PLANCHETTE, OR THE DESPAIR OF SCIENCE, 1869
It must not be supposed that the “little plank” will be equally communicative under the fingers of all. In the majority of cases it obstinately refuses to move. The failures are very numerous. Probably not more than ten out of a hundred persons in a mixed assemblage would be found, through whom the phenomena would take place; and in these hundred there might possibly be one who would prove a good medium.
(Epes Sargent, Planchette, or The Despair of Science).
Epes Sargent (1813-1880) named his 1869 book, Planchette, or The Despair of Science, “being a full account of modern spiritualism, its phenomena, and the various theories regarding it” after the planchette because he believed it epitomized the despair of science against spiritualism. Sargent, an author, editor, playwright, and mesmerist, worked for the Boston Transcript at the time of the Hydesville rappings and directed significant media attention towards the phenomenon.
Sargent proposes that future historians will wonder why the planchette suddenly became so popular, but he answers the question himself. Although the French planchettes in 1853, an American toymaker took over their production in 1868. They began to sell in bookstores along with spiritual books such as this one.
Other then word of mouth, print media was essential to the spread of spiritualism. As the literacy rate increased in Europe and North America, books became more commercially available to the middle and lower classes. Technology was also streamlined to mass print books at a lower cost. Publishers competed for book sales in part by the cover materials and designs.
Planchettes and other spiritual devices like crystal balls and alphabet dials, were marketed as novelty items to increase book sales.
They were cheap and easy to produce, but more importantly they were easy to use. Despite Sargant’s assertion the planchette could only produce results with a medium, this belief became less popular as the century progressed. People wanted to have fun talking to spirits without paying mediums, and the planchette was the perfect inexpensive alternative.