The Good Friends of Jackson Elias

We’re back and we’re glowing. While we’re only too happy to ascribe this to good diet and healthy living, all this phosphorous oil we keep splashing on ourselves may also play a part. It really helps you stand out in the dark, although it does make it a bit harder to creep around and do all the other sneaky stuff that goes into a good séance. At this rate, we’re going to need a real spirit guide to help pull this off.



Main Topic: Victorian Spiritualism part 2



This is the conclusion of our two-part look at the origins and evolution of Spiritualism in the gaslight era. In the first part, we examined the origins of Spiritualism. This time, we explore how Spiritualism became so popular in Victorian Britain, as well as some of the key figures of Victorian Spiritualism and the strange techniques they used to fake séances.



These episodes gloss over many of the details of séances themselves. We aim to cover those properly in an upcoming episode.






Links



Things we mention in this episode include:




* Calling the Spirits: A History of Seances by Lisa Morton



* The Table-Rappers: The Victorians and the Occult by Ronald Pearsall



* Medical Meddlers, Mediums and Magicians: The Victorian Age of Credulity by Dr Keith Souter



* Spiritualism



* Maria B Hayden



* Darwinism



* The Gothic movement



* The Enlightenment



* Phantasmagoria



* Magic lanterns



* Public visits to Bedlam



* Nightmare Alley (2021)




Phantasmagoria




* Theosophy



* Women’s Suffrage



* Free Love in Victorian Britain



* Annie Besant



* Bryant & May match girls



* The Fox Sisters



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