William H. Mumler became famous because of his series of photos with spirits. His clients were people like: Mary Todd Lincoln, ex-US President Abraham Lincoln, Master Herrod, and John J. Glover. William took photos of all of them with their relatives’ spirits, as everybody believed.

The popularity of the “spirit photographer” went down when Moses A. Dow — the editor of Waverley Magazine came to William to get his portrait done. When Moses got his photo he suggested that the spirit behind his back was Mumbler’s assistant Mabel Warren. After that, people had doubts about the appearance of these ghosts for many years and nobody figured out the truth. After that Mumbler’s reputation was tarnished and he died in poverty.