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In this limited series, Jamie Loftus investigates and interrogates American spiritualism, a century-old tradition of communing with the dead that takes place in camps full of mediums across the country. Who is drawn to these camps, how did the religion come together, and why are the tarot card readers and the seance-havers fighting? Ghost Church is a look at grief, religion, and loneliness, with on-site reporting and interviews with everyone from spiritualist psychics to Protestant pastors to a very lonely carnival employee. 


Ghost Church by Jamie Loftus

Jamie Loftus investigates American spiritualism, a tradition of communing with the dead that takes place in camps full of mediums across the country.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Introducing: Ghost Church by Jamie Loftus

American Spiritualism is a frequently invoked, rarely understood religion that hinges on speaking with spirit through mediums. In our first episode, Jamie Loftus puts your little baby brain at rest -- it's not a cult. But what is it?

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

1: Not a Cult

This week, Jamie returns to Cassadaga for a Gala Day with one Reverend Doctor and one Reverend Doctor / Former Dojo Owner, then attends her first spiritualist church service, complete with a message from the spirit after hymns. Back in 1848, spiritualist's founding Fox sisters become stars overnight, immediately stoking skepticism and smothering press attention.

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2: No Proof is Necessary, No Proof is Sufficient

This week, Jamie goes to a table tipping class — a Spiritualist tradition that uses tables to connect people with their dead. Elsewhere in the past, the Fox sisters go on tour, where the skeptics put increasing pressure on the teenagers to meet their hype.
 
 
 
Further Reading:
 
Talking to the Dead, Barbara Weisberg
 
Calling the Spirits: A History of Seances by Lisa Morton
 
The Road to Seneca Falls by Judith Wellman
 
Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women by Susan Faludi

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3: The Tables Are Tipping

This week, Jamie passes the mic to four women of Cassadaga to tell their stories about how they came to American spiritualism -- from being raised by NASA scientists to a tragic loss.

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4: Four Roads to Cassadaga

This week, Jamie visits a legendary Cassadaga medium and traces the story of spiritualism's Fox sisters to its end -- where the sisters abandoned the religion that had defined their lives.

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5: Apples, The Manipulator, and The Curse of Spiritualism

This week, Jamie heads to the only spiritualist library in the American south -- open two hours a week -- to try and trace the legend of Cassadaga's founding to its root, as land taken from indigenous Americans. Writer Olivia Woodward stops by to discuss spiritual traditions of the Caddo Nation, thoughts on spiritualism's appropriation of Native culture, and questions George Colby's spirit guide.
 

Follow Olivia's work here: https://twitter.com/LivNative93
 

More on the Seneca Nation: https://sni.org/
 
More on the Mascogo: https://about.proquest.com/en/blog/2019/what-juneteenth-means-to-the-mascogo-tribe/
 
More on the Timucua: https://read.dukeupress.edu/hahr/article/77/3/502/144849/The-History-of-the-Timucua-Indians-and-Missions
 
More on the Miccosukee: https://www.miccosukee.com/history 

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6: The Legend of Seneca the Spirit Guide (or: Colonizer, Please)

This week, Jamie goes to a ghost museum, high fives a Jigsaw doll, and takes a look at two religious movements that pulled from American Spiritualism, took what they needed, and left the rest. Dr. Carlos Camacho stops by for a chat about espiritismo, and still no talk of ectoplasm.
 

Dr. Margarita Simon Guillory on "The Religious Studies Project": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q3kvN3RDpI
 
More information on Dr. Camacho here: https://linktr.ee/carloscreates2018

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7: The Fool's Golden Rule (Espiritismo and Spiritual Churches)

This week, Jamie takes a look at the second wave of spiritualism in the United States through American Spiritualism's most famous schism -- believer Arthur Conan Doyle versus skeptic Harry Houdini over the mediumship (and yes, ectoplasm) of Mina Crandon. Featuring Paul F. Tompkins as Doyle and Robert Evans as Houdini. I know, right?

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8: The Boys Are Fighting (Over Crotch Goo and Ghosts): Arthur Conan Doyle vs. Harry Houdini

In the final episode of Ghost Church (for now), Jamie befriends a Cassadaga medium, reads a manifesto, and looks backwards and ahead to where American spiritualism goes from here. Thank you for listening, and abolish the Supreme Court bitch.
 
Find Uncle Dennis Here: http://www.mysticallahan.com/

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2: No Proof is Necessary, No Proof is Sufficient

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