The (mostly) true story of “ghost photography'

William Mumler claimed he could photograph ghosts ... and no one could prove he couldn’t.

In the mid-1800s, the development of exciting new forms of communication, like photography and the telegraph, was considered miraculous. This technology also coincided with a new religious movement becoming popular in the US and Europe: spiritualism. Spiritualists believed that, through the use of a medium, contact with the dead was possible. During the bloody American Civil War (1861-1865), belief in Spiritualism grew.

It was during this time that William Mumler, an amateur photographer in Boston, claimed he could photograph ghosts. He and his wife Hannah, herself a professional photographer and Spiritualist medium, created a stir in Boston by selling these "spirit portraits," and attracted the attention of Spiritualists and skeptics alike. Professional photographers in Boston investigated Mumler's method again and again but couldn't figure out how he did his trick.

After accusations of fraud piled up in Boston, the Mumler’s relocated to New York City, the photographic capital of the US. Here, Mumler was quickly arrested on fraud charges, and his trial was sensationalized in New York newspapers. The prosecution even brought in circus showman P.T. Barnum to testify against Mumler. But, like the photographers in Boston, no one could confidently identify his method — and Mumler was acquitted.

Once the trial was over, the Mumlers' spirit photography business boomed. They photographed prominent Americans, including Mary Todd Lincoln and William Lloyd Garrison, and even took mail-in orders from people who couldn't visit their studio in Boston. We visited photographic process historian Mark Osterman to demonstrate how Mumler could have used two negatives, printed simultaneously with a bit of sleight of hand, to fool witnesses into believing his "ghosts" were the real thing.

Our director of photography in Annapolis, Maryland, was Colin Faust.

Note: The headline on this piece has been updated.
Previous headline: We tried to recreate this famous photo of a ghost

The Strange Case of William Mumler, Spirit Photographer, by Louis Kaplan:

The Apparitionists: A Tale of Phantoms, Fraud, Photography, and the Man Who Captured Lincoln's Ghost, by Peter Manseau:

Helen F. Stuart and Hannah Frances Green: The Original Spirit Photographer, by Felicity T.C. Hamer:

The Getty Museum’s collection of Mumler’s spirit photographs:

Archive of “Banner of Light” and other Spiritualist newspapers:

[davefajardo]

For all those wondering how he got ghost pictures to look similar to the dead loved ones. Think about it most people in the late 1800s had never sat for a painting or a photograph, so Mumler’s customers were relying on their fading memories, tricked by their desire for these photos to be real.

[caesar]

Imagine that you recreate this with one ‘spirit’ but the photograph shows a second spirit.

[innomind]

He was an engraver before getting into photography. I strongly believe he was using engraving skills instead of photo processing skills to embed the "spirits". Aside from that, he's the forefather of Photoshop 🤣

[barrodexteriit.]

Oh this is pretty cool! Never knew about the existence of spirit photography before, I would love to know how Mumler (and Helen Stuart) really do it!

[.]

This is still better than security camera footage nowadays.

[jaridkeen]

We have one of these in my family. I remember it on the wall of my Grandmothers when i was a kid.

[SwanCreates]

The sad thing is, nobody followed his wife around. They only seemed to see her as a distraction while they follow him around, which was perfect since it left her time to do whatever it was she did to tje pictures 😂

[artiction]

You'd think if the ghosts are real they would pose a bit for the camera.

[kukuandkookie]

Oh this is fun and pretty cool (and I like how niche it feels; it’s always nice to learn something new)! Also I enjoy how scientific and historically informed it is. I guess that’s the standard here, but it would certainly be easy to _just_ recreate this and not try to examine it, so the informational content is appreciated ahaha.

[selhx]

The sleight of hand method would require them to readily have a lot of pictures of just the right people in fitting postures, which is unlikely too. Wouldn't some of them have recognized themselves in the photos? Very intriguing topic that I somehow never heard about as a photographer, really cool

[ReclusiveEagle]

If he set up the camera before the client got there then he could have pre-exposed the plate with a model for 1-2 seconds.
Then the client shows up, plate gets exposed again this time with enough light to develop a full picture.

That's one way to do it without anyone being able to follow you through the process.

[rontropics]

This has got to be one of the best series on YouTube right now. I never knew this was a thing. I'm a film camera collector, I have hundreds from the early 2000s all the way back to late 1800s. Such interesting pieces of history.

[Pseudotensors]

Surely the 'spirit' negatives can be matched up to a previously-existing photograph of the person? Surprised that wasn't discussed--none of these cases has even one example of a 'spirit' posing in exactly the same position/expression as a photograph that already existed of them? Because even one example of this would prove the fraud.

[Robert_Gonzales]

Since i see so many people commenting saying they could have taken an exposure before and then took the second one of the client, this would not be possible. This is wet plate collodion process. each glass plate has to be 1. sensitized in silver nitrate, 2. put into the camera and exposed 3. developed within 10 minutes from sensitized phase. it is simply not possible for him to take 2 pictures on one plate as the silver nitrate would already been ruined within the time it took him to take the second picture. The entire process must be done before the silver nitrate has a chance to dry.

[BryanLee]

Thank you for this fascinating piece of history! I'm with Mr. Barnum in believing it's not right that people profit off of grief and gullibility, and it's important to debunk fraudulent claims like these.

[paxundpeace]

This this impressive as that we can research and re -inacted it.

[bern]

Fascinating. Thank you and I appreciate the work you put into this.

[diekje]

There is a short opera in English called “The Medium” about a scamming medium who actually senses something one day to her horror, and drives her mad. Really recommend it!

[sangwoo]

Still better quality than all the “real UFO footage” of today.

[lawrenrich]

Love this kind of historical investigation. Not only thought provoking but fun !