Halloween is just around the corner and creepy little things, big or small, starts to surface just like the spirit photos of William Hope. His spirit photography drew a lot of attention worldwide believing that he is a true medium and can communicate with the dead.
The strange collection of William Hope spirit photographs was discovered by a National Media Museum in an antiquarian bookshop in Lancashire. The photos, also known as 'spirit photographs' were taken by polemical medium, William Hope.
Hope was born in Crewe in 1863 and was a carpenter but changed his career in 1905 after taking a picture of his friend whom he believed was, with a ghost. He then established a group with six spirit photographers and named it Crewe Circle.
After the devastating World War I, the demand for his group increased as many people wanted to keep in touch with their loved ones who were not fortunate to survive. In 1922, he moved to London and established himself being a professional medium. The work of his group, Crew Circle became under probe in the same year when Harry Price was sent by Society for Psychical Research.
According to Public Domain Review, Price gathered some evidence that Hope was replacing glass plates that bear ghostly images in an effort to create spirit photographs. On the same year, Price published his discovery and uncovers Hope as a hoaxer.
William Hope's images of alleged ghosts were proven to be fabricated. It is the outcome of double-and triple exposure techniques but keeps on doing his practice until his passing away in 1933, as reported by CNN.
Nevertheless, many of Hope's dedicated supporters defended him including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who penned The Case for Spirit Photography in retort to Price's claim of Hope's fraudulence.
