PHOTOGRAPHS     12

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Some Photographs by William H Mumler of Boston, then New York, USA.

Photograph by William H Mumler of the entranced Master Herrod, the Spirit of the youth himself is imposed onto the photograph behind him. 1868.

I do not know if anyone else can see the horse to the left of the Spirit Image. This young man is a Medium, It should be noted here that many children of the day were taking part in the activities that brought forward those from the Spirit realms, and their families did not put a stop to it as do the people of today who demonize it all. Remember that the Fox sisters Margaret and Kate were only 15 and 11, when they had the happenings [rappings] starting in their own Hydesville, New York house which started off the Spiritualists movement.

Dr. Nandor Fodor, in his Encyclopaedia of Psychic Science (1934), quotes Mumler as writing down :-

It then occurred to me to take [Master Harrod's] picture while entranced, to see if I could get the controlling power; and to that end I asked if there was any Spirit present would he please entrance the Medium. In a few moments he threw his head back, apparently in a deep trance. I then adjusted the focus and exposed the plate, and took the picture as represented. The Spirit seen here is undoubtedly his double as it is unmistakably a true likeness of himself.

Master Herrod with the Spirits of Europe, Africa and America, 1870-72
Mumler described "Master Herrod of North Bridgewater, Mass, USA ." as a young medium whose trance in front of the camera called up the Spirits of Europe, Africa and America. American Spiritualists recognized the prominent place given to Spirits in Native American and African cultures, and this image illustrates the kinship they felt toward their spiritual traditions. The picture was advertised for sale by Mumler in The Religio-Philosophical Journal, August 24, 1872.
 

A quote from Hon. Moses A. Dow who is seated in the photograph with the Spirit extra of his wife taken by William H. Mumler

The picture presents me as sitting upright in a chair, with my legs crossed. My hands lie on my lap, with the fingers locked together. Mabel stands partially behind my right shoulder, dressed in a white, well-fitting robe. Her hair is combed back, and her head is encircled by a wreath of white lilies. Her head inclines forward so as to lay her cheek on my right temple, from which my hair is always parted. Her right hand passes over my left arm, and clasps my hand. Her left hand is seen on my left shoulder, and between the thumb and forefinger of this hand is held an opening moss rosebud, the exact counterpart of the one that I placed there while she lay in the casket, at her funeral. Her head partially covers my forehead, showing that my picture was not taken on a previously prepared

Photograph by William H Mumler is of the Medium Mrs Fannie Conant of the magazine the Banner of Light. The Spirit extra is her brother Charles H Crowell 1868. The Banner of Light was a Spiritual Philosophy newspaper that had all manner of articles ranging from lectures of trance and non trance Spiritualist speakers and reports from eminent scientists of tests conducted on Mediums of the day and mediumistic happenings.  The Message Department of the magazine was described as "a page of Spirit-Messages from the departed to their friends in earth-life, given through the mediumship of Mrs. J. H. Conant, providing direct spirit-intercourse between the Mundane and Super-Mundane Worlds."

Fanny Conant wrote the book, Flashes of Light from the Spirit-World which is a 400-page compilation of questions answered by the Spirits through her Mediumship. The is another book you might want to try and get hold of; The Biography of Mrs. Conant, subtitled Immortality Demonstrated Through Her Mediumship, was published in Boston by W. White in 1873.

 

This photograph by William H Mumler is of Mrs French from Boston USA with the Spirit extra of her Son,1868.

Some accused Mumler of fraud YET it was said that the two eminent photographers of the day: James W. Black of Boston and Jeremiah Gurney of New York. According to Mumler's 1875 memoir, Black challenged Mumler to take his spirit photograph, and to allow him to examine the entire process. If a Spirit Form was produced, Black would pay Mumler fifty dollars. Mumler accepted the challenge and says when the Spirit of a man appeared beside Black s figure on the negative, "Mr. B., watching with wonder-stricken eyes this development, exclaimed: "My God! Is it possible?"

Gurney, called to investigate Mumler by the New York Sun, later testified that he witnessed Mumler preparing and taking his portrait but did not discover any deception; "in developing the negative," Gurney testified, "I applied the chemicals myself, and upon the negative was a shadowy form."

 

William Mumler, a self photographic portrait, with a Spirit Form on the photograph in the background. USA.

Photograph by William H Mumler taken of an unknown sitter with two Spirit extras, 1870. USA.

This image is of a normal person who would have come off the streets of Boston into the Mumler studio and the photograph had no celebrity or well known personality impressed on it just the loved ones of the private person, who was one of the many thousands who flocked to the studio to hopefully have superimposed by the Spirit World their own relative or deceased friend on their personal photograph.

Photograph by William H Mumler taken of Captain R Montgomery with his Spirit daughter, 1870. USA.

William H Mumler photographs in the Harpers Weekly. May 8, 1859. USA.