1333
ently discovered photographic extras on some amateur
photographs he had taken of a fellow workman. This
together with the popularity of Spiritualism seemingly
provided Mumler with the impetus for exploring the
idea of making such spirit photographs as a lucrative
business venture. His Psychic self-portrait of 1862 as
he accounted:
was taken by myself, on a Sunday, when there was not a
living soul in the room beside me, so to speak. The form
on my right I recognise as my cousin who passed away
about twelve years hence. (Nickell, 149)Mumler’s business venture thrived and he regularly
obtained ghostly extras on the photographs he took of
his customers in Boston. At the height of his career he
could charge up to $10 per sitting. Nor did his popular-
ity end when a Boston Spiritualist, a doctor Gardner,
recognised some of the extras as living Bostonians.
Although it damaged business Mumler was able to
continue. On one occasion around 1865 Mumler even
produced a manifestation of Abraham Lincoln. Mumler
maintained that the woman who sat for him retained her
veil until the moment of exposure when she removed
it for the photograph. He did not he said, realise that
she was in fact Lincoln’s widow Mary Todd Lincoln
(Permutt, 13).
The practice of spirit photography attracted its critics
as well as those who were believers. Gradually a realisa-
tion that fakery was quite possible in the apparently im-
mutable photographic image crept in. In 1869 Mumler
was working in New York where he survived an accusa-
tion of fraud through lack of evidence. The accusations
however were public notice that belief did not naturally
follow the production of a plate. Despite producing a
likeness of Beethoven in 1871 Mumler eventually died
in obscurity around 1884 (Nickell, 149).SPIRIT, GHOST, AND PSYCHIC PHOTOGRAPHY
Henry Mathouillot ArchivePartial
Dematerialization of Medium M.
Buettinger.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
Gilman Collection, Gift of The
Howard Gilman Foundation, 2005
(2005.100.383.4) Image © The
Metropolitan Museum of Art.