Randolph W. Liebeck

The investigation of haunted houses started in earnest during the nineteenth century, when a strong spiritualism movement took place in Europe and North America. Spiritualists held that when people died, their spirits lived on and could contact or be contacted by the living. People could gain comfort or advice by communicating with their loved ones. However, spiritualism was rife with phonies- fraudulent mediums (people who supposedly contact the dead) and fake séances (meetings led by a medium during which spirits often were said to materialize or show themselves in some way, such as appearing, talking, or moving objects) abounded. Wishing to expose the frauds while at the same time prove that it truly was possible to communicate with the dead, the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) in England began to collect personal accounts of hauntings and...