The Photographer Who Captured Ghosts Before They Died

In the 1950s, a photographer named Eliot Vane became famous for portraits that looked eerily posthumous. Every subject appeared just as they would at their funeral — even if still alive.

At first, it was coincidence. Then, too many lined up: a newlywed couple who drowned weeks later, a child who vanished the day after her photo was printed.

Eliot stopped shooting. But one night, he found a roll of undeveloped film in his camera. He processed it — and every image was of himself, growing older, until the last frame showed his own gravestone.

He died the next morning.