The Founding Matriarchs of Spiritualism & The Rise of the Paranormal in Horror Cinema

February 28, 2021 ● Meltem Yalçın Evren

Since the beginning of history, humans from all cultures and backgrounds have been asking the same question: “what happens after we die?”. It’s a query frequently pondered yet a definite answer doesn’t exist although an infinite amount of interpretations does. Our fascination with the dead and the dying has sparked thousands of religions with their own beliefs on the possibility of an afterlife or if there is one at all. Alternatively, many have gravitated towards more obscure ways of finding the truth. Communicating with the dead, otherwise known as practising necromancy being one of them.

For many of us the quote “knock once for yes, twice for no” sparks an immediate understanding of what the phrase is referring to. Elements of spiritualist practises such as performing seances or using Ouija boards have leaked into our every day almost effortlessly, whether that be through the generations-old urban legends told to us as kids or the media that we consume. We seem to innately know of spiritualism and it's methodologies in one form or another, yet very little of us know the history behind the 19th centuries greatest religious movement.

In late March of 1848, in Hydesville, New York, two teenage girls named Maggie, then aged fourteen, and Kate Fox (eleven) would soon become pillars of the Spiritualism movement. Claims of their farmhouse being haunted by a restless spirit who stalked the girls were made, signified by thumping noises that followed them from beneath their home wherever they went. It didn’t take long for the girls to come up with a system to communicate with the spectral being. Using a technique they called “rappings” - a series of knocking sounds imitating the alphabet, the girls were able to decipher the identity of the ghost living with them.

Charles B. Rosna was a thirty-one-year-old man who had been murdered for $500, his remains then buried beneath the farmhouse. Quickly news spread and astonished neighbours made their way to experience the girls communicating with the entity first hand which they humorously called “Mr Splitfoot”, a nickname for the devil. Sceptics in the town questioned the credibility of the girls, leading to an excavation of the home which to their surprise uncovered human bones as the girls had previously stated.

It wasn’t long till the news made its way across the state, reaching the eldest Fox sister, Leah who upon hearing the news of her sisters' spiritual abilities and seeing the curiosity of the townsfolk knew this was an opportunity to capitalise off of Maggie and Kate’s talents. The three girls went on to perform live seances at packed theatres in New York and beyond, attracting the attention of celebrities on the way who were curious or admired their work. The Fox sisters celebrity status as spirit mediums lead to a changing attitude towards paranormal practises from the general public. The once hangable offence of performing necromancy was now seen as a practice anyone could partake in.

The Fox sisters continued as spirit mediums, performing for hundreds of people, however, their reign came to an end when the women confessed that their act was staged. 

Although unconfirmed, sceptics have theorised that Maggie and Kate had mastered the art of cracking their toe joints which made the “rapping” noises. Since it was coming directly beneath them, this would explain how they were able to make the sound effect on demand using their long skirts to hide their feet from the unquestioning audience. Even so, the legacy of the Fox sisters and their effect on spiritualism cannot be disputed, and to this day their work is still quoted in parapsychology.

During a time of momentous scientific discoveries, leaving people questioning their ways of living, spiritualism acted as a pathway back to the archaic. Spiritualism offered many an opportunity to cling to the past - cementing their beliefs of life after death or the existence of God. It may seem that spiritualists during this time were rejecting scientific discoveries but they thought far from that, believing instead that they were using modern techniques to prove the existence of an afterlife.

Not only was the mid 19th century a time for scientific discovery, but it was also a time for immense loss; the Mexican-American war was beginning to come to an end, leaving 13,000 American civilians dead. Families were torn away from their loved ones without a sense of closure. Spiritualism rose at a time of extreme grievance, people craved a chance to properly say their goodbyes or to ask their loved ones once more how they were doing. Performing necromancy became a perfect way to reunite with the deceased, even if it was only temporarily.

So how does this relate to film? If we go by the theory that cinema reflects real life, there is no mistake as to why spiritualism has crept into filmmaking. The first ghost in cinema was in Georges Méliès The House of the Devil in 1896, also crowned the first-ever horror movie. One of the first seances in film history was in Fritz Lang’s 1922 movie, Dr Mabuse the Gambler. Spiritualism and filmmaking have coexisted together since the foundations of cinema - making a home, particularly within the horror genre. Paranormal activity has become a subject matter that has been explored for over a century, yet when we look closer, it becomes evident as to why these films have peaked in popularity during specific moments in history.

If we begin to unpack the last decade, many tragic events spring to mind. In 2010, an earthquake in Haiti killed 200,000 people. Several hurricanes hit the United States, with Hurricane Sandy killing 230 civilians. Terrorist attacks became more frequent and school shootings became more prominent. Death consumed a very big part of the decade. Meanwhile, in cinema, paranormal films such as Poltergeist (2015), The Conjuring (2013), and Insidious (2010) began sprouting like weeds, becoming big box office successes with teens and young adults flocking to cinemas to see them. Although the spirits were mainly vengeful in these movies, they indicated a life after death. After all, if evil spirits exist, good ones must exist too, right? Its needless to say the constant news of doom that consumed the decade leaked in the art people were creating, and with mortality heavy on our minds, films became vessels for the audience to explore communicating with the deceased through spiritualism. Many of the spirits in these films were unleashed through spiritualist techniques or conjured by disbelievers and a lot of the ghosts had reasonings as to why they were unable to pass to the afterlife - the main one being that they were wrongfully killed, just like those that were in the real world.

Fast-forward to today, with the global pandemic dominating the beginning of the new decade, we have already seen films using spiritualist themes such as Host (2020) about an online seance gone wrong, incorporating a new life in lockdown where technology becomes our only form of communication, with the classic demonic presence. If history is correct, the 20s (which so far have been consumed by a tragic amount of death) should see another boom in paranormal films, this time with technology playing a key part in contacting the dead. After all, spiritualism remains a timeless subject matter. As long as people pass on and as long as we continue knowing little about life after death, films about curious individuals contacting the deceased will follow.

Meltem Yalçın Evren ● Writer

Twitter: @belalugosismom

Instagram: @meltemyalcinevren

Horror filmmaker and writer. You can usually find me with a cup of coffee in hand, either watching a true crime documentary or reading about the paranormal.