Calling the spirits : a history of seances / Lisa Morton.

  • Morton, Lisa, 1958-
Date:
2020
  • Books

About this work

Description

"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' who later confessed to fraud; Daniel Dunglas Home, often called the greatest medium of all time, who was seen to levitate during sittings; William Crookes, the renowned scientist who risked his reputation to affirm the psychic powers of young Florence Cook; Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, whose unlikely friendship was forged, then riven, by the afterlife; and Helen Duncan, the medium whose 1944 trial for witchcraft proved more popular than war news. The book also considers Ouija boards, modern psychics and paranormal investigations, and is illustrated with engravings, fine art (channelled from beyond), and photographs. Hugely entertaining, it begs the question: is anybody there...?"--From book cover.

Publication/Creation

London, UK : Reaktion Books Ltd, 2020.

Physical description

351 pages : illustrations (some colour) ; 23 cm

Bibliographic information

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

Introduction -- Summoning the old spirits -- Early necromancy -- Darkness across the Enlightenment and the Romantic Gothic -- The Victorians and spiritualism; or, the seance is born -- Wars and ouija: Spiritualism in the Twentieth Century -- How universal is the seance? -- The modern seance -- (Why) do we need the seance?

Languages

Where to find it

  • LocationStatus
    History of Medicine
    BVW /MOR
    Open shelves

Permanent link

Identifiers

ISBN

  • 1789142806
  • 9781789142808