These haunting photos are a product of early trick photography.
These photos, taken throughout the early 1920s, are the work of controversial UK medium, William Hope, who claimed to be able to communicate with the dead through photography.
Hope used double exposure techniques to help create the appearance of ghosts and spiritual entities in photos. Even after he was exposed as a fraud, he continued to have support from his followers and believers.
An elderly couple with a young female spirit.
Photo by William Hope / Via Flickr: nationalmediamuseum
The clergyman and the spirit of his long-deceased father.
Backstory:
"The clergyman and his wife had attended a seance at which a voice was heard, claiming to be their stillborn daughter - whom the 'spirit people' had named Rose. The voice asked them to sit for a psychic photograph, telling them she would try to appear in it.
'Rose' is not clearly apparent in the image. The image of the man was identified as the long-deceased father of the clergyman. Hope may have asked the clergyman to bring a photograph of his father, under the pretense of using the image to contact the spirit world."
Photo by William Hope / Via Flickr: nationalmediamuseum
A "spirit" holds up a levitating table during a séance.
Photo by William Hope / Via Flickr: nationalmediamuseum
