The extraordinary story of the Chicago bellhop who attempted to
transfer mental images to Polaroid film
Our thoughts are known to us, and us alone. But for a brief period in
the 1960s, Ted Serios (1918-2006) attempted to prove that his inner
reality could be documented. Serios demonstrated an ostensibly psychic
act termed "thoughtography," involving the transfer of mental images
onto undeveloped Polaroid film. In studies supervised by respected
Denver-based psychiatrist Dr. Jule Eisenbud, Serios produced over 1,000
anomalous photographs, a feat that has never been fully dismissed or
wholly verified. Existing as an uncomfortable knot in time, the details
of the Serios phenomenon can't be disentangled without questioning the
social conditions that produced it in the first place.
Contextualizing Serios' story within the twilight zone of 1960s America,
Ted Serios: The Mind's Eye considers the reaches and restraints of
belief and explores the multiple dimensions at play in the Serios
phenomenon, including interpersonal relationships, scientific methods,
photographic technologies, state militaristic operations and popular
culture. Rather than seeking absolute truth, the volume allows the
reader to arrive at their own conclusions through a series of thematic
essays, narrative photographic stories, select ephemera and contemporary
cultural artifacts.
