A Genealogy of the Extraterrestrial in American Culture

etween humans and God as unthinkably vast. 55
The “other Protestant ethic” strives to close that
gap with the spark of divinely inspired emotion and the theater of the revival was calculated to
generate that very spark. Spiritualism strove to close the gap with the opening of a line of direct
communication between heaven and earth. As Spiritualist author E.J. Schellhous would later put
it, “By means of persistent efforts of the dwellers in the spirit world, who realize the great need
of true enlightenment, the world of mankind is now blessed with the glorious assurance that the
shining highway between mortals and the spirit world is now open.” 56
A theatrical style similar to that of revivalism was to be found in the medicine show, with
its emphasis on the spiel and the dramatic testimonial. As Lears argues, the medicine show
managed to convert the style and impulse of the revivalist tent show to materialist ends. The
product testimonial mirrored the conversion narrative, spinning tales of the immediate and
radical transformation of self. The style of oratory employed by peddlers often recalled that of
the revivalist preacher. This parallel did not go un-remarked-upon by commentators of the day.
As conservative writer Phillip Schaff observed in 1844, “Every theological vagabond and
peddler may drive his bungling trade, without passport or license, and sell his false wares at
pleasure.” 57
Spiritualism was to draw upon the traditions of dramatic oratory embellished by
revivalism and the peddler of nostrums, placing elements of the American carnivalesque in the
context of rational progress and thus combining two central and opposing strands of American
culture.
55 Lears.
56 W.W. Aber. “A Guide to Mediumship: Given by a Delegation from the Star Circle of the Spirit World: W.W.
Aber being the medium for the Materialized Spirits who produced it; Evidenced by the Sworn Testimony of the
Circle who Furnished the Conditions,” in Spiritualism I: Spiritualist Thought, ed. Gary L. Ward. (New York:
Garland Press, 1990) 5.
57 Lears, 57.
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