William H. Mumler - Biography

Biography

Before beginning his career as a spirit photographer, Mumler worked as an 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, and moved to New York where his work was analyzed by numerous photography experts, none of whom could find any evidence that they were fraudulent. Spirit photography is thought to have been a lucrative business thanks to the families of those killed during the American Civil War seeking reassurance that their relatives lived on.

He was married to a famous "healing medium," who conducted her own business beside her husband's.

Critics of Mumler's work included P. T. Barnum, who claimed Mumler was taking advantage of people whose judgment was clouded by grief. After the discovery that some of Mumler's 'ghosts' were in fact living people, and accusations that he had broken into houses to steal photos of deceased relatives, Mumler was brought to trial for fraud in April 1869. Barnum testified against him, hiring Abraham Bogardus to create a picture that appeared to show Barnum with the ghost of Abraham Lincoln to demonstrate the ease with which the photos could be created. Those testifying in support of Mumler included Moses A. Dow, a journalist who Mumler had photographed. Though acquitted of fraud, Mumler's career was ruined.

After the trial, he went on to be a "photograph publisher," discovering a photo printing process from wood-cuts, known then as the "Mumler process." He died in 1884. Today, his photos are considered hoaxes.