Seances and Spiritualism fiction began shortly after the movement swept the world in the 1840s. The flood of mediums who gave readings got a shot in the arm by The Fox Sisters who perpetuated a hoax that lasted for forty years. Occult personalities such as Swedenborg and Mesmer added more fun with mind-reading and treatises on spirits. The real action got under way with Madame Blavatsky and the Theosophical Society. (Which is a one-penny rendition of Colin Wilson’s The Occult (1976) in about four sentences.) All this was largely over by World War II.
And the world of mediums and raising the dead was reflected in the fiction of the times. Authors like Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood, Arthur Conan Doyle (of course!), Sax Rohmer, and possibly E. Nesbit were members of Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and used theosophical ideas in their work at least at some point. Not all were life-long converts like Arty Doyle, who threw himself into Spiritualism so hard it ruined his reputation. (Fairies! You say!)
The Victorians gave way to the Pulpsters. Pulps like Weird Tales were full of seances and table tipping. One of the last good stories of the old school was Agatha Christie’s “The Last Seance” from The Hound of Death (1933). Usually thought of as a Mystery writer alone, good old Aggie wrote a first rate ghost story with this one.
What became a cliche of the Pulps dribbled down to the comic books. Even as early as the 1940s, it is nothing for comic book characters to have a seance. And wait until the occult reawakening of the 1970s! Suddenly, everybody’s got a Quiji Board! What is of most interest to me is whether the comic portrays the seance as real or fake. Sometimes it is simply neutral.
Authors are noted where known.
The Golden Age
“Mr. District Attorney” (Four Color #13, 1942 but may have been in The Funnies in 1936) was written and drawn by Maurice Kashuba. A man is murdered at a seance and the D. A. gets a hunch how it was done. He partakes in a second spiritual calling where the killer reveals himself. The legitimacy of the seance is not really the issue. Agatha Christie used this idea in Death on the Nile (1937).
“The Sinister Spiritualist” (Thrilling Comics #24, January 1942) has The Woman in Red looking into a fake seance that is being used to steal $200,000 dollars. There is no doubt the seance is part of a criminal enterprise.
“The Seance of Dr. Sorrow” (Blue Ribbon Comics #21, February 1942) was written by Joe Blair. Dr. Sorrow’s fake seance gets found out pretty quick but it is up to Rang-A-Tang to save the day. This is the first comic to introduce a swami as medium. Many comics that follow will do the same. I think we can put this characterization down to Aleister Crowley.
“The Missing Tycoons” (All-American Comics #44, November 1942) was written by John Wentworth. In this one the swami is the hero. Sargon busts a racket that uses television to create fake visions. In 1942, TV would feel like magic.
“The Sinister Seance of Doom!” (Cat-Man Comics #17, January 1943) was written by Sylvain Stein. A medium frames an actor out of jealousy for his beautiful co-star.
“Suicidal Seance” (Treasure Comics #4, December 1945-January 1946) begins with people meddling with the occult. A seance draws a satanic spirit that drives the participants to suicide. Fortunately Dr. Styx is already dead and a match for the fiend. He defeats the spirit by reducing belief in it, shrinking its power. This one is interesting because it is the first truly supernatural tale. For more on Dr. Styx, go here.
“The Dagger of Death” (Manhunt #2, November 1947) has another man murdered during a seance when everyone is holding each other’s hand. This one is a Mystery story plain-and-simple. No real ghosts need apply. It even has a very Ellery Queen pause for you to think of the solution first.
“The Reluctant Ghost” (The Beyond #1, November 1950) a medium summons real ghosts to answer the questions of his sponsors. A woman seeks eternal youth and beauty. A man wants to know his future finds out, in a scene stolen from Dickens, he will die in three weeks. Finally, the medium uses his powers to find treasure and pays a terrible price for it. The scene above of Cleopatra revealing her face is classic Golden Age Horror grue. Love it!
“My Heart Was Haunted” (Top Love Stories #6, February 1952) is a Gothic romance piece in which an evil sister-in-law plans with a fake medium to steal a woman’s fortune. The lawyer in the story is a Mr. Derleth.
“Seance of Terror!” (This Magazine Is Haunted #4, April 1952) has a young couple going to a seance. Warren has his soul pulled from his body, but can’t regain his body because of evil spirits. Only after his wife destroys Count Drasni’s ghost machine can he regain his rightful body. The swami this time is a Count.
“Seance!” (The Vault of Horror #25, June-July 1952) was written and drawn by Johnny Craig. This is an EC Comic so we are in for something good! Two swindlers cheat a rich man out of twenty grand. When Chalmers figures out he has been swindled, the two drive him off the road to his death. Mrs. Chalmers wants the money back since her husband said it was an investment. Mrs. Chalmers is going to consult with Madame Hilda, her medium, first. The swindlers bribe Hilda to play along. Unfortunately, she calls up Chalmers real ghost, who strangles both men.
“The Ghost’s Seance!” (Mysterious Adventures #11, December 1952) has a man warned by Madame Arlando not to go to South Africa. Not wanting to lose his job, Kurt goes anyway and dies. His boss, Ken, meets with the medium and in a seance Kurt’s ghost gets even. Horror comics always have real psychics.
“The Face in the Shroud” (Ghost Comics #8, 1953) a couple who do seances every night are torn apart when the husband is killed. The wife is blamed at first but more seances show that it was the partner who did the killing. The dead man’s ghost chases the killer out a window.
“The Swami’s Last Seance” (Shocking Mystery Cases #52, January 1953) takes us back to Mystery turf, where a very fake swami (right down to the brown face) uses seances for murder and fraud. The police are on it!
“The Trial of Harry New!” (The House of Mystery #12, March 1953) is a half page filler about a seance proving a man innocent of murder.
