Americans of the last century surrounded themselves with photographs of dead family members posed in their coffins, a practice so widespread as to be an important source of income for photographers. Secretary of State Edwin Stanton, apparently concerned that a trade in such images would develop, refused to allow any to be taken. Given the intensity of the Lincoln hysteria, Stanton surely was right. They are, of course, all spurious. These images have various origins, and it is unclear whether they were posed, misrepresented, or innocently misidentified.
People find the value they seek in an image.
Even the wrong image. That may be a pseudo-Diana in the notorious Internet picture, but there's nothing new about such spurious images and nothing false about the emotions that have led so many people to look at them. Charles Paul Freund is a senior editor at Reason magazine. All rights reserved.