The Apparitionists: Mumler's Photographs of Battlefields

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Response to Maseau’s The Apparitionists
What was the purpose of taking photographs of the battlefields and Civil War dead?
Historically, war has been part of the social order of humanity. However, because of the chasm between the living and the dead and little understanding of death, the atrocities that war brought were never really captured in people's minds, particularly those who did not participate in the war. Therefore, the purpose of taking photographs of the battlefields and the Civil War dead was to bring this information to the public's eyes. According to Maseau (249), it was also part of capturing and storing history that has long been told from the point of view of those who won the war.
Why did people believe Mumler photographed spirits?
In connection with the idea of spiritualism, the dead could only exist and communicate as spirits. Photography, however, enabled the images of the dead to be captured and stored. In essence, it was akin to photographing spirits because the dead could only exist as spir...