A Civil War veteran who claimed he could photograph the dead. Bainbridge P. Brown, a former Company D soldier, rose to fame as a spirit photographer, using his "charmed" camera to convince grieving families that their lost loved ones had returned from beyond the grave. But two photography experts exposed his deception and destroyed his reputation. Episode 19, “The Ghost Photographer,” follows Brown from Civil War hospitals to Boston's photography studios, and finally to a mysterious death in the Maine woods.

Bainbridge P. Brown deserted from Company D of the Third Maine, yet somehow secured a medical discharge. He may have been gay in an era when such relationships were kept secret. He built a successful career as a studio photographer in Bath and Boston before turning to spirit photography, claiming his charmed camera could capture images of the dead. Then his world caved in. The full episode, "The Ghost Photographer," drops on October 28.

Did former corporal Albert S. Merry kill his wife? In our second Company D Noir episode, we investigate a bitter marriage. While Albert spent most of his time living at the Old Soldiers' Home in Togus, Maine, his wife, Nancy, lived nearby in poverty. They fought over his military pension. They accused each other of physical and mental abuse. And then, on the coldest night of 1907, Nancy was found dead in her woodshed.