A Genealogy of the Extraterrestrial in American Culture

All manner of proscribed activities were pursued by female mediums at the behest of their spirit
controls. Spirits often authorized divorce for their controllees. As Moore articulates it, “one
may …suggest that in the personalities of the spirits trance mediums found outlets for
unexpressed and inexpressible desires. If a spirit control kept throwing the medium’s wedding
ring away, the medium could with all sincerity disclaim responsibility.” 105
Moore further
recounts of female mediums
how time and again under the influence of their spirit controls, they turned into swearing
sailors, strong Indian braves, or oversexed male suitors. G. Stanley Hall…observed with
reference to mediums: ‘Such tender and delicate girls often feel themselves possessed by
some rugged, potent and often uncouth male spirit, and delight to swagger in diction and
manner.” 106
But even with all the lines of affiliation between Spiritualism and reform and the clear statements
of support for reform offered by spiritualist practitioners as well as the spirits themselves, the
progressive nature of Spiritualism was highly problematic. The line “robbing the poor of all
happiness this side the grave” gestures toward one source of the problem. While Spiritualism
concerned itself with the politics of the day, its primary concern was with life after death. The
vision of the after-life brought back by spiritual interlocutors was one of plenty. The social
problems that were legion on this side of the veil seemed to vanish on the other. As much energy
and enthusiasm as Spiritualist practitioners might muster for progressive causes, it must have
seemed something of a moot point given the promise of pie in the sky.
A further problem stems from the links between Spiritualism, Christian Science and the
New Thought in general. Spiritualist belief, like Christian Science, held that correct thought
insures good health. As the Reverend E. W. Sprague puts it in Spirit Mediumship, “The mind
may build up or tear down the body. Right thinking generates health vibrations; wrong thinking
105 Moore, 112.
106 Moore, 111.
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