I haven't read any NF related to this, but there's probably plenty of it out there. For historical fiction, there's Sarah Waters' novel, Affinity (can't remember whether you've read this one or not).

There are two books by Paul Gallico on this subject. The hero of the story is someone called Alexander Hero, and he spends his life debunking ghosts.

They are not his best books, by any means, but they are not bad. The books are Too Many Ghosts and The Hand of Mary Constable.

The spiritualist movement in the U.S. is a fascinating study. Two things immediately spring to mind. The Fox sisters of New York were instrumental in spreading spiritualism. They produced rapping sounds, apparently by cracking their toes, as well as other phenomena. Their lives were pretty interesting, from what I have read. I haven't any books to recommend, as I have only read occasional magazine articles. But they should be easy to search for, and if you are a library user I would bet you can find a lot there.

Harry Houdini, when he wasn't escaping from straitjackets and handcuffs, devoted a great deal of his life to debunking spiritualists. I particularly enjoyed Houdini!!! The Career of Erich Weiss by Kenneth Silverman. One of those non-fiction books that reads like a novel.

This is a very interesting subject - you could easily spend the next year reading up on it.

There are a ton of books out there about Edgar Cayce. He was big when I was a kid and perhaps smoothed the path to "New Age" spiritualism. My BFF was seriously into this stuff and we had lots of seances in her mother's very drafty house (good for getting candles to flicker.) Somehow the good stuff never happened when unbelieving I was there.

You might enjoy a very early Barbara Michaels a.k.a. Elizabeth Peters, Ammie, Come Home which involves a couple of seances. All of the Gothic novels written as Barbara Michaels are a bit spooky.

Twobigdogs, if you want to go straight to the source of the spiritualist movement I would suggest reading about the ill-fated Fox sisters. I recommend Nancy Rubin Stuart's The Reluctant Spiritualist: The Life of Maggie Fox. The author argues the Fox sisters were talented fakes, bullied by a controlling elder sister bent on fame and money. The results were tragic as both sisters led unhappy lives.

Another interesting book which touches on the topic of spiritualism is The Gates Ajar by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps. The author sets out her spiritualist beliefs in a thinly-veiled novel about a young woman coming to terms with the death of her brother during the Civil War. The book sounds weird, but is surprisingly accessible and interesting.

Her Fearful Symmetry-Ausrey Niffenegger.

This is fiction, I have just finished it, this young lady also wrote The Time Traveller's Wife.

Fiction or not it does have a real ghost in it and seances.

Another fiction with some ghostly doings, (which I like) are two of Salley Vicker's books Miss Garnett's Angel and Mr.Golightly's Holiday, both great reads.

Peters' last book written as Barbara Michaels was Other Worlds. In it she retold three ghost stories that already existed. It is my least favorite of her books, but you might want to look at it. Most (maybe all) of the Michaels books include some things that go bump in the night. It's been a while since I read them, but I loved Ammie, Come Home.

The so-called "ballad novels" by Sharon McCrumb also deal with the supernatural. I really like her.

Ammie Come Home is good creepy. Like Turn of the Screw is good creepy.

An interesting book that explores the worlds of psychics and mediums is "Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife" by Mary Roach. I read it a couple of years ago. She talks about the Fox sisters and others.

Here is a link that might be useful: Spook

I have purchased but not as yet read the book
More To Life Than This. The story of Jean Cull, the medium.
By Robert Cull.
It should be interesting.

I know it is ages since PAM (where are you?) wanted titles on séances etc. but belatedly I have come across a 'good'un'. It is Hilary Mantel's Beyond Black which is being serialised in ten episodes on the BBC for a couple of weeks.

Mantel has been interviewed recently about the 2nd part of Wolf Hall (still some way to go) and the attitude of the 'critics' to WH, (with some condescending and others creeping around her) and her long-term ill health. A non-diagnosis of endometriosis in her late teens/early 20's; she was labelled as a hysteric by her Dr's. (what we females have to put up with) Belatedly an operations and sterility followed; but not full recovery. As she could never undertake full-time work she has found some release in writing.

Here is a link that might be useful: Beyond Black

veer,
Thanks for remembering this thread and finding it to post about Beyond Black. I am still waiting for my library to round up a copy of teh title junek recommended, More to Life than this, and Spook by Mary Roach. I think they must have lost those request forms... or maybe ghosts stole them. Now I will check out Beyond Black as well.

PAM