In 1848, three sisters in a small New York farmhouse convinced their neighbors they were communicating with the dead. The news spread quickly, and within a decade the Spiritualist movement had swept the country. At its heart were mediums and intellectuals who believed the guidance of the dead could lead the nation toward a more moral and equal future; the movement soon became entwined with abolition and women’s rights. Some attended séances in search of real answers; others came purely for the show. By the 1920s, Spiritualism was mainstream enough that Scientific American offered a cash prize to any medium who could prove their powers under scrutiny, with true believer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle cheering on one side, and skeptic Harry Houdini waiting on the other.

Join Reference Librarian Flannery for a look at this fascinating and often overlooked chapter of American history, from a New York farmhouse in the 1840s to the séance rooms of Boston in the 1920s.