somenonewho, 10 months ago

So … I was also interested by that question and intrigued by that photo, so I put on my research cap and went away.

From what I found out it seems to be both:

A staged photo/shot but from a historical movie called Dr. Mabuse the Gambler .

I was able to find the movie on YouTube with A seance scene which however does not seem to be the same scene (or at least a different angle) from the picture. If anyone has the time to scroll through all 4h of that movie the scene in the picture might be in there.