Scoffers and Frauds - An Introduction
Dramatic to a high degree, the séance was an easy target for critics. It was the ridiculous drama of spiritualism that earned the most scorn in newspapers: few objected to séances on the ground of religion, focusing instead on how the unusual behaviors of spiritualists flew in the face of “common sense” or empiricism. Mediums were mocked as frauds that were at the best naïve fools and at the worst were greedy thieves preying on the gullible and emotionally vulnerable. While the debunking of the most famous American mediums, the Fox Sisters, occurred in the latter half of the century (1888), newspapers were eager to attract attention throughout the Victorian era by reporting on the scandalous exposure of similar frauds and recount hilarious anecdotes of unconvincing séances.
This is not to say that the scoffers had no reason to criticize the practices sweeping through London: as some of the sources in this section will show, authors were angered by the way mediums imposed on emotionally fragile clients, taking money in exchange for false hope. At the same time these texts also demonstrate most criticism of came from a place of debate over interpretive schema. Interpreting unusual events according to anything but empiricism or Church-approved Christianity (as authors defined these concepts) was subject not just to disagreement but virulent critique. There were some who did object to séances as antithetical to Christian beliefs, but these objections were not as popular as might be expected.
This section tries to provide variations on the general theme of disbelieving critics by including texts that base their critique on a variety of grounds. In addition the chapter includes an account of the trial of a well-known medium, Mr. Monck, who was tried for and convicted of fraud.