Another evidence of a popular belief in some vital relationship between a portrait and its original is suggested by the quite general superstition that photographs (or other pictures) fade after and in consequence of the decease of the original. I have found this to be a common belief in Ireland, Prince Edward Island, and in various parts of the United States. I remember as a child to have heard persons remark while turning over a family album of photographs, “That looks as if the person were dead.” In fact, I think that I thus received the impression that the picture of one dead underwent some change that many persons could perceive and thus become aware of the death of the original. This notion is akin to a superstition of the Irish peasantry that the clothes left by the dead decay with unusual rapidity.
In parts of New Hampshire it is counted unlucky to have a photograph copied while the original lives. Is this because death is thereby suggested, since it is so customary to have enlarged copies of a photograph made after the decease of the original?
[157-1] Journal of American Folk-Lore, vol. iv. No. XIII., “Folk-Lore from Buffalo Valley,” J. H. Owens.
[158-1] Journal of American Folk-Lore, vol. v. No. XVI. p. 33.
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