1 00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:03,200 Speaker 1: Imagine you're searching for a killer, and all you have 2 00:00:03,279 --> 00:00:05,680 Speaker 1: to do is peer deeply into the eyes of the 3 00:00:05,760 --> 00:00:09,799 Speaker 1: victim to see the image of the murderer. I'm Patty Steele, 4 00:00:10,039 --> 00:00:16,720 Speaker 1: the last thing they saw next on the backstory. The 5 00:00:16,760 --> 00:00:21,200 Speaker 1: backstory is back criminal forensics trying to find evidence that's 6 00:00:21,280 --> 00:00:23,439 Speaker 1: gonna help convict a murderer or some other kind of 7 00:00:23,480 --> 00:00:26,040 Speaker 1: criminal is a fairly new science, believe it or not. 8 00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:29,159 Speaker 1: But what if the eyes of the victim held a 9 00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:32,800 Speaker 1: tiny imprint of the last thing they saw before dying, 10 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:37,000 Speaker 1: almost like a camera shot. Okay, it's eighteen seventy six, 11 00:00:37,320 --> 00:00:40,880 Speaker 1: early in the advent of camera technology, and people were 12 00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:44,320 Speaker 1: well aware of the similarities between the eye and a camera. 13 00:00:44,880 --> 00:00:47,559 Speaker 1: So at that point, to them, it didn't seem very 14 00:00:47,640 --> 00:00:50,880 Speaker 1: far fetched that the eye could actually retain some sort 15 00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:53,920 Speaker 1: of image. Now to us these days, it kind of 16 00:00:53,960 --> 00:00:56,720 Speaker 1: sounds a little ridiculous, right, Well, it was kind of 17 00:00:56,760 --> 00:01:00,360 Speaker 1: a big deal from eighteen seventy six all the way 18 00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:03,760 Speaker 1: up until nineteen twenty four. In fact, it was even 19 00:01:03,880 --> 00:01:06,119 Speaker 1: used on at least one of the victims of Jack 20 00:01:06,160 --> 00:01:10,160 Speaker 1: the Ripper, with investigators hanging on to the victim's eyeballs. 21 00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:13,760 Speaker 1: It's called optography, and it all came about when a 22 00:01:13,800 --> 00:01:18,200 Speaker 1: German scientist discovered a light sensitive substance in the eyes retina, 23 00:01:18,400 --> 00:01:21,839 Speaker 1: which he called visual purple. He and a colleague even 24 00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:25,120 Speaker 1: managed to capture images from the eyes of an unlucky 25 00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:28,880 Speaker 1: rabbit acting as a test subject. The rabbit's head was 26 00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:31,800 Speaker 1: covered for three minutes in total darkness so that the 27 00:01:31,920 --> 00:01:35,560 Speaker 1: visual purple could accumulate. It was then held in place 28 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:39,200 Speaker 1: staring at a window for another three minutes before it 29 00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:43,640 Speaker 1: was killed. Immediately afterward, the eyes were dissected, and the 30 00:01:43,680 --> 00:01:48,360 Speaker 1: captured image does show a fuzzy but pretty obvious window. Now, 31 00:01:48,440 --> 00:01:51,560 Speaker 1: the problem is it seemed to work on some animals, 32 00:01:51,560 --> 00:01:54,640 Speaker 1: particularly rabbits, but not so much on humans, because the 33 00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:57,160 Speaker 1: focal point of the human eye is a whole lot 34 00:01:57,240 --> 00:02:00,559 Speaker 1: smaller than a rabbit's. They had even tested a human 35 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:04,960 Speaker 1: subject who'd just been executed. They dissected the man's eyes 36 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:07,640 Speaker 1: in an attempt to capture the last image they knew 37 00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:13,200 Speaker 1: he'd seen before death. The result a blurry, indistinct shape, unclear, 38 00:02:13,720 --> 00:02:17,680 Speaker 1: but enough to keep the possibility alive in the scientific community, 39 00:02:18,040 --> 00:02:20,000 Speaker 1: even if it wouldn't have been clear enough to take 40 00:02:20,040 --> 00:02:23,880 Speaker 1: to court. In fact, with that limited success, a lot 41 00:02:23,880 --> 00:02:27,360 Speaker 1: of folks believed that optography would be the future of 42 00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:32,640 Speaker 1: forensic investigations. A forensic scientists felt that as technology advanced, 43 00:02:32,880 --> 00:02:36,880 Speaker 1: they get a much better image. The news cycle also 44 00:02:36,960 --> 00:02:40,600 Speaker 1: played a big role in keeping the belief in optography alive. 45 00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:44,800 Speaker 1: For decades, people claimed to use the technique successfully, at 46 00:02:44,880 --> 00:02:47,800 Speaker 1: least according to newspapers in those years. Some of the 47 00:02:47,840 --> 00:02:52,480 Speaker 1: headlines photos show killer's face in retina and slain man's 48 00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:55,720 Speaker 1: eye shows picture of a murderer. In another case, in 49 00:02:55,840 --> 00:02:59,400 Speaker 1: nineteen fourteen, the Washington Times ran a headline that said, 50 00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:03,120 Speaker 1: in image on her retina may show girl's slayer. The 51 00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:05,520 Speaker 1: story goes that a twenty year old woman had been 52 00:03:05,560 --> 00:03:08,520 Speaker 1: beaten to death, and when police found her body, her 53 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:11,880 Speaker 1: eyes were still open. Her family hoped that the last 54 00:03:11,880 --> 00:03:15,239 Speaker 1: thing she saw may be the face of her murderer, 55 00:03:15,600 --> 00:03:18,440 Speaker 1: and that it would be imprinted like a photographic negative 56 00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:22,560 Speaker 1: on her retinas. Well, apparently not. While the optograms were 57 00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:26,520 Speaker 1: entered into evidence, the accused killer was tried twice and 58 00:03:26,639 --> 00:03:31,160 Speaker 1: found not guilty. Anyway, As decades went by, advances in 59 00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:35,200 Speaker 1: technology seemed only to further debunk the use of optography 60 00:03:35,280 --> 00:03:38,840 Speaker 1: for criminal forensic purposes, but believe it or not. As 61 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:43,440 Speaker 1: recently as nineteen twenty four, forensic optography was admitted as 62 00:03:43,480 --> 00:03:46,760 Speaker 1: evidence after a guy in Germany was charged with killing 63 00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:50,640 Speaker 1: eight members of his family and household staff. According to 64 00:03:50,680 --> 00:03:54,200 Speaker 1: the scientist in charge, images from the retinas of two 65 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:57,560 Speaker 1: of the victims showed what he said were images of 66 00:03:57,600 --> 00:04:00,680 Speaker 1: the murderer's face, as well as an act used to 67 00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:05,440 Speaker 1: kill the gardener. The killer was tried, convicted, and executed, 68 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:09,040 Speaker 1: with the optographic images included along with the rest of 69 00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:12,440 Speaker 1: the evidence in the case. Newspapers said that the killer, 70 00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:17,400 Speaker 1: when told about the incriminating optagrams, confessed to the murders. 71 00:04:17,960 --> 00:04:21,919 Speaker 1: But finally, in twenty eleven, a German legal publication looked 72 00:04:21,920 --> 00:04:24,800 Speaker 1: at the case and called the optograms that had been 73 00:04:24,880 --> 00:04:29,560 Speaker 1: used absurd forensics. This almost sounds like the Twilight Zone, right, 74 00:04:30,120 --> 00:04:33,280 Speaker 1: Imagine if you will, a world where the final sight 75 00:04:33,400 --> 00:04:37,640 Speaker 1: of a murder victim could solve the crime. It intrigued people, 76 00:04:37,960 --> 00:04:41,080 Speaker 1: and the idea wove its way into detective stories and 77 00:04:41,240 --> 00:04:44,599 Speaker 1: criminal chatter. At the time. There were books and short 78 00:04:44,640 --> 00:04:48,080 Speaker 1: stories from writers like Jules Vern and Rudyard Kipling that 79 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:51,560 Speaker 1: used optography as key plot points, and in movies and 80 00:04:51,720 --> 00:04:54,520 Speaker 1: later TV shows, it was also used. Some of the 81 00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:58,599 Speaker 1: films include in nineteen thirty six Bela Lagosi and Boris Karloff. 82 00:04:58,600 --> 00:05:03,159 Speaker 1: Flick called The invisib the nineteen sixty four fantasy The 83 00:05:03,279 --> 00:05:06,680 Speaker 1: Eyes Have It, and others. From the nineteen seventies right 84 00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:11,000 Speaker 1: through twenty thirteen, TV shows like the RoboCop series, Fringe 85 00:05:11,040 --> 00:05:14,799 Speaker 1: and Wild Wild West all used optography to solve murders 86 00:05:15,320 --> 00:05:19,320 Speaker 1: and finally, music legend Jim Morrison wrote about the optographic 87 00:05:19,400 --> 00:05:23,840 Speaker 1: experiments on rabbits in his text Jim Morrison Raps in 88 00:05:23,920 --> 00:05:26,920 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty eight. Now, at the end of the day, 89 00:05:27,200 --> 00:05:30,960 Speaker 1: optography is all about human curiosity and our sort of 90 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:34,840 Speaker 1: relentless pursuit of scientific advancement, not just at that point 91 00:05:34,920 --> 00:05:39,240 Speaker 1: in time, but constantly over human experience. It reflects our 92 00:05:39,279 --> 00:05:44,120 Speaker 1: fascination with the unknown and our desire to see the unseeable. 93 00:05:54,040 --> 00:05:58,839 Speaker 1: I'm Patty steel The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, 94 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:03,000 Speaker 1: the Elvis, Duran and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is 95 00:06:03,040 --> 00:06:06,799 Speaker 1: Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes 96 00:06:06,839 --> 00:06:09,919 Speaker 1: every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free to reach out to 97 00:06:09,920 --> 00:06:13,640 Speaker 1: me with comments and even story suggestions on Instagram at 98 00:06:13,680 --> 00:06:17,200 Speaker 1: real Patty Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks 99 00:06:17,200 --> 00:06:20,360 Speaker 1: for listening to the backstory with Patty Steele, the pieces 100 00:06:20,400 --> 00:06:22,880 Speaker 1: of history you didn't know you needed to know.