The United States experienced a spike in religious and spiritual thought in the 19th century almost on a level not seen during any other period in its history. This spike in interest was especially strong in central and western New York, a region that became so caught up in revivalist thought, so-called ‘new’ religions, and various spiritual movements that it took on the name ‘burned-over district’ for the number of waves of religious thought that the area experienced; the name referred to the way that there was no one left willing to listen simply because so many people had already moved through.
It was in this climate of intense spiritual interest that the Spiritualism movement took hold in western New York. Spiritualism, in part, seeks to make a connection with the dead. In doing so, the movement created an environment where the idea of physical mediumship- or creating a series of environmental effects such that the viewer (and in some cases the medium) believes that they have contacted the other side and physical proof of the afterlife has been obtained.
Knocking On the Door
While the Fox Sisters were not involved in the first wave of American Spiritualism, and in fact the Second Great Awakening would have been finished by the time they were involved in the movement, they may be some of the most visible individuals in Spiritualism. Orginally from the Rochester region the sisters gained attention by claiming that a spirit was in communication with them through a series of knocks, raps, and pops.
The audible interactions with this spirit (and the devil, even) eventually gained the sisters fame, but by the end of their lives at least two of them admitted that the pops were the manipulation of loose joints and the knocks were furniture hitting walls or dropped fruit. The sisters claimed that many of the reactions they got out of their clients were the results of the clients’ own imaginations and desires to reach the dead.
Spirit Photography
At Spiritualism’s height, the art of photography was in its infancy. The American Civil War had the dual distinction of being one of America’s bloodiest wars and the first to receive widespread journalistic attention through the use of the camera. It very much should be noted that the rise of interest in spirit photography- or the art of capturing ghosts and spirits on film-correlates with the American Civil War. In other words, this particular form of physical mediumship arose in a period of American history more than slightly concerned with death.
However, like the Fox Sisters, several large name cases caused the art form to be found as faked by the turn of the century. Interestingly, unlike the Fox Sisters, spirit photography is still in use today and still has a following. The technology has changed but ‘modern spirit photography’ brings up more than 6,000,000 hits on Google. Many are ‘classic’ spirit photos- but a good number of them aren’t.
Spit It Out
Ectoplasm is stuff of ghosts. Believed to literally be the substance through which a ghost will manifest, during the height of physical mediumship it was thought that ectoplasm could be issued from the medium’s body. Often a fluffy white substance, ectoplasm would take on the appearance of cotton balls, gauze or other materials.
Unfortunately, it was often the case that the ectoplasm was literally fluffy white things such as cotton balls or gauze. The medium, often female, would deposit the material into various parts of her clothing (or body) and ‘materialize’ it during a sitting. The sitting would take place in low light conditions and it would appear that the ectoplasm would be appearing out of nowhere. As with both spirit knocking and spirit photography, the belief in ectoplasm as a viable form of ghost contact had fallen out of favor by World War II.
More Information
Haunted Western New York-The Fox Sisters
Haunted Western New York-Spirit Photography
Horrific Knits 