This summary from the CoastToCoastAM radion broadcast the other night. Twain was mentioned, but not in as much detail. Any Twainiacs aboard who've done more about his beliefs and practices (after brother's death, for example)? -Richard R, SF Bay Seances: "In the latter half (July 31 broadcast), author M.J. Rose spoke about the history of seances and techniques that have been used by the likes of Victor Hugo, Mark Twain, Mary Todd Lincoln and Arthur Conan Doyle to access the souls and spirits of the departed. Seances reached their height of popularity during the Victorian era, with the rise of interest in Spiritualism. Yet, trickery was enormously prevalent during this era, such as the use of a "trumpet" in which people at a seance listened through it and heard the voices of spirits, but it was actually the sitter manipulating their own voice through it, she explained. A lot of trick photography (see example) was used to portray ghosts, spirits and other phenomena, and because the photographic medium was so new, people tended to believe it was authentic. "The Ghost Club was a group started in 1862 in London with the goal of carrying out scientific studies of paranormal activity, and well known members included Conan Doyle and Charles Dickens. They sought to investigate, and in many cases debunk, spiritualists and seances, and the group led to the formation of the Society of Psychical Research some 20 years later. A kind of seance involved "table tapping," a forerunner to the Ouija board, with messages spelled out in taps on a stool. In Paris, the renowned French writer Victor Hugo became obsessed with seances after the death of his daughter. In a two-year period he was involved in some 100 seances, in which not only his daughter came through, but Jesus, Shakespeare, a Martian, and Plato were said to send messages, she recounted. Rose also touched on her interest and study of reincarnation and soul groups."