Spiritualism and Suffragists

I’ve begun reading Radical Spirits: Spiritualism and Women’s Rights in Nineteenth-Century America by Ann Braude. It’s a fascinating history! And I only just finished reading the first chapter.

Front cover of Radical Spirits: Spiritualism and Women’s Rights in Nineteenth-Century America, by Ann Braud.

Though the Ouija board wasn’t invented until 1891 (see Calling the Spirits: A History of Seances by Lisa Morton), the planchette was invented in the 1850s and commercially available in the 1860s. It was a heart made of wood on three casters. It might have a hole near the point so you could insert a pencil for writing messages from spirits. Or you could have the alphabet on a piece of paper so the planchette could point at letters (like on the later Ouija boards).

Later in November, I’m going to attend a Spiritualism-inspired event at the Victorian house Sheldon McMurphey Johnson House. Though I need to research contemporary mediumship for my current Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month), I had an urge to read at least part of this history book before the event.

I attended last year’s version of the event, when it was called a séance, and the actor playing a necromancer mentioned suffragists and Spiritualism. Apparently it was popular among suffragists. At the time, I knew only that Victoria Woodhull and her sister Tennie Claflin were serious Spiritualists, but I didn’t realize it was that common among suffragists in general. It probably only was in…