A Long History
Rise of Spiritualism
Industrial Revolution
Industrialism and Ghosts
Post-bellum America
Supernatural and Hope
Supernatural Restores Faith
Ghosts Build Communities
Comfort to Bereaved
Why the Supernatural was Entertaining
Transcending the Real
Ghosts and Mystery
Ghosts and Thrills
Entertainers Cash In
Laughing at Ghosts
Anthony Hopper
Why Were Americans Interested in the Supernatural?
Industrialism Fuels Americans' Interest in Ghosts (continued)
Many Americans believed in the supernatural world because this faith helped
buttress religious beliefs that were being challenged by the growth of
materialism and by advances in technology. Others went further and attempted
to prove the existence of ghosts using empirical processes; they were
enthusiasts who believed that science could once and for all determine
the existence (or non-existence) of the spiritual world. In an age that
witnessed the invention of electricity and the airplane among other marvels,
these men and women believed that it might be possible to provide hard
evidence or lack thereof for the existence of an afterlife. One other
group was also keenly interested in the paranormal. They were the skeptics
who made a life's work out of debunking the claims of mediums and psychical
researchers. Driven by these goals, ghost enthusiasts of all stripes in
post-bellum America created a large, consumption community centered around
things that went bump in the night.
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