Spirit Photography

and some qhostly self-portraits

Aug 08, 2024

If you have been following my newsletter for a while, you might have noticed that I enjoy “experimental” photography. Whether it’s Vorthography, Photograms or Chemigrams - I am always curious and eager to learn about different photographic processes. Another technique I really enjoy but have not written about yet is multi-exposure photography.1

When I decided to write about this topic, I went online to see if I could find any information about the oldest, still existing multi-exposure photograph. I guess, I must have taken the wrong turn at some point because I ended up reading about something else which I found equally interesting: Spirit photography.

Seated woman with a man in the background; photographer unknown, 1865, via Wikimedia.

“Though spirit photographs may appear strange to our 21st-century eyes, they provide an extraordinary window into the belief systems and visual debates of people in the not-too-distant past, reminding us that the art of deception —and the desire to communicate with the spiritual realm— may never fade.”
- Emilia Mickevicius2

Spirit photography, also known as ghost photography, dates back to the 1860s and is closely tied to spiritualism, a religious movement that gained popularity first in the United States after the Civil War in 1865 and quickly after in Europe too.3

Spirit photographers claimed to be able to capture the spirit of a deceased person with their camera, often appearing as ghostly figures alongside their living relatives in the photograph.

Spirit photographs by William H. Mumler, 1862-1875 via Google Arts & Culture.

Both, spirit photography and spiritualism were most popular at the turn of the last century up to the 1920s, when well-known scientists, politicians and famous writers enthusiastically attended séances to get in contact with their deceased loved ones.

For spiritualists, who believed in a life after death and that the spirits of the dead can communicate with the living, spirit photography served them as tangible proof and validation for their beliefs.4

One of the best-known photographs in this genre is the one of Mary Todd Lincoln surrounded by the ghost of her dead husband Abraham Lincoln. The widow was a firm believer in spiritualism.5

**Mary Lincoln and Ghost of Abraham Lincoln by William H. Mumler ca. 1870 via Google Arts & Culture.**

This photograph had been made by photographer William H. Mumler, who was one of the first spirit photographers in the US. He and his wife Hannah Mumler -also a photographer and a spiritualist- set up a studio in Boston (and later in New York) and people would come to have their photograph taken in the hope of an image depicting the spirit of their deceased loved ones.

Spirit photography was a huge trend and had many believers, but there were also many skeptics who called it a scam. There also have been many court cases and accusations of fraud against photographers who claimed to be able to make the dead appear in their photographs.6

William H. Mumler was one of the spirit photographers who was arrested on fraud charges in 1869. And although the prosecution had a list of potential methods how Mumler might have created his ghost photos, they were not able to identify Mumler’s technique with enough certainty to prove that his photographs had not been authentic and Mumler was acquitted.

One of the theories was, that Mumler had placed a person (serving as a ghost) behind the sitter, who walked out of the frame while the photo was taken. This would have the effect that this person would be barely visible in the photo which would create the illusion of the sitter and a “spirit” occupying the same space. This method would have been noticed by the sitter though.

It is more likely that Mumler actually used two separate negatives (one with the sitter and one with the “ghost”) which he laid on top of each other during the printing process. This way he would have a double-exposure photograph appearing as an authentic photograph with a a spirit in it.

If you want to learn more about Mumler and the technique he most likely used to create his spirit photographs, this video is fantastic.

While I was reading about Spirit Photography and looked at the photographs, I suddenly was reminded about my own shenanigans down that road many years ago (without knowing about the history of spirit photography). Looking at these photos, I really can’t believe I made them. I first wasn’t sure if I wanted to share them with you because they are old, quirky and represent the way I make today, but I thought you might enjoy this glimpse into my photographic past.

I wasn’t familiar with spirit photography back then, but I remember, my inspiration for these photographs came from the medieval legend about a White Lady who is fabled to appear in houses in which a family member is soon to die.

These photographs would have never seen the light of day if I hadn’t learned about this interesting chapter in the history of photography. Technically, they don’t fit the category of multi-exposure photography, but they definitively fit the label of today’s topic.

That’s it from me today.

Thank you for being here and for reading this week’s newsletter. It means a lot to me!

Susanne

I hope you enjoyed this little excursion into the history of photography and my own photographic past. Feel free to share any thoughts, questions or comments with me. I would love to her from you.

My Morning Muse

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