However, tradition has also been a detriment to Korean skepticism and scientific literacy. For example, Koreans are born believers in qi (pronounced “chee”) the foundation of traditional Asian philosophy and medicine. In the context of culture and philosophy, belief in qi does not itself constitute scientific illiteracy. There is however a strong, uncritical trust in the powers of traditional medicine based on qi, at the expense of good medical science.

1. Propagandized Medical Science

Out of the admiration of Western affluence, emulation was the obvious starting point, fueled by a patriotic competitive spirit. Because of this, most of the pharmaceuticals currently produced worldwide are also produced in Korea; and for a decade or so, Koreans were surprised by the simultaneous achievement of wealth and health.

The fact that Korea does not itself develop new pharmaceuticals seems to be a natural consequence of competition by emulation. There is current discussion in Korea about progressing to pharmaceutical research and development, but unfortunately, this has heavily focused on the development of unique breakthrough drugs from traditional Korean herbal medicines. The idea is, in effect, to excavate the wisdom of our ancestors to build the foundations of Korean medical and pharmaceutical research.

Needless to say, this attitude has coincided with poor medical science education associated with traditional sectors. Outmoded traditional therapies have been conserved, and education is devoted mostly to memorizing facts in books. This attitude can be compared to the medieval European monks who used to faithfully hand-copy the medical treatises of Galen. Traditional medical and pharmacology students must still memorize antiquated medical doctrines to earn their degrees. No one questions whether these traditional dogmas are valid to teach or learn.

Traditional Korean Medicine (TKM)-acupuncture and herbal therapy-is not very much different from traditional Chinese medicine, in terms of its principles of yin-yang and the five elements theory. If there is anything native in TKM beyond minor modifications, it is the theory of physical constitution formulated by the nineteenth century philosopher and traditional doctor, Je-Ma Lee.

According to Lee’s theory, human beings can be classified into one of four categories according to the size of their lungs, liver, spleen and kidneys. Each category or “form” is specific in its temperament, propensity to disease, suitable diet, and particular herbs for maintaining health and curing disease. Ironically, the great modern promoter of this pseudotheory is Dr. Myung-Bok Lee, former professor of anatomy at the School of Medicine, Seoul National University.¹

2. Retrograde Medical Policy

Corruption and a reckless pursuit of in-group interests are deeply ingrained in Korean society from industry to the public sector. Educational institutions are not at all immune to this phenomenon. There are a few who recognize that Korean problems can be cured only by the spirit of science, rationality, objectivity, and honesty.

In Korea, there are two accreditations for medical doctors: the WMD for doctors of Western medicine, and the TMD for doctors of traditional Korean medicine. All doctors are trained for six years. In addition there are Western Medicine Pharmacists (WMP), who are trained for four years.

In 1996 a separate “Traditional Medicine Pharmacists” (TMP) was also established. The creation of the TMP accreditation, circumventing WMPs’ discretion in dispensing traditional drugs, was the result of furious conflicts between TMDs and WMPs beginning in 1993. Both sides staged mass demonstrations and threatened the shutdown of their clinics and pharmacies. Student boycotted classes, and at least two Ministers of Public Health and Welfare were forced to resign after arraignment for their misadministration.

Looking at this conflict, it is clear that its cause was the government’s misleading policy. In the 1960s there was only one traditional medical college. The government increasingly permitted new colleges, beginning with two in 1970s. Korea now boasts eleven such colleges, producing 750 TMDs each year. The new TMDs are now so accepted and influential in the mainstream, that it was inevitable for them to fight to limit the influence of WMPs in the prescription of traditional drugs.

It is truly amazing that in a nation where Western health professionals and modern pharmaceuticals are in ample supply, a policy promoting TKM was adopted. Few seem to realize that the policy caused not only the TMD-WMP conflict, but has also led to serious national health problems.

Few in Korea are aware, even in this day and age, of the fact that acupuncture, folk remedies, and herbs are mostly neither effective nor safe. Amid the propaganda of TKM professionals, the government’s assurance of special consideration, and the public’s uncritical belief, Korea is seeing an unprecedented boom period of acupuncture and herbal remedies. The Korean government even dispatched a special team of dignitaries to China to learn from that nation’s medical policies. Korean policy makers then took the retrograde step of emulating these policies.²

3. The “Scientification” of Pseudoscience?

Korea is in critical condition because traditional medicines are promoted-in addition to official government recognition-by scholars and scientists who regard the defense of TKM as a sign of national pride in Korea’s cultural heritage. They insist that it is an irrefutable science, and even defend it in the name of science.

The following is an editorial from the widely read Korean newspaper, ChosunIlbo. The writer clearly makes no distinction between Western medicine and Western cultural influence.

The government should not overlook the fact that Western medicine and pharmacology is, needless to say, growing in importance with the trend of growing globalization; traditional medicine and pharmacology should also be esteemed. As long as the responsibility for traditional medicine rests on us, and demand for such medical treatment still exists, more vigorous policies should be adopted. One possible way is to establish a traditional medical college at Seoul National University.³

An influential medical historian, Sang-Ik Whang of the School of Medicine, Seoul National University, stresses that science existed prior to the dawn of modern science, although its institutions and methodology were somewhat different from those of modern times. He expanded this idea to say, in effect, that the holistic medical doctrines of past eras, whether Hippocratic humors, Indian Ayurveda, or Chinese qi, are all true sciences.⁴ He has obviously given full sway to Thomas Kuhn’s relativistic view of science.

There is a paradoxical belief in Korea that although traditional medicine already is true science, TKM nevertheless needs to undergo "scientification.” The goal of scientification is to give scientific validity to traditional medical dogmas like yin-yang and qi force. The Pharmaceutical Society of Korea openly announced studies in this direction, rather than discarding and burying the old supernatural doctrine.

The attempt to find scientific proof for acupuncture is particularly noteworthy, since a principle researcher-Zang-Ho Cho-is also a renowned scientist. In his investigation, he inserted needles into acupuncture points of the foot that are theoretically connected to the eye and the visual centers in the brain through the meridian. He then measured blood flow and oxygen levels on the visual region of the cortex by MRI. It was reported that there was a plus/minus 5 percent change observed with the acupuncture, compared to controls. It seems suspicious, however, that whether the percent change is plus or minus is explained by assuming the influence of an untested tenet of traditional medicine: yin-yang constitutions.⁵

4. New Age Boosted by 210 Ph.Ds

In 1986, a book entitled New Science Movement, dealing with the thoughts of those who were arbitrarily called “New Age scientists” (including Fritjof Capra, David Bohm, Ilya Prigogine, Roger Sperry, et al.), was published by the New (Age) Science Study Group. This organization is a group of eleven prominent scientists and scholars sponsored by the DaeWoo Cultural Foundation. Although the book generally presented skeptical opinions from a scientific viewpoint on holistic claims, they made a blunder by christening New Age claims as the “New Science,” more or less on equal terms with the achievements of Galileo.⁶ From then on, New Science has become accepted terminology widely applied to all New Age parasciences.

In 1994, New Agers rose to higher prominence when the Korean Society of Mind (Psychical) Sciences was founded. The founding ceremony opened with a demonstration of a fourteen-year-old girl’s "eyeless vision,” and a declaration to investigate similar paranormal phenomena. The society consists of over 800 members: professors, research scientists, students, and others-including 210 Ph.Ds. One of the society’s projects was to also study the various types of folk medicine and phenomena in three “sections": I Ching in the Traditional Thoughts Section; qi and spirits in the Bio-Qi Energy Section; and clairvoyance and telepathy in the Potential Ability Section.⁷

It is futile to detail the contents of the Society’s regular symposia: their topics are anything but skeptical inquiry. They have been providing TV stations and newspapers with all sorts of paranormal claims in the name of the New Science. One such claim is that discrete radiation from an ancestor’s remains, if damaged by water vein radiation, would pursue descendants and permanently injure them.⁸ In spite of this kind of “science,” no one seems to suspect that the Society’s staff, because of their backgrounds, are simply New Agers worshipping parascience.

A board member of the Society, Gun-Woong Bang⁹ published a book entitled New Science Will Change the World. In this book, he discusses various New Age topics such as qigong, morphic fields, auras and Kirlian photography, homeopathy and water-memory, vibrational therapy, cold fusion, perpetual motion, biological transmutation, Mesmer and subtle energy, teleportation, etc.

The book has been widely read even by young students, becoming a bestseller. Bang was asked to give a talk before the National Assembly Members’ science study group. According to the press report, the chairman of the study group concluded that New Science research should be strongly supported by the government, since the potential of such research promised to change the world economic map. Afterwards, they even held public hearings-the step prior to a government enactment to support New Science research.¹⁰

The scientists belonging to the Society received a hefty grant from the government for a feasibility study. They concluded that underlying evidence of pyramid power, music agriculture, and vibrational therapy are based on reasonable science, and that they could be the foundation of working hypotheses for scientific investigation.¹¹

Apparently they have not referred to the numerous articles and papers of skeptics on these very subjects.

5. The Role of Korean Skeptics

With a patriotic attitude toward traditional medicine in the public and wide media coverage, profit-motivated New Agers are thriving and given full respect in Korea. Koreans at large, regardless of educational background are attracted more and more to superstition, and are recoiling more and more from good, solid science and reason. This trend has actually been promoted by influential scholars and government policy-all in the name of science.

A response to the pseudoscience trend in Korean society has only recently been organized. A newly established organization, Korea Pseudo-Science Awareness (KOPSA), promises to be effective. In order to fight back, organization, intelligence and the right tactics will be indispensable. Sympathizers to reason and science will be called on as a group force. But KOPSA also needs advice and assistance from accomplished skeptics abroad.

Notes

1. Dr. Myung-Bok Lee wrote in 1993 a bestselling book entitled If You Know Your Constitution, Your Health Is Guaranteed. He even taught this concept in an educational TV program. His method of reading the constitution is based on the muscle testing of applied kinesiology. No one knows he is simply teaching a sympathetic magic.
2. The Western versus Traditional dualism of the Chinese medical system is unique but far from ideal. In Japan, traditional doctors were not trained after 1885. When chairman Mao Zedong took over mainland China in 1949, he inevitably and politically emphasized TCM. China, in fact, has made efforts to augment the western system up to the point that about 15 to 20 percent of patients become TCM-dependent (B.L. Beyerstein, and W. Sampson. 1996. Skeptical Inquirer 20(4): 18-26).
3. The editorial titled Traditional and Western Medicines Should Be Complemented appeared in ChosunIlbo on May 18, 1996. The tone is nothing different from that of most Koreans who regard Western medicines as inroads of Western culture in their territory. Naturally they believe that in Korea something modern and unique should be created corresponding to the Western one. They are not going to accept that science is an universal way of thinking and finding the truth.
4. Dr. Sang-Ik Whang expressed this view in the book review of Modern Drug Discovery Stories, which appeared in MunwhaIlbo on April 23, 1997. The title of the review was “An Argument Against Determining Statement that Traditional Medicine is Unscientific.” The book, written by me, was simply an account of drug discovery stories but it was stated in the author’s introduction that modern drugs created from the 19th century by applying scientific method to the finding of efficacy and safety are valued different from traditional ones. Open supporters for my views are rarely encountered.
5. This appeared in JungangIlbo on June 12, 1997. Dr. Zang-Ho Cho presented the result at the National Assembly special guest lecture. Later, it was reported (MunwhaIlbo, March 5, 1998) that the result was published in PNAS-USA (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95, 2670-2673). Kyung Hee University informed me that the press expression of yin-yang constitutions was erroneous and yin-yang in the paper simply denotes two separate groups of opposite signals. Additionally, it was reported that the reproducibility of their work had not been tested and proved by other researchers.
6. The publisher of New Science Movement, Sung-Bom Lee, is also a member of the New Science Study Group and an arduous promoter of various New Age publications, including those of Fritjof Capra and James Lovelock. Strange enough, those New Age books in his New Science Series were found to be mixed with orthodox science books such as Ever Since Darwin by Steven J. Gould and Anatomy of a Scientific Discovery by Jeff Goldberg. In Korea around thirty translated books of new age authors were published and those books have been widely promoted and recognized as the twenty-first century advanced science.
7. These were found in ChosunIlbo
(October 20, 1994 and May 6, 1997). The Korean Society of Mind Sciences is a legitimate science association registered at Ministry of Science and Technology. President Dr. Choong-Woong Lee of the Society, electronics professor of Seoul National University, expressed his having special interest on telepathy communication (MunwaIlbo, April 16, 1997). There is another new age scholar group called “Future Foreseers.” The key member of the group appeared in the newspaper is Dr. Jun-Sik Choi, professor of religious studies of Ewha Woman’s University. According to the press report (ChosunIlbo, April 29, 1997). Dr. Choi organized an international new science symposium inviting authorities on UFO, cold fusion, superefficient machine breaking the second law of thermodynamics and human special ability.
8. The article was written by two members including a board member of the Korean Society of Mind Sciences in one of the series of “Water Vein and Health” in ChosunIlbo on August 25, 1996. In another article of the series (September 1, 1996), they cited Rupert Sheldrake’s morphic field and Lyall Watson’s “The Hundredth Monkey Story.”
9. Dr. Gun-Woong Bang, one the most popular New Age promoters in Korean earned a Ph.D. in materials engineering from Northwestern University, U.S.A. and presently a senior researcher of Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science. He is well versed in Korean philosophy classics. When I contacted him asking for a detailed story of the girl’s eyeless vision, he telefaxed me seven pages of the story including some of his philosophy.
10. According to ChosunIlbo (July 23, 1997), Rep. Sang-Hee Ri, former minister of Science and Technology invited Dr. Bang to the seminar. Dr. Bang informed me that Rep. Ri is presently less positive and another Rep. Ho-Sun Chung is active enough to organize the public hearing on April 16, 1998. Detailed setting of the hearing was known to be made by Dr. Min-Yong Park, Yonsei University engineering professor. Dr. Park told me that the New Science discussed in the hearing was not specific but the one broadly embracing contents of Dr. Bang’s book New Science Will Change the World. The Naeway Economic Daily (April 16, 1998) reported that the law would direct to the promotion of Ki related researchers and practices including qualification standards of qigong therapists and special (super) ability holders.
11. Reporting this with a title of “Mysterious Space Energy” (MunwhaIlbo, June 30, 1997), the newspaper inserted a big photograph of pyramid in which sat two researchers including principal investigator Dr. Mun-Cho Chung of Korean Institute of Science and Technology. It is obvious for them to believe as well as pyramidology Backster effect, unnaturalistic vibrational therapy and Robert Jahn’s PK. Although Dr. Chung promised to send their research report on my request, it did not reach me.

refers here to method, or skill. It is the same gong that is used in gongfu (kung fu) and the now-popular falungong. Hammagong is a martial arts method that involves squatting and hopping about like a toad (hamma)! The appearance of the words qi and gong combined together first in 1955, when a therapist at the Hebei Department of Health and Sanitation named Liu Guizhen established a rest clinic for central government officials in Beijing, many of whom were too tired and weak for physical exercise. Liu published an influential qigong treatise in 1957: Qigong Practices.

Although the term qigong is a relatively new invention, the idea of qi as the basis for the Chinese concept of health comes from ancient times-long before the advent of modern science. The earliest known record of the term qi occurs in the book Liji, prior to the Spring and Autumn period, between three and four thousand years ago. At that time there was no modern physiology or biochemistry, nor was there understanding about nutrition or the healing mechanisms of the body. The existence of cells, blood circulation, neurology and hormones were also unknown. Because dissection of the human body was culturally discouraged, very little anatomical information was available. The only opportunity for anatomy lessons came after battles (or executions, where beheading was the preferred method).

Professor Yuan Zhong of Beijing Union Medical University, a member of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, is a specialist in Chinese medical history focusing on medical philosophy. He explains that after the fall of the ax, blood quickly leaves the body and ancient observers assumed that this liquid came from the body cavity, not from the curious, seemingly empty tubes that they later were able to see after the blood had drained away. We now know that these other vessels are the carotid arteries and jugular veins, which transport blood. Ancient observers guessed that because these tubes appeared empty and deflated, that some form of air or special gas must inflate them, hence the name qi (air). They believed that our bodies were inflated and nourished by this special air and that the arteries and veins were simply part of the respiratory system. According to the ancient medical text Ling Shu Jing Shui, this is where the idea of qi began. Pulse diagnosis appeared in China during the early Warring States period (about 2,500 years ago). At that time, doctors believed that what they were feeling were pulses of air (qi), not blood. Later, when closer observations revealed residual blood inside veins (trapped there by the bicuspid valves), the theory of qi was modified to state that veins carried blood and arteries carried air. As early as the late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) the famous anatomist Wang Qingren held to the mistaken belief that arteries carried air, not blood. Prior to the time of Wang Qingren, dissection was never done. To his credit, Wang lobbied strongly for less stringent regulations against dissection, saying that healing without knowledge of internal organs was “like a blind man walking in the dark.”

As in most major religions, the “breath of life” concept and air hold a special significance. When a person stops breathing, they die. If respiration is difficult, there is an obvious health problem. According to ancient medical beliefs (not only in China), the breath was said to be the soul of the individual, born with-yet separate from-the body and that it would leave the body prior to death. In late 1973, a collection of medical treatises on silk banners and bamboo slips were excavated from the Ma Wang Dui site near Changsha, Hunan. The Han and Chin Dynasty (300 b.c.-3 a.d.) treatises (the earliest surviving medical works in China) from tomb number three frequently mention qi as both a method of explaining and treating disease. One special variety of qi

mentioned frequently is that of ”jing qi of heaven,” which grew out of the ancient worship of sexual reproduction. It was believed that conception occurred as a result of contact with heavenly gas, or jing qi vital energy and that in order to increase one’s health and maintain optimum energy, frequent exposure to this special condition was necessary. This led to the Art of Coitus where the male’s semen was credited with magical life-giving properties, a concrete manifestation of the qi of heaven. Journey to the West, one of the four most significant pieces of Chinese literature, begins with a stone near the shore of the ocean being exposed to the vital qi of heaven when suddenly Sun Wukong, the Monkey King sprang valiantly from the rock.

Various Traditional Chinese Medicine ingredients: snakes, sea horses, bracket fungi (called “mystical plant” in China) and deer antler.

In addition to the concept of jing qi, the Ma Wang Dui tombs tell us that qi has other qualities and that it can be produced by fire. A cold person is said to be lacking in qi and vice-versa. We are also told in one of the texts, titled Ten Questions, that qi has the ability to move. This idea is consistent with the current popular view of qi. Four important functions of qi were also mentioned: the development of strength, resistance to disease and evil spirits, and the maintenance of good health and longevity. The idea that qi can be obtained from the environment led to the practice, still seen today, of consuming the sex organs of various animals, such as foxes and birds. The kidneys of mice, the pollen from flowers, and alcohol were also thought to contain highly potent forms of qi. Any sort of pungent plant or root was said to contain qi. One has merely to pass within fifty yards of a traditional Chinese hospital to recognize the characteristic reek of the medicines produced there. Some substances may have been selected because they happen to look similar to other things. Ginseng, for example is said to resemble a fetus. The consumption of placental after-birth is still a common practice in the Chinese countryside. The idea was that the active medical ingredient in all of these substances was qi. Ancient tribal dances that were practiced in an effort to rid the body of evil spirits by filling it with qi led to the Dao Ying Su, a method of movement designed to cultivate qi and to celebrate the act of coitus and the reproductive organs. These are the early Chinese traditional medical beliefs from which modern versions developed, as evidenced by the surviving texts.

Professor Yuan points to a parallel and interrelated development of the qi of traditional medicine, described above, and of qi used as an interpretation of, or an attempt to reconcile with, the more recent philosophy of Daoism. The Daoist philosopher Laozi is said to have been born around 604 b.c. After his death, a movement developed which deified Laozi and created a new religion. A cast of new Daoist gods appeared and astrology, divination, alchemy, breath control and levitation were practiced by a variety of cults. The most notable group, the Celestial Masters (still active today) was established in 142 a.d., when their leader, Zhang Daoling, reported that he had received "revelations” from Laozi’s spirit. The fusing of these ideas with those of the older medical interpretation of qi resulted in the Huang Di Nei Jing (emperor’s internal scripture), the universally recognized foundation of modern traditional Chinese medicine.

Both ancient qigong wizards and modern masters draw from primitive traditions of nature worship. Historically, the Chinese people have been closely tied to the land, with agriculture being the major source of sustenance. Life in China has been greatly influenced by the harsh and unpredictable forces of nature, which inspire fear and despair. Ancient wizards offered some hope of intervention into the affairs of the gods of nature. There were many methods used to convince people of this, but the primary concern was to create a sense of mystery and awe. A second was to employ tricks and methods of deception to gain people’s confidence. Modern wizards claim that they have inherited their methods from the ancients, but that they have surpassed them. All of these allegedly new innovations are actually just variations of previous methods. So-called ”qigong information tea” (or water), is really just another form of the ancient longevity pill. The modern "scientific” information on qigong is transmitted socially, not academically. Very few of the wizards are ever medical authorities. They are frequently unlicensed, unprofessional, and they all claim to possess unlimited power that can cure any and all diseases. Although claiming to be scientific, they shun genuine scientific scrutiny. Their theories contain confusing and mystical concepts and they commonly cite “lack of faith” on the part of their patients as a way of excusing their failures. Belief in the supernatural creates great confusion that causes theology to become mistaken for science.

References

• Yuan, Z. 1991. The Ancient Chinese Exploration of Vital Energy Effect on the Formation of Qi Theory in the Huang Di Nei Jing. Heilongjiang: Chinese Medical University of Heilongjiang Press.
• Yuan, Z. 1997. Wizardry, Wizard Religion, Wizard Doctors. Beijing: Chinese Association of Science Press.
• Zhang, L., Z.X. Wu. 1992. Answers to Questions About Qigong. Shanghai: Shanghai Education Publishing House.

During the heyday of spiritualism, among the “physical phenomena” commonly manifested were so-called spirit paintings. These were portraits and other artworks, done in various media and produced under a variety of conditions but always ascribed to spirit entities. During 1998 and 1999 I was able to examine several of these at Lily Dale, the western New York spiritualist colony, and to thereby shed light on some century-old mysteries.

Figure 1. “Spirit” writing and painting produced on a slate during the heyday of “physical mediumship” (now exhibited at the Lily Dale Museum).

Full-fledged spirit paintings, often portraits of the dearly departed, were typically rather elaborate renderings in oils or pastels. Although looking for all the world like artworks done by professionals, they were produced under remarkable conditions: e.g., during a short time, in complete or near darkness, etc. The most famous spirit-painting mediums were the Bangs sisters (the subject of Part II) and the Campbell brothers.

Although there are myriad discussions of spirit painting (e.g., Coates 1911; Carrington 1920; Mulholland 1938), I have come across no real history of the alleged phenomenon and nothing to establish its origin or chronicle its development. The following few paragraphs are my attempt to fill this void.

Soon after modern spiritualism began in 1848 with the spirit rappings of the Fox sisters (who confessed their trickery four decades later), spirit pictures began to appear in a very simple form. The earliest ones of which I am aware were drawings produced as an extension of “automatic” writing, whereby messages were supposedly dictated by otherworldly entities or the medium’s hand was allegedly guided by them. For example, in 1851 John Murray Spear (b. 1804) produced séance writings and “also geometrical drawings and strange unintelligible figures, of which no interpretation was vouchsafed” (Podmore 1902, 1:216).

Figure 2. A typical “spirit” pastel portrait by the Campbell Brothers (exhibited at the Maplewood Hotel, Lily Dale).

In the mid 1860s, a Glasgow cabinetmaker and spiritualist named David Duguid (1832-1907) began painting small landscapes while being observed, according to psychical investigator Frank Podmore (1902, II:130), “apparently in deep trance, and with his eyes apparently closed”-emphasis on the word apparently. Podmore (1902, II:131) was “disposed to regard Duguid’s trance utterances as probably not involving conscious deception,” but his later mediumistic demonstrations are another matter. Magician John Mulholland in his Beware Familiar Spirits (1938, 158), says Duguid was among the mediums who employed “simple substitution of painted for unpainted cards.”

After the debut of slate-writing-a phenomenon claimed to have been “discovered” by “Dr.” Henry Slade (d. 1905)-spirit pictures also began to appear, sometimes accompanying writing (see figure 1), sometimes separately. These pictures could be done (like the messages) with a simple slate pencil, but more ornate ones were rendered with colored chalks or paints. The slate effects were done under conditions that supposedly precluded trickery, thereby seeming to prove they were authentic spirit productions. In fact, however, they were easily produced by a variety of conjuring techniques, and mediums were repeatedly caught faking the phenomena (Houdini 1924).

Although spirit painting is distinct from spirit photography, there was actually some overlap. Interestingly, early photographic techniques-daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, etc.-did not yield spirit portraits; those awaited the advent of glass-plate negatives which facilitated double exposures. After spirit photography became established in 1862 (by Bostonian William H. Mumler1), painted portraits or other artworks obviously served on occasion as the basis for photographed spirit “extras.” Some mediumistic photographers produced photo images with artistically added “veils,” “shrouds,” and other funereal trappings (see examples in Permut 1988). And David Duguid expanded his repertoire from spirit paintings to spirit photographs and even “psychographs” (supposedly non-camera spirit or psychic photos) (Coates 1911, 65). One way the latter were produced involved using seemingly unprepared paper that actually contained a chemically bleached-out image. At the appropriate time the paper would be secretly pressed against a blotter dampened with a developing solution (Carrington 1920, 220-221).

Figure 3. “Spirit” oil painting, Azur, produced in stages during an 1898 séance (exhibited at the Maplewood Hotel, Lily Dale).

At Lily Dale, I was able to examine several pictures by the Campbell brothers-or I should say, “brothers,” since they were unrelated. (According to my sources at Lily Dale, they were a gay couple in a time when differences in sexual orientation were less tolerated.) They were Allan B. Campbell (1833-1919) and Charles “Campbell” (born Charles Shourds, who died August 23, 1926). They lived at Lily Dale but traveled widely, reportedly making twenty-two trips to Europe. Their mediumship involved slate writing and spirit typewriting (produced in a portable cabinet), but they are best known for their spirit portraits and paintings (“Campbell Brothers” n.d.).

The Campbells’ “spirit” artists produced pastel and oil portraits. I inspected examples of both with an ordinary magnifying glass and a 103 illuminated loupe and found them indistinguishable from works produced by the human hand. Some writers claim the pictures “have no brush marks” (Jackson 1975). That is true of the pastels which were of course done without brushes or paints and which in fact have the characteristics of pastel drawings (see figure 2). The oil paintings do indeed have brush marks which may easily be found by the use of oblique light-a technique used to enhance surface irregularities (Nickell 1999).

One of the oils is a striking 40 x 60-inch painting of Allan Campbell’s alleged spirit guide, Azur (figure 3). It was produced on June 15, 1898, in a single sitting lasting only an hour and a half. In a signed statement, six witnesses (all of them apparently spiritualists, some of them prominent) described the conditions under which the picture was produced:

On the evening mentioned we met at the cottage of the Campbell Brothers on the hill and proceeded to their Egyptian séance room. Across the bay window at the end of the room was hung a large silk curtain, where stood a small table and a canvas 40"360". Each one in turn went up to the canvas and magnetized it by passing his hands over the surface. We then placed whatever marks we pleased on the back, some placing names, some numbers, some marks to suit their fancy. Mr. A. Campbell then invited one of the circle to sit with him in the impromptu cabinet and the silken curtain enclosing them; each member of the circle in turn sat within the cabinet with Mr. Campbell. Every time the curtain was withdrawn we saw the partly finished picture of Azur. During the entire séance there was light enough for us to see everything perfectly and note the gradual growth of the painting on the canvas. Mr. A. Campbell was entranced and Azur, using his organism, gave us some very beautiful words of welcome and lessons of a high order. He spoke of the stars and their significance, which we fully realized afterwards.

After some music, additional lights were brought, the curtain withdrawn, and lo! The picture was complete. It represented Azur with arms uplifted as in the act of speaking and fully life size. While we were admiring it, there came at the back of the head a six-pointed star, which is now distinctly seen. (Prendergast et al. 1989)

One notes that the picture was only observed in stages, but how was it done under the conditions described (assuming them to be true) and in so short a time for a large oil painting? To begin an answer we turn to Hereward Carrington (1920, 222) who describes the two major techniques used for spirit paintings rendered in oils:

One method is for the medium to take an ordinary oil-painting, as fresh as possible (so long as the oil is quite dry), and over this lightly gum, around the edges, another piece of blank canvas, seeing to it that it looks neat at the edges. Now, as soon as the medium is alone in the cabinet, he carefully peels off this outside piece of canvas, secreting it about his person, and exposing the under canvas (the one upon which is the painting) to view. In order to produce the impression of the painting still being wet, he quickly rubs over the painting with poppy-oil, and there is your spirit painting!

The second method Carrington describes as a “chemical means,” but that is something of a misnomer. As he explains:

The oil-painting in this case is first varnished, and, after this is thoroughly dry, it is covered with a solution of water and “zinc white.” The canvas will now have the appearance of being blank, and may be inspected. All the medium has to do, in order to restore the painting, is to wash over the canvas with a wet sponge, when the painting will appear as before.

In the second technique, the zinc white might be sponged off incrementally so that the picture seems to develop in stages. And it would be appropriately damp when brought forth (Gibson 1967). With either method employed, the sitters’ placing their names and other identifying marks on the back of the canvas to prevent substitution-a common ploy of spirit-painting mediums (Gibson 1967)-was a disarming but irrelevant act since the main canvas on which the marks were placed was not switched.

Figure 4. Surface damage is apparent in each of the four corners of Azur-a possible indication of trickery. (All photos by Joe Nickell)

In examining Azur, I detected no traces of zinc white residue that might be expected to remain. However, I did discover-in each of the four corners-evidence of surface damage, seemingly consistent with the first scenario Carrington described. Although unmistakable, the damage is much less apparent to the unaided eye than is seen in an oblique-light photograph intended to reveal it (figure 4). In fact, the damage would no doubt generally go unnoticed, and, indeed, I had seen the painting on previous occasions without observing it. My eventual discovery reminds me of an exchange between Sherlock Holmes and Inspector Gregory, in "Silver Blaze” (Doyle 1894), concerning a clue, a “wax vesta [match], half burned”:

“I cannot think how I came to overlook it,” said the inspector with an expression of annoyance.

“It was invisible, buried in the mud [Holmes replied]. I only saw it because I was looking for it.”

“What! You expected to find it?”

“I thought it not unlikely.”

If my observation of surface damage in the four corners of Azur means what I think it does (no innocent, alternate explanation comes to mind), then Allan Campbell seems to have had a blank canvas covering the finished Azur, lightly glued at the corners. There may actually have been two or more overlays so that intermediate stages of the painting could have been prepared in advance. Or there could have been a partial rendering on the back of the blank canvas for the same purpose (although that would have required reattachment after reversal). Allan Campbell might even have had a brush and paints available so that he could have produced on the overlay the first several stages of the painting until ready to reveal the finished product. (These could have been kept in a drawer of the “small table” referred to.)

How do we explain the star-shaped halo that afterward appeared on the painting, as the sitters attested, “while we were admiring it?” I suggest that the star, which is not particularly bold, was not at first noticed. When the sitters’ attention was called to it, and they then focused on it, they were deceived by the power of suggestion into thinking it had spontaneously materialized.

What about the members of the circle having taken turns sitting with the medium in the makeshift spirit cabinet (the curtained-off bay-window area)? Would not the presence of even a single observer have precluded trickery? Hardly. The painting may have had a covering placed over it, which was used to conceal the removal of the (hypothesized) canvas overlays. And Charles “Campbell” might have played an important role. It is curious that his involvement was not described; he might, for example, have been the first to sit with Allan Campbell, making removal (or reversal) of one overlay a cinch. He could have sat more than once, or one of the other sitters might have been a confederate. Again, we do not know that a sitter was always present or that the picture advanced to a new stage during each sitting. No doubt, whatever the actual conditions, they were insufficiently stringent to prevent deception.

Even if I am wrong about the implications of the surface damage in the corners, the hypothetical scenario I have sketched remains a valid explanation, since it would be possible to attach an overlay without such damage. (One version of the trick calls for tacks to be used to attach the blank sheet [Gibson 1967].)

Given the evidence, the painting of “Azur”-indeed the entire body of spirit paintings, like other physical spiritualistic phenomena-can scarcely be taken as proof of a transcendent realm.

Notes

1. Spirit photography was reportedly “discovered” by Boston photographer William H. Mumler who noticed “extras” on recycled glass plates from which previous images had not been entirely removed. In 1862 Mumler began producing spirit photographs for credulous sitters but was later exposed when some of the entities were recognized as living city residents (Nickell 1995, 31).

References

• “Campbell Brothers.” N.d. Album, Lily Dale Museum.
• Carrington, Hereward. 1920. The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism. New York: American Universities Publishing Co., 220-223.
• Coates, James. 1911. Photographing the Invisible. N.P. [USA]: The Advanced Thought Publishing Co.
• Doyle, Arthur Conan. [1894] N.d. [1930]. “Silver Blaze” in Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, reprinted in The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Garden City, N.Y.: Garden City Books,.
• Gibson, Walter. 1967. Secrets of Magic: Ancient and Modern. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 138-139.
• Houdini, Harry. [1924] 1972. A Magician Among the Spirits. Reprinted New York: Arno Press.
• Jackson, Dorothy. 1975. “Lily Dale-Spiritualism Center in Chautauqua County,” unidentified clipping, dated October 1, in “Campbell Brothers” n.d.
• Mullholland, John. [1938] 1979. Beware Familiar Spirits. Reprinted New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
• Nickell, Joe. 1995. Entities. Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books.
• Nickell, Joe, and John F. Fischer. 1999. Crime Science. Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky, 177, 178.
• Permutt, Cyril. 1988. Photographing the Spirit World. Wellingborough, England: Aquarian Press, 13-15, 22-23, 26, 29-30.
• Podmore, Frank. 1902. Modern Spiritualism. London: Methuen & Co.
• Prendergast, Emma, et al. 1898. Text given in a brochure, Spirit Painting: Azur. Lily Dale, N.Y.: Lily Dale Historical Society, n.d. (Other signers were Abby Louise Pettengill, M. Sage, Sidney Kelsey, F. Corden White, and Helen White.)
• Swann, Irene. 1969. The Bangs Sisters and Their Precipitated Spirit Portraits. Chesterfield, Indiana: Camp Chesterfield.