Buzz
Spiritualism, which asserts that the living can communicate with the deceased, has been the source of significant wealth for many. It’s reached a point where nearly anyone can create a show, whether on tour or from the comfort of their own home.
It gained popularity across all walks of life: from the poor to the wealthy, and from the uneducated to the most esteemed members of society. People longed to believe that something awaited them beyond death. They yearned to reconnect with lost loved ones, while others simply sought entertainment.
Although many people were entertained by the spiritualists, a growing number of individuals sought to expose them as frauds.
10. An American in Paris
How could a woman in the late 19th century gather enough funds to explore the world? By convincing people that she had the ability to communicate with the dead.
Mrs. Mary Williams gained massive popularity in the United States, and in 1894, she decided to take her act to Europe. She had a list of planned destinations, including Berlin, The Hague, and St. Petersburg. Her first stop was Paris, but the French were ready to expose her. During her initial séance, one man “captured the spirit, which turned out to be a doll, while others lit the candles.”
Mrs. Williams was caught wearing men's clothing while attempting to fake the spirit of a Swedish man. She tried to escape but was apprehended and forced to give everyone a refund. She was warned that she would be arrested if she tried to repeat the trick. Williams fled to England.
9. Naughty Parrot
Many spiritualists employed assistants who would tap on windows and produce otherworldly sounds. However, in Osuna, Spain, one spiritualist had a parrot as her helper.
This particular spiritualist spent countless hours teaching her parrot various phrases. During séances, the bird would utter specific lines from its concealed spot behind some curtains. The voice of the parrot was believed to be that of a long-deceased nun.
In one notable séance in 1913, the parrot decided it had enough of hiding and flew out from behind the curtains, landing directly on the séance table. This caused an uproar, and the attendees angrily mobbed the spiritualist, leaving her badly injured.
8. Spirits Reading The Mail
We've all witnessed the trick where someone writes a note, seals it in an envelope, and a magician or so-called “psychic” pretends to read the hidden message. Dr. Walter E. Reid ran a similar con in Grand Rapids, Michigan, back in 1890.
According to the man’s advertisement, those wishing to communicate with the deceased could write a question on a piece of paper, seal it in an envelope, and send it along with a dollar to Dr. Reid. He would then summon the spirit to provide an answer. If someone was particularly skeptical, they could seal the envelope with wax or sew it shut with thread for added security. This extra step for peace of mind cost a few more dollars, probably due to the added effort of opening, reading, and resealing the letter.
Unfortunately for Dr. Reid, who was also the president of the Michigan Spiritualists’ Association, he was charged with mail fraud. His profitable spiritual mail-reading service caught the attention of the postmaster, leading to his downfall.
7. The Flower Medium of Berlin
Frau Rothe’s séances created quite a buzz, as flowers and fruits would reportedly materialize during her sessions. According to her, these items were gifts from the spirits. This unique feature made her “shows” especially popular.
In 1903, news broke worldwide that Frau Rothe had been exposed as a fraud, tried in court, and found guilty. She had deceived not just everyday people, but also several German officials with her trickery involving materializing flowers and fruit. However, detectives caught her in the act of deception.
The police first managed to place a female detective into Rothe’s séance group. Later, a male detective joined the circle, and during one particular séance, Frau Rothe was apprehended while supposedly in a trance.
She was thoroughly searched, and flowers and fruit were discovered hidden within her petticoats. Frau claimed that the spirits had placed the items there for her. Upon further investigation, the police traced where she had purchased the goods.
After a six-day trial, Frau Rothe was sentenced to 18 months in prison for fraud.
6. A Medium of Many Clothes
Mrs. Elsie Reynolds conducted her séances at the Grand Pacific Hotel in California. Before one particular séance in 1906, she was warned that someone might attempt to expose her as a fraud. To stay ahead of her would-be accuser, she hired a guard to stay in the séance room and keep watch over her medium’s cabinet.
Enter Selma Savoy, who hoped to contact her deceased sister. Mrs. Reynolds obliged, and the guard stood by during the séance, cane in hand, to protect the secrets within the cabinet. When Mrs. Reynolds assumed the form of the dead sister, Selma quickly sprang up and grabbed her. A struggle broke out, and the medium and her guard fought their way out of the main room and into an adjoining area, where the police were waiting.
Caught in the act of impersonating a summoned spirit, police discovered that Mrs. Reynolds had multiple spirit costumes made of delicate white material hidden under her dress. She was exposed as a fraud, and the police began gathering complaints against her for the upcoming trial.
5. Wardrobe Problem
In 1920, London had a significant number of spiritualists and believers, so it wasn’t surprising that Mr. Chambers decided to hold a few séance sessions there. What he didn’t expect, however, was that people were actively working to expose mediums as frauds. During one session, a gentleman noticed the muslin fabric worn by the supposed spirit. He also saw that the spirit wore boots, but decided to remain silent until the next séance.
During Mr. Chambers’s final séance in London, one of the participants turned on a flashlight, revealing the spirit. To everyone’s shock, they saw “Chambers with his coat and waistcoat removed, his boots off, and his trousers rolled up to the knee. He had a white cloth hanging from his waist and a handkerchief on his head, and was wrapped in a considerable amount of white muslin.”
Chambers attempted to claim that he was under the influence of a spirit, but the audience wasn’t fooled. Instead, Mr. Chambers was forced to sign a confession, which was later published in the newspapers.
4. Grabbed in the Spirit Form
F.W. Courtney was known for his dramatic performances during séances, earning the title of “full form materializer,” meaning he could supposedly summon spirits and make them appear. Originally from California, Courtney traveled to Detroit to make his fortune. He held séances there for about a month before being exposed in 1893.
William Cox attended Courtney’s final séance in Detroit. After Courtney summoned a deceased woman, Cox decided to leap from his seat and capture the spirit. Instead of a spirit, Cox grabbed hold of Courtney. Chaos ensued, and someone turned on the lights, revealing that by this point, Courtney had stripped down to his trousers to escape Cox’s grasp.
In his attempt to flee, Courtney called out a name, and a woman rushed into the room, aiming a revolver at Cox’s head. However, she soon lost control of the gun, and Courtney realized he had been outplayed. He quickly offered to leave Detroit immediately in exchange for the crowd not involving the police. The deal was made, and he was forced to refund all of his audience’s money.
True to his word, Courtney packed up his costumes, wigs, and makeup and fled the city. As he left, other spiritualists threatened him with death if he ever dared to return.
3. Never Shake Hands With The Living
Back in 1877, a medium from Portland, Maine, could have saved herself some trouble if she had followed the rule: “No physical contact with the living.” Her act involved sitting behind a screen in a corner of the room while sending out spirit forms to engage with the attendees.
While most people might have been suspicious of such a setup, the medium had a clever way of ensuring the audience that she wasn’t deceiving them. Before the séance began, she would sit on a stool behind the screen and let the sitters pin her skirts to the floor. Once the lights went out, the performance began.
Spirits were summoned and emerged from behind the screen to interact with the sitters. One man, bold enough to test the spirit’s authenticity, asked it to shake his hand. When the spirit extended its hand, the man seized it—and the medium herself. He held on, and the lights came back on.
Behind the screen, the sitters were shocked to find that the medium had simply slipped out of her skirts to carry out her supposed spiritual activities.
2. Spirit Land Photographs
S.W. Fallis, a Chicago-based medium, claimed to have the ability to create photographs unlike any others. He boasted of having the “power to produce on cardboard the features of departed ones as they have grown to be in ‘spirit land.’” It was quite a lucrative business for him, and in 1905, it was discovered that he had used the same photograph multiple times.
Mrs. Louisa Reed sought out Fallis’s services to learn what her deceased child now looked like in the spirit world. The photo she received showed a beautiful five-year-old child. She took the picture to another photographer for enlargement, only to learn that the same image had been used many times before. The second photographer revealed that Fallis had deceived her.
1. Kissing Spirits
Mediums often needed a unique trick to grab attention and set themselves apart from the competition. They’d use clever mechanisms like loops on their chairs, allowing them to slip their hands into them to create the illusion that they weren’t engaging in any trickery. What many didn’t realize, however, was that the medium could easily slip their hands out of the loops once the lights went off.
In a surprising event in Detroit in 1885, a man publicly denounced spiritualism as a fraud during a seance. After the lights were extinguished, the medium not only played his guitar in the dark, but also used a long-handled paddle covered in soft flannel to lightly touch the sitters on the cheek while making a kissing sound. One man decided to grab hold of the source of the kiss and discovered the paddle. There was a brief struggle, but the medium managed to slip back into his seat and into the safety of his loops.
Refusing to be tricked, the man spoke up, prompting a nearby police officer to arrest the medium on fraud charges. Among the sitters, only one woman remained convinced the experience was genuine. She said, “I know enough about kissing to tell the difference between a bathing swab and a real kiss. I tell you, I was kissed.” Her proclamation was met with laughter from the crowd, which silenced her declaration.
