Spiritualism Essay -- Parapsychology Essays, 2015

Dont you remember anything? There is no devil. There is no hell. There is but Unrest. There is no down, only sideways the transparent beside the opaque, and a thin wall to separate them. Leanna Renee Hieber, The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy According to Merriam-webster.com, spiritualism is a belief that invigorate of the dead communicate with the living, usually through a medium. However, Spiritualism is more than a belief. Ever since the Spiritualist movement began and spread in the 1800s, Spiritualism has evolved into a religion that continues to be practiced today. Contacting the dead is not a pleasant subject for most people however, although Spiritualism used to be coolly practiced everyday in the legal residences of the Victorians in the 1800s. How did something that once used to be a method of being able to re-unite with your beloved, dead, grandparents warp into something that incites fear?Spiritualism was founded by the Fox sisters back in 1848 when Margaret ta and Kate Fox claimed to have heard mysterious rappings in their little home in Hydesville, unused York. Apparently, their house was reputed to be pursue before the Fox family moved in and there were claims of unexplainable sounds and furniture moving on their own. Margaretta and Fox started speaking to the spirit who was allegedly haunting their home and they eventually developed a system for communication with it. The Fox sisters would ask the spirit a question and they would get answers in return through the bound of rappings. For example, they would interpret one rap for yes or two for no or they would interpret the number of rappings given for a letter in an alphabet. It wasnt long before the neighbors heard about the Fox sisters new found abilities and gathered at their house to witness the spirit rappings for themselves. Soon, they were giving performances in major towns, and that was when the rapping phenomena began to spread. The Fox sisters gained fame through thei r public sances and it wasnt long before other people started claiming that they were also able to speak with spirits and other forms of communicating with the dead were created such as table tipping and slate writing. The Victorian era was marked by romanticismand mysticism with regard to religion, social values, and the arts (http//www.studyblue.com/ peckers/note/n/dr-rescher-english-... ... each other. The information that I have learned regarding this topic has helped me a lot in developing my plot for a comic parole that I am working on for Senior Show titled Post-Mortem. My story is set in the Victorian era where two brothers lament the exit of their loved ones. The older brother especially has a hard time coping with the loss of his fianc, and the little brother tries to contact her and bring her back. However, instead of force back in the beautiful and kind fianc he ends up bringing back one that is hungry for revenge. Even though my story is based in the Victorian era w here contacting the dead had nothing to do with evil spirits, I wanted to make my story more modern by adding a queasy touch.Works CitedMcClenon, James. The Scientific Investigation of Wondrous Events.Wondrous Events Foundation of Religious Belief, University of Pennsylvania Press(1994) 185-207. Print.Simpkins, Sarah. Dr. Rescher English 204.STUDYBLUE. STUDY BLUE, 28 Mar. 2012. Web. 29 Apr. 2015..Roach, Mary.Spook Science Tackles the Afterlife. New York W.W. Norton, 2005. Print.