Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-06-14
Photo Visible Only to Clairvoyants.

customary upon request
Photo Visible Only to Clairvoyants.
The Society for Psychic Research has,
however, collected data of other striking
cases of ghost photography and kindred
phenomena. VIM. 7. Stead, the noted
writer, reports the strange case of an anna
teur photographer who photographed
visitor standing in front of the mantelpiece
OF the formers room. When the plate was
developed there was a photograph of the
mantelpiece, but the figure in front OF 1t
had entirely disappeared. This was a great
mystery, but still greater was the sequel.
When that photograph was shown to clair
voyants in Chicago, who were unaware CT
any mystery connected herewith, these
clairVoyants saw the missing man standing
with his back to the mantelpece and de-
scribed him quite accurately. The clair
voyants would not believe that Mr.. Stead,
who exhibited the picture, could not see
the person, whom they saw quite unmistak-
ably in the middle of the photograph. AT
another time Mr.. Stead himself sat for a
photograph, being posed next to solid
wooden pedestal on which was a pot con-
tanning a fern. The photograph shows a
woman behind the PEDESTAL The latter,
without being moved, appears as if short
ened about a foot, and through it is also
seen the bottom of a curtain.
Made Invisible to Lens by Hypnotism.
Prof. Wagner of St. Petersburg commu-
nicates to the Imperial Technique Society
of Russia another extraordinary result OBJ
tanned through photography. Desiring to
photograph hypnotized subject, he direct
ed upon him his camera, and by aid Of a
magnesium lamp made two instantaneous
exposures. When he examined the dsvel-
oped plates his establishment was without
bounds. The walls of the ROOM the furni-
ture, the curtains, the carpets all appeared
In detail, but the subject was nowhere to
be discovered. In his stead was seen on
one of the plates a portion of his hand and
on the other part of his boot, while the
rest of his body was concealed by white
spots rising in concentric layers. The pic
ture was made IN the investigators own
apartment, in the middle of a room closed
and locked, into which no intruder could
come while the professor hypnotized his
subject and extended him on his sofa No
blanket or like material covered the sub
ject. The learned experimenter is unable
to give any satisfactory explanation of the
phenomenon.
What are alleged to be genuine spirit
photographs are reported to the society
to have been honestly produced by Sir VIM.
Crookes, the eminent English chemist; also
by Trail Taylor, Stanton Moses. Nine.
dEsperance and others. Advocates of
spirit mater1alfzations use all of this data
to prove that while you can deceive the
human eye, you cannot deceive the eve of
science, as the Photographic camera has
been termed"
Since the above Interview the writer has
been busy with his camera producing bo-
gus ghost pictures Of all sorts and de-
scrlptions. Having learned how simple a
matter it is to produce weird effects. sur-
ficient to deceive the unnitiated, he is not
surprised that this application of the cam
era has already been taken I'D as a handi-
craft and source of revenue. Perhaps some
ghoStly lntruderS upon sensitive films and
plates have been bona fide, but that does
not alter the fact that these phenomena
can be initiated by bap
Fi1my Ghosts.
By aid of a few confederates, effects more
sensational than the spook picture Of Lord
D. can be made by the merest amateur
and with the crudest apparatus.
A startling effect can be obtained by pos
ing two confederates. one in ordinary ap-
parel, the other wrapped in a sheet. The
two are posed before a background varie-
gated in detail, the one in every day dress
assuming perhaps ansattitude Of grief, as If
heart broken by the intelligence of DEATH
the sheeted figure standing by as if endeav-
oring to make it's presence known. Half of
the proper time is first given the two fig
ures. standing together. The shutter of the
camera then being closed for a second, the
sheeted figure Is instructed to swiftly de-
part, without disturbing any object within
the field of the lens. AT the same time the
subject posed to represent an individual
of the flesh is told to remain still, holding
the original position throughout the pause
The ghost figure having darted entirely
from the field, the shutter is again opened
and the remaining sitter is given the same
time Of exposure as allowed for the two
previously. Thus is obtained a single i'm
age Of the subject who sat throughout and
a composite picture Of the ghost and the
objects Immediately behind it. This COM
posite image, upon development of the plate
or film, gives the sheeted figure a filmy,
semi-transparent appearance and the back
ground family shows through the folds of
the sheet.
Equally startling pictures may be obtained
by posing the sheeted figure, sjngly, before
a piano table and by making another
double exposure in which the background
receives twice the time allowed for the
ghost.
Surrounded by Spirit Heads.
Confederates of so-called mediums have
now an established enterprise of making