Ted Serios and the Lehrburger Sequence

  

The July 10 article at this blog considered one of the anomalous occurrences involving masks in a recently published case study.  The 'mask' is a metaphor found in transcripts of transcendental communication.  A previous blog article also considered parallels in anomalous case studies concerning an oceanic ship.  This article presents an introductory paragraph along with photographs and a passage (originally consisting of two long paragraphs) from pages 128-135 of The World of Ted Serios (1967) by Jule Eisenbud, M.D. to show another correlation concerning the oceanic ship metaphor.

 

The book about Serios has been described as: "A doctor's own brilliant report on an exciting series of experiments in psychical phenomena—the subject, an 'unemployed Chicago bellhop' with the uncanny ability to project his mental images directly onto photographic film. . . ."  This description is incorrect as it was witnessed that the anomalous photographs taken in the presence of Serios could at times show images that had no obvious or simple correlation with his own thoughts and intentions.  During his investigation, one of Eisenbud's stated purposes became to inquire also into what factors were there behind what he noticed among colleagues as 'avoidance' reactions to learning more about the case.  He witnessed "this obvious resistance to disturbing facts is peculiar to the type of data that psychical research deals with . . ."
 
Upon contemplating the Force involved in the creation of these photos, Eisenbud considered the involvement of Ted's 'unconscious' yet didn't consider how humanity shares what might be described as an omnipresent subconscious and 'Superconscious Mind' (a point made by considering the data in many articles at this blog).
 
The 'gismo' used by Serios is a device that, as  Eisenbud found out, "never failed to arouse darkest suspicion on the part of uninitiated observers and that indeed I myself felt called upon to examine closely on the spot."  The author continued:

It consisted on this occasion (it was later modified) of a half-inch cut section of the plastic tube which carried the chemically impregnated squeegee for fixing the prints after development.  Ted claimed that this device, which he held between his thumb and index finger, or between his thumb or index and third finger, and placed more or less flat against the outer lens, was originally adopted to keep his fingers away from the lens (this didn't make too much sense to me, but I didn't argue the point) and at the same time to limit the amount of light and surrounding imagery (this I could see).  He had gradually become more or less habituated to the thing, he explained, so that now he felt very uncomfortable working without it, although he would do so, he hastened to assure me, if I desired this.

To see enlargements of the following photos, click on each photo.  Here is the passage about Ted Serios and the Lehrburger Sequence.

An instructive sequence of pictures that emerged when Ted was in no contact with the camera occurred at the home of Dr. Henry Lehrburger.  (Present: the Lehrburgers, their five children, three neighbors' children, my wife and I.)  Ted started by holding  and snapping the camera and getting mostly blackies.  On number 6, one of the children was given the camera to hold and trigger while another held the open gismo over the lens.  The picture that was pulled showed Ted's face (which was entirely normal with the open gismo) and one of the Lehrburger children, curiously unattentive, in the background (fig. 42).

 

(Fig. 42)

On number 7 Ted took the camera and got another blackie.  On 8, Ted designated one of the little Lehrburger girls, Florrie, eleven, to snap the shutter while he held the camera and gismo.  A faint beginning of some kind of form (the notes read "? squarish form") could be discerned.  This became a little clearer, after a perfect blackie on number 9, on number 10 (fig. 43), Ted having meanwhile moved to a couch a few feet away, where he again sat under a lamp.

 

(Fig. 43)

On number 11, Carl, thirteen, the distracted child in the background of number 6, held the camera and the gismo while Florrie snapped, and what appeared to be the squarish form on number 10 emerged over a still-visible light source in the center as a fairly definite structure (fig. 44).  For the next six shots the same team worked at holding and snapping the camera.  On number 12 some kind of a new theme emerged, as yet not too distinguishable (frequently the form and structure of unclear images could only be definitely made out in the light of later images of the same thing), but definitely something.  Thirteen, with one of the other children designated to give the signal for Florrie to snap, was a return to a dark version of 11 (fig. 44).

 

(Fig. 44)

Fourteen was the new theme, a bit different this time but still not really identifiable, of which number 15 (Carl and Florrie still manning the camera) was the first clear statement (fig. 45).

 

(Fig. 45)

Sixteen was a blackie with only a trace of fogging on it, and 17, where one of the other children was called in to pinch-hit on the gismo in an effort to revive the magic (they were all howling with disappointment as the images began to recede, but Carl and Florrie bravely stuck to their camera) showed Ted's face again.  At this point, the insubstantial pageant having faded (leaving not a wrack behind), Ted took over, but it was not until number 31, with himself holding and Florrie snapping, and with several formes frustes of the two themes in between, that Ted got a fairly clear version of the to-this-day-unidentified structure in number 11 (fig. 46).  It is as if this had been shot from a slightly different position from the image shown in fig. 44, if the directions of the parallel lines near the top of the picture are compared.

 

(Fig. 46)

On another occasion at the Lehrburger home—same conditions but with no neighbors' children present—Ted started out by getting what appeared to be a ship emerging from the mists on number 14 (this is something he had been supposedly aiming to get) with Florrie holding the camera and gismo and brother Gerry, twelve, snapping (fig 47).

 

(Fig. 47)

On number 26, with another theme (dancing figures—see later) and a few blackies and whities in between, Ted got a clearer version of the ship (fig. 48) with Carl holding and triggering the camera and Dr. Lehrburger holding the gismo.  (The camera used on this one had been delivered by Dr. Paley only a few minutes before, after having been subjected to examination)

 

(Fig. 48)

The ship finally revealed itself as a Matson liner by the fairly clear M's on the smokestacks on shot number 32, Dr. Lehrburger on camera and Ted holding the gismo (fig 49).  (The children had just requested that Ted give them some positive identification of the ship.)

 

(Fig. 49)

A normal shot obtained during this session, and given here for comparison, shows a very interested child (Gerry) behind Ted (fig. 50).

 

(Fig. 50)