Newspapers / Wilmington Morning Star (Wilmington, … / July 1, 1923, edition 1 / Page 25
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■m Sir Arthur 'Conan Doyle, who is no^ ar Sherlock Holmes** on a trail of concrete materialistic 1; , ; * evidence of psychic phenomena, believes the canteTa faithfully registers pictures of the souls of * . •' those who have passed out of this world AN the camera slipw us those who ^ have passed beyond asks , Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and .answers his own question with an emphatic “Yes!” in his new book, “The Case for Spirit Photography.” - “After a quarter of a century’s investi gation of the subject, I am not convinced there is such a thing as spirit communi cation,” says Houdini, who presents him self as one eager for a sign from the Great Beyond. “Spirit pictures—I make them every night! It’s a great trick, if you know'how.” ' > . Which is right? Nevil Maskelyjje, World famous ma gician, siding with Houdini, declares all spirit photographs are frauds, and says it is the easiest thing, in the world to practice deception on l>edple who go to a medium full of trust that they will re ceive a picture of departed friejids. Hereward Carrington, doctor of philos ophy, who has devoted the greater part of his life to scientific investigation, says: “There have been many instances where pictures like these have appeared suddenly and apparently from nowhere. They are sometimes attributed to natural phenomena and sometimes ~ to spirit origin.” . * ■ “Ah!" say the editors of the Scientific American, “let us find out the truth of this matter,” Accordingly, they offer a prize of $2600 to the “first person producing a psychic photograph tinder our test conditions,”, also $2600 for psychic phenomenon of the physical and visible order. ; J MALCOLM BIRD, associate editor • of the Scientific American, had pic tures taken of himself by the carpen ter-psychic, William Hope, of England, some of which developed what Mr. Bird states to be “either a genuine psychic/ phenomenon, or else a fraud,”, and he seems himself CoiiVinced *that they are not frauds. '' : ■ Mr. Bird states that he bought the plates himself, examined the dark room, the campra box, lens and plate holder, selected two plates, which he signed and placed in the Plata holder. After, the. photographs1 had been taken, Mr. Bird took the plates to the dark room, accom panied by Hope, and developed -them; whereupon one picture of My. Bird^was , discovered te have-extra images on it. And. yet it was this same William Hope, carpenter-psychic, who was said to have beeir caught substituting plates by Mr- Harrr Price, member of th«r So ciety for Psychical Research! Mr. Price provided himself with packets of plates prepared so that when developed each would show one-fourth of a certain trmie-mark. He placed two of these ptetes in the dprk slide in the dark room, and while he was doipg UP the remaining plates, he saw Mr. Hope turn away and put the dark slide to his left breast pocket. Afterward the medium handed Mr. Price a slide, and they went te take the photographs. v Mr. Price, however, had taken the pre caution of marking the • slide he^had \ *5' - *./a V >.':■: . • -*• . ' _" ■This is one of the spirit photographs amund which wages,,a dispute. 'The picture td the right is a photograph of Mr*. R. Foulds, of Sheffield, England, with, a so-called psychic photograph X of her mother, who is dead. The photo to the left is that of the . , mother as she appeared when living and was taken some years « X before her death. This and the photos shown at the bottom of. the page are shown in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s latest book, “The y Case for Spirit Photography,” by George H. Doran Co.,/New York , loaded, $nd when he looked at the slide Mr. Hope, had handed back t6 him, he found it was not'the one he had marked., The two plates were ..exposed, and whert they were developed, there s was a so*' called spirit; photograph .on one, but the j trade-mark design was missing I “Upfair! Unfajrf” cries Sir Conan Doyle, rushing to the defense of his friend; Mr. Hope, to whose vindication he devotes much pf his late book. The trade-myk design was made /with X-ray. Yes, says Sir Arthur," but ex periment by several investigators, includ ing Dr. Cushmdl* of Washington, shows , that with long exposures, such as Hope gave, the X-ray marks vanish, so that this test, as is admitted by the Imperial Company who made the plates, ceases to be valid. ' 7 ' 4 Mr. Pricesays he made pin-pricks dn the carrier his had, which. were not found \ \ upon the carrier actually used. , ' • “Who says so?” cries Sir Arthur. They tirere only^ pricks, after all; and there’s no independent evidence of their exist- . encet ■ ■ ’ -' Hope made a gesture, to his left pocket in the dark room, accuses Mr. Price. “What does that prove?” demands Sir Arthur, “What became of the old carrier, in that case?”/.- ^ ; That1 the glass of which , the plates were'mpde and on w*hich the spirit photo graphs appeared was different in color ♦ and thickness from the glass of the Im perial Company; brought 'by Mr.' Price for the experiment 4s admitted by Sir Arthur,/ But he denies that’ it was Hope who t made the sustitution. . i • - t * * V ' *■' * . - . , ^ ■ ,Mv: . $/<•/->. y n >T"V y • > “The packet' of plated had been for several weeks before the experiment in the possesion of the officials of the S. P. R., and, was accessible' to clever Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and 1 Colleagues Insist Evidence for Y ' ' • Y Reality of Psychic Photography Is Overwhelming—“Fakes!” :,| Cry Critics as They Denounce < Ectoplasmic Pictures / . ' - . Ml - Houdini||the strong man of the stage, is one opthose lwho cry .“fraud” arid he maintains any clever medium cam manipulate a camera to fool a zealous ? "| ’ client ' <_ ' ■ fingereci people who were hostile to Hope’s Maims, and who had frequently averred! that the opening of sealed ' packetsSwas an easy process.” , \ ' ■; - || , V •: . V. SIR ARTHUR details at length a num ber "of instances of what appear to him collusive proof that spirits of the t dead coihe back to pose for their pictures on 'plate* with relatives, friends, or even strangM.1 _ *• % /■ * ', W. Harriott, psychic expert, however, proved fan one occasion, to Sir Arthur, and an||ditor that he could obtain trick photographs under usual conditions of test so as to deceive the most.watchful spiritualist. 1 Sir Arthur was present, and the editor took every precaution to render the trickery futile. He signed the plates and endeavored never to let them out of his hands.; While he was in the dark room, he dictated to a stenographer out side exactly what he was doing all the time.' Four plates were exposed, and in' spite of the watchfulness of the editor, when they were developed two bore “extras,’' One of these “extras” was on a plate bearing the Editor's signature, clinching its authenticity; the other showed some fairies dancing around ‘Sir1 Arthur. Yet the editor asserted the plates had never left his possession . or been touched by Mr. Marriott. When he consulted the notes made by the shorthand writer, however, he found that he had for oii» moment let the Td the left U shown a-phot^raph =|f Mr. William Jeffrey and his'daughter, and the white wraith is described as an “ectoplasmic bagi yet unrevealed. - But in the photo which purports to ‘be the material substance of a spirit as .. . ..- _the’right the ectoplasm is held to have taken on form in i the next exposed plate, arid that fac^is held to Resemble in excellent likeness, although slightly ' distorted^ the deceased wife of Mr. Jeffrey : ||if ; 7?i Copyright. 1823. by Publlo Ledfri Company 7 ■', ■/, • plates gofrom bis bands. He did net remember letting them go, bat the notes proved that he had done so. The fairies appearing on the plate were taken from1 a well known poster of fairies dancidg round 4 night light. “But," says Sir Arthur, “because one medium is accused or proved to have been dishonest is no reason for crying fraud upon the whole Weed. ' “In every science the methods of ad vance ere to; pay strict attention to the positive results and. to regard the' nega tive ones as. mere warnings of what to avoid. This process has been reversed in considering psychic photography, and .the world has been deceived by those Who should have been its guides. Truth will, of course, prevail, but its progress has been grievously retarded by this un happy and unscientific mental attitude,1* M m ;- A A , < .y?-' • 1 ."t'ACH of the cases given In his bool^ v ! Sir Arthur contends, is impressive fa v' itself, but their cumulative effect should - - be overpowering. He admits that one or /'■ two might be the result of imperfect ob- N' ■ servation or incorrect statement, but he cannot Understand how so long a list of ' ' > honorable witnesses, with actual photo- i graphic results, and with the complete exclusion of any possible trickery, should all be explained in any normal fashion. " ■■ - ' ■ - , . / ' Ferd Barlow, secretary S.^ S. 6, P, who adds a chapter to the book, asserts ^ > that he looks forward “with confidence to that day, not far distant, when all this talk of fake and fraud shall be no more, and when the psychologist and scientist shall combine the investigation of this ; vital problem.” - 1 ' : Here is the Scientific American ready,, * eager and anxiqus to receive proof, under reasonable test conditions, and willing to pay $2600 for the privilege of receiving such proof. Ihe camera is to be used for the diag- • nosis of disease, if tests now being con ducted by Dr. Alfred D,, Hitchings,. di« . rector of the Ansco Research Laboratory, . 'are successful. Each disease has a spe cific photo reaction which will identify: the ailment from which the patient is suffering, if studied, according to the doe ' tor. ■ • '■ * V / Cad the; camera also show, us those who have' passed beyond l " ifv; PR w y ' - - : :\r<: ;v i m
Wilmington Morning Star (Wilmington, N.C.)
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July 1, 1923, edition 1
25
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