Table-Rappers: The Victorians and the Occult [Paperback]

Ronald Pearsall (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 25, 2004

The Victorian age was the most haunted of all. At dark seances spectators goggled at spirit hands descending form above, and fondled 'spirits' who had coyly emerged from cabinets. The age of reason had done away with the supernatural. But the Victorians wanted it back and they made certain they got it. Astrology and fortune-telling enjoyed a boom, and in country districts the witches and the cunning men plied their arts, selling and casting spells, and applying the evil eye. The Table-Rappers deals with all aspects of the Victorian occult - the credulity of believers certain that a thing of gauze and muslin was their dead aunt, the venom of the professional mediums who sabotaged each others' seances, and the still unexplained phenomena - levitations, the fire test where mediums handled red-hot coals, and strange materialisations where both spirits and mediums were in the room at the same time. Behind all the heavy breathing in darkened rooms, the implausible spirit photographs, the interminable dotty table-rapping and inconsequential scribbling on slates, lay a whole world of absurd tricksters, well-meaning dolts, credulous gulls and some unforgettable characters.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ronald Pearsall has been a journalist and a professional musician, and a lecturer for the British Council and for the Army. Sutton reissued his The Worm in the Bud:The World of Victorian Sexuality in 2003.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: The History Press (November 25, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0750936843
• ISBN-13: 978-0750936842
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #767,401 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great reference on victorian spiritualism!, September 20, 2009

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Jeronimo (the OC) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Table-Rappers: The Victorians and the Occult (Paperback)

I really enjoyed this book. As a fan of the Victorian era and it's views of the occult, I wasn't expecting a rip-roaring yarn or a frightening ghost story (apparently other readers were?) The author presents the information in a manner-of-fact way that is well-researched and easy to follow. If you're intrigued by the subject of Victorian occultism you can't go wrong here, give it a read.