Ted Serios

Theodore "Ted" Judd Serios (November 27, 1918 – December 30, 2006)[1] was a Chicago bellhop known for his production of "thoughtographs" on Polaroid film.[2] He claimed these were produced using psychic powers. Serios' psychic claims were bolstered by the endorsement of a Denver-based psychiatrist, Jule Eisenbud (1908–1999), who published a book named The World of Ted Serios: "Thoughtographic" Studies of an Extraordinary Mind (1967) arguing that Serios' purported psychic abilities were genuine.[3] However, professional photographers and skeptics have argued that Serios and his photographs were fraudulent.[4][5]

Ted Serios
Born
Theodore Judd Serios

November 27, 1918
Chicago, Illinois, United States
DiedDecember 30, 2006(2006-12-30) (aged 88)
Quincy, Illinois
OccupationBellhop, psychic

History and method

Serios was an unemployed bellhop when his claims that he had the ability to put images on film with his mind came to the attention of Jule Eisenbud.[2] He was tested by Eisenbud at Denver during a period of three years.[6] Serios usually held a small cylinder or tube he called a "gizmo" up to the lens of an instant camera, which was then pointed at his forehead and the shutter released. He would often be drunk, or at least have been drinking, when he produced his photographs.[7]

Serios' images were most often blank or black. Occasionally, a fuzzy image would be seen that could be interpreted in many different ways (cf. pareidolia), but on rare occasions a relatively clear and identifiable image showed up although often appearing surrounded by dark areas on the film.[8] On some occasions, his photos appeared to be distorted, or altered versions of real places or images, e.g., one such photo seemed to be of Eisenbud's ranch showing the barn as a different structure to the reality. Another photograph depicted part of a building identified later as a hangar belonging to the Air Division of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police; however, in the photograph there was a misspelling "CAINADAIN" for "CANADIAN" on the imaged sign.[9][10] Eisenbud attempted to prove that previously unidentified photographs were actually of the surface of Ganymede. In Eisenbud's own words, "Unfortunately, I couldn't get an astronomer or optical scientist to agree."[11]

Psychology

According to Eisenbud, "Ted Serios exhibits a behavior pathology with many character disorders. He does not abide by the laws and customs of our society. He ignores social amenities and has been arrested many times. His psychopathic and sociopathic personality manifests itself in many other ways. He does not exhibit self-control and will blubber, wail and bang his head on the floor when things are not going his way."[12] Serios was described as an alcoholic.[13]

Critical reception

In an article in the October 1967 issue of the magazine Popular Photography, Charlie Reynolds and David Eisendrath, both amateur magicians and professional photographers, claimed to have exposed Serios as a fraud after spending a week-end with him and Eisenbud.[14][15] Reynolds and Eisendrath said they spotted Serios slipping something into the tube that Serios claimed he needed to help him concentrate. They surmised this was a picture of something that the camera would take an image of, but which Serios would claim came from his mind rather than his hand.[16] Robert Todd Carroll later wrote "after the exposure he remained virtually unheard from for the past 30 years."[16]

In 1968, W. A. H. Rushton a Professor of physiology and President of the Society for Psychical Research rejected any paranormal interpretation of the photographs. He suggested that it was light that formed the photographs from a luminous picture placed in front of the camera lens hidden in the 'gizmo'. Rushton successfully replicated the Serios phenomenon by holding a little reflecting prism that contained a microfilm picture against the camera lens.[17]

James Randi, stage magician and noted scientific sceptic, took an interest in investigating Serios. Randi claimed Serios used "a simple handheld optical device" to perform his photographic trickery.[18] Randi wrote he replicated the trick of Serios on a live television show in New York and Eisenbud was "flabbergasted".[19] According to Terence Hines:

Serios would use what he called a "gizmo," a tube of paper placed against the camera lens. He said this helped him to focus his mental energy and direct it toward the film. He also used something he didn't tell anyone about—a tiny tube about one inch long and one-half inch in diameter. This tube had a tiny magnifying lens at one end. In the other end one could insert a piece cut from a standard 35mm slide. Lined up properly, this device projected the image on the cut piece of transparency onto the film of the Polaroid camera. The device was small enough to be concealed in the palm of the hand, so it could be used even when the larger paper "gizmo" wasn't around to conceal it.[4]

In an article in New Scientist titled "The Chance of a Lifetime" (24 March 2007), an interview appears with the noted mathematician and magician Persi Diaconis. During the interview Diaconis mentioned that Martin Gardner had paid him to watch Ted Serios perform, during which Diaconis claimed that he caught Serios sneaking a small marble with a photograph on it into the little tube attached to the front of the camera he used. "It was," Diaconis said, "a trick."[20] Gardner wrote that "the parapsychologists who once took Ted Serios and others like him seriously would have been spared their embarrassments had they known anything about magic."[21]

A casual observer can clearly see that photos in the Ted Serios photo UMBC database are black and white identicals or near-identicals to photos found in other collections. An example is this "1967 conceptual drawing of the Gemini B reentry capsule separating from the MOL" (right) and Ted's near-identical photo from the database.

Thoughtography was the premise of The X-files 1996 episode "Unruhe". The X-Files producer Chris Carter signed a deal to base a film on Dr. Eisenbud's book.[22] He was also featured and interviewed in an episode of Arthur C. Clarke's World of Strange Powers in 1985. Serios was earlier featured in In Search Of Ghosts In Photography ... With Leonard Nimoy in 1980.

Ted Serios and thoughtography were highlighted in a 2014 episode of Mysteries at the Museum (Season 6, Episode 13).

Ted Serios is one of the "mediums" in french author Nathalie Quintane's 2014 novel Descente de médiums.

See also

References
  1. About Ted Serios by Leonardo Sirios.
  2. Nickell, Joe (2005) [1994]. Camera Clues: A Handbook for Photographic Investigation. books.google.com. Lexington, Kentucky USA: University Press of Kentucky. pp. 197–198. ISBN 0-8131-1894-8. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
  3. Jule Eisenbud. (1967). The World of Ted Serios: "Thoughtographic" Studies of an Extraordinary Mind. Morrow. ISBN 978-1117065625
  4. Terence Hines. (2003). Pseudoscience and the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. p. 77. ISBN 978-1573929790
  5. Len Peyronnin. (2011). Psychic Projections Were a Hoax. The Chronicle of Higher Education. "Anyone who knows anything about this issue knows that Mr. Serios was long ago exposed and thoroughly debunked as a fraud. This was done with absolute certainty by professional photographers Charlie Reynolds and David Eisendrath in the October 1967 issue of Popular Photography. Serios was observed, when he thought no one was looking, sticking pictures into his "gizmo," a tube he held between his head and the camera lens. That some claim he produced images without the tube, and at some distance from the camera, is easily attributed to double exposure or use of previously made exposures, followed by the fake snapping of a picture."
  6. Leonard Zusne, Warren Jones. (1982). Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Extraordinary Phenomena of Behavior and Experience. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. p. 411. ISBN 978-0898590685
  7. John Thomas Sladek. (1974). The New Apocrypha: A Guide to Strange Science and Occult Beliefs. Stein and Day. p. 218. ISBN 978-0812817126
  8. James Randi. (2011). Those Spooky Photos Are Back.... James Randi Educational Foundation.
  9. Alfred Douglas. (1982). Extra-Sensory Powers: A Century of Psychical Research. Overlook Press. p. 301
  10. John Fairley, Simon Welfare. (1984). Arthur C. Clarke's World of Strange Powers. Putnam. p. 78
  11. Jule Eisenbud. (1983). Parapsychology and the Unconscious. North Atlantic Books. p. 132. ISBN 978-1556431388
  12. Nile Root. (2002). Thoughtography. p. 8
  13. Rodger Anderson. (2006). Psychics, Sensitives And Somnambules: A Biographical Dictionary With Bibliographies. McFarland & Company. p. 156. ISBN 978-0786427703
  14. Charles Reynolds. (1967). "An Amazing Weekend with Ted Serios. Part I". Popular Photography (October): 81–84, 136–40, 158.
  15. David Eisendrath. (1967). "An Amazing Weekend with Ted Serios: Part II". Popular Photography (October): 85–87, 131–33, 136.
  16. Robert Todd Carroll. (2003). The Skeptic's Dictionary: A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions. Wiley. p. 313. ISBN 978-0471272427
  17. John Thomas Sladek. (1974). The New Apocrypha: A Guide to Strange Science and Occult Beliefs. Stein and Day. pp. 223-224. ISBN 978-0812817126
  18. James Randi. (1997). Thoughtography in An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 978-0312151195
  19. James Randi. (2003). Yellow Bamboo Surprise, Fear of Technology, and Answering Montague Keen. James Randi Educational Foundation.
  20. Justin Mullins (2007). "Interview: The chance of a lifetime". New Scientist. Retrieved March 6, 2014.
  21. Kendrick Frazier (1998). "A Mind at Play: An Interview with Martin Gardner". Skeptical Inquirer. Retrieved March 6, 2014.
  22. Mary Carole McCauley. (2011). An Artist's Instant Mystery. The Baltimore Sun.

Further reading
  • Colin Brookes-Smith. (1968). Review of The World of Ted Serios by J. Eisenbud. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 44: 260-265.
  • Milbourne Christopher. (1975). Mediums, Mystics & the Occult. Thomas Y. Crowell. ISBN 978-0690004762
  • Henry Gordon. (1988). Extrasensory Deception: ESP, Psychics, Shirley MacLaine, Ghosts, UFOs. MacMillan Of Canada. ISBN 978-0771595394
  • Curtis D. MacDougall. (1983). Superstition and the Press. Prometheus Books. ISBN 978-0879752125
  • James Randi. (1982). Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions. Prometheus Books. ISBN 978-0879751982
  • W. A. H. Rushton. (1968). Serios Photos: If Contrary to Natural Law, Which Law? Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 44: 289-293.
  • John Thomas Sladek. (1974). The New Apocrypha: A Guide to Strange Science and Occult Beliefs. Stein and Day. ISBN 978-0812817126
  • Gordon Stein. (1993). Encyclopedia of Hoaxes. Gale Group. ISBN 978-0810384149
  • Grünfelder Romeo. (2016). Ted Serios - Serien. Textem Verlag ISBN 978-3-941613-46-1
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