Where there's grief, there's a business. In the early 1860s, a Boston engraver named William Mumler discovered, supposedly by accident, that a double exposure could put a translucent "spirit" behind a living sitter. He started selling them to the bereaved and was tried for fraud in 1869, with P.T. Barnum among those who testified against him. Mumler was acquitted, and around 1872 Mary Todd Lincoln sat for him and received a portrait with the apparent ghost of Abraham Lincoln resting his hands on her shoulders.
#23 Sister Marie Bélanire Saint Vallier, Quarter-Plate Daguerreotype, Early-1850s
Every person in this collection sat still for something they believed would outlast them, and they were right. We delete a dozen blurry shots before posting one, but they got a single attempt, and they knew it. Nearly two centuries later, they're still looking right at you.
#29 Women Using A Planchette, With Female Spirit Guiding The Pencil. 1869 Stereoview
#39 Harry Bensley, The Man In The Iron Mask
To Win The Bet He Also Had To Meet And Marry A Woman, Without Ever Taking The Mask Off. In The End, He Lost The Bet, Although Not Until He Had Walked Over 30,000 Miles In Six Years. Some Say He Quit To Enlist In WWI, Others Say He Just Quit. The Man With Him Was Harry’s Observer, There To Make Sure He Stuck To The Rules Of The Bet)
