Nesmith Library

The apparitionists, a tale of phantoms, fraud, photography, and the man who captured Lincoln's ghost, Peter Manseau

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages [313]-335)

individual biography

illustrations

no index present

non fiction

The apparitionists

bibliography

Peter Manseau

a tale of phantoms, fraud, photography, and the man who captured Lincoln's ghost

"A story of faith and fraud in post?Civil War America, told through the lens of a photographer who claimed he could capture images of the dead. In the early days of photography, in the death-strewn wake of the Civil War, one man seized America?s imagination. A “spirit photographer,” William Mumler took portrait photographs that featured the ghostly presence of a lost loved one alongside the living subject. Mumler was a sensation: The affluent and influential came calling, including Mary Todd Lincoln, who arrived at his studio in disguise amidst rumors of s?ances in the White House. Peter Manseau brilliantly captures a nation wracked with grief and hungry for proof of the existence of ghosts and for contact with their dead husbands and sons. It took a circus-like trial of Mumler on fraud charges, starring P. T. Barnum for the prosecution, to expose a fault line of doubt and manipulation. And even then, the judge sided with the defense?nobody ever solved the mystery of his spirit photography. This forgotten puzzle offers a vivid snapshot of America at a crossroads in its history, a nation in thrall to new technology while clinging desperately to belief."--Amazon.com

Part I: The black art -- Procure the remedy at once and be well -- Love and painting are quarrelsome companions -- Ties which death itself could not loose -- A palace for the Sun -- I thought nobody would be damaged much -- A lounging, listless madhouse -- My God! Is it possible? -- She really is a wonderful whistler -- No shadow of trickery -- A craving for light -- Part II: Philosophical instruments -- The message department -- A big head full of ideas -- Chair and all -- Did you ever dream of some lost friend? -- War against wrong -- Whose bones lie bleaching -- Part III: Humbugged -- All is gone and nothing saved -- A favorite haunt of apparitions -- The spirits do not like a throng -- The tenderest sympathies of human nature -- Weep, weep, my eyes -- Are you a spiritualist in any degree? -- An old, moth-eaten cloak -- By supernatural means -- Figura vaporosa -- They paid their money, and they had their choice -- Those mortals gifted with the power of seeing -- Part IV: Image and afterlife -- Calm assurance of a happy future -- The Mumler process