AMERICAN HAUNTINGS DINNER AND SPIRITS
EVENING OF PHOTOGRAPHING THE SPIRIT WORLD
EVENING OF PHOTOGRAPHING THE SPIRIT WORLD
mineral springs HOTEL | ALTON, ILLINOIS
$46 PER PERSON
NEXT AVAILABLE DATE:
Join author Troy Taylor for another night of our “An Evening with…” series of events! This eerie evening will include a catered dinner, served in our own private ballroom at the former hotel. After dinner, Troy Taylor will be presenting “Photographing the Spirit World,” an eerie look at how nineteenth century Spiritualists discovered that it was possible to capture ghosts on film and how authentic spirit photographs have managed to mystify, baffle, and frighten us ever since!
Join us for this eerie night at Troy takes us back in time to the beginnings of both photography and the American Spiritualist movement and explores how so many came to believe that ghosts could be captured on film. Then, discover the most puzzling spirit photographs ever seen and hear the true stories behind how they came to be revealed to the world. It’s a special night that will test the limits of your belief in the spirit world — and make you wonder what about is waiting for us out in the darkness or in our own homes!
We’ll be looking out for your health at all our dinner events so we can make sure that everyone is safe, we can maintain social distance, and have a really great time!
- Event held at the Mineral Springs Hotel Located at 301 East Broadway in Alton, Illinois
- Limited number of guests for each event
- Private American hauntings Ballroom for use for our event only
- American Hauntings Bookstore located in the Ballroom so books will be available for purchase and can be autographed by Troy
- Nearby restrooms
- And if you’re coming from out of town, the nearby Best Western Premier Hotel offers American Hauntings guests an exclusive discount price! Details are sent out with your confirmation!
AN EVENING OF PHOTOGRAPHING THE SPIRIT WORLD
PRESENTED BY TROY TAYLOR
From the days of photographic fraud to accidental phantoms caught using the camera, people remain fascinated with the links between photographs and the supernatural. The birth of photography and the beginnings of psychical research came at almost the same time in America. When “spirit rappings” began to be heard in Hydesville, New York, investigators began routinely trying to uncover the secrets of the Spiritualist movement that followed — and photography soon became a part of the mix.
By the early 1900s, photography had become wildly popular and so had the Spiritualist movement, with séances routinely held in family homes and mediums not only contacting the dead but allegedly taking photographs of the departed, too. As the popularity of photography spread, so did the number of alleged images of ghosts, which seemed to pop up anywhere, anytime, and often under chilling circumstances!
In the 1860s, a man named William Mumler introduced the idea of psychically capturing images of ghosts in photographs and it became a sensation with spirit mediums all over the country imitating what he created to excite their followers — and make some extra money. While many of the photographs from this era are flagrant frauds, there were enough mysterious images for spirit photography to enter the mainstream around 1911.
As time passed and photographic techniques and equipment became more advanced, researchers began to discover that some of the photographs being taken in allegedly haunted locations could not always be explained away as film flaws and tricks of light. Gone were the days of phony photos that were taken by so-called spirit mediums in studios. They had been replaced by often accidental photos that defied all logic.
During this event, we’ll be taking a closer look at spirit photographs that have been deemed authentic over the years — or at least have never been explained. From graveyard apparitions to specters on staircases, in back seats of cars, on haunted ships, or even in an ordinary person’s backyard, the world of authentic spirit photographs is like no other you’ve ever visited before. Don’t miss out on your chance to join us for this evening of history and hauntings!