Medium Rare: Ghostly Stories from Rare Books

(NY Public Library) On Halloween, we pull back the curtain between real and unreal, reveling in the spooky, mysterious, and inexplicable. What better way to celebrate the holiday than communing with the spirits and ghosts who reach out to us from the pages of the Rare Book Division

The Victorian spiritualists were fascinated by communicating with the Great Beyond, searching for unquiet spirits through writing, art, and photography. One such spiritualist, Miss Georgiana Houghton, claimed to channel ghostly artists for her drawings, which we have reproduced on lithographed cards. Her fellow medium Isaac Post communicated with famous deceased Americans, passing along timely abolitionist messages from founding fathers George Washington and Benjamin Franklin in his Voices from the Spirit World, published in 1852. These claims of otherworldly abilities did not go unchallenged: we also have an 1888 broadside poster advertising Kate Fox and Charles Starr, who promised to expose the tricks of "spirit rapping mediums" at New York s Lyceum Theatre.

Whether you re in the mood for something seriously scary or fiendishly funny, we have you covered. Just open a book to channel a spirit of your own!
Source: www.nypl.org