SPIRITUALISM CIRCA 1887

In the 1880’s, the trend of spiritualism had rolled across the United States with each burg boasting their own acclaimed fortune-teller, usually a semi-reputable, middle-aged widow. Mrs. Beeson of Hartford. Mrs. Twitchell of St. Louis. Mrs. Cadalver of Denver, and so on. They were pseudo-seers who employed intricate props such as floating objects tied to strings, angled mirrors, black muslin shadowed to trick the eye, and air hoses strategically aimed to raise the hair on the backs of gullible necks. They were aided in their racket by a cast of supporting players. Stone-faced Indian swamis, rictus-grinned Chinamen, and African witch doctors, whose true heritage could usually be traced to deepest, darkest Memphis.

Madame Helena Blavatsky towered above her competitors. An internationally acclaimed Russian occultist, she worked solo and had infiltrated the heady stratums of Park Avenue society by shrewdly promoting what appeared to be a genuine gift – the rare tongue required to speak with the dead. Her current place of business was a Stuyvesant Park mansion that had been placed at her disposal by one of her disciples. She sat silently inside the mansion’s library, a stern figure, swaddled in black, listening intuitively to the babble of anticipation just outside the door. This would be her last séance in America. Soon she would set sail for India where she planned to cultivate her ‘Society of Theosophists’ in a more welcoming environment. She’d already secured the funding for her expedition so why had she agreed to this final seance? Some pocket money for the road? Or the last chance to impart a crucial message that might one day save the world? Whatever the reason, she was certain of one thing – by the end of the night she’d be well paid. She was psychic enough to predict that.