Читать книгу The Case for Spirit Photography - Arthur Conan Doyle - Страница 8

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We will now turn to the reproduction of faces, and I will give an instance where all the stock theories about changing or superposition of plates become untenable. At the annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Supernormal Pictures, I being present, a photograph of the members was taken in the normal way as a souvenir. As Hope was present, it was suggested that a second photograph be taken by him in the hope that we might get some psychic effect. The plate was taken from an unopened packet in the pocket of the secretary, and some fifteen of us were witnesses of the whole transaction. Hope had no warning at all, and could have made no preparation. The plate was at once developed by one of our own members, and a well-marked extra, amid a cloud of ectoplasm, appeared upon the picture. This extra was claimed by one of our members as a good likeness of his dead father. This result, which is illustrated by Figure 5, was obtained before an audience of experts, if any men in this world have a right to call themselves experts upon this subject. How can it be explained by fraud and how can such a case be lightly set aside? Granting for argument’s sake that the sitter may have been mistaken in the recognition, how can the actual psychic effect be accounted for?

It happens, occasionally, that these ghost-faces which appear upon the plates retain some remarkable physical peculiarity which prove beyond all question who they represent. One such case has been handed to me by the Countess of Malmesbury, whose own account is so clear and condensed that it could not be bettered:

“I sat with Mr. Hope and Mrs. Buxton on Friday, December 9th, 1921, and was accompanied by ‘Val L’Estrange,’ a lady professional photographer, who watched the proceedings on my behalf, as I do not understand photography. She states that from first to last she could not detect any fraud. As I sat for the photograph the wish just crossed my mind that I might obtain a photograph of J. H., who died in 1880, and that I could receive a definite sign that it was genuine.

“J. H. died as the result of an operation for the removal of the lower jaw, which had been seriously injured. No one saw him after this terrible misfortune except five persons, of whom I am the only survivor, and I need not say that no photograph was then taken of him.

“I showed the photograph to Dr. Fielding Ould, who at once recognised it as that of a man who had had his lower jaw removed. This opinion was confirmed by several of his medical friends, to whom he showed the picture.

“I should add that the plates were bought by ‘Val L’Estrange’ direct from the manufacturer, and that we brought them with us. The exposure was forty seconds. The plate which produced the portrait was manipulated by Mr. Hope under the supervision of ‘Val L’Estrange.’ We both superintended the development and fixing of the negative.

“As an impartial investigator of psychic matters I have stated exactly what took place, without comment.

(signed) “Susan, Countess of Malmesbury.”

It must be admitted that this case, so exactly recorded, would be a difficult one to explain away.

I would now quote the case furnished by Major Spencer, who is an experienced and careful observer, and has given much attention to psychic photography. In this experiment he used his own camera, his own carriers and his own plates. What could be more drastic than that! He says, if I may abbreviate his account: