#séances

[bunglecryptid]

Excuse me while I pass the fuck away.

[xtruss]

Séances At The White House? Why These First Ladies Turned To The Occult

From Mary Todd Lincoln to Jane Pierce, They Were Swept Up in the Spiritualism Movement of the 19th Century—a Belief That Living Souls Can Contact the Dead.

— By Parissa DJangi | April 24, 2024

Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, sits with his wife Mary Todd and three children. Mary Todd turned to Spiritualism, the belief that departed souls can interact with the living, to process her grief after the death of her second youngest son, William, in February 1862. Photograph By New York Historical Society, Bridgeman Images

The White House has hosted its share of prominent people: politicians, writers, musicians, scientists––and mediums.

Reflecting Americans’ belief in spirits unseen, some of the country’s first families held séances at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. They nursed their grief with the help of mediums, demonstrating that séances aren’t only about the deceased; they’re also about the living.

Spiritualism Comes To The White House

On January 6, 1853, newly elected president Franklin Pierce and his wife Jane experienced every parent’s worst nightmare. Their only surviving child, 11-year-old Bennie, died in a horrific train accident in Massachusetts.

Jane Pierce struggled to adapt to life without her child. She even WROTE him letters as she secluded herself in her private quarters in the White House.

Having endured the deaths of two sons prior to her husband Franklin Pierce’s presidency and witnessing the death of her sole surviving child just two months before Franklin’s inauguration in 1853, First Lady Jane Pierce turned to Spiritualism to reconnect with her sons. Photograph By Library of Congress

As Pierce fiercely mourned her son, a new religious movement took root across the country: Spiritualism, or the belief that the living could communicate with the dead. As historian Molly McGarry wrote in Ghosts of Futures Past, “a faith in Spiritualism and the experience that the dead continued to connect with the living” resonated in an America with an extensive mourning culture and “allowed some 19th-century Americans a new way of being in the world.”

Letter from Jane Means (Appleton) Pierce to her deceased son, Benjamin Pierce, 1853 January 30

Spiritualism’s popularity stemmed partly from 15-year-old Maggie and 11-year-old Katie Fox, sisters from Hydesville, New York. Though the pair lived relatively ordinary lives with their large family, they soon began making extraordinary claims. In 1848, they alleged that mysterious rappings in their family’s home came from a supernatural source: discarnate spirits. The sisters insisted they could communicate with them, interpreting the noises as a spectral form of Morse code.

The Fox sisters’ allegations electrified Americans eager to connect with deceased loved ones—individuals such as Jane Pierce. Fascinated by their narrative, she invited them to Washington.

No one knows what exactly occurred between Pierce and the Fox sisters. But the White House session may have mirrored the Fox sisters’ other séances, which commenced with guests sitting in a circle, holding one another’s hands, and reciting a prayer. Then, the rappings would begin, and the sisters would allegedly lift the veil on the spirit world.

The Lincolns’ Many Tears

National and personal tragedy converged in the thick of the Civil War when Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln buried one of their children. On February 20, 1862, 11-year-old Willie Lincoln died in the White House after battling typhoid fever for weeks.

The boy’s death devastated both his parents, but Mary Todd Lincoln’s grief was especially debilitating. She stayed in bed for weeks and couldn’t bear to attend his funeral. But even when she rejoined society, Lincoln longed for a reunion with her deceased son.

Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of the 16th president, was known to openly dabble in Spiritualism. Photograph By Library of Congress

So, she turned to mediums. Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and Lincoln biographer David Herbert Donald used surviving documents to calculate that the first lady may have held eight séances in the White House.

One occurred in December 1862, when Lincoln hosted the medium Nettie Colburn for a séance in the Red Room.

Colburn later claimed that the president joined the séance––and that, in her trance-like state, she didn’t limit herself to communicating with Willie Lincoln. Instead, the spirits she channeled urged the president to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, which they predicted would “be the crowning event of his administration and his life.”

In April 1863, President Lincoln allegedly hosted a séance in the red room of the White House to call upon the spirits to guide him in political matters. Photograph By France Ben Jamin Johnston, Library of Congress

Sessions with Colburn and other mediums stoked the first lady’s faith that souls survive death. She even saw Willie in her dreams. “Willie lives,” she told her half-sister Emilie Todd Helm. “He comes to me every night and stands at the foot of the bed with the same sweet, adorable smile he always has had.”

The Last Gasp of Spiritualism

The White House was again in a state of mourning during the presidency of Calvin Coolidge in 1924. Coolidge’s 16-year-old son Calvin played a game of tennis––but he wasn’t wearing socks with his shoes. A blister formed on a toe and festered, and the infection turned septic. He died on July 7.

So, did the Coolidges employ a medium to contact their son? Harry Houdini, the famous illusionist, believed they had. He deplored spiritualism, séances, and mediums, all of which underwent a revival in the wake of World War I and the influenza pandemic. He was on a quest to expose mediums and psychics as the charlatans he believed them to be.

Illusionist Harry Houdini (left) spent the last years of his life debunking paranormal claims. In 1926, he testified in a Congressional hearing considering a ban on fortune-tellers. Photograph By National Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress

His greatest show in 1926 was when he testified in a Congressional hearing considering a ban on fortune-tellers. During the hearing, it was alleged that Jane Coates, a medium in Washington, D.C., had said, “I know for a fact that there have been spiritual séances held at the White House with President Coolidge and his family.”

Coolidge’s friends vehemently denied the allegation, drawing a clear line between what was acceptable––and what wasn’t. Séances, it seemed, crossed the line of respectability in a changing America.

By World War II, spiritualism no longer attracted the acolytes it once had, and White House séances became a curious footnote in history.

[leehamwriting]

Dans la peau d'un psy - Marie-Véronique CLANCY - 2013 - L'Harmattan

Quatrième de couverture Comment se déroule une séance de psychothérapie ? Que fait-on pendant la séance ? Que dit-on ? Que partage-t-on ? Et le psy lui, que fait-il ? Quel genre de soin apporte-t-il ? Comment s’y prend-il ? À quoi pense-t-il ? Que se passe-t-il dans la peau de ce psy que vous venez consulter ? C’est au travers de six vignettes de séances de psychothérapie, à deux ou en groupe,…

[agregmarlenebtn]

[rechab]

Le déroulement conforme de l'émission - ( RC )

Le procès dure depuis plusieurs séances ;l’homme à tête floue est isolé dans une boîte en verre,revêtu d’une tunique jaune.On a soutiré de lui quelques motstransformés en buée indéchiffrable.La cage a été arrosée,l’eau reste sur la paroi,et on n’entend que des bruits indistincts.Les réponses aux questions sont mal formuléesQuand le niveau d’eau montera, nous accentuerons la pression,resserrerons…

[hauntedhousez]

@beargguyf replied to your post “disney interview HAPPENNED everyone manifest...”:

manifesting! and if you get it, don't tell the big D but ill game the cast member complement system for you whenever i go bc season pass

​EHEHEHE thank u bird!!! hopefully i get in ! my interview was short bc i did a dcp last year so they didnt have to ask me "are you okay with working outside" ect ect and they know i worked quick service (so i know how to use a register n stuff) so!!!!

[punchymon]

Sloppy doodles n' wips

[hellomagicalsouls]

✨he looks heavenly✨

i am so excited to see this man in action for season 4. it's going to be full one tarot card, séance readings, all round witch shit. which is what i've wanted since day one.

the fashion, the vibe, the pose. beautiful. its giving klaus season one or the closest we'll get to season one.

and klaus season one will always be famous. the jewellery. the background, yes it dingy and grimy but im obsessed. i have way too many feelings on how good he looks.

i would prefer he had his curls but im willing to overlook it for this absolutely impeccable picture.

i am so excited to see him hopefully use his powers and maybe even enjoy using them. still worried about the damn tower tarot card but this. this is everything ive wanted in klaus.

when i think about klaus, this is damn near perfect to what i think. add curls and it is perfect.

[marypickfords]

Cure (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 1997) Séance (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2000)

[thatsbelievable]

[wheneverfeasible]

Can we all just appreciate the ad placement here

I—

[minayuri]

"There is a foreign element among us!"

Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler (1922) | dir. Fritz Lang

[luna-loser]

[ed13d1]

succumb

[agregmarlenebtn]

[frnkmush]

musician regulus black and painter james potter, for some reason.

regulus' tour and james' art exhibitions mean they haven't had much time together. coincidentally, they end up in some city at the same time, in the same hotel, and they make the most of it.

the next day, regulus has to make the crowd sing for him because he mysteriously mysteriously has a sore throat 👀👀