When the Dead Talked...and the Smartest Minds in the World Listened

In the late 19th century, an estimated 11 million Americans believed in something called Spiritualism. They believed in it so ardently that it came to be thought of as a religion, and it became the seventh most popular religion in the United States. It's fundamental tenet-virtually its only tenet-was that it was possible for the living to communicate with the dead. America's philosopher king William James believed in it. Thomas Edison believed. Mark Twain believed. Countless number of schol...