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Spiritualism: the Fox sisters, séances, and Houdini who unmasked mediums

In the nineteenth century, conversations with spirits became a fashionable pursuit in drawing rooms from New York to Warsaw. The history of spiritualism is a tale of longing, faith, science, and several notorious frauds.

Ezostylia Editorial Team · facts checked in sources · updated 31.10.2026

The Knocking at Hydesville

In March 1848, in a house in Hydesville, New York State, sisters Margaret and Kate Fox announced that they were communicating with a spirit by means of knocking. The affair caused a great stir, the sisters began giving public demonstrations, and thousands of mediums appeared in their wake.

In 1888, Margaret Fox publicly admitted that the sounds had been produced by cracking the joints of their toes, and she demonstrated this on stage. She later attempted to retract the confession, but the spiritualist movement was by then enormous.

Spiritualism as a Religion

In France, Allan Kardec published The Spirits' Book in 1857, in which he assembled an entire doctrine concerning the soul, reincarnation, and moral development from answers supposedly given by spirits. His spiritualism still has millions of followers today, particularly in Brazil.

Séances, Ectoplasm, and Science

At séances, tables spun, voices were heard, and white "ectoplasm" appeared. Many scientists, including physicists and doctors, attended them in order to examine these phenomena. Societies for psychical research were established, and in the nineteen-twenties mediums from Warsaw were also studied in Paris. Many of the demonstrations proved to be tricks involving gauze, hidden accomplices, and darkness.

Houdini versus the Mediums

Harry Houdini, the greatest illusionist of his age, sincerely sought contact with his mother after her death. When he saw how mediums were exploiting the grief of bereaved people, he began to expose them, reproducing their tricks on stage. He fell out over this with his friend Arthur Conan Doyle, a fervent supporter of spiritualism.

Houdini died on 31 October 1926. He had arranged with his wife a secret code that he was to transmit from beyond the grave. For ten years she organised séances on the anniversary of his death, and in 1936 she announced that the message had never come.

The Lesson of This History

Spiritualism flourished in times of war and epidemic, when people longed most keenly for those they had lost. That longing is real and deserving of respect. It is therefore worth being wary of anyone who promises, for a fee, guaranteed contact with the dead.

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Sources

Fox sisters, Wikipedia · Allan Kardec, Wikipedia · Harry Houdini, Wikipedia

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

When did spiritualism arise?

The beginning of the movement is considered to be March 1848 and the demonstrations of the Fox sisters in Hydesville, New York State.

Did the Fox sisters confess to fraud?

Yes. In 1888, Margaret Fox publicly confessed that the sounds had been made by cracking her joints, though she later attempted to retract this.