Part of the Casswiki article series Books
The History of Spiritualism is an adroit two-volume work by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, first published in 1926.
Sir Arthur is best-known for his Sherlock Holmes stories, but not many people knows that he was also the most famous exponent of Spiritualism, where he was known as the “St. Paul” of Spiritualism for promoting and defending the movement. He discovered solace in favor of spiritualism and its investigations in finding and determining the proof of existence beyond the afterlife after sudden deaths within his family.
Within this book, the author chronicles the psychic phenomena and the mediums, both in North America and the United Kingdom, but, as he admitted in his Preface, far more research was needed on the subject as “the literature is vast”.[1] While it is not comprehensive, the book is packed with information for the reader to be informed of the sobering background behind the Spiritualism movement.
Sir Arthur begins the first volume with Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) and his story, then to Edward Irving (1792-1834) and his paranormal experience, Andrew Jackson Davis (1826-1910) as “Prophet of New Revelation”, the famous Fox Sisters and the infamous experiences surrounding them, some minor mediums in America (including Nettie Colburn, who President Abraham Lincoln and his wife visited), then to a few mediums in England, D.D. Home, the Davenport Brothers, the Eddy Brothers, Henry Slade, before finally discussing a number of investigations that were done into Spiritualism.
The second volume continues the author’s discussion of Spiritualism by firstly looking at the career of Italian Spiritualist medium, Eusapia Palladino (1854-1918), a few “great” mediums from 1870 to 1900, a discussion of the Society for Psychical Research before focusing on certain psychic phenomena, such as ectoplasm, spirit photography, voices and “moulds”. Spiritualism is discussed in regards to a few mediums outside of England and America. The remaining of this volume is directed towards the religious aspects of Spiritualism, the impact of World War I on Spiritualism and its “believers,” and the “after-life” as seen by the mediums.
See also
- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
- Spiritualism
- Channeling and channeled material
References
- ↑ Conan Doyle, Arthur. The History of Spiritualism, Vol. I, p. ix. Great Britain: Psychic Press Ltd, 1989.