Happy Paranormal Day to you! It’s good timing for us at Red Cloak Tours since we just opened for our season 2 days ago.
Paranormal interest certainly has its cycles. There are not quite as many shows on TV anymore, so in some cases interest has waned, but in others it has left a void for some who would like to continue to live vicariously through those shows.
In the later half of the 19th century, Spiritualism was very, very popular with seances, table tippings, and private readings. The Civil War had prompted many to try to connect with their lost loved ones. Over time it became less and less popular to be associated with such events.
We have an interesting story of a minister who spent some time here in Maine in the early 1800’s. Rev. John B. Dods was preaching in Levant as a Congregationalist and had so many experiences with spirits and haunts (not for the first time – his deceased father appeared to him several times as a younger man) that he was forced to to leave the house that he’d built. Many Levant residents witnessed activity at his home.
He moved to Union, changed his vocation per the demands of a particular spirit, and began preaching at Universalist Churches in Thomastonand Rockland. His home in Union was also taken over by violent activity, deemed to be poltergeists! This activity was again witnessed by many people. “This was followed by a series of astonishing physical phenomena, such as loud rappings about the room, the moving of a table across it without perceptible means, the raising of himself in his chair, etc., until he had all the evidence that the senses were capable of receiving, that these things were real, and that he was in his normal state.”
Rev. Dods often used the pulpit to share his paranormal experiences and over time this was considered inappropriate and his connections were dissolved by mutual consent on June 20, 1829, according to “A History of the Town of Union, in the county of Lincoln, Maine to the middle of the 19th Century” by John L. Sibley.
John moved to Massachusetts, became involved in animal magnetism and electrical psychology and wrote several books. He converted to Spiritualism and became very well known in that circle. Some credit him with coining the term “Spritiualism.” Here is a link to one of my sources if you’d like to read more –
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