Photos of ghosts - proof of what?
Mental photography, which is also called "mental photography", involves the ability to transfer an image that exists in the mind of a person or behind a grave board onto ordinary film. Few mediums dare to claim to have this ability. One of those who claim this is Uri Geller, who is better known for his ability to psychokinetically knot spoons, keys and other metal objects. But sometimes Uri Geller creates mental photographs.
Lawrence Freed, former president of the American Society of Photographers, confirmed this case with Geller. Holding in his hand the Frida "Nikon" apparatus with a closed lens cover, Geller successfully "shot" the entire film clip; after development, Geller's image appeared in several frames. But Geller does not create images of the dead, although he considers it possible. He says: "If something has become immaterial, like thoughts, can be projected to people through space and be captured by the film, I do not see why a dead person cannot be photographed through a living person."
Ted Seriez, a photographer-medium trained by Dr. Julie Eisenbad, a psychiatrist at the University of Colorado, worked almost exclusively on photographing the dead until his ability disappeared a few years ago. Seriez has taken hundreds of pictures of deceased relatives and friends, and many unidentified spirits. All of them appear as a slightly blurry image, usually surrounded by a haze, similar to a transparent and bright aura. Dr. Eisenbad told us that currently the best mediums photographers who create "amazing portraits" (of which many are recognized as depicting the deceased now or in historical times) are members of the Weye family from Sydney, Maine.
Many members of the Weye family have the ability to take mediumistic photographs, but the best, most clear ones are obtained by 65-year-old father, Joseph, and his two sons: 35-year-old Fred and Richard 31 years old. Joseph is the best and most focused on the subject of research. Veie also shoots black-and-white film with an ordinary Polaroid camera. Their photographic effects included light circles, mysterious clouds of objects that were not in front of the camera, and most surprisingly, the clear faces of people known to be dead.
Dr. Eisenbad began to study Weie's work in 1968, making sure the photographs were authentic. She believes this is evidence that images of the deceased can be captured on film. Veye's work has also been studied at the Rothery-Hillie Institute for Human Measurement in Buffalo, New York by biochemist Dr. Justa Smith. Everyone who has watched Joseph, Fred and Richard filming agree that there is something deeply different and very authentic about this.
The Veillet family began experimenting with the Ouija tablet in 1965 and seem to have inherited these abilities from a number of ancestors. It may not be a coincidence that Joseph, who is in charge of the particular interpretation, worked as caretaker of several cemeteries in his city. Both of his sons are bricklayers by profession, but during the "lull" in their work they also worked in cemeteries.
Weje are at times instructed on where and when to take a picture through the Ouija tablet. For example, on January 19, 1969, Weie received messages via a tablet from a being who called himself Carol Farnham. "What can you provide to prove your authenticity?" they asked her. “A transparent circle of light is all I have to offer,” she replied. "Are you talking about paranormal photography?" Joseph asked. She confirmed and gave the necessary instructions. Joseph took out his Polaroid, pointed it at the east wall of the kitchen, and photographed it. A glowing circle of light slowly emerged in the image.
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Joseph began to ask the creature more questions. Over the next few days, the Ouija tablet reported details of Carol Farnham's violent death at the Shamrock Hotel, located on Kansas Street in San Diego, California. He also named a number of names and addresses in New Hampshire, Connecticut, New Foundland and California, where, according to Carol Farnham, information about her mother could be obtained. Weye. Inquired, and several names turned out to be genuine.
Since that time, many other creatures have called themselves and told Joseph, Fred, and Richard where to point the Polaroid on the kitchen wall for “amazing” shots. Sometimes Veye simply pointed the camera at random, and photographs of dead people were obtained. Veillet's work can be seen as a parallel to the activities of "ghost photographers" in the 19th century. Veillet does not consciously decide what images should be obtained, they do not believe that they have even the slightest control over their appearance. When photographing Veje, they feel an icy breath on their faces and hear noises in other rooms of the house.
In late 1969, Weie traveled to Denver to visit Dr. Eisenbad and show his photographs. Dr. Eisenbad took Veie to various local cemeteries and told them to take pictures at random of tombs, trees and the sky. She watched their every move with attention. Many of the images, Dr. Eisenbad told us, showed clear images of people surrounded by auras. Upon further investigation, Dr. Eisenbad was surprised to find that the faces were easily recognizable as if they were human faces. In fact, several of the images provided images of persons who had died over a century ago. Dr. Eisenbad rules out the possibility of deception, since in many cases the photographs of these faces are in the Noah Rose collection at the Department of Western History at the University of Oklahoma. Weie did not know this. Plus, they had never been to Oklahoma.
On his second visit to Denver, Weye was brought by Dr. Eisenbad to the office of the photography department of the University of Colorado School of Medicine. The head of the department had died a few days earlier. They went into the deceased's office, and one of Veillet took three pictures of the desk with the Polaroid. Two shots were blank. However, in the third, according to Dr. Eisenbad, a milky-white image of a man began to appear. The new head of the department, present at the same time, stunned, left the office.
Weie even tried to take mediumistic photographs of the lunar surface. In 1968, Dr. Eisenbad received a call from William Cook, a scientist with the North American Rockwell Corporation in Los Angeles who was preparing all the experimental surveys for the Apollo space flight. Amateur parapsychologist Cook wanted Dr. Eisenbad to attempt to obtain a mediumistic photograph of the lunar surface before the first Apollo 8 spacecraft touched down. He wanted to compare two sets of photographs.
Dr. Eisenbad approached the Veillet family with a request, and they agreed to try, warning: "It may not work, this has already happened." One evening, while at home, Weie focused on the moon and took a series of pictures, pointing the device all the time at the kitchen wall. Several of the images showed strange images that were sent to Cook three days before the Apollo landed on the moon. Cook said: "The pictures do not resemble any area in either Maine or the United States." He argued that the images were remarkably similar to Apollo's later images of the lunar surface, showing craters, channels and uneven, dry, pockmarked soil. Dr. Eisenbad said of Wei: “My impression of them is the most favorable. I have no reason to suspect them of fraud. They seem to be able to take photographs of ghosts."
Veillet considers photographs of spirits to be proof of life after death, they are based on their recordings of voices from nothing. Some of the voices claim to belong to people whose photographs were obtained by Weye in a paranormal way, and one of the first messages they recorded was: "We are trying to make contact." Therefore, the brothers even take a portable tape recorder with them to the local cemeteries, but the voices that are recorded there sound almost as weak as those recorded at home.
Weie hoped that they would be able to record voices better in the cemetery. Many researchers who have listened to the recorded voices and studied the photographs of ghosts believe that there is "something" on them, but they do not want to believe that this "something" is generated by spirits. Dr. Andriya Puharich, a New York medium who brought Uri Geller to the United States, believes that the voices may be from extraterrestrial beings trying to contact us. This, he believes, may explain the poor image quality. Some insist that voices and images are psychokinetic manifestations of our brains: we project the thoughts of deceased people we knew onto tape and photographic film. Dr. Eisenbad suggested the following: “It seems to me important that paranormal recording of voices on a tape recorder or taking photographs of ghosts is essentially no more mysterious.than the telepathic transmission of images to the brain or the telekinetic onset of action. Telepathy and telekinetic bending of objects are only more often recorded."
Just as telepathy and telekinesis (or psychokinesis) violate the laws established by science, so for many people the voices and images of the dead violate one of the basic assumptions of Western religions: contact between the living and the dead is impossible. But the statement that the dead rests forever in peace, silence, upon closer examination, turns out to be false. History and religious literature are permeated through and through with images and voices that sometimes appeared to ordinary people.
Accordingly, some believe that paranormal tape recording and photographs taken using electronic equipment are simply a modern version of the phenomenon of spirits. “Earlier, says one of the researchers, the spirits spoke directly to the saint or appeared to him. Today the medium records the voice of the ghost on tape or takes a photograph of it."
Indeed, is one manifestation any more mysterious than the other?
C. Faye, A. Landsberg