Spiritualists and Spirit Photography

 

Spiritualism became quite a phenomenon in the mid 1800's. Of course, in the pervious centuries they would have been accused of being witches and horribly interrogated and killed.  After the Civil War there were 35,000 known practicing mediums in the United States.

 Hydesville, New York in March 1848 sister Maggie and Katie Fox (ages 14 and 11 at the time) were visited by spirits. The spirits would rap and knock to communicate with the sisters. They would ask the spirit a question and it would answer with a designated number of knocks. Word got out and the press and people flocked to the sister to talk to the dead. To get away from the chaos they were sent to live with their older sister, Leah, in Rochester, New York. 

The sisters once again gained the spotlight and held seances. During and after the Civil War people went to spiritualists to try to contact their dead loved ones. They paid handsomely for their experience. 

Many years later, the sisters had a falling out and Maggie confessed it was all a hoax (supposedly she was paid to claim it was fake). Their first spirit in Hydesville was a prank. Claiming to use an apple on a string to produce the spirit noises. In public demonstrations, they would pop their knuckles, toes, and joints under the table. A year later, Maggie recanted her confession. But the Fox sisters were a major impact on the Spiritualism moment. Because of them, many others took up the profession.

Seances were popular. Even a fun way to entertain your guests at a party. Though many were proved to be frauds, it didn't keep people from holding seances. After his death, Harry Houdini's wife held seances every year for ten years trying to contact him.

Even Mary Todd Lincoln held seances in the White House after her husband's death. She tried desperately to communicate with him.

Mrs. Lincoln reached out to William H. Mumler for a spirit photo of herself and her dead husband. Supposedly it's the last photo taken of her.

Mumler was a popular sprit photographer. An accidental profession when he used a double exposed glass plate. Casting a ghostly person in the background. Though several tried to catch him at his game, none could. 

Mumler was a spirit photographer for eight years before he was finally brought to court on charges of fraud. It never went beyond the preliminary hearing, but his popularity soared after that. 

Today we have Photoshop and Ouija Boards. But I can imagine that in the 1800's with the invention of photography and the acceptance of Spiritualism, it had to be fascinating. 

Though I do have a spirit in my house, I can't say I want to talk to him or have a picture of him. He scares me enough in the middle of the night by knocking on the covered up door in the wall a couple times a year.