It all started with a haunted house. Or at least, a house former residents and neighbors said was haunted. When photographer Vince Musi purchased a home in 2004 on an island that once hosted Edgar Allen Poe, the residence came to life at night, but not because of demons or spirits.

Raccoons, possums, squirrels, and rats had also made Musi’s house their own. When the photographer called a guy out to trap the critters inhabiting his home, one conversation led to another, and Musi found himself taking portraits of the animals the trapper had at his own residence.

Thus the general-assignment photographer who used to cover everything from vanishing cultures, landscape driven stories, and sports found himself tackling perhaps the most challenging