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Famous Mediums and Séances: Piper, Home, Palladino and Kluski Under Scientific Scrutiny

In the second half of the nineteenth century and at the beginning of the twentieth, a handful of people shook the world by claiming they could speak with the dead. Scientists were faced with the question of whether they were dealing with a miracle or a hoax.

Ezostylia Editorial Team · facts checked in sources · updated 31.10.2026

Spiritualism and the Birth of the Mediums

Spiritualism as a social movement was born in 1848 in Hydesville, New York, when the Fox sisters announced that they were communicating with the spirit of a murdered man. News of the rapping and mysterious signs spread across the world. Within a decade or so, séances had become a fashionable phenomenon in the drawing rooms of Europe and America.

A medium was a person who was to serve as an intermediary between the world of the living and the spirits of the dead. During séances, candles went out, tables rose into the air, voices rang out and luminous apparitions appeared. The spiritualist tradition regards these events as proof of the soul's survival after death, though science approaches them with scepticism.

Researchers at the Society for Psychical Research, founded in London in 1882, resolved to test the claims of mediums under controlled conditions. It was then that the most celebrated names of the era appeared on the scene — names that continue to provoke debate to this day.

Daniel Dunglas Home: Levitations and Fiery Tricks

Daniel Dunglas Home was born in Scotland in 1833 and became renowned as one of the most spectacular mediums of the nineteenth century. He claimed he could rise into the air, bend metal objects by willpower alone, and hold red-hot coals in his bare hands without sustaining any burns. His séances drew aristocrats and scientists from across Europe.

The chemist William Crookes conducted a series of experiments with Home in 1871 and 1873 and declared that the phenomena were genuine. Crookes's report caused a storm in the scientific community, since to many researchers it seemed inconceivable that a serious chemist could have been taken in by an illusionist.

Home, unlike other mediums, was never publicly caught in an act of fraud — a fact his supporters emphasise to this day. Sceptics point out, however, that his séances always took place under conditions he himself controlled, and that the absence of an exposé is not proof of authenticity.

Leonora Piper: Voices from the Beyond in a Boston Drawing Room

Leonora Piper was an American medium who, from the 1880s onwards, left researchers and philosophers dumbfounded. During trance states she spoke in the voices of the deceased, providing detailed information — difficult to verify — about the lives of their loved ones. The philosopher William James, one of the fathers of American psychology, encountered her in 1885 and was deeply moved.

James organised dozens of secret sittings in order to rule out the possibility of Piper having gathered information in advance. He wrote afterwards that, although he could not explain her abilities, one medium was sufficient to overturn the claim that all mediums are frauds. Subsequent investigations carried out by the Society for Psychical Research continued for more than twenty years.

Piper was never caught in a deliberate lie; however, researchers noted that she acquired information by entirely natural means: she read obituaries, retained details from conversations held before a séance, and employed the technique known as cold reading. Towards the end of her life she herself admitted that she was not certain whether her abilities were of a supernatural character.

Eusapia Palladino: An Italian Medium Under the Microscope

Eusapia Palladino was born in southern Italy in 1854 and became one of the most intensively studied mediums in history. She was able to produce physical effects during séances: raising tables, causing cold gusts of air to appear, and allegedly materialising human hands that emerged from the darkness. She was investigated by scientists from Italy, France, Russia and England.

A committee from Cambridge in 1895 caught her in blatant fraud: she freed one hand from the grip of the observers and manipulated objects in the darkness. Nevertheless, a few years later other researchers, among them the physicist Pierre Curie, came to her again and reported effects they were unable to explain.

The story of Palladino is a good illustration of the difficulties involved in investigating mediums. Even when someone had proved her guilty of fraud in one instance, many observers maintained that during other séances they had witnessed things that could not readily be explained. Science confirmed none of her claims, but the debate went on for years.

Franek Kluski: A Polish Phenomenon and Paraffin Casts

Franciszek Teofil Domański, known as Franek Kluski, was a Warsaw poet and bank clerk who at the beginning of the twentieth century astonished researchers with remarkable mediumistic abilities. During séances held in semi-darkness, luminous figures allegedly appeared, and the hands of spirits left their impressions on the hands of those present. Kluski claimed that spirits immersed their limbs in molten paraffin, leaving behind casts that could not have been made by any other means.

He was investigated by, among others, Charles Richet, the French physiologist and Nobel laureate, who described the séances with Kluski as among the most astounding he had ever witnessed. The paraffin casts are preserved to this day in the collections of the Polish Society for Psychical Research and the Institut Métapsychique in Paris. Their authenticity remains a matter of debate.

Sceptics point out that Kluski could have prepared the casts in advance, using moulds made from living models. Supporters counter that the shape of the casts suggests the hands were withdrawn through an opening narrower than the hand itself, which would be physically difficult to fake. Science has not provided a definitive answer, and today the case of Kluski remains unresolved.

Methods of Investigation and the Limits of Knowledge

The Society for Psychical Research employed increasingly rigorous methods: searching mediums before séances, holding their hands and feet firmly, and using photography and sound recording. Illusionists such as Harry Houdini actively exposed frauds, demonstrating how the same effects could be achieved without any supernatural ability whatsoever. The majority of mediums who were investigated proved to be employing tricks familiar from the stage.

Cold reading: a technique for extracting information from a subject through observation and leading questions, used consciously or unconsciously.
Hot reading: the prior gathering of information about séance participants from obituaries, conversations and observation.
The Barnum effect: the formulation of statements so general that anyone can recognise themselves in them.
Materialisation: the alleged appearance of physical objects or figures during a séance, most commonly in darkness.

Science has not confirmed the existence of any supernatural phenomenon during spiritualist séances. This does not mean, however, that we know everything about the human mind and its susceptibility to suggestion. Psychology and neurology investigate why people are so readily inclined to believe in contact with the dead, and what they actually experience during séances, even when the medium turns out to be a fraud.

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Sources

Leonora Piper, Wikipedia · Daniel Dunglas Home, Wikipedia · Eusapia Palladino, Wikipedia · Franek Kluski, Wikipedia · Society for Psychical Research, Wikipedia

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Was Franek Kluski Ever Caught in an Act of Fraud?

There is no documented instance of Kluski being directly exposed during a séance. Researchers do point, however, to the possibility that the paraffin casts were prepared in advance, and science has not confirmed the authenticity of any of the phenomena attributed to him.

Why Did William Crookes Believe in Daniel Home's Abilities, Given That He Was a Serious Scientist?

Crookes was an outstanding chemist, but his experiments with Home were criticised for a lack of rigorous controls. Researchers point out that even experienced scientists can be susceptible to illusion when they very much wish to believe in something extraordinary.

Did Spiritualism and the Investigation of Mediums Have Any Influence on Science?

Indirectly, yes. The debate surrounding mediums contributed to the emergence of experimental psychology and research into suggestion and hypnosis. The Society for Psychical Research collaborated with figures such as William James, which influenced the development of the psychology of consciousness.