Regardless of one’s beliefs in spirits or the afterlife, we’d all like to feel a connection to those we’ve lost. In the mid-1800s, one of those connections was through the form of photography, thanks to photographer William H. Mulmer, an amateur photographer based in Boston who claimed to actually be able to photograph ghosts.

During the American Civil War, belief in spiritualism grew. People believed that through the use of a medium one could contact their dearly departed. So being able to capture them with a camera didn’t seem that far-fetched to many people at the time –  including Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of assassinated American president, Abraham Lincoln.

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