A séance is a gathering of people who wish to communicate with the dead, sometimes with the help of a medium, a person who can receive messages from the spirits. Some say spirits communicate using the medium’s vocal cords for speaking.

Séances have existed since ancient times but gained popularity in the mid-1800s when 14-year-old Margaret Fox and her 11-year-old sister Kate reportedly talked to a ghost in their family home. When word spread that the Fox sisters were mediums who could communicate with the dead, they became instant celebrities.

Fox Sisters and the Birth of Spiritualism

Margaret and Kate traveled all over the US, performing séances in front of huge audiences. During these shows, spirits would tap out messages, and objects would move. Fox sisters sparked the ‘spiritualism’ movement – the belief that the dead can communicate with the living.

Many people believed that séances worked, though skeptics argued that they were just theatrical tricks on people who were willing to be fooled. This is common when people do not understand or are unwilling to explore things outside of what they consider to be normal. If you speak to those skeptics, many will claim spiritualism is a fraud, but they will not have any personal experience to back that claim.

A medium named Daniel Dunglas Home levitated his own body during séances throughout the 1860s. At one session, the attendees reported seeing him rising several feet off the ground, exiting through a large window, and floating back through another.

Role of a Medium in Connecting People with the Dead

The loss of a loved one might be a part of life’s cycle, yet it is painful for the people left behind. They’re usually at a loss on what to expect from the future. One can never be fully prepared to face death; lost in grief and full of wishful thinking, they exhaust all resources to get another chance to connect with their departed loved one. At that time, a session with a medium can help re-establish a connection by offering evidence that the soul can survive death even if the body can’t.

Mediums are highly attuned to their sixth sense and act as the link between the living people and the departed souls. They can hear messages from the spirits, communicate with them through thought, and relay them to the living.

Physical mediumship can be described as; anything happening of a physical nature that can be perceived by the medium and others present. The catalyst for all physical mediumship is through the correct attunement, this state is sometimes called ‘trance,’ which takes many years of study and dedication to master. Physical mediumship includes a wide spectrum of phenomena.

Susan, Brittany, and Mediums

Susan first met the medium George Anderson at the Helping parents Heal conference. He mentioned a spirit of a young woman named Brittany who was bothering him for weeks and demanded that he bring a gift for her mother from the afterlife. He also told Susan that Brittany wanted her to know that she had forgiven the person who caused her death.

Scott Milligan is a physical medium, and he allows spirits to come through him and speak during séances. Susan witnessed as Scott was tied to a seat with zip ties so he couldn’t get out of the chair. When he went into a trance, Susan Young Oskey and the rest of the attendees could hear spirit children come in and start playing with toys. At the end of that séance, Scott’s chair was moved entirely around.

Last Words

If you’re interested in reading more about how Susan used different mediums to help reconnect with Brittany, click here to read The Scent of Roses. This book explains the incredible phenomenon of a mother-daughter relationship that remains unbroken even after death!