History Main / SpookySeance

* One of the levels in ''GhostMaster'' has a couple of college students performing a séance in the basement of a frat house. Thanks to you, they get much more than they bargained for.
* ''TheLostCrown'': One of Nigel's first experiments is a one-man séance using an upside-down teacup, that rattles around when he asks the spirits questions.

* [[{{Ghostbusters}} Dan Aykroyd's]] family had several spiritualists, including his father and grandfather.

* HarryHoudini (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.

* Other serious investigations of Spiritualism were made by QueenVictoria, Horace "Go west, young man" Greeley, Booth Tarkington (author of ''Alice Adams''), Beethoven, Marie and Pierre Curie and Pierre's brother Jacques, and [[Literature/SonnetsFromThePortuguese Elizabeth Barrett Browning]].

* ''VisualNovel/AceAttorney'': A formal spirit channeling is done this way. However, it's usually unnecessary and Maya often channels Mia with barely a moment's notice.

* In ''[[''Film/BillAndTed Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey]], after Bill and Ted get killed, they find somebody they know holding a séance and try to get a message through. They're mistaken for evil spirits, and dismissed.

* [[AbrahamLincoln Mary Todd Lincoln]] consulted mediums to talk with her dead children. Abe went along out of curiosity. Contrary to popular myth, Abe did not claim that spirits wrote, or persuaded him to write, the Emancipation Proclamation.

* One occurs in the second episode of ''Series/PennyDreadful''. Somewhat surprisingly, given that it's being put on at a party, the medium turns out to be quite genuine, although she still ends up terrified when it turns serious. Expecting to simply be indulging a few silly Victorian socialites, she's rather overshadowed when Vanessa channels the ancient entity haunting her and Murray's son, who starts spilling dark secrets about his father.

If it's a murder mystery, expect someone to take advantage of the lights being out to kill their target. "But we were all holding hands!"

* Zilpha Keatley Snyder has the children hold a séance in ''TheHeadlessCupid''. Amanda has been teaching her step-siblings the basics of PsychicPowers, witchcraft and ceremonial magic. She really attempts to contact the dead, but in case they don't show up, she has a few tricks planned to satisfy the others.
* Willie Connolly in J.R. Lowell's ''Literature/DaughterOfDarkness'' is being violently haunted by her own mother after casting a spell that caused her to kill herself (not Willie's intention). She attends a séance to try to apologize, although she's pretty sure the mediums are phonies. They are, but Mom actually shows up and wrecks the place.

* In ''TheExorcist'' (novel), a Jeane Dixon {{Expy}} at Chris' party reveals a little-known story (sans names) about a phony medium who had studied to be a Jesuit priest. A French empress at a séance felt what she thought was a spirit child's hand touching her, and someone turned on the lights to reveal the medium "with his naked foot on the empress' arm." It's TruthInTelevision: the empress was Eugénie Montijo, and the medium was D.D. Home. This story was buried for over a century; the fact that Blatty found it is testimony to his intense research.

* ''The Changeling'': (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.

* In ''AndYouThoughtYourParentsWereWeird'', teens perform a séance and accidentally summon the late father of one of the participants.

* There is one in the third episode of ''Series/{{Ravenswood}}'' It doesn't go well.

* There is one in the third episode of ''Series/{{Ravenswood}}]'' It doesn't go well.

* There is one in the third episode of ''Series/{{Ravenswood}]'' It doesn't go well.

* In ''[[ElementalMasters The Wizard of London]]'' the heroes debunk a PhonyPsychic, then a real ghost appears at the end of the séance.

* 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.

-->--''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle''

* The ''MysteryScienceTheater3000'' 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.

* In ''TheUninvited'' (original version), Rick stages a phony séance to convince Stella that her dead mom wants her to leave the house, only to have Mom ([[spoiler: her real mom, that is!]]) actually show up and explain that she's trying to protect the girl. We see in this picture the old-time spelling glass, a homemade device which was eventually replaced by the Ouija board.

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

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

* ''[[SherlockHolmes The Hound of the Baskervilles]]'' (1939) Dr. Mortimer's wife performs one.
* In ''BillAndTedsBogusJourney'', after Bill and Ted get killed, they find somebody they know holding a séance and try to get a message through. They're mistaken for evil spirits, and dismissed.

* ''NightOfTheDemon'' features a séance 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 séance as prearranged bunk).
* ''NightOfTheDemons'': Demons are released after the partying teens hold a séance.

* Mary Todd Lincoln consulted mediums to talk with her dead children. Abe went along out of curiosity. Contrary to popular myth, Abe did not claim that spirits wrote, or persuaded him to write, the Emancipation Proclamation.

* Other serious investigations of Spiritualism were made by QueenVictoria, Horace "Go west, young man" Greeley, Booth Tarkington (author of ''Alice Adams''), Beethoven, and [[Literature/SonnetsFromThePortuguese Elizabeth Barrett Browning]].

* Willie Connolly in ''Literature/DaughterOfDarkness'' is being violently haunted by her own mother after casting a spell that caused her to kill herself (not Willie's intention). She attends a séance to try to apologize, although she's pretty sure the mediums are phonies. They are, but Mom actually shows up and wrecks the place.

* Other serious investigations of Spiritualism were made by QueenVictoria, Horace "Go west, young man" Greeley, Booth Tarkington (author of ''Alice Adams''), Beethoven, and [[Literature/SonnetsFromThePortuguese Elizabeth Barrett Browning]].

* Willie Connolly in ''[[Literature/DaughterOfDarkness]]'' is being violently haunted by her own mother after casting a spell that caused her to kill herself (not Willie's intention). She attends a séance to try to apologize, although she's pretty sure the mediums are phonies. They are, but Mom actually shows up and wrecks the place.

* A séance occurs in the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "Wolf in the Fold".