From the beginning, researchers, scientists, skeptics, and spiritualists themselves performed myriad tests to assess the veracity of spiritual phenomena. The era was defined, in part, by the rise of science as a fundamental authority. Even believers were not content to rely on faith. Rather, they viewed spirit contact as irrefutable and evidence-based truth of life after death.
This state of affairs led to the creation of numerous societies and commissions tasked with investigating all manner of seemingly supernatural phenomena, from spiritualist séances to clairvoyants to haunted houses. The most famous of these organizations, the Society for Psychical Research, was founded in England in 1882 and continues to this day. At the time, these societies were pluralist, with representation across the spectrum of belief. But members all held one thing in common: a fascination with the nature of reality, the evidence of the senses, and the possibility of something beyond the frontiers of the known.
Psychical Research
William Crookes, Researches in the Phenomena of Spiritualism, London: J. Burns, 1874, pg. 12.
Among the most famous of psychical researchers, chemist William Crookes conducted numerous experiments on the most famous medium of the era, Daniel Dunglas Home. Home’s spirit accordion was a central component of his séances. In this image, Crookes placed Home’s hand in a cage to observe the accordion play in well-lit conditions. As with Home’s regular séances, the accordion played and pumped on its own, while Home held it in such a way that would preclude interference. Crookes recorded his observations meticulously, including elements like the temperature of the room, specific details of layout, and the particulars of the phenomena that occurred.
Sir William Crookes: Papers, Correspondence, and Newscuttings, 1870-1966, GBR/0012/MS SPR/13. Cambridge University Library.
This image shows Crookes’s hand-drawn diagram of the seating arrangement at a séance with Home in London. It was common for researchers to sketch out these details, whether the positions of participants or the layout of the room.
Ties for securing mediums and slate. Seybert Commission for Investigating Modern Spiritualism records, 1884-1922, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania, Box 5, Folders 239.
It was standard practice to restrain the medium at the start of many séances, especially in the course of a formal investigation. This was commonly done with rope of some sort, and many descriptions exist of the intricacies of knots. These ties were used by the Seybert Commission during their investigations in Philadelphia in 1884.