William Mulmer was born in 1832. For historical context, the oldest known Daguerrotype is from 1837, so Mulmer was born right around the same time as photography, and he loved the new medium, but started off as a hobbyist. Mulmer worked as a jewelry engraver, but in his spare time, he liked taking photographs of his family and friends. In 1860 though, he took a selfie that would change the course of his life. In his self portrait, he noticed something strange. There appeared to be a ghost behind him. It just so happened that his wife was a healing medium who would help people make contact with the spirits of dead loved ones. The spiritualist movement was quite popular in the late 19th century and William Mulmer had found a way to use the latest scientific technology to photograph spirits providing dramatic and compelling images as evidence to validate the seances.

Learn more about early photography with these episodes of Who ARTed:

The World's First Photobomb

Louis Daguerre The Artist's Studio

Check out my other podcast Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science Lab

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