What Spirit Photography can tell us about the Science behind Spiritualism and the Act of Mourning
[Unidentified elderly woman seated, three “spirits” in the background]; William H. Mumler (American, 1832 – 1884); 1862–1875; Albumen silver print; The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.
Three images encapsulate two entwined structures of feeling that emerged in the United States during the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, the presence of the facemask and the presence of absence [1]. The direction and future of these structures of feeling—and the pandemic—is unknown. However, these structures of feeling can help us unpack the meaning of the pandemic as we move forward to whatever the future may bring.
The pandemic has politicized the facemask, transforming an effective, traditional tool in health and medicine into a political statement. One form of the politicization of the facemask has already been exhaustively covered in the daily news cycle and social media; antimaskers place individual autonomy dis-engaged from community responsibility over the health of the nation, genuine civic engagement, and scientific evidence. However, wearing the facemask is more than a political statement on responsibility, science, and health, as its political symbology has also been integrated into protest and activism against police brutality:
A couple wears masks that read “I Can’t Breathe” during a demonstration in Minneapolis on Saturday. Jim Urquhart for NPR
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I had so much hope for 2021. After the ball dropped on New Years Day my street erupted into a fireworks display that I have not seen since the last time I saw the New York Philharmonic. Let me be real with you, hypothetical reader, for a moment. 2021 was not the doorway to an alternate dimension, and the United States is plagued by disease, and political and social unrest. The Covid-19 virus continues to spread virtually unchecked in the United States as vaccine wielding doctors and nurses entered the fray and begin to administer vaccines to the public. Optimistic reporting promises a gradual release from this pandemic induced isolation mid to late spring. Then, six days into the new year, domestic terrorists ran amok in the United States Capital in an attempt, as recent reporting is making clear, to certify the vote and bring violence and death to our elected officials. At least 6 lives were lost and uncounted political officials, capital staff and police were left horrified by the assault on personal safety as Americans collectively witnessed an attack on a symbol of our democratic institution. By January 13th former President Trump was impeached for the second time. On February 13th he was simultaneously found guilty and acquitted. Whatever we are experiencing in our personal lives, whether good, bad, or indifferent, Americans in particular have likely been watching their hopes for a better 2021 sink like a ship to the briny depths.
In the fall of 2019, during my Fulbright Fellowship in Chile, which coincided with a social revolution that continues to reverberate across Chilean society, a large graffiti-mural caught my attention along a wall in downtown Santiago: “Tu normalidad es privilegio!”
Photograph by Eric Zolov
Everyone is experiencing the “New” World in COVID-19 times; the author penned the feature during April and May 2020, when “Spring” is trying to meet “Summer.”
Big Piney River as viewed from Devil’s Elbow Bridge Devils Elbow, Missouri
While most of the late seventeenth and eighteenth century was relatively quiet regarding witchcraft, dark magic, and Devil worshiping, accusations of witchcraft would once again appear in the Ozark region of Missouri and Arkansas during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The geography of the Ozark region could best be described as rolling hills, heavily forested, and composed of remote agricultural communities that were largely self-sufficient. The Ozarks were originally colonized by the French but eventually, British squatters, poor farmers, and adventurers would make their way into the region even though it was illegal for British citizens to settle west of the Appalachian Mountains.
Wide-reaching witch hunts are like fires; they rarely occur spontaneously, are in need of previously established fuel, are started through an initial spark, and are sustained by adding more fuel for it to consume. While these accused witches were hanged or pressed rather than burned, when discussing the Salem witch trials building a fire is an apt metaphor with each stage corresponding to the societal conditions at Salem.
Before Europeans established colonies in America, magical practices and traditions were an essential part of European life. People who practiced magic, often referred to as “cunning folk” or “wise folk,” were respected and valued by their communities. They were experts in the arts of healing and divining and were often the first people their neighbors would turn to in times of hardship. Magic was so much a part of daily life that people would practice it in their own homes, especially given that many magical rituals did not require any training. Magic was used to heal the sick, protect people and their families from harm intended towards them by others with whom they had disagreements; protect their livestock and economic stability from natural and deliberate causes; and to ease daily difficulties such as aiding in finding lost belongings.
Salem Witch Trial Scene – (Original Caption) Salem Witch Trial. Accusation of bedeviled girl. After an engraving by Howard Pyle.
The supernatural, magic, and witchcraft persisted to be a part of the United States belief system as a result of a sincere, generational fear of the unknown. In American history, early modern European migrants and New England Puritans feared anything paranormal, and most importantly, witches that could harm their families. There were many factors involved which led to the accusations of witchcraft in Puritan society. Some of the biggest reasons for why accusations ravaged Salem included fear, the belief in both good and bad witchcraft, the willingness of physicians to utilize witchcraft as a form of medical diagnosis, politics, and potential ergot poisoning. Sadly, for those accused of witchcraft in Salem, the factionalism of both the Town and Village provided the ideal conditions for what is most widely regarded as the greatest witch-hunt in American history.
Trial of George Jacobs of Salem for Witchcraft, T. H. Matteson, 1855
Colonists used the belief of witchcraft to grapple with psychological tensions and concerns that had developed out of trying to make sense of their new external worlds, ultimately embedding witchcraft into the cultural belief system of the United States. In England, the Church suppressed any voice or power women may have had by limiting their societal roles. On the other hand, the Puritans believed that men and women were “equal” in the eyes of God. When arriving to the new settlements, Colonists needed to rely on both men and women to do their designated roles faithfully. This was to ensure the success and stability of their communities. Accusations of women practicing witchcraft in New England came about because the strict moral doctrine that Puritans adhered to created gendered societal roles and fear concerning the inability to attain salvation.
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