séance

A séance is a gathering intended to communicate with spirits or the dead, usually with the aid of a medium. The term derives from the French séance, meaning "a sitting" or "session." Séances appear in Spiritualist and Spiritist traditions as well as in secular or entertainment contexts.

Origins lie in the 19th-century Spiritualist movement in the United States and Britain, where mediums claimed contact through raps, levitations, and materializations. Early practices included table tipping and planchette writing. The Fox sisters popularized séances, later with contested claims of fraud. In the same period, Allan Kardec codified Spiritism in Europe and the Americas.

Practices vary but commonly involve a seated circle with a medium who channels messages by trance, automatic writing, or voice; tools such as planchettes or Ouija boards; or phenomena like table tilting. Sessions aim for guidance, connection or closure and are often conducted in quiet, controlled environments.

Scientific evaluation has found little robust, reproducible evidence for communications from the dead. Skeptics cite psychological factors, fraud, or misinterpretation; proponents emphasize personal experience. In modern contexts, séances persist in spiritual, therapeutic, and paranormal settings and appear in popular culture.