Spirits & Spirits

Victorian Spiritualism was a 19th-century movement that believed the spirits of the deceased could communicate with the living. In the aftermath of Westward Expansion and the Civil War, many Americans sought comfort in the idea of an afterlife where they could reconnect with loved ones, seek closure, share secrets, and find answers to lingering questions.

While spiritualists sought comfort in séances and believed the dead never truly left the Earth, the introduction of the Vourdalak from Slavic folklore brought vampires to Victorian England. New stories like Varney the Vampire (1874), Carmilla (1872), and Dracula (1897) unlocked a new way for the dead to rise, introducing a far more sinister idea: the dead returning not to speak, but to feed. Unlike the spirits most often contacted by mediums and amateur spiritualists, vampires were things to be feared, a manifestation of the things so many Victorians tried to avoid, like disease, indecorous behavior, and unfamiliar traditions. Vampires represented everything polite society feared.