A séance is an effort to talk to the spirits of people who have died. The word "séance" comes from the French word for "session," which itself comes from the Old French word "seoir," meaning "to sit." In French, the word "séance" is used for many kinds of meetings, such as "a movie session." In English, however, the word is most often used to describe a gathering where people try to receive messages from ghosts or listen to a spiritual medium speak with spirits. Today, people do not always sit during a séance.
In 1760, a book called Dialogues of the Dead by George, First Baron Lyttelton, included fictional conversations with dead people. Some of the spirits mentioned in the book were Peter the Great, Pericles, a "North-American Savage," William Penn, and Christina, Queen of Sweden. Séances became more popular in the mid-1800s with the start of the Spiritualism religion. One famous example was when Mary Todd Lincoln, who was sad about losing her son, held séances in the White House. Her husband, President Abraham Lincoln, and other important people attended these events.
In 1887, the Seybert Commission report damaged the reputation of Spiritualism by revealing that some séance leaders used tricks and performances to deceive people. Today, séances are still part of religious services in Spiritualist, Spiritist, and Espiritismo churches. These groups focus more on spiritual values than on entertainment.
Varieties
The word "séance" can describe four different activities, each with its own rules, tools, and expected results. In Spiritualism and Divine Metaphysics (a recognized religious group in the United States), séances are part of religious services to communicate with spirits. Spiritualists usually call these sessions "receiving messages" instead of "séance." These services often happen in well-lit churches or outdoors at Spiritualist camps, like Lily Dale in New York or Camp Cassadaga in Florida. A spiritual leader or medium shares messages from spirits with people in the physical world. These services are usually open to the public. Sometimes, the medium stands while the listener sits, and in some churches, a "healing service" with faith healing may happen before the séance.
Some Spiritualist churches also contact spirits connected to the medium or the church itself. For example, the spirit of Black Hawk, a 19th-century Sauk warrior, was often contacted by Spiritualist medium Leafy Anderson. He is still honored in special services at the African American Spiritualist churches she founded.
In Espiritismo, a religion in Latin America similar to Spiritualism, séances are called "misas" (which means "masses"). These sessions often involve communicating with ancestors or Catholic saints.
Performances where a medium contacts spirits on stage, with audience members seated, are sometimes called "séances," even though the medium is not seated. Early practitioner Paschal Beverly Randolph was known for contacting spirits of audience members' relatives and ancient figures like Plato.
Leader-assisted séances usually involve small groups sitting around a table in a dark or dimly lit room. The leader, often called a medium, may enter a trance to allow spirits to communicate through their body. Other methods, like automatic writing, table raps, or spirit trumpets, may also be used. Some believe spirits live in darkness, so dim lighting is used to summon them. Skeptics argue that lighting conditions should not matter, comparing it to buying a car only seen in the dark.
These types of séances often cause controversy if the leader is later found to use tricks or illusions.
People interested in the occult sometimes hold séances without a leader or religious context. Small groups, sometimes just two or three people, may use tools like planchettes or ouija boards. Younger participants might use séances to explore the line between reality and the paranormal.
In these séances, spiritualists and practitioners sit in a circle to communicate with spirits.
Tools and techniques
Mediumship is a practice where a person tries to receive messages from the spirits of the dead or other spirits they believe exist. Some people who choose to be mediums are fully awake and aware while communicating, while others may enter a trance or a different state of awareness. These trance-mediums often say they do not remember the messages they gave after waking up. It is common for them to work with an assistant who writes down or records their words.
Spirit boards, also called talking boards or Ouija boards (named after a popular brand), are flat boards made of materials like wood, Masonite, chipboard, or plastic. The board has symbols, pictures, letters, numbers, and words. A planchette, which is a small tool used on the board, may look like a pointer on three legs or a magnifying glass on legs. Some homemade boards use a shot glass as the planchette. A basic Ouija board usually has the alphabet of the country where it is used, though some boards include whole words.
To use the board, one or more people in a séance place their fingers on the planchette in the center of the board. The medium then asks questions to the spirit or spirits they are trying to contact.
During the second half of the 1800s, some Spiritualist mediums started using special tools for séances, especially in sessions led by a person in a dark room. "Spirit trumpets" were horn-shaped tubes that were said to make spirits' whispers loud enough to hear. "Spirit slates" were two chalkboards tied together, which were claimed to show messages written by spirits when opened. "Séance tables" were lightweight tables that were said to move, float, or rise when spirits were present. "Spirit cabinets" were portable closets where mediums were placed, often tied with ropes, to stop them from using the tools.
Critical objections
Scientific skeptics and atheists often believe that both religious and secular séances are scams or involve dishonest practices, as there is little evidence that supports their claims. Many people who believe in spirit communication have been upset by the discovery that some mediums used tools and methods similar to those in stage magic. In the 1870s, the Davenport Brothers were exposed as illusionists, and in 1887, the Seybert Commission reported findings that ended the first major period of Spiritualism. Magicians like John Nevil Maskelyne and Harry Houdini worked to reveal the tricks of fake mediums during the late 1800s and early 1900s. In 1976, M. Lamar Keene shared techniques he used to deceive people during séances, but he also said he still believed in God, life after death, and other psychic abilities. In 2004, magician Derren Brown performed a séance on television and later explained how he and 19th-century mediums used tricks to create the illusion of paranormal events.
People who criticize channeling, including both skeptics and believers, argue that the most common signs of spirit communication—such as unusual speech or strange movements by the medium—can be easily faked by someone with acting skills. Critics of spirit board communication, including skeptics and believers, say that the idea that spirits move the planchette to spell out messages is not reliable because multiple people often hold the planchette at the same time, allowing any of them to control it without the others knowing. This trick is sometimes used during events like teenage sleepovers to frighten others.
Another criticism of spirit boards involves the ideomotor effect, which is thought to be a subconscious action where a person’s mind unknowingly moves their hand on the planchette. This theory assumes that people have a "subconscious mind," a belief that not everyone agrees with.
The discovery that some mediums used tools to deceive people has led to different reactions. Skeptics have used these findings to argue that all spirit mediumship is dishonest, while believers have stopped using tools but continue to practice mediumship, believing it has spiritual value.
Jews and Catholics are taught that trying to contact or control spirits is wrong, as described in Deuteronomy 18:9–12.
Psychology
Studies in the field of anomalistic psychology have shown that suggestion plays a role in seance experiences. In experiments where fake seances were performed (Wiseman et al., 2003), people who believe in paranormal events and those who do not were told by an actor that a table was floating, even though it stayed still. After the seance, about one-third of the people said the table had moved, even though it had not. More people who believed in paranormal events reported seeing the table move compared to those who did not. In another test, believers also said a handbell had moved when it stayed still and claimed the fake seance had real paranormal activity. These findings show that during seances, people who believe in paranormal events are more likely to accept suggestions that match their beliefs.
Notable mediums, attendees, and debunkers
During the 19th century, some well-known trance medium lecturers were Cora Scott Hatch, Achsa W. Sprague, Emma Hardinge Britten (1823–1899), and Paschal Beverly Randolph (1825–1875).
Some individuals who led small séances with the help of others during the 19th century included the Fox sisters, who performed table-rapping, and the Davenport Brothers, who used a spirit cabinet. Both the Fox sisters and the Davenport Brothers were later found to be cheating.
In the 20th century, notable trance mediums included Edgar Cayce, Arthur Ford, and David Marius Guardino.
People who attended séances and believed in Spiritualism included social reformer Robert Owen, journalist and pacifist William T. Stead, William Lyon Mackenzie King, the Prime Minister of Canada for 22 years, who sought spiritual guidance from his deceased mother, his pet dogs, and the late U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt; journalist and author Lloyd Kenyon Jones; and physician and author Arthur Conan Doyle.
Some artists, such as abstractionist Hilma af Klint, the Regina Five, and Paulina Peavy, credited spirits they contacted during séances for parts or all of their work. Paulina Peavy said, "When I painted, I did not control my brush. It moved on its own, and it was Lacamo (the spirit) who directed it."
Scientists who searched for real séances and believed contact with the dead was possible included chemist William Crookes, evolutionary biologist Alfred Russel Wallace, inventor of radio Guglielmo Marconi, inventor of the telephone Alexander Graham Bell, experimental physicist Oliver Lodge, and inventor of television technology John Logie Baird, who claimed he had contacted the spirit of inventor Thomas Edison.
Researchers who exposed fraudulent mediumship included Frank Podmore of the Society for Psychical Research, Harry Price of the National Laboratory of Psychical Research, stage magician John Nevil Maskelyne (who exposed the Davenport Brothers), and Harry Houdini, who stated he did not oppose Spiritualism itself but only the trickery used by fake mediums.
Psychical researcher Hereward Carrington revealed tricks used in fraudulent séances, such as slate-writing, table-turning, trumpet mediumship, materializations, sealed-letter reading, and spirit photography. Skeptic Joseph McCabe documented many fraudulent mediums and their tricks in his book Is Spiritualism Based on Fraud? (1920).
Magicians have long worked to reveal fraudulent methods used in mediumship. Early debunkers included Chung Ling Soo, Henry Evans, and Julien Proskauer. Later magicians who exposed fraud were Fulton Oursler, Joseph Dunninger, and Joseph Rinn. Researchers Trevor H. Hall and Gordon Stein documented the trickery of medium Daniel Dunglas Home. Tony Cornell exposed fraud by mediums such as Rita Goold and Alec Harris.