Alan Mays' photos with the keyword: spooky

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of something interesting or surprising in the background . . At first glance, this is a typical photo of a woman sitting on a chair. In the background, however, is a girl watching from the window, which seems a little spooky. This is a real photo postcard with a divided back. "R. B. Hunter, LisbellAw" is stamped in ink on the other side, but the card is otherwise unused. Could "LisbellAw" refer to the village of Lisbellaw in Northern Ireland?

What appears to be an odd game of hide-and-seek in a spooky forest is captioned "Peek-a-Boo, July 3, 1908," on the front of this real photo postcard. The image's irregular edges add to the strangeness of the scene. The imprint on the back—"W. W. Deatrick, Kutztown, Pa."—identifies this as a photo by William Wilberforce Deatrick (1853-1925), who was a longtime faculty member at what is now Kutztown University . Additional examples of Deatrick's photos are available for viewing in the Kutztown University Postcard Collection . See also " W. W. Deatrick Left His Mark at Kutztown ," an article by George M. Meiser that appeared in the Reading Eagle , April 6, 1983.

A blurry but charming photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. A double exposure featuring a cute kid with a big smile sitting in the foreground along with a ghostly mom and the kid's blurry doppelgänger lurking in the background. The photo is dated 1949 in the lower right-hand corner. For more charming blurriness, see Misty Shores of Memory and Fuzzy Dog .

A Halloween postcard addressed on the other side to "Miss Bertha Duncan, Cresson, Penna.," and postmarked in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on October 24, 1912. Handwritten message: "This card is a little soon for Halloween but I will send it anyhow. Aquilla." Printed on the back: "Printed in Saxony 0624." In a candlelit room at midnight on Halloween, a young woman gazes into a mirror through the steam from a cauldron so she can catch a glimpse of her future husband. For other Halloween postcards with a mirror-gazing theme, see: -- Halloween Greeting—I Gaze in the Mirror My Future There to See -- Halloween Greetings—Look Out for Ghosts -- Wishing You a Lucky Halloween

A close-up of a faceless family foursome on a nineteenth-century CDV. See also the full photo .

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of flawed memories (photos that are damaged, faded, or have other imperfections, especially ones in which the flaws somehow enhance the image; this includes photos with defective processing, light leakage, and double exposures) . A spooky CDV with an unidentified faceless family. Perhaps their faces were somewhat washed out in the original photo, but they may also have been intentionally rubbed out afterwards. Take a gander at a cropped version of the CDV for a closer look at the family's faint facial features. For another faceless photo, see Who's the Dummy Now?

A photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park for the topics of spirit photography / ghostly images / haunted houses (post up to 3 images on any combination of these themes) . Representatives from the spirit world have seemingly materialized just in time to sing "Happy Birthday" in what is actually just a double exposure. See my Ghosts and Hauntings album for more spooky photos.

Postmark on the back of this postcard: Worcester, Mass., Oct. 30, 1909. Addressed to: Miss Ora Bickford, New Gloucester, Maine, R.F.D. no. 1. Message: "With best wishes for a happy Hallowe'en. Love, Elva." "A formerly widespread tradition held that young women gazing into a mirror in a darkened room (often on Halloween) could catch a glimpse of their future husband's face in the mirror--or a skull personifying Death if their fate was to die before they married." This explanation of what the women in this postcard is doing appears in Wikipedia's article on scrying , which is defined as "the practice of looking into a translucent ball or other material with the belief that things can be seen, such as spiritual visions, and less often for purposes of divination or fortune-telling." Cupid's presence in this postcard is somewhat puzzling, but the publisher, L. R. Conwell, also included Cupid in at least one other Halloween postcard. See The Joys of Halloween Be Yours . See below for additional examples of early twentieth-century postcards that depict mirror-gazing and other Halloween fortune-telling activities.

Printed on the back of this postcard: "Whitney Made, Worcester, Mass." Postmarked: Alexandria, Va., Oct. 30, 1917. Addressed to: Miss Lillie, 17 Cedar St., Rosemont, Alex., Va. Handwritten message: "Hope to see you Hallowe'en night. Mary Ella."

A trick or treat photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. Although my copy of this stereoscopic card doesn't include any publication information, versions posted on Flickr are titled "The Haunted Lovers" and were published by Littleton View Company in 1893 (see Photo_History's The Haunted Lovers Stereo Card and depthandtime's The Haunted Lovers ). For the full stereoview card, see The Haunted Lovers (Stereoscopic Card) :

For information about this stereoscopic card, see The Haunted Lovers :

Sent to Mrs. Nell Frishour, Dayton, Oreg., and postmarked Portland, Ore., Oct. 31, 1909, with the message: "Look out for ghosts tomorrow night. E.W."

When I gaze in the mirror My future there to see, I wish that I could see you there, How happy I would be!

Something "mysterious" for the the Vintage Photos Theme Park . This photo was identified as a " spirit photograph " when I bought it at an antique co-op in 1994. Handwritten on the back of the photo is the following: "Camp Silver Bell, Mountain Springs Hotel, Ephrata, Pa." Camp Silver Belle was a Spiritualist group founded by Ethel Post-Parrish , a medium whose Indian spirit guide was named Silver Belle. The group held lectures and meetings at the Mountain Springs Hotel in Ephrata, Pa., and published a schedule of programs as late as 1976 (see Silver Belle Presents Lecturers, Teachers, World-Famous Psychics, 1976 ). Eventually, however, the group became inactive, and the hotel fell into disrepair. Today, the facade of the old hotel remains , but the rest of the hotel site was demolished in 2004 to make way for a Hampton Inn hotel and an Applebee's restaurant. So what is that strange haziness hovering above the audience? An ectoplasmic manifestation from another spiritual realm? Hokum conjured up by sleight of hand and camera? Or just an odd yet coincidental defect in the film or developing?

For previous comments about this real photo postcard, see the discussion on Flickr: Two Girls with Bows .