Calling the Spirits : A History of Seances / Lisa Morton.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Morton, Lisa, 1958- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Seances.

Spiritualism--History.

Spiritualism.

Seances--History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (353 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

London, England : Reaktion Books, [2020]

Summary:

From Halloween expert Morton, a level-headed and entertaining history of our desire and attempts to hold conversations with the dead.Calling the Spirits investigates the eerie history of our conversations with the dead, from necromancy in Homer's Odyssey to the emergence of Spiritualism--when Victorians were entranced by mediums and the seance was born. Among our cast are the Fox sisters, teenagers surrounded by "spirit rappings"; Daniel Dunglas Home, the "greatest medium of all time"; Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, whose unlikely friendship was forged, then riven, by the afterlife; and Helen Duncan, the medium whose trial in 1944 for witchcraft proved more popular to the public than news about the war. The book also considers Ouija boards, modern psychics, and paranormal investigations, and is illustrated with engravings, fine art (from beyond), and photographs. Hugely entertaining, it begs the question: is anybody there . . . ?

Contents:

Cover

Title Page

Copyright Page

Contents

Introduction

1. Summoning The Old Spirits

2. Early Necromancy

3. Darkness Across The Enlightenment And The Romantic Gothic

4. The Victorians And Spiritualism

Or, The Seance Is Born

5. Wars And Ouija: Spiritualism In The Twentieth Century

6. How Universal Is The Seance?

7. The Modern Seance

8. (Why) Do We Need The Seance?

References

Select Bibliography

Acknowledgements

Photo Acknowledgements.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9781789142815

1789142814

OCLC:

1181843202