Online Talk: Picturing The Dead: Spirit Photography c.1860-1940

This talk explores the curious history of spirit photography; whereby, in a distinctly Victorian technological twist upon much older ghost beliefs, deceased ‘extras’ mysteriously returned to haunt photographs of their loved ones. The craze for spirit photography peaked in Britain after the 1914-18 Great War, but had been conclusively debunked by 1940. Or had it …?

On one level the story of spirit photography is one of fraud, profiteering, and exploitation; however it also highlights the human capacity for ritual creativity in the face of grief and loss.

Please note that this presentation includes examples of spirit and postmortem photographs.

Dr Helen Frisby is Hon. Secretary of The Folklore Society, a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Bath, and an Honorary Research Associate at the University of Bristol. She’s an internationally recognised expert on the history and folklore of death and dying, funeral customs and burial grounds.