Victorian fascination with the Supernatural

 A fascination with the supernatural is apparent in Victorian Britain but the reasons behind the fascination may not necessarily mean belief in it. During a time of social upheaval and radical new ideas the supernatural offered a level of solace to anyone who came in contact with it. The supernatural had attractions to a diverse group and by the end of the late nineteenth century it had a diverse following according to Oppenhiem . This is fascination included the sensationalist literature, an obsession with ghosts and the voices of the dead including the building of spiritualist movement and personal gain. Every level of society believed that the realms of the supernatural could further their cause from the radical working class politicians and women’s right activists, the scientific community and their thirst for knowledge and the dominant religions who wanted to fight agnosticism and atheism.

The supernatural and the emergence of spiritualism allowed many different opportunities for those willing to take them, as described by Walter Scott  was a fertile and prepared soil for the seed of the supernatural and specifically the introduction of Spiritualism. As this era brought in these new ideas and the age of enlightenment brought a higher level of tolerance people began to use the non-conforming religions as vehicles to further their cause. The emerging classes began to gain confidence to fight against their oppressors, whether it be matching political machinations or following a different religious path the supernatural offered freedom. 

As the agrarian feudal system declined and communities formerly banded together by the church separated no longer shielded by the poor relief and urbanisation brought anonymity there was a crisis of faith. The 1850 census shows that there was a decline in religion defined as the crisis of faith but it was a decline in conformist religion, the current dominant religions offered no hope to the lower classes, it only offered damnation for acts that they were forced into. Spiritualism and the supernatural offered a “Summerland”  afterlife that was far more liberal, speaking through mediums to the dead alleviated the fears of hell.

Mediums brought forward individual spirits and at a time when squalid conditions and public health meant the mortality rate especially child mortality was increased and the grieving parents or loved ones found spiritualisms ability to individualise the spirits helped the situation. The individual spirits also gave the working classes hope that speaking to the dead allowing them to alleviate their fears of hell and damnation was attractive, their suffering through life would end in something better a place formerly held by dominant religions now offered true peace in a time of turmoil.

The emergence of the class system meant that the working classes were more aware of their place in society and the capitalist ambition encouraged them to fight against their current situation . There was a need to fight against authority during this time of social unrest and the supernatural and spiritualism allowed a forum for social reform, politicians and ambitious women used this to challenge their place in society.  A similar attraction to the Supernatural and spiritualist freedom was held by women, the supernatural had always been linked to the feminine from the times of witch-hunts women have been the main links to mysticism as it linked to emotion. Owen , argues that for this reason it is “no accident” that women were drawn to the supernatural and spiritualism. This religious sect is the only in the world at this time that allowed female participation and in fact encouraged it. Women were free to experience new things and act in ways outside of the Victorian Value system. The supernatural and the Spiritualism were a source for new ideas, a direct opposition to the system that was in place a modern alternative that allowed a forum for reform .

Spiritualism also offered a new standing in society via mediumship, these were the celebrities of the time and people would hang on their every word. Owen argued this allowed women to circumvent the rigid nineteenth century class and gender norms without direct attack to the status quo and Florence Cook. The possession in the Spiritualist séances was used by Cook to challenge the gender norms by using “Katie King” the daughter of a buccaneer to use a salacious and outspoken personality and it can be argued that she used this to experience a sexual freedom not tolerated by Victorian society and the fact that she was found to be fraud cements this view . She still managed to fool some of the leading scientist though such as William Crookes who was described as "a man with a flawless scientific reputation” that “could not detect a real live maiden who was masquerading as a ghost. ”

Braude  describes Spiritualism as a major vehicle for the spread of women’s rights and on reading the History of Suffrage  this seems to be confirmed as a contributing factor to the confidence of the suffrage movement as the only religious faction to take women seriously and encourage women to participate and these freedoms to women meant that the fascination in the supernatural, specifically spiritualism is well founded and comes from the same need that the working class male wanted. Spiritualism wasn’t the only outlet for women but it was the only one set in religion. Occultism orders such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and Theosophy also offered women new avenues of learning about and developing their standing in society, give them the ability to lead and to learn. Owen  concentrates a lot on the hierarchy of this group and how even these groups were met with opposition to the inclusion of females stating that despite the ultimate support for women’s rights that there was still an issue with patriarchy giving up control but the attraction came from someone fighting.

The radical new ideas brought around by the supernatural were also used by the Scientific community. This was an age of knowledge but as King  pertains the use of mysticism was easy to sate the working classes when it came to the new inventions. Modernity brought the use of vast machines in the workplace, superhuman speed on the railways and disembodied voices across continents all scared the uninformed. Engels  suggested that intoxication and ignorance brought forward the fascination with the super natural but the scientific community also revelled in it. Alternatively William Henry Harrison  believed that with research and experiment the supernatural could be harnessed as they were working on the natural world and Dickens was well respected and educated and he was fascinated by the supernatural using ghosts in his stories to warn but made them unable to physically affect the world showing he was interested but he didn’t believe and despite his fascination he disdained mediumship.  But in a world that was shrinking science wanted to investigate the realms of the supernatural. Dickens used the increased accessibility of literature to reach the people regarding his thoughts and experiments with the supernatural. 

As the publication of various different spiritualist and supernatural magazines such as penny dreadful became more widespread, due to increased mechanisation e.g production machinery, this led to more accessible publications. Which meant that for the first time working classes could access these publications and attend the events advertised, such as séances which helped increase the reputation and influence of mediums. This increase in sensationalism of folktales and ghost stories became a new craze leading authors such as Mary Braddon  being given the opportunity to use this popularization of the supernatural to educate the masses on the mistreatment of women and exploring the realms beyond the Victorian respectability. The media also began to sensationalize the gruesome crimes to covert the respectable and appeal to the macabre which religion used to demonise the more brutal of crimes. Jack the ripper was called a demon and some of the most famous cartoon style images depicted him as such or in a ghostly form to infer that no human could be so brutal, essentially a bogeyman.

In Victorian Britain in late nineteenth Century, the supernatural was used by people aspiring for change in society as a vessel to inform the ignorant people for the need of social reform. This coupled with an increased accessibility to supernatural media publications meant that these ideals reached further into a wider society. Religion was not fulfilling people’s expectations and so their needs and wants were not being met, this was especially true for Women in this period. This left a vacuum for new ideas and the supernatural became very appealing because it allowed more opportunities for those in societies that didn’t have them before because it acted as a crutch for the oppressed and a break from the religious inequality. Most importantly it allowed the impoverished working classes to believe that there was hope, freedom from the malady that they lived in and there were better things to come in the case of a more liberal afterlife.