The Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope

"Spiritualism"

Spiritualism was a new religious movement started in the Nineteenth Century, which believed a complex hierarchy of afterlives and spirit worlds which interacted with our own.

The Reverend May S. Pepper

A Good Thing to Die By

the Reverend May S. Pepper and Bright Eyes

This one has it all: the afterlife, evil stepmothers, Kickapoo princesses, the Romanovs, bigamy and fraud, ghost farts and spirit chickens.

Categories: Biography, Footsteps into the Unknown, Hoaxes, Frauds & Forgeries, People & Places, Series 13

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"Commander William B. Cushing with Ghost Image"

What Joy to the Troubled Heart!

the tale of William H. Mumler, spirit photographer

In 1862, William H. Mumler took the first known photograph of a ghost. Maybe. What unfolded next was an epic story of fraud and self-deception...

Categories: Biography, Footsteps into the Unknown, Hoaxes, Frauds & Forgeries, People & Places, Series 13

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William Dudley Pelley, National Commander of the fascist Silver Legion of America

Seven Minutes in Heaven

the misbegotten existence of William Dudley Pelley (1890-1865)

One man's horrifying journey from toilet paper salesman to famous author to spiritual guru to American Hitler to space brother.

Categories: Biography, Eccentrics & Prophecies, History, Series 12

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Dr. John Ballou Newbrough

Suffer Little Children

John Ballou Newbrough, Oahspe, and the Faithists of SHalam

In 1880, God dictated a new Bible to J.B. Newbrough, and then told him to move to New Mexico and open up the weirdest orphanage the world has ever seen.

Categories: Eccentrics & Prophecies, Most Popular, People & Places, Series 7

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Ann O'Delia Diss Debar

Spirit Princess

one woman, thirty aliases, forty years and too many crimes to count

The greatest and most notorious Spiritualist swindler of all time was a woman from Kentucky who looked a bit like Lola Montez (if you squinted).

Categories: Biography, Hoaxes, Frauds & Forgeries, Series 3

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