REVIEWED BY MICHELLE AINSWORTH
“…rapidly increasing scientific knowledge was regarded not as the enemy of supernatural obsessions, but an encouragement to them.”
—Peter Manseau, The Apparitionists What can psychology tell us about the paranormal? Can ghosts be photographed? How is the history of stage magic relevant to such questions? These three questions are examined in the three books under review here. Psychologist Matthew Tompkins’ The Spectacle of Illusion is a lavishly illustrated skeptical narrative history of spiritualism and parapsychology. Supernatural Entertainments by historian Simone Natale is a remarkably clear and innovative discussion of how the popularity of late 19th century séances was intertwined with developments in business, entertainment and leisure. One aspect of this was the commerce in photographs taken of people— apparently with the spirits of their dead loved ones. Both Tompkins and Natale discuss the paradox of using the emerging technology of the camera to document the existence of alleged ghosts. The trial for fraud of William Mumler is put into the context of early photography in the smoothly flowing The Apparitionists by Peter Manseau.