Spiritualism Spiritualism Glenn Everett , Associate Professor of English, University of Tennessee at Martin piritualism, the belief that the dead communicate with the living, became a fad throughout America and Europe during the 1850s. Reputable people reported astonishing occurrences. Few of the followers saw much more than table-rappings or ghostly hands laid on shoulders, however, and the movement gradually lost influence when it became clear that it could not duplicate results under scientific scrutiny. The most famous challenge was issued by the American magician Harry Houdini, who offered a substantial reward to any medium whom he could not debunk. The most usual reason given for the rise of spiritualism, which is really little more than sophisticated superstition, is the desperation of doubting Victorians for some incontrovertible grounds for belief.
Spiritualism transcends reason.