Title page from The Ghost by Charles Churchill.

The hazy mirroring is due to a bleeding of the ink through the page. But how apropos: the words transcend one
plane and emerge on another. Note the period after the word ghost. This book’s title is truly a "death sentence.”

~ Unsubstantiated Insubstantiality ~

Portrait of Thomas Edison from Men of Science.

~ Unsubstantiated Insubstantiality ~

Portrait from Memoir of William Carey.

"The strong light rendered the apparition invisible to hiseyes.” —Justinus Kerner, "The Ghost-Seer of Prevorst”

~ Unsubstantiated Insubstantiality ~

Portrait from Memoir of Maj.-Gen. George H. Thomas.

“He’s here, or it’s the ghost of his hat!” —Frank Dumont, The Cuban Spy

~ Unsubstantiated Insubstantiality ~

Portrait from The Life of Captain John Smith.

"A vague, almost ghostly outline, losing itself, in shadows, among the tombs.” —Mary V. Spencer

~ Unsubstantiated Insubstantiality ~

Portrait from Memoir of the Honorable Abbott Lawrence.

In this haunting, Laurence’s ghost appears four times, three of which resemble film negatives. Note also that the scanning machine has graced Laurence’s portrait with a striped aura.

~ Unsubstantiated Insubstantiality ~

Portrait from Memoir of Eli Whitney.

"A faint shadow stole over the room; while the countenance of the Medium had become so gloomy that the shadow seemed really only a reflection of it.” —Blackwood’s Magazine

~ Unsubstantiated Insubstantiality ~

Portrait from The Autobiography of Rev. Thomas Conant.

“A dim, indistinct outline of a ghostly face staring out.” —James Coates, Photographing the Invisible

~ Unsubstantiated Insubstantiality ~

Title page from A Biography of François Magendie.

“A dark side without a shadow in the open air.” —The Works of John Ruskin

~ Unsubstantiated Insubstantiality ~

Portrait from the biography of Hugh McAllister Beaver.

She “could barely make out his face in the gray haze.” —Kathleen O’Neal Gear & W. Michael Gear, The Summoning God

~ Unsubstantiated Insubstantiality ~

Portrait from Memoir of Rev. Joseph Badger.

“The figure was ghostly pale, with indistinct features.” —Mark Alan Morris, The Ghost Next Door

~ Amorphous Apparitions ~

Portrait from James Speed.

“The contours of the dark things around me are sharpening, faint features beginning to emerge.” —Eric Stone, Grave Imports

~ Amorphous Apparitions ~

Portrait from Memoir of Thomas Handasyd Perkins.

“The play of light and shadows turned his craggy face into an eerie visage.” —Lori Foster

~ Amorphous Apparitions ~

Portrait from Life of Thomas Jefferson.

“It was an unmistakable face, and of itself answered many questions.” —Alfred Elton Van Vogt

~ Amorphous Apparitions ~

Portrait from The Life of William Pinkney.

“With such ghostly features, what on Earth can you focus on?” —Martin Mobberley

~ Amorphous Apparitions ~

Portrait from My Autobiography and Reminiscences by William Powell Frith.

“From out of regions dark a spectral form appeared!” —Reuben Vose

~ Amorphous Apparitions ~

Portrait from Memoir of Reverend David Tappan Stoddard.

“But are we still confident there is, in the language of a modern philosopher, a ‘ghost in the machine’?” —George F. Will