Mediumship is the practice of allegedly helping spirits or the dead communicate with living people. People who do this are called "mediums" or "spirit mediums." There are different ways to practice mediumship, such as using séance tables, entering a trance state, or using a Ouija board. This practice is connected to spiritualism and spiritism. A similar practice in the New Age movement is called channeling.

Many people believe in psychic abilities, even though there is no scientific proof that they exist. Scientists have studied mediumship for over 100 years and have not found any evidence that it works. In 2005, an experiment by the British Psychological Society showed that people who claimed to be mediums did not have any special abilities.

Mediumship became popular in the 1800s when Ouija boards were used for fun. However, investigations at that time found that many people were tricking others, using methods similar to those of magicians. This made the practice less trusted. Today, fraud is still common in the medium or psychic industry, with many cases of dishonesty and deception discovered regularly.

There are several types of mediumship. One common form is when a spirit is said to take control of a medium's voice to deliver a message. Another is when the medium hears the message and shares it with others. Other forms include spirits appearing as physical forms, hearing voices, or causing objects to move without being touched.

Concept

In Spiritism and Spiritualism, a medium acts as a link between the living and the spirit world. Mediums claim they can hear messages from spirits and share them with others, or allow spirits to control their body to speak directly or use automatic writing or drawing.

Spiritualists divide mediumship into two main types: "mental" and "physical":

• Mental mediums say they can connect with the spirit world by listening, sensing, or seeing spirits or symbols.
• Physical mediums are believed to create visible effects, such as making spirits appear, moving objects, or causing sounds like knocking or ringing bells, using a substance called "ectoplasm" made from their own cells and those of people at the séance.

During séances, mediums are said to enter trances, which range from light to deep, allowing spirits to influence their thoughts.

Channeling is a newer form of mediumship, where a person called a "channel" claims to receive messages from a "teaching-spirit," an "Ascended master," God, or an angelic being, but these messages are filtered through their own conscious mind, also called their "Higher Self."

History

People have tried to talk to the dead and other spirits since ancient times. One example is the story of the Witch of Endor in the Bible.

Mediumship became popular in the 19th century in the United States and the United Kingdom after Spiritualism became a religious movement. Modern Spiritualism began in 1848 when the Fox sisters in New York shared their experiences and gave lectures. Mediums like Paschal Beverly Randolph and Emma Hardinge Britten were well-known speakers and writers about Spiritualism during the middle of the 19th century. Allan Kardec created the term "Spiritism" around 1860. He said that conversations with spirits, led by chosen mediums, formed the basis of his book The Spirits' Book and later his five-book collection called the Spiritist Codification.

Some scientists who studied Spiritualism became believers. These included chemist Robert Hare, physicist William Crookes, and evolutionary biologist Alfred Russel Wallace. Nobel Prize winner Pierre Curie studied the work of medium Eusapia Palladino seriously. Other important supporters were journalist William T. Stead and author Arthur Conan Doyle.

After people discovered that some physical mediums used magic tricks, like the Davenport Brothers and the Bangs Sisters, mediumship lost public trust. However, Spiritualism continued, with physical mediumship and seances becoming less common, while platform mediumship gained more attention.

In the late 1920s and early 1930s, about 250,000 people practiced Spiritualism in the United Kingdom, and there were around 2,000 Spiritualist groups. Small communities focused on platform mediumship and "home circles" also thrived. Today, Spiritualism is still practiced mainly through Spiritualist churches in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom. In the United Kingdom alone, over 340 Spiritualist churches and centers are open to the public, and free demonstrations of mediumship are often held.

Terminology

In 1958, American Spiritualist C. Dorreen Phillips wrote about her experiences with a medium at Camp Chesterfield, Indiana: "In Rev. James Laughton's séances, there are many Indians. They are very noisy and appear to have great power. […] The little guides, or doorkeepers, are usually Indian boys and girls who act as messengers who help to locate the spirit friends who wish to speak with you."

A spirit that uses a medium to use psychic "energy" or "energy systems."

In old-line Spiritualism, a part of the services, usually toward the end, is used for demonstrations of mediumship through claimed contact with the spirits of the dead. A typical example of this way of describing a mediumistic church service is found in the 1958 autobiography of C. Dorreen Phillips. She writes of the worship services at the Spiritualist Camp Chesterfield in Chesterfield, Indiana: "Services are held each afternoon, consisting of hymns, a lecture on philosophy, and demonstrations of mediumship."

Today, "demonstration of mediumship" is part of the church service at all churches connected to the National Spiritualist Association of Churches (NSAC) and the Spiritualists' National Union (SNU). Demonstration links to NSAC's Declaration of Principle #9. "We affirm that the precepts of Prophecy and Healing are Divine attributes proven through Mediumship."

"Mental mediumship" is communication between spirits and a medium through telepathy. The medium mentally "hears" (clairaudience), "sees" (clairvoyance), and/or "feels" (clairsentience) messages from spirits. Directly or with the help of a spirit guide, the medium passes the information on to the message's recipient(s). When a medium is doing a "reading" for a particular person, that person is known as the "sitter."

In the 1860s and 1870s, trance mediums, also known as trance speakers, were very popular. This allowed women, many of whom had strong interests in social justice, to speak in public in an era where doing so went against existing social norms. Many trance mediums delivered passionate speeches on abolitionism, temperance, and women's suffrage. Scholars have described Leonora Piper as one of the most famous trance mediums in the history of Spiritualism.

Trance speakers believed that entering a trance gave them access to the spirits and, through them, to knowledge inaccessible in the waking world. Sometimes an assistant would write down the medium's words, such as in the early 20th century collaboration between the trance medium Mrs. Cecil M. Cook of the William T. Stead Memorial Center in Chicago (a religious body incorporated under the statutes of the State of Illinois) and the journalist Lloyd Kenyon Jones. The latter was a non-medium Spiritualist who transcribed Cook's messages in shorthand. He edited them for publication in book and pamphlet form.

Castillo (1995) states,

Physical mediumship is when spirits use energy and energy systems. This type of mediumship is said to involve things that can be seen or heard, such as loud raps and noises, voices, materialized objects, apports, materialized spirit bodies, or body parts such as hands, legs, and feet. The medium is used as a source of power for such spirit manifestations. By some accounts, this was achieved by using the energy or ectoplasm released by a medium, see spirit photography. The last physical medium to be tested by a committee from Scientific American was Mina Crandon in 1924.

Most physical mediumship is presented in a dark or dimly lit room. Most physical mediums make use of a traditional array of tools and items, including spirit trumpets, spirit cabinets, and levitation tables.

Direct voice communication refers to the idea that spirits speak independently of the medium, who helps make the phenomenon happen rather than producing it. The role of the medium is to connect the physical and spirit worlds. Trumpets are often used to amplify the signal, and directed voice mediums are sometimes known as "trumpet mediums." This form of mediumship also allows the medium to participate in the discussion during séances, since the medium's voice is not required by the spirit to communicate. Leslie Flint was one of the best known exponents of this form of mediumship.

Psychic senses

Mental mediums use senses that may be described differently than in other areas that study the paranormal. A medium is someone who has psychic abilities, but not all people with psychic powers work as mediums. For example, the term "clairvoyance" can mean seeing spirits or visions given by the spirit world. The Parapsychological Association defines "clairvoyance" as information received directly from an external physical source.

• Clairvoyance, or "clear seeing," is the ability to see things that are not physically present, such as objects, animals, or people. This vision happens "in the mind's eye." Some mediums say this is their usual way of seeing. Others say they must train their minds through practices like meditation to develop this ability and often need help from spiritual guides. Some clairvoyant mediums can see spirits as if they have physical bodies, as though the spirit is physically present. Other mediums see spirits in their minds, like a movie, a television show, or a still picture in their thoughts.

• Clairaudience, or "clear hearing," is usually defined as the ability to hear the voices or thoughts of spirits. Some mediums hear as if someone is speaking to them outside their head, as if the spirit is near them. Others hear voices inside their minds as thoughts.

• Clairsentience, or "clear sensing," is the ability to understand what a spirit wants to communicate or to feel physical sensations given by a spirit.

• Clairsentinence, or "clear feeling," is a condition where the medium experiences the same physical problems that a spirit had before death.

• Clairalience, or "clear smelling," is the ability to detect scents from a spirit. For example, a medium might smell pipe tobacco from a person who smoked during life.

• Clairgustance, or "clear tasting," is the ability to receive taste impressions from a spirit.

• Claircognizance, or "clear knowing," is the ability to know something without using normal or psychic senses. It feels like "just knowing." A medium might feel certain that a message or situation is "right" or "wrong."

Explanations

Spiritualists believe that events performed by mediums (both mental and physical) are caused by spirits from the other side. Researchers like Thomson Jay Hudson in The Law of Psychic Phenomena (1892) and Théodore Flournoy in Spiritism and Psychology (1911) argued that all types of mediumship could be explained by the medium’s own suggestions or telepathy (sending thoughts without speaking), and that there was no proof for the idea of spirits. Later, the idea that telepathy explains mediumship was combined into the "super-ESP" theory, which some parapsychologists now support.

In their book How to Think About Weird Things: Critical Thinking for a New Age, authors Theodore Schick and Lewis Vaughn wrote that the spiritualist and ESP theories about mediumship "have not made new predictions, assume unknown forces or entities, and contradict scientific evidence."

Scientists who study anomalistic psychology believe that mediumship is often the result of fraud or psychological factors. Research over more than 100 years has shown that when fraud is not involved, mediumship and Spiritualist practices can be explained by hypnotism, magical thinking, and suggestion. Trance mediumship, which Spiritualists say is caused by spirits speaking through the medium, can be explained by dissociative identity disorder.

Illusionists, like Joseph Rinn, have created fake séances where people claimed to see real supernatural events. Albert Moll studied the psychology of people who attend séances. According to (Wolffram, 2012), Moll said that the dark, hypnotic environment of a séance room and the influence of the experimenters’ authority could explain why rational people claimed to see supernatural things. Psychologists Leonard Zusne and Warren Jones wrote in Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical Thinking (1989) that "spirit controls" are the result of the medium’s own psychological processes.

A dishonest medium might learn about their sitters by secretly listening to their conversations or searching phone books, the internet, and newspapers before a session. A method called cold reading can also be used, where the medium gathers information from the sitter’s appearance, clothing, posture, or jewelry.

Psychologist Richard Wiseman wrote:

In experiments where fake séances were held, (Wiseman et al., 2003) participants were told by an actor that a table was levitating, even though it was not moving. About one-third of the people said the table had moved. More believers than disbelievers reported this. In another test, believers claimed a handbell had moved when it had not, and said they believed the fake séances had real paranormal activity. These results showed that believers are more likely to be influenced by suggestions that match their belief in the paranormal.

In a 2019 TV segment on Last Week Tonight, John Oliver criticized the media for promoting mediums, saying this makes viewers think these powers are real and allows unscrupulous people to take advantage of grieving families. He said, "When psychic abilities are presented as real, it encourages a large group of dishonest people who profit by offering fake connections to the afterlife and other services."

Fraud

From the beginning until now, mediumship practices have often involved fraud and trickery. Séances are often held in the dark, which makes it easier for people to hide their tricks. Scientists have studied physical mediumship and found that many of these practices are based on deception. Ectoplasm, a substance claimed to be supernatural, was later discovered to be made from cheesecloth, butter, muslin, and cloth. Mediums also used cut-out faces from magazines and newspapers, attached to cloth or props, and used plastic dolls during séances to pretend that spirits were contacting them. In his book An Encyclopaedia of Occultism (1960), Lewis Spence wrote:

In Britain, the Society for Psychical Research has studied mediumship. Their investigations into claimed mediums and the exposure of fake ones led to many Spiritualist members resigning. On the topic of fraud in mediumship, Paul Kurtz wrote:

Magicians have long exposed the deceptive methods used in mediumship. Early people who uncovered fraud included Chung Ling Soo, Henry Evans, and Julien Proskauer. Later magicians who revealed fraud were Joseph Dunninger, Harry Houdini, and Joseph Rinn. Rose Mackenberg, a private investigator who worked with Houdini in the 1920s, was one of the most well-known people to expose psychic fraud in the mid-20th century.

Many 19th-century mediums were found to be involved in fraud. While supporters of mediumship claim their experiences are real, the Encyclopædia Britannica article on spiritualism notes that in the 19th century, "one by one, the Spiritualist mediums were discovered to be engaged in fraud, sometimes using techniques from stage magicians to convince people of their clairvoyant powers." The article also states that "the exposure of widespread fraud within the spiritualist movement severely damaged its reputation and pushed it to the fringes of society in the United States."

At a séance in the home of solicitor John Snaith Rymer in Ealing in July 1855, a participant named Frederick Merrifield observed that a "spirit-hand" was a false limb attached to the arm of the medium Daniel Dunglas Home. Merrifield also claimed to see Home use his foot during the séance.

The poet Robert Browning and his wife Elizabeth attended a séance on July 23, 1855, in Ealing with the Rymers. During the séance, a spirit face appeared, which Home claimed was the son of Browning who had died as a baby. Browning grabbed the "materialization" and found it to be Home’s bare foot. To make the deception worse, Browning had never lost a son in infancy. In a letter to The Times on December 5, 1902, Browning’s son Robert referred to the incident as "Home was detected in a vulgar fraud." Researchers Joseph McCabe and Trevor H. Hall later exposed Home’s "levitation" as simply him moving across a hidden ledge between two iron balconies.

The psychologist and psychical researcher Stanley LeFevre Krebs exposed the Bangs Sisters as frauds. During a séance, Krebs used a hidden mirror and saw them tampering with a letter inside an envelope and writing a reply under the table, which they claimed was from a spirit. The British materialization medium Rosina Mary Showers was caught in many fraudulent séances throughout her career. In 1874, during a séance with Edward William Cox, a participant looked into the cabinet and seized the spirit, revealing that the headdress belonged to Showers.

In a series of experiments in London at the home of William Crookes in February 1875, the medium Anna Eva Fay convinced Crookes she had genuine psychic powers. Fay later admitted to her fraud and revealed the tricks she used. Frank Herne, a British medium who partnered with Charles Williams, was repeatedly exposed in fraudulent materialization séances. In 1875, he was caught pretending to be a spirit during a séance in Liverpool and was found "clothed in about two yards of stiffened muslin, wound round his head and hanging down as far as his thigh." Florence Cook, who was trained in séance techniques by Herne, was also repeatedly exposed as a fraudulent medium.

The medium Henry Slade was caught in fraud multiple times. In 1876, during a séance in London, Ray Lankester and Bryan Donkin grabbed Slade’s slate before the "spirit" message was written and found the writing already there. Slade also played an accordion with one hand under the table and claimed spirits played it. The magician Chung Ling Soo revealed how Slade performed the trick.

The British medium Francis Ward Monck was investigated by psychical researchers and found to be a fraud. On November 3, 1876, during a séance, a participant demanded Monck be searched. Monck ran from the room, locked himself in another room, and escaped through a window. A pair of stuffed gloves was found in his room, along with cheesecloth, reaching rods, and other fraudulent devices in his luggage. After a trial, Monck was convicted for fraud and sentenced to three months in prison.

In 1876, William Eglinton was exposed as a fraud when the psychical researcher Thomas Colley seized a "spirit" materialization and cut off a portion of its cloak. The cut piece matched cloth found in Eglinton’s suitcase. Colley also pulled the beard off the materialization, revealing it was fake, the same as another found in Eglinton’s suitcase. In 1880, during a séance, a spirit named "Yohlande" materialized. A participant grabbed it and discovered it was the medium Mme. d'Esperance herself.

In September 1878, the British medium Charles Williams and his fellow-medium A. Rita were caught in trickery in Amsterdam. During the séance, a materialized spirit was seized and found to be Rita. A bottle of phosphorus oil, muslin, and a false beard were found among the two mediums.

In 1880, the American stage mentalist Washington Irving Bishop published a book revealing how mediums used secret codes for their clairvoyant readings. The Seybert Commission, a group of faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, exposed fraudulent mediums such as Pierre L. O.