Thoughtography (Thought Photography)

 A group of precocious teenagers, the most gifted of whom, Gilbert Roller, was a budding amateur photographer, attempted during their séances, to get some kind of impressions on film.  This was in the early 1930s and they were using emulsion-coated glass plates that were inserted into the camera and exposed one at a time.

The boys took the plates into the bedroom and placed one, chosen at random, on the table. For the first trial they decided to have someone place his hand on the plate in the darkened room. As usual we kept a vigilant contact of hands and feet.

They sat expectantly in the dark waiting for a rap to signal them when the required time had passed. After several minutes, they got discouraged and put the plate aside thinking it wouldn’t be worth developing since it was impossible for the plate to have been affected.

They went on with the sitting asking the “force” to give them a message, if it had any, by knocking after the appropriate letter in the alphabet as it was called off by one of the sitters. The rappings immediately spelled out “p-l-a-t-e.” They grabbed the metal holder, jumped up and made a bee-line for the bathroom.  As Gil dunked the glass in and out of the chemicals, the others watched in awe. Sure enough, the distinct image of the hand appeared....<<<Read More>>>...