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Spirit Photograph of Katie King in our collection

And now for a spirit of a different kind. The "extras" in the carte-de-visits, tintype, and the other cabinet cards on this site were invisible to the sitters and onlookers and were only visible when the photographs were developed. In the photograph on the right we see Katie King, a well know and much photographed "full-form materialized spirit" who appeared in very solid form to the attendees to the séances of the medium, Florence Cook. There are very few named sprits and Katie King is among the best known. It is not know how many photographs were made of her but at least forty-four were made in 1874 during the last week she appeared. We were delighted to add this cabinet card to our collection. This cabinet card is an enlarged copy of a photograph made by magnesium light under the direction of the eminent English chemist and physicist, Sir William Crooks (1832-1919). He was convinced that he had proved that Katie was real. At the lower right is the text panel mounted on the back of the card that describes the séance at which the photograph was made. Who was Katie King? A quote from the 1891 book, There is No Death by Florence Marryat follows: "For the benefit of the initiated, let me begin by telling who "Katie King" was supposed to be. Her account of herself was that her name was "Annie Owens Morgan" ; that she was the daughter of Sir Henry Morgan, a famous buccaneer who lived about the time of the Commonwealth, and suffered death upon the high seas, being, in fact, a pirate; that she herself was about twelve years old when Charles the First was beheaded; that she married and had two little children; that she committed more crimes than we should like to hear of, having murdered men with her own hands, but yet died quite young, at about two or three and twenty." The literature of spiritualism is full of fascinating details about the Katie Kind phenomenon including rumors of extramarital affairs, nudity, and murder. Pick up any book that deals with 19th century spiritualism and your chances of finding a chapter on Katie King are very good. There are also numerous references on the internet to the materialization of Katie King. Search for "Katie King" and "Florence Cook" together on Google and you will find more than 2,000 entries. The same search on Google Books finds a selection of many full view books that include a section on Katie King.
*Note: In October, 2007 this section of our site was expanded and rearranged. If an image is not in an expected place, please try one of the other pages from the list below. Spirit Photographs: How our collection started/Brewster & Mumler Spirit Photographs: A Tintype Spirit Photograph Spirit Photographs: Carte-de-visite spirit photographs Spirit Photographs: Carte-de-visite of a spirit drawing *added 1/08 Spirit Photographs: Cabinet card spirit photographs Spirit Photographs: Cabinet card of Katie King *added 12/07 < You are Here Spirit Photographs: Post card spirit photographs Spirit Photographs: Post cards of unknown mediums Spirit Photographs: Doyle and the Spirits *added 10/07 Spirit Photographs: Keeler, Mail Order Spirit Photographs *added 10/07 Spirit Photographs: How to make a fake spirit photograph Spirit Photography: Bibliography & Links Related interests of the Victorian Era and early 20th century in our collection: Memento Mori - Remembering the departed: post mortem and memorial photography in the 19th and early 20th century Mesmerism - "Flint the Mesmerist" Phrenology - The study of human personality from the shape of the head Return to The Collection of Collections page Collection of Collections Site Map Contact us at studio@brightbytes.com **NOTE** All items on the Collection of Collections web site are in our private collection and are NOT for sale. From time to time duplicate items from our collection will be offered for sale in the Do You Remember This? shop on the GoAntiques cyber mall. Visit the Do You Remember This? inventory page for photographica and toaster related collectibles. Please feel free to write us if you want to chat or share information about areas we collect but we will NOT give appraisals. © Bright Bytes Studio - Do not use images without permission Added on 12/2007