Spiritism

Spiritism is a doctrine holding that the spirits of the dead can communicate with the living, notably through mediums. Born in the United States in 1848 with the Fox sisters affair, the table-turning craze spread to Europe; in France, Allan Kardec codified it in The Spirits’ Book, published in 1857. His grave in Père-Lachaise cemetery still draws visitors. Spiritism deeply shaped modern mediumship.