The American Museum of Photography:
F. C. E. Dimmick (England)
"Mrs. Dorothy Henderson. Head bent forward, hands controlled and Ectoplasm covering her lap."
Gelatin-silver print, 3.5 x 5 inches
October 2, 1928
Inscribed on verso: "The M.S.A. has a whole series of ectoplasmic photographs which I took under strict test conditions with Mrs. Henderson as the Medium." Further inscribed, "See International Psychic Gazette, December 1928."
The M.S.A. was the Marylebone Spiritualist Association, presumably named for a section of Central London known as Marylebone Village. (To read the article from the International Psychic Gazette describing Mrs. Dorothy Henderson's seances and the making of this photograph, click here.)
Dorothy Henderson may have been the subject of a play written by the Irish poet William Butler Yeats, based on his experiences in spiritualism. Words Upon the Window Pane opened at the Abbey Theater in Dublin in 1930 and has as its central character a medium named Mrs. Henderson. A coincidence? We hope further research will provide an answer. For now, there is drama enough in the strange, other-worldly composition of this photograph, which some researchers find reminiscent of Japanese Noh theater--another interest of Yeats. The "ectoplasm" seen emerging from Mrs. Henderson's midsection is almost less remarkable than the seemingly disembodied hands of the "controls," maintaining contact with the medium in an effort to prevent fraud.
