“As the sunflower
turns its face toward to the
light of the sun, so
Spiritualism turns the face
of humanity toward
the light of Truth.”
~ National
Spiritualist Association of Churches
This is an Excerpt from my ebook, How Thin the Veil: 150
Years of Spiritualism by Linda Pendleton, available at Amazon Kindle.
Chapter 9: Visual Renderings
While doing research on the terrestrial life of James Martin
Peebles, I obtained a copy of his Last Will and Testament from California’s Los
Angeles County where he died in 1922. In
his Will, among his personal effects were two Bangs paintings. My curiosity led me to do further research. I discovered the Bangs paintings were
precipitated spirit paintings done by sisters Elizabeth S. and May E. Bangs of
Chicago, Illinois, American physical mediums.
My research led me to contact historic Camp Chesterfield,
Indiana, home to the Indiana Association of Spiritualists, founded in 1886 as a
Spiritualist Church. The Camp’s Hett Art
Gallery and Museum’s Middle Gallery houses an extensive collection of portraits
precipitated by the nationally recognized mediums Elizabeth and May Bangs. The
portraits were precipitated in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the paintings were done under test
conditions in full day light. The sister’s gifts included independent or
automatic writing in broad daylight on slates, and independent drawing and
painting; all forms of fully developed clairvoyance, materializations, and
direct voice mediumship. But their most amazing and spectacular phenomena was
that of full color precipitated spirit portraits. Although the authenticity of the paintings
had often been questioned, and the sisters were accused of fraud, it appears
the paintings are legitimate spirit paintings.
I was told several years ago that they were examined by art experts from
a university and the medium on the canvas is not identifiable. It had been
described as a “sticky” substance but it failed to leave a mark on the finger
or even on glass that later covered a painting.
Ron Nagy, considered to be the United States leading
authority on Spirit Art, and museum curator and historian at Spiritualist
Community, Lily Dale in New York State, which holds several Bangs Sisters
paintings, writes in his book, Precipitated Spirit Paintings, “The portraits
have been examined by art experts who cannot explain the medium used, as the
paintings are not pastels, charcoal, oils, watercolors, or any other known
substance. The medium has been compared
to the dust on a butterfly’s wings.”
The full color Bangs paintings are rather extraordinary, and
in many cases, beautiful and apparently even accurate representations of the
deceased. It has been written that often
the canvas would “continue” to “paint” after leaving the presence of the Bangs sisters,
and even changes would be made the next day, such as a necklace of pearls
appearing around the neck of a woman in a portrait. Some paintings were precipitated in as little
as five minutes. The spirit paintings were of a quality that would have taken
human artist days to complete.
The three Bangs paintings below are in an art collection at
Astara, an organization and mystery school founded in 1951 by Drs. Robert and
Earlyne Cheney. For years located in
Upland, California, Astara is now in Rancho Cucamonga, California, and is well
known worldwide for esoteric teachings and mystic philosophy. Robert was a
medium and author and Earlyne was a noted medium, psychic and author, and both
were Spiritualist, and had spent time at Camp Chesterfield, Indiana prior to
moving to Southern California.
Astara Collection, Bangs Paintings
In April, 1888, the Bangs sisters were arrested during a
séance in Chicago and charged with obtaining money under false pretense and not
having a license for their establishment. The April 17, 1888 Washington Post
newspaper article, byline Chicago, reported the Firm of the Bangs’ Sisters,
conduct the leading spiritualistic establishment in Chicago, and in their
capacity cater to a large element in the community. Their elegant parlors have been crowded by
day as well as by night and money flowed into their coffers in large streams.
While out on bail, Elizabeth (Lizzie) Bangs’ seven year old
daughter died. The funeral was held and
Mrs. Cora L. V. (Hatch) Richmond conducted the service and was of an entirely
spiritualistic nature. The newspaper
reported that Cora Richmond had been a trance speaker and as such gave
scientific, philosophical, and spiritual addresses while under the “controlling
influence, as she claims, of some long departed scientist or philosopher.” The report went on to say at the funeral
service she went into her trance and “preached, or rather delivered a
discourse, lasting nearly an hour, in the course of which she recited an
impromptu poem.”
In July, 1909 May Bangs stood trial for violating a City
Ordinance that was passed December 16, 1907 against the practice of mediumship,
and for obtaining money for doing so.
Although no fraudulent practices were proven, she was fined, and
according to author James Coates who studied the trial states false evidence
against her was thoroughly exposed.
In Coates 1911 book, Photographing the Invisible, he quotes
May Bangs’ own written description of spirit paintings: “No two sittings are exactly alike. Usually in the development of a portrait the
outer edges of the canvas become shadowed, showing different delicately
coloured lines, until the full outline of the head and shoulders is seen. When the likeness is sufficiently distinct to
be recognized, the hair, drapery, and other decorations appear. In many cases, after the entire portrait is
finished, the eyes gradually open, giving a lifelike appearance to the whole
face.”
Spirit portraits were also done by Spiritualist Allen
Campbell and Charles Shourds, known as the Campbell Brothers. They produced a portrait of Abraham Lincoln,
an excellent likeness, and according to Ron Nagy’s book, Eastman Kodak Company
of Rochester, New York examined the Lincoln painting in 1941 by photography,
x-ray, ultraviolet and infrared light, and used all the technology at their
disposal and could not ascertain what the paint medium was.
It appears that the precipitated spirit paintings were, just
that, spirit paintings, which came from the Other Side and manifested on a
canvas in this dimension. As much as the
skeptics of that time period tried to come up with a plausible explanation they
really did not accomplish that.
© Copyright 2009, 2013 by Linda Pendleton. All Rights Reserved. This excerpt of How Thin the Veil!: 150 Years
of Spiritualism may not be copied, transmitted, or used in any way, without the
permission of the author, Linda Pendleton.
