Thursday, February 28, 2008

Are Seances real, or just another scam?


Are Seances real, or just another scam? When we think of hauntings the natural next thought could be seance! But what is a Seance?

A séance (pronounced /ˈseɪɒns/) is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word "séance" comes from the French word for "seat," "session" or "sitting," from the Old French "seoir," "to sit." In French, the word's meaning is quite general: one may, for example, speak of "une séance de cinéma" ("a movie session"). In English, however, the word came to be used specifically for a meeting of people who are gathered to receive messages from ghosts or spirits or to listen to a spirit medium discourse with or relay messages from spirits; in modern English usage, participants need not be seated while engaged in a séance. One of the earliest books on the subject of communication amongst deceased persons was Dialogues with the Dead by George, First Baron Lyttleton, published in England in 1760. [1] Among the notable spirits quoted in this volume are Peter the Great, Pericles, a "North-American Savage," William Penn, and Christina Queen of Sweden. The popularity of séances grew dramatically with the founding of the religion of Spiritualism in the mid-nineteenth century. Perhaps the best-known series of séances conducted at that time were those of Mary Todd Lincoln who, grieving the loss of her son, organized Spiritualist séances in the White House, which were attended by her husband, President Abraham Lincoln, and other prominent members of society.[2] The 1887 Seybert Commission report marred the credibility of Spiritualism at the height of its popularity by publishing exposures of fraud and showmanship among secular séance leaders. [3]. Contemporary séances continue to be a part of the religious services of Spiritualist, Spiritist, and Espiritismo churches today, where a greater emphasis is placed on spiritual values versus showmanship. - Wikipedia

However with that said, how many have really contacted the dead? One of our staff as a teenager had a guidance counselor who he'd grown close to. She died over one weekend during his Junior High years. The counselor was in a habit of driving him to school everyday. The Sunday of that weekend he received a call from what he thought was her. She stated that she wouldn't be able to drive him to school on Monday and to take the bus instead. The phone call then ended with a static noise growing louder and finally ending in a dial tone.

Millions and millions of personal accounts exist of being contacted by relatives and friends shortly after their demise.

Harry Houdini even devised a code so that his wife would know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was he that was calling from beyond the grave. However, no one ever gave the right code to her before her passing.

Ouiji (a.k.a Ouija) have been used during Seances to allow the dead a medium to communicate with the living during the session. We provide such items in the Phantasmagoric World Store Old Technologies if you're curious!
Pendulums have also been used to communicate with the dead which is in some ways simpler than using other mediums. A person can either swing the pendulum over an object and ask simple yes or no questions or they can use it as a dowsing direction finder to locate a spirit.
Pendulum dowsing has been sworn to be many water dowsers which also use it for diagnosing aches and pains which we don't recommend!

And finally, spiritualist claim to have the ability to either be possessed by the spirit or talk to the spirit which can't be verified! Whether Seances actually do talk to the dead or whether their just another scam we may never know!

Thanks for your time and attention! Have a Phantasmagoric Day!

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