There was no shortage of photographers claiming to capture images of ghosts in the 19th century. “The newly invented medium of photography became a way to cope with death, and post-mortem photography offered a popular new way to preserve the memory of loved ones. . . . The invention of photography also coincided with the increasing popularity of hauntings, seances, and mediums during the rise of the spiritualist movement. Photography was a perfect way to connect with the spirit realm…or so it seemed” (https://tinyurl.com/4v8p9phy). These so-called “Spirit Photographs” were most often achieved by the creative use of multiple exposure.

Since the daguerreotype’s positive image developed directly on the exposed plate (and was generally intended to be a mirror of nature), the process was rarely used for intentional multiple exposures. However, the long exposure times often created accidental movement, leaving a faint ghost-like trace. When the glass plate negative process was developed, these accidental traces still occurred, but the possibility for intentional multiple exposures became much easier. “Sir David Brewster, in 1856, recognized that these effects could be used deliberately to create ghostly pictures. The London Stereoscopic Company used Brewster’s idea to create a series of images called The Ghost in the Stereoscope.”

One prominent practitioner of Spirit Photography was Boston photographer William H. Mumler. A jewelry engraver by training, he is thought to have learned photography from Mrs. H. F. Stuart and worked in her studio in 1864-65; both Mumler and Stuart produced spirit photographs. Mumler later moved to New York City, where in 1869 he was accused of fraud—and acquitted. For additional information on Mumler and Mrs. Stuart, see A Directory of Massachusetts Photographers: 1839-1900 by Chris Steele and PHSNE member Ron Polito (p. 101 and 127 at https://tinyurl.com/2p9frj7a) and Spirit Photography: Uncovering the Story of Hannah Green (https://tinyurl.com/cppdj82y).

Mumler’s most famous image might be his portrait of Mary Todd Lincoln, supposedly with the assassinated Abraham Lincoln standing behind her. View an online album of cartes-de-visite with spirit photographs at https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/104J2P.

Interest in spiritualism surged following the Civil War and during the Victorian era, when the populace was confronted with death on a massive scale. Some ghost images were accidental, often due to slow shutter speeds; they became more common as cameras became widely available to amateurs (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_photography). Among the many serious believers in spiritualism, “Sir Arthur Conan Doyle refused to accept the evidence as proof of a hoax.”

The popularity of spirit photography persisted until the 1920s.