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Spirit Photography was one of the first types of photography
commissioned in the United States. Back in 1848, due to the photography of William Mulmer, people believed
the images of the dead would appear next to them in a photograph. This was tied directly in with the
Spiritualist movement, a religion that was around in the United States until the early 1900’s. Though we now
know that all of the spirit photography created by Mulmer and other
medium/spirit photographers of that time was a hoax, it is easy to see this
early fascination of the possibility that images of the dead can be seen
through the lens of a camera.
The Spiritualist movement started in 1848, when a woman claimed
she and her sister could speak to a dead person through loud bangs in their
home. This created a religion of people
who believed in the after life, believed in speaking with the dead, and
believed that psychics or mediums possessed the power to do so. Before the
invention of photography little viable evidence was provided for this religion,
however once photography was invented, the spiritualists embraced it. Not only because the means by which you
develop film (in a dark room) was similar to the way they held their séance’s,
but because photography was a new way that they could communicate with the
dead, or so they felt.
William Mulmer: Portrait of Mary Todd Lincoln.
William Mulmer was the first Spirit Photographer, but there
were many soon to follow, as it was a profitable business for its time. A grieving person in hopes of contacting
their relative would come into the studio and either sit with a medium next to
them, or have the medium actually take the photograph. When the patron would return probably weeks
later to pick up their prints, there would be, usually multiple faces which
seemed to be floating in an ectoplasm or mist. The grief stricken person would usually identify at least one of the
faces, and the medium would explain that the unknown faces are your spirit
guides manifesting themselves, and susceptible to any belief, the grieving
person would usually be happy with the results. Mulmer and others claimed that
Spirit Photography was able to promote faith in the after life, to validate a
mediums power, and mostly to counter the dismissive claims of the Spiritualists,
as in provide evidence to back their beliefs. Mulmers most famous work was the portrait of Mary Todd Lincoln, in which
a full figured Lincoln stands over her. He claims he had no
idea who she was but that must be hard to believe considering she came to him
within months of Lincoln’s death. Many photographers doubted Mulmer and came to watch him while he was in
his darkroom, but no photographer ever came forward to say it was a hoax, no
photographer ever caught Mulmer in the act, which is why when he was actually
brought up on charges years later, they were dismissed.
By now your asking yourself, so how did they do it? How were
they able to produce such seamless for their time, images of "apparitions?"
There were
many different ways spirit photographers falsified their photos. One simple way
was by the use of printed materials, magazines, other photographs, and to
create a photo montage of them. This was discovered by F.W. Warwick who discovered that many spirit photographs when
analyzed carefully contained lots of little dots to make up the image of the
"spirit" and therefore that they came from printed materials. This can be seen
in the famous "Fairies" image 1917.
(Frances Griffiths, The Cottingley Fairies, 1917)
Another way they did it was, as many photographers could
guess, with the use of double negatives, and cutting and replacing pieces of
negatives. Even etching in some sort of mist, which is another reason William
Mulmer, "the engraver from", turned famous Spirit Photographer, was clearly using his engraving techniques
when tampering with negatives.
LIPI members Paul Guarino and Amanda DeCarlo (right) at Private House Investigation
in Lynbrook, NY.
(Note: Orb is dust)
In paranormal research today Photography is one of the most
widely used tools; yet one with not as much conclusive evidence as everyone may
believe. There are so many ways to disprove photographic anomalies including such simple answers as dust or moisture
in the air. In the over 2000 photographs taken by the Long Island Paranormal Investigators, using both digital and 35mm
cameras, there are only 15-20 that we consider to show possible paranormal
activity. There are however many groups which consider orbs as evidence of the paranormal, which if we did would
include hundreds of images which we truly don’t believe to be paranormal, if
the explanation of dust or moisture could be the answer.
Conclusively the fascination of the possibility that the
lens of a camera can see something we can not is not a new idea. In this day and age of digital images it is
harder to believe what we are seeing to be paranormal due t the high-tech
photography editing software made available. This is why we believe that for paranormal research, the use of a 35mm camera
can provide less-disputable images, and provide us not only with an image to
examine but the negative too. The most important part is analysis when it comes to photography of a possibly haunted
location. You have to carefully examine all aspects of the photograph. For
example, a camera which has a manual shutter might take a blurry, overly
exposed image. This will have many odd light anomalies and people or objects look distorted. This is caused by movement of the camera
while the shutter is open and is definitely not paranormal. The way in which Mulmer falsified his spirit
photographs, is much different than what we encounter as paranormal researchers
today. It is mostly just a lack of proper analysis. All aspects need to be accounted for such as the time of
day, the cameras possibilities, moisture in the air, dust, hair, camera straps, I could go on forever, but you get the
point.
Amanda DeCarlo taking digital photos at
Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia PA
(Yet another dust Orb)
We do, however, believe it is possible to capture paranormal
phenomena, even full bodied apparitions through photography, and this is why
even today it is still one of the most basic and important tools in paranormal
research. Another reason photography is so valuable is that it is of course allows us to document all of our
investigations. There is also a very aesthetic sense of beauty to be found in
most of the places we research, be them historical or nature like, and artistic
photography taken while on paranormal investigation, can really show a sense of
peace and beauty in the abandoned.
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