Stuff You Should Know

Selects: How Spiritualism Works

March 7, 2026

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  • The modern American Spiritualism movement is pinpointed to March 31, 1848, in Hydesville, New York, originating from rapping sounds allegedly produced by the young Fox sisters. 
  • The rise of Spiritualism was fueled by a confluence of factors, including the frontier mentality, widespread religious fervor in Western New York, and the contemporary scientific interest in unseen forces like electromagnetism. 
  • Spiritualism provided an unexpected avenue for female agency in the 19th century, allowing women mediums to earn independent income and champion progressive causes like abolition and suffrage, often under the guise of spirit communication. 
  • In 19th-century Spiritualism, women mediums gained financial independence and agency, often using their platform to advocate for progressive causes like abolitionism and women's suffrage, sometimes by having spirits champion these views. 
  • Spiritualist mediums channeled messages that actively promoted progressive social policies, such as abolition, which served as an influential, albeit unusual, method for spreading these messages widely. 
  • The episode segment concludes by recommending the film *The Others* and Joyce Carol Oates' short story "Nightside" as notable works related to séances and the spiritualist movement. 

Segments

Introduction and Context Setting
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(00:00:00)
  • Key Takeaway: The hosts introduce this episode of Stuff You Should Know as a 2020 ‘Selects’ episode on Spiritualism, recorded during the COVID pandemic.
  • Summary: The episode is a rerun chosen because the topic of spiritualism has recently surfaced in other discussions. The host, Josh Clark, expresses his current uncertainty regarding the existence of an afterlife. The segment transitions into the main topic after brief housekeeping and sponsor messages.
Spiritualism’s Cultural Pervasiveness
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(00:06:53)
  • Key Takeaway: Spiritualism, encompassing practices like seances and Ouija boards, is deeply permeated in modern pop culture, exemplified by Dan Aykroyd being a fourth-generation Spiritualist.
  • Summary: The movement is defined as the belief that personality survives death and that certain individuals can communicate with the spirit world, beginning in the mid-19th century. Unlike earlier ghost lore, Spiritualism became a structured movement often involving fraud but also attracting scientific investigation from figures like Charles Fort and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It represented a ‘democratization’ of spiritual contact, accessible to regular people rather than just religious leaders.
Factors Enabling Spiritualism’s Rise
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(00:11:28)
  • Key Takeaway: The Spiritualist movement flourished due to the unique conditions of the American frontier, intense religious fervor in Western New York, and the concurrent rise of scientific understanding of unseen forces.
  • Summary: The frontier mentality encouraged people to abandon established cultural rules and create new norms. This region was also a hotbed for religious innovation, spawning movements like Mormonism and Millerism. The Industrial Revolution’s focus on electromagnetism provided a conceptual framework that made the idea of unseen, non-physical energy (spirits) seem plausible to scientifically minded individuals.
The Fox Sisters and Movement Birth
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(00:19:42)
  • Key Takeaway: The modern American Spiritualist movement officially began on March 31, 1848, with the Fox sisters’ alleged communication with a spirit via rapping sounds in their home.
  • Summary: The Fox family, including sisters Kate and Maggie, experienced knocking sounds that evolved into a system for answering questions through rapping, which older sister Leah then commercialized. The initial trick involved the younger sisters secretly using their toe knuckles to rap against a wooden stool under a table, a method Maggie later confessed to the press. This prank rapidly escalated into a worldwide phenomenon, creating a new religion.
Mediumship Techniques and Manifestations
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(00:29:40)
  • Key Takeaway: Spiritualist mediums employed various techniques, including channeling (trance speaking), automatic writing, direct voice (ventriloquism), table turning, and producing physical ectoplasmic manifestations.
  • Summary: Channeling involved the medium adopting a different voice or persona, while automatic writing involved the spirit guiding the medium’s hand to produce distinct script, as seen with Pearl Curran channeling Patience Worth. Direct voice often involved a confederate or ventriloquism in dark rooms, sometimes attempting to mimic famous deceased figures. Ectoplasm was a physical substance, often made of hidden materials like glued magazine cutouts, pulled from the medium’s body.
Civil War’s Impact on Spiritualism
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(00:46:25)
  • Key Takeaway: The massive death toll of the Civil War transformed Spiritualism from mere entertainment into a widespread, grief-driven necessity for private communication with lost loved ones.
  • Summary: Before the war, Spiritualism was largely viewed as a curiosity or theater show, particularly in the North, as the South’s established religious hierarchy rejected it. The immense, often anonymous, loss of life during the war created a large population desperate for closure, leading to a vast increase in private, paid seances. This shift from public performance to private consolation is where the practice became ethically questionable, as mediums exploited profound bereavement.
Skepticism and Decline of the Movement
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(00:51:23)
  • Key Takeaway: The Spiritualist movement declined as mediums became overly audacious in their claims, and scientific investigators increasingly exposed their fraudulent methods under controlled conditions.
  • Summary: The pursuit of greater profit led to increasingly outrageous performances, which made exposure easier for skeptics. Scientists, like those in the Society for Psychical Research, documented how mediums failed under scrutiny, often revealing tricks like toe-knocking or the use of hidden materials. The appeal to authority, using endorsements from famous figures like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, was a key tactic used to bolster credibility against mounting scientific debunking.
Spiritualism and Women’s Agency
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(01:01:28)
  • Key Takeaway: Spiritualism provided 19th-century women with a rare opportunity for financial independence and agency outside conventional roles.
  • Summary: Many 19th-century spiritualists were women who used long dresses to conceal props like toe knuckles for performances. This profession allowed them to earn significant money, exemplified by the Fox sisters, providing them with agency unavailable in other contemporary occupations. Furthermore, mediums could use channeled voices to champion progressive views, making it easier for women to advocate for rights.
Progressive Movement Connections
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(01:02:49)
  • Key Takeaway: Spiritualism was deeply intertwined with major progressive movements, including abolitionism, women’s suffrage, and temperance.
  • Summary: There was a significant connection between the spiritualist movement and social reform efforts like abolitionism and the women’s temperance movement. Spirits channeled through mediums sometimes directly urged audiences to support abolition and end slavery. This theatrical delivery of political messages through spirit communication had a widespread influence on public opinion.
Media Recommendations and Lilydale
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(01:03:56)
  • Key Takeaway: The hosts recommend The Others and Joyce Carol Oates’ short story “Nightside” as excellent artistic representations of séances.
  • Summary: The greatest ghost movie involving séances is cited as The Others, starring Nicole Kidman. The greatest short story on the topic is Joyce Carol Oates’ “Nightside,” which the hosts highly recommend for its chilling quality. Additionally, Lilydale, New York, is mentioned as a contemporary spiritualist community where one can still engage with the religion today.
Listener Mail and Bidet Stories
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(01:05:48)
  • Key Takeaway: A listener shared an anecdote about guests being surprised by a separate bidet unit installed in their 2004 Detroit-area home.
  • Summary: The listener mail segment began after a brief mention of the Lilydale community. A listener detailed how guests unfamiliar with bidets in 2004 would often emerge from the bathroom wet or embarrassed after accidentally activating the unit. The listener expressed appreciation for the podcast during long drives while moving from Michigan to South Carolina.