The Apparitionists by Peter Manseau | Audiobook

What this episode covers

Listen to free audiobook with a 30 day free trial : https://esound.space/audible Title: The Apparitionists Author: Peter Manseau Narrator: Jefferson Mays Format: Unabridged Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins Language: English Release date: 10-12-17 Publisher: Recorded Books Genres: History, American Summary: A story of faith and fraud in post-Civil War America, told through the lens of a photographer who claimed he could capture images of the dead In the early days of photography, in the death-strewn wake of the Civil War, one man seized America's imagination. A "spirit photographer", William Mumler took portrait photographs that featured the ghostly presence of a lost loved one alongside the living subject. Mumler was a sensation: The affluent and influential came calling, including Mary Todd Lincoln, who arrived at his studio in disguise amid rumors of seances in the White House. Peter Manseau brilliantly captures a nation wracked with grief and hungry for proof of the existence of ghosts and for contact with their dead husbands and sons. It took a circus-like trial of Mumler on fraud charges, starring P. T. Barnum for the prosecution, to expose a fault line of doubt and manipulation. And even then the judge sided with the defense - nobody ever solved the mystery of his spirit photography. This forgotten puzzle offers a vivid snapshot of America at a crossroads in its history, a nation in thrall to new technology while clinging desperately to belief. Contact: [email protected]