Jule Eisenbud collection on Ted Serios and thoughtographic photography

Overview

Administrative/Biographical Note

Born in New York City, New York, November 20, 1908, Jule Eisenbud was heavily involved with psychoanalysis and psychology throughout the early stages of his professional career and opened his own private practice in 1938. Eisenbud was a clinical faculty member at the University of Colorado, and an honored member of the American Society for Physical Research and Parapsychology Foundation. Eisenbud met his main subject, Ted Serios, in 1961 in Chicago. At the time, Serios was an unemployed bellhop who claimed that he had the ability to put images on film with his mind. Although initially skeptical of Serios, a significant number of successful experiments under tightly controlled conditions convinced Eisenbud that Serios’s talent was legitimate. Ted Serios’s ability, which came to be known as “thoughtography”, gained national attention with his appearance on “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson and an ongoing challenge between Serios and renowned magician “The Amazing Randi.” Eisenbud offered a large sum of money to any magicians who claimed they could duplicate Serios’s actions under the same conditions, but he never received a challenge. The actual process of producing a thoughtograph was fascinating to watch, as Serios often required vast amounts of liquor to get going and became very restless before he could produce an image. Once he was “hot”, or ready to produce, Serios placed a paper tube, or “gizmo” on his head (supposedly to channel the paranormal energy), and has a photograph taken of his face from very close range. These ‘gizmos’, were tube like constructions of varying length, width, and diameter improvized from paper, plastic, or other materials available at the site of the experiment. The fact that Serios uses a “gizmo” in many of his thoughtographs is one of the most criticized parts of the experiment, as many have accused him of placing some sort of micro-lens in the gizmo while the observers looked away. Eisenbud has often countered by ensuring constant close observation of Serios, and examining the gizmo for such a lens before and after shots. The debate and skepticism of the experiments is detailed greatly throughout much of his correspondence, and witness statements as well. The images that are produced consist of “whities”, blackies”, and various forms of images, often buildings of various sorts. These images are supposed to relate to randomly selected “target images” chosen without Serios’s knowledge beforehand, of which he is asked to determine on his own and create. While some of his thoughtographs have corresponded to the target photos or verbal requests of the observers, the success rate in this regard is generally very low. For example, following a selected target photo of an iron, Serios produced an automobile that was mysteriously shaped like the same iron. In one of his more spectacular feats, Serios produced a clearly distinguishable image of Eisenbud’s ranch right on the spot, after Eisenbud’s wife Molly suggested that they take a trip there. The majority of the results are “whities” or all white images, and “blackies” or all black images, which are abnormal themselves, as the image produced should have always been Serios. The majority of Serios’s successful thoughtographs are of various buildings or landmarks, to which similar photos could often be found in travel books. The images are in various degrees of focus, with many in a “zoomed” in appearance of a small part of a larger image. In addition, many of the images have abnormalities, such as being slightly skewed, turned side-ways, or slight alterations from the corresponding image that could be found to match the thoughtograph. Serios continued to produce thoughtographs until the late 1960s, at which point, Serios seems to have “lost his ability” to produce. At the peak of Serios’s success, Eisenbud published his first book on Ted Serios, titled “The World of Ted Serios,” in 1967. Although Serios lost his ability to produce photographs, Eisenbud stood by his conviction that Serios’s thoughtography was real, groundbreaking, and deserving of much more attention than it was given. Furthermore, Eisenbud asserted that the Serios thoughtographs were not replicated under the same conditions by any magician or scientist. To this day, whether or not Serios was a fraud is still unclear. However, no one has been able to successfully demonstrate how Serios could have produced such images through any method other than Eisenbud’s theory of psychic energy, or ‘thoughtography’. Eisenbud also worked with several other research subjects, including a man who claimed he could bend spoons with his mind, a woman who claimed she could predict cards before they were chosen at random, and another woman who claimed her hand was “possessed” and wrote things on its own. However, Eisenbud’s main focus remained on his work with Ted Serios, on which he actively gave speeches, promoted, and defended until his death in March 1999. Serios’s photographs continue to be displayed in various photographic conventions to this day, and at the publishing of this finding aid in 2005, scriptwriter Chris Carter (of X-Files fame) was working on a script for a movie documenting the relationship between Ted Serios and Jule Eisenbud.

Scope & Content

The Jule Eisenbud collection on Ted Serios and thoughtographic photography contains Jule Eisenbud’s collection of documents from his lifetime of research on a variety of subjects, with the bulk of material relating to his work on Ted Serios. Although the various documents span from as early as the late 1930s until his death in 1999, the bulk of the material is from the 1960s, the years of his most intensive work with Ted Serios. The series have been organized by document type, including impressive numbers of correspondence, legal and medical documents, financial documents, experimental data, Eisenbud’s clippings, Non-Eisenbud clippings, multimedia, and photographs. The first series, Correspondence, is indicative of Eisenbud’s dedication as a correspondent. The colleagues he communicated with most include Steven Braude, R.A. McConnell, Emilio Servadio, and Ian Stevenson. This correspondence in particular contains a great deal about Eisenbud’s work with Serios and his work in parapsychology. The correspondence between Serios and Eisenbud illustrates the unique relationship between the two, and the tension created by Serios’s constant disappearances, periods of inability to produce, alcoholism, and frequent trouble with the law. “Doc”, as Serios liked to call Eisenbud, spent a lifetime attempting to keep Serios in line, often bailing him out of tight financial situations and unpleasant circumstances. The second and third series contain medical, legal, and financial documents relating to both Serios and Eisenbud. Particularly interesting is the legal documentation surrounding Serios, including his frequent arrests and medical expenses. A complete trust fund agreement belonging to Serios is included in the financial documents. The fourth series contains a vast number of documents pertaining to Eisenbud’s experiments, which have been divided between Ted Serios, and all other experiments. These other research projects include work on Susie Cottrell, a woman who believed she could predict cards before they were selected, Masuaki Kiyota, a man who claimed the ability to bend spoons with his mind, and the “handwriting experiments” conducted by a woman who felt her hand was “possessed” and wrote its own poetry, songs, and drawings. Also included is a large number of witness statements pertaining to the experiments with Serios. Series five and six include Eisenbud’s various clippings, and clippings of those of his colleagues. Eisenbud’s book “The World of Ted Serios,” is included in series five, along with conversation transcripts involving Carl Sagan and the House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAAC). Also of interest is a screenplay, with the experimentation with Serios as the main plot, created by an unidentified author. Series seven contains Eisenbud’s various awards and certificates accumulated throughout his professional career. Series eight contains a set of session notes from the 1930s, apparently created by Eisenbud during one of his psychoanalytic sessions with an unnamed patient. Series nine contains artwork, including unidentifiable drawings, advertisements, and cartoons. Series ten contains most of the multimedia in the collection, including over 100 filmstrips of various formats, a number of VHS tapes, and DVDs, some of which are not duplicated in the other formats. There are several interviews with Dr. Eisenbud, including one during the last years of his life, discussing his lifetime of research and touching a good deal on his work with Ted Serios. There is also a VHS with coverage of Ted Serios in action creating thoughtographs, which is wonderful in illustrating precisely how the process worked. Experiments with Susie Cottrell (the psychic card reader) fill the majority of the cassettes, with the same experiment continuing over several cassettes. Filmstrips are of various sizes and formats, and may require special projectors to view them. The final and largest series of the collection, photographs, is divided into five subseries: experimental, thoughtographs, numbered, Eisenbud’s private collection, and Ted Serios’ personal photographs. The experimental sub-series contains large numbers of photographs produced during the experimental process; the thoughtographs sub-series differs in that it contains selections from the experimental photographs and contains only thoughtographs. The photo binders put together by Jule Eisenbud are of particular interest, as they include captions and dates for a large number of successful thoughtographs. Mounted “thoughtographs” include some of his most famous photos, including those which are often put on display. The numbered sub-series contains photographs included in the two editions of Eisenbud’s book, “The World of Ted Serios”; the container list specifies which edition contains the picture. Those photographs listed under Eisenbud’s Private Collection are mainly pictures of fertility symbols and statues, an apparent interest of Eisenbud. Photographs labeled as Ted’s personal photos show Ted in later years, and include shots of him with family members. At this time, the only item in the twelfth and final series is Eisenbud’s Polaroid camera.

Organized into 11 series: Series I. Correspondence, 1931-1999. Series II. Medical and Legal Documents, 1942-1999. Series III. Financial Documents, 1966-1998. Series IV. Experiments, 1964-1988. Series V. Eisenbud Writings, 1937-1995. Series VI. Non-Eisenbud Writings, 1935-1987. Series VII. Awards, 1941-1972. Series VIII. Session Notes, 1936. Series IX. Artwork, 1967, n.d. Series X. Multimedia, 1964-2001. Series XI. Photographs, 1964-1989. Series XII. Artifacts, n.d. Series I. Correspondence Series II. Medical and Legal Documents Series III. Financial Documents Series IV. Experiments Experiment Files Experimental Data Series V. Eisenbud Writings Series VI. Non-Eisenbud Writings Series VII. Awards Series VIII. Session Notes Series IX. Artwork Series X. Multimedia Films Video Digital Media Series XI. Photographs Experimental Photographs Thoughtographs Numbered Photographs Eisenbud’s Private Collection Ted Serios, Personal Photos Series XII. Artifacts

Provenance Information

The collection was donated by Eric Eisenbud, son of Jule Eisenbud, arriving in three separate accessions. The first came from Denver Public Library on November 5, 2002, consisting of 14 boxes, including several boxes of books on various subjects in psychology. The second donation was delivered from the home of Eric Eisenbud, arriving in March of 2003 in 10 additional boxes. In August 2008 Eric Eisenbud sent the camera that Eisenbud and Serios used during the experiments as well as 16 DVDs created from film and BetaSP masters. Portraits of Jule Eisenbud, requested by a researcher and located in Series XI.4, were donated by Eric Eisenbud in May 2010; both digital files and prints were provided.

This collection was processed under the supervision of Marcia Peri and completed in October 2005. The Jule Eisenbud Collection on Ted Serios and Thoughtographic Photography arrived with varying degrees of organization. Some correspondence, photographs, and experimental data was kept neatly organized, while the bulk was largely disordered. Whenever possible, original organization was maintained, and documents were simply transferred to archival folders. Due to the large amount of correspondence, only those contacts with at least 15 letters were given their own folder and organized alphabetically. The remainder was organized chronologically. In the case of photographs, all original negatives and contact prints were kept with the actual shots, and left largely in the organizational manner they arrived in. The images have been arranged alphabetically by subject matter, with the majority of the images pertaining to some aspect of experimentation with Ted. These photographs were left in their original organization with the same titles, and simply transferred to archival folders. The photographs were reprocessed in March 2008 by Lindsey Loeper, Visiting Librarian; this phase of processing addressed preservation concerns and increased access to the numbered photographs used to illustrate Eisenbud’s book, The World of Ted Serios. Offprints have been organized by date, with no more than two copies of each offprint. Any duplicates beyond a second were deaccessioned. Films have been assigned the original title whenever possible, which is indicated by quotation marks. When the film could not be viewed, or was an audio or video track, and had no title, it was labeled as unidentified. The majority of films were placed in archival film boxes, although those with metal tins in good condition were left in their original containers. Boxes 12 and 13 contain large films, and boxes 13-18 contain smaller films. The remaining containers that could not fit in boxes are notated as “Loose Film Canisters”. The oversized VHS cassettes could not be played in a standard VCR, and as a result, the original titles have been maintained whenever available. The set of ‘session notes’ arrived in a mixed box in one large pile, and as a result of their peculiarity, have been placed in their own series.

Access & Use

No restrictions.

Reproductions allowed for research purposes. Copyright maintained by the creator.

Subject Headings

• Serios Ted
• Eisenbud Eric
• Cottrell Susie
• Kiyota Masuaki
• Randi James
• Eisenbud, Jule Archives
• Parapsychology
• Photography
• Psychology
• Spirit photography

Series Description & Container List

Expand all | Collapse all

Series I. Correspondence

Series II. Medical and Legal Documents

Series III. Financial Documents

Series IV. Experiments

Subseries IV.A. Experiment Files

Subseries IV.B. Experimental Data

Series V. Eisenbud Writings

Subseries V.A. Offprints

Subseries V.B. Clippings

Series VI. Non- Eisenbud Writings

Series VII. Awards

Series VIII. Session Notes

Series IX. Artwork

Series X. Multimedia

Subseries X.A. Films

Subseries X.B. Video

Subseries X.C. Digital Media

Series XI. Photographs

Subseries XI.A. Experimental Photographs

Subseries XI.B. Thoughtographs

Subseries XI.C. Numbered Photographs

Subseries XI.D. Eisenbud’s Private Collection

Subseries XI.E. Ted Serios, Personal Photos

Series XII. Artifacts

Oversized Boxes