Thoughtography, also known as projected thermography, psychic photography, nengraphy, and nensha (Japanese: 念写), is the claimed ability to transfer images from a person's mind onto surfaces like photographic film using psychic methods. The word "thoughtography" has been used in English since 1913. The term "projected thermography" is a newer word introduced in the 2002 American movie The Ring, which is a remake of the 1998 Japanese horror film Ring.
History
Thoughtography, also called psychic photography, began in the late 1800s because of spirit photography. Thoughtography is different from Spiritualism, which sets it apart from spirit photography. The first book to mention "psychic photography" was The New Photography (1896) by Arthur Brunel Chatwood. In the book, Chatwood wrote about experiments where images of objects seen by the human eye might leave an impression on a sensitive photographic plate. A review in the journal Nature criticized the book.
In his book Modern Psychical Phenomena (1919), psychical researcher Hereward Carrington wrote that many psychic photographs were later found to be fake, made using tricks like replacing plates, editing photos, using double exposures, or chemical screens. However, Carrington also said he believed some photographs were real. The term "thoughtography" was first used in the early 1900s by Tomokichi Fukurai.
Skeptics, including professional photographers, believe psychic photographs are fake or the result of problems with cameras, film, exposure times, film-processing mistakes, lens flares, flash reflections, or chemical reactions.
Claims
Around 1910, during a time when many people in Japan were interested in Spiritualism, Tomokichi Fukurai, a psychology professor at Tokyo University, began studying parapsychology. He used people like Chizuko Mifune and Ikuko Nagao as test subjects. Fukurai claimed that Nagao could send images to photo plates using her mind, a process he called nensha. However, journalists found problems with his experiments, which led to questions about Nagao’s reliability. Some believed her later illness and death were linked to the stress of being criticized. In 1913, Fukurai published a book titled Clairvoyance and Thoughtography. The book was criticized for not following scientific methods, and his university and colleagues disapproved of his work. Fukurai resigned from his position in 1913.
In the early 1900s, Albert von Schrenck-Notzing, a researcher into psychic phenomena, studied the medium Eva Carrière. He claimed her ectoplasm, or spiritual material, was created through a process he called ideoplasty, where she formed images from her mind onto the ectoplasm. Schrenck-Notzing published a book in 1923, Phenomena of Materialisation, which included photos of the ectoplasm. Critics noticed that the photos showed signs of magazine cutouts, pins, and string. Schrenck-Notzing later admitted that Carrière had secretly brought pins into séance rooms. A magician named Carlos María de Heredia later recreated Carrière’s ectoplasm using simple items like a comb, gauze, and a handkerchief.
Donald West stated that Carrière’s ectoplasm was fake. He found that the images were cutouts from newspapers and magazines, including the French magazine Le Miroir. Photographs revealed that some faces, such as those of Woodrow Wilson, King Ferdinand of Bulgaria, and French president Raymond Poincaré, were taken from the magazine. Back issues of Le Miroir matched some of the faces used in Carrière’s performances.
After discovering that Carrière used magazine images, Schrenck-Notzing claimed she had read the magazine and her memory had recreated the images in the ectoplasm. However, critics called him easily convinced. Joseph McCabe noted that Schrenck-Notzing was mocked by his medical colleagues in Germany and Austria.
In the 1960s, Ted Serios, a hotel bellhop in Chicago, claimed he could use psychokinetic powers to create images on Polaroid film. His claims were supported by psychiatrist Jule Eisenbud, who wrote a book titled The World of Ted Serios: "Thoughtographic" Studies of an Extraordinary Mind (1967). However, photographers and skeptics found that Serios used simple tricks to produce the images.
Masuaki Kiyota, a Japanese psychic, was said to have psychokinetic abilities. Investigators from Granada Television tested him in London, but the results showed no evidence of his claimed powers. Kiyota could only create images on film when he had control over the film for at least two hours. James Randi, a magician and skeptic, noted that Kiyota likely used preexposed film, as he made great efforts to obtain film packs and spend time with them privately. In a 1984 interview, Kiyota admitted to fraud.
In 1995, psychic Uri Geller began using a 35 mm camera in his performances. He would leave the lens cap on the camera, take photos of his forehead, and later claim the images came directly from his mind. James Randi suggested Geller used a handheld optical device or already exposed film to create the images.