séances

Séances are meetings in which participants attempt to communicate with the dead through a medium or other channel. The term comes from the French séance, meaning a sitting or session. In many séances, a circle of participants gathers in a room—often dimly lit—with the aim of receiving messages from spirits. A professional or amateur medium may enter a trance, relay statements, or facilitate phenomena such as raps, table tilting, automatic writing, or other purported communications.

Modern séances emerged with the mid-19th-century Spiritualist movement in the United States and Britain. The Fox sisters’ alleged communications in 1848 helped popularize the practice, which spread internationally and diversified into private gatherings and public demonstrations. By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, professional mediums offered séances to paying audiences, and the imagery of spiritual contact became prominent in culture.

Skepticism and scientific inquiry have offered natural explanations for many phenomena reported during séances, including fraud, misdirection, acoustical effects, and suggestion. Organizations such as the Society for Psychical Research conducted investigations; researchers noted instances where results could be replicated only under specific conditions or explained by ordinary means. While some claims remain controversial or unproven, the majority of mainstream science regards séance phenomena as unproven paranormal claims rather than established facts.

Today, séances continue in some spiritualist communities and interpretive or New Age circles, often emphasizing comfort, guidance, or closure for bereaved participants. They remain a subject of cultural exploration in literature and film, where they are portrayed with varying degrees of skepticism and romanticism.