Society for the Study of Supernormal Pictures
The Society for the Study of Supernormal Pictures (SSSP) was a short-lived psychical organization that formed in 1918 to investigate claims of spirit photography. It was established as a rival to the Society for Psychical Research.[1][2]
History
The first President of the SSSP was physician Abraham Wallace. Henry Blackwell, Arthur Conan Doyle and W. G. Mitchell were Vice-Presidents.[3][4]
According to photographer Martyn Jolly, "The SPR successfully exposed as frauds several spirit photographers supported by the SSSP."[5] One of these was the photographer William Hope.[4]
Members of the SSSP such as Arthur Conan Doyle and honorary secretary Fred Barlow stated that the photographs of the Cottingley Fairies were genuine.[6] In May, 1920 the organization reported that they had obtained evidence for paranormally produced photographs under test conditions. This opinion was rejected by other psychical researchers and in 1923 the organization dissolved.[3]
Barlow was originally supportive of spirit photography but later reversed his opinion. In 1933 he co-authored a paper in the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research that cast doubt on the subject and demonstrated fraudulent methods that William Hope and other photographers had utilized.[7]
Barlow's collection of spirit photographs was given to Eric Dingwall who annotated them for the British Library. In 1960, he commented that the collection was evidence of "human stupidity, credulity and superstition".[8]
See also
- Abstract photography
- Spirit photography
References
- ^ Chéroux, Clément. (2005). The Perfect Medium: Photography and the Occult. Yale University Press. pp. 72-91.
- ^ "Study of Supernormal Pictures". The American Museum of Photography.
- ^ a b "The Society for the Study of Supernormal Pictures". Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology.
- ^ a b "Photos of Ghosts: The Burden of Believing the Unbelievable". Skeptical Inquirer.
- ^ "The Belief in Spirit Photography". Faces of the Living Dead, lecture, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, November, 2002.
- ^ Alexander, Marc. (2002). A Companion to the Folklore, Myths & Customs of Britain. Sutton. p. 56. ISBN 978-0750923590
- ^ Edmunds, Simeon. (1966). Spiritualism: A Critical Survey. Aquarian Press. p. 116. ISBN 978-0850300130
- ^ Jolly, Martyn. (2006). Faces of the Living Dead: The Belief in Spirit Photography. Miegunyah Press. p. 8. ISBN 978-0977282739
Further reading
- Fred Barlow; W. Rampling-Rose. (1933). Report of an Investigation into Spirit Photography. Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research 41: 121-138.
- Martyn Jolly. (2006). Faces of the Living Dead: The Belief in Spirit Photography. Miegunyah Press. ISBN 978-0977282739
- v
- t
- e
- Apparitional experience
- Astral projection
- Auras
- Bilocation
- Clairvoyance
- Deathbed phenomena
- Dermo-optical perception
- Dream telepathy
- Ectoplasm
- Electronic voice phenomenon
- Extrasensory perception
- Ganzfeld experiment
- Ghosts
- Kirlian photography
- Levitation
- Materialization
- Mediumship
- Near-death experience
- Orb
- Out-of-body experience
- Pam Reynolds case
- Paranormal
- Parapsychology research at SRI
- Past life regression
- Plant perception (paranormal)
- Poltergeist
- Precognition
- Psychic
- Psychic detective
- Psychic reading
- Psychic surgery
- Psychometry
- Pyrokinesis
- Reincarnation
- Remote viewing
- Retrocognition
- Second sight
- Sensory leakage
- Spoon bending
- Superconscious
- Telekinesis
- Telepathy
- Thoughtography
- Xenoglossy
- Zener cards
- American Society for Psychical Research
- Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena
- College of Psychic Studies
- Institut Métapsychique International
- Institute of Noetic Sciences
- International Association for Near-Death Studies
- Koestler Parapsychology Unit
- Parapsychological Association
- Parapsychology Foundation
- Rhine Research Center
- Society for Psychical Research
- The Ghost Club
- American Psychical Institute
- British College of Psychic Science
- Cambridge Ghost Society
- International Institute for Psychical Research
- London Dialectical Society
- Metropolitan Psychical Society
- National Laboratory of Psychical Research
- Oxford Phasmatological Society
- Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Laboratory
- Society for the Study of Supernormal Pictures
- An Experiment with Time
- Extrasensory Perception
- Irreducible Mind
- Journal of Near-Death Studies
- Journal of Parapsychology
- Journal of Scientific Exploration
- Life After Life
- Life Before Life
- Mental Radio
- Old Souls: The Scientific Evidence for Past Lives
- Parapsychology: Frontier Science of the Mind
- The Roots of Coincidence
- Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation
- Varieties of Anomalous Experience
- Category
- Commons