night lights
servants of the supernatural the night side of the victorian mind
born of the so called victorian pseudo science of mesmerism the seance enjoyed a late 19th century golden age that ministered to the victorian obsession with science religious doubt and entertainment . mediums psychics and somnambulists were investigated by amateur sleuths and by scientists like faraday and darwin ; their performances imitated and exposed by magicians denounced by clerics satirized hilariously in the press . yet the popularity of spiritualism and the seance endured and does so to this day . a revelatory exploration of the darker side of victorian science this narrative driven history is full of literary and scientific anecdote and evocative depiction of 19th century england .