A compelling history of the golden era of the Victorian seance that tells the tale of the mediums and psychics, their followers, and the sleuths who set out to expose them
Born of the so-called Victorian 'pseudo science' of mesmerism, the seance enjoyed a late 19th century golden age that ministered to the Victorian obsession with science, religious doubt, and entertainment.
Mediums, psychics and somnambulists were investigated by amateur sleuths and by scientists like Faraday and Darwin; their performances imitated and exposed by magicians, denounced by clerics, satirised in the press. Yet the popularity of spiritualism and the seance endured - and does so to this day.
Born of the so-called Victorian 'pseudo science' of mesmerism, the seance enjoyed a late 19th century golden age that ministered to the Victorian obsession with science, religious doubt, and entertainment.
Mediums, psychics and somnambulists were investigated by amateur sleuths and by scientists like Faraday and Darwin; their performances imitated and exposed by magicians, denounced by clerics, satirised in the press. Yet the popularity of spiritualism and the seance endured - and does so to this day.
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