Halloween Special: Inside the Gilded Age's Obsession with the Occult

Spooky séances, spirits, and high society...

Imagine a darkened parlour in 1880s New York. The curtains are drawn, a crystal chandelier dimmed, and a group of society ladies and their distinguished guests sit in a circle, hands clasped, waiting for the raps of an invisible visitor.

In the age of Vanderbilt mansions and Astor balls, it wasn’t only jewels and gowns that captured imaginations. The Gilded Age was also a period when séances, spirits, and the supernatural captivated the wealthiest families on both sides of the Atlantic.

So, in honour of spooky season, let’s dive into the fascinating world of the occult during the Gilded Age. Read on, if you dare…

The Spiritualist Craze

The roots of this fascination lay in upstate New York.

In 1848, the Fox Sisters of Hydesville claimed to receive mysterious ‘rappings’ from a ghostly presence in their home. Positioning themselves as mediums, their séances attracted huge attention and are widely credited with launching the Spiritualist movement in America.

Within a decade, séances were being held in cities across the United States and Britain, attracting everyone from curious middle-class families to titled aristocrats—even when Margaretta Fox, coming clean later in 1888, revealed that the ‘rappings’ which had catapulted their careers were, in fact, pure hoax.

Source: Portrait of the Fox Sisters. From left to right: Margaretta, Kate and Leah.