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Speaker 1: Photographing Invisible Beings by William T. Stead. It was during

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the South African War that my father obtained one of

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his best authenticated spirit photographs. So I think that it

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is well to give here his own account of his

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experiments in that direction, he writes, while recording the results

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at which I have arrived, I wish to repudiate any

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desire to dogmatize as to their significance or their origin.

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I merely record the facts, and although I may indicate

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conclusions in inferences which I have drawn from them, I

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attach no importance to anything but the facts themselves. There

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is living in London at the present moment, an old

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man of seventy one years of age, a man of

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no education. He can write, but he cannot spell, and

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he has for many years earned his living as a photographer.

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He was always in a small way of business, a

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quiet and offensive man who brought up his family respectively

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and lived in peace with his neighbors, attracting no particular remark.

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When he started in business as a photographer. It was

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in the days when the wet process was almost universal,

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and he was much annoyed by finding that when he

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exposed plates other forms than that of the sitter would

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appear in the background. So many plates were spoiled by

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these unwelcome intruders that his partner became very angry and

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insist that the plates had not been washed before they

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were used. He protested this was not so, and asked

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his partner to bring a packet of completely new plates

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with which he would take a photograph and see what

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was the result. His partner accepted the challenge and produced

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a plate with which had never previously been used. But

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when the portrait of the next sitter was taken, there

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appeared a shadow form in the background. Angry and frightened

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at this unwelcome appearance, he flung the plates to the

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ground with an oath, and from that time, for very

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many years he was never again troubled by the occurrence

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of a similar phenomena. About ten years ago, he became

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interested in spiritualism, and to his surprise and also to

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his regret, the shadow figures began to reappear on the

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background of the photographs. He repeatedly had to destroy negatives

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and ask his customer to give him another sitting. It

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did his business harm, and in order to avoid this annoyance,

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he left most of the photography to his son. I

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happened to hear of these curious experiences of his and

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sought him out. I found him very reluctant to speak

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about the matter. He said, frankly, he did not know

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how the figures came. It had been a great annoyance

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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.

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In deference, however, to repeat it. Pressing on my part,

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he consented to make experiments with me, and I had,

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at various times a considerable number of sittings. At first

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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,

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to put them in the camera, which I was allowed

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to turn and side out, and after they were exposed,

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I was permitted to go into the dark room and

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

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obtained pictures of persons who were certainly not visible to me.

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In the studio, I was allowed to do almost anything

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that I pleased, to alter the background, to change the

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position of the camera, to sit at any angle that

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I chose, in short, to act as if the studio

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in all belonging to it was my own, and I

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repeatedly obtained what the old photographer called shadow pictures, but

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none of them bore any resemblance to any person whom

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I had known In all these earlier experiments. The photographer,

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whom I will call mister B made no charge, and

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the only request that he made was that I should

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not publish his name or do anything to let his

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neighbors know of the curious shadow pictures which were obtainable

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in his studio. After a time, I was so thoroughly

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satisfied that the shadow photographs or spirit forms were not

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produced by any fraud on the part of the photographer,

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that I did not trouble to bring my own marked plates.

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I allowed him to use his own, and to do

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all the work of loading the slide and of developing

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the plate without my assistance or supervision. What I wanted

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was to see whether it would be possible for me

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to obtain a photograph of any person known to me

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in life who has passed over to the other side

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the production of one such picture, if the person was

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unknown to the photographer and he had no means of

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obtaining the photograph of the original while on Earth, seemed

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to me so much better a test of the geniusness

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of the phenomena that could be secured by any amount

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of personal supervision of the process of photography, that I

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left him to operate without interference. The results he obtained

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when left to himself were precisely the same as those

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when the slides passed only through my own hands. But

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although I obtained a great variety of portraits of unknown persons,

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I got none whom I could recognize. In a conversation

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with mister b as to how these shadow of pictures,

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

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him almost as much at sea as myself. He said

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that he did not know how they came, but that

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he had noticed that they came more frequently and with

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greater distinctness at some times than at others. He could

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never say beforehand whether they would come or not. He

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frequently informed me when my sitting began that he could

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guarantee nothing, and often the set of plates would bear

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no trace of any portrait to save mine. He was

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very reluctant to continue the experiments, and used to complain

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that after exposing four plates with a view to obtaining

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such pictures, he felt quite exhausted, and sometimes he complained

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that his ERDs seemed to be turned upside down, to

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use his own phrase. I usually sat with him between

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two and three in the afternoon, and on the days

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which I came, he always obstinated from the usual glass

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of beer which he took with his midday meal. If

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I came unexpectedly and he had had a single glass

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of beer, which formed his usual beverage, he would always

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assure me that I need not expect any good results. I, however,

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never found any particular difference in the results. We often

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discussed the matter together, and he was evidently working out

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a theory of his own, as any one might under

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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

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a music box going, for the music, in his opinion,

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tended to set up good and tranquil conditions. He said,

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he thought something must come out of him. What he

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

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

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built themselves up and acquired sufficient substance to reflect the

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rays of light, so as to impress the sensitive plates

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in his camera. He also thought that his old camera

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had become what he called magnetized, and although it was

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an old fashioned piece of furniture, which I not only

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examined myself, but had examined by expert photographers, nothing could

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be discovered within or without it, which would account for

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the results attained. He also was of the opinion that

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even although he did not touch the photographic plate, it

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was necessary for him to touch or to hold his

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hand over the photographic slide, and also to hold his

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hand over the plate when it was in the developing bath.

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His theory was that in some way or other this

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process magnetized the plate brought out a shadow portrait. One

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peculiarity of almost all the shadow pictures obtained in the

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series of experiments is that they have around them the

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same kind of white drapery which is so familiar to

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those who have taken part in a materializing seance. Sometimes

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this drapery is more volumeous than others. Often, when the

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conditions are good, the form which it first appears with

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its head encompassed with drapery, will appear on the second

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plate without any drapery. On asking mister B. What explanation

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

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but he believed that the bodily appearance assumed by the

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spirit was very sensitive and needed to be shielded from

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

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could venture to remove the drapery and be photographed without it.

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Whatever may be the value of mister B's theory, there

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is little doubt that something is given off from the

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body which can be photographed the white mist that appears

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to emanate from his forms into cloudy folds, out of

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which their protrudes a more or less clearly defined face

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with human features. Sometimes this white and misty cloud obscures

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the sun. In other times it seems to be condensed,

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as if it were in the process of being worked

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into a definite form, for the completion of which either

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time or some other conditions were lacking. It was also

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noticeable that the entity, whoever it may be, which builds

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up the form, who was giving off sufficient solidity to

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impress its image upon the plate in the camera, having

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once created the form, will use it repeatedly without any

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change of position or expression. This will, no doubt seem

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a great stumbling block to many. But the fact is

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as I have stated it, and our first business is

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to ascertain facts, whether they tell for or against any

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particular hypothesis. It may be that the disembodied spirit, in

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order to establish its identity, constructs out of the aura

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given off by the photographer or other medium, a mask

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or cast bearing the unmistakable resemblance to the body which

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it wore in its sauzure in here on earth. Once

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built it up for use in the studio, it may

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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.

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Upon this point, however, I shall have something to say

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further on. I was very much interested in the results

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I obtained, although as none of the photographs were identified,

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I did not deem the experiment completely successful. I was

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very anxious to introduce mister B to devote some months

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to an uninterrupted series of experiments, and asked him on

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what terms I could secure his services. But he absolutely refused.

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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

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matter what terms were offered. He would not consent. He

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was an old man, he said, and he could not

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find out how these things came, and in short, neither

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scientific curiosity nor financial consideration would induce him to consent

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to more than an occasional sitting. I therefore dropped the matter,

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and for some years I discontinued my experiments. I had

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a friend who often accompanied me to mister B's studio,

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where she had been photographed both with and without shadow

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pictures appearing in the background. We often promised each other

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that if either of us passed over, we would come

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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,

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my friend died. But it was not until nearly four

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years after her death, at the request of a friend

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who was very anxious to know whether she could communicate

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with those on the other side, that I went back

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to mister B's studio. He had always been slightly clairvoyant

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and clary audian. He told me that a few days

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before I had ridden asking for the appointment, my deceased

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friend had appeared in the studio and told him that

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I was coming. This reminded me of her promise, and

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I said at once that I hoped he would be

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

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was rather frightened of her, for reasons into which I

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need not enter, but if she came, he would see

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what he could do. My friend and I sat together.

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

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When the second plate was placed in the camera, mister

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B nodded with a quick look of recognition. We saw nothing.

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After he had exposed the second plate, and before he

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developed it, he asked us to change seats. We did this,

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and as he was exposing the third plate, he said,

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I am told to ask you to do this, And

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when he closed the shutter, he said, it is Missus M.

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On the fourth plate there appeared a picture of a

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woman whom I had never seen before, and whom my

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friend had never seen. Neither had mister B. When the

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plates came to be developed, I found the second and

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third plates contained unmistakable likeness of my friend, Missus EM.

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These portraits were immediately recognized by my friend as un

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stapable likeness of the deceased Missus M. It will be

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objected that she had frequently been photographed by the same photographer,

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and that he had simply faked a photograph from one

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of his old negatives. I don't believe that this is possible,

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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

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photographs she had ever taken in life. She certainly never

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was photographed enveloped in white drapery. Nor do I believe

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that mister B had any negative of any of her

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portraits in this possession. But I fully admit that from

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the point of view of one who wishes to exclude

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every possibility of error, the fact that missus m had

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been frequently photographed in her lifetime by the same photographer

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renders it impossible to regard these photographs as conclusive testimony

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as to their authenticity as a photograph of a form

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assumed by a disembodied spirit. I have mentioned that on

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the fourth plate there appears a portrait of an unknown female.

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On my return, I was showing the print of the

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shadow picture to a friend when she startled me by

243
00:14:07,600 --> 00:14:10,399
declaring that the shrouded form which appeared behind me in

244
00:14:10,440 --> 00:14:13,000
the photograph was a portrait of her mother, who had

245
00:14:13,039 --> 00:14:16,120
died some months before in Dublin. I had never seen

246
00:14:16,159 --> 00:14:19,000
her mother, and my friend did not know of her existence.

247
00:14:19,679 --> 00:14:22,440
Neither did the photographer, nor does he to this day.

248
00:14:23,200 --> 00:14:25,679
It was only many months afterwards that I was able

249
00:14:25,720 --> 00:14:28,960
to obtain a photograph of my friend's mother, But it

250
00:14:29,039 --> 00:14:31,879
was taken when she was a comparatively young woman and

251
00:14:31,960 --> 00:14:34,600
bore no manner of resemblance to the portrait of the

252
00:14:34,679 --> 00:14:38,919
lady who appeared behind me. Her daughter, however, had not

253
00:14:39,039 --> 00:14:42,120
the slightest hesitation in asserting that it was her mother,

254
00:14:42,759 --> 00:14:45,559
that she had recognized her instantly, and that it was

255
00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:47,960
a very good portrait of her as she appeared in

256
00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:50,799
the later years of her life. This startled me not

257
00:14:50,919 --> 00:14:53,919
a little and convinced me that I had good prospect

258
00:14:54,000 --> 00:14:58,000
of attaining some definite results as an outcome of my experiments.

259
00:14:58,519 --> 00:15:02,200
Mister B in curse by this success, was willing to

260
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continue his experiments, and this time I insisted upon paying

261
00:15:06,279 --> 00:15:09,720
him for his work. From this time onward, the occurrence

262
00:15:09,720 --> 00:15:12,559
of photographs that were recognizable on the background of the

263
00:15:12,559 --> 00:15:16,840
photographs taken by mister b became frequent. Sometimes the plates

264
00:15:16,879 --> 00:15:20,639
were marked, but not invariably. For my part, I attached

265
00:15:20,679 --> 00:15:24,159
comparatively no importance to the marking of the plates in

266
00:15:24,200 --> 00:15:27,519
the closed supervision of the operator. The test of the

267
00:15:27,559 --> 00:15:30,799
geniusness of a photograph that is obtained when the unknown

268
00:15:30,799 --> 00:15:33,919
relative of an unknown sitter appears in the background of

269
00:15:33,960 --> 00:15:38,840
the photograph was immeasurably superior to the precautions any expert,

270
00:15:38,960 --> 00:15:42,919
conjurer or trick photographer might evade. Again and again I

271
00:15:43,039 --> 00:15:46,639
sent friends to mister B, giving him no information as

272
00:15:46,679 --> 00:15:49,879
to who they were, nor telling him anything as to

273
00:15:49,960 --> 00:15:53,960
the identify of the person's deceased friend or relative whose

274
00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:56,840
portrait they wished to secure. In time and time again,

275
00:15:56,879 --> 00:15:59,440
when the negative was developed, the portrait would appear in

276
00:15:59,480 --> 00:16:03,279
the background, or sometimes in front of the sitter. This

277
00:16:03,360 --> 00:16:06,519
occurred so frequently that I am quite convinced of the

278
00:16:06,559 --> 00:16:10,159
impossibility of any fraud. One time it was a French

279
00:16:10,320 --> 00:16:13,679
editor who, finding the portrait of his deceased wife appear

280
00:16:13,799 --> 00:16:17,200
on the negative when developed, was so transported with delight

281
00:16:17,480 --> 00:16:21,159
that he insisted on kissing the photographer, mister B, much

282
00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:24,600
to the old man's embarrassment. On another occasion, it was

283
00:16:24,600 --> 00:16:29,559
a Lancashire engineer, himself a photographer, who took marked plates

284
00:16:29,559 --> 00:16:33,720
in all possible precautions. He obtained portraits of two of

285
00:16:33,759 --> 00:16:37,440
his relatives, and another of an eminent personage with whom

286
00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:41,120
he had been in close relations. Or again it was

287
00:16:41,159 --> 00:16:44,360
a near neighbor who, going as a total stranger through

288
00:16:44,399 --> 00:16:48,879
the studio, obtained the portrait of her deceased daughter. I

289
00:16:48,960 --> 00:16:52,799
attached no importance whatever to the appearance of portraits of

290
00:16:52,919 --> 00:16:57,080
well known personages, which might easily be copied from existing pictures.

291
00:16:57,519 --> 00:17:00,720
But I attached immense importance to the reduction of the

292
00:17:00,720 --> 00:17:04,680
spirit photographs of unknown relatives of sitters who were unknown

293
00:17:04,759 --> 00:17:08,200
to the photographer, who received them solely as a lady

294
00:17:08,319 --> 00:17:12,519
or gentleman who was one of my friends. Although as

295
00:17:12,559 --> 00:17:15,559
I have said, I do not attach much importance to

296
00:17:15,640 --> 00:17:19,359
photographs appearing of well known men, I confess that I

297
00:17:19,440 --> 00:17:22,720
was rather impressed by one of my most recent experiments.

298
00:17:23,359 --> 00:17:26,039
I received a message from a medium in Sheffield who

299
00:17:26,160 --> 00:17:29,480
was unknown to me, saying that Cecil Rhodes, who had

300
00:17:29,519 --> 00:17:33,279
then been dead about nine months, had spoken to her clariodiantly,

301
00:17:33,759 --> 00:17:35,519
and had told her to ask me to go to

302
00:17:35,519 --> 00:17:38,960
the photographers, and that he would come and be photographed.

303
00:17:39,839 --> 00:17:42,440
The medium was a stranger to me, and I confess

304
00:17:42,519 --> 00:17:47,279
that I received the message with considerable skepticism. However, when

305
00:17:47,279 --> 00:17:50,119
she came up to town, I accompanied her to the studio.

306
00:17:50,839 --> 00:17:53,640
She declared that she saw Cecil Rhoads and that he

307
00:17:53,720 --> 00:17:56,480
spoke to her, and that he was standing behind me

308
00:17:56,640 --> 00:17:59,559
when the plate was exposed. When the plate came to

309
00:17:59,599 --> 00:18:03,200
be Deville, although there was one well defined figure standing

310
00:18:03,240 --> 00:18:06,920
behind me and several other faces half visible in the background,

311
00:18:07,359 --> 00:18:10,559
there was no portrait of Cecil Rhodes. I was not

312
00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:14,480
surprised and went away. A month afterwards, I went to

313
00:18:14,519 --> 00:18:17,960
have another sitting with the photographer. I chatted with him

314
00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:20,279
for a short time, and then he left the room

315
00:18:20,319 --> 00:18:22,880
for a moment. When he came back, he said to

316
00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:26,279
me there was a round face, well set up man here,

317
00:18:26,440 --> 00:18:29,039
with a short mustache and a dimple in his chin.

318
00:18:29,559 --> 00:18:32,680
Do you know him? No, I said, I do not

319
00:18:32,880 --> 00:18:36,319
know any such man. Well, he seems to be very

320
00:18:36,319 --> 00:18:40,559
busy about you. Well, I said, if he comes up stairs,

321
00:18:40,640 --> 00:18:43,640
we shall see what we can get. I don't know,

322
00:18:43,880 --> 00:18:47,240
said he. When I was sitting he said, there he is,

323
00:18:47,519 --> 00:18:50,680
and I see the letter R. Is it Robert or Richard?

324
00:18:50,680 --> 00:18:53,200
Do you think I don't know any Robert or Richard?

325
00:18:53,319 --> 00:18:56,720
I said. He took the picture. He then proceeded with

326
00:18:56,759 --> 00:18:59,559
the second plate, and said, that man is still here,

327
00:18:59,680 --> 00:19:02,839
and I see behind him a country road. I wonder

328
00:19:02,880 --> 00:19:05,960
what that means. He went into the dark room and

329
00:19:06,039 --> 00:19:09,720
presently came out and said, I see road or roads?

330
00:19:10,400 --> 00:19:13,279
Do you know any one of that name? Of course,

331
00:19:13,599 --> 00:19:17,799
I said, Cecil Roads. Do you mean him as died

332
00:19:17,839 --> 00:19:22,480
in the travesol lately? Said he? I said, yes, Well,

333
00:19:22,680 --> 00:19:26,680
he said, was he a man like that? Well? He

334
00:19:26,759 --> 00:19:29,880
had a mustache, I said, And sure enough, when the

335
00:19:29,920 --> 00:19:33,440
plate was developed there was a Cecil Roads, looking fifteen

336
00:19:33,519 --> 00:19:38,480
youngers than when he had died. Some other plates were exposed.

337
00:19:39,119 --> 00:19:42,640
One was entirely blank. On two others the mist was

338
00:19:42,720 --> 00:19:45,880
formed into a kind of clot of light, but no

339
00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:49,319
figure was visible. The fifth had a portrait of an

340
00:19:49,400 --> 00:19:52,559
unknown man. And on the sixth, when it came to

341
00:19:52,599 --> 00:19:55,880
be developed, there was the same portrait of Cecil Roads

342
00:19:56,119 --> 00:19:58,519
that had appeared on the first, but without the white

343
00:19:58,599 --> 00:20:01,759
drapery around the head. Of course, it may be said

344
00:20:01,880 --> 00:20:03,960
that it was well known that I was connected with

345
00:20:04,039 --> 00:20:07,519
Cecil Roads, and that the photographer therefore would have no

346
00:20:07,559 --> 00:20:11,880
difficulty in faking a portrait. I admit all that, and

347
00:20:11,960 --> 00:20:14,759
therefore I would not have introduced this if it had

348
00:20:14,759 --> 00:20:18,319
not stood alone as any evidence showing that it was

349
00:20:18,319 --> 00:20:21,559
a bona fide photograph of an invisible being. But it

350
00:20:21,599 --> 00:20:24,599
does not stand alone, and I have almost every reason

351
00:20:24,640 --> 00:20:27,920
to believe in the almost stupid honesty. If I may

352
00:20:28,079 --> 00:20:31,920
use such a phrase of the photographer. I am naturally

353
00:20:32,079 --> 00:20:36,319
much interested in these latest photographs of the African colossus.

354
00:20:36,680 --> 00:20:41,400
They are, at any rate, entirely new. No such portraits

355
00:20:41,519 --> 00:20:44,079
to the best of my knowledge, and I have made

356
00:20:44,119 --> 00:20:46,319
a collection of all I can lay my hands on,

357
00:20:46,920 --> 00:20:51,240
exactly resembling those portraits which I obtained at mister B's studio.

358
00:20:51,839 --> 00:20:54,799
I will conclude the account of my experiments by telling

359
00:20:54,839 --> 00:20:58,720
how I secured a portrait under circumstances which preclude any

360
00:20:58,759 --> 00:21:03,359
possibility of fate fraud. One day, when I entered the studio,

361
00:21:03,839 --> 00:21:06,759
mister B said to me, there is a man come

362
00:21:06,799 --> 00:21:09,759
with you who has been here before. He came here

363
00:21:09,799 --> 00:21:12,920
some days ago when I was by myself. He looked

364
00:21:13,039 --> 00:21:15,559
very wild, and he had a gun in his hand,

365
00:21:16,200 --> 00:21:18,599
and I did not like the look of him. I

366
00:21:18,599 --> 00:21:21,119
don't like guns, so I asked him to go away,

367
00:21:21,480 --> 00:21:24,160
for I was frightened of the gun. And he went away.

368
00:21:25,039 --> 00:21:27,279
But now he has come with you and he has

369
00:21:27,319 --> 00:21:29,720
not got his gun any more, so we will let

370
00:21:29,799 --> 00:21:33,160
him stop. I was rather amused at the old man's

371
00:21:33,160 --> 00:21:36,599
story and said, well, see if you can photograph him.

372
00:21:37,079 --> 00:21:40,279
I don't know as I can. He said, I never

373
00:21:40,400 --> 00:21:43,400
know what I can get, which is quite true, for

374
00:21:43,599 --> 00:21:47,359
often the photographs which he says he sees clairvoyantly do

375
00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:51,119
not come out on the plate. While he was photographing me,

376
00:21:51,400 --> 00:21:53,599
I said to him, if you can tell this man

377
00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:57,119
to go away, you can ask him his name. Yes,

378
00:21:57,720 --> 00:22:02,640
said he will you do so? I said, yes, he said,

379
00:22:03,519 --> 00:22:07,119
after seeming to ask the question mentally, he said, he

380
00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:11,839
says his name is Piet Botha. Piet Botha, I said,

381
00:22:12,359 --> 00:22:15,960
I know no such name. There are Lewis and Philip

382
00:22:16,119 --> 00:22:20,240
and Chris Botha. I have never heard of a Piet. Still,

383
00:22:20,359 --> 00:22:22,839
they are a numerous family, and there are plenty of

384
00:22:22,880 --> 00:22:26,160
Bothas in South Africa. And it will be interesting to

385
00:22:26,240 --> 00:22:30,519
ask General Botha when he arrives whether he knows of

386
00:22:30,559 --> 00:22:35,519
any Piet Botha. When the negative was developed, sure enough,

387
00:22:35,599 --> 00:22:38,759
there appeared behind me a photograph of a stalwart, bearded

388
00:22:38,759 --> 00:22:42,559
person who might have been a Boer or a Russian Malejoui,

389
00:22:42,799 --> 00:22:45,799
but who was certainly unknown to me. I had never

390
00:22:45,839 --> 00:22:49,319
seen a portrait of any one which bore any resemblance

391
00:22:49,440 --> 00:22:53,079
to the photograph. When General Botha arrived, I did not

392
00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:56,759
get an opportunity of asking him about the photograph. But

393
00:22:56,839 --> 00:22:59,920
some time afterwards I asked mister Fisher, one of the

394
00:23:00,079 --> 00:23:03,480
delegation from the South African Republics, to look at the

395
00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:07,039
photograph and if he got an opportunity to ask General

396
00:23:07,119 --> 00:23:09,519
Botha if he knew of such a man as p

397
00:23:09,759 --> 00:23:13,160
Ate Botha. Mister Fisher said he thought he had seen

398
00:23:13,200 --> 00:23:16,519
the face before, but he could not be certain. He

399
00:23:16,640 --> 00:23:21,480
departed with the photograph. Some days afterwards, mister Wessel's, a

400
00:23:21,559 --> 00:23:24,640
member of the delegation with mister Fisher, came down to

401
00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:28,599
my office. He said, I want to know about that

402
00:23:28,640 --> 00:23:33,200
photograph that you gave mister Fisher. Yes, I said, what

403
00:23:33,319 --> 00:23:36,160
about it? I want to know where you got it?

404
00:23:36,960 --> 00:23:40,880
I told him. He replied disdainfully, I don't believe in

405
00:23:40,920 --> 00:23:45,359
such things. It is superstition. Besides, that man didn't know

406
00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:48,920
mister b He has never been to London. How could

407
00:23:48,960 --> 00:23:52,960
he come there? What I said, do you know him?

408
00:23:53,920 --> 00:23:58,920
Know him? Said mister Wesseles. He is my brother in law. Really,

409
00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:04,079
I said, what did they call him Pietris Johannes Botha,

410
00:24:04,799 --> 00:24:08,960
But we always called him piate for short. Is he dead? Then?

411
00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:13,960
I said, Yes, said mister Westle's he was the first

412
00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:17,039
Boer officer who was killed in the Siege of Kimberly.

413
00:24:17,599 --> 00:24:22,000
But there is a mystery about this. You didn't know him, no,

414
00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:26,480
I said, and never heard of him? No, I said,

415
00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:30,720
But he said, I have the man's portrait in my

416
00:24:30,839 --> 00:24:34,559
house in South Africa. How could you get it? But

417
00:24:35,119 --> 00:24:39,160
I said, I never have had it. I don't understand,

418
00:24:39,359 --> 00:24:43,480
he said moodily, and so departed. I afterwards showed the

419
00:24:43,480 --> 00:24:47,240
photograph to another Free State Boer who knew Piate Botha

420
00:24:47,519 --> 00:24:50,759
very well, and he had not the slightest hesitation in

421
00:24:50,799 --> 00:24:54,920
declaring that it was an unmistakable likeness of his dead friend.

422
00:24:56,519 --> 00:25:00,839
This is a plain, straightforward narrative of my experiences. They

423
00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:04,240
are still going on. But if I continue them forever,

424
00:25:04,519 --> 00:25:06,680
I don't see how I am going to obtain better

425
00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:10,759
results than those which I have already secured. At the

426
00:25:10,799 --> 00:25:13,480
same time, I must admit that when I have taken

427
00:25:13,519 --> 00:25:16,559
my own Kodak to the studio and taken a photograph

428
00:25:16,680 --> 00:25:20,480
immediately before mister B had exposed his plate. I got

429
00:25:20,519 --> 00:25:24,960
no results. The same failure occurred with another photographer whom

430
00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:28,240
I took, who took his own camera in his own plates,

431
00:25:28,559 --> 00:25:32,160
and took a photograph immediately before and immediately after mister

432
00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:36,519
B had exposed his plate and secured no result. Mister

433
00:25:36,599 --> 00:25:39,720
B's explanation of this is that he thinks he does,

434
00:25:39,839 --> 00:25:43,400
in some way or other, magnetize, as he terms it,

435
00:25:43,720 --> 00:25:47,000
the plate, that there is some effluence from his hand

436
00:25:47,319 --> 00:25:50,039
which is as necessary for the development of the psychic

437
00:25:50,079 --> 00:25:53,559
figure as the developing liquid is for the development of

438
00:25:53,599 --> 00:25:58,359
an ordinary photograph. This explanation would no doubt be derided,

439
00:25:58,440 --> 00:26:03,119
as I presume Wiseacres would have derided the first photographs

440
00:26:03,200 --> 00:26:06,680
when they insisted upon the necessity of darkness while developing

441
00:26:06,720 --> 00:26:09,839
their plates. What I hold to be established is that

442
00:26:09,880 --> 00:26:14,160
in the presence of this particular individual, mister B, who

443
00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:16,880
at presence is the only person known to me who

444
00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:21,200
is able to produce these photographs, it is possible to obtain,

445
00:26:21,359 --> 00:26:27,160
under test conditions photographs that are unmistakably portraits of deceased persons.

446
00:26:27,599 --> 00:26:30,920
The said deceased persons being entirely unknown to him, and

447
00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:35,480
in some cases equally unknown to the sitter. Neither was

448
00:26:35,559 --> 00:26:39,119
any portrait of such person accessible either to the sitter

449
00:26:39,319 --> 00:26:42,240
or the photographer. Neither was either the sitter or the

450
00:26:42,240 --> 00:26:46,440
photographer conscious of the very existence of these persons, whose

451
00:26:46,519 --> 00:26:51,319
identity was subsequently recognized by their friends. I am willing

452
00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:54,359
to admit that there is no conceivable conditions in the

453
00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:58,119
way of marking plates and supervising. The actions or the

454
00:26:58,160 --> 00:27:01,799
operations of the photographer are of the least use in

455
00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:05,440
so much as an expert conjurer can easily deceive the

456
00:27:05,519 --> 00:27:08,759
eye of the unskilled observer. But what I do maintain

457
00:27:09,400 --> 00:27:12,680
is that it is impossible for the cleverest trick photographer

458
00:27:13,119 --> 00:27:16,119
and the ablest conjurer in the world to produce a

459
00:27:16,160 --> 00:27:20,799
photograph at a moment's notice of an unknown relative of

460
00:27:20,839 --> 00:27:26,200
an unknown sitter, this portrait to be unmistakably recognizable by

461
00:27:26,279 --> 00:27:29,519
all survivors who knew the original in life. This mister

462
00:27:29,559 --> 00:27:32,680
b has done again and again, and it seems to

463
00:27:32,720 --> 00:27:36,000
me that a great step has been made towards establishing

464
00:27:36,039 --> 00:27:40,559
the possibility of verifying by photography the reality of the

465
00:27:40,599 --> 00:27:45,880
existence of other intelligences than our own. The photographer alluded

466
00:27:45,920 --> 00:27:49,319
to in this article is mister Borisnell. He died shortly

467
00:27:49,400 --> 00:27:53,039
after it was written, and although farther experimented with others,

468
00:27:53,519 --> 00:27:59,160
he never obtained such convincing and satisfactory results. End of

469
00:27:59,200 --> 00:28:00,960
photographing invisible beams