The Brighton Fancy Dress Ball, 1872
A highlight of the fashionable season, it was held at the Royal Pavilion on 7 February and was reported in the Brighton Gazette on the following day.
Table-Tipping
Mina’s comment on ‘an eminent professor’ must have been referring to noted physicist Michael Faraday, who, like many scientists, became interested in the 1850s fashion for table-tipping séances. He conducted a number of experiments which revealed that the movement of the tables was caused by the involuntary muscular action of the sitters. See his letter to the editor of The Times, 30 June 1853, p.8.
Spirit Photography
Mr Beckler’s visit to Hollow House for the purpose of trying to photograph spirits was more possible in 1872 than formerly. He would have started his career using the wet-plate collodion process, which required preparation of the plate, exposure and development to be completed in the space of about fifteen minutes. Outside his own studio, he would therefore have needed to bring a portable darkroom in addition to the camera and chemicals.
1871, however, saw the invention of dry plate collodion. The glass plates could be prepared in advance, allowed to dry and taken to the site. It was no longer necessary to complete the processing in a short time and no portable dark room was required.
In 1869, photographer William Mumler was tried for fraud in New York after selling spirit photographs he had taken in his studio using the wet plate collodion method. It was impossible to prove how he had achieved his results, although the best theory is that the spirit was a double image produced when the plate was not properly cleaned after a previous picture had been taken. He was acquitted.
Unusual tricks of the light have often been responsible for reported sightings of ghosts. Mary Ann might well have seen an effect of the full moon in the upper corridor of Hollow House on 26 December 1871.
The Yellow Wallpaper
One hopes that Mina’s ennui described in Chapter 1 will not result in the same symptoms as the main character of Charlotte Perkins Gillman’s short story.
The Stockwell Poltergeist Hoax
Details of this incident can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockwell_ghost
ALSO BY LINDA STRATMANN
FICTION
The Mina Scarletti Mystery Series
Mr Scarletti’s Ghost
The Royal Ghost
An Unquiet Ghost
The Frances Doughty Mystery Series
The Poisonous Seed
The Daughters of Gentlemen
A Case of Doubtful Death
An Appetite for Murder
The Children of Silence
Death in Bayswater
A True and Faithful Brother
Murder at the Bayswater Bicycle Club
NON FICTION
The Secret Poisoner
The Marquess of Queensberry: Wilde’s Nemesis
The Crooks Who Conned Millions
Notorious Blasted Rascal: Colonel Charteris and the Servant Girl’s Revenge
Whiteley’s Folly
Cruel Deeds and Dreadful Calamities: The Illustrated Police News 1864-1938
Chloroform: The Quest for Oblivion
Kent Murders
Greater London Murders
Essex Murders
More Essex Murders
Middlesex Murders
Gloucestershire Murders
Published by Sapere Books.
11 Bank Chambers, Hornsey, London, N8 7NN,
United Kingdom
http://saperebooks.com
Copyright © Linda Stratmann, 2019
Linda Stratmann has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organisations, places and events, other than those clearly in the public domain, are either the product of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously.
Any resemblances to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales are purely coincidental.
eBook ISBN: 9781913028404
The Ghost of Hollow House (Mina Scarletti Mystery Book 4) Page 31