Elizabeth C. Hedley

American, born ca. 1835

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An article from the Rochester Union reproduced in Anthony's Photographic Bulletin in July 1879 details the unmasking of Miss Hedley's practice of "spirit photography". Two locals sat for portraits which, when printed, also showed images of apparitions standing alongside them in dress from 30 years previous. The images seemed familiar to the customers, who eventually identified them as engravings from old women's magazines. The Rochester Union consulted with another local photographer who explained the trick: a negative is pre-made on one side of the glass negative of the "spirit", the sitter's negative is taken on the other. Printed with the sitter's negative in contact with the sensitized paper, the sitter's image is rendered sharp, while the other other image is made ghostly. The Rochester directory for 1880, not surprisingly, notes that Elizabeth Hedley had "removed to Chicago". In Chicago, she is found in the 1880 census with the last name Headley. Depending on the census entry, her birthyear is either ca. 1835 or ca. 1843. it is possible that she learned photography from an Ebenezer Hedley, possibly a husband, in Wilkes-Barre, PA in the early 1870s.