Along the Oudeschans, people stood still. They pointed, held their breath. For there, above the dark water, floated women. Long, white, translucent. Their garments seemed to dance in the wind, their faces elusive. Amsterdammers feared they were the dead returning to the city.
A mother grabbed her child tightly. A man took off his hat. On the bridges and along the quay, dozens of people crowded to see the spectacle. Some thought they heard voices, others claimed the shadows glided over the water. Within an hour, half the city had heard of the ghosts at the Oudeschans.
Supernatural
In the 19th century, there was a certain hunger for the supernatural in Amsterdam, and indeed all of Europe. It was the time of magnetism, spiritualism, and night walks along graveyards. The city was still dark, poorly lit, and the flickering gaslight cast erratic shadows that could turn any passerby into something strange.
Natural Science
At the same time, natural science was flourishing. New instruments like microscopes, telescopes, and especially optical devices drew the curious to exhibitions. Light was no longer just a natural phenomenon, but also a source of spectacle. Science was exciting, but at the same time something that was not yet fully understood.
October Wonder
People visited physical demonstrations during the day where electricity and lenses were experimented with, and that same evening they could listen to folk tales about will-o-the-wisps, ghosts, and omens of disaster. And there, precisely at the intersection of superstition and technology, that October wonder took place at the Oudeschans.
Shadows on the Water
On October 8, 1833, shortly after sunset, the first shadows appeared. They moved slowly along the facades. Sometimes they seemed to glide over the water, sometimes they suddenly disappeared only to reappear further on. The next evening, it happened again.
End of Times
The Oudeschans was an important passage at that time. Ships came in from the IJ, residents walked by daily. That evening, people were packed on the bridge, windows opened. And those who did not dare to look listened to the cries of astonishment from the street. The police did not dare to intervene. What can one even do against ghosts? Some Amsterdammers thought that heaven was giving a sign, that the dead were restless, that the gas lamps themselves had devilish powers. In pubs on the Nieuwmarkt, discussions about the end of times were heard.
Bored Students
Only later did it become clear what had really happened on the evenings of October 8 and 9. The appearances were not a heavenly sign, not wandering souls, but the work of a few students. They had become bored and experimented with a new invention, the magic lantern.
Light Show
Using glass plates, light, and lenses, they projected images of female figures onto the moist air above the water from an attic or warehouse along the canal. The mist served as a screen, the gaslight enhanced the illusion, and the cold made the air thick enough to allow the images to float. The students created, probably without realizing it, one of the first urban light shows in the Netherlands. The ghosts were not supernatural, but optical.
Science and Superstition
The scene is captured in a print titled View of the Ghost Appearance on the Oude Schans on October 8 and 9, 1833 in Amsterdam. We see spectators on the bridge, men with hats and women with shawls looking up in astonishment. Against the facades and above the water, the white shadows moved, holding the city in their grip for two evenings. The maker of the print, Hartog Abrahams Swaluw, depicted the scene with almost journalistic precision. The moment when science and superstition met in Amsterdam.
The Collection
The collection of the Rijksmuseum consists of more than a million artworks, publications, and visitor stories. And you can admire the collection not only in the museum but also online. In the section The Collection, we each time pick an Amsterdam painting, print, or drawing from the collection of the Rijksmuseum and provide context for it. This time View of the Ghost Appearance on the Oude Schans on October 8 and 9, 1833 in Amsterdam by Hartog Abrahams Swaluw.
Image: City Archive Amsterdam and Rijksmuseum
