William Mumler’s Spirit Photography

In another post the story of the British Spirit Photographer, William Hope is told here.

Mumler photo showing
Fanny Conant with the
ghost of her deceased
brother.

William Mumler was an American Spirit Photographer. He was a jeweler in Boston and an amateur photographer. One day as he was developing a self-portrait he spotted the shadowy figure of a young girl floating behind his image.

Mumler at first thought it was an accident, it was just a trace of an earlier negative made on the same plate. But he changed his mind when friends and family told him the young girl looked like his deceased cousin.

This photo came to the attention of the American spiritualist community and was proclaimed the first photo ever taken of a spirit.

Mumler didn’t disagree. Instead he became the world’s first spirit photographer. Expert photographers in Boston stated they believed these photos were not tampered with.

Mumler’s new business became a success, in part because it was just after the Civil War and many people were seeking proof their deceased relatives still existed in some form.

So Mumler’s was basically preying on their desperation.

His British counterpart William Hope acquired photos by telling his clients he needed them to communicate with the dead during his séances. In contrast, Mumler would just break into people’s homes to obtain them.

Later, his girlfriend, a medium, was able to acquire them for him.

Mumler became wealthy and moved to New York to continue his business. The spiritualist community supported him wholeheartedly while his critics accused him of fraud.

Once in New York it was discovered that several ghosts in Mumler’s photographs were actually people who were still living. In 1869, the New York police sent an undercover agent to investigate him. They then charged him with fraud.

At his trial expert witnesses were brought in to testified that Mumler had created his photos with the use of double exposures. The notorious showman P.T. Barnum even testified against him.

A photo taken of P.T. Barnum with the ghostly image of Abraham Lincoln floating in the background was introduced as evidence to show how easy it was to create fake photos.

Faked photo of P.T. Barnum
and ghost of Lincoln
used as evidence in trial.

Despite the condemning evidence presented, Mumler was acquitted. His defense team was able to bring in a large number of witnesses that stated the images in the photographs given to them by Mumler were real.

Mumler moved back to Boston and continued producing spirit photos. But his business was no longer lucrative. In 1871, a lady using the name “Mrs. Lindall” visited him.

Photo of Mary Todd
Lincoln  with the ghost of
Abe Lincoln that was
widely circulated.

She was actually Mary Todd Lincoln and Mumler took the now famous photo of her with Abraham Lincoln floating over her left shoulder. Mumler stated afterwards that he had no idea that Mrs. Lindall was the former first lady and wife of Lincoln.

Mumler’s faked photo is the last one taken of Mary Todd Lincoln before she died in 1882.

Mumler wrote an autobiography in 1875 but his career was in ruins by this time. He stopped producing spirit photos in 1879 and according to most accounts he died penniless.

Spiritualism: Talking With the Dead

This movement was based upon the idea that the dead could communicate with the living.

It had a broad appeal because it was hailed as proof that there was “life after death.”

Spiritualism attracted 2 million followers by 1855 and quickly became a religion. It fueled an explosive interest in mediums and séances both in England and America.

Terms such as, Talking Boards, table tipping and automatic writing became part of the vernacular.

The Fox Sisters

The Fox sisters.

The Spiritualism movement began in Hydesville, New York in 1848. It was here that two sisters, Katie and Margaret Fox claimed they spoke to a murdered man who haunted their home.

The two sisters clapped their hands in response to the ghostly “raps” they heard.

They found they could communicate with this spirit a peddler who told them a former owner of the house they lived in had slashed his throat. He stated he was buried in the cellar.

The family invited neighbors in to view this phenomenon and it wasn’t long before the press had sensationalized the story.

Katie and Margaret’s stern older sister Leah took charge and managed her sisters as they traveled  from city to city sharing “spirit demonstrations.”

Despite the fact that the Fox sisters were routinely called out as frauds no “trickery” was ever discovered. Their popularity increased.

At one point P. T. Barnum brought the girls to New York to perform. Horace Greeley, editor of the Tribune, let them stay at his mansion.

Fox cottage in Hydesville.

By the mid 1850s fame had taken its toll on both sisters. They both became alcoholics.

Margaret converted to Catholicism and wanted to leave the act but family pressure kept her in. She went into a deep depression when her fiancé died before they could marry.

Leah married a wealthy businessman and left the act in 1857. Katie married an Englishman, and had two sons. When her husband died she returned to New York.

By the 1880s interest in Spiritualism began to wane in the United States.

Margaret under investigation for fraud in 1884 failed the tests a commission provided.

In 1888, Margaret denounced Spiritualism as fraud. She stated she and Katie had created the rappings in Hydesville to play a trick on their mother.

The two sisters now toured to “expose” Spiritualism. Katie continued to work as a medium during this time. Leah maintained a low profile.

Devoted followers of Spiritualism stated that Margaret was just sick and raving. Katie who rarely spoke now stated she did not agree with her sister.

In 1891, Margaret recanted her confession probably out of guilt.

Some felt that Margaret had just made the story up to take revenge on Leah who was a taskmaster and had Katie's sons taken away from her because she was an "unfit mother."

Leah died in 1890. Katie drank herself to death. She died at the age of 55 in 1892. Margaret ill and destitute, died in 1893 at the age of 59. 

Example of table tipping.

Some Positive Outcomes

By the turn of the 20^th century Spiritualism ceased to be widespread but it remains an energetic religion in Britain, the United States, and Latin America.

Following the sensation of the Fox sisters, mediums and spiritualistic journals thrived.

Séances became the rage. Not all were performed publically. Family and friends would gather privately and conduct Home Circles.

Mediums were most often women. This allowed them to play a new role in society. In Victorian England this meant freedom from many societal constraints placed upon women.

In America the concept of equality espoused in Spirit teachings attracted members of the suffrage movement. Victoria Woodhull, Elisabeth Cady Stanton and Harriet Beecher Stowe were spiritualists.

Susan B. Anthony was also inclined in this direction.

Despite the fact that scientists felt that Spiritualism did not provide proof of the soul and its immortality this early psychical research did establish that paranormal phenomena does occur.