No evidence of Mumler's psychic power gave greater weight to his absolute genuineness than the testimony of Judge Edmond, who was Justice of N.Y., Supreme Court from 1847 to 1851 and the U.S. Court of Appeals, also, a Senator for N.Y. State for many years.  He stated: "I know a great many persons who have visited Mumler, some of whom have met with astonishing success in procuring spirit pictures of departed friends."  The Judge himself had two sittings with Mumler and in each case obtained spirit extras which were clearly recognised by him.

 

During this séance which was in daylight, Mr. Guppy [the medium's husband] thought he could feel something being placed on his head.  When the photograph was developed a wreath of flowers could be seen on his head together with a large veiled figure which stood beside him.  So far as I am able to ascertain, this was the first spirit photograph ever made known in England.  A few days later another spirit photograph was obtained in the Hudson studio, and I have presented this in Fig. 3.

"I know of fourteen different types of extras.  By types I mean the variations of the ectoplasmic surrounds, cocoons, etc., from which the extras emerge."

During the early days of spirit photography, it was a natural impulse to regard such achievements as a result of a double exposure by the medium.  Such conclusions can no longer satisfy the genuine researcher.  Test conditions, such as I will outline later have shown that the medium need not touch the camera or even be present in the same room.  Researchers have literally taken possession of the developing outfit, the camera and all the other paraphernalia which make photography possible.  They have provided their own negatives (plates or film), conducted their own preparations, and kept the medium throughout the test, at a distance of twelve to fourteen feet from the camera.  Spirit extras however, have still continued to appear and in some cases they have been recognised as spirit entities who died even before the camera was invented.

Some time ago I submitted some of my photographs to an ex-member of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Police of Great Britain.  For over fifteen years he had been associated with criminal photography.  He declared to me that there was absolutely no evidence of a double exposure or any form of tampering with the negatives which would indicate them to be fraud or trickery.  "So far as I am able to understand them," he said, "they are quite genuine photography and would stand up to critical and professional examination in any Court of Law."

"I had the pleasure," she wrote, and she confirmed this at a later date, "of sitting with the Crewe Circle very many times over a period of years and I always found Mr. William Hope and Mrs. Buxton most anxious that I should examine everything before the photographs were taken.  I often examined the camera, the dark room, the plates and even the room in which the photographs were taken.  Very often I had no results myself, but others present obtained results of a remarkable character.

"There is not the slightest doubt that the partnership of William Hope and Mrs. Buxton produced spirit phenomena of an outstanding character.  During their day they contributed much to the proof of survival and spirit return.

"The messages you mention were all given on one plate.  This plate was never exposed in the camera.  After the box of plates had been magnetised by putting our hands; Mr. Hope's, Mrs. Buxton's and mine, over and under it.  I was instructed by Mr. Hope's Guide to go into the dark room and take out the two bottom plates, noticing the order and marking them.  When developed the bottom plate was blank, the next had these messages on it and a faint outline of my father's face.

"Using two plates taken from a box I bought in Crewe and never let out of my sight, Mr. Hope took two photographs of me.  On one a large face recognised by me and others as my father's practically covers me.  On the other my father's face is clearly visible close to me.  (See Fig. 10).

"At a later sitting after taking the necessary precautions my brother's face is shown very clearly, an excellent likeness."

Fig. 13 is a good example of the beautiful ectoplasmic draperies out of which the extra peeps.  The sitters are Mr. and Mrs. Pugh of Middlesbrough.  They obtained many recognised extras through the Crewe Circle in their own home . . . At another sitting with William Hope he received a photograph of spirit writing.  We need not hesitate to use this term because it denotes an intelligence behind the phenomena.  The message states:

"Dear Friends,

We shall do our best to prove to your satisfaction that we are still able and eager to interest ourselves in your welfare, and all we ask is fair and honest judgement, which we feel we shall receive from you.  God bless you."

. . . it is interesting to note that the ectoplasmic envelope enclosing the extra on some of the photographs, appears to be of a skin-like structure, others being a solid mass.

 

The sitter in 18 is Tom Lynn himself and in 19 it is Jim Patterson, the colleague of Lynn who was a well-known spiritual healer of Gateshead as well as being a spirit photographer himself.  The only difference between the two messages to be found on 18 and 19 is that the name Patterson has been added.  Lady Doyle confirmed the writing as that of her husband [the late Arthur Conan Doyle]. 

An additional proof that this writing is in fact that of Sir Arthur's, Jerry Clarke obtained from Arthur's secretary, a letter which he had received while Sir Arthur was on his African tour.  Jerry Clarke photographed the letter and from it we find that Sir Arthur had two ways of writing his capital D.  He used both D's and the signature on the letter is a printed "D" and on the photographs the "D" in the signature is written in the same way as he wrote Dear on the letter.

Dugoid was noted for his production of photographs which were obtained in complete darkness and without the use of a camera, or any other form of instrument.  These have come to be known as "psychigraphs" or "scotographs" . . .

 

 

It is worthwhile to recall that David Dugoid was not an educated or knowledgeable man.  His mediumship produced much which was beyond the capacity of his very average intelligence.  It proved beyond all doubt that a greater and invisible intelligence was at work.

In the early '30s a spirit photographer who admitted that he could not account for the results, was subjected to many tests by Maurice Barbanell, Editor of Two Worlds.  His name was John Myers and he later became a successful industrialist in New York, USA.  He is also a gifted spiritual healer [healing facilitator] and during 1959 achieved distinction by the remarkable cure of Samuel Cohn of New York who was suffering from  psoriasis, a skin disease that is medically regarded as incurable.

 

Myers had many identified spirit faces appear on unexposed photographic paper which he never handled.  This took place at a remarkable public séance which Myers gave in New York City during 1928.  The meeting, which was organised by the New York Institute of Parapsychology, was held in a large studio of the Metropolitan Opera House.

Great surprise was caused by members of the audience, who recognised faces of the "dead" and symbolic images which appeared on 25 sensitised papers, which had been subject to the strict test conditions.  This experiment was  supervised by Jacob Gerstein, an American Attorney, and Andrija Puharich, President of the National Psychical Society.

Gerstein testified that he bought the packet of 25 sensitised film papers from Photographic Fair Ltd., of 167 West 57th Street, New York City.  The Attorney said the packet had never left his possession and had not been tampered with in any way.  He invited members of the audience to examine the packet before he broke the seal.

Myers returned to the outer Hall and the studio lights were extinguished.  The Chairman, Clifford Bias, President of the New York Institute of Parapsychology, held a lamp with a yellow light over three trays of hypo and developer, while Gerstein immersed the sensitised paper in the solution.  John Myers did not return to the studio until all the prints had been obtained.  The photographic papers had previously been numbered from 1 to 25 and they were finally handed to those in the audience holding these numbers.  According to the report of this experiment the results were as follows:

 

One woman announced that she recognised her "dead" daughter's face on the scotograph.  Another said she identified a "dead" nurse who had tended her during an illness.  Chandra Kali, a famous dancer, stated that her scotograph depicted a crescent moon, with a beam of light.  Kali's first name, Chandra, means "moon" . . . Symbols on other papers included a fish, a knife, a big black circle, and five moons with shafts of light.

 

 

Amongst the John Myers plates which I recently unearthed was Fig. 30.  The information provided with this plate indicates that it was taken under test conditions . . .