A Genealogy of the Extraterrestrial in American Culture
A Genealogy of the Extraterrestrial in American Culture
A Genealogy of the Extraterrestrial in American Culture
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<strong>the</strong> corrupt<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>fluence <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> world beyond <strong>the</strong> home—or even by <strong>the</strong> sexual contact<br />
implied <strong>in</strong> marriage—teenage girls were believed to make good mediums because <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
own characters were not powerful enough to <strong>in</strong>terfere with an external <strong>in</strong>telligence’s use<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir bodies. 96<br />
A Guide to Mediumship suggested that prospective mediums should exhibit a “peculiar<br />
sensitiveness” and a “sympa<strong>the</strong>tic passivity <strong>of</strong> m<strong>in</strong>d.” A “positive state <strong>of</strong> m<strong>in</strong>d is to be<br />
avoided.” 97 The Reverend E.W. Sprague contended <strong>in</strong> Spirit Mediumship: Its Various Phases<br />
that “sensitive and mediumistic people do strange th<strong>in</strong>gs at times and <strong>the</strong>y <strong>the</strong>mselves are<br />
sometimes puzzled to understand why <strong>the</strong>y do <strong>the</strong>m.” 98<br />
The picture <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> medium that emerges<br />
from Spiritualist texts is that <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> classic n<strong>in</strong>eteenth century woman, more specifically that <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> female neuras<strong>the</strong>nic: weak, passive, subject to fits <strong>of</strong> hysteria and depression, highly<br />
impressionable. Thus, as Braude argues, “Spiritualism made <strong>the</strong> delicate constitution and<br />
nervous excitability commonly attributed to fem<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>ity a qualification for religious leadership.” 99<br />
Mediumship took <strong>the</strong> weak and passive qualities attributed to women and placed <strong>the</strong>m <strong>in</strong><br />
a public context. It provided an entrée to women for positions <strong>of</strong> religious leadership and for <strong>the</strong><br />
public expression <strong>of</strong> op<strong>in</strong>ion. While many séances took place <strong>in</strong> a domestic sett<strong>in</strong>g, <strong>the</strong> advent <strong>of</strong><br />
trance speak<strong>in</strong>g created a venue for public speech by women. 100<br />
Trance speakers were <strong>the</strong> first<br />
substantial group <strong>of</strong> women to speak consistently <strong>in</strong> public. The fact that <strong>the</strong> trance speaker was<br />
controlled by a spirit helped to place her outside social and religious strictures aga<strong>in</strong>st women<br />
speak<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> public thus creat<strong>in</strong>g an opportunity for public address that was o<strong>the</strong>rwise denied. For<br />
you see, it was not <strong>the</strong> woman that was speak<strong>in</strong>g but ra<strong>the</strong>r <strong>the</strong> spirit. This displacement <strong>of</strong><br />
responsibility lent itself to a variety <strong>of</strong> uses by female mediums.<br />
96 Braude, 56-57.<br />
97 Aber, 5, 8.<br />
98 Reverend E.W. Sprague, “Spirit Mediumship: Its Various Phases. How Developed, and Safely Practiced. A<br />
Compendium <strong>of</strong> Psychic Science. For Séances, Circles and Individual Use. The Medium’s Companion and Guide,”<br />
<strong>in</strong> Spiritualism I: Spiritualist Thought, ed. Gary L. Ward (New York: Garland Press, 1990) 28.<br />
99 Braude, 57.<br />
100 See Mary Ryan, Women <strong>in</strong> Public: Between Banners and Ballots, 1825-1880 (Baltimore: Johns Hopk<strong>in</strong>s, 1992).<br />
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