Frederick Hudson (photographer)
{{Short description|British spirit photographer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
File:Wallace Spirit Photograph.png and his mother, taken by Hudson]]
Frederick Augustus Hudson (23 January 1818England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538–1975 – 1900)England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837–1915 was a British spirit photographer from Westminster who was active in the 1870s.Chéroux, Clément (2004). The Perfect Medium: Photography and the Occult. Yale University Press, pp. 29–44. {{ISBN|0-300-11136-3}}.Buckland, Raymond (2005). The Spirit Book: The Encyclopedia of Clairvoyance, Channeling, and Spirit Communication. Visible Ink Press, pp. 187–188. {{ISBN|1-57859-172-4}}.
Investigations
Hudson established his own studio in London, and worked with the medium Georgiana Houghton.Hill, Annette (2011). Paranormal Media: Audiences, Spirits and Magic in Popular Culture. Routledge, p. 34. {{ISBN|0-415-54463-7}}.Jay, Bill (1991). Cyanide & Spirits: An Inside-Out View of Early Photography. Nazraeli Press, p. 20. He is credited as being the first spirit photographer in Britain.Willburn, Sarah A (2006). Possessed Victorians: Extra Spheres in Nineteenth-century Mystical Writings. Ashgate Publishing, p. 58. {{ISBN|0-7546-5540-7}}.
According to Joseph McCabe, Hudson's photographs were exposed as fraudulent in 1872 by a fellow spiritualist, William Henry Harrison.McCabe, Joseph (1920). Spiritualism: A Popular History from 1847. Dodd, Mead and Company, p. 157. Hudson was also exposed by another investigator. The psychical researcher Simeon Edmunds wrote that "John Beattie, a professional photographer of note, demonstrated conclusively that his spirits were faked by a simple process of double exposure."Edmunds, Simeon (1966). Spiritualism: A Critical Survey. Aquarian Press, p. 114.
In 1874, Alfred Russel Wallace visited Hudson and a photograph of him with his deceased mother was produced. Wallace declared the photograph genuine, declaring "I see no escape from the conclusion that some spiritual being, acquainted with my mother's various aspects during life, produced these recognisable impressions on the plate."Wallace, Alfred Russel (1875). [https://archive.org/stream/onmiraclesmodern00wall#page/190/mode/2up On Miracles and Modern Spiritualism]. London: James Burns, pp. 190–191.
Trickery
Magic historian Milbourne Christopher has written:
Hudson introduced spirit photography to Britain in 1872. He varied his methods through the years. Though frequently caught practicing deception, he was never arrested. Hudson at one time used a trick camera, made by a craftsman who sold conjuring apparatus. Harry Price described how the camera worked in his book, Confessions of a Ghost-Hunter, published in London in 1936. When the plate slide was inserted, this action brought the paper positive of the "ghost" up against the sensitive plate. When the shutter bulb was pressed, this image and the picture of the sitter were captured on the plate. Thus a single exposure on this plate carried both images.Christopher, Milbourne (1975). Mediums, Mystics & the Occult. Thomas Y. Crowell Co., pp. 115–116. {{ISBN|0-690-00476-1}}.
Hudson was known for staging his spirit photography by either dressing up as spirits or using double exposure techniques. Skeptical investigator Joe Nickell identified Hudson's photographs as fraudulent, noting that in many instances, the sitter was positioned low in the frame to leave room for "spirits" that Hudson had pre-arranged in advance.Nickell, Joe (2012). The Science of Ghosts: Searching for Spirits of the Dead. Prometheus Books, pp. 301–302. {{ISBN|978-1-61614-585-9}}.
References
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Category:Photographers from London