William Mumler

William Mumler, the inventor of spirit photography, began his career right here in Boston in the early 1860s. Though the camera is an indispensable tool of Paranormal Investigators today, Mumler's results were, erm, different. 

He made a career for himself by capturing images of deceased loved ones, often standing behind seated patrons with a hand resting lovingly on their shoulders. Like many of the Spiritualists, his main patrons were survivors of American soldiers who longed to see the deceased a final time. Mumler’s most famous customer was a widowed Mary Todd Lincoln for whom he produced a photograph of the ghost of Abraham Lincoln..

Mumler had his skeptics. He was accused of fraud and took part in a high profile trial. No less than the famous American circus-man PT Barnum offered evidence against him. Despite the accusations, he managed to earn an acquittal but his reputation never rebounded and his business as a spiritualist was over. 

It should be noted that his photo-manipulation predates Photoshop and Instagram by centuries! He achieved his results through a clever use of double exposures, film manipulation and the desperation of people who longed to reach passed loved ones. We can say with a fair amount of certainty that Mumler was a fraud. However, he managed to discover something genuine by pure accident. Modern Paranormal Investigators have compelling evidence that anomalies can be captured by cameras, but sadly we cannot produce full manifestations on-demand for cash!