Inside the Dark Rooms: A Story of Spiritualism and Science

In an era when science and spiritualism intersected, one of the most famous confrontations between magician Harry Houdini and spiritualist Mina Crandon captured the public's attention. The event not only exposed the conflict between reality and supernatural beliefs, but also reflected the tumultuous period when scientific discoveries went hand in hand with the desire to reach the other world.

On a July day in 1924, Scientific American editor OD Munn and six other scientists gathered in a stuffy room in Boston. They were there not to conduct a routine scientific experiment but to examine the supernatural claims of Mina Crandon – aka 'Margery' – a woman whose supernatural abilities were causing a stir in the United States. The event, which also featured Harry Houdini, the world-famous magician and spiritualist skeptic, became one of the most famous confrontations between the worlds of science and superstition.

Spiritualism spread throughout the Western world during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The meeting was the result of a wave of interest in spiritualism , a cultural movement that swept the Western world during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement not only captivated the general public, but also attracted the attention of leading scientists such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. With the belief that science could prove the existence of the afterlife, Doyle even invited Munn to witness Crandon's talent in order to help her win a $5,000 prize for anyone who could prove the existence of supernatural phenomena .

The Age of Science and Belief in the Supernatural

The 19th century is often called the 'age of science,' when the laws of nature increasingly shaped humanity's worldview. It was also a time of impressive scientific and medical discoveries, such as James Prescott Joule's contribution to the Law of Conservation of Energy and the first use of anesthetics in surgery. But despite the great advances in science, spiritualism remained strong and popular , attracting both the public and the intellectuals.

The spiritualist movement began in the 1840s when the Fox sisters of New York claimed to be able to communicate with the dead through strange raps and sounds. Although they later admitted that their claims were false, by then, séances had already attracted a large following. Spiritualism grew into a subculture that spread across Europe , even including prominent scientists and artists. Séances became a special 'laboratory' for exploring paranormal phenomena.

Richard Noakes, a professor at the University of Exeter, notes that the 19th century was a time when the line between science and spiritualism was still blurred. Many scientists, in their efforts to understand the afterlife, employed research methods that would today be considered pseudoscientific. Spiritualists believed that spirit phenomena were not 'supernatural' but simply aspects of nature that science had yet to explore.

The advent of the telegraph, created a premise for spiritualism.

The Telegraph and the Desire to Connect Two Worlds

Advances in communication, especially the advent of the telegraph , created a premise for spiritualism. Once the telegraph was invented and developed, information could be transmitted over long distances almost instantly, something that had never been possible before. To contemporaries, if information could travel at the speed of light over long distances, why couldn't the same be said for connecting the living with the afterlife?

Accordingly, many spiritualists see these inventions as evidence that there may be invisible means of communication that we do not yet fully understand. They believe that if technology can connect continents, it can also connect two worlds, a subtle 'telegraph' to communicate with the spirits of the deceased. Séances have become a place to test this theory, with mediums often asking 'guests' from the underworld to respond by tapping or making sounds.

The influence of photography and the quest for evidence of the soul

As photography technology developed, it was quickly adopted by spiritualists as a tool to 'record' evidence of spirits. It was believed that if photography could capture things that the naked eye could not see, then it could also capture images of spirits. Many famous 'spirit' photographs of the 19th century were created with this idea in mind, but in reality, photographers used photo-compositing techniques and lighting effects to create the ghosts.

William H. Mumler and Frederick Hudson were two of the photographers who used this technique to create photographs containing 'spirits.' The appearance of these photographs increased public belief in the ability of photography to record evidence of the afterlife. However, with the development of technology, 'spirit' photographs gradually lost their appeal as people realized that they could be created in sophisticated ways.

The appearance of these photos made the public more confident in the ability of photography to capture ghosts.

The Decline of Spiritualism and Modern Science

In the early 20th century, the spiritualist movement began to wane as spiritualists like Mina Crandon and mediums were exposed as frauds. At a Scientific American screening in 1924, Harry Houdini publicly replicated Crandon's tricks, demonstrating that there was no supernatural element to them. This shattered the faith in Crandon and dealt a major blow to spiritualism, transforming it from a major cultural movement to a fringe topic on the fringes of science.

Although enthusiasm for spiritualism has faded, it has long generated a wave of interest, uniting the most curious minds of our time. Those who seek the truth about the afterlife believe that science, not mysticism or superstition, is the way to unlock the truth. Although science and spiritualism no longer go hand in hand today, the story of scientists who pursued spiritualism is an interesting part of the history of science . As such, the ghosts of the past should not be forgotten but understood, so that we can look at the past and the world around us with openness and tolerance.