Sir Arthur and the Spirits

This posting is a follow-up to "The Blue Island" (March 14th 2009), which, if you are new to this site, you'd best read before tackling today's entry.

A New York Times article of May 8th 1922 gave an account of a public talk given by Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle about life on The Other Side. It was Sir Arthur who, if you'll remember, wrote an introduction to "The Blue Island".

Here's what the New York Times article said:

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Devils, Too, In Other World, Says Doyle

They're Spirits Who Were Low Down On This Side, He Tells Big Audience At Carnegie

Shows A Picture Of Stead

Much-Discussed 'Supernatural' Photograph of Titanic Victim Brings Applause

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in his lecture on spiritualism in Carnegie Hall yesterday showed more of his photographs of "spirits" built up out of the mysterious ectoplasm, and gave a new explanation of the devil.

"A devil in the other world", he said, "is a low-down, crude, bad man who passes over from this world. They do there as they have done here. Then there are mischievous spirits in the other world, just as there are mischievous boys in this world. When they see a lot of ridiculous persons gathered around a table in a seance these mischievous spirits set out to make the worldly persons more ridiculous".

One of the new photo graphs in his exhibit, which, he said, had been taken in the laboratory of William Hope at Crewe, showed W.T. Stead, the famous British writer and editor who perished on the Titanic. It was a very clear portrait of a man, and around the outside was scribbled, in handwriting which Sir Arthur said was undoubtedly Stead's, these words:

"I will try to keep you posted."

Explaining what these words meant, Sir Arthur said that he had been informed that a friend named Walker accompanied Mr Stead to the station to bid him farewell just before the start of the voyage on the Titanic, and that Stead's last words were: "I will try to keep you posted." Walker hurried to the laboratory after the death of Stead, and asked the medium there to get a picture of Stead, if possible.

Smiling Spirit There Too.

He showed also Stead's daughter in pictures with "spirits" summoned to the photographic plate by her, and another photograph of "an old gentleman from Aberdeen", whose "spirit" smiled through from the "other world". Sir Arthur pointed out that the smile was not a frequent phenomenon.

The audience, which again filled nearly every seat in Carnegie Hall to hear the lecture, was intensely interested in the photograph of W.T. Stead, and after it had been shown there were bursts of applause here and there in the galleries and in the auditorium. It was evident that many of those present had read of the discussion as to whether Mr Stead, himself one of the foremost students of spiritualism in his day, would be able to "penetrate the veil" and convey some message to this world from the "world of the spirits."

As the photograph was flashed on the screen, there was discussion here and there in the audience as to the controversy on the validity of this photograph, which is now famous among spiritualists in England and other European countries.

Sir Arthur plainly made this photograph of Mr Stead the main effort of this appearance. Before he called for the display of the photograph, he told about W.T. Stead, and showed a few pictures of his daughter taken with "spirits." He told of the friendship of Mr Stead for those who had assisted in the taking of the photograph, and then the picture was flashed on the screen.

There was a brief moment of suspense; then a murmur over the crowd as the words on the rim of the picture were read, and finally applause as Sir Arthur declared that he believed that any man who could scoff at evidence of that sort, had no mind whatever.

Says Fake Is Impossible

The lecturer said that there could be no doubt that this photograph of Stead was projected from the "spirit world"; that he had investigated the laboratory in which it was taken, not only once, but scores of times, and knew that there was no "fake" of any kind there, and that scores of persons who knew Stead in life had recognized his likeness instantly upon viewing the photograph.

It was a likeness of a man of years, with gray hair and beard, and glasses with visibly heavy rims, and a disarranged necktie. The words on the rim of the picture were not written in a straight line, but were turned so that they formed the sides and bottom of a box. They were easily read.

With this photograph of Stead and several other of his new displays, Sir Arthur showed what he meant by the "psychic arch". The pictures of nearly all these "spirits" are draped with a substance resembling some fine white cloth, which, Sir Arthur says, is really ectoplasm not used in the formation of the likeness of the "spirit." The "psychic arch" resembles in contour a shawl around the face, and in some of the photographs it looked as if the veil were held together under the chin of the "spirits" by some unseen hand.

Just How Photo Was Made

Expounding his theories on how the pictures of Mr Stead and others were projected from the "spirit" world," he said he believed that the subjects were marshaled by a "control" on the other side, some superior spirit who knew the best ways to obtain results. He said he believed that the ectoplasm was gathered in a sort of bag, and that the head of the "spirit" subject to be photographed, gradually emerged from the opening of the bag, with the excess ectoplasm flowing out to form the "psychic arch."

He showed a picture of a woman wearing an earring, and a baby wearing bracelets, and said that the appearance of those adornments was merely to convince the worldly beings of the existence of a world of the spirits. The pieces of jewelery were familiar to those who had known the "spirits" in life, and the earring had been a childhood gift of a boy to a girl who later became his wife. Though the couple became wealthy, Sir Arthur said, she always wore the cheap silver earrings.

"There is a great deal of intelligence behind these pictures," said Sir Arthur. "They are trying to put over their evidence to us."

He said that "on the other side" assistance in the taking of the pictures was given to "controls" by small children, usually appearing to be about seven or eight years old, and usually negroes, Indians or some other colored race. He showed a picture of one of these children, apparently a boy from India.

One unusual picture showed a woman from this world, with faces of three relatives from the "spirit world." One face seemed superimposed on her head, and another head, vivid in its outlines, seemed to repose on her lap under her arm. A third was dimly outlined on the other side of the picture.

Sir Arthur said that in his last lecture in Carnegie Hall on Wednesday evening he would show some more new pictures and summarize his views on spiritualism.

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Startling stuff, you will surely agree, particularly about the photographs of "spirits". It strains credibility, you might say. Now, while some photographs of "spirits" have demonstrably been fakes, are they all? Note particularly the section in the article about a spirit photograph of WT Stead. The photo, showing WT Stead's daughter, Estelle, with an image of the face of her deceased father - who had died in 1912 on the Titanic - hovering beside her, is the frontispiece to the original 1922 edition of "The Blue Island".

I'm most grateful to the administrator of Spiritualism Link, an online discussion forum, for providing me the means to include this remarkable photo, which I had searched for in vain on the internet. Spiritualism Link has, by the way, also featured an interactive and enlightening discussion about Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle, which you can read by clicking here.

Is the photo a fake? Sir Arthur, for what it's worth, said this was impossible. But, more relevantly, we should turn to what Estelle Stead, herself, wrote in her introduction to "The Blue Island". She said that the photographic plate, on which her father's face appeared, was never out of her sight from when she purchased it, to when the photograph was developed. This was also the case with another photograph on which WT Stead's face appeared. So, if Estelle Stead wasn't lying, no-one could have faked the photographs.

While Estelle Stead could have lied about all this, it's unlikely she did. For one thing, her face, as evidenced in the photograph of her with her "spirit" father, bespoke a woman of obviously great moral strength and integrity. Also, as the daughter of WT Stead who was the epitome of Victorian English moral uprightness, Estelle, in her character, would have mirrored her father. English Victorians, of the class and station of the Steads, didn't consciously lie, cheat, steal, or otherwise do anything dishonest or dishonorable. If the likes of the Steads were witnesses in a criminal trial, you would believe what they said.


Estelle Stead, in her introduction to "The Blue Island", included the following:

........A fortnight after the disaster I saw my father's face and heard his voice just as distinctly as I heard I it when he bade me good-bye before embarking on the 'Titanic' .This was at a sitting with Etta Wriedt, the well-known American direct voice medium.

At this sitting, I talked with my father for over twenty minutes. This may seem an amazing assertion to many, but it is a fact vouched for by all those who were present at the sitting. I put it on record at the time in an article published in 'Nash's Magazine', which included the signed testimonies of all those present.......

From that day to this I have been in constant touch with my father. I have had many talks with him and communications from him containing very definite proof of his continued presence amongst us. I can truly say that the link between us is even stronger to-day than in 1912, when he threw off his physical body and passed on the to spirit world. There has never been a feeling of parting, although at first the absence of his physical presence was naturally a source of very great sadness..........

That Estelle Stead said this, means almost certainly that what she said happened, did.

What of Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle?

He is best known as the creator of Sherlock Holmes, but he dabbled in much else. For instance he was a medical doctor, having completed his doctorate on the subject of tabes dorsalis (degeneration of the nerve cells and nerve fibres). Later on he studied the eye, and became an ophthalmologist. He was also a talented sportsman, excelling in football (soccer), cricket, and golf. He wrote 59 full-length books, of which the Sherlock Holmes ones were a mere 9. Sir Arthur wrote adventure stories, historical novels, and books of non-fiction about history, politics, and, of course, Spiritualism. There was nothing he wasn't interested in. He was a veritable Man of the Renaissance.

Most relevant for this posting is that Sir Arthur, as a medical doctor, was a man of science, so his thinking was rigorous and logical. It's not surprising, then, that Sherlock Holmes was famous for being a deductive and rigorous thinker, as well as a master of the arts of inference and observation. Sir Arthur based Holmes on Professor Joseph Bell, one of his teachers at the University. Being a scientific and logical thinker, Sir Arthur went where the evidence led. Since there is much evidence to support Spiritualism, and life after death, it mightn't have been surprising that Sir Arthur would choose to investigate it.

He also used his powers of logical thinking when investigating the cases of two men, George Edalji and Oscar Slater, who had been found guilty of crimes based on evidence which Sir Arthur was able to convince the authorities was faulty. The two men were consequently freed.

It wasn't only logical thinking which led Sir Arthur to Spiritualism. It was also the deaths of so many he was close to, including his first wife, Louisa; his son, Kingsley; his brother, Innes; two brothers-in-law; and two nephews. Thus he found Spiritualism a solace, pointing as it did to life beyond the grave.

Sir Arthur may have been a bit psychic himself, for, when still married to his first wife, Louisa, he heard about a forthcoming demonstration by a doctor in Berlin, who claimed to cure tuberculosis (then incurable). Despite never being much interested in the topic of tuberculosis Sir Arthur felt compelled to attend the demonstration for reasons he couldn't explain. However, just three years later, Louisa was diagnosed with tuberculosis, from which she died shortly thereafter. Had Sir Arthur's irrational interest in tuberculosis three years earlier been his presentiment of Louisa's death?

Something else propelling Sir Arthur to Spiritualism may have been his experience surrounding a "guinea" (one pound and one shilling) which had been given him by a family friend who later died during the Great War. The guinea was a sort of private joke between Sir Arthur and the family friend, so no-one else knew about it. However, after the family friend's death, a Spiritualist medium mentioned this "guinea" (which, remember, no-one else knew about) to Sir Arthur in the course of conveying to him a message from the deceased family friend on the Other Side.

Sir Arthur was accused many times of being too eager to believe evidence of the Strange Goings On which he investigated. One such case was that of the five photos of the famous Cottingley Fairies, which Sir Arthur thought genuine. It appears four were faked, but the fifth may not have been.

If you think Sir Arthur was overly gullible, read what he wrote in his introduction to "The Blue Island". Consider particularly the following excerpts:

......I have no means of judging the exact conditions under which it (The Blue Island) was produced, or how far subconscious influences may have been at work........

.......We have to face the difficulty that the details of these numerous descriptions of next spheres differ in various manuscripts, but, on the other hand, no one can deny that the resemblances far exceed the differences.......

.......We have to remember that the next world is infinitely complex and subdivided - (My Father's house has many mansions) - and that, even in this small world, the accounts of two witnesses would never be the same.......

......I can hardly think that anyone has read more accounts, printed, typed and written, than I have done, many of them from people who had no idea what the ordinary Spiritualist scheme of things might be......

.......I confess that I cannot trace in any of these any allusion to a place exactly corresponding to the Blue Island.......

Cautious and measured words. Hardly the ramblings of a gullible fool.

Like WT Stead, Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle was a Victorian gentleman who, as such, didn't consciously lie, cheat, steal, or otherwise do anything dishonourable. His researches into the Unexplained would have been done rigorously and with the highest integrity.

Here's a video of Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle speaking of Sherlock Holmes, and of his researches into Spiritualism, a few weeks before he died in 1930:

These words on Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle's tombstone capture perfectly his essence:

STEEL TRUE
BLADE STRAIGHT
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
KNIGHT
PATRIOT, PHYSICIAN & MAN OF LETTERS