Reading Guide for The Apparitionists Prologue & Part I (pages 1-110)

Who was William Mumler?

Who invented photography and for what purpose?

What was the spiritualist movement and why were people drawn to it?

Besides inventing Morse code and telegraphy, what else did Samuel FB Morse do?

What inspired Morse to invent the telegraph?

War was the relationship between photography and death?

Who was Hannah Green Stuart?

Who were the Fox sisters?

Who was Matthew Brady? How did he get his start in the business?

What were prisons and asylums like in the 1830s and 1840s?

What was phrenology?

Reading Guide for The Apparitionists Part II (pages 113-179)

What was "the message department"?

How did the Civil War impact spiritualism?

Who was Alexander Gardner?

What was the purpose of taking photographs of battlefields and Civil War dead?

What do you make of posing dead bodies at Gettysburg?

Why did people believe Mumler photographed spirits?

Do you believe Mumler capture the images of spirits? Why or why not?

Who tried to debunk Mumler's photographs and how did they attempt to do so?

What do you make of Mumler?

Reading Guide to Parts III & IV (pages 183-309)

What was a humbug?

What do you make of PT Barnum?

What was Barnum’s American Museum like?

What brought Mumler to trial? What was he charged with?

What, besides Mumler’s alleged crimes, was on trial in the courtroom?

What witnesses and evidence were used by the prosecution? By the defense?

Did Mumler win or lose his case? Why?

What happened to Mumler after the trial?

What do you think Mumler did to create the spirit photographs?

Do you believe Mumler ever captured the image of a spirit?