William H. Mumler

William H. Mumler (1832–1884) was an American spirit photographer who worked in New York City and Boston producing photos which showed a living person posed with shadowy or translucent human image that was promoted as the spirit of ghost of a deceased person.

Mumler's first spirit photograph was apparently an accident—a self-portrait which, when developed, also revealed what he claimed was the spirt of his deceased cousin. Mumler then left his job as an engraver to pursue spirit photography full-time, taking advantage of the large number of people who had lost relatives in the American Civil War. His two most famous images are the photograph of Mary Todd Lincoln with the ghost of her husband Abraham Lincoln and the portrait of Master Herrod, a medium, with three spirit guides. Mumler was eventually taken to court and tried for fraud and larceny. Noted showman P. T. Barnum testified against him. He was later acquitted by a judge, and his photography career continued.

Mumler's photographs are recognized as fakes but they circulated widely during the last quarter of the 19th century and were marketed as objects of belief and visual curiosities both within and beyond the spiritualist movement. He later discovered a process, called the "Mumler Process", by which photo-electrotype plates could be produced and printed more easily.

Biography P.T. Barnum hired Abraham Bogardus to fabricate this photo of Barnum and the 'ghost' of Abraham Lincoln. This picture was then tendered in evidence at Mumler's trial for fraud to show how easy it was to forge spirit photographs. Before beginning his career as a spirit photographer, Mumler worked as a jewellery engraver in Boston, practicing amateur photography in his spare time. In the early 1860s, he developed a self-portrait that appeared to feature the apparition of his cousin who had been dead for 12 years. This is widely credited as the first spirit photograph—a photograph of a living subject featuring the likeness of a deceased person (often a relative) imprinted by the spirit of the deceased. Mumler then became a full-time spirit photographer, continuing to work in Boston but eventually moving to New York City, where his work was analyzed by numerous photography experts, none of whom could find any evidence of fraud.

Critics of Mumler's work included P. T. Barnum, who claimed that Mumler was taking advantage of people whose judgment was clouded by grief. Mumler was eventually brought to trial for fraud in April 1869.

Mumler continued working in photography, and later discovered a process by which photo-electrotype plates could be produced and printed as easily as woodcuts (known as the "Mumler Process"). )

Photographs Ghost of Abraham Lincoln

Mumler's most famous photograph apparently shows Mary Todd Lincoln with the "ghost" of her husband, Abraham Lincoln. Although the image has been dismissed as a fraudulent double exposure, it has been widely circulated.

Master Herrod

Master Herrod was a young medium from Bridgewater, Massachusetts photographed by Mumler in about 1872. One photograph, once developed, apparently showed Herrod in a trance surrounded by the spirits of Europe, Africa and America. The photograph was advertised for sale in The Religio-Philosophical Journal on August 24, 1872.

Other photographs Other photographs by Mumler included pictures showing various spirits (including relatives, fiancés, actresses and spirit guides) with living sitters. Other well-known sitters include Moses A. Dow, editor of The Waverley Magazine, whose photograph apparently showed the spirit of his assistant Mabel Warren, and Fanny Conant, a well-known medium from Boston, apparently photographed with the ghost of her brother Chas.