In Victorian Britain, some people feared that photography could steal a little piece of your soul. Early cameras required long exposures, making the experience mysterious and unsettling to those unfamiliar with the technology. The idea became a popular legend. The fascination continued into the late nineteenth century, when French physician Hippolyte Baraduc claimed photographs could capture invisible spiritual forces. His 1896 work, The Human Soul, featured strange images he believed represented thought, emotion and the human spirit.

His work is here: