When We Spoke to the Dead

An examination of America’s long and dark history with the occult and how the spiritualist movement has forever changed our understanding of politics, science, and pop culture.

Ghosts spoke. Women listened. Everything changed.

It began with whispers in a dimly lit room. In the 1840s, the Fox Sisters-and the legions of mediums they inspired-ignited the Spiritualist movement that swept through Victorian parlors and presidential campaigns alike. Contacting the dead wasn’t merely a parlor trick- It was a political statement, a declaration of self that still echoes. Seances attracted suffragists and scientists, skeptics and charlatans, giving women a voice in a society that often refused to hear them. But as Spiritualism surged, it also blurred the lines between faith, fraud, feminism, and financial opportunity, drawing figures as varied as Harry Houdini, Victoria Woodhull, and even modern self-help gurus into its ever-expanding orbit.

From wartime seances to the rise of televangelists, from Victorian ghosts to goop-approved wellness rituals, When We Spoke to the Dead unearths the forgotten roots of today’s obsession with manifestation, mysticism, and the power of belief. Exploring America’s deep-seated hunger for the unseen-whether through politics, personal empowerment, or grief-this book traces how the supernatural, once condemned as heresy, became the ultimate commodity.

Step inside the seance room. The spirits have been waiting.

Author Biography

Ilise S. Carter is freelance writer and performer based in New York City. Her first book, The Red Menace: How Lipstick Changed the Face of American History from Prometheus Books has been called “one of the most fascinating fashion histories I’ve ever read” by Harper’s. As her award-winning stage persona, The Lady Aye, she has worked as sideshow performer with acts ranging from Rob Zombie to Cirque du Soleil and has appeared on Gossip Girl, Oddities, The President Show, Mysteries at the Museum, and Dickinson.