Whether or not Mumler actually used this method is not known. In 1902, Scientific American magazine published an article explaining how Mumler may have hoaxed his photos by putting the “ghostly” image on a thin piece of glass that was placed in the holder for the plate. Experts rushed to his defense, and the charges were dropped. Mumler’s critics grew more vocal, and finally city officials charged him with fraud. MARY TODD LINCOLN was one of his clients her photograph shows her dead husband, President ABRAHAM LINCOLN, standing behind her with his hands on her shoulders. Mumler moved to New York City, where he was able to double his fee to an outrageous $10 per photo. One, photographer William Black of Boston, pronounced Mumler’s work genuine.

Mumler was not without his critics, and he was investigated by experts. Mumler was besieged by requests to produce more such photographs, and he was able to quit his job and devote himself solely to spirit photography. Individuals sat for photographers in hopes of seeing the faces of dead loved ones revealed in the print. Spirit photography quickly became a fad, seen as proof of survival. Spiritualists and photography experts eagerly examined the photograph and accepted it as showing both the living and the dead. Mumler’s discovery came during the expansion of Spiritualism and the popularity of Mediumship and Séances to communicate with the dead. He publicly testified that he had been alone when he had taken the photograph and that he had also experienced a strange sensation of a trembling in his right arm. He recognized her as a cousin who had died 12 years earlier. In 1861, he took a self-portrait and, after developing the photographic plate, noticed what appeared to be the image of a young woman next to him. The birth of spirit photography is credited to Boston jewelry engraver WILLIAM H. Most spirit photographs can be explained as fl aws on the film, fl aws in developing, fl aws in the camera, peculiar pixilations in digital photos, or tricks of light. Spirit photography has been controversial since its beginnings in 1861. Spirit photography Photographs alleged to reveal Ghosts or nonhuman entities.

Simulacra by John Michell