The candlelight flickers, stretching shadows along the walls. The air is thick with anticipation, heavy with the scent of wax and something else, something older. Around the table, hands clasp tightly, knuckles white. Silence. The medium inhales deeply, eyes rolling back. Then…knock.
A gasp. A question whispered into the void. The table trembles beneath their fingertips. Another knock. Closer. Is it the dead, reaching through the veil? Or something else, just out of sight?
For centuries, séances have promised a connection to those lost to the grave. They have comforted the grieving, deceived the desperate, and confounded even the most skeptical minds. Whether seen as a sacred ritual, a parlor trick, or a gateway to something beyond understanding, séances have left their mark on history, drawing in believers and skeptics alike — including the greatest magician of all time, Harry Houdini.
But where did they begin? Who first attempted to summon the dead? And why, despite countless exposures of fraud, do people still gather in darkened rooms, listening for the faintest sign that the dead are listening?
Let’s turn down the lights and look back at the long, haunted history of séances.
The Origin of the Séance: When Did We Start Talking to the Dead?
Communing with the dead is hardly a new idea. Long before Victorian parlors were filled with ghostly whispers and mysterious rappings, ancient civilizations sought messages from beyond the grave. The Greeks visited necromanteions, underground temples where the dead were said to speak. The Chinese practiced fuji, a form of spirit writing. Medieval Europe was filled with tales of witches and mystics summoning spirits, though such practices were often branded as heresy.
But séances as we know them, groups of people gathering to deliberately contact spirits, didn’t take shape until the 19th century, when a cultural shift towards Spiritualism swept across America and Europe.
The movement’s birth is often traced to Hydesville, New York, in 1848, when two young sisters, Maggie and Kate Fox who claimed they could communicate with a spirit through mysterious knocking sounds. The girls, just 14 and 11 at the time, said a ghost was answering their questions through a series of coded raps on the walls and floors. Their older sister, Leah, soon turned their talents into a sensation. The Fox Sisters became the first celebrity mediums, sparking a movement that would enthrall and deceive millions.
Spiritualism spread like wildfire, promising not just proof of the afterlife, but a direct line to it. Suddenly, séances were not just the domain of mystics and secret societies — they became fashionable among the upper class, even attracting presidents and scientists into their dimly lit circles.
But how did they work?
How Did Séances Work?
A true séance wasn’t just about lighting a few candles and asking questions into the dark. It had rules, rituals, and an air of performance that made the experience feel authentic, even when it wasn’t.
At the heart of every séance was a medium, the person who claimed to act as a conduit between the living and the dead. There was also the circle of participants who would sit in a ring, often holding hands to create an unbroken link of energy. And then, on top of this was the various methods a medium might use to summon spirits.
Some of the more popular methods throughout the history of séances were:
Table Tipping – The table would rock, shake, or even levitate in response to the spirits. (From Daily Mail)
Automatic Writing – The medium would let their hand be guided by an unseen force, writing out messages from the beyond. (The one pictured above is from Francis Ward Monck – 1919)
Spirit Trumpets – Hollow cones that supposedly amplified the whispered voices of ghosts. (From Potter & Potter Auctions)
Rappings – Knocks and taps that responded to yes-or-no questions. (Dude on the right has seen some things | From: Daily Mail)
Of course, not every séance was genuine. Many mediums used tricks like hidden wires, ventriloquism, and secret accomplices to create the illusion of ghostly activity. But for those desperate to hear from lost loved ones, the experience was real enough. (Click here for some old books about spiritualism / séances)
And sometimes, séances weren’t just held in homes.
Where Did Séances Take Place?
While séances started in private parlors, where the wealthy and curious could host their own spirit circles, they soon became a public spectacle. As the history of séances unfolded, professional mediums moved beyond intimate gatherings, bringing their performances to theaters, music halls, and grand stages, drawing audiences eager for a glimpse beyond the veil.
The White House
There’s a popular claim that Jane Pierce invited the Fox Sisters to the White House in 1853 to contact her son Bennie, who had been killed in a horrific train accident just weeks before Franklin Pierce’s inauguration. By this point, the Pierces had lost all three of their sons, and Jane was convinced it was divine punishment for her husband’s political ambitions.
But while Jane’s overwhelming grief is well-documented, there’s no solid evidence that she ever hosted the Fox Sisters or participated in a séance. What is known is that she withdrew almost entirely from public life, spending her time writing letters to Bennie as a form of coping. Some have speculated that she may have sought out a medium privately, as Spiritualism was gaining traction in America, but no verifiable records confirm it. Like many stories surrounding séances and political figures, this one seems to have taken on a life of its own.
Still, the fact that the legend persists says something about the era—Spiritualism was booming, fueled by grief and the desperate hope that death wasn’t the end. Whether Jane sought comfort from spirits or simply from her own pen, her sorrow became part of the broader fascination with life beyond the grave, shaping how we remember this chapter in the history of séances.
Séances in the White House: Mary Todd Lincoln and the Spirit World
Grief-stricken after the death of her son Willie in 1862, Mary Todd Lincoln turned to Spiritualism, attending séances in the White House and consulting mediums like Nettie Colburn Maynard and the fraudulent “Lord” Charles Colchester. By this time, Spiritualism had exploded in popularity, fueled by the staggering death toll of the Civil War. As the history of séances continued to evolve, these gatherings became more than personal rituals, they were woven into the political and social fabric of the era. Mary, desperate for answers, believed the spirits spoke to her—sometimes warning of conspiracies within Lincoln’s Cabinet.
Rumors swirled that President Lincoln himself had attended a séance.1First Ladies & The Occult: Séances and Spiritualists, Part 1 A sensational April 1863 article in the Boston Saturday Evening Gazette claimed Lincoln hosted a “spiritual soirée” in the Red Room, attended by Secretaries Stanton and Welles, with a medium named Charles E. Shockle. The spirits allegedly pinched Stanton’s ears, tweaked Welles’ beard, and moved objects around the room. When Lincoln returned after briefly stepping out, the ghost of Henry Knox delivered wartime advice, while Stephen A. Douglas’ spirit urged him to press on.
Though the Gazette retracted the story two months later, the tale took on a life of its own. Lincoln’s critics painted him as a deluded spirit-rapper, while Spiritualists cited it as proof of his belief.2A Seance in the White House In reality, Lincoln was a skeptic. While he humored Mary’s séances, his close friends insisted he never took them seriously. Yet he once admitted, “Since Willie’s death, I catch myself every day involuntarily talking with him as if he were with me.”
Spiritualist Camps: The Towns That Talked to the Dead
As Spiritualism swept the 19th and early 20th centuries, believers didn’t just want séances in their parlors—they wanted entire communities devoted to talking to the dead. Enter the Spiritualist camps, seasonal retreats (and in some cases, year-round settlements) where mediums, healers, and seekers gathered to commune with the afterlife. These camps became an integral part of the history of séances, offering dedicated spaces where spirit communication wasn’t just a private ritual, but a way of life.
The most famous was Lily Dale, New York (est. 1879), a thriving Spiritualist hub that still operates today. In Florida, Cassadaga (1894) was founded by a medium who claimed spirits told him where to settle—earning it the nickname “Psychic Capital of the World.” Others, like Chesterfield, Indiana (1886) and Camp Etna, Maine (1876), became bustling villages where séances, spirit photography, and trance readings were part of daily life. Some, like Lake Pleasant, Massachusetts (1870) and Onset Bay, Massachusetts (1877), started as small tent camps before growing into full-fledged towns with hotels, lecture halls, and permanent resident mediums.
But by the mid-20th century, the movement faded. The rise of scientific skepticism, fraud exposures, and changing religious beliefs thinned their numbers. Many camps disappeared, but a few—like Lily Dale and Cassadaga—still hold séances, ghostly lectures, and spirit readings today.
At their height, these weren’t just camps—they were entire towns built on the belief that the dead were never really gone.
Theaters and Halls: Séances as Spectacle
As Spiritualism exploded in the mid-to-late 19th century, some mediums weren’t content with dimly lit parlors and private gatherings. Instead, they took their acts to theaters and public halls, drawing packed crowds eager to witness full-body spirit manifestations, ghostly apparitions, and messages from the beyond. These large-scale performances became a defining chapter in the history of séances, transforming what was once an intimate ritual into a spectacle of wonder, belief, and deception.
The Fox Sisters, whose spirit-rapping performances had launched the Spiritualist movement, were among the first to bring séances to the stage. Soon, others followed. Mediums like Florence Cook, who claimed to conjure a spirit named “Katie King,” and Eusapia Palladino, known for her dramatic physical phenomena, held séances in large venues, where flickering gaslight and shadowy curtains added to the eerie atmosphere. These performances often included floating objects, ghostly figures emerging from cabinets, and even spirits appearing to walk among the audience, further cementing their place in the history of séances.
By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, theaters across New York, London, and Paris hosted these public séances, blurring the line between religion and entertainment. Skeptics frequently attended, hoping to expose frauds, but the allure of the unknown, the desperate hope of grieving families, and the sheer spectacle of it all kept audiences coming back.
For some mediums, these public displays led to fame and fortune. For others, exposure as frauds meant scandal and disgrace. But for those who sat in the dark, watching as ghostly figures seemed to materialize before their eyes, the question remained—was it all just a trick, or had they truly glimpsed the other side?
With all this publicity, it wasn’t long before séances caught the attention of the world’s greatest illusionist.
Houdini vs. The Séance
If anyone could see through the tricks of the séance, it was Harry Houdini. The legendary magician once believed in an afterlife, but after losing his mother, he attended séances and found only fraud.
Houdini set out to expose deception, debunking fraudulent mediums by crashing séances and revealing their hidden tricks. His most infamous takedown was of Margery the Medium, one of the most celebrated spiritualists of the 1920s. Houdini exposed her as a fraud, showing how she used her foot to manipulate objects and create “spirit” knocks.
His crusade against fake mediums ended his friendship with Sir Anthony Conan Doyle, a devoted Spiritualist who believed Houdini had supernatural powers of his own. But perhaps the greatest irony of Houdini’s battle against séances came after his death.
Before dying in 1926, Houdini promised his wife, Bess, he would send a secret message if communication was possible. Every year on Halloween, for ten years, Bess held a séance, hoping for a sign.
The message never came.
The Golden Age of Séances Ends (Or Does It?)
By the early 20th century, the séance boom began to unravel. What was once an unstoppable movement, attracting believers from all backgrounds, began to face its greatest threat: exposure.
Investigators caught high-profile mediums using hidden accomplices, concealed wires, and sleight-of-hand tricks to deceive huge audiences and wealthy patrons. Skeptics like Harry Houdini and the Society for Psychical Research exposed fraudulent practices in Spiritualism. As investigators exposed more “miraculous” séances as mere parlor tricks, the public began losing faith in Spiritualism.
At the same time, entertainment was evolving. The rise of radio, film, and photography provided new ways to captivate the masses, making séances seem outdated in comparison. Science and psychology provided new explanations for ghostly voices and floating tables, challenging beliefs about spirits and the afterlife. Researchers reinterpreted what once seemed supernatural as subconscious desires, auto-suggestion, or even fraud.
But despite these blows, séances never truly disappeared. In the 1920s and 1930s, Spiritualism adapted as mediums focused on private readings and spirit photography for proof. Ghostly images on film seemed to confirm life after death, offering hope to those seeking contact with lost loved ones. The horrors of two World Wars revived Spiritualism as grieving families found comfort in believing their dead still existed.
Séances in the Modern Age: A Tradition That Refuses to Die
Today, séances have transformed from a religion to folklore, paranormal tourism, and pop culture. They remain central to ghost hunting and psychic practices. Even with AI and digital forensics, people still gather in dark rooms, hands clasped, listening for a knock from beyond.
Whether spirits respond or the sounds are history’s echoes, one thing is clear. Ee still long to talk to the dead.
Are You Listening?
Maybe the true power of the séance isn’t in its results, but in the fact that people keep trying. We fear death, we mourn, we wonder if the ones we love are still out there, watching, waiting. And if they are, maybe they’re listening right now.
So tell me, have you ever sat in a séance circle, waiting for a knock? Did you hear something? Feel something? Or was it just your imagination playing tricks on you?
