Spirit photography

Of tone rasch

Photographer Severin Worm-Petersen undertook assignments for the Norwegian Society for Psychical Research. The association published its own magazine, and the members wrote books about the phenomenon. Several of the members were well-known people such as the authors Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Arne and Hulda Garborg, physicist Ellen Gleditsch, physicist Kristian Birkeland, women's advocate and teacher Ragna Nielsen and journalist Ella Anker. The company's leader was Christian Jæger, the founder of the social economics profession in Norway.

Around 1890, the English medium Elizabeth d'Espérance visited Oslo on three separate occasions. She was known for conjuring or materializing spirits, either by having a body part, such as an arm, or entire figures appear before the audience. The mediums brought with them a cabinet with curtains where they could withdraw from the audience and where the spirits materialized. When Madame d'Espérance gave her performance in Oslo in 1892, she conjured the Arab woman Yolande and the little girl Ninia. After the performance, there was discussion about why the child had such large hands, but despite discussions of fraud, Madame d'Espérance was not exposed.

Interest in spiritualism continued to grow after World War I. One reason was the many soldiers who were killed on the battlefield. Mothers and spouses wanted to get in touch with their loved ones through spiritism. Norway was on the side of the horrific war, but the events in Europe also affected us here at home. Journalist Ella Anker lived in London in the 1910s and participated in seances there. She was also active in the Society for Psychical Research.

Teleplasma was the Danish medium Einer Nielsen's specialty. He visited Norway in 1922 and while he was here, he was exposed as a fraud. Then he had undergone several hard tests which were supposed to confirm or deny cheating, among other things he was dressed in a tight-fitting leotard in which it was supposed to be impossible to hide any artificial teleplasm. But he still managed to hide the fabric, which on closer examination turned out to be tulle. Despite the exposure of the medium Einer Nielsen as a fraud, spiritualism gained constant new followers in the years to come, also in Norway.