"Shadows form in our ghostly past; Ho! Ho! young man. Ho! Ho!"

October 2, 2016 8:03 PM

A signature can reveal a lot about a person. At least that’s what many believed in the early 20th century when people collected signatures of friends, family, and celebrities in autograph albums. But there was one particular book that bled the ink of an autograph into creatures, coffins, bats, and skeletons.

"Ghost signatures," formed by signing a page in India ink and and folding it over like a Rorschach blot, were a fad in the mid-20th century. One of the more famous books was featured in the newspaper story of a notorious Pittsburgh murder in 1920. Reflections Of My Friends is a modern-day version.

For a mere pittance one can own the ghost signature of Coco Chanel.

posted by Johnny Wallflower (3 comments total)

This was neat! I was impressed at how many of the signatures actually looked like objects to me. Thanks for posting it.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 11:44 PM on October 2, 2016

Nice! And happy Memento Mori October! 🦇 👻 💀 [that should be "bat ghost skull" emojis]
posted by filthy light thief at 7:31 AM on October 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

Playing a game like this is one of the ways I waste time in the office. Take a screen grab of a signature, stick it in Paint, rotate 90 degrees, put a flipped copy next to it and see what you get. You don't have the smearing, of course, but it's still worth a try. A lot of insectoid beings, but I've had very good cute little bunnies and bull's heads.

I got the idea from good old Tony Hart, may he rest in the Gallery of Eternal Peace. Do any elderly Brits remember the insect logo he made out of the words 'Vision On'?
posted by Segundus at 7:37 AM on October 3, 2016 [2 favorites]