Line #97 Main/SpookySeance


1	%%%
2	%%
3	%% This page has been alphabetized. Please place examples in the correct alphabetical order.
4	%%
5	%%
6	%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1459432160005654500
7	%% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread.
8	%%
9	[[quoteright:350:[[Film/DrMabuseTheGambler https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/spooky_seance.jpg]]]]
10
11	->'''Bullwinkle:''' Eenie meenie chili beanie, the spirits are about to speak!\
12	'''Rocky:''' Are they friendly spirits?\
13	'''Bullwinkle:''' Friendly? Just listen.
14	-->-- ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle''
15
16	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]].
17
18	Séances were popular forms of entertainment around the mid-nineteenth and early twentieth century, during which time many people became interested in spiritualism and the occult. Usually the medium would attempt to contact the spirits while asking everyone else in the room to concentrate on summoning and welcoming them. Real séances did not require a dark room, just a pleasantly peaceful atmosphere. The darkened room came into vogue when people started trying to produce materialized "phenomena" — most of which you could buy from theatrical supply companies.
19
20	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 (and it's TruthInTelevision). After that there's usually a lot of [[FaintingSeer dramatic screaming and fainting]].
21
22	Sometimes the séance is revealed to be a [[ScoobyDooHoax hoax]] created by a PhonyPsychic, although it still may turn out to be RealAfterAll...
23
24	If it's a murder mystery, expect someone to take advantage of the [[LightsOffSomebodyDies lights being out]] to kill their target. "But we were all holding hands!"
25
26	----
27	!!Examples:
28	[[foldercontrol]]
29
30	[[folder:Comic Books]]
31	* ''ComicBook/GhostIsland'': Issue #1 begins with Josh holding a séance with a family to contact their dead son, Tommy. When the father, Brian, gets involved, it's revealed that he is Tommy's killer.
32	* ''ComicBook/{{Necronauts}}'': Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is part of a séance in London when the summoner is possessed by the [[EldritchAbomination Sleepers in the Void]] and [[TearOffYourFace rips his own face off]]. This is a sign to Arthur that he needs to help his friend Houdini.
33	[[/folder]]
34
35	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
36	* One 1927 strip of ''ComicStrip/TheFortunesOfFlossie'' sees superstitious Flossie attending a séance hosted by dubious "spiritists" -- despite the obvious fakery of a bedsheet ghost, Flossie gets so scared she tries to leave early. As the caption puts it:
37	-->One night, 'twas Friday, the thirteenth, Flossie went all alone\
38	To a seance [sic] of the spiritists, where wonders would be shown.\
39	She waited in the darkened room, and soon a ghostlike shape\
40	Appeared, and frightened Flossie so she looked for an escape.
41	[[/folder]]
42
43	[[folder:Fan Works]]
44	* Disney's Haunted Mansion ride includes a spooky séance presided by the ghostly medium Madame Leota. In ''Fanfic/HauntedMansionAndTheHatboxGhost'', a FanVerse based on the attraction, it is quite natural to have Madame Leota and her Séance Room having a role.
45	[[/folder]]
46
47	[[folder:Films — Animation]]
48	* In Disney's ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood1973'', Robin, disguised as a UsefulNotes/{{Romani}} fortune-teller, stages a fake séance as a distraction while he and Little John rob Prince John.
49	[[/folder]]
50
51	[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]
52	* Subverted in the opening of ''Film/Amityville3D'', where the séance turns out to be a laughable hoax.
53	* In ''Film/AndYouThoughtYourParentsWereWeird'', teens perform a séance and accidentally summon the late father of one of the participants.
54	* In ''Film/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.
55	* ''Film/CarryOnConstable'': Constable Constable conducts an impromptu séance ''during'' Inspector Mills's inspection, to uncover where he and Constable Potter met before.
56	--> '''Sgt. Wilkins:''' This is not a reincarnation séance! It's just a routine police patrol.
57	* ''Film/TheChangeling'': (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.
58	%%* ''Film/FullCircle'' features a disturbingly successful attempt.
59	* ''Film/Ghost1990'': Whoopi Goldberg plays a PhonyPsychic conducting fake séances for money, who, to her surprise, actually does manage to communicate with the dead.
60	* ''Film/GhostNote'': [[TheProtagonist Mallory]] decides that she and her cousins will have a seance in her grandmother's attic at Thanksgiving dinner. Unfortunately, doing so leads to her getting involved with [[BigBad Eugene Burn]] when they find his guitar.
61	* ''Film/HauntedMansion2023'': Harriet sits down at a table with Ben and Gabbie to contact the ghost of Gracey, the mansion's previous owner.
62	* ''Film/TheHauntingInConnecticut'' features one character's psychic flashbacks to a séance that took place in the HauntedHouse long ago, in which an adolescent boy channels ectoplasm from his mouth.
63	* In ''Film/AHauntingInVenice'', Joyce Reynolds is a medium who is invited by Rowena to speak to her deceased daughter through a séance, with Poirot being brought in to see if he can discredit her, not realizing that [[spoiler: Reynolds, Ariadne and Vitale are collaborating to fool him]]. While Poirot early into the séance realize there is trickery involved, Reynolds soon begins channeling Alicia, accusing someone in the room of murdering her.
64	* A very typical phony séance is shown toward the end of Creator/TonyCurtis' 1953 ''Houdini''. Creator/HarryHoudini really did expose fake mediums for many years.
65	* The documentary ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJx8sR-Wb5k No One Dies in Lily Dale]]'' is worth watching to see what today's Spiritualist camp villages, seances and mediums are like.
66	* After having accidentally received a MacGuffin from a Nazi spy posing as a FortuneTeller in Creator/FritzLang 's ''Film/MinistryOfFear'', Stephen (Ray Milland) traces the fortune teller to London. He finds a completely different woman by that same name, who works as a medium, and promptly joins her spooky séance. Just as the medium is uttering some things that make Stephen really uncomfortable, a shot rings out, and Stephen is framed for murder.
67	* ''Film/Mortuary1983'': Christine and Greg find Mr. Andrews and his female friends holding a séance in the mortuary, trying to contact the spirit of Christine's father.
68	* ''Film/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).
69	* ''Film/TheOthers2001'' has one. [[spoiler:The protagonists are being contacted by the very much alive new residents of their house.]]
70	* Played for laughs, then chills in ''Film/ParanormalActivity2'', in which Ali and her boyfriend use a Ouija board to try to contact the spirit haunting Ali's family and her little brother Hunter. When asked what the spirit wants, the planchette first spells out "PUSSY" (the result of the boyfriend being mischievous), and then spells out "HUNT" before Ali calls it off. The implication that the demon was spelling out "Hunter" is clear.
71	* ''Film/ParanormalAsylum'': Michelle hosts a seance by herself one night. [[spoiler:It ends with her becoming a vessel for the ghost of Mary.]]
72	* ''Film/TheParanormalDiariesClophill'': Two seances are held on two different nights in the movie, both of which utilize a OuijaBoard.
73	* As is evident from the title, the main character of ''Film/SeanceOnAWetAfternoon'', PhonyPsychic Myra Savage, holds regular seances in an upstairs room in her house in which she pretends to communicate with dead or otherwise absent people. To boost her profile as a medium, she makes her husband kidnap the daughter of an industrialist, then offers them her services to locate the child; the father thinks she is a con artist, but the mother is more receptive and agrees to attend one of her seances, at which Myra pretends to be so overwhelmed that she faints.
74	%%* ''Franchise/SherlockHolmes: The Hound of the Baskervilles'' (1939): Dr. Mortimer's wife performs one.
75	* In ''Film/TheUninvited1944'', Rick (Ray Milland again!) 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.
76	* The ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' favorite, ''Film/TheWildWorldOfBatwoman'', 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.
77	* Happens in the 1940 Creator/KayKyser musical ''Film/YoullFindOut''. Creator/BelaLugosi is the medium, Prince Saliano. Various weird effects include the use of the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH-krlgo2e8 Sonovox]] for spirit voices.
78	[[/folder]]
79
80	[[folder:Literature]]
81	* "Proper" séance techniques are discussed in the "How to Contact the Dead" chapter of ''Literature/TheActionHerosHandbook''.
82	* "Literature/AngelDownSussex" by Creator/KimNewman begins with the heroine, Catriona Kaye, at a fake séance, which she proceeds to mercilessly deconstruct. (Creator/ArthurConanDoyle makes a guest appearance in the story.)
83	* In a NoodleIncident from Creator/TimPowers' ''Literature/TheAnubisGates'', a séance 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 séance 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.
84	* ''Literature/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]].
85	** It's intensely argued whether or not it was actually the ghost of Samuel or if it was some other spirit posing as Samuel, but most Biblical scholars agree that the witch of Endor called up ''something'', and the news was not good.
86	* Angela in Creator/ShirleyJackson's never-finished ''Come Along With Me'' is a (real) medium. However, because the spirits tend to come to her at random, she isn't always sure that when she holds an actual sit-down séance she's going to be able to talk to the sitters' loved ones. Their messages don't fit the sitters' preconceived notions either, and they leave unsatisfied.
87	* Willie Connolly in J.R. Lowell's ''Literature/DaughterOfDarkness'' is being violently haunted by her own mother after casting a RitualMagic 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. She later apologizes, repeatedly communicating "Don't hurt Willie".
88	* In ''Literature/ADrownedMaidensHair'', Maud is adopted by the Hawthorne Sisters, three {{phony psychic}}s who want her to help them with their "séances." Her duties include pulling on strings to make the chandelier sway and singing faintly along with the sisters so the customer will think she's a spirit. Later the sisters have her impersonate the eight-year-old drowning victim Caroline Lambert, and tell her to keep her hand in a bucket of ice so it will be cold when she touches Caroline's mother's cheek.
89	* ''Literature/ElementalMasters'': In ''Literature/TheWizardOfLondon'' the heroes debunk a PhonyPsychic, then a real ghost appears at the end of the séance.
90	* In chapter 4 of ''Literature/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 [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empress_Eugenie Eugénie Montijo]][[note]]she is the Empress with the sick child in ''Film/TheSongOfBernadette''[[/note]], and the medium was [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Dunglas_Home D.D. Home]]. This story was buried for over a century; the fact that Blatty found it is testimony to his intense research.
91	* ''Literature/GoodOmens'' has Madame Tracy, fake medium, and a scene where a séance unexpectedly produces real spirits.
92	* Zilpha Keatley Snyder has the children hold a séance in ''Literature/TheHeadlessCupid''. Amanda has been teaching her step-siblings the basics of PsychicPowers, witchcraft and ceremonial RitualMagic. 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.
93	* In Creator/KimNewman's novel ''Literature/{{Jago}}'', Catriona Kaye is present at a séance that attracts a genuine spirit — not a ghost, however, but an AstralProjection with an OminousMessageFromTheFuture.
94	* In ''Literature/NightmareAlley'', conducting these is Stan's main trade as the phony spiritualist preacher, 'Reverend Carlisle'. Of course, they're all a [[ScoobyDooHoax sham]] designed to part his wealthy clientele from their money.
95	* ''Literature/NinaTanleven'': An atypical version occurs in ''The Ghost Let Go'' when Nine and Chris, who can already see Mrs. Smiley’s ghost, work to bring Dolores Smiley into the link so she can see and communicate with her mother’s spirit and, by making peace with her, allow her to pass on.
96	* A.S. Byatt's ''Literature/{{Possession}}'' has a kind of sub-subplot devoted to séances and exposure of phonies. Randolph's and Christabel's last meeting is at one of these. While [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane it's possible something psychic did happen]], there's also some fakery, which Randolph exposes. He calls this his "Gaza Exploit", comparing himself to Samson tearing down the Philistine temple, and writes "Mummy Possest", a poem about fake mediums. This is based on TruthInTelevision with Robert Browning (see below).
97	%%* A fancy séance is very prominent in ''Literature/RimOfThePit''.
98	* ''Literature/SimonArk'': In "Sword for a Sinner", Simon holds a seance in which he impersonates the voice of the dead man to spook the killer into revealing themselves.
99	* In ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'', the Mud People have the power to call a gathering of ancestors. With a firm grasp on the IdiotBall, Richard decides to become a Mud Person so he can perform such a ceremony, despite being [[spoiler:[[LukeIAmYourFather the son of the first book's villain]]]].
100	* ''Literature/TheTimeOfTheGhost'' by Creator/DianaWynneJones has a scene where the Ghost tries to get through to her sisters while they're messing around with a Ouija board. She has trouble making the board say what she wants, partly because one of the living participants is surreptitiously steering it to say something else.
101	* In ''Literature/{{Watersong}}'', Marcy convinces Harper and Alex to try holding a séance to ask the ghosts of the sirens' victims to tell them Gemma's location. She defies a lot of the normal tropes by holding it outside and during daytime, calling the others ignorant when they ask if it shouldn't be done around a table at night. The séance does manage to call some spirits which light a candle with blue flame and move some rocks, but they are unhelpful in determining Gemma's location.
102	[[/folder]]
103
104	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
105	* Subverted in the ''Series/{{Angel}}'' episode "[[Recap/AngelS05E04HellBound Hell Bound]]" when the Wolfram & Hart psychic is called in to clear their HauntedHeadquarters. She turns out to be a pretty blonde griping about missing her Pilates class, who says she's going to "mutter a few calming words" to set the mood. When Fred asks if they should be HoldingHands she replies, "Only if you're lonely. Now, zip it and let me do my sweet funky." Then it gets creepy when she starts [[PsychicNosebleed bleeding from the nose]] and [[YourHeadAsplode her head explodes]].
106	* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' had this in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E18WhereTheWildThingsAre Where the Wild Things Are]]" to exorcise the Lowell House from the LivingMemory spirits created from the orphans' raw emotions and repressed energy.
107	* ''Series/ElChavoDelOcho'': [[RecycledScript At least two episodes]] used the premise of Doña Clotilde and the adults of the Vecindad holding a séance to deal with "los espiritus chocarreros (the rude spirits)" haunting the neighborhood (in reality the side-effects of [[HanlonsRazor the kids doing stupid things]] and Don Ramon being a sleepwalker) and the children, hidden in the same room and frightened by [[LargeHam the invocations of]] "The Witch of Apartment 71", start to make sounds and move things that the adults believe are being done by the ghosts, and frighten them in return.
108	* This was, of course, a staple of ''Series/DarkShadows''. Resulted in Victoria being sent to the past, having been swapped with a person from that time. Odd result of a séance, but hey.
109	* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
110	** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E3TheUnquietDead "The Unquiet Dead"]]: The Doctor and company hold a séance to find out what's going on. It turns out to be EnergyBeings rather than actual ghosts.
111	** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E13TheNameOfTheDoctor "The Name of the Doctor"]]: Vastra's psychic cross-time "conference call" has something of this vibe, including an actual ghost ([[spoiler:River Song, who's speaking from the Library]]).
112	%%* George Furth conducts one for [[Series/LaughIn Ruth Buzzi]] on ''Series/TheMonkees'' episode "A Coffin Too Frequent".
113	* 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 three or four different entities, not all human, none of whom are very happy with the man sitting across from her, and who let that fact be known [[ClusterFBomb without regard for the language or content usually expected]] at a society party.
114	* Professor Quentin E. Deverill, the protagonist of the early '80s adventure series ''Q.E.D.'', debunks a phony séance during the course of his first investigation in London. The "medium" then sics his henchmen on the Professor, which ends badly for them.
115	%%* There is one in the third episode of ''Series/{{Ravenswood}}.'' It doesn't go well.
116	* A séance (the "Argelian empathic contact") occurs in the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "Wolf in the Fold".
117	* In ''Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody'' episode "[[Recap/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCodyS1E19TheGhostInSuite613 The Ghost in Suite 613]]", the cast investigates a purportedly haunted room in the Tipton and attempt to contact the ghost of a woman who died in there. It takes a spooky turn when the cast minus Zack disappears during the séance and Zack gets scared out of his mind, however it's later revealed to be nothing but a prank on him in revenge for all the pranks he's pulled.
118	* There is one in ''Series/TheXFiles'' episode "Closure" in which Mulder finds out what happened to his sister Samantha. In the middle of searching for a missing little girl (not Samantha), Mulder encounters a self-professed psychic, who claims that both girls were taken by "walk-ins" (read: killed) to save them from a horrible fate on Earth. This psychic begins to have visions of Samantha, as Mulder is tracing her whereabouts after her abduction, and holds the séance to help Mulder find resolution with what happened to her. The séance is successful, leading to a touching scene between Mulder and [[spoiler:Samantha, who is revealed to be dead.]] However, being Mulder and Scully, the scene could not escape the show's habitual deadpan snark:
119	-->'''Scully:''' Oh, yay. A séance. I haven't done that since high school.\
120	'''Mulder:''' Maybe afterwards we can play "postman" and "spin the bottle".
121	* ''Series/TheAmericanExperience'' had an episode called "Telegrams from the Dead," written, produced and directed by Matthew Collins, that explained Spiritualism as a phenomenon, a political movement, a reaction to the massive fatalities in the Civil War, and a heartfelt faith. Several seances are enacted, including a notorious 1854 moment when the spirits of a murderer and a forger showed up at the same sitting and re-enacted their crimes.
122	* ''Series/TruthSeekers'': Gus recruits Janey Feathers to conduct one to contact the spirits haunting Astrid. The seance immediately goes wrong, with unnatural darkness, shaking, and flying objects. Janey, realizing the entities involved are far more dangerous than she expected, ends the seance and kicks them out.
123	[[/folder]]
124
125	[[folder:Music]]
126	* ''Music/TheBeatles'' in "Cry Baby Cry":
127	-->At twelve o'clock a meeting 'round the table for a séance in the dark\
128	The voices out of nowhere put on 'specially by the children for a lark
129	[[/folder]]
130
131	[[folder:Pinball]]
132	* The "Séance" mode in ''Pinball/TheAddamsFamily'', complete with the Power disrupting the movement of the pinball.
133	[[/folder]]
134
135	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
136	* ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu''.
137	** Campaign ''The Fungi from Yuggoth''. The investigators can have Paul [=LeMond=] perform a séance to bring forth the spirit of Nophru-Ka.
138	** Adventure ''Pursuit to Kadath''. In the BackStory, the {{PC}}s participate in a séance that releases a spirit of great evil.
139	* ''TabletopGame/{{Mysterium}}'': The conceit of the game is that most of the players are psychics holding a seance, while the remaining player is a ghost trying to communicate with them.
140	[[/folder]]
141
142	[[folder:Theatre]]
143	* Creator/NoelCoward's play ''Theatre/BlitheSpirit'' ([[BlitheSpirit no relation]]) begins with a séance, which causes Charles's first wife to [[VisibleInvisibility appear]]. HilarityEnsues. It's also a 1945 film with Kay Hammond (Elvira) and Creator/MargaretRutherford (Mme. Arcati) in the roles they created for the original stage play. Arcati is eccentric but not a fraud; Rutherford, a Modern Spiritualist, told Coward she wouldn't play her any other way and based her performance, including Arcati's health regimens, on real practices.[[note]]Spiritualist publications at the time advised mediums and seekers to get lots of exercise, fresh air and sunlight, eat right, get enough sleep and maintain a reasonably positive outlook: Spiritualist [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Jackson_Davis Andrew Jackson Davis]], quoting the Greek poet Horace, advised "under all circumstances, keep an even mind".[[/note]] She was later praised by psychic research groups for her complex performance. The bicycle, though, was all Rutherford. She used to ride her own bike onto the stage and brake neatly before the footlights.
144	* In the opera ''Theatre/TheMedium'' by Gian Carlo Menotti, Baba (aka Madame Flora) is a PhonyPsychic 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.
145	** She subsequently confesses to her clients that she was faking everything — and they refuse to believe her. They think she ''believes'' she was faking but actually did contact spirits — which is exactly what she's terrified of.
146	* The play ''The Thirteenth Chair'' by Bayard Veiller uses this as a murder mystery setup.
147	[[/folder]]
148
149	[[folder:Video Games]]
150	* A séance is held in the indie AdventureGame ''VideoGame/{{Ben Jordan\|ParanormalInvestigator}}'' : Case 4: Horror at Number 50.
151	* ''VideoGame/DarkFall: The Journal'': Jonathan Boakes's previous game, includes a Ouija board through which you can ask ghosts questions.
152	* One of the levels in ''VideoGame/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.
153	* ''VideoGame/TheHoundOfShadow'': This Lovecraftian InteractiveFiction game begins with one.
154	* ''VideoGame/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.
155	* ''[[VideoGame/TheRoomMobileGame The Room 2]]'' devoted an entire chapter of puzzles to this concept. You end up in the room of a PhonyPsychic who decided it was RealAfterAll and then conducted a séance that probably [[GoneHorriblyWrong went horribly wrong]]. The medium herself isn't present, but a box and cards used in her rituals is there, [[spoiler: as is a letter scolding her for leaving her accomplice out of her latest scam]]. As you solve the puzzles, flickering lights and flying objects let you know when you've hit a solution.
156	* One of these is part of a puzzle in ''VideoGame/SamAndMax: Beyond the Alley of the Dolls''.
157	-->"Mortimer Moleman, your entrance is cued. To conquer your stage fright, just picture us nude."
158	[[/folder]]
159
160	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
161	* ''Franchise/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.
162	* ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'': In Chapter 3, a séance is held by the students in an effort to determine who killed the latest victim. [[spoiler: It goes awry when the spirit medium gets killed too.]]
163	[[/folder]]
164
165	[[folder:Web Video]]
166	* ''WebVideo/LastLifeSMP'': {{Parodied\|Trope}} during Day 8, with Grian and Joel trying to contact Bdubs' "ghost" (Bdubs in spectator mode), in which they succeed when Bdubs responds to their questions in the in-game chat.
167	[[/folder]]
168
169	[[folder:Webcomics]]
170	* ''Webcomic/{{Bobbinsverse}}'': In one ''Steeple'' storyline, Clotilde and Ludmilla insist that Maggie should run a séance, saying that she was known for these things when they were at school together. Strangely, although the supernatural is definitely real in the setting, and Clotilde and Ludmilla themselves are genuine, active witches, Maggie is very clear that her séances are actually fake; she has studied the sort of stage magic tricks that Victorian fake mediums used. Apparently, everyone treats these events as pure theatre. However, shortly after the séance begins, Maggie is possessed by a (rather disturbing) supernatural effect.
171	[[/folder]]
172
173	[[folder:Western Animation]]
174	* On ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'', Eustace and Muriel hire Shirley the Medium to contact Eustace's dead brother.
175	* On ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'', Rocko and Heffer attend a séance where the fortune-teller summons Mortimer Khan (Genghis' lesser-known brother), who recognizes Heffer as the reincarnation of someone who betrayed him through incompetence and haunts him as revenge.
176	* On a "Treehouse of Horror" opening of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', the titular family is conducting a séance, with Ned Flanders present, summoning the spirit of the late Maude Flanders.
177	* The ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Séance Schméance" has [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick holding one to uncover a long-forgotten sandwich recipe.
178	* Happened twice on ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'':
179	** On the episode "[[Recap/SouthParkS17E4GothKids3DawnOfThePosers Goth Kids 3: Dawn Of The Posers]]", the Goth Kids hold a séance to summon the ghost of Creator/EdgarAllanPoe, who [[RunningGag assume that Goths and emos are the same]] and irritate the Goth and Emo kids.
180	** In "[[Recap/SouthParkS16E1ReverseCowgirl Reverse Cowgirl]]", the boys arrange to hold a "sue-ance" and summon the ghost of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Harington_(writer) John Harington]], the inventor of the modern toilet, and sue him for causing the death of [[spoiler: Clyde's mother]].
181	[[/folder]]
182
183	[[folder:Real Life]]
184	* Spiritualism began as a couple of kids -- Catherine and Margaret Fox -- talking to a ghost in their house via OnceForYesTwiceForNo knocking or "rapping" sounds -- and quickly evolved into a political movement allied with the Quakers, advocating the emancipation of women, and strongly abolitionist. It was called Modern Spiritualism to distinguish it from similar practices that are OlderThanDirt. It was ''extremely'' popular between 1848 and the early 1900s. So many revolutionary discoveries in communications were being made at the time, what with the telephone, telegraph and radio (the "Internet" of that time), that the idea of communicating with the afterlife didn't seem far fetched. Many how-to guides were written: [[https://archive.org/details/guidetomediumshi01wall A Guide to Mediumship]] is one of the most sensible. [[http://www.nsac.org/spiritualism.php Spiritualism is also a religion]], guided by principles and ideas that will be familiar to anyone with a working knowledge of NewAge doctrine.
185	* Creator/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.
186	* Conversely, Creator/ArthurConanDoyle was a great believer in spiritualism, including séances.
187	* [[UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln Mary Todd Lincoln]] consulted mediums to talk with her dead children. (She also had reassuring visitations from their spirits at night.) 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.
188	** Teenage trance medium Nettie Colburn Maynard, however, had a sitting with Lincoln in December 1862 concerning ''when'' he should sign the Proclamation into law, as advisers were pressuring him to wait. The [[http://www.mrlincolnswhitehouse.org/inside.asp?ID=709&subjectID=2 impressively worded answer]] was that Lincoln should stand by his own convictions.
189	* UsefulNotes/FranklinPierce's wife Jane consulted mediums Catherine and Margaret Fox, two of the founders of Modern Spiritualism, to connect with her son Benny, after witnessing his death in a horrific train accident. She also experienced reassuring dream-visions of him, and like Marie Curie, wrote him letters.
190	* Other serious investigations of Spiritualism were made by UsefulNotes/QueenVictoria, Horace "Go west, young man" Greeley, Booth Tarkington (author of ''Alice Adams''), Beethoven, [[UsefulNotes/MarieCurie Marie and Pierre Curie]] and Pierre's brother Jacques with their friend, physicist [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Crookes William Crookes]], and [[Literature/SonnetsFromThePortuguese Elizabeth Barrett Browning]]. Like Jane Pierce, Marie Curie wrote to Pierre after he died and sometimes felt he communicated with her.
191	** Robert Browning was less than impressed, having [[https://atlantisrisingmagazine.com/article/the-brownings-and-the-medium/ caught famed "rock star" medium D.D. Home red-handed]] two years before the incident in France described above. Browning's poem about [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Dunglas_Home#Allegations_of_fraud D.D. Home's fraud]] is "[[http://www.telelib.com/authors/B/BrowningRobert/verse/dramatispersonae/mrsludge.html Mr. Sludge, the Medium]]".
192	* Creator/DanAykroyd's family has had several mediums, including his father and grandfather. He is a committed spiritualist himself.
193	* Today's Spiritualist environments and practices are [[https://hyperallergic.com/365338/shannon-taggart-seance-spiritualist-ritual-and-the-search-for-ectoplasm/ documented by photographer Shannon Taggert]]. Her forthcoming book is called ''Séance: Spiritualist Ritual and the Search for Ectoplasm''. [[https://i-d.vice.com/en_us/article/bjnmbd/haunting-photos-from-the-worlds-largest-spiritualist-community Here, she gives more details about her work and a little history.]] Christine Wicker's ''Lily Dale'' tells the story of the oldest Spiritualist camp town.
194	[[/folder]]
195

Context Main / SpookySeance