many. But the fact is as I have stated it, and our first
business is to ascertain facts, whether they tell for or against any particular hypothesis.
It may be that the disembodied spirit, in order to establish its identity,
constructs out of the aura given off by the photographer or other medium,
a mask or cast bearing the unmistakable resemblance to the body which it wore in
its sauzure in here on earth. Once built it up for use in the
studio, it may be easier to employ the same cast again and again,
instead of building up a new one at each fresh sitting. Upon this point,
however, I shall have something to say further on. I was very
much interested in the results I obtained, although as none of the photographs were
identified, I did not deem the experiment completely successful. I was very anxious
to introduce mister B to devote some months to an uninterrupted series of experiments,
and asked him on what terms I could secure his services. But he absolutely
refused. He said he did not like it. It made him unwell,
made people speak ill of him, and it did not matter what terms were
offered. He would not consent. He was an old man, he said,
and he could not find out how these things came, and in short,
neither scientific curiosity nor financial consideration would induce him to consent to more than
an occasional sitting. I therefore dropped the matter, and for some years I
discontinued my experiments. I had a friend who often accompanied me to mister B's
studio, where she had been photographed both with and without shadow pictures appearing in
the background. We often promised each other that if either of us passed over,
we would come back to be photographed by mister B if possible, in
order to prove the reality of spirit return. Shortly after this, my friend
died. But it was not until nearly four years after her death, at
the request of a friend who was very anxious to know whether she could communicate
with those on the other side, that I went back to mister B's studio.
He had always been slightly clairvoyant and clary audian. He told me that
a few days before I had ridden asking for the appointment, my deceased friend
had appeared in the studio and told him that I was coming. This reminded
me of her promise, and I said at once that I hoped he would
be able to photograph her. He said he didn't know. He was rather
frightened of her, for reasons into which I need not enter, but if
she came, he would see what he could do. My friend and I
sat together. The first plate was exposed, nothing appeared in the background.
When the second plate was placed in the camera, mister B nodded with a
quick look of recognition. We saw nothing. After he had exposed the second
plate, and before he developed it, he asked us to change seats.
We did this, and as he was exposing the third plate, he said,
I am told to ask you to do this, And when he closed
the shutter, he said, it is Missus M. On the fourth plate
there appeared a picture of a woman whom I had never seen before, and
whom my friend had never seen. Neither had mister B. When the plates
came to be developed, I found the second and third plates contained unmistakable likeness
of my friend, Missus EM. These portraits were immediately recognized by my friend
as un stapable likeness of the deceased Missus M. It will be objected that
she had frequently been photographed by the same photographer, and that he had simply
faked a photograph from one of his old negatives. I don't believe that this
is possible, for these portraits, although recognized immediately by everyone who knew her,
including her nearest relative, are all quite different from any photographs she had
ever taken in life. She certainly never was photographed enveloped in white drapery.
Nor do I believe that mister B had any negative of any of her portraits
in this possession. But I fully admit that from the point of view of
one who wishes to exclude every possibility of error, the fact that missus m
had been frequently photographed in her lifetime by the same photographer renders it impossible to
regard these photographs as conclusive testimony as to their authenticity as a photograph of a
form assumed by a disembodied spirit. I have mentioned that on the fourth plate
there appears a portrait of an unknown female. On my return, I was
showing the print of the shadow picture to a friend when she startled me by
declaring that the shrouded form which appeared behind me in the photograph was a portrait
of her mother, who had died some months before in Dublin. I had
never seen her mother, and my friend did not know of her existence.
Neither did the photographer, nor does he to this day. It was only
many months afterwards that I was able to obtain a photograph of my friend's mother,
But it was taken when she was a comparatively young woman and bore no
manner of resemblance to the portrait of the lady who appeared behind me. Her
daughter, however, had not the slightest hesitation in asserting that it was her
mother, that she had recognized her instantly, and that it was a very
good portrait of her as she appeared in the later years of her life.
This startled me not a little and convinced me that I had good prospect of
attaining some definite results as an outcome of my experiments. Mister B in curse
by this success, was willing to continue his experiments, and this time I
insisted upon paying him for his work. From this time onward, the occurrence
of photographs that were recognizable on the background of the photographs taken by mister b
became frequent. Sometimes the plates were marked, but not invariably. For my
part, I attached comparatively no importance to the marking of the plates in the
closed supervision of the operator. The test of the geniusness of a photograph that
is obtained when the unknown relative of an unknown sitter appears in the background of
the photograph was immeasurably superior to the precautions any expert, conjurer or trick photographer
might evade. Again and again I sent friends to mister B, giving him
no information as to who they were, nor telling him anything as to the
identify of the person's deceased friend or relative whose portrait they wished to secure.
In time and time again, when the negative was developed, the portrait would
appear in the background, or sometimes in front of the sitter. This occurred
so frequently that I am quite convinced of the impossibility of any fraud. One
time it was a French editor who, finding the portrait of his deceased wife
appear on the negative when developed, was so transported with delight that he insisted
on kissing the photographer, mister B, much to the old man's embarrassment.
On another occasion, it was a Lancashire engineer, himself a photographer, who
took marked plates in all possible precautions. He obtained portraits of two of his
relatives, and another of an eminent personage with whom he had been in close
relations. Or again it was a near neighbor who, going as a total
stranger through the studio, obtained the portrait of her deceased daughter. I attached
no importance whatever to the appearance of portraits of well known personages, which might
easily be copied from existing pictures. But I attached immense importance to the reduction
of the spirit photographs of unknown relatives of sitters who were unknown to the photographer,
who received them solely as a lady or gentleman who was one of my
friends. Although as I have said, I do not attach much importance to
photographs appearing of well known men, I confess that I was rather impressed by
one of my most recent experiments. I received a message from a medium in
Sheffield who was unknown to me, saying that Cecil Rhodes, who had then
been dead about nine months, had spoken to her clariodiantly, and had told
her to ask me to go to the photographers, and that he would come
and be photographed. The medium was a stranger to me, and I confess
that I received the message with considerable skepticism. However, when she came up
to town, I accompanied her to the studio. She declared that she saw
Cecil Rhoads and that he spoke to her, and that he was standing behind
me when the plate was exposed. When the plate came to be Deville,
although there was one well defined figure standing behind me and several other faces half
visible in the background, there was no portrait of Cecil Rhodes. I was
not surprised and went away. A month afterwards, I went to have another
sitting with the photographer. I chatted with him for a short time, and
then he left the room for a moment. When he came back, he
said to me there was a round face, well set up man here,
with a short mustache and a dimple in his chin. Do you know him?
No, I said, I do not know any such man. Well,
he seems to be very busy about you. Well, I said,
if he comes up stairs, we shall see what we can get. I
don't know, said he. When I was sitting he said, there he
is, and I see the letter R. Is it Robert or Richard?
Do you think I don't know any Robert or Richard? I said. He
took the picture. He then proceeded with the second plate, and said,
that man is still here, and I see behind him a country road.
I wonder what that means. He went into the dark room and presently came
out and said, I see road or roads? Do you know any one
of that name? Of course, I said, Cecil Roads. Do you
mean him as died in the travesol lately? Said he? I said,
yes, Well, he said, was he a man like that? Well?
He had a mustache, I said, And sure enough, when the
plate was developed there was a Cecil Roads, looking fifteen youngers than when he
had died. Some other plates were exposed. One was entirely blank. On
two others the mist was formed into a kind of clot of light, but
no figure was visible. The fifth had a portrait of an unknown man.
And on the sixth, when it came to be developed, there was the
same portrait of Cecil Roads that had appeared on the first, but without the
white drapery around the head. Of course, it may be said that it
was well known that I was connected with Cecil Roads, and that the photographer
therefore would have no difficulty in faking a portrait. I admit all that,
and therefore I would not have introduced this if it had not stood alone as
any evidence showing that it was a bona fide photograph of an invisible being.
But it does not stand alone, and I have almost every reason to believe
in the almost stupid honesty. If I may use such a phrase of the
photographer. I am naturally much interested in these latest photographs of the African colossus.
They are, at any rate, entirely new. No such portraits to
the best of my knowledge, and I have made a collection of all I
can lay my hands on, exactly resembling those portraits which I obtained at mister
B's studio. I will conclude the account of my experiments by telling how I
secured a portrait under circumstances which preclude any possibility of fate fraud. One day,
when I entered the studio, mister B said to me, there is
a man come with you who has been here before. He came here some
days ago when I was by myself. He looked very wild, and he
had a gun in his hand, and I did not like the look of
him. I don't like guns, so I asked him to go away,
for I was frightened of the gun. And he went away. But now
he has come with you and he has not got his gun any more,
so we will let him stop. I was rather amused at the old man's
story and said, well, see if you can photograph him. I don't
know as I can. He said, I never know what I can get,
which is quite true, for often the photographs which he says he sees
clairvoyantly do not come out on the plate. While he was photographing me,
I said to him, if you can tell this man to go away,
you can ask him his name. Yes, said he will you do so?
I said, yes, he said, after seeming to ask the question
mentally, he said, he says his name is Piet Botha. Piet Botha,
I said, I know no such name. There are Lewis and Philip
and Chris Botha. I have never heard of a Piet. Still, they
are a numerous family, and there are plenty of Bothas in South Africa.
And it will be interesting to ask General Botha when he arrives whether he knows
of any Piet Botha. When the negative was developed, sure enough, there
appeared behind me a photograph of a stalwart, bearded person who might have been
a Boer or a Russian Malejoui, but who was certainly unknown to me.
I had never seen a portrait of any one which bore any resemblance to the
photograph. When General Botha arrived, I did not get an opportunity of asking
him about the photograph. But some time afterwards I asked mister Fisher, one
of the delegation from the South African Republics, to look at the photograph and
if he got an opportunity to ask General Botha if he knew of such a
man as p Ate Botha. Mister Fisher said he thought he had seen the
face before, but he could not be certain. He departed with the photograph.
Some days afterwards, mister Wessel's, a member of the delegation with mister
Fisher, came down to my office. He said, I want to know
about that photograph that you gave mister Fisher. Yes, I said, what
about it? I want to know where you got it? I told him.
He replied disdainfully, I don't believe in such things. It is superstition.
Besides, that man didn't know mister b He has never been to London.
How could he come there? What I said, do you know him?
Know him? Said mister Wesseles. He is my brother in law.
Really, I said, what did they call him Pietris Johannes Botha, But
we always called him piate for short. Is he dead? Then? I
said, Yes, said mister Westle's he was the first Boer officer who was
killed in the Siege of Kimberly. But there is a mystery about this.
You didn't know him, no, I said, and never heard of him?
No, I said, But he said, I have the man's portrait
in my house in South Africa. How could you get it? But I
said, I never have had it. I don't understand, he said moodily,
and so departed. I afterwards showed the photograph to another Free State Boer
who knew Piate Botha very well, and he had not the slightest hesitation in
declaring that it was an unmistakable likeness of his dead friend. This is a
plain, straightforward narrative of my experiences. They are still going on. But
if I continue them forever, I don't see how I am going to obtain
better results than those which I have already secured. At the same time,
I must admit that when I have taken my own Kodak to the studio and
taken a photograph immediately before mister B had exposed his plate. I got no
results. The same failure occurred with another photographer whom I took, who took
his own camera in his own plates, and took a photograph immediately before and
immediately after mister B had exposed his plate and secured no result. Mister B's
explanation of this is that he thinks he does, in some way or other,
magnetize, as he terms it, the plate, that there is some
effluence from his hand which is as necessary for the development of the psychic figure
as the developing liquid is for the development of an ordinary photograph. This explanation
would no doubt be derided, as I presume Wiseacres would have derided the first
photographs when they insisted upon the necessity of darkness while developing their plates. What
I hold to be established is that in the presence of this particular individual,
mister B, who at presence is the only person known to me who is
able to produce these photographs, it is possible to obtain, under test conditions
photographs that are unmistakably portraits of deceased persons. The said deceased persons being entirely
unknown to him, and in some cases equally unknown to the sitter. Neither
was any portrait of such person accessible either to the sitter or the photographer.
Neither was either the sitter or the photographer conscious of the very existence of these
persons, whose identity was subsequently recognized by their friends. I am willing to
admit that there is no conceivable conditions in the way of marking plates and supervising.
The actions or the operations of the photographer are of the least use in
so much as an expert conjurer can easily deceive the eye of the unskilled observer.
But what I do maintain is that it is impossible for the cleverest trick
photographer and the ablest conjurer in the world to produce a photograph at a moment's
notice of an unknown relative of an unknown sitter, this portrait to be unmistakably
recognizable by all survivors who knew the original in life. This mister b has
done again and again, and it seems to me that a great step has
been made towards establishing the possibility of verifying by photography the reality of the existence
of other intelligences than our own. The photographer alluded to in this article is
mister Borisnell. He died shortly after it was written, and although farther experimented
with others, he never obtained such convincing and satisfactory results. End of photographing invisible beams