Developed by the Russian scientists Semyon and Valentina Kirlian in 1939, electrophotography is a technique in which an object being photographed, such as a finger tip, is placed in direct contact with film placed on a metal plate charged with electricity of high voltage and frequency. Electrophotography was hailed by many parapsychologists as “a way to see the unseeable” and “a window on the unknown” which could revolutionize our concept of self and the universe” (Ostrander and Schroeder). These authors concluded that the Kirlians had photographed the etheric or energy body and provided a new technique for “exploring the energy body of ESP.”

See also Kirlian Photography.

Suggested Reading: Ostrander, S. & Schroeder, L.: Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain.