seances
Channeling the deceased
Seances are gatherings where participants attempt to communicate with the dead, typically guided by a medium.
The practice gained popularity in the 19th century and remains associated with spiritualism and the occult.
Participants often sit in a circle, sometimes holding hands, in darkened rooms: The seances were held every Thursday evening.
The singular is seance or séance.
Middle size or state
- spiritSoul, mood, or liquor
- ghostApparition of the dead
- afterlifeExistence beyond mortality
- communicationExchanging ideas or information
channeling · summoning · deceased · paranormal · supernatural · psychic · ectoplasm · manifestation
Horizontal furniture surface
- circleCurved closed shape
- candlesWax lights with wicks
- darkenedMade less bright
- handsGripping limbs' extremities
holding · invocation · incantation · participants · silence · atmosphere · gathering · ceremony
Sounds producing speech
- apparitionVisible supernatural manifestation
- ectoplasmSupposed supernatural exudate
- materializationComing into tangible existence
- floatingStaying atop liquid
orbs · knocking · rapping · movement · flickering · whispers · presence · contact
Formal room for visitors
- drawing-roomFormal reception room
- mourningPeriod following loss
- bereavedDeprived by death
- widowBereaved wife, unmarried since
Ouija · planchette · table-tipping · levitation · rappings · knockings · trumpet · cabinet
medium
Middle size or state
communication · channeling · summoning · deceased · paranormal · supernatural · psychic · ectoplasm · manifestation · apparition
table
Horizontal furniture surface
hands · holding · invocation · incantation · participants · silence · atmosphere · gathering · ceremony · sitting
voices
Sounds producing speech
- apparitionVisible supernatural manifestation
- ectoplasmSupposed supernatural exudate
- materializationComing into tangible existence
floating · orbs · knocking · rapping · movement · flickering · whispers · presence · contact · message
parlor
Formal room for visitors
- drawing-roomFormal reception room
- mourningPeriod following loss
- bereavedDeprived by death
widow · Ouija · planchette · table-tipping · levitation · rappings · knockings · trumpet · cabinet · hoax
- VictorianaDickens, Sherlock Holmes, phrenology, workhouse, gaslit streets
- divinationdivination, fortune telling, fortune-telling, fortune teller, tarot
- occultwitchcraft, sorcery, necromancy, black magic, tarot
- ghost tourismghost tours, haunted tours, haunted houses, haunted hotels, haunted mansions
- New Agecrystals, auras, reiki, tarot, astrology
- pseudosciencehomeopathy, astrology, phrenology, numerology, palmistry
seancesprayer services
Organized communal worship events
church services · worship services · Mass · liturgy · masses
seancesscientific experiments
Systematic tests of hypotheses
laboratory research · peer-reviewed studies · clinical trials · skeptical inquiry · forensic analysis
seancesfunerals
Rites for the deceased
memorial services · remembrance services · laying to rest · burials · cremations