1 00:00:00,367 --> 00:00:07,369 This series presents information based in part on theory and conjecture. 2 00:00:07,369 --> 00:00:17,371 The producer's purpose is to suggest some possible explanations but not necessarily the only ones to the mysteries we will examine. 3 00:00:17,371 --> 00:00:31,375 One Saturday in 1905 in the city of Manchester, England, a factory worker by the name of William Hope set out to photograph a friend. 4 00:00:31,375 --> 00:00:41,378 Mr. Hope, an amateur photographer, had been through the same process many times before and certainly nothing about this day was different than any other. 5 00:00:41,378 --> 00:00:52,380 Once in the developing room something unusual happened. At first he wondered if he had forgotten to clean the photographic plates but it soon became clear what had taken place. 6 00:00:52,380 --> 00:01:03,383 The image of a woman had appeared on the photograph. Hope's friend recognized her immediately. It was his sister who had died 12 years before. 7 00:01:03,383 --> 00:01:07,384 Mr. Hope believed he had photographed a ghost. 8 00:01:08,385 --> 00:01:19,387 In 1964 this man, Ted Sirios, came to the attention of a group of scientists and psychologists when he claimed to have taken photographs solely with the power of his mind. 9 00:01:19,387 --> 00:01:29,390 A series of experiments were conducted that confounded all those present. The photographs he produced were simply unexplainable. 10 00:01:38,392 --> 00:01:48,395 In 1874 Sir William Crooks, a scientist and member of the London Psychical Society, was investigating the spiritual medium Florence Cook. 11 00:01:48,395 --> 00:01:54,396 It was said that Miss Cook would enter a cabinet and materialize a spirit named Katie King. 12 00:02:08,400 --> 00:02:19,403 Though he believed he saw her with his own eyes, he was still not convinced that she and the medium were not one and the same person. 13 00:02:19,403 --> 00:02:26,405 To clear up his doubt he opened the cabinet in which the medium worked. In his own words, 14 00:02:26,405 --> 00:02:33,406 I examined Katie with steadfast scrutiny until I had no doubt whatever of her reality. 15 00:02:44,409 --> 00:02:48,410 Vernon Miller is a photographic expert from the Brooks Institute of Photography. 16 00:02:49,411 --> 00:02:58,413 In photography light is reflected from or absorbed by the subject in the photograph, focused through a lens and recorded on a light sensitive material. 17 00:02:58,413 --> 00:03:07,415 Film, plates, emulsion. The film is light sensitive so any energy, any electromagnetic energy can affect the film to some extent. 18 00:03:07,415 --> 00:03:13,417 So radiation from all of the various ways X-ray so forth can affect the film. 19 00:03:14,417 --> 00:03:18,418 So you might not necessarily see the light that strikes the film. 20 00:03:18,418 --> 00:03:27,420 I've seen many examples of accidental ghost photography. I've seen very few of any actual examples of a process. 21 00:03:27,420 --> 00:03:36,423 Most of the ghost pictures that I've seen are examples of double exposure techniques where one image was recorded against the dark background 22 00:03:36,423 --> 00:03:44,425 and that image superimposed on a normally lit scene so that you can see the brighter image against the normal scene. 23 00:03:44,425 --> 00:03:50,426 This particular picture seems to be quite a production. This is not accidental. 24 00:03:50,426 --> 00:03:55,428 The photographer wanted to achieve this effect. There are a few clues. 25 00:03:55,428 --> 00:04:04,430 The ghost image is quite bright against a darker background indicating that he was illuminated some way that would show him against that. 26 00:04:04,430 --> 00:04:08,431 We can see two or three images of the hand as it goes up the banister. 27 00:04:08,431 --> 00:04:16,433 Many times there are other clues. The ghost scene will be lit artificially with a directional light as in this crucifixion scene. 28 00:04:16,433 --> 00:04:25,435 It appears that these are miniatures that were lit artificially and then the combined scene was done in daylight under a different light condition. 29 00:04:26,436 --> 00:04:36,438 Ever since the first photograph was taken in 1826, no images have been more surprising or more controversial than those reported to be ghost photographs. 30 00:04:36,438 --> 00:04:44,440 Experts will continue to disagree on a phenomenon that theoretically records the presence of entities that are invisible to the naked eye. 31 00:04:44,440 --> 00:04:50,442 Attempts to cross the thin line between life and death have occupied man's mind for centuries. 32 00:04:50,442 --> 00:04:57,444 Perhaps photography, recording the subtleties of light and energy, can provide a glimpse into the other realm. 33 00:04:57,444 --> 00:05:02,445 William Hope, Sir William Crooks and others were convinced this is so. 34 00:05:02,445 --> 00:05:10,447 This is known as the Armistice Photographs and was taken on Remembrance Day near the London War Memorial in 1923. 35 00:05:10,447 --> 00:05:19,449 It purportedly shows an entire battalion killed in the Great War and gripped the public imagination like few other photographs before or since. 36 00:05:19,449 --> 00:05:23,450 But the question of how these images got onto film is still in debate. 37 00:05:23,450 --> 00:05:28,451 Raymond Bayless is a psychic investigator who has researched hundreds of ghost photographs. 38 00:05:28,451 --> 00:05:37,454 There are two main theories. One, of course, is that the origin of all psychic phenomena comes from the mind of an individual operating through the subconscious. 39 00:05:37,454 --> 00:05:44,456 And the other main theory is that the phenomenon itself is in some way instigated by a surviving spirit. 40 00:05:44,456 --> 00:05:51,457 I've taken part in some experiments that I believe were authentic. That is that authentic psychic photographs were taken. 41 00:05:51,457 --> 00:05:58,459 Now I'm not going to call them spirit photographs because I don't know whether they're the product of a spirit or whether they're a product of an individual's mind or what have you. 42 00:05:58,459 --> 00:06:03,461 But nevertheless, I do believe that they were actually psychic photographs. That is, they were paranormal. 43 00:06:03,461 --> 00:06:11,463 This is ordinary Polaroid film, 4 by 5 inches film, and it comes in a light-tight envelope. 44 00:06:11,463 --> 00:06:21,465 It can be utilized into any number of normal cameras by inserting it into a holder, film holder. 45 00:06:21,465 --> 00:06:26,466 Okay, we insert the film in the back of the camera. 46 00:06:26,466 --> 00:06:33,468 And from this standpoint on, it is just like ordinary wet process photography. 47 00:06:33,468 --> 00:06:39,470 And I'll snap this picture and make a little demonstration for you. 48 00:06:40,470 --> 00:06:54,474 Now in wet process conventional photography, there is a step in the dark room where the film is processed and the picture finally printed. 49 00:06:54,474 --> 00:07:00,475 And Polaroid and Reinstant photography has the advantage of having all of this done in front of you. 50 00:07:00,475 --> 00:07:07,477 So there's no chance for manipulation of the image other than right here before your eyes. 51 00:07:07,477 --> 00:07:17,480 So in a few seconds we can open this envelope up and examine the photograph that we just made. 52 00:07:19,480 --> 00:07:35,484 And here we have the image that we just photographed just now and a ghost-like image of another face that was made prior to the exposure just at this time. 53 00:07:35,484 --> 00:07:43,486 I'm familiar enough with this process that I would look at any image with a great deal of skepticism. 54 00:07:44,487 --> 00:07:48,488 Many times scientists go into experimenters with blinders on. 55 00:07:48,488 --> 00:07:58,490 That is, they have become so biased due to prevailing views, customs of thought, so forth, that they're no longer capable of actually examining an experiment. 56 00:07:58,490 --> 00:08:05,492 They may, for example, take part in an experiment, admit that all of the controls are perfect, that there was nothing wrong whatsoever. 57 00:08:05,492 --> 00:08:12,494 But then a few days later they suddenly find that their view is changing. They no longer can accept it. 58 00:08:12,494 --> 00:08:18,495 But this is not the result of thought. This is the result, as I say, of a prevailing bias. 59 00:08:18,495 --> 00:08:21,496 They simply cannot examine an experiment clearly. 60 00:08:21,496 --> 00:08:29,498 There have been spirit photographers that have produced real psychic photographs, and in my opinion, and they have also resorted to fraud. 61 00:08:29,498 --> 00:08:35,500 There have been some photographers that apparently never resorted to fraud or practically never. 62 00:08:35,500 --> 00:08:45,502 Buigwe was a very famous early spirit photographer. One of the pioneers, you might say, he made vast numbers of these photographs, some apparently real. 63 00:08:45,502 --> 00:08:53,504 But in 1875, Buigwe was put on trial for fraud by those who felt that the idea of photographing spirits was preposterous. 64 00:08:53,504 --> 00:09:01,506 Fraud could not be proved, and Buigwe went on to produce many more spirit photographs, some reportedly under rigid test conditions. 65 00:09:04,507 --> 00:09:07,508 Not all such cases were so bitterly fought. 66 00:09:07,508 --> 00:09:13,509 In 1917, Sir Arthur Cunndoil came upon an incident that soon became well-known throughout Europe. 67 00:09:13,509 --> 00:09:21,512 He reported that two young English girls, while playing in the woods near their home, believed they saw a gathering of fairies. 68 00:09:21,512 --> 00:09:26,513 They returned to the spot soon afterward and took these photographs. 69 00:09:33,515 --> 00:09:42,517 Skeptics pointed out the suspicious resemblance to several drawings done by Claude Sheperson to illustrate a poem entitled, A Spell for a Fairy. 70 00:09:43,517 --> 00:09:47,518 Episodes such as this tended to cast doubts on spirit photography. 71 00:09:48,518 --> 00:09:57,521 Natural cave formations in Southern California provide photographer Seymour Locke's with fertile ground for picking up energies from past civilizations. 72 00:09:58,521 --> 00:10:07,523 Coming into the cave area, what I was feeling was simply that it had been used by somebody. It was just a message that I was getting. 73 00:10:08,524 --> 00:10:17,526 There are energies in the earth, sometimes from water, sometimes from minerals, and sometimes from the presence of entities who have used this, 74 00:10:17,526 --> 00:10:22,527 because everything in nature has a memory, rock, whatever has a memory. 75 00:10:22,527 --> 00:10:30,529 And so I would assume that the energies in this area would have to do with the people who lived here at one time, the Indian people, whomever. 76 00:10:30,529 --> 00:10:42,532 But it has that kind of aura that I would assume whenever I worked with their entities around, because my supposition is that I'm assisted on the other side by people who create the imagery. 77 00:10:43,533 --> 00:10:48,534 He believed that his photographs provide evidence of unseen entities. 78 00:10:48,534 --> 00:11:01,537 More than ten years ago, unexplainable images began appearing in photographs taken by Seymour Locke's. 79 00:11:02,538 --> 00:11:12,540 After much investigation, he has concluded that he has mysterious assistance, and the strange glow apparent in many of his pictures is energy from unseen entities. 80 00:11:13,540 --> 00:11:17,541 This is really a beautiful configuration in it. 81 00:11:17,541 --> 00:11:27,544 It's reminiscent of the opening to the sky that you would find in the mythologies of the American Indian. 82 00:11:28,544 --> 00:11:37,547 A psychometrist can hold an object and pick up images, sometimes vibrations, etc. 83 00:11:37,547 --> 00:11:42,548 A dowser can walk over a landscape and tell where the water or the mineral. 84 00:11:42,548 --> 00:11:52,550 Psychic photography, the ability to pick up an image, is comparable to picking up a clairvoyant image, you're simply using another medium. 85 00:11:53,551 --> 00:12:00,552 Photography is a receptive vehicle because it is silver. It has a vibration already. 86 00:12:00,552 --> 00:12:06,554 Sometimes the image is impressed while I'm developing, sometimes it's impressed while it's in the camera. 87 00:12:06,554 --> 00:12:13,556 You don't need a camera, you simply need some kind of sensitized paper or film. 88 00:12:13,556 --> 00:12:16,557 The silver salts are a receptive vehicle. 89 00:12:16,557 --> 00:12:24,559 One of the most spectacular series was with a woman, Jerry Isaacson, who at that time was living in Santa Cruz. 90 00:12:24,559 --> 00:12:35,561 I photographed her in a sequence of photographs in which she was doing a massage, and in the five frames that ensued, she became less and less visible. 91 00:12:36,562 --> 00:12:45,564 My experiences have been that white light is projected from the healer and that they become transparent. 92 00:12:45,564 --> 00:12:52,566 Transparency and a luminosity seems to be prevalent in those photographs I've made of the healer. 93 00:12:52,566 --> 00:12:59,568 In one remarkable photograph, a human face stares at us from another time and space. 94 00:13:00,568 --> 00:13:13,571 After a seance, I wanted to see what I might pick up because I was still feeling, as I generally do, after a seance, the room is very, very strong because you've been building the energy, so-called, in that environment. 95 00:13:13,571 --> 00:13:23,574 The so-called upper levels of consciousness are apparently available more frequently to more and more people these days for whatever reasons we don't know. 96 00:13:23,574 --> 00:13:29,575 And they seem to go in cycles, and they tend to come in turbulent periods of time. 97 00:13:33,576 --> 00:13:35,577 Perhaps we are still evolving. 98 00:13:35,577 --> 00:13:44,579 It seems very possible that the brain, even now, has capabilities which are still in the process of developing the energy. 99 00:13:45,580 --> 00:13:47,580 Perhaps we are still evolving. 100 00:13:47,580 --> 00:13:54,582 It seems very possible that the brain, even now, has capabilities which are still untapped. 101 00:13:55,582 --> 00:14:02,584 Dr. Michael Graves is a neurologist in Los Angeles and is keenly aware of the bewildering complexity of the mind. 102 00:14:02,584 --> 00:14:10,586 How the brain actually works when we do something as simple as think or say a sentence is something that we know really very little about. 103 00:14:11,586 --> 00:14:17,588 As clinical neurologists, we know that certain parts of the brain can be destroyed and the individual doesn't suffer. 104 00:14:17,588 --> 00:14:26,590 So there are parts of the brain with no obvious, easily-identifiable function, but I believe that there must be some function for all parts of the brain. 105 00:14:26,590 --> 00:14:36,593 Modern brain scans actually give you a picture that looks as if someone's head has been sliced into serial sections, just as like a loaf of bread is cut. 106 00:14:37,593 --> 00:14:41,594 This is a cross-section of the patient's brain. 107 00:14:41,594 --> 00:14:47,596 The intensity of the color indicates the intensity of metabolism of the brain tissue. 108 00:14:47,596 --> 00:14:53,597 For example, here we see a red area in the temporal lobe of the brain. 109 00:14:53,597 --> 00:14:59,599 That's the part of the brain which is metabolizing or using energy the most intensely. 110 00:14:59,599 --> 00:15:05,600 Other areas are yellow or even blue. They're using energy less intensely. 111 00:15:05,600 --> 00:15:18,603 This technique could tell us what part of the brain is most intensively operating during any mental function, including telekinesis or any psychic phenomenon. 112 00:15:18,603 --> 00:15:28,606 Once we get that step as accomplished, there would still be unanswered questions as to how that part of the brain did that job. 113 00:15:28,606 --> 00:15:42,610 In Waterville, Maine, the Veilleur family has confounded skeptics with their ability to capture ghost images on film. 114 00:15:42,610 --> 00:15:53,613 For 15 years, they have explored the natural hunting grounds of ghosts and have taken photographs that raise questions about man's true nature and the limits of our physical reality. 115 00:15:54,613 --> 00:16:02,615 Their Odyssey began with a simple parlor game which evolved into a dialogue with an entity that became their spirit guide. 116 00:16:02,615 --> 00:16:05,616 Richard Veilleur records the sessions. 117 00:16:05,616 --> 00:16:08,616 Could you tell us how you passed away? 118 00:16:08,616 --> 00:16:17,619 A, C, C, I, D, E. 119 00:16:17,619 --> 00:16:26,621 We, G, first started in December of 1965 and it started as sort of a parlor game or as an amusement. 120 00:16:26,621 --> 00:16:36,624 The personality which introduced itself was ACL or N. Caroline Lowe. 121 00:16:36,624 --> 00:16:44,626 She gave information concerning herself as to where she was buried, the inscription on her gravestone, location of cemetery, so forth. 122 00:16:44,626 --> 00:16:48,627 I friend a family. 123 00:16:48,627 --> 00:16:55,628 Would it be possible to photograph you? 124 00:16:55,628 --> 00:16:58,629 Yes. 125 00:17:02,630 --> 00:17:07,632 They were given the location of Anne Caroline Lowe's gravesite. 126 00:17:08,632 --> 00:17:18,634 With some trepidation, they visited the site and took this photograph of their young spirit guide. 127 00:17:25,636 --> 00:17:33,638 Though they photographed in a wide variety of situations, researchers couldn't find any deception involved in their method. 128 00:17:38,640 --> 00:17:51,643 The personal reason to enter parapsychology was to determine the nature of the pictures and of the scripts. 129 00:17:51,643 --> 00:17:57,644 Is it possible to communicate with the deceased through Ouija? 130 00:17:57,644 --> 00:18:00,645 Is it possible to photograph the dead? 131 00:18:00,645 --> 00:18:02,646 Who is communicating? 132 00:18:03,646 --> 00:18:14,649 Certain communicators would inform us that there is a return process from their so-called reality to come back in two hours in order to communicate. 133 00:18:14,649 --> 00:18:18,650 They would have to pass through a tunnel or an alleyway. 134 00:18:18,650 --> 00:18:27,652 The opening at the beginning is very wide and as they come closer to our own reality, it becomes narrower and narrower. 135 00:18:28,652 --> 00:18:37,655 They would see us as if steam vapor and water droplets would be falling upon a piece of glass. 136 00:18:37,655 --> 00:18:43,656 A lithography, a psychophotography, a spirit photography, a paranormal imagery. 137 00:18:43,656 --> 00:18:49,658 If you can't see the image, you're using an ethnographic process. 138 00:18:49,658 --> 00:18:55,659 What we have to determine is what intelligence is producing the phenomenon. 139 00:18:55,659 --> 00:19:00,661 Is it our own unconscious or are we actually photographing a deceased? 140 00:19:00,661 --> 00:19:07,662 And is that deceased, thought-ographically, impressing its image or another image upon our plate? 141 00:19:14,664 --> 00:19:21,666 In 1966, in Denver, Colorado, a series of tightly controlled experiments are conducted. 142 00:19:21,666 --> 00:19:26,667 Researchers are checking and numbering fresh film and new cameras. 143 00:19:26,667 --> 00:19:35,670 The subject of these experiments is Ted Sirios, a Chicago bellhop with an incredible mind and an incredible thirst to match. 144 00:19:35,670 --> 00:19:40,671 Ted's Sirios ability is the power to project his thoughts onto film. 145 00:19:40,671 --> 00:19:46,673 During the experiments, researchers take the pictures while Ted stares into the camera. 146 00:19:46,673 --> 00:19:49,673 His concentration is intense. 147 00:19:49,673 --> 00:19:54,675 His pulse rate rises to 120 or more. The results are staggering. 148 00:19:54,675 --> 00:19:58,676 Images of all kinds begin appearing on the film. 149 00:19:58,676 --> 00:20:07,678 A target photograph unseen by Ted and known to only two of the researchers is the image that Ted tries to duplicate. 150 00:20:07,678 --> 00:20:13,679 Sometimes, when he is sure he has the photograph, he shouts, I got it that time. 151 00:20:14,680 --> 00:20:20,681 An amazing aspect of the pictures is that they often contain small errors in form. 152 00:20:20,681 --> 00:20:26,683 They are not quite exact duplicates, like the inverted strut of this plane. 153 00:20:26,683 --> 00:20:34,685 It is as though that part of his brain that does these things can't make up its mind about the target picture. 154 00:20:34,685 --> 00:20:42,687 Again and again, he matches the target pictures until it is difficult to doubt that he is actually doing what he says he is. 155 00:20:43,687 --> 00:20:51,689 One of the most spectacular demonstrations of all takes place in a Colorado television station. 156 00:20:51,689 --> 00:20:57,691 In a moment of bravado, Ted claims that he can actually put images onto the videotape. 157 00:20:57,691 --> 00:21:00,692 Here are the results of that experiment. 158 00:21:00,692 --> 00:21:05,693 Convention tells us that this should not be possible. 159 00:21:05,693 --> 00:21:11,694 But if these images don't come from the mind of Ted Sirios, where do they come from? 160 00:21:12,695 --> 00:21:18,696 Images from the far reaches of our imagination. 161 00:21:18,696 --> 00:21:25,698 These ghostly faces look at us from behind the veil that hides the mysteries of life and death 162 00:21:25,698 --> 00:21:29,699 and make us wonder about the reality of ghosts.