{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_59809/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_59809","id":"gutenberg_59809","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/59809","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Religion/Spirituality","Spirit photography","Spiritualism"],"text":"Produced by Tim Lindell and the Online Distributed\nProofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was\nproduced from images generously made available by The\nInternet Archive/American Libraries.)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE CASE FOR SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY\n\nARTHUR CONAN DOYLE\n\n\n\n\nBy SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE\n\n\n_On the Life Hereafter_\n\n    THE NEW REVELATION\n    THE VITAL MESSAGE\n    THE COMING OF THE FAIRIES\n    THE CASE FOR SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY\n    THE WANDERINGS OF A SPIRITUALIST\n    OUR AMERICAN ADVENTURE\n\n_A History of the Great War_\n\n    THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE AND FLANDERS\u20145 Vols.\n\n_Poems_\n\n    THE GUARDS CAME THROUGH\n\n_Novels and Stories_\n\n    DANGER! And Other Stories\n    THE DOINGS OF RAFFLES HAW\n    HIS LAST BOW\n      Some Latin Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes\n\nNEW YORK\n\nGEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY\n\n\n\n\n                              THE CASE FOR\n                           SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY\n\n                                   BY\n                           ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE\n\n                     WITH CORROBORATIVE EVIDENCE BY\n                         EXPERIENCED RESEARCHERS\n                            AND PHOTOGRAPHERS\n\n                               ILLUSTRATED\n\n                             [Illustration]\n\n                                NEW YORK\n                         GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY\n\n                            COPYRIGHT, 1923,\n                       BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY\n\n                             [Illustration]\n\n                   THE CASE FOR SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY. I\n\n                 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nThe publicity given to the recent attacks on Psychic Photography has\nbeen out of all proportion to their scientific value as evidence. When\nSir Arthur Conan Doyle returned to Great Britain, after his successful\ntour in America, the controversy was in full swing. With characteristic\npromptitude he immediately decided to meet these negative attacks by a\npositive counter-attack, and this volume is the outcome of that decision.\n\nWe have used the term \u201cSpirit Photography\u201d on the title-page as being\nthe popular name by which these phenomena are known. This does not imply\nthat either Sir Arthur or I imagine that everything supernormal must\nbe of spirit origin. There is, undoubtedly, a broad borderland where\nthese photographic effects may be produced from forces contained within\nourselves. This merges into those higher phenomena of which many cases\nare here described. Those desiring fuller information on this subject are\nreferred to \u201cPhotographing the Invisible,\u201d by James Coates.\n\nIt was only when editing the matter for these pages that I fully realised\nwhat an overwhelming mass of reliable material we had to work upon. In\nrestricting this book to the necessary limits it has only been possible\nto make use of a small portion of this evidence. Many more cases have\nbeen placed on record and may be published on some future occasion.\nMost of the letters accompanying these descriptions display a deep\nand genuine affection for the maligned mediums of the Crewe Circle.\nOur hearty thanks are due to all those friends who have so readily\nco-operated in this work and who are so willing to brave the discomforts\nof publicity for what they know to be the truth.\n\n                                                             FRED BARLOW.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n                                                                  PAGE\n\n         PREFACE BY FRED BARLOW                                      v\n\n    CHAPTER\n\n       I THE CREWE CIRCLE                                           13\n\n      II SOME PERSONAL EXPERIENCES                                  21\n\n     III EVIDENTIAL TESTS AND THEIR RESULTS                         28\n\n      IV AN EXAMINATION OF MR. HOPE AND HIS CRITICS                 38\n\n       V FURTHER DIFFICULTIES CONSIDERED                            55\n\n      VI THE ATTACK ON MRS. DEANE AND MR. VEARNCOMBE                60\n\n     VII THE GENESIS AND HISTORY OF THE CREWE CIRCLE BY MISS\n           F. R. SCATCHERD                                          70\n\n    VIII EVIDENTIAL AND SCIENTIFIC ASPECTS OF PSYCHIC\n           PHOTOGRAPHY BY FRED BARLOW                               79\n\n      IX CONCLUSIVE PROOF FROM MANY SOURCES                         96\n\n\n\n\nILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n                                                                  PAGE\n\n    Barlow, Mr. H. D., Psychic and Normal Photographs of           127\n\n    Burgess, Mrs., with Psychic Picture of Her Uncle               127\n\n    Buxton, Mrs., and Daughter, with Psychic Picture of\n      Her Father                                                    47\n\n    Colley, Archdeacon, Psychic Message in the Handwriting of       14\n\n    Colley, Archdeacon, Normal Handwriting of                       14\n\n    Colley, Archdeacon, Photomicrograph of Portion of Normal\n      Signature                                                     78\n\n    Colley, Archdeacon, Photomicrograph of Portion of Signature\n      in Psychic Message                                            78\n\n    Crawford, Dr. W. J., Psychic Message in the Handwriting of      15\n\n    Crawford, Dr. W. J., Normal Handwriting of                      15\n\n    Crookes, Sir William, with Psychic Face                         31\n\n    Cushman, Agnes, Psychic Picture of                              63\n\n    Cushman, Agnes, Normal Photograph of                            63\n\n    Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan, and Group, with Psychic Message\n      from Archdeacon Colley                                        14\n\n    East, Mr. and Mrs. H., with Psychic and Normal Pictures\n      of Son                                                        47\n\n    Foulds, Mrs. R., with Psychic Photograph of Her Mother         110\n\n    Foulds, Mrs. R., Normal Photograph of the Mother of            110\n\n    Griere, Mrs. A. E., with Psychic Likeness of Husband\n      and Father                                                   111\n\n    Griere, Mrs. A. E., Photograph of the Husband of               111\n\n    Jeffrey, Mr. Wm., and Daughter, Showing Ectoplasmic Bag         62\n\n    Jeffrey, Mr. Wm., and Daughter, with Psychic Likeness\n      of Mrs. Jeffrey                                               62\n\n    Maddocks, Mr. S., with Psychic Likeness of First Wife           95\n\n    Maddocks, Mr. S., Normal Photograph of the First Wife of        95\n\n    Pickup, Mrs., with Psychic Likeness of Husband                 126\n\n    Pickup, Mrs., Photograph of the Husband of                     126\n\n    S.S.S.P., Group Photograph with Psychic Face                    30\n\n    Spencer, Major R. E. E., with Psychic Face                      31\n\n    Tweedale, the Rev. C. L., and Wife, with Psychic Likeness\n      of Mrs. Tweedale\u2019s Father                                     46\n\n    Tweedale, the Rev. C. L., Photograph of the Father-in-law of    46\n\n    Walker, Mr. and Mrs. Harry, and Friends, with Psychic\n      Likeness of Mr. Wm. Walker                                    79\n\n    Walker, Mr. Wm., with Psychic Message in Handwriting\n      of Mr. W. T. Stead                                            79\n\n    Walker, Mr. Wm., Psychic Message in Handwriting of              94\n\n    Walker, Mr. Wm., Specimen of Handwriting of                     94\n\n\n\n\nTHE CASE FOR SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nTHE CREWE CIRCLE\n\n\nAn accusation of a damaging, and, as I believe, of an entirely unfounded\ncharacter, has been brought forward by Mr. Harry Price against Mr. Hope,\nwhose name has for more than seventeen years been associated with the\nstrange phenomenon which has been called spirit photography. I will deal\nlater with this accusation with which the Society for Psychic Research\nhas unfortunately associated itself by publishing the report of it in\ntheir official journal. Before touching upon it I should wish to take\na broader sweep and to show the overpowering weight of evidence which\nexists as to the reality of Mr. Hope\u2019s most remarkable gift.\n\nIf a man were accused of cowardice it would be natural that his defender\nshould not confine himself to the particular case, but should examine the\nman\u2019s whole career and put forward instances of valour as an argument\nagainst the charge. So also if a man is accused of dishonesty a long\nrecord of honesty would be his most complete defence. Therefore in\nconsidering the case of Mr. Hope, and the value of his mediumship, one\nmust not limit one\u2019s investigation to a single case, where errors of\nobservation and of deduction may creep in, but must take a broader view\nwhich will embrace an account of a long series of cases, vouched for by\nmen and women of the highest character, and incompatible with any form\nof fraud. If the reader will have the patience to follow my facts and my\nargument, I hope to make it clear to any unprejudiced mind that there is\noverwhelming evidence that we have in Mr. Hope a man endowed with most\nsingular powers, and that, instead of persecuting and misrepresenting\nhim, it would be wiser if we took a sympathetic view of his remarkable\nwork, which has brought consolation to the afflicted, and conviction to\nmany who had lost all belief in the independent life of the spirit.\n\nMany speak of Mr. Hope and of the Crewe Circle without any definite idea\nof what the words mean. Let me explain, then, that Mr. William Hope, who\nis a working-man, discovered, some seventeen years ago, quite by chance,\nthat this remarkable power of producing extra faces, figures or objects\nupon photographic plates had been given to him. In the first instance he\nwas taking a fellow-workman, and the plate, when developed, was found to\ncontain an extra figure which was recognised as being a likeness of his\ncomrade\u2019s sister, who had recently passed away.\n\nThis form of mediumship is rare, but from the days of Mumler, who\nfirst showed it in 1861, there has never been a time when one or more\nsensitives have not been able to demonstrate it.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 1.\u2014Impression received upon a marked plate which\nnever left the author\u2019s hands, save when in carrier. (_See_ p. 21.)]\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 2.\u2014Specimen of Archdeacon Colley\u2019s writing during his\nlifetime. (_See_ p. 22.)]\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 3.\u2014Psychograph in the handwriting of Dr. W. J.\nCrawford. (_See_ p. 25.)]\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 4.\u2014Specimen of Dr. W. J. Crawford\u2019s writing during\nhis lifetime.]\n\nHope was greatly surprised at his own results, but he had the good\nfortune in early days to meet the late Archdeacon Colley, an enlightened\nmember of the Anglican Church, who tested his powers, endorsed them and\nappreciated their value. It was he who gave Hope his first stand camera,\nthe old-fashioned instrument to which he still clings, and which, with\nits battered box and broken leg, is familiar to many of us.\n\nNo one knows the story of these beginnings so well as Miss Scatcherd, who\nwas the intimate friend of the Archdeacon and shared the evidence which\nhad so impressed him. Miss Scatcherd has kindly consented to jot down her\nreminiscences of these early days, that I may include them in the later\npages of this volume.\n\nSuffice it if I say, at present, that Hope has been before the public\nfor seventeen years, that during that time many special tests have been\ndemanded of him and have been successfully met, that he has been closely\nobserved by experts of all sorts\u2014scientific men (including Sir William\nCrookes), journalists, professional photographers and others\u2014that he\nhas patiently submitted himself to all sorts of experiment, and that\nhe has emerged from this most drastic ordeal with the complete support\nand approval of far the greater part of his clients. That he has been\nfiercely attacked goes without saying, for every medium has that\nexperience, but each fresh allegation against him has ended in smoke,\nwhile his gifts have grown stronger with time, so that the percentage\nof blanks in his results is, I should say, lower than it used to be. No\nmedium can ever honestly guarantee success, but it would probably be\nwithin the mark if one claimed that Hope attained it three times out\nof five, though the results vary much in visibility and value, being\nmere vague outlines in some cases, and in others so detailed in their\nperfection that the extra is clearer and more life-like than the sitter.\nThese variations seem to depend upon the state of health of the medium,\nthe qualities of the investigator, the atmospheric conditions and other\nobscure causes.\n\nIn person, Hope is a man who gives the impression of being between fifty\nand sixty years of age, with the manner and appearance of an intelligent\nworking-man. His forehead is high and indicates a good, if untrained,\nbrain beneath it. The general effect of his face is aquiline with large,\nwell-opened, honest blue eyes, and a moustache which is shading from\nyellow to grey. His voice is pleasant, with a North Country accent which\nbecomes very pronounced when he is excited. His hands with their worn\nnails and square-ended fingers are those of the worker, and the least\nadapted to sleight-of-hand tricks of any that I have seen.\n\nMrs. Buxton, who aids him, is a kindly, pleasant-faced woman on the sunny\nside of middle-age. Her mediumistic powers seem to be akin to those of\nHope, and though the latter had all his earlier results independently, he\nis stronger when he combines his forces with Mrs. Buxton\u2019s.\n\nThey both give an impression of honesty and frankness, which increases\nas one comes to know them more closely. I have never met two people who\nseemed to me from manner and appearance to be less likely to be in a\nconspiracy to deceive the public.\n\nThey and all their circle are spiritualists of a Salvation Army type,\nmuch addicted to the hearty singing of hymns and the putting up of\nimpromptu prayers. Hope, the most unconventional of beings, has been\nknown in the midst of one of his photographic lectures (which he delivers\noccasionally in his shirt-sleeves) to say, \u201cAnd now, my friends, we will\nwarm up with a hymn,\u201d in which the audience, unable to escape, has to\nacquiesce. It is a type of character which associates itself sometimes,\nI admit, with a loathsome form of hypocrisy, but which has in it\nsomething peculiarly childlike and sweet when it is perfectly honest and\nspontaneous as it is, to the best of my belief, in the case of the two\nmediums in question.\n\nSome prejudice can be excited against Hope by the mere assertion that\nhe is a professional medium. The public is aware that fraud\u2014sometimes\nunhappily real, sometimes only alleged\u2014is too often associated with this\nprofession. Sufficient allowance is not made for the fact that the papers\nonly take note of psychic things when they go wrong, and never when they\ngo right. The dishonest medium is so easily found out that one could\nhardly make a living at so precarious a trade.\n\nIn a very extended experience, which covers many hundreds of s\u00e9ances,\nI have only encountered fraud three or four times. Had I registered\nthose cases and omitted the others, I would have given the impression\nof continued fraud, which is exactly how the matter is presented to the\npublic who are continually hoodwinked, not by the spiritualists but by\nthe critics and so-called \u201cexposers\u201d who represent what is exceptional as\nbeing constant.\n\nIt is exactly this prejudice which prevents a medium or his friends from\nbringing an action for libel, so that the unhappy man or woman becomes a\nbutt for any charge or any ridicule, the assailants knowing well that\nthe ordinary legal rights of a Briton are hardly applicable to one who\ncan be represented as living from a profession which is not recognised by\nour laws. This cowardly medium-baiting will cease only when the public\nshow, by abstaining from the purchase of the journals which pursue it,\nthat they have no sympathy with such persecutions.\n\nI would wish to point out, however, that Hope is not in a strict sense a\nprofessional medium. I have never met anyone who seemed to me less venal\nthan he. I am aware of a case where an exploiter approached him with a\nproposal to turn his gift into money, but was received in the coldest\npossible manner. Twice when I have sat with him at Crewe he has refused\nto take a fee, though he could never have known that the fact would be\nmade public. It is true that on each occasion I disregarded him to the\nextent of leaving some remembrance upon the mantelpiece when his back was\nturned, but I have been assured by others that he has again and again\nrefused all remuneration for his sitting, and has charged the ridiculous\nsum of 4s. 6d. per dozen for prints from the negatives obtained. This\nsum is calculated upon the average time expended at the rate of his own\ntrade earnings. I do not wish to overstate this side of the question or\nto pretend that he would not be open to a present from a grateful client.\nOf how many of us could that be honestly said? But my point is that his\ngifts have been as open to the poor as to the rich\u2014which all spiritual\ngifts should be.\n\nIt is, of course, another matter when he comes to London and gives\nsittings by appointment at the British College of Psychic Science. That\ncollege is an expensive and most useful establishment, which is run, with\na yearly deficit, through the generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Hewat McKenzie,\nand it is only right that those who use it should contribute an adequate\nsum to its maintenance.\n\nTo illustrate my remarks upon Hope\u2019s character and the general lines upon\nwhich the Crewe Circle is conducted, I would like to give this extract\nfrom the letter of a miner, Mr. East, of 36, New Street, Port Talbot, who\ndescribes an experience which he had in 1920. After giving an account of\nthe precautions taken, and of the appearance upon the plate of his son\u2019s\nface: [_See_ Figure 11.]\n\n    \u201cHundreds of persons who knew him have seen the photo and\n    recognised him.\u201d He adds: \u201cWhen I asked what their charges\n    were, Mr. Hope replied: \u2018Four and sixpence a dozen. For the\n    sitting, nothing. This is a gift from God and we dare not\n    charge for what is freely given us. Our pay is often the wonder\n    and joy depicted on the faces of those, like yourselves, who\n    have found that their loved ones are not entirely lost to them.\n    We get all kinds and classes of people here. Some even are\n    threadbare and too poor to pay train-fare, but we treat them\n    all alike as we recognise in each a brother or sister.\u2019\n\n    \u201cI could not but be impressed by the Christ-spirit of the two\n    friends, whom we had never seen before that short half-hour,\n    and not since. And when I read of men who try to make those two\n    persons appear something detestable I go back in memory to that\n    day when it was our good fortune to meet them and recall their\n    more than kind attitude to two bruised hearts. God bless them,\n    say I.\u201d\n\nWith these preliminary remarks I will now lay before the reader a\nselection of cases which I have taken from Mr. Hope\u2019s record, and I will\nask him to read them carefully and see if they can be reconciled with\nany possible system of fraud. We are, of course, always open to the\nobjection that a man may be perfectly honest fifty times and fraudulent\nthe fifty-first. That is undeniable and constitutes the great difficulty\nin dealing with isolated cases where no impartial witness was present,\nand where both the accusation and the defence are equally _ex-parte_\nstatements. We can only say in rebuttal that previous honesty must\npredispose us to assume that there is no fraud, and remind our readers\nthat if we can only show one single case, which is absolutely beyond\ncriticism, then we have for ever settled the larger contention, that\nit is possible in the presence of certain individuals, whom we call\nmediums, to produce effects which are supernormal and which would appear\nto indicate separate intelligences acting visibly quite independently of\nourselves.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nSOME PERSONAL EXPERIENCES\n\n\nI will first give an account of my own visit to Crewe which was in the\nsummer of 1919. I bought my plates in Manchester and then travelled over\nto keep the appointment which had been made a week before. Arriving at\nCrewe, I went down to the little house in Market Street, which is so\nmodest and humble that it furnishes an argument in itself against any\nundue cupidity on the part of its tenant. Two spiritualistic friends, Mr.\nOaten, editor of the _Two Worlds_, and Mr. Walker, were my companions.\n\nMr. Hope and Mrs. Buxton were waiting for us, and, after a short\nreligious service, Mr. Hope and I went into the dark room. There I opened\nthe packet of plates, put two into the carrier and marked them then and\nthere. The carrier was then taken into the room and Mr. Hope inserted\nit into the camera. We three spiritualists sat in front with a rug, or\nblanket, as a background. The exposure having been made, the carrier was\ntaken back into the dark room where, with my own hands, I took out the\nplates, developed them and fixed them. So far as I could judge, there was\nat no stage any possibility of changing the plates.\n\nBut this question does not really arise. No changing of plates would\naccount for the effect actually produced. This effect I have shown in\nFigure 1. There is a hazy cloud covering us of what I will describe as\nectoplasm, though my critics are very welcome to call it cotton-wool\nif it eases their feelings to do so. In one corner appears a partial\nmaterialisation of what seems to be the hair and forehead of a young man.\nAcross the plate is scrawled, \u201cWell done, Friend Doyle, I welcome you to\nCrewe. Greetings to all. T. COLLEY.\u201d\n\nI have already explained that Archdeacon Colley was the founder of the\nCrewe Circle, and if, as we believe, we continue our interest after\ndeath it would seem not unnatural that he should send a kindly word to\na visitor who was working for the cause. How can we determine that the\nmessage was really from Archdeacon Colley? The obvious way would be to\nget a sample of his writing in life and to compare it with that upon the\nplate. This I have done, as shown in Figure 2. Can anyone deny that the\nhandwriting is the same in both instances, or can anyone suppose that\nthe rough script of Hope could possibly be modified into the scholarly\nhandwriting of the Archdeacon? Whence, then, did this message come?\nDoes anyone imagine that a private forger is retained by Hope and lurks\nsomewhere in that humble abode? It is a problem which calls for an\nanswer, and no talk about conjuring tricks or transposition of plates has\nthe least bearing upon it. It may be remarked incidentally that my own\nstrong desire was to obtain some sign from my son who had passed away the\nyear before. The result seemed to show that our personal wishes do not\neffect the outcome.\n\nHaving failed to get what I desired, I remained at Crewe for the night,\nand next morning went down to Market Street again. On this occasion I\nused Hope\u2019s own plates, having left mine at the hotel. He gave me the\nchoice of several packets. The result obtained under all the precautions\nwhich I could adopt (it would only weary the reader if I gave every\npoint of detail) was a photograph of the face of a young man beside my\nown. It was not a good likeness of my son, though it resembled him as\nhe was some eight years before his death. Of the three results which I\nobtained at Crewe it was the one which impressed me least. On examination\nwith a lens it was noticeable that the countenance was pitted with fine\ndots, as in the case of process printing. This is to be noticed in a\ncertain proportion, possibly one in ten, of Hope\u2019s results, and occurs\nin the case of persons whose faces could by no possibility have appeared\nin newspapers. One can only suppose that it is in some way connected\nwith the psychic process, and some have imagined a reticulated screen\nupon which the image is built up. I am content to note the fact without\nattempting to explain it. I have observed the same effect in other\npsychic photographs.\n\nThe third result was the most remarkable of any. I had read that Hope\ncan get images without the use of the camera, but the statement sounded\nincredible. He now asked me to mark a plate and put it in a carrier,\nwhich I did. We then placed our hands on either side of the carrier,\nMrs. Buxton and her sister joining in. At the end of about a minute Hope\ngave a sort of shudder, and intimated that he thought a result had been\nobtained. On putting the plate into the solution a disc the size of a\nshilling, perfectly black, sprang up in the centre of it. On development\nthis resolved itself into a luminous circle with the face of a female\ndelicately outlined within it. Under the chin is a disc of white, and\ntwo fingers which are pointing to it. The disc is evidently a brooch,\nand the pointing seemed to indicate that it was meant to be evidential.\nThe face bore a strong resemblance to that of my elder sister, who died\nsome thirty years ago. Upon sending the print to my other sisters they\nnot only confirmed this, but they reminded me that my sister had a very\nremarkable ivory brooch in her lifetime and that it was just the one\nobject which might best have been chosen as a test. I regret that this\npicture is so delicate that it will not bear reproduction.\n\nSuch were my three results at Crewe, and I should, I hold, have been\ndevoid of reason had I not been deeply impressed by them. Here was a\nmessage in Archdeacon Colley\u2019s own handwriting. Here was a test from my\nown dead sister which seemed to be beyond all possible coincidence, apart\nfrom the extraordinary way in which the picture was obtained. Neither\nsleight-of-hand nor transference of plates could have any bearing upon\nsuch results as those. Their full significance was not realised until I\nhad made enquiries, but after that time I felt it impossible to doubt the\nsupernormal nature of the powers which had produced such effects.\n\nIt might perhaps be argued that as Archdeacon Colley\u2019s writing was\nfamiliar to Hope, he had, in spite of his disabilities, made some\nspecial effort to master and reproduce it. As a matter of fact, however,\nthis case does not stand alone, and many evidential writings have been\nobtained at Crewe, notably those of W. T. Stead and of the late Dr.\nCrawford. The latter is a recent incident, and I would take it as my next\nexample, since it illustrates this phenomenon of writing, and is again\nfree from the bogey of transposition.\n\nUpon June 30 of this year (1922) three delegates from Belfast, Mr.\nSkelton, Mr. Gillmour and Mr. Donaldson, were coming over to the London\nSpiritualists\u2019 Conference. They broke their journey at Crewe in order\nto have a sitting with Mr. Hope, who was in deep distress at the time\non account of the attack made upon him in Mr. Price\u2019s report. It is\nworth noting that Mrs. Crawford, the widow of Dr. Crawford, had come\nover with them on the boat, and that Dr. Crawford\u2019s affairs had been\nunder discussion, though Hope had no means of knowing it. Under good\nfraud-proof conditions, on their own specially-marked plate, the visitors\nobtained a message in Dr. Crawford\u2019s handwriting, which runs thus, I\nsupplying the punctuation:\n\n    \u201cDEAR MR. HOPE,\n\n    \u201cNeedless to say I am with you where psychic work is concerned,\n    and you can be sure of my sympathy and help. I know all the\n    difficulties and uncertainties connected with the subject. I am\n    keenly interested in your circle and will co-operate with you.\n    Regarding your enemies who would by hook or by crook dispose of\n    the phenomena, leave them alone. I, W. J. Crawford, of Belfast,\n    am here in Crewe on Friday, June 30th.\n\n                                                    \u201cW. J. CRAWFORD.\u201d\n\nEach word is on its own little patch of ectoplasm, or upon its own pad\nof cotton-wool, if the critics prefer it, though it would puzzle them,\nI think, to reproduce the effect which is given in Figure 3. The plate\nalongside (Figure 4) shows a reproduction of an actual note of Crawford\u2019s\nwhich will enable the reader to judge the extreme similarity of the\nscript. Once more we confront the critic with this fact and ask him to\nface the difficulty and to tell us whence this writing came; whether it\nis a production of Mr. Hope\u2019s, or whether the theory of a private forger\nupon the premises can be sustained.\n\nApart from these cases of the reproduction of handwriting, copies of\ndocuments have appeared upon the plates at Crewe which could by no means\nhave got there in a normal fashion. A case in point is given in detail\nby the Reverend and venerable Professor Henslow on p. 217 of his _Proofs\nof Spiritualism_. In this case, the truth of which is vouched for by the\nProfessor, although it did not actually occur to him, the plates were\nheld between the hands of the sitters in the manner already described,\nbut the packet had not been opened and was as it had come from the\nchemist. When the packet was opened and the plates developed there was\nfound impressed upon the fifth plate a number of Greek characters, which\nproved to be a copy of four lines of the _Codex Alexandrinus_, a rare\nGreek text kept in a glass case in the British Museum. The interesting\npoint appears that the two documents are not facsimiles, and that there\nis some slight difference in the formation of the letters, thus meeting\nthe objection that the text photographed might have been got from some\nfacsimile of the original _Codex_. The photographs of the original Greek\nand of the Crewe reproduction are given in Professor Henslow\u2019s work.\nHere, again, we may well ask the critic to face the facts and give us\nsome feasible explanation as to how this Greek text was precipitated\non to a plate in a sealed packet under the mediumship of an unlearned\ncarpenter at Crewe.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nEVIDENTIAL TESTS AND THEIR RESULTS\n\n\nWe will now turn to the reproduction of faces, and I will give an\ninstance where all the stock theories about changing or superposition\nof plates become untenable. At the annual meeting of the Society for\nthe Study of Supernormal Pictures, I being present, a photograph of the\nmembers was taken in the normal way as a souvenir. As Hope was present,\nit was suggested that a second photograph be taken by him in the hope\nthat we might get some psychic effect. The plate was taken from an\nunopened packet in the pocket of the secretary, and some fifteen of us\nwere witnesses of the whole transaction. Hope had no warning at all,\nand could have made no preparation. The plate was at once developed\nby one of our own members, and a well-marked extra, amid a cloud of\nectoplasm, appeared upon the picture. This extra was claimed by one of\nour members as a good likeness of his dead father. This result, which is\nillustrated by Figure 5, was obtained before an audience of experts, if\nany men in this world have a right to call themselves experts upon this\nsubject. How can it be explained by fraud and how can such a case be\nlightly set aside? Granting for argument\u2019s sake that the sitter may have\nbeen mistaken in the recognition, how can the actual psychic effect be\naccounted for?\n\nIt happens, occasionally, that these ghost-faces which appear upon the\nplates retain some remarkable physical peculiarity which prove beyond all\nquestion who they represent. One such case has been handed to me by the\nCountess of Malmesbury, whose own account is so clear and condensed that\nit could not be bettered:\n\n    \u201cI sat with Mr. Hope and Mrs. Buxton on Friday, December\n    9th, 1921, and was accompanied by \u2018Val L\u2019Estrange,\u2019 a lady\n    professional photographer, who watched the proceedings on my\n    behalf, as I do not understand photography. She states that\n    from first to last she could not detect any fraud. As I sat\n    for the photograph the wish just crossed my mind that I might\n    obtain a photograph of J. H., who died in 1880, and that I\n    could receive a definite sign that it was genuine.\n\n    \u201cJ. H. died as the result of an operation for the removal of\n    the lower jaw, which had been seriously injured. No one saw him\n    after this terrible misfortune except five persons, of whom I\n    am the only survivor, and I need not say that no photograph was\n    then taken of him.\n\n    \u201cI showed the photograph to Dr. Fielding Ould, who at once\n    recognised it as that of a man who had had his lower jaw\n    removed. This opinion was confirmed by several of his medical\n    friends, to whom he showed the picture.\n\n    \u201cI should add that the plates were bought by \u2018Val L\u2019Estrange\u2019\n    direct from the manufacturer, and that we brought them with\n    us. The exposure was forty seconds. The plate which produced\n    the portrait was manipulated by Mr. Hope under the supervision\n    of \u2018Val L\u2019Estrange.\u2019 We both superintended the development and\n    fixing of the negative.\n\n    \u201cAs an impartial investigator of psychic matters I have stated\n    exactly what took place, without comment.\n\n                          (_signed_) \u201cSUSAN, COUNTESS OF MALMESBURY.\u201d\n\nIt must be admitted that this case, so exactly recorded, would be a\ndifficult one to explain away.\n\nI would now quote the case furnished by Major Spencer, who is an\nexperienced and careful observer, and has given much attention to psychic\nphotography. In this experiment he used his own camera, his own carriers\nand his own plates. What could be more drastic than that! He says, if I\nmay abbreviate his account:\n\n    \u201cThe box of plates was never out of my sight and was cut open\n    in the dark room by myself; Hope or Mrs. Buxton in no instance\n    touching them.\u201d\n\nThe red light, he explains, was a good one and he could see all that\noccurred.\n\n    \u201cHope stood on my left hand for the whole time in the dark\n    room and I kept the box of plates under my right elbow during\n    the operations of initialling and inserting the plates in the\n    slides.... My own camera remained closed in my despatch-case\n    (also closed) till I returned from the dark room, when I set it\n    up on its tripod, extending it, and focussing it upon the chair\n    afterwards used. When the exposures were made by Hope I had to\n    explain to him how to actuate the shutter, as the lever on the\n    camera front was new to him. The only contact with the camera\n    was when he touched this lever. Exposure thirty-five seconds.\n    Neither Mrs. Buxton nor Hope knew that I had intended using my\n    own camera and dark slides till we met in the studio. These\n    slides are metallic and each contains one plate.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 5.\u2014Group of Members of the S.S.S.P. The psychic face\nwill be seen in the centre of the plate and situated horizontally to the\nsitters. (_See_ p. 28.)]\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 6.\u2014Major R. E. E. Spencer and psychic face obtained\nin special test. (_See_ p. 31.)]\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 7.\u2014Sir William Crookes with psychic face obtained in\nhis own laboratory through the mediumship of the Crewe Circle. (_See_ p.\n33.)]\n\n(For the benefit of the uninitiated, let me explain that the carrier and\nthe dark slide are different names for the same thing, the receptacle\ninto which the plates are put in the dark room, which is then inserted\ninto the back of the camera.)\n\nNow this is a case which any reasonable man would say eliminated every\npossible source of error. The actual result was that out of six plates,\ntwo showed unrecognised extra faces. One of the results is reproduced\nin Figure 6. How came those faces upon the plates? How can our critics\nexplain it? They cannot explain it, and yet they have not the honesty\nto admit their inability. Among our chief enemies is that inner circle\nwhich for the moment controls the destinies of the Society for Psychical\nResearch. What flaw do they find? I am sure the honest common-sense\nreader would never guess. The flaw adduced is that Major Spencer left his\ncamera inside his despatch-box in the studio while he was in the dark\nroom. Mrs. Buxton was in the studio. She might have dashed at the box,\npulled it open, dragged out the camera, and then ... well, what then? No\none can imagine what the next stage would be. Dr. Abraham Wallace has\npublicly asked the critic to state what could then be done which would\nhave put two human faces upon different plates and none on the others.\nIf Major Spencer had locked his box it would then have been claimed that\nMrs. Buxton had a skeleton key in her pocket. It is puerile criticism\nof this sort which has lowered that intellectual respect which we older\nmembers had once for the S.P.R. It is intellectually dishonest and\nthe sign of a frame of mind which is not there to follow facts or to\nascertain the truth, but only to argue a preconceived case as a lawyer\nspeaks from his brief. The S.P.R. (or their present spokesmen) are\nagainst psychic photography, and therefore it is better to put up the\nmost childish and preposterous objections rather than to say that a case\nis clearly proved. I would appeal to any impartial mind whether this case\nof Major Spencer\u2019s does not absolutely cover every objection.\n\nI would now give the case of the dream-hand of Lady Grey of Falloden.\nWhen I was going to Australia this lady most kindly wrote out the facts\nfor me and gave me a copy of the photograph, which I used upon my screen.\nLady Glenconner, as she then was, dreamed that if she was photographed\nat Crewe she would see her son\u2019s hand resting upon her left shoulder.\nShe said nothing to Hope, but she put the fact of her dream upon record.\nSure enough, in the photograph there is a small cloud of ectoplasm,\nand emerging from it a hand, which is resting even as it rested in the\ndream. Where does fraud come in, in such a case as that? Surely those\nwho circulated a libellous pamphlet against Hope upon the strength of a\nsingle case must feel ashamed when they consider such a result as that,\nwhere no possible manipulation could have affected the picture. Psychic\ncaution is an admirable quality, but extreme incredulity is even more\ndisastrous than extreme credulity. The psychic investigator should be a\nfilter, not a block.\n\nI would now quote the case of Mr. Pearse, a well-known business man of\nManchester. This is no psychic fanatic, but a hard-headed Northern man of\nbusiness. He visited Hope at Crewe, taking with him his own new camera\nand his own carrier, which was loaded by his daughter. No chance of\ntransposition here, unless Hope had a duplicate carrier.\n\n    \u201cThe result,\u201d he says, \u201cwas an undisputed likeness to\n    my father. _No photograph of him in that position is in\n    existence._ Everyone who has known him has recognised him, and\n    my mother treasures the photograph very much.\u201d\n\nIn this account the sting lies in the statement that no such photograph\nis in existence. Again and again\u2014it would not be too much to say that\nfifty instances could be produced\u2014this statement can be made. Is it not\nincredible that people should be found who cannot see that such a fact is\nevidential of supernormal action?\n\nI have alluded to the fact that Sir William Crookes received such a\nphotograph at Crewe, and that it bore a close resemblance to his deceased\nwife. I have not been able to get any copy of this photograph, but it\nis devoutly to be hoped that it, and Sir William\u2019s invaluable psychic\npapers, are being duly cared for by his executors and biographer, for\nthey have there a precious trust, and any tampering with it on account\nof their individual opinions would entail upon them the censure of\ngenerations yet unborn. In an interview in the _Christian Commonwealth_\n(December 4th, 1918) the interviewer, Miss Scatcherd, asked, \u201cAnd may I\nsay how you went north with another friend and myself and procured on\nyour own marked plate, under your own conditions, a likeness of your\nbeloved wife, the late Lady Crookes?\u201d To which Sir William answered:\n\u201cYou may say that, since it is the truth.... You may add that the picture\nobtained after her passing on is unlike any of the many which I possess,\nbut certainly resembles my dear one in her last days of failing health.\u201d\nIn a private letter, which I have seen, Sir William, writing on December\n14, 1916, shortly after the incident, says: \u201cThe photograph is easily\nrecognised by all to whom I have shown it. I find that it is very similar\nin likeness to one I took about ten years ago, although by no means a\nfacsimile reproduction. This makes it all the more satisfactory to me.\u201d\n\nThough I am unable to reproduce this photograph, I have been able, by\nthe kindness of Miss Scatcherd, to reproduce (Figure 7) the preliminary\nexperimental photograph got in Sir William\u2019s laboratory, which induced\nhim to take the Crewe Circle seriously. Only Mr. Hope and Miss Scatcherd\nwere present on this occasion. It was taken, says the latter, \u201cunder the\nstrictest conditions that the genius of Sir William Crookes, backed by\nhis unusual common sense, could suggest.\u201d The face here is not that of\nLady Crookes, and was not recognised. But surely such a result must show\nthe public how superficial is the view which on the strength of a single\nexperiment endeavours to discredit the whole life\u2019s work of Mr. Hope.\n\nSeveral examples of Crewe photographs are reproduced (Figures 8, 9, 10)\nwhich show the similarity to the living man, and yet are declared by\nthe relatives to be unlike any existing picture. That which is shown on\nFigure 8 is the result obtained by that brave psychic pioneer, the Rev.\nCharles Tweedale, who from his little Yorkshire vicarage beckons the\nChurch on the road that it should go. In this case Mr. Tweedale called\nupon Hope without any appointment and obtained, as has several times\nbeen obtained on surprise visits, an excellent result. The psychic face\nis that of his wife\u2019s father, whose features in life, for purposes of\ncomparison, are shown by Figure 9. The picture is unlike any in existence.\n\nI have said that the psychic faces are sometimes more animated and\nlife-like than the original photographs taken in life. In support of this\nassertion I would point to Figure 10. The old man who smiles so happily\nis Mrs. Buxton\u2019s own father, then very recently dead. I do not think that\nthe most cynical of my readers will contend that a daughter is likely to\nmake a blasphemous faked picture of her own father, even if it had been\npossible to produce so vital an effect.\n\nAnyone who is familiar with Hope\u2019s results is aware that over many of the\npsychic faces there appears a roll or arch of some peculiar substance\nwhich has never been explained upon any supposition of fraud, but is so\nconstant that it would appear to be part of the psychic process. Some of\nus have always contended that probably this arch represents a formation\ncorresponding to the Cabinet upon this side\u2014an envelope or enclosed space\nwithin which psychic forces are generated and condensed. The arch is by\nno means peculiar to Hope, though the exact form and texture of it is\nsuch that one could pick out a Hope photograph among a hundred others.\nThis psychic arch, as it has been named, appears in many forms and many\nplaces, some of them very unexpected. I have, as an example, a photograph\nbefore me as I write which was taken by Mr. Boyd, the respected provost\nof a Scotch borough, upon a recent journey which he made upon the West\nCoast of Africa. On taking a small group of natives he found an extra\nof a woman and child (negroes) upon his plate. This extra figure is\nsurrounded and surmounted by the psychic arch in an exaggerated form.\nMr. Boyd has no axe to grind, and, so far as I know, he is not even a\nspiritualist. How comes it, then, that his result fits so definitely\ninto the arch system, if it be not that there is some general law which\nregulates results whether they be obtained in Crewe or on the Gold Coast?\n\nAgain, I have a friend, an amateur, who has himself developed psychic\nphotography from the time that it was a mere luminous blur upon his\nplates, until now he receives very graceful and perfect pictures which\nare in some cases recognised faces of the dead. In his case the arch\nadjusts itself into the form of an artistic hood or mantilla. But the\narch principle carries on. It is only by a comprehensive view of this\nsort, and by the comparison of different independent results, that we\nare likely to get at some of the laws which underlie this matter. At\npresent the system adopted in quarters which should be responsible ones\nis to concentrate attention upon whatever may seem to be failure or\ndeception, and to take no notice at all of the broader aspects of the\nquestion. In every science the methods of advance are to pay strict\nattention to the positive results and to regard the negative ones as mere\nwarnings of what to avoid. This process has been reversed in considering\npsychic photography, and the world has been deceived by those who should\nhave been its guides. Truth will, of course, prevail, but its progress\nhas been grievously retarded by this unhappy and unscientific mental\nattitude.\n\nOn one occasion remarkable evidence was afforded that we were right\nin our surmise that a cabinet of ectoplasm for concentration is first\nconstructed, and that the psychic effect is developed inside it. The\nresult, which is depicted in Figure 12, was got by Mr. Jeffrey, of\nGlasgow, who was, I may add, the President of the Scottish Society of\nMagicians, and is therefore the last person to be deceived by any sort of\ntrick. In this case the exposure seems to have been too early so that the\nectoplasmic bag is exposed in its complete form, without any contents. In\nthe second picture, Figure 13, taken immediately afterwards, the face of\nMr. Jeffrey\u2019s deceased wife has appeared, and the bag has split to show\nit, forming the familiar fold over both sides of the face. This picture\nseems to me to be quite final in showing us exactly how the matter is\nworked by the forces which direct things upon the other side.\n\nEach of these cases which I have given is impressive, I hope, in\nitself, but their cumulative effect should be overpowering. They are\nbut selections out of a very long list which I could provide, but\nrepetition would be unprofitable, for if those which are here quoted fail\nto convince the reader then he is surely beyond conviction. One or two\nmight conceivably be the result of imperfect observation or incorrect\nstatement, but it is an insult to common sense to say that so long an\narray of honourable witnesses, with their precise detail, with their\nactual photographic results, and with the complete exclusion of any\npossible trickery, should all be explained in any normal fashion.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nAN EXAMINATION OF MR. HOPE AND HIS CRITICS\n\n\nHaving said so much in support of Mr. Hope\u2019s mediumship, let me say what\nI can in the way of personal criticism, for I hold no particular brief\nfor him, and am only anxious to follow truth wherever it may lead. I have\nwritten this pamphlet because I think that truth has been grievously\nobscured, and that the fruit of seventeen years of remarkable psychic\ndemonstration is, for the moment, imperilled by the attention of the\npublic being directed entirely to a single case which is, admittedly upon\nthe face of it, of a damaging character. We spiritualists should be, in\nStevenson\u2019s fine phrase, \u201csteel-true and blade-straight,\u201d and we should\nnever avoid an issue, or fall into the error of our opponents who have\nno sense of balance and can only focus their gaze upon one side of a\nquestion.\n\nIt has been said that Hope is suspiciously restless and fussy in the\ndark room. This, so far as my own observation goes, is correct. It may\nbe that he is nervously anxious for success, or it may be that he is not\nin a normal condition\u2014for he usually holds a service and occasionally\ngoes into apparent trance immediately before the experiment. Whatever\nthe cause, I am not prepared to deny the fact, or that not unreasonable\nsuspicions might be awakened by his attitude in the minds of those who\nare brought for the first time in contact with his personality. I can\nonly point to the cases already given, and say once more that _no_ action\nupon his part could have produced them.\n\nAgain, it is said of Hope that he is impatient of tests and restrictions.\nSome of his best friends have been alienated by this fact. Mediums are\ntouchy people\u2014more delicately organised in many cases than any other\nhuman type. They may occasionally show an irrational annoyance and\nresentment against any action which implies personal suspicion. And yet,\nthough he certainly prefers to be left to his own methods unrestrained\nsave by ordinary observation, it is a fact that he has in the past\nconsented to a great number of tests and has come out of them remarkably\nwell. I have heard him say, \u201cWhat have I to gain from tests? I am put to\na deal of trouble, I do what I am asked to do, I get result, and then I\nhear no more about it except that perhaps I have convinced the person. Or\nperhaps, even if I have done all he asks in his own way, he still says\nhe is unconvinced.\u201d I can bear him out in this latter statement, for I\nhave knowledge of three separate sittings which he had with a well-known\nLondon editor, where, under the latter\u2019s ever more stringent conditions,\nHope got results certainly twice, and, I think, thrice, and yet when I\nasked this editor to vouch for these results that I might quote them in\nthis pamphlet, in the interests of truth and justice, I could get no\nreply to my letter. This seems to indicate either that he was not yet\nsatisfied, though his own conditions had been carried out, or else that\nhe had not the moral courage to help the medium at the time when he\nneeded testimony.\n\nThe incident shows that there is some truth in Hope\u2019s contention that\ntests are often a waste of energy. At the same time, it should be known\nthat when the S.P.R. made their recent attack, founded upon a single\ncase, Hope at once offered to give fresh sittings and to submit to the\nmost drastic tests so long as those who were in sympathy were also\nassociated in the experiment. For some reason the S.P.R. refused this,\nand it is a serious flaw in their position. None the less, we must make\nthe admission that, in general, Hope is not fond of tests.\n\nBut there is another and more serious admission which I would make,\nalthough in doing so I may possibly be doing Hope an injustice. He\nis, in my opinion, not only a spiritualist, but a fanatic, which is a\ndangerous thing in any line of thought. We are aware that one must \u201ctest\nthe spirits,\u201d but I believe that Hope has such childlike and blind faith\nin his guides that he would obey their directions whatever they might\nbe. I recollect one case where a distinguished man of science sent Hope\na sealed packet, upon which the latter placed it in a bucket of water,\nunder the alleged prompting of some spirit message. The natural result\nwas to alienate the scientific man from psychic photography for many\nyears. It is easy to say that this was simply a case of vulgar fraud,\nbut fraud would be done in some manner which could be concealed and not\nin so drastic a manner as that, and, as I have shown, fraud does not at\nall fit in with Hope\u2019s usual results. I make the critic a present of the\ncase, merely adding that I believe Hope\u2019s account of his motives to be\nabsolutely true, however incomprehensible it might seem.\n\nI have now, I hope, convinced any reasonable reader of the genuine nature\nof Hope\u2019s powers, which, after all, wonderful as they may seem, are by\nno means unique, but are to be matched by those of several contemporaries\nboth in England and in America\u2014not all of them professionals.\n\nWe will next turn to the particular case treated in the report of the\nS.P.R. drawn up by Mr. Price, and afterwards published in a sixpenny\nform and widely distributed gratis with the evident intention of ruining\nHope. Apart from its truth or falseness, the pamphlet is in deplorable\ntaste, with puns upon Hope\u2019s name, and tags of Johnson and Dryden dotted\nover it. So grave a subject should be treated with dignity even when\nseverity is necessary. I will now state the case as clearly as I can,\ntogether with some remarkable side-lights which have appeared since the\npublication.\n\nHaving determined to catch Hope out, Mr. Price, who has considerable\nknowledge both of conjuring and of photography, procured from the\nImperial Dry Plate Company eight plates, all of which had been cut\nfrom the same sheet of glass. Six of these plates were made up into a\nsingle packet, and all were treated by X-rays, so that while there was\nno outward sign that they had been marked there would, according to the\ntestimony of the Company, appear upon them when they were developed a\ndesign of the Company\u2019s trademark.\n\nCarrying with him this doctored packet, and accompanied by a friend,\nMr. Seymour, also a conjurer, Mr. Price kept an appointment which Mr.\nHope had given him at the British College of Psychic Science, London, on\nFebruary 24th, 1922. The mediums were quite unsuspicious of any trap, nor\ndid they hear anything of the matter till four months later.\n\nMr. Price says: \u201cI made myself very pleasant, said how sorry I was that\nthey had been ill with influenza, and asked after the Crewe Circle,\nsaying that my people were natives of Shropshire.\u201d A private detective\nmust, of course, use deception, but when Mr. Price at a later stage\nproceeded to ask that \u201cOnward, Christian soldiers!\u201d be the hymn sung, and\nsuggesting that the extra finally shown was that of his own mother, he\nreally does seem to be wallowing in it to an unnecessary degree. After\nall, the matter was one of business; he had paid for his sitting, he\nwould surely get it, and no elaborate deception was needed.\n\nAfter the usual ceremonies Mr. Price and Mr. Hope went into the dark\nroom, where the package was opened and the two top plates put into the\ncarrier. Hope then took up the carrier, asking Price to wrap up the\nremaining plates, and it was at this moment that Price \u201csaw him ...\nput the dark slide to his left breast-pocket, and take it out again\n(another one?) without any \u2018talking\u2019 or knocking.\u201d I copy this sentence\nas printed, and it is curious to find the S.P.R., which is continually\nclaiming from others the utmost exactness of statement, passing one which\nis so involved and unintelligible. However, it is certain that Mr. Price\nmeans that Hope at that moment changed the carriers, though he does not\neven tell us where the second carrier went to. Mr. Price had endeavoured\nto mark with some pricking instrument of his thumb the original carrier,\nbut carriers are often of very hard wood, and he could not, one would\nthink, have verified such a result, therefore the fact that no marks of\npricks were found upon the carrier cannot be regarded very seriously. It\nis an instructive fact that the S.P.R. receives all these very loose\ntests without question or comment, while when the evidence is the other\nway, as in the case of Major Spencer, they are ready with the most\nextraordinary explanations rather than admit a positive result.\n\nThe couple then emerged from the dark room\u2014I am omitting unessential\nand wearying details\u2014and the photographs were duly taken with no exact\nrecord of the time of exposure, though Mr. Price roughly placed it at\nfrom eighteen to nineteen seconds. The point was really of great, and\nmight have been, of vital importance. When the plates were developed\none was normal of Price alone, and the other had a female extra looking\nover Price\u2019s shoulder. This female face has the psychic arch and bears\nevery sign to my eye, and to that of every spiritualist whom I have heard\ndiscuss it, of being true to type and a real Hope extra.\n\nMr. Price complimented the medium upon his success, carried off the\nplates, and then set himself to dictate an article which was duly printed\nin the \u201cProceedings\u201d of the S.P.R. to show that the whole business was a\nswindle, that the plates had been changed, and that the extra had been on\na plate which Hope had foisted upon Price by the device of changing the\ncarriers in the dark room.\n\nThe points upon which Price relied in his charge may be taken in their\norder. They were:\n\n    1. That on the plate with the extra the X-ray marks of the\n    Imperial Company were not present.\n\nExperiments were at once undertaken by several investigators, including\nDr. Cushman, of Washington, and Mr. Hewat McKenzie. They showed that\nwith long exposures, such as Hope gave, the X-ray marks vanish, so that\nthis test, as was admitted by the Imperial Company, ceases to be valid.\n\n    2. That he made marks upon the carrier, which were not found\n    upon the carrier actually used.\n\nThese marks seem to have been mere pricks, and there is no independent\nevidence as to their existence.\n\n    3. That he saw Hope make a suspicious gesture in the dark room.\n\nThis would be more convincing if any indication could be given as to what\nbecame of the discarded carrier. In cross-examination Mr. Price weakened\non the point.\n\n    4. That the glass of which the plates were made and on which\n    the photos appeared, was different in colour and thickness from\n    the glass of the Imperial plates brought by Mr. Price for the\n    experiment.\n\nThis statement holds good. The plates have been examined and compared,\nand those who desired to guard the interests of Mr. Hope (or rather of\ntruth) agreed that this contention was right, and that there had actually\nbeen a substitution of plates at some time by somebody. There we are all\non common ground. How then, and why, were the plates changed?\n\nMany who were convinced by experience of Hope\u2019s powers and of his\nessential honesty, and who were aware of the bitter antagonism which\nexists against him, as against all psychic phenomena, in certain circles\nof conjurers and of sceptical researchers, and of indiscreet expressions\nbefore the experiment, were of opinion that the whole transaction was an\norganised conspiracy to discredit the medium. The packet of plates had\nbeen for several weeks before the experiment in the possession of the\nofficials of the S.P.R., and was accessible to clever-fingered people who\nwere hostile to Hope\u2019s claims, and who had frequently averred that the\nopening of sealed packets was an easy process. There were other arguments\nwhich I will not state lest I should seem to be endorsing them. Let me\nsay, at once, that I believe Messrs. Dingwall, Price and Seymour to be\nhonourable gentlemen, however much I differ from their point of view, and\nthat I will not advance any hypothesis which is not consistent with that\nposition.[1]\n\nAt the same time, I would point out that all their difficulties, which\nhave increased with fuller knowledge, are due to their own tortuous\nand indirect way of approaching the question. Suppose that instead\nof all this juggling of X-ray marks Mr. Price had simply initialled\nhis plate the moment he took it from the packet as I and many other\nexperimenters have done, surely if he had afterwards received an extra\nupon that initialled plate the test would have been complete, so far\nas substitution is concerned. If he had not done so, I am sure that\nHope would have given him a second appointment, and he could have gone\non until he had either succeeded or until he had proved that with an\ninitialled plate Hope was helpless. Had this been done much trouble would\nhave been saved, and the result been equally clear.\n\nOr, again, when he was, as he says, morally sure that Hope had changed\nthe carrier, suppose that instead of complimenting Hope upon results and\nsuggesting that the image was that of his mother, he had said, \u201cYou will\nexcuse me, Mr. Hope, but I must really examine you and your dark room,\nfor I think I can find a marked carrier which you have concealed while\nyou substituted your own.\u201d A refusal from Hope would have really been a\nconfession. But, all through, a tortuous course was preferred.\n\nI have nothing against Mr. Price\u2019s honour, but a very great deal against\nhis methods, winding up with his sixpenny attack upon Hope, when the\nmatter, as events have proved, was very far from being settled.\n\nThis pamphlet would certainly convey to the public the idea that Mr.\nPrice looked upon psychic photography in general as the greatest humbug\nin the world, whereas since then he has signed a document which ends with\nthe words:\n\n    \u201cWe are convinced that the test with Hope on February 24th does\n    not rule out the possibility that Hope has produced supernormal\n    pictures, or that he is able to produce \u2018extras\u2019 by other than\n    normal means.\u201d\n\nHad he been wise enough to adopt this humbler tone in the first instance\nwe could all discuss the question now in a more placid frame of mind.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 8.\u2014The Rev. C. L. Tweedale and his wife with psychic\nlikeness of Mrs. Tweedale\u2019s father. (_See_ p. 34.)]\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 9.\u2014Photograph of Mr. Frank Burnett\u2014Mrs. Tweedale\u2019s\nfather\u2014who died in 1913. Compare with Fig. 8, showing psychic likeness\nobtained six years later.]\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 10.\u2014Photograph of Mrs. Buxton of the Crewe Circle\nwith her daughter. Psychic likeness of Mrs. Buxton\u2019s father unlike any\nother picture in existence. In the bottom left-hand corner is reproduced\na normal photograph of Mrs. Buxton\u2019s father for comparison. (_See_ p.\n35.)]\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 11.\u2014Photograph of Mr. and Mrs. H. East, with psychic\nlikeness of their son obtained on a surprise visit to Crewe. Normal\nphotograph reproduced alongside psychic effect for comparison. (_See_ p.\n19.)]\n\nBut irritability must not make us unjust, and we have to face the\nquestion how came the plates to be changed? The only honest answer is\nthat we do not know, but that the evidence taken on its face value at\nthis stage was against Hope, in spite of his long record of honesty.\nMr. Barlow has put forward the plea that Hope was in an abnormal mental\ncondition at such times, and was to that extent irresponsible. I fear I\ncannot accept this, for such substitution must be thought out beforehand,\nan image must be prepared, and the whole transaction is not an act of\nimpulse but a deliberate plan.\n\nThere has, however, been a most singular sequel to the case which causes\nan extraordinary complication, and when closely examined seems to me to\nturn Hope from the defendant into the accuser. The S.P.R. claims that\nafter this experiment one of the two marked plates had been returned\nto them, but in so secret a fashion that it could not be explained who\nhad brought it or how it had been obtained. This was apparently a point\nagainst Hope, the charge inferred, though not stated, being that he had\nleft this plate about, after abstracting it from the carrier, and that\nsome enemy had recognised it and brought it to clinch the case against\nhim. So secret were the proceedings of the Society that though I am\none of the oldest members of that body I was refused leave to see this\nmysterious plate. Eventually, however, some of our people did see it, and\nthen an extraordinary state of things revealed itself. First of all the\nplate was undoubtedly one of the original set supplied by the Imperial\nDry Plate Company. Secondly, it was a virgin unexposed plate, so that it\nis impossible that anyone at Hope\u2019s end could have picked it out from any\nother plates, since the marks were invisible. Third, and most wonderful,\nit actually, on being developed, had an image upon it, which may or may\nnot have been a psychic extra. This plate was sent on March 3rd, a week\nafter the experiment and three days after Hope and Mrs. Buxton, who\nknew nothing yet of Price\u2019s trap, had returned home to Crewe. It was\nin a double wrapper, with a request upon the inside cover that it be\ndeveloped. The wrapper was formed of Psychic College literature, and it\nbore the Notting Hill postmark.\n\nNow consider the situation thus created. Since the plate had not been\ndeveloped it is clear that neither Hope nor anyone at the College\ncould possibly have known that it was a marked plate, for there was no\npublication of the alleged exposure until more than four months after.\nWho was there in the whole world who did know that this was a marked\nplate and one in which the S.P.R. might be expected to take a special\ninterest? Clearly the experimenters of the S.P.R. and their confidants\u2014no\none else. But if the marked plate had been abstracted by Hope in the\ndark room and mixed up there with other plates how could any friend or\nemissary of the S.P.R. have picked it out as being the plate that was\nmarked? It could not have been done. Therefore the conclusion seems to be\nirresistible that this plate was abstracted from the packet _before_ the\nexperiment by someone who knew exactly what it was. If this be so, Hope\nis the victim of a conspiracy and he is a much ill-used man. I see no\npossible alternative to this conclusion.\n\nLet us see if we can build up any sort of theory which would cover all\nthe known facts. Any such theory is bound to be improbable, but the\nimprobable is better than the impossible, and it is quite impossible\nthat Hope could have known that a plate was secretly marked when it had\nnot been exposed or developed. We have to remember that the knot of\nconspirators (some consciously so, and some not) are in close touch with\na group of conjurers. These gentlemen have announced that there is no\npacket which cannot be opened and no seal which cannot be tampered with\nundetected. For twenty-four days after Mr. Price takes his packet of\nmarked plates to the headquarters of the S.P.R. it was locked up not in\na safe but in an ordinary drawer, which may or may not have been locked,\nbut could presumably be easily opened. My belief is that during that long\nperiod the packet was actually opened and the top plates taken out. Upon\none of these top plates a faked photograph was thrown from one of those\nsmall projectors which produce just such an effect as is shown on the\nreturned plate. The idea may have been that Hope would claim this effect\nas his own and that he would then be confounded by the announcement that\nit was there all the time. That was the first stage. The second stage was\nthat either the original conspirator relented or someone else who was in\nhis confidence thought it was too bad, so the packet was again tampered\nwith, the marked and faked plate taken out and a plain one substituted.\nThe packet was then taken to Hope as described. Mr. Hope then got a\nperfectly honest psychic effect upon the unmarked plate. Meanwhile the\nabstracter, whoever he may have been, had the original faked plate in his\npossession, and out of a spirit of pure mischief\u2014for I can imagine no\nother reason\u2014he wrapped it in a sheet of the College syllabus, which can\neasily be obtained, and returned it to the S.P.R., to whom it originally\nbelonged. Wherever it came from it is clear that it did not come from\nthe College, for when a man does a thing secretly and anonymously he\ndoes not enclose literature which will lead to his detection.\n\nIt is possible that this thing may originally have been conceived as a\nsort of practical joke upon Hope and upon spiritualists generally, but\nthat some who were not in the joke have pushed the matter further than\nwas originally intended. Whom can we blame? I am in the position of never\nhaving personally met any of the three protagonists, Price, Dingwall\nor Seymour, so that my view of them is impartial. Mr. Price is popular\namong the spiritualists who know him, and all agree that he would be\nunlikely to lend himself to any deception. Mr. Dingwall was possessed\nby an extreme prejudice against Mr. Hope, and yet I cannot conceive him\nas gratifying that prejudice by such a trick. He cannot, however, be\nacquitted of having aided and abetted in issuing the libellous pamphlet\nagainst Hope before all the facts were known, and before Hope\u2019s friends\ncould examine any of them. It was an unworthy thing to do, and Messrs.\nPrice and Dingwall must share the responsibility. It is a curious fact\nwhich should be recorded that, although the experiment was on February\n24th, and though the report of the alleged exposure was not issued till\nthe end of May, we find Mr. Dingwall applying for a sitting with Hope\nearly in May, and writing, when Hope refused to give him one: \u201cAs I\nunderstand from your letters that you still refuse to have sittings with\nthe only scientific body in Great Britain investigating this subject, I\nshall be obliged in my coming report on psychic photography to publish\ncertain facts which may not be of advantage to yourself.\u201d That letter\nwas on May 2nd. Apparently, therefore, the publication of the \u201cexposure\u201d\ndepended upon whether Mr. Dingwall was piqued or was humoured. If he were\nsure that the exposure was a genuine one this is a very singular attitude\nto assume.\n\nThere remains Mr. James Seymour, the amateur conjurer, who has been\nconcerned in several so-called exposures. It would be unjust to assert\nthat it was he who carried out this deception, for when a packet is left\nfor twenty-four days in a drawer many people may have had access to it,\nand none of the three experimenters may have known the facts. This, I\nthink, is very probable. At the same time, as Mr. Seymour has been very\nsearching in his inquiries about mediums, he will not take it amiss if\nI ask him what he meant when in his evidence (\u201cCold Light,\u201d etc., p. 7)\nhe says: \u201cThey\u201d (_i.e._, Hope and Mrs. Buxton) \u201cwere thoroughly taken in\nby the packet and were not suspicious of it.\u201d How could they possibly be\nsuspicious of a packet which had never been opened? On the other hand, if\nthe speaker knew that the packet had been tampered with, it would be a\nmost natural remark to make. The words may be innocent, but they demand\na clear explanation, and so does the fact that an extra was found upon a\nmarked plate which obviously had never been in Hope\u2019s dark room at all.\n\nSo secretive and tortuous have been the methods of the agents of the\nS.P.R. that each fresh piece of evidence has to be wrung from them, and\nthey seem to have no conception of the fact that a man who is accused\nhas a right to know all the facts concerning the accusation. Even now,\nnine months after the event, constant pressure has to be put upon them\nin order to get at the truth. Only at this last moment has a new and\nstrange fact been admitted. It is that when the mysterious marked plate\nwas returned it was not alone, but that three other plates, not belonging\nto the marked series, were with it, _each_ of them adorned with psychic\nphotographs. These photographs in no way resembled the results of Hope or\nof Mrs. Deane, nor were they like the one upon the marked plate. I should\nbe interested to know whether Mr. Marriott was ever in the counsels of\nthe conspirators, for there is something in this incident which rather\nrecalls that gentleman\u2019s powers and also his somewhat impish sense of\nhumour.\n\nEven now\u2014I write nearly nine months after the original investigation\u2014we\nhave no assurance that this secret of the S.P.R. has been fully divulged\nor that they have been frank with the public. It is possible that they\nhave received other anonymous communications which bear upon the case.\nThe first one was within a week of the investigation, and if divulged\nat the time it might have been possible to find the source. After such\na lapse of time it is far more difficult. As I have shown, these new\nfacts place the Society in a very invidious position and that may be the\ncause of their hesitations and concealments, but they have to remember\nthat they have made a wanton attack upon a man\u2019s honour, and that their\nown _amour propre_ is a small thing compared to the admission of the\ninjustice they have done. They should now come forward honestly, admit\nthe blunders they have committed, apologise to Hope, and remove any\nslur which they have cast upon one of the most important and consistent\npsychic manifestations ever known in the history of the movement. In all\nattempted explanations let them bear in mind the central fact that no one\nbut themselves and their associates knew that there was a marked plate\nin existence until several months after the experiment and after one had\nbeen returned to them.\n\nAmong those who examined the evidence at that time available was Dr.\nAllerton Cushman, for whose independence of mind and strong common sense\nI have a great respect. Having signed the document in which he admitted\nthat there had been substitution of plates, he added the following\nimpressive note:\n\n    \u201cMy signature appended to the above statement sets forth that\n    investigation of all the facts available up to date shows\n    that the plate containing the psychic extra in the Price test\n    sitting with Hope did not match up with the other plates\n    marked by the Imperial Dry Plate Company. The only possible\n    inference is that the plate in question was substituted by\n    someone at some time either deliberately or accidentally. I do\n    not commit myself as to the authorship of the substitution.\n    After careful experimentation I do not consider the system of\n    X-ray marking adopted by Mr. Price to be infallible, but quite\n    the reverse, as the markings quite disappear on long exposures\n    and over-development. I am also unimpressed and unconvinced\n    by Mr. Price\u2019s method of marking the plate-holder. I have had\n    in all five sittings with Hope and four with Mrs. Deane. Of\n    these nine sittings, seven were conducted under test conditions\n    in which Dr. H. Carrington and other witnesses participated.\n    I have obtained psychic extras from both mediums on plates\n    marked by X-ray by the Imperial Dry Plate Company, and boxed\n    and sealed by them, and also on plates purchased by Dr.\n    Carrington just previous to one of the Hope sittings, all of\n    which were marked by us with every precaution. I am convinced\n    that there was no substitution possible in at least five of\n    the seven test sittings. I consider that the mediums possess\n    genuine psychic power, and are capable of obtaining marvellous,\n    genuine results.... The more I investigate the subject the more\n    convinced I am that the marvellous evidential case of spirit\n    photography obtained by me through Mrs. Deane in July, 1921,\n    was genuine and true.\n\n                        \u201cYours faithfully,\n\n                                           \u201cALLERTON F. CUSHMAN.\u201d\n\n[1] I let these words stand as written, but further information,\nwhich only came later to my knowledge, has, as the text will show,\ncaused me to take a less entirely charitable view.\u2014A.C.D.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nFURTHER DIFFICULTIES CONSIDERED\n\n\nIt might well be urged, \u201cWhy should Hope go into the dark room at all?\nWhy should he not allow the sitter to charge his carrier by himself and\nso remove all possibility of transposition?\u201d It is natural that Hope\nshould show the stranger where the various conveniences of the dark room\nare, but apart from this there is the reason that Hope in the course\nof his career has had all sorts of tricks played upon him by dishonest\ninvestigators, and that he has to protect himself, so far as he can,\nagainst doctored plates or plates with extras already prepared which will\nbe ascribed to him and made the ground for charges. I have heard him tell\nsuch instances. When he knows his sitter he has no objection at all to\nleaving him alone in the dark room.\n\nIn 1919 the Society which I have already referred to as the S.S.S.P.\npresented Hope with a new camera. Mr. Barlow, Mr. Pearse and Mr.\nWalker\u2014all experienced photographers\u2014were the three delegates who\nconveyed it to Crewe. On this occasion photographs were taken with the\nnew carriers and camera, _Mr. Barlow loading the carrier with his own\nplate alone in the dark room_. In developing, all three delegates went\ninto the dark room, but Hope did not accompany them. Three out of four\nslides showed no supernormal result, but the fourth showed three faces,\none clearly recognised. \u201cWe were carefully watching Mr. Hope all the\ntime and are absolutely sure that there was no trickery.\u201d The document,\nwhich contains a detailed account of these facts, is signed by all three\nobservers. Could any case be more satisfactory and more final?\n\nI have said that professional photographers were among the sitters. I\nwould instance as a good example Mr. A. R. Gibson, of Nottingham, who\ntestifies that he took every possible precaution against deceit, and that\nnone the less he received an excellent likeness of his dead son which\ndoes not correspond to any existing photograph and is recognised by all\nwho knew the lad.\n\nThere is one final case to which I would particularly desire to draw\nattention because it is exactly parallel to that of Mr. Price, but had a\ndiametrically opposite result. The inquirer, too, has the advantage of\nbeing absolutely impartial, which cannot be said of the two conjurers nor\nof Mr. Dingwall, who was behind them\u2014and even with every intention to be\nhonest, a strong bias can distort the results. The case to which I refer\nis that of Mrs. St. Clair Stobart, of 7, Turners Wood, Hampstead Garden\nSuburb, who sat to Mr. Hope in March, 1921. Before the sitting Mrs.\nStobart\u2019s plates were marked with a secret mark, which she herself did\nnot know, by the Kodak Company. The result is told in full in _Psychic\nScience_ for October of this year. Briefly, after every conceivable\nprecaution by Mrs. Stobart and her husband, two extras were got in four\nattempts, one a head only and the other a full-length figure of a woman,\nclothed in the usual filmy drapery. \u201cMr. Hope never handled the plates\nat all.\u201d Mrs. Stobart concludes: \u201cI took the negatives to the Kodak\nCompany\u2014to the manager and chief assistant. \u2018Are these the plates you\nmarked? Can you see the marks?\u2019 I asked. \u2018Oh yes,\u2019 they replied. \u2018Look,\nhere they are\u2014a tiny circle enclosing a cross.\u2019 And for the first time I\nsaw the marks which they had put. The Kodak Company allow me to say that\ntheir affirmation as to this can be used freely.\u201d\n\nNow surely this is very important. There seems no loophole for error,\nand it entirely reverses the results of the S.P.R. Why should more\ncredit be given to one than the other? Of the two, Mrs. Stobart\u2019s is\nundoubtedly the more scientific, for we have no story of plates being\nleft about for twenty-four days before an experiment, and, as I have\npointed out, there is no possible bias. Taken with all the other examples\nwhich I have given, and with those given later by Mr. Barlow, I claim\nthat no reasonable man can doubt that Hope\u2019s hands are clean. It is the\nS.P.R. clique with their tortuous methods, and with their mystery plate\nunexplained, who can most reasonably be accused of a want of frank,\nstraightforward dealing. It is sad to think that a society which has done\ngood work in the past, and which has been made famous by the labours of\ngreat spiritualists like Myers and Hodgson, Barrett and Crookes, should\nbe mixed up at all with so ugly a business handled in so questionable a\nway.\n\nBefore bringing to an end this short sketch of the work of the Crewe\nCircle, I would beg the reader to consider the positive cases which I\nhave laid before him and to remember that in order to establish the\nintervention of external, intelligent forces\u2014which is our sole and only\naim\u2014we have only to make _one_ case good. One positive case outweighs\nall the negative ones which the industry of the most energetic \u201cexposer\u201d\ncould collect. Our enemies take the perverse course of dwelling entirely\nupon negative results, a line of reasoning which would have killed any\nscience in the world. They know, as a matter of fact, very little about\nthe subject, for starting, as they do, with the presumption that it is\na palpable fraud, they do not devote to it the time and the close study\nwhich it calls for.\n\nThere is only one body in this country which can claim any authority, and\nthat is the S.S.S.P., or Society for the Study of Supernormal Pictures,\nof which Dr. Abraham Wallace is President, while I share with Mr.\nMitchell and Mr. Blackwell the honour of being vice-president. We number\namong our members Miss Scatcherd, whose experience is probably unique,\nMr. Coates, who has written two excellent books upon the subject, Colonel\nBaddeley, Major Spencer, whose experiments have extended over many\nyears, Colonel Johnson, a pioneer investigator, professional and expert\nphotographers, and others of all shades of opinions, save that all, so\nfar as I know, are convinced by actual experience of the reality of the\nphenomenon. Of its methods and curious, almost inconceivable and most\nfreakish manifestations we have collected a mass of material and have\neven cleared a few permanent pathways among the jungle.\n\nIt is to this society, and not to the S.P.R. as at present conducted,\nthat the world may look for accurate information upon this subject. It\nwould not be reasonable for me to go at any length here into the results\nobtained. I would only say that so far as my own conclusions go, basing\nmy studies upon the photographers of the past as well as the present,\nI think that the evidence is strong that there is on the other side\nan intelligent control for each photographic medium, whose powers are\ngreat but by no means unlimited and who endeavours to give us convincing\nresults each in his own characteristic way. These results are sometimes\nobtained by actual materialisations, sometimes by precipitations\nof pictures apart from exposure, sometimes, as I believe, by the\nsuperposition of screens which have the psychic face already upon them,\nand which give marks as of a double exposure. Among the powers of the\ncontrol is to build up a simulacrum which may be the image of someone who\nis still alive, or he may produce upon the plate facsimiles of pictures\nand portraits which do at present exist, but which are entirely beyond\nthe normal reach of the medium. All these and other equally strange\npoints I could illustrate by many examples, but their mere recital will\nshow how many snares lie before the explorer, and how many things might\nseem to be fraudulent when they are really the doing not of the medium\nbut of the control.\n\nAny further expansion of this fascinating subject would be out of place\non my part, since I am by no means one of the authorities, and can only\nclaim that I study and assimilate the results of others, to which, of\ncourse, I add my own personal experience. I have, however, asked Mr.\nBarlow, the Honorary Secretary of this Society, whose experience is so\nextensive as to be almost unrivalled, to add a short essay upon the\nsubject, with an account of some of the cases which bear upon the matter.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nTHE ATTACK ON MRS. DEANE AND MR. VEARNCOMBE\n\n\nI took up my pen for the purpose of considering the case of the Crewe\nCircle and urging the folly of discarding the work of seventeen years\non the score of a single case. I cannot, however, end my task without\nsaying a few words as to the attack upon Mrs. Deane and Mr. Vearncombe,\ntwo other photographic mediums. This attack hardly deserves attention as\nit was anonymous, but it was brought out under the auspices of the Magic\nCircle, a society of conjurers who have been interesting themselves in\nmatters psychic. As the two attacks were issued almost simultaneously\nthey seem to have had some common inspiration, and to have formed a\ngeneral assault upon the whole position of psychic photography. The same\nindividual, Mr. Seymour, the amateur conjurer, actually took part, I\nunderstand, in both transactions.\n\nMrs. Deane, the person attacked, is a somewhat pathetic and forlorn\nfigure among all these clever tricksters. She is a little, elderly\ncharwoman, a humble white mouse of a person, with her sad face, her\nfrayed gloves, and her little handbag which excites the worst suspicions\nin the minds of her critics. Her powers were discovered in the first\ninstance quite by chance. When she first pursued the subject her\ncircumstances were such that her only dark room was under the kitchen\ntable with clothes pinned round it. None the less, she produced some\nremarkable pictures under these conditions, one of which fell into my\nhands, and I at once concluded that she had real powers. The portrait\nwas of a young man in life, with a female spirit face behind him. This\nmight well have been faked. Something seemed to be emerging from the\nyoung man\u2019s head, however, and on observing this object with a lens I\ndistinguished that it was a small but correct representation of the\nAssyrian fish-god, Dagon, wearing the peculiar hat with which that deity\nis always associated. This was so entirely the kind of freakish result\nwhich I expect from spirit photography, and was so removed from the\nnormal powers of a charwoman, that I provisionally accepted her in my\nmind as a true medium, a position from which I have never been compelled\nto budge. I still retain this photograph, but the little head is too\nsmall for satisfactory reproduction.\n\nMrs. Deane (or Mrs. Deane\u2019s control) has one embarrassing habit which I\nbelieve to be unnecessary, and which makes it very difficult to convince\nthe sceptic, or, indeed, to prevent him from writing her down as an\nobvious fraud. Far from insisting that you bring your own plates, as Hope\ndoes, she likes them to be sent to her in advance, and she does what she\ncalls \u201cmagnetising\u201d them, by keeping them near her for some days. This\nis so suspicious that it can hardly be defended, but here, again, there\nis an element of fanatical obedience. My own personal belief is that\nher results are perfectly honest, that they are actually formed in the\nshape of psychographs during the days before the sitting, and that if her\nplates were examined before they were exposed to light, the pictures\nwould be found already on them. This, of course, would very naturally be\ntaken as clear proof of fraud by the superficial investigator, ignorant\nof the strange possibilities of psychic photography, but I believe myself\nthat the psychic effect is a perfectly genuine one, but that the extra\nwill very probably bear no relevancy to the sitter. I am speaking now of\nher general routine, for how can I guarantee every particular case or\njudge what a medium may do when dealing with so evanescent and elusive a\nthing as psychic power? When they have it they use it\u2014when it fails them\nthe human element may come in.\n\nI have had one sitting with Mrs. Deane in which six plates were exposed.\nIn four of them there were abnormal results. One of these was a female\nface smiling from an ectoplasmic cloud. What does Mrs. Deane know of\nectoplasmic clouds? One such is visible in the specimen of her work which\nis shown in Figure 30. Exactly similar are some of the clouds which\nappear in Hope\u2019s work. Such appearances do not aid deception. Why, then,\nshould they appear if it is not that it is part of a psychic process?\n\nMrs. Deane gave me the choice of two packets of plates upon this\noccasion, and I admit that the effects may very well have been on the\nplates before the exposure. None the less, they were probably quite\ngenuine as supernormal pictures. Such a statement may raise a smile from\nMr. MacCabe or from Mr. Paternoster in _Truth_, but I have the advantage\nover them in the fact that I have had practical experience of the matter\nat issue.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 12.\u2014Photograph of Mr. Wm. Jeffrey and his daughter,\nshowing ectoplasmic bag. (_See_ p. 37.)]\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 13.\u2014Photograph taken immediately after that shown by\nFig. 12. Position of sitters is unchanged, but the ectoplasmic veiling\nnow contains an excellent likeness (slightly distorted) of Mr. Jeffrey\u2019s\ndeceased wife.]\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 14.\u2014Psychic likeness of Agnes, daughter of Dr.\nAllerton Cushman. A life-like picture obtained by Dr. Cushman through a\nsurprise visit paid to Mrs. Dean. (_See_ p. 63.)]\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 15.\u2014A normal photograph of Agnes Cushman for\ncomparison with Fig. 14.]\n\nBut I am bound to give my reasons for such a statement, or I might well\nbe branded as credulous. My reasons are that I am convinced that this\nmagnetising process is perfectly unnecessary and Mrs. Deane, within my\nknowledge, obtains her best results when there has been no possibility of\nknowing who her sitter will be. The very finest result which I know of in\npsychic photography was that obtained by Dr. Cushman with Mrs. Deane. Dr.\nCushman, a distinguished scientific man of America, had suffered the loss\nof his daughter Agnes some months before. He went to the Psychic College\nwithout an appointment or an introduction. When he arrived he found Mrs.\nDeane in the act of leaving. He persuaded her to give a sitting, and then\nand there he obtained a photograph of his \u201cdead\u201d daughter which is, he\ndeclares, unlike any existing one, and is more vital and characteristic\nthan any taken in life. When I was in the States I showed this picture on\nthe screen as in Figure 14, and there was abundant testimony from those\nwho knew Agnes that it was a life-like picture.\n\nI would refer this case to the anonymous writers of the Magic Circle,\nwho has done all they could to worry this poor woman and to destroy her\npowers, and I would ask them how that little bag of tricks which exists\nonly in their own imagination could have affected such a result as that.\nIt will be noted in the already quoted opinion of Dr. Cushman that since\nthis scandal Mrs. Deane has been severely tested by him and others, and\nthat they have been able under the Doctor\u2019s own conditions to get psychic\nresults.\n\nAnother excellent case of Mrs. Deane\u2019s power is that which forms the\nsubject of Figure 30. The extra in the ectoplasmic cloud is Mr. Barlow,\nsenior, the father of the Secretary of the S.S.S.P. Beside him is a\npicture of how he looked twelve years before his death. No one can deny\nthat it is the same man with the years added on. Mrs. Deane never knew\nMr. Barlow\u2019s father in life. How, then, was this result obtained? These\nare the cases which the Magic Circle report avoids, while it talks much\nof any negative results which it can collect or imagine. I hope that this\nshort account may do something towards helping a woman whom I believe to\nbe a true psychic, and who has suffered severely for the faith that is in\nher, having actually, I understand, endured the excommunication of her\nchurch because she has used the powers which God has given her. I have a\nrecollection that Joan of Arc endured the same fate for the reason \u201c_le\nplus il change, le plus il reste le m\u00eame_.\u201d\n\nIt only remains for me now, before giving place to others, to say a\nword about Mr. Vearncombe, the psychic photographer of Bridgwater. Mr.\nVearncombe was a normal, professional photographer, but he found, as\nMumler did, that inexplicable extras intruded upon and spoilt both his\nplates and his business. He then began to study this new power, which he\nseemed to possess, and to develop it for commercial use. Mrs. Humphreys,\na member of the S.S.S.P. and a student of psychic affairs, lived in the\nsame town and submitted him to certain tests which convinced her and\nothers of his _bona fides_, though I cannot repeat too often that no\nblank cheque of honesty can ever be given to any man.\n\nMy own experience of Mr. Vearncombe and my knowledge of his work are far\nless than in the cases of Mr. Hope and Mrs. Deane, so that I can only say\nthat I believe he produces genuine results, whereas in the other two\ncases I can say that I _know_ they produce genuine results.\n\nI have had two experiments with Vearncombe, but did not impose any test\nconditions in either case. I simply sent a closed envelope containing a\nletter and asked him to photograph it in the hope that some extra might\nappear which I could associate with the sender of the letter. In both\ncases a large number, six or seven, well-marked faces developed round\nthe letter, but none which bore any message to me. Others, however, have\nbeen more fortunate in their experience and have assured me that they\nhave received true pictures of the dead in that fashion. There is no\nectoplasmic cloud or psychic arch, but the faces are as clear-cut as if\nthey were stamped with a die.\n\nI am in some degree responsible for Vearncombe\u2019s troubles, as I mentioned\nhis name as being one who might repay investigation upon the occasion\nwhen I gave evidence before a committee of these conjuring gentlemen.\nThey seem to have made up a sealed packet to Mr. Vearncombe with\ninstructions to get what he could. Upon its return they declared that the\npacket, which had furnished a psychic result, had been tampered with. No\nindependent proof whatever was offered in support of this assertion, and\nMr. Fred Barlow, who had obtained results from Mr. Vearncombe, where he\nwas sure that the packets had _not_ been tampered with, was sufficiently\ninterested to hunt up the name of the sender and some details of the\ncase from the Vearncombe end, rather than from that of the \u201cexposers.\u201d\nFortunately Vearncombe had preserved the letters, and it was then\nfound that the sender, when the packet and the psychic result had been\nreturned, had at once written to Vearncombe to acknowledge receipt,\nadding the two statements:\n\n    (1) That one of the faces strongly recalled \u201can old true friend\n    who had not been heard of for many years,\u201d and\n\n    (2) That the packet had been returned intact.\n\nThus the Magic Circle had clearly fallen into the pit that it had digged,\nand its agent is convicted either of being a senseless liar without\nany cause, or else of having completely endorsed the result which the\nCircle afterwards pretended was a failure. It was one of those numerous\ninstances when it is not the medium but the investigators who should\nreally be exposed. My experience is that this is the case far more\nfrequently than the public can realise, and that it is amazing how men of\nhonour can turn and twist the facts when they deal with this subject. A\nwell-known \u201cexposer\u201d assured a friend of mine that he would think nothing\nof putting muslin in a medium\u2019s pocket at a s\u00e9ance, if he was sure that\nhe could thereby secure a conviction.\n\nI have seen a letter from Mr. Marriott, who is also busy in showing up\n\u201cfrauds,\u201d in which, writing to Mr. Hope, he offered to teach him to make\nmore artistic spirit-photographs, charging thirty guineas if the lessons\nwere in London and forty if at Crewe. I am quite prepared to anticipate\nMr. Marriott\u2019s explanation that this was a trap, but it is an example\nof the tortuous, deceptive methods against which our mediums have to\ncontend.\n\nI understand that Mr. Vearncombe is so disgusted with the whole episode\nthat he declares he will demonstrate his powers no longer, save to\nprivate friends. We can but hope that he will not allow ignorant or\ndishonest anonymous criticism to influence him to this extent. If all of\nus who endure annoyance, and even insult, were to desert the spiritualist\ncause in order to save our private feelings, we could hardly expect the\ntruth to prevail.\n\nLet me conclude by saying that I speak from a far larger experience than\nthe representatives of the S.P.R. or of the Magic Circle, and that,\nleaving out Mr. Vearncombe, who needs no defence in the face of the\nadmission quoted above, I have no doubt whatever of the true psychic\npowers of Mrs. Deane and of Mr. Hope, though I cannot pronounce upon\nevery single case at which I was not present and when I have had no\nopportunity of examining the complete evidence. I fear that the most\npermanent result of this episode will be that the spiritualists will\nvery reasonably refuse the present r\u00e9gime of the Research Society all\naccess to their mediums, since experience has shown that they may,\nwithout a chance of self-defence, be attacked in consequence in a cheap,\npopular pamphlet before even the case has been examined by any impartial\nauthority.\n\n\nPOSTSCRIPT\n\nAt the last moment before this booklet goes to press, I am able to\ninsert the fact that Hope\u2019s complete innocence has now been clearly\nestablished, and he stands before the world as a man who has been\nvery cruelly maligned, and the victim of a plot which has been quite\nextraordinary in its ramifications. It was at last found possible to get\nthe cover in which the original packet of plates was wrapped, and on it\nwere found unmistakable signs that it had been tampered with and opened.\nThus the deductions made in the text from the evidence already to hand\nhave been absolutely justified, and it is clear that the marked plates\nwere abstracted before the packet reached the Psychic College and two\nordinary plates substituted, upon one of which Hope produced an \u201cextra.\u201d\nThe conclusion was reached by the acumen and patience of Mr. Hewat\nMcKenzie, but his results were examined and endorsed unanimously by a\nstrong committee, which included, besides myself, Mr. and Mrs. McKenzie,\nGeneral Carter, Colonel Baddeley, Mr. Stanley de Brath, Mrs. Stobart,\nMiss V. R. Scatcherd, Mrs. de Crespigny, Mr. H. C. Scofield and Mr. F.\nBligh Bond. It now only remains to find out who is the culprit who has\nplayed this cunning trick, and it is not difficult to say that the hand\nwhich returned the marked plate through the post is the same hand as\nthat which took it out of the packet. A reward has already been offered\nfor the identification of the person concerned. In the meantime it would\nbe unfair to blame the agents of the S.P.R., who may, while trying to\ntrick Hope, have been themselves tricked. Nothing, however, can excuse\nthem from the charge of culpable negligence in failing to examine the\nwrappers which so clearly tell the story, and which have been kept so\nlong in their possession. As the matter stands, five persons stand as\ndefendants: Mr. Harry Price, Mr. Moger, Mr. James Seymour, Miss Newton,\nSecretary of the S.P.R., and Mr. Dingwall, Research Officer of that body.\nIf there is someone else in the background who has tricked them, then it\nis for them to find out who it is. Their negligence has been such that\nit is difficult to say what atonement can meet it, and it throws a very\nlurid light upon some of the so-called \u201cexposures\u201d of the past. As one\nof the oldest members of the S.P.R., I feel that the honour of that body\nwill not be cleared until they have appointed an impartial committee to\nconsider these facts and to determine what steps should be taken.\n\n                                                      ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.\n\n_November 14th, 1922._\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nTHE GENESIS AND HISTORY OF THE CREWE CIRCLE\n\nBY F. R. SCATCHERD\n\nMember of the Society for Psychical Research, Co-Editor of the _Asiatic\nReview_\n\n    (Miss Felicia Scatcherd, who has been one of the true psychic\n    researchers and pioneers of knowledge in this country, has\n    contributed the following information which she gained during\n    her close association with the Crewe Circle at and after the\n    time of its formation.)\n\n\nQuestioned about himself, Mr. Hope said that he was christened \u201cBilly\nHope,\u201d and was born at or near Manchester. His first memory is of having\nscarlet fever when he was four years old. During the fever he used to\nsee all sorts of faces peering at him through the doorway, and became\nso frightened that he screamed for his father to come and send them\naway. Now that he knows about clairvoyance, he thinks otherwise of those\nvisions. He lost his mother when he was nine, and remembers little about\nher. It is a curious fact, as he observed: \u201cI have wished for her picture\nhundreds of times, and sat for it many a while, and have never yet got\nit. These things beat me.\u201d\n\nWhen asked did he grieve much for his mother\u2019s death, he replied that he\nwas brought up in a religious family, his father being a local preacher.\nLater on Mr. Hope, Senior, lost all his worldly possessions.\n\n\u201cMy father was wealthy according to my ideas,\u201d said Mr. Hope. \u201cHe had\ntwo farms, but late in life lost his money.\u201d\n\nMr. Hope was well cared for by his mother as long as he had her, and\nafterwards by his step-mother.\n\n\u201cShe was a good woman: and I had an aunt of a religious frame of mind who\nalso kept an eye on me.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou must have been a very good little boy,\u201d I said.\n\n\u201cOh dear, no! I was much the same as the other lads. I played plenty\nof truant, and once joined a party of seven and ran the schoolmaster\nround the room. We had agreed beforehand what we would do if he began\na-thrashing of us. But don\u2019t put that in, Miss Scatcherd!\u201d\n\nSpirit photography first interested him when he was working at a bleach\nand dye-works near Pendleton. Being an amateur photographer, he and a\ncomrade agreed to photograph each other one Saturday afternoon. Mr. Hope\nexposed a plate on his friend and developed it, when they saw a woman\nstanding beside him. The brick wall showed through the figure, there\nbeing no background. The sitter, a Roman Catholic, was frightened, and\nasked how the woman had got on the plate, and did Mr. Hope know her. When\nMr. Hope replied that he did not know the lady nor how she got there,\n_the man said it was his sister who had been dead for many years_.\n\nNeither knew anything of spiritualism, so they took it to the works on\nMonday and showed it to their foreman, who happened also to be an amateur\nphotographer, and was \u201clost in wonder\u201d over it. But there was a fellow\nworker, a spiritualist, who said it was a spirit photo. The foreman\narranged that the experiment should be repeated with the same camera the\nfollowing Saturday, when not only the identical woman appeared again but\nwith her, her little dead baby.\n\n\u201cI thought this very strange,\u201d said Mr. Hope; \u201cit made me more interested\nin spirit photography, and I have been dabbling at it ever since. I felt\nsorry for my mate, he was so scared. When he saw the second result, I\nthought he would have pegged out\u201d (died of fright).\n\nThe Circle used to destroy all negatives. The members did not want anyone\nto know about their spirit photography, as many people did not want to do\nbusiness with them, saying it was all the devil\u2019s work. Till the advent\nof Archdeacon Colley on the scene not a single negative was kept. After a\nprint was taken the negative was destroyed.\n\nMr. and Mrs. Buxton met Mr. Hope some seventeen years ago at the\nSpiritualist Hall at Crewe, where Mr. Buxton was organist. After the\nservice Mr. Hope asked Mr. Buxton if he could find one or two friends to\nform a circle to sit for spirit photography. This was done, and it was\narranged to use the next Wednesday evening from eight to nine.\n\nOne of the circle of six was a non-spiritualist, but was converted when\na picture of his father and mother was obtained. A strange thing is\nthat when all were anxiously desiring a picture, a message appeared on\nthe first plate exposed. This message promised a picture next time, and\nstated that it would be for the master of the house. The promise was kept\nseveral sittings later, when the picture of Mr. Buxton\u2019s mother and of\nMrs. Buxton\u2019s sister came on the plate. Mr. Buxton was of the opinion\nthat this was given to do away with the idea of thought photography. They\nwere all thinking of a picture and never dreamed that such a thing as a\nwritten message would be given. They have been very persevering, having\nsat regularly ever since, each Wednesday from eight to nine, securing a\npicture on an average of one a month at the outset.\n\nThere have been many storms before which have broken over the Crewe\nCircle, but the cause of them has usually been the limited knowledge\nof the strange possibilities of psychic photography on the part of the\nsitters and of the public. One of the most notorious of these so-called\n\u201cexposures\u201d (which really were exposures of the critics\u2019 ignorance) was\nin 1908, and arose out of Archdeacon Colley\u2019s first sitting. He had\nheard that the Crewe Circle were simple-looking folk, and this attracted\nhim, so he broke his journey at Crewe and called upon Mr. and Mrs. Hope,\nwho had just lost their eldest daughter. The Archdeacon apologised for\nhaving come at such a time, but Mr. Hope sent him on to Mr. and Mrs.\nBuxton, where he was shown the photos and asked to see the negatives.\nHe was shocked when he heard that they had all been destroyed, and from\nthat time kept all negatives he was able to get hold of. The Archdeacon\nbrought his own camera, loaded at Stockton with his own diamond-marked\nplates. He kept the plates in his own possession and focussed the camera,\n_which he put up outside the house_, although it was raining. Mr. Hope\nmerely pressed the bulb and Archdeacon Colley developed the plates with\nhis own developer. When he held the picture to the light he exclaimed:\n\u201cMy father and my sainted mother!\u201d\n\nMr. Hope was the first to notice the likeness between \u201cMrs. Colley\u201d and\na picture he had copied about two years ago, and cycled with it to Mr.\nSpencer, of Nantwich. Mrs. Spencer declared it to be her grandmother, and\ncried out, \u201cOh, if this had only come with us how pleased we should have\nbeen!\u201d\n\nMr. Hope then wrote to Archdeacon Colley telling him it could not be his\nmother, as it had been recognised at Nantwich. The Archdeacon said it was\nmadness to think a man did not know his own mother, and advertised in the\nLeamington paper, asking all who remembered his mother to meet him at\nthe Rectory, when eighteen persons selected the photograph from several\nothers and testified in writing that the picture was a portrait of the\nlate Mrs. Colley, who had never been photographed.\n\nThe Crewe friends heard no more about the matter until the controversy in\n_Light_ (February 14th, 1914, and subsequent numbers). The extraordinary\nignorance, even of the spiritualistic public, on these matters, was\nrevealed by the storm of indignation that burst upon the devoted heads\nof the Crewe Circle and their supporters. The testimony of such students\nand scholars as the late Mr. James W. Sharpe, M.A., of Bournemouth, an\neminent mathematician and expert authority on all questions of psychical\nresearch, did little to allay the outburst. In vain it was pointed out\nthat no fact was better vouched for than the reproduction by \u201cspirit\u201d\nphotographers of well-known pictures and photographs, often true in every\ndetail to the originals. The theory and fact of ideoplasticity were\nridiculed just as they are ridiculed to-day by those who should keep\nthemselves up-to-date in physical science, if they wish to judge justly\nthe yet more complex problems of psychical science.\n\nThe Society for Psychical Research was as unhelpful as the \u201cman in the\nstreet,\u201d so far as its leading authorities were concerned.\n\nTo return to the beginning of things: it was on July 16th, 1909, when,\nin response to a telegram from Archdeacon Colley, I went to Leamington,\nwhere I first met the Rev. Prof. Henslow and two members of the Crewe\nCircle who were on a visit to the Archdeacon. A s\u00e9ance for spirit\nphotography was held. It was disappointing in one sense. Prof. Henslow\nwas told that he would find impressions on certain plates in a sealed\npacket on the table _which was not to be opened for a fortnight_.\n\nI prepared to say good-bye, when Mr. Hope said he would like to do\nsomething for the visitor from London. \u201cThe friends say that if the lady\ncan remain the night they will give her a test.\u201d I replied that the only\ntest of interest to me was one that would convince my fellow-members of\nthe Society for Psychical Research. The mediums insisted, but I refused\nto stay unless Prof. Henslow also remained and took charge of the\nproceedings.\n\n\u201cSir, do stay!\u201d pleaded Mr. Hope. \u201cThere are five of us\u2014you, the\nArchdeacon, Mrs. Buxton, Miss Scatcherd and myself. You must buy five\nplates from your own photographer. Each plate must be put into a\nlight-tight envelope and worn by the sitter, with the sensitised surface\nnext to the person, until the s\u00e9ance. It will not take long to fetch the\nplates and bring them back to us. Thus we shall have an hour to wear\nthem before the s\u00e9ance this evening. It is the only way to get them\nmagnetised so as to have immediate results. You can each develop your own\nplate to-night and then Miss Scatcherd will know whether the friends have\nkept their word.\u201d\n\nProf. Henslow good-naturedly agreed and drove off with the Archdeacon to\npurchase the plates. I remained with Mrs. Buxton and Mr. Hope. Within\nan hour the Archdeacon returned with four plates put up as directed.\nProfessor Henslow had gone home to dinner wearing his plate in a wood\nslide contrived by Archdeacon Colley. Mrs. Buxton and I tucked ours\ninside our blouses and Mr. Hope placed his in that trouser-pocket which\nhas aroused such evil suspicions in the minds of investigators. We\nremained together until Prof. Henslow joined us. It was full daylight. We\nsat round the table when Mr. Hope asked:\n\n\u201cWhat do you want, Miss Scatcherd? A face? A message? What shall it be?\u201d\n\n\u201cYou forget my conditions; Prof. Henslow must decide. Let him choose,\u201d I\nreplied.\n\nProf. Henslow said he did not care what came so long as _the same thing\nappeared on all the plates_. It was a remark worthy of the speaker,\nconveying, as it did, a most crucial test, in view of the fact that he\nhad never let his plate out of his own keeping. The usual s\u00e9ance was held.\n\nProf. Henslow developed his plate first. I developed mine under\nArchdeacon Colley\u2019s supervision, then Mrs. Buxton and Mr. Hope developed\ntheirs.\n\nThe results are of interest. The Archdeacon did not wear a plate so as\nto leave \u201cmore power for the others.\u201d Mr. Hope\u2019s plate was blurred. The\ntablet on Prof. Henslow\u2019s was identical in outline with Mrs. Buxton\u2019s and\nmine, both of which were sharp and clear, but Mrs. Buxton\u2019s was the best.\nMrs. Buxton had been with me the whole time, and her six-months-old baby\nhad never left her arms.\n\nThe message addressed to Prof. Henslow was appropriate, but the writing\nwas so microscopically fine that we could not read it that night. Mr.\nHope was very disappointed. \u201cNever mind,\u201d he said, \u201cwhen we get home we\nwill ask the guides to give it us again!\u201d He and Mrs. Buxton were leaving\nby the early morning train. The Archdeacon had charge of the negatives\nand had promised to let us know as soon as he had deciphered the message.\n\nThe mediums did not like their lodgings, so slept at my hotel. I saw\nthem off in the morning, _before any of us knew what the message was_. A\nday or two later I received from the mediums a duplicate of the message\nnot yet known to them or to myself. But this time the writing was large\nenough to be read by the naked eye. As Prof. Henslow had requested,\nthe same thing had come on all the plates in differing degrees of\ndistinctness.\n\nThis was my first experience of a Crewe skotograph, and it was decisive.\nAs I wrote in the _Psychic Gazette_ from notes submitted to Archdeacon\nColley at the time, and afterwards read by Prof. Henslow when published,\nno suspicions could fall either on the mediums, Archdeacon Colley or\nmyself, as not one of us had had the chance of tampering with Prof.\nHenslow\u2019s plate, nor could Prof. Henslow and his photographer have\nprepared a series of plates for an occasion on which they had no reason\nto have reckoned.\n\nI wrote a minute account of these early experiments, according to the\nstrictest psychical research methods, and left it with Mr. Wallis, the\nthen editor of _Light_. He did not publish it, and when I returned to\nEngland it could not be found. This incident is briefly recorded by Prof.\nHenslow in _Proofs of the Truths of Spiritualism_, pp. 224-7.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 16.\u2014Photomicrograph by Major R. E. E. Spencer of\nportion of Archdeacon Colley\u2019s signature taken from letter written during\nhis lifetime. (_See_ p. 84.)]\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 17.\u2014Photomicrograph by Major R. E. E. Spencer of\nportion of Archdeacon Colley\u2019s signature on psychograph appearing after\nhis death. Compare with Figs. 2. and 16.]\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 18.\u2014Photograph of Mr. Wm. Walker with message in the\nhandwriting of Mr. W. T. Stead. (_See_ p. 87.)]\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 19.\u2014Mr. and Mrs. Harry Walker and two friends with\npsychic likeness of Mr. Walker\u2019s father. Compare with Fig. 18.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\nEVIDENTIAL AND SCIENTIFIC ASPECTS OF PSYCHIC PHOTOGRAPHY\n\nBY FRED BARLOW\n\nHon. Sec. S.S.S.P., Hon. Sec. Birmingham and Midland S.P.R.\n\n\nNo phase of psychical research has been more adversely criticised in the\npast than psychic photography. This is undoubtedly due to the prevalence\nof many erroneous ideas on the whole subject.\n\nIt is a popular fallacy that it is the easiest thing in the world to\nfake a \u201cspirit\u201d photograph. Those few photographers who have tried to\nimitate a genuine psychic effect have usually made the discovery that it\nis by no means so easy a matter as it appears, even when no restriction\nis placed on the conditions under which the fake should be produced.\nWhen conditions are imposed, similar to those usually obtaining with,\nsay, the Crewe Circle, the difficulty of producing a fraudulent result\nis enormously increased. Under certain conditions, where suitable\nprecautions are employed and where the sitter has a thorough knowledge\nof photography, plus an acquaintance with trick methods, even the\n_possibility_ of deception without detection can, for all practical\npurposes, be ruled out of court. _Under these special conditions,\ninvestigators of repute have on many occasions secured successful psychic\nresults._\n\nApart altogether from any question of test conditions, however, there are\ncertain results which, _in themselves_, afford definite proof of their\ngenuine nature. I refer to those recognised psychic likenesses obtained\nby sitters who are quite unknown to the sensitives and who have secured\nresults which could not possibly have been prepared in advance. One such\ncase would be sufficient to establish the reality of psychic photography.\nIt is no exaggeration to say that this has actually occurred on scores of\noccasions, and, in consequence, _the evidence for the truth of psychic\nphotography is overwhelming_.\n\nIt has been said that recognised psychic likenesses exists only in the\nimagination of the individuals claiming them as such. It is, alas, too\ntrue that some well-meaning individuals will see a likeness where none\nexists. It is, however, equally true that many bigoted sceptics will\nrefuse to acknowledge a likeness that is obvious to the unprejudiced on\ncomparing normal and supernormal photographs. There are two sides to the\nquestion of credulity, and I have known sceptics deny the reality of a\nlikeness where the supernormal effect has been an exact (but draped)\nduplicate of a normal photograph!\n\nWe must remember that it may be difficult to recognise a likeness between\na normal and supernormal photograph where the subject to us is unknown.\nTwo photographs of the same individual, taken at different periods, will\noften vary considerably, but those acquainted with that individual can\nrecognise the likeness of each photograph to the original without the\nslightest difficulty. So in a supernormal photograph: those claiming\na likeness between the supernormal effect and some near relative, or\nfriend, who has crossed the border, are in a better position, from\ntheir knowledge of that person, to speak with authority on the question\nof recognition than those who never saw the original. This question of\nrecognised likenesses is a point the critic tries to evade. The reader\ncan judge of the value of this evidence from the few illustrations in\nthis booklet which are typical of _hundreds_ of similar results.\n\nThe mental attitude of some intelligent people to psychic photography\nis distinctly curious. They have got the idea fixed into their heads\nthat these photographs _must_ be one of two things\u2014\u201cfakes\u201d or \u201cspirits.\u201d\nNaturally enough, in some of the cases that have been reported they\nfind it difficult to believe that such a result could have been\nproduced entirely by a discarnate entity. Therefore they jump to the\nfalse conclusion that the result must of necessity have been faked. In\na scientific investigation we should first of all concern ourselves\nwith _facts_, without troubling over-much with theories. A very little\nfirst-hand investigation will satisfy any unprejudiced individual as\nto the reality of psychic photography. Having reached that stage such\na person will be in a better position to theorise on the cause of the\nphenomena.\n\nAfter many years of close concentration on this subject I have arrived at\nthe conclusion that psychic photography differs only in kind and not in\ndegree from other phases of psychic phenomena. _I do not see how we can\npossibly get away from the fact that many of these photographic effects\nare produced by discarnate intelligences._ Whilst firmly believing this,\nI should never be so dogmatic as to claim that _all_ supernormal pictures\nhave been produced by discarnate spirits.\n\nSpirit, whether discarnate or incarnate, to manifest to our material\nsenses must make use of matter\u2014there must be a medium. A medium, or\nsensitive, is just as essential for psychic photography as for, say,\nautomatic writing. As investigators are aware, in automatic script it\nfrequently happens that along with communications from the \u201cother side\u201d\ncome writings derived from the subconsciousness of the automatist, and\nsuch, I am convinced, is often the case in psychic photography.\n\nThe subconscious is used to cover a multitude of theories. Certainly it\nis not an unfeasible explanation in some instances. Let me cite one case,\nwhich is typical of many. One of the members of the S.S.S.P.\u2014Mr. Hobbs,\nof Purley, a keen business man\u2014travelled to Crewe with his wife. They\nand the Crewe Circle were perfect strangers to each other. Mrs. Hobbs\nat the time was wearing a locket containing a photograph of their son,\nwho had been killed in the war. This was tucked away out of sight in her\nblouse. The usual s\u00e9ance was held and to their great delight the visitors\nsecured a picture of their boy. Trickery was impossible. Even supposing\nMr. Hope had seen the photograph in the locket there was no time to\nproduce a fraudulent result and foist this upon the alert sitters. A\ncareful examination of the print, however, reveals the fact that the\npsychic picture is an exact but reversed duplicate of the photograph in\nthe locket. Even the rim of the locket can be clearly seen. This sort of\nthing has occurred time and again.\n\nThe image of the locket would be indelibly impressed on the memory of\nthe mother, and it may well be that in some peculiar way the sensitive\nproved a medium for the projection of that conscious or subconscious\nimage on to the photographic plate. Such an argument is not to be lightly\ndismissed, and the fact that the image obtained on the plate may not have\nbeen in the conscious mind of the sitter at the time does not necessarily\naffect the issue. I candidly admit that some such explanation may account\nfor many of these curious effects.\n\nSometimes the psychic pictures are facsimile copies of magazine covers\nand pictures no fraudulent medium would ever think of producing, and,\nlike the faces in our dreams, they may come from the subconscious. At\nthe same time, attempts to produce definite conscious thought-pictures,\nwith the co-operation of a photographic medium, have almost always proved\nabortive in our experiments in this country. Some of the Continental\nmembers of the S.S.S.P., however, have concentrated on this line of\nresearch and have succeeded in obtaining thoughtgraphs which, more or\nless, resemble the object on which the thoughts of the subject have been\nintensely concentrated. These experiments, and, in particular, recent\nphotographic experiments in connection with subjects under hypnosis, are\nyielding encouraging results.\n\nWe must be careful not to overdo the subconscious. It is no\nself-contained unit, but rather an instrument used in the production\nof these phenomena. In consequence, it frequently happens that along\nwith communications from the \u201cother side\u201d comes matter derived from the\nsubconsciousness of the sensitive and even from that of the sitter. An\ninvestigator obsessed with the idea of fraud will often effectively\nnegative all phenomena by his unconscious action on the mentality of the\nmedium. In these investigations we must use that uncommon faculty of\ncommon sense. Common sense tells us that we cannot accept the explanation\nthat _all_ psychic photographs are produced by the thoughts of incarnate\nbeings. Whether it agrees with his pet theories or not, the serious\nstudent is bound to realise that, sooner or later, other minds are at\nwork distinct from, and often superior in intelligence to, that of either\nmedium or sitter. These intelligences claim to be the spirits of the\nso-called dead. They substantiate their claims by giving practical proof\nthat they are whom they purport to be.\n\nFor example, what better proof of survival could be given by a deceased\nperson than that of a message in his own handwriting, referring to\nevents that happened after his death? Such messages are by no means an\nunfrequent occurrence. There can be no doubt about the genuineness of\nthe handwriting. Major R. E. E. Spencer has gone to an immense amount of\ntime and trouble in making photomicrographs of normal and supernormal\nwritings for the purpose of comparison. Illustrations are given of two\nof these photomicrographs. Figure 16 shows a portion of the signature of\nArchdeacon Colley taken from a letter written by him before death, whilst\nFigure 17 shows a corresponding portion reproduced from a photographic\nmessage received after his death. This message referred to events\nsubsequent to his decease.\n\nOccasionally, in these psychographs, as these written photographic\nmessages are termed, the mentality of the medium or sitters will get\nin the way, with very curious results. Throughout all these phenomena,\nhowever, there is every indication that other influences are at work.\nWhoever or whatever these intelligences behind the scenes may be, in no\nuncertain voice they claim to be discarnate souls. Surely _they_ are\nin a better position to form a correct opinion hereon than we material\noutsiders?\n\nHow do the psychic images get on to the plate? Far too much time, in the\npast, has been lost in attempting to convince those who do not believe\n(and those who do not _want_ to believe), of the genuine nature of\npsychic photography, and our ignorance of this phenomenon is appalling.\nThe difficulties attending scientific research in this domain are\nconsiderable. So far, we can only definitely say that in many instances\nthe psychic figures on the plate are not objective in the same sense\nas the sitters. The supernormal images have every appearance of having\nbeen projected on to the sensitive plate, independently of the lens and\ncamera. In employing several cameras simultaneously, together with a\nstereo camera, I have only succeeded so far in securing a psychic image\non one of the plates exposed.\n\nThere are indications that in some cases the psychic effects are\nprinted on to the plate through a psychic equivalent to our normal\ntransparency\u2014in fact, it has come to be known as a psychic transparency.\nIdentical transparency markings are to be found on the plates of\nphotographic sensitives from all parts of the world. These particular\nmarkings can clearly be seen over the negative obtained by Mr. Harry\nPrice in his experiment with Mr. Hope. I am convinced that the effect\nobtained on this occasion was a genuine psychic result. The possibility\nof this is freely admitted by Mr. Price. The fact that in nine cases out\nof ten the psychic images are the same way up as the sitter suggests that\nthe \u201csomething\u201d that occurs actually takes place after the plate has been\ninserted in the dark slide. Such small points as these may eventually\nplay an important part in the final solution of the _modus operandi_.\n\nNow let us return to the object of this book\u2014the question of evidence.\nSir Arthur Conan Doyle has dealt so thoroughly, earlier in these pages,\nwith the recent attacks by the S.P.R. and the Magic Circle that I do\nnot propose to refer to them again here at length. As illustrating the\nimpartial attitude of the Society of which I have the honour to be\nSecretary, however, I would like to say that almost immediately on the\npublication of these critical reports the matter was discussed by the\nmembers of this Society, and it was arranged to subject the whole of the\nevidence to a thorough investigation. In this connection the S.S.S.P., in\nconjunction with the B.C.P.S., sought the co-operation of the Society for\nPsychical Research and the Occult Committee of the Magic Circle.\n\nA proposal was sent to the bodies mentioned expressing the desire of the\nS.S.S.P. to subject the charges to thorough and impartial investigation,\nand suggesting that three members from each of these four bodies should\nform a committee of investigation. The members elected by the S.S.S.P.\nwere Dr. Abraham Wallace, President, Col. C. E. Baddeley, C.M.G., O.G.,\nand Major R. E. E. Spencer, three careful and experienced investigators.\nFor reasons best known to themselves, both the S.P.R. and the Occult\nCommittee of the Magic Circle refused to entertain this suggestion. The\nreader can draw whatever inference he likes from this uncompromising\nattitude. To my mind such a refusal is directly opposed to the objects\nfor which the Society for Psychical Research was formed.\n\nA striking example of the persistence of personality is to be found\nin the case of the late Mr. Wm. Walker, of Buxton. Mr. Walker was the\nPresident of the Buxton Camera Club. Being a keen photographer, he took\nan intense interest in the work of the Crewe Circle and co-operated with\nthem in numerous experiments. He was the first photographer to obtain\npsychic photographic results in colours (by the Paget process) through\nthe mediumship of his friends.\n\nShortly before the late Mr. W. T. Stead left this country for his last\nvoyage to America, Mr. Walker saw him in London. Mr. Stead was very\ninterested in the results obtained at Crewe and strongly urged his friend\nto keep him posted as to future developments. A little while later Mr.\nStead was drowned on the ill-fated _Titanic_. On May 6th, 1912, Mr.\nWalker, in experimenting at Crewe, was surprised and pleased to receive\non his plates a message from his friend, which read:\n\n    \u201cDEAR MR. WALKER,\n\n    \u201cI will try to keep you posted.\n\n                                  \u201cW. T. STEAD.\u201d\n\nTwo plates had been exposed; both contained the same message, but in one\ncase the writing was reversed and appeared as \u201cmirror writing,\u201d as it is\ncalled. This result is shown by Figure 18. The writing does not reproduce\nvery clearly, but experts have declared that, beyond all doubt, it is\nidentical with the handwriting of the late W. T. Stead.\n\nMr. Wm. Walker followed Mr. Stead into the Great Beyond a few years\nlater. Since his death his relatives and friends have received\ninnumerable tokens of his activities on the \u201cother side,\u201d in connection\nwith the subject in which he was so interested whilst in the body. The\nillustration shown by Figure 19 represents a normal photograph of Mr. H.\nWalker and his wife (son and daughter-in-law) and two friends, with a\nclearly-defined supernormal likeness of the late Mr. Wm. Walker. This was\ntaken under satisfactory test conditions on February 19th, 1916.\n\nAs illustrating the interest Mr. Walker still takes in the Crewe Circle,\nattention is directed to the psychograph shown by Figure 20. This was\nsecured late on Friday evening, July 28th, 1922, and reads (my own\npunctuation):\n\n    \u201cDear Friends of the Circle,\n\n    \u201cI would not spend a moment with the Psychical Research Scty,\n    because they are nothing more nor less than fraud hunters and I\n    want you to come to Buxton for a sitting with Mrs. Walker, 3,\n    Palace Rd., about the 8th-9th of Aug. Then the spirit friends\n    can further demonstrate the wondrous powers which to-day are\n    needed more than ever. Peace be with you.\n\n                         \u201cYours faithfully,\n\n                                                         \u201cW. WALKER.\u201d\n\n    \u201cPlease inform Henry.\u201d\n\nThe postscript refers to Mr. Walker\u2019s son, who resides in Crewe. I have\nexamined a number of letters in the handwriting of Mr. Walker, senior,\nand find that the slip in spelling is such that he might make. A portion\nof one of these letters is reproduced on Figure 21, and when compared\nwith the psychograph alongside it should leave no doubts in the mind of\nthe reader as to authorship.\n\nIt is perhaps unnecessary to state that the instructions given by Mr. Wm.\nWalker were carried out to the letter. The results of the short visit of\nthe Crewe Circle to Buxton are best described by quoting an extract from\na letter I received from Mr. Henry Walker:\n\n    \u201cWe (Mrs. Buxton, Mr. Hope and myself) went to Buxton on\n    Wednesday, 9th inst. (August, 1922.\u2014Ed.). Two sittings were\n    held and four exposures made.\n\n    \u201cThe first exposure was made on mother, and gives a message\n    from father to Mrs. Buxton and Mr. Hope, dealing again with the\n    S.P.R. test and promising a puzzle.\n\n    \u201cThe second exposure was made on mother, Mrs. Marriott (an old\n    friend of ours) and myself, and shows a very large face of\n    father nearly covering the three of us.\n\n    \u201cI developed each plate carefully and noticed the psychic light\n    was much more keen than the daylight.\n\n    \u201cAfter a rest of a couple of hours, we held the second sitting.\n\n    \u201cThe first plate exposed on mother shows a medley: a good photo\n    of father and a lot of flowers or foliage and the feathers of a\n    Red Indian friend.\n\n    \u201cThe second plate only shows a few lights.\n\n    \u201cI fancy father\u2019s record alone should be sufficient to satisfy\n    any sensible being. I daresay I can find well over twenty\n    psychic results received from him on different occasions, most\n    of them under reasonable test conditions.\n\n                                              (_Signed_) \u201cH. WALKER.\u201d\n\nThe Crewe Circle invariably place implicit faith in the messages they\nreceive from the other side. These worthy and simple people are very\nclosely in touch with their invisible helpers, who advise them, by means\nof photographic messages, in their troubles and ailments. Occasionally\nthe advice given has been directly opposed to the wishes of the mediums,\nbut they never hesitate to carry out these instructions, which usually\nprove that the directing intelligences possess knowledge and foresight\nfar exceeding that of their human instruments.\n\nI can appreciate that some of my readers will experience difficulty\nin accepting these remarkable statements. When first I heard of these\nmarvellous things I put them down to credulity, exaggeration, and so\nforth. However, I determined to get at the truth for myself. Nothing\nless than personal experience would satisfy me. The first psychic\nphotographs I saw did not very greatly impress me. As a photographer, I\nrecognised that I could produce similar results, and with the conceit\nthat comes from ignorance I suggested they were fakes. Even as fakes they\nwere interesting, however, and on inquiring further into the matter I\ndiscovered that the conditions under which they had been secured would\nnecessitate smart work on the part of a trickster. Also I was puzzled to\nunderstand how photographers of the calibre of Mr. J. Traill Taylor could\nbe easily gulled. Eventually I travelled to Crewe in a rather critical\nframe of mind, but fully prepared to be fair to the mediums. I received\na surprise. The result obtained bore a strong resemblance to myself. It\ncould easily be taken as a twin brother. I had a brother who, when he\ndied, was a little older than myself. I was given practically a free\nhand in the photographic operations, and was impressed by the faith and\nhonesty of the mediums. To detail all the precautions I took from time\nto time to eliminate the possibility of conscious and even unconscious\ndeception, in my further experiments, would prove a wearisome business.\nSuffice it to say that the use of my own apparatus and specially-prepared\nplates, the dismissal of the medium from the dark room for all the\nphotographic operations, the sharp look-out that was kept for certain\nknown methods of faking, and the conducting of experiments with the\nmediums in my own home, eventually convinced me, beyond all doubt, of the\nreality of psychic photography.\n\nI discovered early that the mental attitude of the sitter played an\nimportant part in the success or otherwise of the experiment. We know so\nlittle of the difficulties that have to be overcome\u2014so little of the laws\nand conditions governing the production of these wonderful results, that\nit is essential we should approach the subject with an open mind. We must\nbe sympathetic in our methods of investigation. A medium is sensitive in\nmore senses than one, and a little tact and persuasion will succeed where\nbullying and blustering will fail.\n\nWith the three photographic sensitives most known in this country I have\nsecured remarkable results. Whatever may have happened, or may happen,\non other occasions, nothing can in the slightest degree shake my firm\nconviction that, with these three sensitives, I have secured genuine\npsychic photographic effects. With Mrs. Deane, in my own home, we secured\nan excellent picture of my father (see Figure 30). True, Mrs. Deane had\nthe plates beforehand for \u201cmagnetising,\u201d but that would not enable her to\nproduce an unmistakable likeness of someone she had never seen\u2014a likeness\nwhich could not have been produced from any existing photograph, in the\nvery unlikely event of her obtaining such. Moreover it is not essential,\nin every case, that Mrs. Deane should have the plates beforehand for\nmagnetising. On several occasions, members of the S.S.S.P. have, without\nMrs. Deane\u2019s knowledge, substituted a fresh unopened packet of plates for\nthe unopened packet she has had with her, without interfering with the\nsuccess of the experiment.\n\nMr. Vearncombe has been most successful as a medium for obtaining\nresults on plates in sealed packets. Effectively to test Mr. Vearncombe,\nI devoted a great deal of time to wrapping and sealing packets which\ncould not possibly be tampered with without leaving some trace of\nsuch tampering. Others have done likewise, and on the plates in such\npackets, which after the most careful scrutiny have revealed no evidence\nof tampering, we have secured successful results. On one occasion I\npersuaded a local professional photographer to seal a packet of plates\nbefore I handled them. This he did very thoroughly, and then I added my\nown wrappings and seals and sent the package on to Vearncombe. Within a\nweek the packet was returned intact.\n\nMr. Frederic Lewis of Birmingham, who co-operated with me in this\ntest, is a technical photographer of more than average ability and his\ncertificate is of value. In this he states:\n\n    \u201cI certify that on May 14th, 1920, I wrapped and sealed an\n    unopened packet of Imperial Special Sensitive \u00bc-plates and\n    handed the packet to Mr. Fred Barlow, who then fixed his\n    own wrappings and seals. Mr. Barlow brought back the packet\n    of plates to me on the morning of May 20th, 1920, and in\n    my presence broke his own wrappings and seals. I then very\n    carefully verified that my own seals and wrappings were intact\n    and am quite convinced that these had not been interfered\n    with. I personally developed the plates in the presence of Mr.\n    Barlow. On two out of the twelve plates in the package distinct\n    negative images of faces developed\u2014one face on one plate and\n    three small faces on another. I can offer no explanation of\n    this result apart from being perfectly satisfied that no\n    trickery or deception was practised.\n\n                                         (_Signed_) \u201cFREDERIC LEWIS.\u201d\n\nCould anything be more definite and conclusive than that?\n\nWith the Crewe Circle I have had so many tests that it is difficult to\nselect the most stringent. As the well-known Price case of alleged fraud\nbears on the question of the substitution of dark slides, the following\ncase may be of interest. On this occasion the substitution of dark slides\nwas impossible, for the simple reason that no dark slides were used.\n\nSaying nothing to the members of the Circle beforehand, I took with me\nto Crewe on November 12th, 1921, a loaded box camera containing six\nspecially-marked plates of a size smaller than those usually employed\nin experiments of this nature. All that Hope and Mrs. Buxton did was to\narch their hands over this magazine camera whilst one of them flicked the\nshutter-catch. Photographic readers will realise that it is impossible to\ntamper with the plates in a box camera, in daylight, without spoiling the\nlot. To enable the \u201cpower\u201d to flow from Mr. Hope on to the plates, the\ncontrolling intelligence stipulated that Mr. Hope should be allowed to\ntake hold of my right wrist as I dropped each plate into the developer.\nPsychic effects were secured on two out of the six plates under\nconditions which, I am convinced, rendered deception impossible. I have\nbeen told that Mr. Hope must have printed the effects on to the plates\nby flashlight whilst he had hold of my wrist. If the critic derives any\ncomfort from believing that this actually occurred he is welcome to his\nbelief!\n\nIn another evidential case is that already mentioned by Sir Arthur\nConan Doyle of an experiment conducted by two photographic members of\nthe S.S.S.P. and myself at Crewe. In this case the camera and slides\nemployed were brand new and were not examined by the sensitives until\nafter the sitting. The dark slides differed from those usually employed\nby the sensitives. Neither Mr. Hope nor Mrs. Buxton was in the dark room\nfor loading the slides or for developing the plates. The central face\nof three supernormal faces secured on this occasion is an undoubted\nlikeness of the father of one of the sitters. The result was absolutely\nconclusive to my friends and myself. We emphatically declare that under\nthe circumstances trickery was impossible.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 20.\u2014Psychograph in the handwriting of Mr. Wm. Walker\nobtained at Crewe on July 28th, 1922. Compare with normal handwriting\nshown in Fig. 21. (_See_ p. 88.)]\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 21.\u2014Portion of letter written by Mr. Wm. Walker\nduring his lifetime for comparison with psychograph Fig. 20.]\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 22.\u2014Mr. S. Maddocks, Hon. Sec. of the Sheffield and\nDistrict S.P.R., with psychic photograph of his first wife. Compare with\nFig. 23. (_See_ p. 113.)]\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 23.\u2014Photograph of Mr. Maddocks\u2019 first wife for\ncomparison with Fig. 22.]\n\nSince the above was written I have been favoured with further excellent\npersonal proof. On October 7th, 1922, I secured at Crewe several fine\nphotographs of my father. The best were secured on plates exposed in\na camera brought by one of three friends who accompanied me. He is an\nexperienced and critical photographer, and was responsible for the whole\nof the photographic operations. Reference to Figure 31 will show that the\npsychic face has moved and appears in no less than six different places.\nThis face is very similar to the Deane photo (Figure 30), but by no means\nabsolutely identical.\n\nThe next chapter contains a series of abbreviated accounts and reports\nby investigators in every station of life. For the purpose of this book\nthey are confined to accounts connected with the Crewe Circle. In my\ncapacity of Hon. Secretary to the S.S.S.P. it is my privilege to receive\nthese documents in ever-increasing numbers. I imagine that the most\nhardened sceptic, occupying a similar position for a few months, would be\nconvinced of the reality of psychic photography by this evidence alone.\nKnowing it to be true, I look forward with confidence to that day, not\nfar distant, when all this talk of fake and fraud shall be no more and\nwhen the psychologist and scientist shall combine the investigation of\nthis vital problem.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\nCONCLUSIVE PROOF FROM MANY SOURCES\n\n\nThis concluding chapter contains a number of plain, straight statements\nfrom those possessing first-hand knowledge of the Crewe Circle. Such\npositive and definite evidence is of far more value from an evidential\nand scientific standpoint than the mere opinions of those who have never\ninvestigated. Owing to the exigencies of space it has been necessary to\nabbreviate most of these accounts and also to omit many others, equally\nconvincing. For evidential reasons each report or contribution contains\nthe full name and address of the communicator.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe Evidence of GEORGE H. LETHEM, ESQ., JUSTICE OF THE PEACE FOR THE\nCOUNTY OF THE CITY OF GLASGOW\n\nI first heard of the Crewe Circle in the autumn of 1918. At that time I\nwas editor of the _Daily Record_, Glasgow, and had made the acquaintance\nof Mr. Peter Galloway, President of the Glasgow Association of\nSpiritualists, through an article on spiritualism which he contributed to\nthat paper.\n\nMr. Galloway told me that the Crewe Circle were coming to Glasgow, and he\ninvited me to attend their first sitting. This I agreed to do; I bought\na packet of quarter-plates at a City shop, took note of the wrapper\nmarkings and kept the packet safe, with the cover unbroken.\n\nMy wife accompanied me to the sitting, which was held in a large,\nwell-lighted attic room some distance from the house where the members\nof the Circle were lodging. I saw them arrive, saw them unpack their\nphotographic outfit, and saw them borrow a dark cloth (which I examined)\nfor use as a background. Obtaining permission, I examined the camera, the\nslide, the lens, the bellows (for pin-holes) and all the accessories,\nwithout finding anything suspicious. I treated the sitting as a test\nand took every step, so far as I knew, to provide against conscious or\nunconscious deception.\n\nIncluding Mr. Hope and Mrs. Buxton, there were nine or ten people\npresent. To all of these, except Mr. Galloway, I was quite unknown, and I\nwas introduced simply as a \u201cfriend.\u201d\n\nI had time to complete my examination\u2014in which I included the little\nadjoining dark room\u2014before the proceedings began. All present then sat\nround a table, on which my packet of plates was laid within my reach and\nin my sight. There were hymns and a prayer, then the packet was lifted\nand held for a few seconds between Mr. Hope\u2019s hands, with the hands of\nall the others\u2014my own included\u2014above and below. The packet, which was\nnever out of my sight, was then returned to me and I satisfied myself by\nthe markings that it was mine, that the wrapper was intact, and that,\ntherefore, there could have been no tampering with the plates.\n\nPutting the unopened packet in my pocket, I followed Mr. Hope into\nthe dark room, taking with me the slide from the camera. In the dark\nroom Mr. Hope stood in the far corner and I stood close by the door,\nleaving a clear space between us. Mr. Hope said, in explanation of this\narrangement, that he did not want to touch the plates but only to see\nthat I handled them properly.\n\nTaking the packet from my pocket, I broke the cover, extracted two\nplates and put the packet back in my pocket. Keeping the plates within\nMr. Hope\u2019s view but quite out of his reach, I wrote my name on each of\nthem and put them into the slide, which I carried out of the room before\nhanding it to Mr. Hope. Up to this point, Mr. Hope had quite certainly\nnot touched the plates. Having seen the slide placed in the camera, I sat\ndown beside my wife, facing the lens.\n\nThe camera had been previously focussed and an exposure was made\u2014Mr. Hope\nstanding on the right and Mrs. Buxton on the left and joining hands (Mr.\nHope\u2019s left, Mrs. Buxton\u2019s right) above the camera. In this attitude\nMr. Hope pressed the pneumatic bulb with his right hand and so made the\nexposure, which was longer than for an ordinary photograph. Then the\nslide was turned and a second exposure was made on other two members of\nthe party.\n\nWhen the second exposure was completed, Mr. Hope took the slide out of\nthe camera, carried it into the dark room, and emptied the plates into\nmy hands in front of the red glass window. Making sure that my signature\nwas on each of the plates, I placed them in a shaded receptacle, signed\nother two plates and put them into the slide with the same precautions as\nbefore. Then, seeing Mr. Hope out of the room, I shut the door and stood\nbefore it whilst two other exposures were made. Re-entering the dark\nroom, I received the plates from the slide as before and proceeded to\ndevelop the four plates with material supplied by Mr. Hope, who remained\nin the room but stood as far from the developing dish as possible and\nleft the whole of the handling to me.\n\nStanding before the red window, I saw the images come up on the plates\nand noticed that on three of them there were figures other than the\nordinary representations of the sitters. When development was finished, I\ncarried the plates from the dark room and, before anyone else was allowed\nto touch them, I examined them individually and satisfied myself beyond\ndoubt that they were the four identical plates on which I had written my\nname and that the normal figures on these plates corresponded with the\nfour exposures I had seen made.\n\nThat each of the four plates bore my signature, clear and characteristic,\nI accepted as proof that these were the plates I had placed in the slide\nand no others, for it was impossible that my signature could have been\nforged: therefore, I reasoned, there had been no substitution of prepared\nplates.\n\nLooking through the negatives, I could see that, in addition to the\nnormal figures of the sitters, there were distinct \u201cextras\u201d on three of\nthe plates, each \u201cextra\u201d being distinct in form from the others.\n\nOn No. 1 plate\u2014that for which my wife and I had been the sitters\u2014there\nwas the clear representation of a face looking out from an arched veil.\nThis \u201cextra\u201d was superimposed on the image of the sitters and partially\nobscured them, as if the \u201csomething\u201d it represented had come between them\nand the lens.\n\nAs soon as the plate was dry, a rough print was obtained by placing\na sheet of printing paper over the negative and holding it up to the\nwindow, through which the sun was shining. That rough print showed the\nnormal figures and the \u201cextra\u201d as they were afterwards printed by Mr.\nHope.\n\nFive possibilities are, therefore, ruled out in seeking to account for\nthis particular \u201cextra\u201d:\n\n    1. The plates were not faked before exposure.\n    2. There was no substitution of plates.\n    3. There was no double exposure.\n    4. There was no double printing.\n    5. The plate was not faked after development.\n\nAs soon as the rough proof of plate No. 1 was obtained, the face of the\n\u201cextra\u201d was recognised by my wife and myself as an unmistakable likeness\nof our elder son, who had been killed in the war, and this recognition\nwas corroborated fully and completely later on by other members of the\nfamily, and is therefore beyond dispute.\n\nIn considering this likeness and its recognition, I take note of certain\nfacts, namely: (1) That Mr. Hope did not know me and did not know my\nson, or even that I had a son; (2) that neither Mr. Hope nor anyone in\nthe room, save my wife and myself, had ever seen my son, and that it is\nunlikely that any one of them had seen his photographs; and (3) that\nalthough the likeness is unmistakable, the image of the face is not a\nreproduction of any normal photograph.\n\nIn view of these facts, it seemed to me then, and seems to me still, that\nit was quite impossible that Mr. Hope could have consciously produced\nthat likeness either by skill or trick or both.\n\nI was afterwards present at several of Mr. Hope\u2019s sittings and was\nallowed on at least two other occasions to accompany him into the dark\nroom and to watch the whole of his procedure. I kept a keen look-out for\ntricks\u2014with many of which I was acquainted, but I saw none.\n\nAlso I have discussed the details many times with photographic experts\nand I have read the accusations brought against Mr. Hope, and I am quite\nsatisfied that\u2014whatever may have happened on other occasions\u2014none of\nthe suggestions of trickery put forward can account for the \u201cextras\u201d I\nhave described, and particularly for that in which I am most directly\ninterested.\n\n                                         (_Signed_) GEORGE H. LETHEM.\n\n_Hazeldene, Harehills Lane, Leeds._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe Evidence of W. G. MITCHELL, ESQ., OF DARLINGTON\n\n    (_Mr. Mitchell is a Vice-President of the S.S.S.P., and\n    President of the Darlington Photographic Society. He is a\n    photographer and investigator of considerable experience._)\n\nI first came in touch with Mr. Hope and Mrs. Buxton at Crewe. My second\nmeeting with these good people was at Middlesbrough, where they were\nspending a holiday. I have thus had an opportunity of experimenting in\nthe atmosphere of their own s\u00e9ance-room and studio, and also under the\nimprovised conditions of a friend\u2019s residence.\n\nThe subject of supernormal photography was not entirely new to me. I had\nmet Mr. Edward Wyllie, the \u201cspirit\u201d photographer, when in Ireland, and\nwatched his operations almost daily during his fortnight\u2019s sojourn in\nthat country. I subjected him to the most stringent and ingenious tests\nthat I could devise. As founder and president of a photographic society,\nI was fully alive to all the possibilities of faking, but was quite\nsatisfied that I had removed from Mr. Wyllie any opportunity to indulge\nin photographic legerdemain. With all my caution, results persisted. All\nthe ordinary laws of photography, as far as I understood them, were upset\nand violated.\n\nBut to get back to the Crewe Circle. I had arranged with a friend who was\nat that time editor-manager of an important Northern newspaper to visit\nCrewe for the purpose of meeting the Crewe Circle. As brother members\nof a psychical research society, we desired to add to our experiences.\nHaving taken the precaution of purchasing plates locally and following\nthe usual recommendation of carrying them in close proximity to the\nbody, we looked forward to our journey. The appointed day arrived,\nbut no day in modern history could have been more unsuitable or less\nconducive to good results. It was December 16th, 1914, and the news\ntapped out over the \u201cprivate wire\u201d was most disquieting; the Huns were\nshelling Scarborough and West Hartlepool. My friend realised that it was\nimpossible for him to desert his editorial chair, and he hurriedly gave\nme his box of plates. I met Mr. William Walker, of Buxton, _en route_,\nand together we journeyed to Crewe. A short devotional service was\nheld in the kitchen of Mrs. Buxton\u2019s home, during which I was informed\nthat only one box of plates could be dealt with. I selected the box\npurchased by my absent friend and expressed a desire that some result\nshould be given that would give him satisfaction and conviction. I was\ninstructed that four plates would be dealt with and that I could select\nany particular four I desired from the box; I named the third and fourth,\nninth and tenth. This selection secured two pairs of plates that would be\npacked film to film, and would probably be hinged together with emulsion.\n\nThe unsealed box was then placed on the centre of the table, and as it\nbore a rubber stamp impression of the firm from which it was purchased I\nam quite satisfied that there was no substitution of boxes. Mr. Hope then\ninsisted that I should dismantle his camera. This I did most thoroughly,\ngiving special attention to the dark slides, lens and shutter.\n\nHaving placed the dark slides in my pocket, we entered the dark room,\nwhere I unpacked the box, selecting the particular plates decided upon,\nwrote my initials across the corner of each, placed them in the two\ndouble back dark slides and placed the remainder of the plates together\nwith the dark slides in my pocket. We adjourned to the studio, where\nHope allowed me to choose my position in relation to the background. Mr.\nWalker sat in the chair, I focussed the portrait on the focussing screen\nof the camera, placed the dark slide in position and left all ready for\nmaking the exposure. I then went and took a seat beside Mr. Walker. Mr.\nHope manipulated the lens cap with one hand and with his other clasped\nMrs. Buxton\u2019s, thus forming an arc over the bellows of the camera. After\nthe first plate was exposed I went to the camera, closed the dark slide\nand reversed it, then sat for the second exposure.\n\nThe third plate was next used. Mrs. Buxton asked me to place the dark\nslide containing the only unexposed plate on her forehead, this I did for\nabout ten seconds.\n\nI then retired with Mr. Hope to the dark room, where I personally\ndeveloped the four plates. On three out of the four supernormal effects\nflashed up, and after fixing in the hypo-bath we brought them out to the\nlight for examination.\n\nPlate No. 1, in addition to the normal image, showed a lengthy message\nof exceedingly minute copperplate writing, too small to read without the\naid of the magnifying glass. I could just discern that there were Greek\ncharacters intermingled with other languages, including English.\n\nNo. 2 plate bore only the normal image.\n\nNo. 3 plate showed the supernormal figure of a lady draped in some\nmaterial of fine texture, standing by my side.\n\nNo. 4 plate, the one held on Mrs. B.\u2019s forehead, showed a well-defined\nface of a lady.\n\nThe long message on No. 1 contained 145 words, and was written in a\njumble of languages, English, Greek, French, and Latin, and concluded\nthus: \u201cAnd now, friends, we have given you this advice in mixed\nlanguages, so that it will help to support the claim that the unlearned\nof to-day possess the same powers as the humble fishermen of biblical\nhistory. We thank you for the common-sense way in which you have met\nus....\u201d etc. It was quite two years before I was able to get the Greek\nportion translated. I eventually met a young Greek, a student of\nArmstrong College, Newcastle, who told me that it was a very ancient\nstyle of Greek. The message, when translated, was quite intelligible to\nme.\n\nNo. 3 plate, with supernormal portrait, proved to be undeniably the\nportrait of the deceased mother of the wife of my friend. On comparing\nit with a life portrait it left no doubt in the mind of any reasonable\nperson.\n\nThe portrait on No. 4 plate I cannot recognise.\n\nI have a profound conviction that Mr. Hope is a genuine medium, honest\nand straightforward, and it would take a great deal to shake my\nconfidence in his integrity. I have followed his operations for years,\nand find them a fruitful source of instruction. It is only those who\nhave experimented in \u201cfake\u201d effects who can realise the difficulties,\nand with a knowledge of photography I challenge any professional or\namateur photographer to produce anything approaching the same effects\nunder any conditions. They find it absolutely impossible under the _same_\nconditions.\n\nIt is unthinkable that Mr. and Mrs. Buxton would co-operate, aid and abet\nin a continuous fraud on the widowed wife, the sorrowing parent.\n\n                                           (_Signed_) W. G. MITCHELL.\n\n_3, Harewood Terrace, Darlington._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAn Account by J. WILLIAMS, ESQ., PHOTOGRAPHIC SPECIALIST, OF THE PORTLAND\nSTUDIO, RHYL\n\nIt is with the greatest pleasure that I add my testimony to the\ntruthfulness and absolute sincerity of Mr. Hope and Mrs. Buxton.\n\nThey have been known to me for several years; altogether no less than six\ntimes I have had sittings with them. In every case they have allowed me\nevery facility to eliminate any possible fraud, which as a photographer\nof nearly fifty years\u2019 experience, I was eager to discover.\n\nOne experience with the Crewe Circle was this: at one sitting I was asked\nwhat plate I would choose from a packet of twelve plates; it was decided\non the fourth from the top of the packet. The camera was _not_ used;\nMr. Hope and I entered the dark room and only myself touched the plates\nduring development. On the fourth plate was a message from the late\nArchdeacon Colley. This negative I have by me and anyone wishing to see\nsame can do so with pleasure.\n\nNo one could wish for a better test than this; no one but myself touched\nthe plates at any time during the sitting. The plates I brought with\nme, tied with special knots to prevent any opening of the packet or\nsubstituting of another packet.\n\n                                            (_Signed_) JNO. WILLIAMS.\n\n_Portland Studio, Rhyl._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe Testimony of JOSEPH HIGGINBOTTOM, ESQ., VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE\nSHEFFIELD AND DISTRICT SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH\n\n    (_An account of a surprise visit in which the sitter secured\n    a likeness of his mother, of whom no normal photograph is in\n    existence._)\n\nI am pleased to have this opportunity of adding my testimony to the\nhonesty of Mr. Wm. Hope of the Crewe Circle.\n\nHerewith I enclose a psychic photograph of my mother. [Not\nreproduced.\u2014ED.] It has been freely recognised by those who knew her.\nSuch is my confidence in Mr. Hope that I cannot allow myself to imagine\nfor a moment that with his extraordinary gift, in conjunction with Mrs.\nBuxton he would allow himself to be led astray or deviate from the path\nof rectitude under any circumstances.\n\n                                          (_Signed_) J. HIGGINBOTTOM.\n\n_Lees House, Norton Lees, Sheffield._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nProof from MRS. E. PICKUP, OF 40, WATERLOO ROAD, BURNLEY, LANCS.\n\n    (_A strongly evidential case which describes how the sitter\n    visited the Crewe Circle as an absolute stranger and without\n    even an appointment, and secured a striking likeness of her\n    deceased husband. (See Figs. 28 and 29.) Extract from an\n    original letter to Mr. Hope._)\n\nNo words of mine can express my gratitude to you since receiving the\nphotos this morning. The extra one is my dear husband, and just as I\nprayed he might come\u2014an exact copy of the one I had at home and the one I\nliked best. Every detail is so clear and correct, even to the dimple in\nthe chin. What could be more convincing, when I came to you an absolute\nstranger and without even an appointment?\n\nThat visit will remain imprinted on my memory as one of the brightest\ndays in my life. I am sure after such evidence as this and the way\nin which you carried out your work, I need never suffer the pangs of\nloneliness again, because I believe that God has taken him to a higher\nsphere. He will still guide me and watch over me so long as I do my part\nby keeping in touch with God and His divine laws.\n\nI don\u2019t know that I could ask for anything more. My cup is full and\noverflowing. I trust that others who come to you may get as good results,\nthat they, too, may know the joy and happiness it brings.\n\n                                                (_Signed_) E. PICKUP.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nFrom MRS. RISKER, LATE OF DARLASTON\n\n    (_An excellent case, in which the sitter secured an undoubted\n    likeness of her husband. A number of questions were submitted\n    to Mrs. Risker, and her replies are given hereunder._)\n\nI have great pleasure in answering the questions you ask.\n\nQuestion No. 1.\u2014If there is the slightest doubt concerning \u201cextra\u201d?\n\nNone whatever.\n\nQuestion No. 2.\u2014Whether Mr. Hope or any one connected with the Crewe\nCircle knew Mr. Risker before his death, or had seen any photograph of\nhim prior to visiting Crewe for this sitting?\n\nNo. The first time I ever knew of Mr. Hope or the Crewe Circle was\nthrough an article written by Miss Stead in _Nash\u2019s Magazine_ during the\nlatter part of 1916 (after my husband\u2019s death, which occurred August\n15th, 1916).\n\nQuestion No. 3.\u2014In what manner did I get into touch with Crewe Circle?\n\nThe article which Miss Stead wrote appealed to me, and knowing Miss\nStead (by repute) to be a straightforward woman, the thought came, \u201cHere\napparently is a tangible proof of the after-life.\u201d Thereupon I did not\nrest until I found out the address. Some weeks later, a lady from Runcorn\nwho knew nothing of me gave me the address of Mr. Hope.\n\nSince above I have paid six visits and have had nine results\u2014seven\n\u201cextras\u201d and two \u201cskotographs\u201d; upon five visits I have taken my own\nplates from Darlaston.\n\n                                             (_Signed_) M. C. RISKER.\n\n_Late of Bilston Street, Darlaston._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAn Expression of Opinion from LADY GREY OF FALLODEN\n\nI am perfectly ready to adhere to my conviction that I have obtained\nevidence of supernormal activities through the mediumship of the Crewe\nCircle, and this I would maintain however conclusively they may have been\nconvicted of fraud on other occasions.\n\n                                              (_Signed_) PAMELA GREY.\n\n_Wilsford Manor, Salisbury._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe Evidence of H. BLACKWELL, ESQ., A VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE S.S.S.P.\n\n    (_Mr. Blackwell is one of the pioneers in the history\n    of psychic photography. His experiences have been quite\n    exceptional. This description tells how he secured a photograph\n    of a recently deceased sister._)\n\nWith great pleasure I give my experience of the good work done through\nthe Crewe mediums. In April, 1920, having fixed an appointment with\nMr. Hope for a certain hour at the B.C.P.S., I was there to time with\nan unopened box of plates. Of the four plates exposed I found upon\ndevelopment that only two had any psychic results.\n\nThese appeared to consist of several faint faces merging one into the\nother. From the wet negatives I could not recognise any of the features,\nso asked for prints to be sent on in due course.\n\nWhen the prints came to hand I was delighted to recognise the face of my\nsister, but repeated five times, as if in her agitation she could not\nconcentrate sufficiently and had moved during the exposure.\n\nShe appeared as in her final illness two years previously, when I had\ngone down into the country to bid \u201cgood-bye.\u201d\n\nAs a testimony to the value of psychic photography I may mention that\nthrough the mediumship of Mr. R. Boursnell, in London, and of Mr. W.\nM. Keeler, in Washington, I have received portraits of my grandfather,\nmother, two sisters and several of my nieces. A number of friends have\nalso been taken in London after promises given in Canada and elsewhere.\n\nAbout twelve years ago, thanks to a personal friend who then possessed\nwonderful materialising power, I was enabled to obtain, using four\ncameras simultaneously, excellent photographs of my father, mother, niece\nand several friends. They manifested for the express purpose of being\ntaken, and in each instance the medium shows by the side of the spirit\nvisitor. The experiments were conducted in my house and in presence of\nwitnesses.\n\n                                             (_Signed_) H. BLACKWELL.\n\n_43, Brownswood Road, Finsbury Park, N. 4._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe Testimony of W. C. PUGH, ESQ., OF MIDDLESBROUGH\n\n    (_A straight statement by an investigator who has secured many\n    recognised psychic photographic results, through the Crewe\n    Circle, in his own home._)\n\nIt is a number of years since I first sat with the Crewe Circle, and I\nhave sat with them quite a dozen times since, and on each occasion I have\nreceived convincing proof of the genuineness of their phenomena. I have\nbeside me quite a collection of photographs taken by them, and each\nphoto has a message of its own; some contain extras of friends who have\npassed on, and others contain messages from interested friends beyond the\ngrave. The extras on practically all my photos have been recognised by\nrelatives and friends.\n\nI enclose copy of one of these with two extras which have been readily\nrecognised by all my friends as my father and mother, both of whom\nhad passed on before I met the Crewe Circle. I also enclose copies of\noriginal photos for comparison. [Not reproduced.\u2014ED.]\n\nMy opportunities for testing the genuineness of the Crewe Circle\u2019s work\nhave been unique because they have taken over a hundred photos in my\nhouse in Middlesbrough. When they have spent a few days here they have\nlived with us. My wife and I made all the arrangements for their visit,\nand entertained them during their stay. Applications for sittings were\nmade to us and we fixed them up. In the vast majority of cases the Crew\nCircle had never seen the sitters till they arrived at their appointed\ntimes. In many cases they never saw them again. Yet their success has\nbeen phenomenal. Many have received photos with extras which they\nrecognised at sight. Others have taken them home and had them recognised\nby friends or other members of their families.\n\nThe Circle brought no plates with them. Each sitter provided his or her\nown. My sitting-room was the studio. My bath-room was the developing\nroom. Unused plates were left behind when the Circle went away, and my\nlad, who has a camera, has been supplied with a stock of plates for use\namongst his friends.\n\nTo those of us who know the members of the circle so well, some of the\nstatements appearing in the Press have been very amusing. The idea of Mr.\nHope beating the conjurers at their own game is too ridiculous for words.\nExpert photographers who have had experience of Mr. Hope\u2019s methods must\nalso have been greatly amused.\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 24.\u2014Photograph of Mrs. R. Foulds, of Sheffield, with\npsychic photograph of her mother, obtained under good test conditions.\nCompare with Fig. 25. (_See_ p. 125.)]\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 25.\u2014Photograph of Mrs. Foulds\u2019 mother for comparison\nwith psychic effect on Fig. 24.]\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 26.\u2014Photograph of Mrs. A. E. Griere with psychic\nlikeness of husband and father. The sitter was a total stranger to the\nCrewe Circle. Compare the lower face with Fig. 27. (_See_ p. 127.)]\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 27.\u2014Photograph of Mrs. Griere\u2019s husband for\ncomparison with his psychic likeness on Fig. 26.]\n\nThen there is the question of motive. Let me state that _the Crewe\nCircle have never had one penny piece out of their various visits to\nMiddlesboro\u2019_. We charged sufficient from each sitter to pay railway\nexpenses only, nothing more. We paid for the railway tickets, that was\nall. Where on earth was the incentive for these people to leave their\nhomes to come here to deceive us? One\u2019s sense of humour must have been\nneglected if they cannot see that the whole of the charges are too funny\nfor words.\n\nTHAT THE PHENOMENA ARE GENUINE I AM CONVINCED. What is behind the\nphenomena is another matter, and does not enter into the present question.\n\nIf the scientists care to continue to drag on behind plain common-sense\npeople let them do so. I have scores of good friends who have had that\nexperience which no scientist can take from them, and I prefer to accept\ntheir opinions, along with my own experience, rather than listen to those\npeople whose one desire seems to be to bolster up preconceived ideas.\n\nThe world would be better for some more people as honest as are the\nmembers of the Crewe Circle.\n\n                                      (_Signed_) WILLIAM COWELL PUGH.\n\n_61, St. Paul\u2019s Road, Middlesbrough._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAn Account by MRS. MARGARET ELLINOR\n\n    (_A description of three remarkable recognised likenesses\n    obtained by a lady photographer._)\n\nI am anxious to help to prove the truth of psychic photography, and with\nthis end in view I am sending herewith three photographs taken by Mr.\nHope, of Crewe, under test conditions, which contain recognised \u201cextras.\u201d\n[Not reproduced.\u2014ED.]\n\nMight I say that in the first place I was extremely sceptical,\nhaving some knowledge of photography. Even after myself obtaining a\n\u201cpsychograph\u201d I was still in a doubtful frame of mind, and attended the\nBritish College of Psychic Science to gather further evidence.\n\nIn this way I came into contact with Mr. Hope and Mrs. Buxton, and by and\nby arranged through the agency of Mrs. McKenzie, of the College, to have\na test sitting with Mr. Hope. The results of this sitting, quite apart\nfrom any subsequent sittings, provided what to my mind were conclusive\nproofs of Mr. Hope\u2019s gifts and absolute integrity.\n\nEnclosed are four photographs marked. All these were taken under the\nmost stringent test conditions. I took with me some plates which had\npreviously been marked secretly by a second party (a sceptic). These\nplates were then put into the slide by Mr. Hope in my presence; the slide\nwas never for a moment out of my observation and I subsequently followed\nevery manipulation.\n\nIn the case of the photographs (1) and (2) the extra is of my father. An\nold original photograph of my father is enclosed. It will be observed\nthat the extras give a view from a different angle to the original in\neach case. My father was unknown to Mr. Hope\u2014there were no photographs\nof my father available to Mr. Hope\u2014my father passed over when I was nine\nyears of age.\n\nIn photograph (3) the extra is of my father-in-law, an original of whom\nis enclosed. My husband\u2019s father has been passed over seven years, and no\nphotograph of him could be available to Mr. Hope.\n\nPhotograph (4) was taken at another sitting at my home. It is especially\ninteresting inasmuch as the extra thereon was unrecognised at the time.\nAfter a lapse of time, through incidents I need not explain, I obtained\na clue to the identity of the \u201cextra.\u201d Finally I was able to ascertain\nthat the \u201cextra\u201d was one of my girlhood\u2019s friends who has now been passed\non many years. I was able to secure an old original photograph, which is\nenclosed.\n\nHaving been a sceptic myself, I can sympathise with those who find it\ndifficult to credit these puzzling phenomena. At the same time, I suggest\nthat Mr. Hope is entitled to the sympathetic treatment and fair dealing\nthat should be accorded to anyone who brings forward evidence in support\nof the super-physical.\n\n                                         (_Signed_) MARGARET ELLINOR.\n\n_77, Atlantic Road, Brixton, S.W. 9._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nFrom SAMUEL MADDOCKS, ESQ., HON. SECRETARY OF THE SHEFFIELD AND DISTRICT\nSOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH\n\n    (_The psychic effect secured by Mr. Maddocks on the occasion\n    of the third sitting described hereunder is shown by fig. 22.\n    A normal photograph of the late Mrs. Maddocks is given for\n    comparison [fig. 23]._)\n\nI am absolutely convinced that Mr. Hope and Mrs. Buxton are transparently\nhonest and honourable, most reverent in their Circle meetings, and their\nonly desire is to give comfort and consolation to those who have lost a\nloved one. To impute fraud or trickery to them wounded me to the quick.\n\nAfter several months\u2019 waiting I obtained three sittings (with three\nextras) as follows:\n\n_1st Sitting._\u2014To my great surprise the \u201cextra\u201d was not my first wife,\nbut the following message:\n\n    \u2018Kind friends, we are glad to meet you and for the benefit\n    of your friend of the Psychic Research Society we are giving\n    this message, so that he may understand that, given the right\n    conditions, these works can be done, and we ask you for our\n    dear medium\u2019s sake, to speak of it as you find it. God bless\n    you.\u2019\n\n_2nd Sitting._\u2014This \u201cextra\u201d was quite unknown to me, but on reaching home\n(Sheffield) my second wife (clairvoyant) exclaimed, \u201cWhy, that\u2019s the same\nface I\u2019ve seen in our bedroom nearly every night.\u201d\n\n_3rd Sitting._\u2014The \u201cextra\u201d was my first wife at last! I recognised it\ninstantly, also relatives and friends, as a very good picture of what she\nlooked like at the end of twenty months\u2019 agony from cancer. All her teeth\nwere extracted during her illness on the advice of a London physician,\nand that accounts for the sunken appearance of the mouth. (See Figure 22.)\n\nThe normal photo was taken several years previously. (See Figure 23.)\n\n                                          (_Signed_) SAMUEL MADDOCKS.\n\n_Supt. Royal Blind School, Broomhill, Sheffield._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe Testimony of JAS. P. SKELTON, ESQ., OF BELFAST\n\n    (_The account tells how Mr. Skelton obtained a photograph of\n    his mother, and how later, with two friends, he was present\n    when the famous message from the late Dr. W. J. Crawford was\n    obtained on a photographic plate of their own, under strict\n    test conditions. See figs. 3 and 4._)\n\nI have known Mr. Hope for four or five years now, and have sat with him\nabout a dozen times as well as being closely associated during his and\nMrs. Buxton\u2019s two visits to Belfast.\n\nOn January 4th, 1922, my mother passed to the higher life. I was summoned\nto Blackburn on Saturday, January 28th, 1922, and as I could not return\nto Belfast sooner than the Monday night, I decided to make a visit to\nCrewe with the hope that I might get her photograph. I wrote to Mr. Hope\nand made an appointment for the Monday morning, January 30th, 1922, and\nreceived his reply agreeing. On the night before I crossed to England,\nwe held a brief circle at home, and by means of a small table, my mother\nmanifested. I told her of my intention of going to Crewe and the time\nthat I would be sitting, and she signified that she would do her best to\nget through. I arrived in Crewe on the day arranged (about 10 a.m.), and\nfound that Mrs. Buxton was ill in bed and could not sit. Naturally I was\nmuch disappointed. Mr. Hope noticing it, said, \u201cNever mind, we will sit\nwithout her and do the best we can.\u201d Mrs. Buxton\u2019s daughter sat in her\nplace, Mr. Hope and myself completed the circle. The usual methods were\nadopted. The packet of plates which I bought in Crewe about five minutes\nbefore I reached 144, Market Street were lying on the table during the\ncourse of the sitting in full view of all. Mr. Hope and I then proceeded\nto the dark room, where I initialled the second two plates in the packet,\nand loaded the slide with them. Never once did Mr. Hope touch them. Miss\nBuxton and Mr. Hope arranged the camera, etc., after which I handed Mr.\nHope the slide. He exposed the two plates and I afterwards developed them\nmyself. On the first was the face of my mother, just as she appeared a\nfew days prior to her death. The plate was hurriedly dried and a print\nwas made for me to take with me, both Mr. Hope and Mrs. Buxton, who knew\nher recognised it at once. Everyone at home who knew her recognised\nit immediately, one gentleman saying, \u201cI don\u2019t know anything about\nspiritualism, but if you want an independent testimony, I am prepared to\ngo on any platform and testify to this being your mother\u2019s photograph.\u201d\nTo me the remarkable thing was, that it was secured exactly twenty-six\ndays after her death. To say Mr. Hope tricked, substituted plates, or in\nany way defrauded, is puerile.\n\nOn a previous occasion I secured a photograph of an old friend of our\nfamily who died when I was a boy. It was not recognised for a week after\ngetting it, and then only by chance. I compared an original photograph of\nher and it proved the identity up to the hilt.\n\nMy most recent experience was the securing of the now famous \u201cCrawford\u201d\nmessage signed by himself. Mr. J. W. Gillmour, Mr. S. G. Donaldson\nand myself, all of Belfast, were travelling to the Conferences of the\nS.N.U., Ltd., in London, and we decided to break our journey at Crewe.\nMr. Gillmour bought a packet of ordinary Imperial quarter-plates from\nMr. John Bell, of Garfield Street, Belfast, on Thursday, June 29th,\n1922, telling Mr. Bell the purpose for which they were required. Mr.\nBell parcelled it up and sealed with wax. We crossed to Liverpool\nsame night. Mrs. Crawford also crossed over with us and we travelled\ntogether to Crewe, Mrs. Crawford went on to London and we went to see Mr.\nHope, arriving there about 10.30 a.m. The usual sitting was arranged,\nMr. Gillmour produced the sealed packet, and we all saw the seal was\nunbroken. It was then broken and the packet was seen to be intact as it\ncame from Mr. Bell\u2019s shop. The unopened packet was held between the hands\nof all present. Mr. Donaldson then took the packet and proceeded with Mr.\nHope to load the slides in the dark room, Mr. Donaldson alone handled\nthe plates from beginning to end. We were all photographed together at\nfirst, and then separately. The first plate exposed shews a message from\nDr. Crawford. With Mr. Gillmour as a sitter there appears an (as yet)\nunknown face. With Mr. Donaldson there was no psychic effect. With myself\na bright light appeared. We were all present at the development and at no\ntime did Mr. Hope touch the plates. Mr. Donaldson did all the work under\nour careful scrutiny. The result was a surprise to us all. (See Figures 2\nand 4.)\n\nWe are, however, mutually agreed that it is a _bona fide_ message from\nDr. Crawford in his own handwriting, with which I am well acquainted.\n\n                                          (_Signed_) JAS. P. SKELTON.\n\n_651, Lisborn Road, Balmoral, Belfast._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nFrom MISS ESTELLE STEAD\n\nDuring the last seven or eight years I have had several sittings with\nthe Crewe Circle, and can state truly that I have always found both Mr.\nHope and Mrs. Buxton most anxious to have me examine the dark room, the\ncamera, the slides, the room in which the photographs were taken, and had\nI wished to examine anything else I am sure they would have agreed to my\ndoing so.\n\nAt some sittings I have had no results, whilst at others the results have\nbeen excellent.\n\nThe very first time I visited Crewe I bought a box of plates in London\nand took it with me. Mr. Hope never handled the box at all excepting in\nmy presence, and we obtained two excellent pictures of my father. During\nthat same visit I bought a box of plates in Crewe, neither Mr. Hope nor\nMrs. Buxton had any idea at which shop I bought it. I sealed the box and\ntook it with me to 144, Market Street. I held it in my hands until we,\nMr. Hope, Mrs. Buxton, Mr. Harry Walker, at whose house I was staying,\nand myself\u2014were seated round the table. I then placed the box on the\ntable, where it remained visible to all, as the room was well lighted by\ngas, whilst we held the little service usually held by the Crewe Circle.\nWe all then placed our hands under and over the box and held it in this\nway for a little while. I then placed the bottom of the box against Mrs.\nBuxton\u2019s forehead and then held it between my hands whilst instructions\nwere given, through Mr. Hope, to the effect that I should go into the\ndark room with him, unseal the box myself, take out the bottom plate and\nthe plate next to it. I was told to take particular note as to which\nwas the bottom plate. I was instructed to develop the two plates in Mr.\nHope\u2019s presence, but not to allow him to touch them until I had developed\nthem. Note, the box was not unsealed until we went into the dark room,\nand the plates were never exposed to the light at all.\n\nNothing appeared on the bottom plate, nor was there any sign of fogging.\nOn the other plate were two messages, one in Archdeacon Colley\u2019s\nhandwriting and one in Mr. William Walker\u2019s handwriting, together with a\nfaint outline of my father\u2019s face.\n\nAbout one year after receiving the above I went up to Crewe with Miss\nScatcherd. I had previously, without saying a word to Miss Scatcherd\nor anyone, made an engagement with my brother Will, who passed over in\n1907, to meet me there and give his picture if he could manage to do so.\nMiss Scatcherd thought I wanted a picture of my father or a message from\nhim. I do not think either Mr. Hope or Mrs. Buxton knew of my brother\u2019s\nexistence, and even if they did they certainly had no means of getting\nhold of his photograph. I took my own plates from town. On the very first\nplate exposed my brother\u2019s face appears between Miss Scatcherd and myself.\n\nDuring a visit the Crewe Circle paid to the \u201cW. T. Stead\u201d Bureau in\nBaker Street in 1919, at my father\u2019s request I took my mother to have a\nsitting with them without advising them beforehand as to who it was I was\nbringing. I took my own plates, put them in the slides myself and stood\nover Mr. Hope whilst he developed the plates after the sitting. On the\nplate exposed on my mother alone there appears a very good picture of my\nfather.\n\n                                              (_Signed_) E. W. STEAD.\n\n_5, Smith Square, S.W. 1._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe Evidence of MRS. ELLEN JONES, OF KEMPSTON\n\n    (_Mrs. Jones relates how on two occasions she obtained an\n    excellent likeness of her deceased husband. The second\n    photograph referred to shows a remarkable likeness on\n    comparison with a normal photograph._)\n\nI had a sitting at Crewe, about four years ago, and again this last\nMarch. Success attended both sittings. The March sitting took place in\nmy own house; Mr. Hope and Mrs. Buxton stayed with us a couple of days\nand we got a photo with three \u201cextras\u201d on one plate. We consider the\nlast one a perfect likeness of my husband just as he was before his last\nillness. The first was very good, only rather too much like what he was\nat the time of passing over, so, you see, it was rather painful, but a\ntruthful likeness. My son was with Mr. Hope the whole time he developed\nthe plates. He knows quite a lot about photography, and we used our own\nplates.\n\n                                              (_Signed_) ELLEN JONES.\n\n_Rees Cottage, Kempston, Beds._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nFrom THE REV. G. VALE OWEN\n\nI have had several sittings with Mr. Wm. Hope and Mrs. Buxton at Crewe. I\nwill briefly relate one experience.\n\nIn 1910 I was just dropping off to sleep when I saw, in the far corner of\nthe room, a beautiful girl\u2019s face smiling at me. It slowly disappeared\nsideways behind a screen. I wondered who the owner was. It was slightly\noval, radiant with joy, and the eyes were laughing at me with just\na touch of roguish enjoyment at my perplexity. There was a certain\nefflorescence permeating it, a light which did not proceed from an\nexterior object, but which seemed to be one with the substance of which\nthe face was composed. But it was not a mask. It was a living face.\n\nAbout eight years later I saw the same face again, this time about six\ninches from my own. On this second occasion there came into my mind, as\nif intentionally projected there, the name \u201cRuby.\u201d Ruby is my daughter\nwho passed away at the age of fifteen months in 1896.\n\nIn August, 1917, my wife and I paid a visit to the Crewe Circle. On one\nof the negatives appeared the face I had already seen clairvoyantly.\nIt was not full-face, as I had seen it on the two previous occasions,\nbut in profile. This disposes of the theory that it might have been a\nthought-form of my own.\n\nLater on, we were having a talk with this spirit-child of ours in our own\nhome at Orford, and I took the opportunity to ask her if it was she who\nhad managed to get her picture on the plate at Crewe. Her reply was: \u201cI\ndon\u2019t know, daddy. I was there and tried to. I should love to have done\nit. Did I?\u201d My answer was that I was satisfied that she had done so.\n\nI also asked her why it was in profile and she said it was in order that\nshe might shew her hair. Even when she passed away as a baby her abundant\nlight-brown hair was an exceptional feature. On the photograph it was\nalso conspicuous.\n\nI am satisfied that the picture is the likeness of my daughter Ruby. We\nhave received more than one description of her as she appears in the\nspirit life and this portrait tallies with these descriptions.\n\nI am at one with several of my friends who have sat with them in their\nconviction that there is no trickery used by these mediums in the\nproduction of results obtained.\n\nOn all my visits to Crewe I have been struck with the transparent honesty\nand earnestness of both Mr. Hope and Mrs. Buxton. The only conclusion to\nwhich I can come is that they are out for the sole purpose of helping\nothers with their rare gift, at great cost to their own comfort and\nconvenience. Personally I am grateful to them for their self-sacrificing\nservice.\n\n                                             (_Signed_) G. VALE OWEN.\n\n_Orford Vicarage, Warrington._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe Testimony of F. J. TWELVES, ESQ., OF MANCHESTER\n\nHaving had well over twenty sittings with Mr. Hope and Mrs. Buxton of\nthe Crewe Circle, as well as intimate acquaintance of sittings of close\nfriends, I have no hesitation in expressing absolute conviction of the\ngenuineness of the results obtained.\n\nWith the exception of photographs of our own son, I cannot say that many\nwere undoubtedly recognised. We have, however, had many photographs of\nour boy about which there could be no doubt on the part of anybody who\nknew him at all well. Of course, ordinary photographs of an individual\ntaken from different angles or in different positions shew considerable\ndivergence; perhaps the one approximating nearest to the last photo\nbefore transition is the one taken on October 16th, 1921, copy of which\nI enclose together with print of the pretransitional photograph for\ncomparison. [Not reproduced.\u2014ED.]\n\nThe clearest photo we have had taken of him was on December 11th, 1920.\n\n                                          (_Signed_) FRED J. TWELVES.\n\n_55, Victoria Road, Whalley Range, Manchester._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe Testimony of ALDERMAN W. WHITEFIELD, J.P., OF BRISTOL\n\nOn August 19th, 1921, I called at Crewe on my way home from Llandudno and\nmade my way to the house of Mrs. Buxton. I took with me a sealed packet\nof plates. I have done a considerable amount of photographic work in days\ngone by. I examined the camera, placed the plates into the slides myself\nin the dark room and developed and fixed them myself. As regards the\npsychic results secured, my good wife and myself have not the slightest\ndoubt that it is a photograph of one of our daughters. I do pray that\nthis knowledge may bring joy and comfort to some sorrowing heart.\n\n                                            (_Signed_) W. WHITEFIELD.\n\n_St. George, Bristol._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAn Account of MRS. D. HARTWELL, OF NORTHAMPTON\n\n    (_The photograph referred to by Mrs. Hartwell, when compared\n    with a normal photograph of her late husband, leaves no doubts\n    whatever as to the question of recognition._)\n\nI went to Mr. Hope as a complete stranger and when I received the\nphotograph, I recognised the \u201cextra\u201d to be the likeness of my husband,\nwhom I had lost during the war. It was also recognised by all of his most\nintimate friends to whom it was shown.\n\nYou have my full permission to make whatever use of it you wish, and\nam only too pleased to do anything in my power to help forward this\nbeautiful cause.\n\n                                              (_Signed_) D. HARTWELL.\n\n_2, St. Giles Terrace, Northampton._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAn Account by MRS. R. FOULDS, OF SHEFFIELD\n\n    (_Mrs. Foulds, an experienced photographer, describes how she\n    obtained a psychic photograph of her mother and a psychograph\n    of more than seventy words, under good test conditions. The\n    psychic photograph showing Mrs. Foulds\u2019s mother is reproduced\n    in fig. 24, with normal photograph of the same lady, fig. 25,\n    for comparison._)\n\nThe \u201cextra\u201d of my mother (Figure 24) was obtained at 144, Market Street,\nCrewe, in February, 1920, under the following conditions: I took a sealed\npacket of plates, also my own slide, which, though slightly different\nfrom Mr. Hope\u2019s, fitted his camera; after the usual sitting I went into\nthe dark room, broke the seal, opened the packet of plates, placed one\nin each division of the slide, initialled them, put slide in my dress,\nalso rest of plates, after being focussed I placed slide in camera\nafter a thorough examination of same, resumed my seat, when the usual\nexposure was made. I then took slide from camera, went into dark room and\ndeveloped plates, with result that one was normal and the other bore a\ngood likeness of my mother (recognised by all of the family who have seen\nit). Then Mr. Hope said, \u201cI would like you to choose another plate, any\none you like, from your packet, and develop that, too.\u201d I chose the one\nnext but one to the bottom of packet, and on developing that, obtained\na message of upward of seventy words dealing with matters of a strictly\nprivate nature.\n\nI wish to state most emphatically that from beginning to end of the\nexperiment, the packet of plates never left my person, and those\ndeveloped were not touched in any way whatever by Mr. Hope or Mrs.\nBuxton until they left the fixing bath, neither did the slide leave my\npossession except when I placed it in the camera.\n\n                                                (_Signed_) R. FOULDS.\n\n_84a, Eastbank Road, Sheffield._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nFrom C. DOVE, ESQ., OF SUTTON-IN-ASHFIELD\n\n    (_In forwarding four psychic photographs with normal\n    photographs for comparison, Mr. Dove gives the attestation\n    hereunder._)\n\nI can absolutely assure you that these photographs were taken under\nstrictest test conditions in my home and in the presence of seven\nreliable witnesses who are willing to attest to their genuineness.\n\nI myself bought the plates, etc., and was the only one who handled them\nuntil they were developed, which was keenly watched by all. Mr. Hope\nnever actually touched the plates. They are fine photographs of Mr. W.\nJ. Cary, Mr. Geo. Dove, of whom there is no normal photo in existence,\nand Mrs. Catton. I can quite well assure you that they caused quite a\nsensation in Sutton-in-Ashfield where all of them were well known.\n\n                                             (_Signed_) CHARLES DOVE.\n\n_Homelea, Oak Tree Road, Sutton-in-Ashfield._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe Evidence of MRS. A. ELIZABETH GRIERE, OF DUNFERMLINE\n\n    (_The likenesses of father and husband were obtained on one\n    photograph, the features of the latter being clearer than those\n    of the sitter. This photograph is shewn by fig. 26. Fig. 27\n    reproduced alongside gives a normal photograph of Mr. Griere\n    for comparison._)\n\nI have great pleasure in forwarding the enclosed pictures. My sitting\nwith Mr. Hope took place in December of 1921. I brought my own plates\nas directed, and I wish to state that throughout the whole proceedings\nMr. Hope did not handle these plates unless to load the camera out in\nthe studio. I took them out of the wrapper, placed them in the slide,\nunloaded and developed them. The result of the sitting you have before\nyou.\n\nI am perfectly satisfied that the \u201cextra\u201d on No. 1 picture is the face\nof my husband, and on No. 2 the \u201cextras\u201d are those of my husband and my\nfather. You will see the undoubted resemblance to the original photograph\nherewith enclosed. _I was a total stranger to Mr. Hope and his good\nfriend, Mrs. Buxton_, and I shall always remain indebted to them both for\ntheir courtesy during my visit to Crewe. I trust this picture may be of\nsome use to you.\n\n                                      (_Signed_) A. ELIZABETH GRIERE.\n\n_20, Woodmill Road, Dunfermline._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe Evidence of E. W. LEE, ESQ., OF SHANKLIN, ISLE OF WIGHT\n\nI am enclosing four photographs, one normal and three psychographs. [Not\nreproduced.\u2014ED.] All the psychographs were taken in Crewe. Our first\nmeeting was arranged through the post. We were quite strangers and had no\nmutual acquaintances likely to be in touch with each other. I live in the\nIsle of Wight; Mr. Hope in Crewe.\n\nThe photograph obtained on the first occasion bears the strongest\nlikeness to my dear wife.\n\nThe whole operations, less the fixing of the slide in the camera and\nmaking the exposure, were undertaken by myself. Although I had not the\nslightest reason to suspect Mr. Hope, I treated him by my actions as a\nman open to swindle his patrons.\n\nI am satisfied, bearing in mind that Mr. Hope had not access to any\nphotograph of my wife and following upon the very short time we were\ntogether for the first time in our lives, that the result of that sitting\ncould not be produced or attained solely by any _material_ means known to\nmankind, science and legerdemain included.\n\nIn June of this year as we were motoring through the country a friend and\nmyself called in Crewe. No appointment had been made with Mr. Hope, but\nwe found him at home. Our dear discarnate friends just before leaving the\nisland on June 4th and June 11th of this year stated they would go with\nus, and my friend\u2019s wife, who had passed over in November, 1921, stated\nto her husband that he should see her again. To fulfil this promise we\ncalled at Crewe. The small figure at the back is my friend\u2019s wife. The\nother one, if you will compare it with the normal photograph, will not be\ndifficult to identify as my dear wife. On this occasion the features are\nmost sharply defined.\n\nI cannot express my thanks too warmly to the Crewe Circle and my own dear\ndiscarnate friends for the trouble taken on our behalf.\n\n                                           (_Signed_) E. W. LEE, ESQ.\n\n_Fearnside, Clarence Road, Isle of Wight._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe Evidence of R. S. HIPWOOD, ESQ., OF SUNDERLAND\n\nWe lost our only son in France, August 27th, 1918. Being a good amateur\nphotographer, I was curious about the photos that had been taken by the\nCrewe Circle. We took our own plate with us and I put the plate in the\ndark slide myself and put my name on it. We exposed two plates in the\ncamera and got a well-recognised photo. Even my nine-year-old grandson\ncould tell who the extra was without anyone saying anything to him.\nHaving a thorough knowledge of photography, I can vouch for the veracity\nof the photograph in every particular. I claim the print which I send\nyou to be an ordinary photograph of myself and Mrs. Hipwood with the\nextra of my son, R. W. Hipwood, 13th Welsh Regiment, killed in France in\nthe great advance in August, 1918. I tender to our friends at Crewe our\nunbounded confidence in their work.\n\n                                            (_Signed_) R. S. HIPWOOD.\n\n_174, Cleveland Road, Sunderland._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nFrom LEWIS CHILDS, ESQ., OF SHEFFIELD\n\n    (_This description tells of a compact made between two friends\n    that the one to pass over first should endeavour to manifest\n    to the other. The one friend died, and a few months later Mr.\n    Childs went to Crewe and obtained a fine photograph of his\n    friend, independently recognised by between two hundred and\n    three hundred people who knew him. Mr. Childs\u2019 account is\n    accompanied by certificate of recognition from the members of\n    the deceased man\u2019s family, who were not spiritualists._)\n\nFor five years I worked side by side with Mr. R. H. Turton, and on\nseveral occasions tried to interest him in psychic matters by showing\nhim various spirit photographs which I and various friends had secured.\nHe generally greeted the matter contemptuously, and often used the words\n\u201cbunkum\u201d and \u201crubbish.\u201d On one notable occasion, however, after a long\nargument, he and I made a compact that which ever of us passed away first\nshould endeavour to give the other some evidence of continued existence\nbeyond death.\n\nMr. Turton passed away on March 17th of this year. Seven weeks later I\nvisited the Crewe Circle. I made no appointment, and Mr. Hope and Mrs.\nBuxton could have no idea that I was coming. I took a packet of plates\nwith me and conducted the usual examination of the apparatus used. I\nopened the box of plates and loaded the carrier. After the exposure had\nbeen made I developed and fixed the plate. Everything was in my own\nhands. As the image came up in the developing dish I noted the face of a\nman above my right shoulder. The print shows a remarkable likeness to my\nfriend, R. H. Turton, and I am convinced that he has thus fulfilled the\ncompact made betwixt us.\n\nI have shown it to his relatives and friends, and his shopmates, and they\nhave no hesitation in recognising the photograph. Though none of the\nrelatives are spiritualists, they assert that it resembles him as he lay\nin his coffin. No photograph of Mr. Turton had been taken recently, and I\ncannot discover one which bears any resemblance to this.\n\nThus did my friend keep his compact, to convince me that memory lives\nbeyond death.\n\n                                                (_Signed_) L. CHILDS.\n\n_42, Glover Road, Lowfield, Sheffield._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAn Account by MRS. A. A. PEARS, OF COVENTRY\n\nOn returning from our holidays on August 20th, 1918, my husband and\nmyself paid a surprise call at 144, Market Street, Crewe. About three\nyears previously we had lost our little boy of fourteen. None of the\nmembers of the Crewe Circle had ever seen him, or even a photograph\nof him. On this occasion we were successful in obtaining a wonderful\nphotograph of our dear boy. I have not the least doubt about the reality\nand genuineness of this photograph. Later on, when in Coventry, Mr. Hope\nkindly photographed my little boy\u2019s grave, and we again obtained a fine\nphotograph of him as he was just before he entered the higher life.\nWith the Crewe Circle I have obtained some remarkable results. No one\nacquainted with the members of that Circle would for a moment doubt their\nhonesty, and I pray that God may bless and prosper them in their good\nwork and the sacrifices they make for the benefit of their fellows.\n\n                                              (_Signed_) A. A. PEARS.\n\n_30, Dorset Road, Coventry._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 28.\u2014Photograph of Mrs. E. Pickup with psychic\nlikeness of her husband. The sitter was an absolute stranger to the Crewe\nCircle. (_See_ p. 106.)]\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 29.\u2014Photograph of Mrs. Pickup\u2019s husband for\ncomparison with his psychic likeness on Fig. 28.]\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 30.\u2014Mrs. Burgess with psychic likeness of her uncle,\nMr. H. D. Barlow. Obtained through the mediumship of Mrs. Deane in the\nhome of Mr. Fred Barlow, who developed the plate alone in his dark room.\nAn excellent likeness. A normal photograph of Mr. Barlow is shown in the\ninset. (_See_ p. 63.)]\n\n[Illustration: FIG. 31.\u2014Since this book was written, the above important\nphotograph shows that Mr. F. Barlow, in the presence of three witnesses\n(Messrs. Browne, Newton and Gilby), under good test conditions, obtained\nthrough the Crewe Circle a picture of his father. Note how the psychic\nface has moved and compare with the Deane result (Fig. 30.) and normal\nphotograph. (_See_ inset in Fig. 30.)]\n\nWhat reply can be given to such definite statements as these here\nenumerated by reputable witnesses in every grade of life? Every reader\nwith an open mind will agree that the evidence for the reality of psychic\nphotography is overwhelming. It is only necessary to repeat that these\nreports form but part of a tremendous mass of accumulated evidence, which\nis available for any serious student to investigate. Unfortunately, in\na popular volume of this description it is possible only to reproduce\njust a few of the photographic results referred to. As far as possible,\nhowever, these photographic effects are being accumulated and preserved\nso as to form a permanent record of the truth of psychic photography.\n\n\nTHE END","title":"The Case for Spirit Photography: With corroborative evidence by experienced researchers and photographers","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":33922}