Photographing the Spirit World: Images From Beyond the Spectrum

This is a book on psychic and spirit photography, but the emphasis is on the latter. Perlmutt classifies such photographs into two groups: "those which record visible supernormal phenomena and thosw which are the result of direct action of supernormal influences on the sensitive film or paper itself. Each of these groups can be further subdivided into spontaneous examples which occur without the intervention of the observer and those which are arranged as a controlled experiment" (p. 7). It is one thing to make a photograph of a supposed paranormal subject such as an apparition, but Perlmutt apparently includes in this category pictures of mediums exercising "normal" PK on visible objects!

The book opens with a chapter outlining the history of psychic photography. The second is on photographing macro-PK or "physical" phenomena, primarily that associated with mediumship, e.g., ectoplasm and materialization. "Modern supernormal photography" is the subject of the next chapter, which is mainly about images of apparitions on film. The fourth chapter is devoted to a series of photographs taken over a period of years and known as the "Chelmsford photographs." Next comes a history of thoughtography or imprinting thoughts on film. In the last two chapters he considers theories of evidence for, and implications of paranormal photography, discusses photographic equipment, and gives advice on taking psychic photographs. Permutt is convinced that what he calls "supernormal photography" provides evidence of survival. The book contains many illustrations and it is a useful service for looking into persons associated with psychic photography, but the view expressed is that of a devout believer.