Geisterglaube, Unterhaltung und Showgeschäft im 19. Jahrhundert

While scholars have been eager to underline the connections between beliefs in spirits and electrical media such as the telegraph, less attention has been given to the fact that the rise of the spiritualist movement in the mid-nineteenth century also overlapped with another phenomenon: the emergence of a modern, increasingly market-oriented show business. One reason for this omission is the fact that religion and entertainment are regarded as antagonists. In contrast, by way of an examination of some aspects of the history of American and British spiritualism, this article states that both fields were closely intertwined: First, mediums often performed séances on the theatrical stage in front of paying audiences; secondly, private séances had much in common with forms of domestic entertainment; thirdly, mediums and their promoters employed advertising strategies that had been developed within show business; fourthly, the popularity of spiritualism benefited from the mechanisms of celebrity culture. Hence, spiritualist séances in the 19th century stimulated not only devotion and religious belief, but also playfulness and entertainment.