Spreading the Spirit Word: Print Media, Storytelling, and Popular Culture in Nineteenth-Century Spiritualism (original) (raw)

Spiritualism Exposed: Scepticism, Credulity and Spectatorship In End-of-the-Century America

European Journal of American Culture, 2010

In recent years, the study of spiritualism and occultism has been proposed as a key to understand the political, social and cultural issues of nineteenth-century America. While the position of spiritualism's supporters has been the subject of most accounts, however, sources that critically questioned the spiritualist claims have been usually left aside. In this article, I will rely on this extremely rich body of sources, in order to understand how the debate about spiritualism played an essential role in the shaping of sceptical perspectives in nineteenth-century America. Focusing in particular on anti-spiritualist performances played on the stage by professional magicians and on psychological writings that questioned the phenomena of the spiritualist seances, I will argue that in both contexts the ‘spirit medium’ came to be understood as a performer, and the sitters as spectators. As a critical reading of texts such as film theory pioneer Hugo Münsterberg's 1891 ‘Psychology and Mysticism’ may suggest, the exposure of spiritualist trickery shaped a discourse on perception and sensorial delusion that anticipated in many ways later debates on cinematic spectatorship.

The Rise of 19th-Century American Spiritualism, 1854–1873

Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 2010

During an initial period of rapid expansion, American Spiritualists did not form churches or settle ministers. As a result, something other than numbers and locations of churches and ministers must chart the 19th-century rise of this religious movement. Fortunately, the leading Spiritualist newspaper of the period, the Banner of Light, published extensive lists of public meetings, lectures, and prospective lecturers. In addition, both the Banner and the Spiritual Telegraph newspapers published early lists of their subscription agents. Even though they do not directly address the central Spiritualist activity of the seance, these lists offer a detailed view of where and when the initial and rapid growth of American Spiritualist activity occurred. Data gathered from these lists put explanations about the rise of this 19th-century Spiritualist movement on a better empirical foundation.

Mediums and Stars: Mediumship, Show Business, and Celebrity in Nineteenth-Century Spiritualism

Spiritualism was not immune to dynamics of pre-cinematic stardom. The most popular mediums were acclaimed by spiritualist circles in Europe and the United States and performed their séances with prominent personalities and aristocrats sitting at their table. The career of such great mediums was often controversial, including grandiose triumphs as well as disastrous decadences. This chapter looks at the careers of some among the most internationally acclaimed nineteenth-century spiritualist mediums, namely the Fox Sisters, the Davenport Brothers, and Daniel Dunglas Home, to shed light on the way dynamics of stardom were at play in the spiritualist movement. Relying on literature about stardom and celebrity culture as a theoretical framework, it argues that such characters contributed to the cohesion of the spiritualist communities, by spreading the fame of the movement and by furnishing a common ground of recognized personalities.""

A Historical Approach to the 19th Century Spiritist Phenomenon

(Abstract) This paper analyses spiritism as a social movement, discussing its main implications for 19th century society and culture. A number of social, political and anthropological arguments are presented in order to establish the factors that contributed to the massive spread of the spiritist phenomenon in Europe and America. In the United States, England and France spiritism was in 19th century a movement of great relevance in terms of religious authority. Many scholars who study spiritism as a social movement describe its roots in the " crisis of faith " triggered by developments in science and medicine in this period. Some of the works of the most important historians addressing the spiritist phenomenon and its historical and social meaning in the 19th century are discussed, comparing and contrasting their insights into the movement's causes and consequences.

Supernatural Entertainments: Victorian Spiritualism and the Rise of Modern Media Culture

Penn State University Press, 2016

In Supernatural Entertainments, Simone Natale vividly depicts spiritualism’s rise as a religious and cultural phenomenon and explores its strong connection to the growth of the media entertainment industry in the nineteenth century. He frames the spiritualist movement as part of a new commodity culture that changed how public entertainments were produced and consumed. Starting with the story of the Fox sisters, considered the first spiritualist mediums in history, Natale follows the trajectory of spiritualism in Great Britain and the United States from its foundation in 1848 to the beginning of the twentieth century. He demonstrates that spiritualist mediums and leaders adopted many of the promotional strategies and spectacular techniques that were being developed for the broader entertainment industry. Spiritualist mediums were indistinguishable from other professional performers, as they had managers and agents, advertised in the press, and used spectacularism to draw audiences. Addressing the overlap between spiritualism’s explosion and nineteenth-century show business, Natale provides an archaeology of how the supernatural became a powerful force in the media and popular culture of today. Reviews: “Approaching Victorian supernaturalism as popular spectacle, Natale makes a compelling argument that nineteenth-century spiritualism made a significant contribution to what would become the dominant religion of the twentieth century: the entertainment industry. Rather than seeing the spiritualists and their energetic followers as gullible or deluded, Natale explores the more fascinating possibility that medium, circle, and audience helped redefine the possibilities of domestic leisure and public performance.” —Jeffrey Sconce, Northwestern University “We all know that the supernatural is entertaining. Just turn on your television set or go to the movies. But this entertaining? Supernatural Entertainments is one of the most original books I have read in a long time. Simone Natale’s embrace of the history of technology, celebrity studies, material culture, popular culture, photography, and film studies to plumb the immediate historical background of the modern supernatural also makes it astonishingly capacious and interdisciplinary. Get ready for a ride. Or a show.” —Jeffrey J. Kripal, author of Mutants and Mystics: Science Fiction, Superhero Comics, and the Paranormal "This is an ambitious, overdue book ... Natale depicts a more light-hearted version of Spiritualism than the politically and epistemically fraught social history that other authors have established. Such arguments are detailed, compelling, and themselves enchanting instances of media history." —Susan Zieger, in Media History

Science as an Assimilation of the 19th Century Spiritualism into Society

Kültür araştırmaları dergisi, 2021

Spiritualists in the 19 th century have endeavored to prove their assessments by using science itself which tried to debunk their field's phenomena. The most principal claims of spiritualism have been the possibility of communicating with spirits through the agency of mediums and visioning a close person who has been in the moment of dying or far away. Scientific studies have not only been used to prove these assessments but to create new concepts and perceptions about psychic experiences. The aim of this article is to determine that spiritualists have assimilated themselves into society by using science apart from being denounced as superstitious. Hereby, what spiritualists have suggested in terms of science will be documented within a historical process and the terms which they have coined will be examined. It will be clarified that the people who have evaluated these phenomena consisted of scientists, scholars and literary figures. SPR (The Society for Psychical Research), which was completely formed by scientists and scholars, investigated the mediums and put them under multiple psychical experiments. These researches were published in their anthology named as Phantasms of The Living and their periodicals named as "The Proceedings". The terms which were coined in order to scientificate spiritualism have been "psychic force", "telepathy", "hallucination" and "ectoplasm". It will be concluded that these terms have enabled to categorize the assessments of spiritualism which were communicating and visioning spirits, and also accommodated the psychic researchers and mediums to express themselves subjectively by assimilation into society.

Spiritualism, The beginnings. What was the great fuss about? By

So what is spiritualism and spirit photography?, 2021

According to a definition adopted by the National Spiritualist Association of America, spiritualism "is the science, philosophy and religion of continuous life, based upon the demonstrated fact of communication, using mediumship, with those who live in the spirit world." [1] So what is spiritualism and spirit photography? The basis of many ancient religions is the idea that disembodied spirits of the dead are able and willing to communicate with the living under certain conditions. Its theme re-occurs in myths, fables, legends and anecdotes from all cultures at all periods in man's history. But it is also fair to say that modern spiritualism, as a social phenomenon, had its origins in a small house in Hydesville, New York, on Friday night 31 March 1848.

Physicians and Séances on the Road Towards the Spectacularization of Spiritualism

Medicina nei secoli, 2019

Riding on the wave of the neo-vitalist reaction to mechanistic philosophy, which swept through the fields of medicine and biology in Europe in the second half of the nineteenth century, a large group of scientists embraced the psychical research that had emerged in England – not to be confused with spiritualism – because the aim was to study the spirit-phenomena with scientific tools and methods. In addition to French psychologists and psychiatrists (including Richet and Janet), this group of psychical researchers also included German (Driesch and Schrenck-Notzing), Italian (Lombroso and Morselli) and American (James) scholars. Contributions were also made by poets, writers and musicologists who were attracted to the occult. Meanwhile, the fusion of different types of knowledge gave rise to investigations (more or less scientific) into the growing spectacularization of the paranormal, which today is studied by experts in communication theories. Key words: Psychical research - Spirit...