Photography, Spiritualism & The World of William Mumler

Dark Histories

Ben Cutmore

History

4.8 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 15 June 2020

⏱️ 67 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The technological breakthroughs of the 19th century were, to many people, both equal parts exciting and terrifying. Known as the black arts, the newly emerging techniques of commercial photography were often spoken about as though they were a mysterious or even supernatural process. Of course, there was nothing supernatural about the new technology, at least, not for most photographers. When William Mumler picked it up as a hobby, lured in by his attraction to a local studio owner and a propensity to tinker, he decided to lean into the mystery by offering a spyhole into the unseen world of the dead, shooting portraits of clients sitting alongside the spirits of their lost loved ones. SOURCES Manseau, Peter (2017) The Apparitionists: A Tale of Phantoms, Fraud, Photography, and the Man Who Captured Lincoln's Ghost. Houghton Mifflin, MA, USA Capron, E.W. & Barron, H.D. (1850). Singular Revelations: Explanation and History of the Mysterious Communion with Spirits, Comprehending the Rise and Progress of the Mysterious Noises in Western New York. 2nd ed. Auburn, NY: Capron and Barron. Nartonis, D. K. (2010, June 1). The Rise of 19th‐Century American Spiritualism, 1854–1873. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1468-5906.2010.01515.x The London Evening Standard (1869) From Our Own Correspondent. 11th May, 1869 The Banbury Advertiser (1869) Spiritualistic Photography. 29 April, 1869 Elgin Courier (1863) Spirit Photographs. 6 February, 1863 ------ For extended show notes, including maps, links and scripts, head over to darkhistories.com Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistories Connect with us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcast Or find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkhistories & Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/ Or you can contact us directly via email at [email protected] or via voicemail on: (415) 286-5072 or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/6f7e2pt Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017 Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Thanks for downloading Dark Histories.
0:02.0	Before we start, I just want to throw out a few ways that you can get involved and help support the show.
0:07.0	We have a Patreon, Amazon Booklist, Coffee and Audible Affiliate Link.
0:12.0	So if you're interested in supporting, hopefully
0:14.9	you can find a way that best suits you. All of the links for those things can be found
0:19.8	either in the show notes or over on the website at dark histories.com.
0:24.0	Of course, just continuing to spread the word about the show on social media,
0:29.0	leaving reviews and sharing with all your family and friends is also a huge help.
0:34.0	So thank you to everyone for all that.
0:36.4	All right, enough of this.
0:38.3	Let's crack on with the episode. The technological breakthroughs of the 19th century were, to many people, both equal
0:50.0	parts exciting and terrifying.
0:53.2	Known as the black arts, the newly emerging techniques of commercial photography were often
0:58.2	spoken about as though they were a mysterious or even supernatural process.
1:03.0	Of course, there was nothing supernatural about the new technology, at least, not for most photographers.
1:10.0	When William Mumler picked it up as a hobby lured in by his attraction to a local studio owner and a propensity to tinker, he decided to lean into the mystery by offering a spyhole into the unseen world of the dead, shooting portraits of clients sitting alongside
1:26.4	the spirits of their lost loved ones. This is Dark Histories where the facts are worst in fiction.
1:35.0	Hello and welcome to season 4 episode 12 of dark histories.
1:42.0	I'm Ben as always. I hope you're all doing very well.
1:45.6	The weather in this part of the world has definitely been picking up and it seems like things
1:50.9	are slowly turning back to normal. Like I said, are slowly turning back to normal.
1:54.0	Like I say, right back at the start of all the craziness of this year,
	...

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