From the haunted images of William Mumler in the 1860’s to contemporary manifestations of digital ghost hunting, the search for elusive and invisible spirits by means of the camera lens has been an ongoing preoccupation in the history of photography for over 150 years. Starting with the emergence of phantasmagoric visual entertainments (ca. 1800), this course reviews this rich and fascinating history in Europe and North America but also with a few non-Western cultural examples (e.g., Japan, Philippines) focusing on key case studies in spirit photographic practice. The course considers various reasons why people have wanted to believe in the veracity of these phenomena (e.g., followers of the religious movement of Spiritualism) as well as why others have wanted to debunk spirit photography as a hoax or fraud (e.g., Harry Houdini and P.T. Barnum). Exploring theories derived from deconstruction and psychoanalysis, we seek to understand the philosophical and psychological significance of spirit photography introducing constructs such as hauntology, spectrality, the uncanny, and the work of mourning. The course also reviews how contemporary artists (e.g., Oursler, Beloff) have incorporated motifs and themes related to spirit photography in their works.