The ‘New Age’ didn’t dawn with the turn of this past century, but began a century earlier when Spiritualists brought out their ouiji boards and Crystal Balls and communed with those on the ‘other side’. Here we have an image purported to have been taken at just such a seance. Of course most of the work took place in the photographic darkroom, where the faces of the ’spirits’ were added. This uses one of the most basic ‘trick photograph’ techniques, multiple exposure.

The subject is John K Hallowell, a geologist who published a book titled Gunnison, Colorado’s Bonanza County in 1883. There is no indication of whether or not he believed this tripe.

The photographer was S W Fallis, and the image taken about 1901. Born around 1841 in Indiana, Fallis is listed in both the 1880 and 1900 Chicago censuses as an engraver. The 1900 census gives his first name as Sylvanus. He moved from Miami Indiana to Illinois ca 1862 according to the voter registration records in Chicago, but I have found no earlier or later evidence of his photographic activity.