The post Name That Ghost appeared first on Museum of the Macabre.

An original 1866 print depicting Abraham Lincoln’s funeral at City Hall in New York City.

At the time of Lincoln’s murder, Washington D.C. was at the center of an emerging embalming movement. The modern technique of injecting chemicals directly into the blood stream was patented in 1856 by local resident J. Anthony Gaussardia. Lincoln’s corpse was subjected to the new technique which enabled it to withstand the grueling two week trip back to Springfield, IL.

Leaving Washington D.C. on April 21, 1865, Lincoln’s funeral train contained 16 cars and would travel over 1,700 miles on its 12 day journey. Along the way, his corpse would be viewed by an estimated 1,000,000 people at stops in major cities including Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Buffalo, Cleveland, Indianapolis, and Chicago. He was finally laid to rest on May 5, 1865 in at Oak Ridge Cemetery under armed guard in a temporary vault.

This was not the final resting place for Lincoln’s corpse, as his body was moved at least 17 times and the casket opened for identification five times over the next 36 years. After being moved around parts of Illinois and Washington DC, the journey finally ended in 1871 when President Lincoln’s remains were returned to Oak Ridge Cemetery along with the bodies of his three youngest sons.

Today the Lincoln Tomb is open free of charge from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily. Visit oakridgecemetery.org for further details.

The post What Happened to Abraham Lincoln’s Corpse? appeared first on Museum of the Macabre.

A 1910s illustrated postcard of Lily Dale, NY depicting Cassadaga Lake.

The idea for a Spiritualist community at Cassadaga Lake existed for years prior to Lily Dale’s founding. From 1844 through 1878, several local groups held annual one-day retreats featuring workshops and demonstrations conducted by professional clairvoyants.

The meetings grew in popularity and it was soon decided to establish a year-round Spiritualist community. On August 23rd, 1879 the Cassadaga Lake Free Association purchased a plot of land from a local farmer for $1845.12 and gave it the name “Lily Dale.”

The town is now home to over 275 permanent residents and 30 certified mediums. Each year 22,000 people visit the community for workshops, lectures, and demonstrations that proclaim to “deepen faith and heighten awareness.”

The post Lily Dale appeared first on Museum of the Macabre.

Ghostbusters is a science fiction comedy film released in 1984 by Columbia Pictures. The movie follows three eccentric parapsychologists who start a ghost hunting business after losing their teaching jobs at Columbia University.

The concept for Ghostbusters was inspired by lead actor Dan Aykroyd’s personal fascination with the paranormal. He originally conceived a story where a group of “ghostmashers” traveled through space, time, and other dimensions to combat huge ghosts. Recognizing budgetary constraints with Aykroyd’s idea, Director Ivan Reitman gave the script a major overhaul and instead centered the plot in New York City.

Upon its release Ghostbusters received favorable reviews from critics and went on to become the highest grossing film of 1984. The movie spawned a franchise of related sequels, animated television series, toys, and other merchandise still popular today.

The post Ghostbusters appeared first on Museum of the Macabre.

A magic lantern slide depicting Daniel Dunglas Home levitating during his famous 1857 séance.

Scottish medium Daniel Dunglas Home hosted some of the most publicized séances in history. Known for his ability to levitate at various heights, it is believed that “more than a hundred times in good light” Home defied the laws of gravity.

One of Home’s most famous séances occurred in 1857 at a home in Bordeaux, France. During the sitting five reputable witnesses claimed that Home rose from his chair “four or five feet from the ground” and then levitated “feet foremost, lying horizontally in the air.”

During a 1868 séance at the Ashley House in London, Home reportedly levitated through an open window and hovered 70 feet above the street. He then returned to the room through another window “headfirst, quite rapidly”.

Arthur Conan Doyle remarked that there were “so many other instances of Home’s levitations that a long article might easily be written upon this single phase of his mediumship.”

Bibliographic Information:
Arthur Conan Doyle. The History of Spiritualism, Vol. 1. London, 1926.

The post Daniel Dunglas Home appeared first on Museum of the Macabre.

A self portrait of spirit John King, as pictured in Henry Steel Olcott’s “People from the Other World.”

John King was a popular 19th century ghost. Claiming to be the spirit of pirate Sir Henry Morgan, King first appeared in 1874 at a séance hosted by Philadelphia mediums Mr. and Mrs. Holmes.

King would often allow “a number of people to approach him and shake hands or stroke his beard.” During one Holmes séance, King elevated himself seven inches off the floor “to the extreme top” of the room to prove he was an authentic spirit.

Many people questioned King’s authenticity, especially investigator Henry S. Olcott. On January 6, 1875, Olcott asked “If you are really a spirit…make a copy of the note that I have in my pocket.” Two days later, King provided Olcott with an exact duplicate of the note signed “J. K.”

King was noted as “the busiest and most powerful spirit connected with… Modern Spiritualism.” He appeared in several countries and seemed “able to converse in any language with equal ease.” His list of fluent languages included English, French, German, Spanish, Latin, Greek, Russian, Italian, Georgian, and Turkish.

Séance participants identified King by his “loud, sharp, crackling rappings” which were “peculiar and easily recognizable from others.” When he was able to manifest, King was described as wearing “a turban on his head, white gauze hanging over his shoulders,” and a “very thick beard down to his chest.”

Bibliographic Information:
- Olcott, Henry S. People from the Other World. Hartford, CT: American Publishing Company, 1875.

The post John King appeared first on Museum of the Macabre.

An original 1964 Addams Family trading card featuring Uncle Fester of the Addams Family.

Uncle Fester, also known as Gordon Craven, is a member of the fictional Addams Family. He is distinguished as a hairless, hunched, and barrel-shaped man with dark eyes and a deranged smile.

Fester is known for his strange ability to conduct electricity. In several episodes of the original Addams Family television series, he would illuminate a light bulb in his mouth and produce loud, crackling noises as if the bulb had been stuck into an electrical socket.

Perhaps due to his strange powers, Fester periodically suffers from severe migraines. He indicates that the only way to relieve the headaches is to place his head in a screw press and tighten it to levels that normal humans could not withstand.

Fester’s time at the Addams’ residence is spent primarily in a tree-house located in the backyard and a closet of the main house, where he retreated to contemplate various issues. In one episode, Fester is gifted a motorcycle and subsequently crashes it while trying to leave the home.

Little is known about Fester’s origins, except that he was often paddled and disciplined by an extremely strict father. Despite the harsh upbringing, Fester believes the experience was an “exercise in public relations” and points to his own character as proof of its effectiveness, stating “I didn’t become what I am by accident.”

The post Uncle Fester appeared first on Museum of the Macabre.

A photograph of Mary Todd Lincoln and the ghost of Abraham Lincoln found within the book “The Strange Case of William Mumler.”

Mary Todd Lincoln, the wife of United States President Abraham Lincoln, was deeply involved in Spiritualist practices.  She originally became interested in Spiritualism following the death of her son Willie in 1862. In the months after his passing, Lincoln frequented the home of Mr. and Mrs. Cranstoun Laurie, a family of mediums living in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

Lincoln also visited Lily Dale and reportedly held séances in the White House in an attempt to communicate with her deceased son. It is believed there were as many as eight séances hosted in the White House by Mrs. Lincoln.  After one of these sittings, Lincoln remarked that “Willie lives. He comes to me every night and stands at the foot of the bed with the same sweet adorable smile he always has had.”

Following the assassination of her husband in 1865, Lincoln entered a period of deep mourning and began to travel across the country visiting Spiritualist mediums. During a trip to Boston, she attended séances using the name “Mrs. Tundall” and at one particular sitting, the spirit of Abraham directed her to visit spirit photographer William H. Mumler.

Seven years after the death of her husband, Lincoln visited Mumler’s studio dressed in a black veil and other mourning attire. She provided the name “Mrs. Lindall” and refused to take off her veil until it was time to take the picture. Mumler claims that while snapping the photo, he never knew the true identity of Mrs. Lincoln and assumed she was, in fact, Mrs. Lindall.

Lincoln returned to Mumler’s studio three days later to collect her pictures. Mumler’s wife, Hannah Mumler, gave Mrs. Lincoln the envelope with her pictures and asked if she recognized the likeness.

She responded “Yes—yes dear. I do recognize it,” and subsequently revealed her true identity. After weeping at the sight of what appeared to be her deceased husband and son, Mrs. Lincoln asked Mumler “how long before she could join them in their spirit home?”

Bibliographic Information:
- Kaplan, Louis. The Strange Case of William H. Mumler, Spirit Photographer. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2008.

The post Mary Todd Lincoln appeared first on Museum of the Macabre.

An 1870s embalming table made by The Gleason Board Company.

Embalming is the science of temporarily preserving human remains to forestall decomposition. The goal of the process is to make a corpse suitable for extended public viewing at a funeral.

Embalming was first practiced by ancient Egyptians during the process of mummification. They believed that the preservation of a mummy empowered the human soul to return to its corpse after death.  Some of the best preserved bodies in the world are a product of unique embalming methods practiced around 200 BCE by the Han dynasty of China. It is believed that both the exceptionally low depth at which their tombs were located and the mercury-based liquid the corpses were preserved in created an ideal preservation environment.

Due to widespread death during the American Civil War, embalming methods advanced considerably in the 1860s. The passage of President Abraham Lincoln’s body, which was made possible by embalming, brought wider public notice and acceptance to the practice.

In 1867, German chemist August Wilhelm von Hofmann discovered formaldehyde. The substance replaced alcohol based mixtures and quickly became the foundation for modern methods of embalming.

Modern embalming procedures reflect an accumulation of many centuries of research, trial and error, and invention. While several variations of technique exist, nearly all embalmers begin the process by determining that the individual is, in fact, deceased.

The post Embalming appeared first on Museum of the Macabre.

An early 20th century magic lantern slide depicting ectoplasm emanating from a medium.

Ectoplasm is a substance or spiritual energy that is secreted by a medium during séances. The term was coined in 1905 by French physiologist Charles Richet after witnessing Spiritualist Eusapia Palladino produce “gelatinous protoplasm” from her body.

Ectoplasm typically consists of a white, transparent formation which is said to resemble gauze or mucus. The substance oozes out of various orifices on the medium’s body including the nose, mouth, ears, vagina, and anus.

Many believe that ectoplasm is a physical manifestation from the spirit world. Notable luminaries like William Butler Yeats and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle risked their professional reputations by endorsing the material as “an absolute confirmation that the supernatural was tangible and proveable.”

Ectoplasm began to lose its validity in the 1920s when several mediums were found to have fraudulently produced the substance. Some would regurgitate pieces of muslin and cheese cloth on demand while others went as far as storing sacks of material in their rectum and vagina.

In 1984 ectoplasm took on a new meaning due to the film Ghostbusters. The movie portrayed the phenomena as a slimy green substance that splattered on paranormal investigators after exterminating a spirit.

The post Ectoplasm appeared first on Museum of the Macabre.