THE CASE FOR SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY, 1922
The third result was the most remarkable of any. I had read that Hope can get images without the use of the camera, but the statement sounded incredible... At the end of about a minute Hope gave a sort of shudder, and intimated that he thought a result had been obtained. On putting the plate into the solution a disc the size of a shilling, perfectly black, sprang up in the centre of it. On development this resolved itself into a luminous circle with the face of a female delicately outlined within it. Under the chin is a disc of white, and two fingers which are pointing to it. The disc is evidently a brooch, and the pointing seemed to indicate that it was meant to be evidential. The face bore a strong resemblance to that of my elder sister, who died some thirty years ago. Upon sending the print to my other sisters they not only confirmed this, but they reminded me that my sister had a very remarkable ivory brooch in her lifetime and that it was just the one object which might best have been chosen as a test. I regret that this picture is so delicate that it will not bear reproduction.
(Arthur Conan Doyle, The Case for Spirit Photography)
If there was one celebrity that was most associated with psychical research it was perhaps the one least expected, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930). Just as his iconic character Sherlock Holmes dedicated his life to solving mysteries, Doyle was committed to solving the mysteries of the supernatural. Although Doyle is remembered as the man who wrote stories based on logic and reason, he was one of the most visible proponents of spiritualism.
Doyle became interested in spiritualism in the 1880s, a decade before he published his first Sherlock Holmes story. He joined the SPR at the height of his notoriety in 1894.
Doyle believed that observation and deductive reasoning could solve every mystery, and spiritualism was the ultimate mystery.
Although Doyle was involved in several psychical endeavors during his career, it was not until 1918 he published his first spiritualist work. By this point his popularity as an author was fading, and instead of jumping ship like many other notable figures involved with spiritualism, he clung on for dear life.
Despite his professed logical reasoning, Doyle was absolutely convinced of the authenticity of almost every aspect of spiritualism. He decided his purpose was to now spread these facts to everyone he possibly could and ended up publishing thirteen full-length spiritualist works before his death in 1930.
This book, The Case for Spirit Photography, is an investigation into the work of spirit photographer William Hope of the Crewe circle. Doyle had his photograph taken by Hope as described above and witnessed his process, as well as taking serval accounts from pervious sitters. Doyle spends the book convincing the readers there is no possible way Hope or any of his associates could have tampered with the photographs before or during development. He provides several examples of photographs featuring spirits.
Supposedly, random subjects came into the studio to receive spirit photographs, and the results were eerily similar (the exact same) compared with photos of the family member taken while they were alive. Hope’s work also produced a substantial amount of spirit writing from dead relatives.
In both cases, it is extremely obvious the photos have been double exposed, but Doyle remains convinced. He also heavily criticized the SPR for not agreeing with him, calling their oppositions to spirit photography “childish and preposterous”.
However, like all good Sherlock Holmes mysteries, it seems there is a mystery inside a mystery when it comes to this book. At the end of his account, Doyle features an interesting postscript. It seems that samples of Hope’s work that were sent over to the SPR for investigation were tampered with, replacing the plates with ordinary ones, and leading the SPR to conclude his photographs were a hoax.
At the last moment before this booklet goes to press, I am able to insert the fact that Hope’s complete innocence has now been clearly established, and he stands before the world as a man who has been very cruelly maligned, and the victim of a plot which has been quite extraordinary in its ramifications. It was at last found possible to get the cover in which the original packet of plates was wrapped, and on it were found unmistakable signs that it had been tampered with and opened.
Thus the deductions made in the text from the evidence already to hand have been absolutely justified, and it is clear that the marked plates were abstracted before the packet reached the Psychic College and two ordinary plates substituted… It now only remains to find out who is the culprit who has played this cunning trick, and it is not difficult to say that the hand which returned the marked plate through the post is the same hand as that which took it out of the packet. A reward has already been offered for the identification of the person concerned. In the meantime, it would be unfair to blame the agents of the S.P.R., who may, while trying to trick Hope, have been themselves tricked. Nothing, however, can excuse them from the charge of culpable negligence in failing to examine the wrappers which so clearly tell the story, and which have been kept so long in their possession…
Their negligence has been such that it is difficult to say what atonement can meet it, and it throws a very lurid light upon some of the so-called “exposures” of the past. As one of the oldest members of the S.P.R., I feel that the honour of that body will not be cleared until they have appointed an impartial committee to consider these facts and to determine what steps should be taken (Arthur Conan Doyle,The Case for Spirit Photography
This looks like a case for Mr. Holmes.