History Main / SpookySeance

-->--'''Bullwinkle''', ''RockyAndBullwinkle''

A séance is an attempt to communicate with the spirits of the dead, usually involving a gathering of individuals who sit down around a table and led by a [[PsychicPowers medium]].

Séances were popular forms of entertainment around the mid nineteenth and early twentieth century, during which time many people became interested in spiritualsim and the occult. Usually the medium would attempt to contact the spirits while asking everyone else in the room to concentrate on summoning them. The [[TentativeLight lights may flicker]] or the room [[GhostlyChill suddenly grow colder]], and the medium would either become [[DemonicPossession possessed]] by the spirit that was summoned or merely speak with it. Objects might start [[{{Poltergeist}} being thrown about the room]] to show that the ghost is present and active. OnceForYesTwiceForNo is another common element. After that there's usually a lot of [[FaintingSeer dramatic screaming and fainting]].

Sometimes the séance is revealed to be a [[ScoobyDooHoax hoax]] created by a PhonyPsychic, although it still may turn out to be RealAfterAll...

[[AC:{{Film}}]]
* In the movie ''{{Ghost}}'', Whoopi Goldberg is a PhonyPsychic conducting fake séances for money, who, to her surprise, actually does manage to communicate with the dead.
* Dr. Mortimer's wife performs one in the 1939 film version of ''[[SherlockHolmes The Hound of the Baskervilles]]''.

* Eponymous beings in ''{{Night of the Demons}}'' are released after the partying teens hold a séance.
* The movie "The Changeling" from 1980 has a particularly spooky séance scene where the medium attempts to contact the ghost in the house, is put in a trance and draws the ghost's answers to her questions on paper. It is absolutely terrifying.

* Film/{{The Others}} has one. [[spoiler:The protagonists are being contacted by the very much alive new residents of their house.]]
* ''[[{{Seance}} Séance]]''
* The [[MysteryScienceTheater3000 MST3K]] favorite, WildWorldOfBatwoman, features a séance scene for, quite frankly, no real reason at all. The ethnic slurs incurred make it a scene best not discussed in polite company.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

* In "[[MercedesLackey The Wizard of London]]" the heroes debunk a PhonyPsychic, then a real ghost appears at the end of the séance.
* ''A Drowned Maiden's Hair'' by Laura Amy Schlitz, revolves around séances conducted by the Hawthorne sisters.

[[AC:Music]]

[[AC:RealLife]]
* Harry Houdini (in RealLife and in the BioPic ''Houdini'') went to many {{Fortune Teller}}s and whatnot trying to communicate with his mother on The Other Side, but all were bunk and he became a semi-professional debunker.
* Conversely ArthurConanDoyle was a great believer in spiritualism, including séances.


[[AC:Religion and Myth]]
* [[TheBible King Saul]], after God ignores his inquiries as to how to defeat the Philistines, turns in desperation to a medium (or "witch") in Endor and asks her to raise Samuel's spirit. (The irony was that Saul had previously cracked down on all necromancy within the Kingdom of Israel.) The medium, though recognizing Saul despite his disguise and suspecting entrapment, complies, and Samuel's spirit appears as an elderly man in a robe, none too pleased to be woken from his eternal rest. He curtly tells Saul that the next day he and his sons will die in battle, and sure enough, [[PropheciesAreAlwaysRight guess what happens]].

[[AC:TabletopRPG]]

[[AC:{{Theatre}}]]
* Noel Coward's play ''Blithe Spirit'' ([[BlitheSpirit no relation]]) begins with a séance, which causes Charles's first wife to [[VisibleInvisibility appear]]. HilarityEnsues.
* In the opera ''{{The Medium}}'' by Gian Carlo Menotti, Baba (aka Madame Flora) is a phony medium and alcoholic, who fakes séances with the help of her daughter and a mute boy she took in. During one of her séances, she feels an icy hand grab her throat. It is never revealed whether it was supernatural in nature, or just her imagination.


[[AC:VideoGames]]
* The Lovecraftian InteractiveFiction game ''TheHoundOfShadow'' begins with one.

-->"Mortimer Moleman, your entrance is cued...to conquer your stage fright, just picture us nude..."
* A formal spirit channeling in AceAttorney is done this way. However, it's usually unnecessary and Maya often channels Mia with barely a moment's notice.

* One of Nigel's first experiments in ''The Lost Crown'' is a one-man seance using an upside-down teacup, that rattles around when he asks the spirits questions.
** Jonathan Boakes's previous game, ''DarkfallTheJournal'', includes a ouija board through which you can ask ghosts questions.

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* In Disney's ''Disney/RobinHood'', Robin, disguised as a Gypsy fortuneteller, stages a fake séance as a distraction while he and Little John rob Prince John.

-->"Eenie meenie chili beanie, the spirits are about to speak!"
--->--''RockyAndBullwinkle''

* ''GoodOmens'' has Madame Tracy, fake medium, and a scene where a séance unexpectedly produces real spirits.

A seance is an attempt to communicate with the spirits of the dead, usually involving a gathering of individuals who sit down around a table and led by a [[PsychicPowers medium]].

Seances were popular forms of entertainment around the mid nineteenth and early twentieth century, during which time many people became interested in spiritualsim and the occult. Usually the medium would attempt to contact the spirits while asking everyone else in the room to concentrate on summoning them. The [[TentativeLight lights may flicker]] or the room [[GhostlyChill suddenly grow colder]], and the medium would either become [[DemonicPossession possessed]] by the spirit that was summoned or merely speak with it. Objects might start [[{{Poltergeist}} being thrown about the room]] to show that the ghost is present and active. OnceForYesTwiceForNo is another common element. After that there's usually a lot of [[FaintingSeer dramatic screaming and fainting]].

Sometimes the seance is revealed to be a [[ScoobyDooHoax hoax]] created by a PhonyPsychic, although it still may turn out to be RealAfterAll...

* In the movie ''{{Ghost}}'', Whoopi Goldberg is a PhonyPsychic conducting fake seances for money, who, to her surprise, actually does manage to communicate with the dead.

* In ''BillAndTedsBogusJourney'', after Bill and Ted get killed, they find somebody they know holding a seance and try to get a message through. They're mistaken for evil spirits, and dismissed.

* ''NightOfTheDemon'' features a seance where the medium channels the spirit of a researcher killed in the beginning of the movie, who provides some crucial information to his niece and his co-worker (who dismisses the seance as prearranged bunk).
* Eponymous beings in ''{{Night of the Demons}}'' are released after the partying teens hold a seance.
* The movie "The Changeling" from 1980 has a particularly spooky seance scene where the medium attempts to contact the ghost in the house, is put in a trance and draws the ghost's answers to her questions on paper. It is absolutely terrifying.

* The [[MysteryScienceTheater3000 MST3K]] favorite, WildWorldOfBatwoman, features a seance scene for, quite frankly, no real reason at all. The ethnic slurs incurred make it a scene best not discussed in polite company.
* In ''AndYouThoughtYourParentsWereWeird'', teens perform a seance and accidentally summon the late father of one of the participants.

* This was, of course, a staple of ''DarkShadows''. Resulted in Victoria being sent to the past, having been swapped with a person from that time. Odd result of a seance, but hey.

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "The Unquiet Dead", they hold a seance to find out what's going on. It turns out to be EnergyBeings rather than actual ghosts.
* A seance occurs in the ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "Wolf in the Fold".

* ''GoodOmens'' has Madame Tracy, fake medium, and a scene where a seance unexpectedly produces real spirits.
* "Angel Down, Sussex" by KimNewman begins with the heroine at a fake seance, which she proceeds to mercilessly deconstruct. (ArthurConanDoyle makes a guest appearance in the story.)

* A fancy seance is very prominent in ''RimOfThePit''
* "Proper" seance techniques are discussed in the "How to Contact the Dead" chapter of [[{{ptitle5cb6lhsb}} The Action Hero's Handbook]]
* In a NoodleIncident from ''[[TimPowers The Anubis Gates]]'', a seance was being conducted at the site of one of the gaps in time. As these gaps cause magic to start working in their vicinity, this seance presumably got results; just ''what'' result, no one knows, as the participants were all found dead the next day, sitting around their ouija board with horrified looks on their faces.
* In "[[MercedesLackey The Wizard of London]]" the heroes debunk a PhonyPsychic, then a real ghost appears at the end of the seance.
* ''A Drowned Maiden's Hair'' by Laura Amy Schlitz, revolves around seances conducted by the Hawthorne sisters.

---> At twelve o'clock a meeting 'round the table for a seance in the dark

* Conversely ArthurConanDoyle was a great believer in spiritualism, including seances.

** Campaign ''The Fungi from Yuggoth''. The investigators can have Paul [=LeMond=] perform a seance to bring forth the spirit of Nophru-Ka.
** Adventure ''Pursuit to Kadath''. In the BackStory, the {{PC}}s participate in a seance that releases a spirit of great evil.

* Noel Coward's play ''Blithe Spirit'' ([[BlitheSpirit no relation]]) begins with a seance, which causes Charles's first wife to [[VisibleInvisibility appear]]. HilarityEnsues.
* In the opera ''{{The Medium}}'' by Gian Carlo Menotti, Baba (aka Madame Flora) is a phony medium and alcoholic, who fakes seances with the help of her daughter and a mute boy she took in. During one of her seances, she feels an icy hand grab her throat. It is never revealed whether it was supernatural in nature, or just her imagination.

* A seance is held in the indie AdventureGame ''BenJordan'' : Case 4: Horror at Number 50.

* One of the levels in ''GhostMaster'' has a couple of college students performing a seance in the basement of a frat house. Thanks to you, they get much more than they bargained for.

* In Disney's ''Disney/RobinHood'', Robin, disguised as a Gypsy fortuneteller, stages a fake seance as a distraction while he and Little John rob Prince John.
* On ''RockosModernLife'', Rocko and Heffer attend a seance where the fortune teller summons Mortimer Khan (Ghengis's lesser-known brother), who recognizes Heffer as the reincarnation of someone who betrayed him through incompetence and haunts him as revenge.

* In the ''DoctorWho'' episode "The Unquiet Dead", they hold a seance to find out what's going on. It turns out to be EnergyBeings rather than actual ghosts.

* On ''RockosModernLife'', Rocko and Heffer attend a seance where the fortune teller summons Ghengis Khan, who recognizes Heffer as the reincarnation of someone who betrayed him and haunts him as revenge.

A seance is an attempt to communicate with the spirits of the dead, usuallly involving a gathering of individuals who sit down around a table and led by a [[PsychicPowers medium]].

** Jonathan Boakes's previous game, ''DarkFallTheJournal'', includes a ouija board through which you can ask ghosts questions.

* The spirit channelings in AceAttorney is done this way when it's official. But most of the time, they don't bother. It's only shown once actually. The rest is just done right there and then.

* Harry Houdini (in RealLife and in the BioPic ''Houdini'') went to many {{Fortune Teller}}s and whatnot trying to communicate with his mother on TheOtherSide, but all were bunk and he became a semi-professional debunker.

* Dr. Mortimer's wife performs one in the 1939 film version of ''The Hound of the Baskervilles''

* Happens in the 1940 Kay Kyser musical, ''You'll Find Out.'' BelaLugosi is the medium, Prince Saliano. Various weird effects include the use of the Sonovox for spirit voices.

* George Furth conducts one for Ruth Buzzi on ''TheMonkees'' (Episode "A Coffin Too Frequent").

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[[folder:{{Film}}]]

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]

[[folder:{{Literature}}]]

[[folder:RealLife]]

[[folder:Religion and Myth]]

[[folder:TabletopRPG]]

[[folder:{{Theatre}}]]

[[folder:VideoGames]]

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]

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