INTRODUCTION: A Fountain of Living Knowledge
Besides which, if it is really true, you must admit that it entirely overthrows Materialism; and then think what a weapon it would be, to assist you in your preaching and teaching.
(Anonymous, Confessions of a Medium).
Experiences with ghost, spirits, haunting, and the other world, whether you believe in them or not, are universal across cultures and time periods. While belief and doubt in the supernatural can be found everywhere, stories of encounters are as varied and bizarre as the spirits themselves.
One of Charles Dickens’ most famous works, A Christmas Carol, heavily features ghosts and spirits. Indeed, perhaps no two things define the Victorian era better than Christmas and ghosts.
Europeans and North Americans in the 19th century had a bit of an obsession with death. Intense mourning traditions, creepy hair jewelry, gothic novels, and seances were just a few of their creations.
Their spiritual disposition seems in direct contradiction to the materialism that also defined the era. The Industrial Revolution had fundamentally changed daily life for the working class. Factory production and capitalism meant losing the daily rituals previously followed for generations, but it also meant gaining an expendable income. Not only were people making more products then had ever existed in human history, they also had access to these things in a way they never had before.
In an effort to push back against this change, spiritualism developed out of previous traditions of mesmerism, folklore, and Christian mysticism. Spiritualism was both a movement and a theme of the century. Although there were popular spiritualist philosophies and common hallmarks, spiritualism meant different things to everyone who believed in it. It required no specific commitments or rules and was often viewed as complimenting rather than contradicting Christian beliefs.
Not everyone labeled themselves as a spiritualist, but almost everyone participated in some sort of spiritualist activity regardless.
Even though spiritualism developed as a counter the materialism of the era, it was not divorced from it. Spiritualists saw science and technology as a way to prove the continuation of the life after death and the existence of a spirit world. They began to research and experiment with the innovations of the era. Invisible forces like electricity and magnetism were now accessible, and many scientists were also dedicated spiritualists. In 1882, the Society of Psychical Research was established in London. Their ranks included chemists, physicists, doctors, authors, psychologists, philosophers, and historians. The society collected accounts of spiritual encounters from the public, conducted experiments on mediums, and published volumes of research.
At the same time, others saw spiritualism for its financial potential. Where there was someone desperate to contact their dead loved one, there was someone trying to con them for their money. However, most spiritualist business ventures focused on entertainment rather than scamming. As the public gained more expendable income and leisure time, the entertainment industry and popular media culture developed as we know it today.
Séance performances were incredibly popular pastimes for both the working class, who went to theaters to see spectacles and magic tricks, and for the middle and upper classes, who held lively seances as part of dinner parties at their homes. Along with this trend came a vast material culture of novelty items, from simple devices to contact spirits like planchettes to gilded volumes of spiritualist treaties. Spiritualism also had a cyclical relationship with popular fiction, where serious works dedicated to the existence of ghosts would influence fictional ghost stories and vice versa. These items catered to a vast array of audiences as they were normally purchased as gifts for special occasions.
As the spiritual craze died down after the First World War, many of these objects and books were forgotten about. Tucked away into dark shelves or sold off as part of estate sales, they were thought to have little academic value or interest.
In the materialistic and commodity driven Victorian world emerged the popular phenomenon of speaking to spirits through innovate devices. These objects of wonder attempt to bridge the gap between the known and the unknown, the normal and the paranormal, the physical and the psychical. The books in the Fisher Library's Psychical Research Collection demonstrate some of the materials and methods the Victorians used to try and document, communicate with, and ultimately fail to prove the existence of the spirit world. However, their fantastical devices ended up being hidden predecessors to both legitimate scientific and technological advancements, and the pop culture phenomenon of paranormal research.