séance
Calling the dead
A séance is a gathering where participants attempt to communicate with the dead, typically through a medium who claims to channel spirits.
The practice became popular in the 19th century and retains associations with dimmed lights, held hands, and mysterious voices: The medium conducted a séance in the parlor.
The word comes from French for "sitting" or "session."
Spiritualist furniture manipulation
- planchetteSéance writing device
- candlesWax lights with wicks
- circleCurved closed shape
- invocationCalling upon higher authority
summoning · conjuring · incantation · calling · chanting · concentration · knocking · rapping
Apparition of the dead
- apparitionVisible supernatural manifestation
- phantomInsubstantial apparition
- specterGhostly threatening presence
- poltergeistDisruptive supernatural entity
wraith · spirit · revenant · shade · ectoplasm · manifestation · presence · entity
Middle size or state
- psychicOne claiming supernatural perception
- channelerOne who transmits spirits
- spiritualistGhost communicator believer
- clairvoyantOne who perceives beyond senses
necromancer · sensitive · conduit · seer · oracle · spiritist · mesmerist
Being in seated posture
- gatheringCollection of people meeting
- circleCurved closed shape
- meetingGathering for discussion
- participantsThose actively involved
sitters · attendees · believers · skeptics · witness · group · private · public
table-turning
Spiritualist furniture manipulation
- planchetteSéance writing device
- candlesWax lights with wicks
- circleCurved closed shape
invocation · summoning · conjuring · incantation · calling · chanting · concentration · knocking · rapping · levitation
ghost
Apparition of the dead
- apparitionVisible supernatural manifestation
- phantomInsubstantial apparition
- specterGhostly threatening presence
poltergeist · wraith · spirit · revenant · shade · ectoplasm · manifestation · presence · entity · departed
medium
Middle size or state
- psychicOne claiming supernatural perception
- channelerOne who transmits spirits
- spiritualistGhost communicator believer
clairvoyant · necromancer · sensitive · conduit · seer · oracle · spiritist · mesmerist
sitting
Being in seated posture
participants · sitters · attendees · believers · skeptics · witness · group · private · public · demonstration
message
Transmitted communication
whisper · knock · rap · signal · answer · response · spelling · writing · speaking · revelation
eerie
Disturbingly strange
hushed · mysterious · haunted · chilling · uncanny · foreboding · ominous · shadowy · spectral · unnerving
- paranormalghosts, paranormal, haunting, poltergeist, apparition
- occult magicconjuring, summoning, invocation, evocation, incantation
- spiritualismseance, mediumship, seances, medium, mediums
- magicwizard, wand, sorcerer, witchcraft, mage
séanceprayer
Address to deity
church service · worship service · mass · meditation · confession
séancescientific inquiry
Systematic investigation of phenomena
debunking · empirical research · scientific method · atheism · secular humanism