Harry Houdini, possibly the most famous magician and escape artist of all time, came to Denver in 1923 to be photographed with the spirits. Houdini, of course, knew that spirit photography was bunk. Others, including Houdini’s friend Arthur Conan Doyle of Sherlock Holmes fame, believed the spirits were real (see some notes by ChatGPT).

Houdini wrote about his Denver trip in his 1924 book, “A Magician Among the Spirits.” The book reproduces a photograph taken of Houdini by Alexander Martin showing five spirits floating above Houdini’s head. The book also features a photo of Houdini and Martin taken by Houdini’s assistant. A copy of that photo was among the artifacts presented by History Colorado October 28 on spiritualism, a movement that peaked around a century ago. (See also my recent column on seances.)

Spirit photography all the rage

If the publishers of the Rocky Mountain News were at all skeptical of spirit photography, they did not always shine a critical eye in the paper’s coverage of the topic. For example, an article from February 6, 1916, credulously reported, “Experiments in spirit photography—the reproduction by the camera of lifelike images of persons long since dead—have suddenly brought into countrywide prominence Dr. Charles Hall Cook, a retired Episcopal clergyman living at 130 West Thirteenth avenue. Nearly all of the images of the dead—or the spirits—appear as smaller figures on photographs for which Dr. Cook himself sat before the camera.” Cook’s work was taken quite seriously at the time by the American Society for Physical Research, the paper reported. The paper could not muster a single line of doubt.

The Rocky announced funeral services for Martin in its November 19, 1929 issue. The paper reported, “Not only was Mr. Martin . . . prominent as a commercial photographer, but he had attracted widespread fame for his ability occasionally to take ‘spirit pictures.'”

Here’s how Martin got his start with the spirits, says the paper: “For nearly 50 years, Mr. Martin enjoyed the making of spirit photographs during his leisure time. At Blackhawk, Colo., he said he had his first manifestation. On that occasion, using tin type equipment, he photographed a group of babies and was surprised, when the print was made, to find several images that had not been in the original group.” The paper did not mention the famous debunking of another spirit photographer a few years earlier.

Houdini visited Martin on May 10, 1923, a day after Doyle made the stop (as noted in Houdini’s book). Initially Martin turned Houdini away, as he had turned away Doyle, saying “he did not feel good and besides had been engaged to take the pictures of the children in two schools.” But, Houdini reports, “I kept on talking in my most entertaining manner and before long he invited us into the house saying he would photograph both of us.”

Houdini, unsurprisingly a bit of a trickster, started walking into Martin’s darkroom, but Martin urged him not to enter. Houdini asked his assistant to change positions, prompting Martin to reply, “I think it would be nicer if he stood where he was in the first place.” Apparently the spirits care a great deal about subject placement.

Houdini’s assessment

Houdini recounts with biting wit: “I have not the slightest doubt that Mr. Martin’s Spirit photographs were simply double exposures. I think his method was to cut out various pictures, place them on a background and make an exposure. His plates were then ready for his next sitter, which in the above instance was myself. Being an expert photographer he might have used the original wet plate method of making an exposure, developing it, washing the emulsion off the plate and refinishing it with a new emulsion but I am convinced that the two Spirit photos which he made of me were simply double exposures.

“The technique of photography does not trouble the psychic operator. He has no regard for the laws of light

or chemistry. The fact that in all of his pictures the Spirits appear to be perfectly conscious of posing does not disconcert him, nor is he disturbed because they always appear as they were in life. How much more interesting it would be and how much more such photographs would add to our knowledge and aid the advancement of science if once in a while the Spirits would permit themselves to be snapped while engaged in some Spiritual occupation.

“From a logical, rational point of view, Spirit photography is a most barefaced imposition and stands as evidence of the credulity of those who are in sympathy with the superstitions of occultism. It is also evidence of how unscrupulous mediums become and how calloused their consciences. . . .

“With Spirit photography as with all other so-called psychic marvels, there never has been, nor is now, any proof of genuineness beyond the claim made by the medium. . . . For upwards of forty years there have been standing offers of money in amounts ranging from five hundred to five thousand dollars for a single case of so-called phenomena which could be proven actually psychic. . . . If there are any who are operating honestly let them come forward with proof and take the reward.”

So, case settled, right? Ha! Just a few years later the Boulder Daily Camera republished a New Yorker article claiming that Houdini himself had sent a message from the grave to his widow. Mysticism never dies, it seems.

Lessons for today

In our world of ubiquitous pocket cameras, hardly anyone believes that ghosts or spirits appear in photographs. Some might even mock those silly dupes of old.

Yet we need merely glance at social media to observe how people use modern technologies to spread fabrications and to dupe others. See, for instance, rise of QAnon conspiracy mongering.

NPR recently published an article about AI-generated videos portraying events from the Bible. The videos very much are intended to promote supernaturalist beliefs among viewers.

Seeing ghosts in the machines can have tragic consequences. As CBS recently reported, a Colorado family is suing an AI company. Allegedly a teen, after chatting at length with an AI character named “Hero,” killed herself. “You’re the only one who understands,” the girl wrote to the AI character, according to court documents.

Earlier this year, a Denver judge fined attorneys for Mike Lindell for submitting filings with AI “hallucinations.” And, yes, I used ChatGPT to help me dig up this example of an AI hallucination—and I double-checked the findings! Comparably, some double-images from a century ago that were mistaken for spirits were just accidents of the technology of the time.

Having now spent a spooky number of hours researching seances and spirit photographs in Colorado, here is my take-home lesson: At any given time, many people believe extraordinary amounts of nonsense, but the particulars vary from era to era. Rational science drives the invention and application of new technologies, but thoughtless and devious use of those technologies can undercut rational thinking in surprising ways.

Halloween is a great time to celebrate parties, sweets, and make-believe. It also can be a good time to remember to treat superstitions and irrationalism for what they are.

Ari Armstrong writes regularly for Complete Colorado and is the author of books about Ayn Rand, Harry Potter, and classical liberalism. He can be reached at ari at ariarmstrong dot com.