Séances, Spirits & the Rise of Victorian Feminism

Overview

The Victorians had top hats, questionable medical practices, and an absolutely thriving obsession with talking to dead people. In this episode of CASSIE WORKMAN IS WITCHY AF, Cassie dives into the Victorian occult revival, when séances, spirit photography, and mediumship became all the rage. But behind the ghostly photographs and suspicious knocking, something else was happening: women were finding new ways to make their voices heard. From the Fox sisters and the rise of Spiritualism to Helena Blavatsky, Victoria Woodhull, and the connections between occult movements, women’s suffrage, and abolition, Cassie explores how a fascination with the supernatural helped open doors to social change. Along the way, expect a warning about Ouija boards, a ghostly Abraham Lincoln, a visit to Hock-a-Relic, and King Grimskwawk’s increasingly desperate quest for General Tso’s chicken.