SAY CHEESE, CLOTH

ONCE UPON A Slime

Kate Cherrell embraces ‘Ectoplasm’ in the Age of Cheesecloth

When Peter Venkman whimpered in a hotel hallway in 1984 that ‘he slimed me’, what constituted ‘actual physical contact’ for the Ghostbusters, was not so different to the spiritualists that preceded them, one hundred years before.

Spiritualism laid its roots with the Fox Sisters in Hydesville, New York in 1848. As the young girls claimed to communicate with spirits through ‘rappings’, their fame and short-lived fortune was inevitable. Yet, as Spiritualism developed into an enormous religious movement, separate from the Fox Sisters’ trickery, increasing claims of fantastical spiritual ability were inevitable. The movement snaked across the western world, developing in theory, in scientific interest and brought hope and reassurance to thousands. The work of 19th and early 20th century spiritualists helped the movement find a home in churches, homes, and public arenas. It also developed and sculpted methods of séance as we know them today.

As fascinating, academic, and culturally important as Spiritualism may be, at its peak, it was full of sex, drugs, and more orifices than you can shake a Ouija board at. It was beautiful, intriguing, and brought purpose to many. It was also, at times, utterly ridiculous. It brought together level-headed people with Martian kings, ancient pirate spirit guides and undead artists.

As spiritualism developed its own methodologies and experimented with different ways of contacting spirits, many mediums entered a level of one-upmanship never seen before.

When one medium could contact the dead and pass on messages verbally or through automatic writing, another could bring the dead person into the room, ready to reintroduce themselves to their family. Some spirit guides became famous, sending their respective mediums into superstardom…at least until a sitter thought to grab hold of the not-so ghostly apparition.

Many mediums in a search for fame and success understandably needed to validate their status as a channeler or spiritual catalyst. However, as the 19th century rolled on, fraudulent mediums were exposed with increased frequency and much of the trust that had been built within the movement was at breaking point. In response, the focus of mediumship - particularly performance mediums who sought fame, infamy, or financial gain through their seances – switched to the legitimacy of the individual, not the relative enormity of their claims.

As such, after exhausting itself with the grandiosity of its manifestations, mediumship, and spiritualism, still very much in its infancy, refined and shrank its claims.

As the Victorian age ended, one of the most popular ways to demonstrate one’s supposed mediumistic abilities was through the production of ectoplasm. Much like yo-yos and Pokémon cards, ectoplasm was a powerful trend that tore through the schoolyards of spiritualism.

The ectoplasm that readily appeared in seances of the 20th century was a little different to Slimer’s own gloop but was equally as shocking and exciting to the investigators who observed it. It must be said that much like any trend, not everyone was a participant or believer in the legitimacy of ectoplasm. As many mediums dismissed ectoplasm as celebrated it.

Into the 1940s, the notions of ‘ectoplasm’ and ‘ghosts’ were indivisible in their definition; ectoplasm was simply a spirit energy made humanly visible through the innate powers of the medium.

Rather than emerging directly from a spirit, ectoplasm was the realm of the gifted medium. As a rule, a sitting would be conducted whereby a handful of individuals would gather in the séance room, the lights would be dimmed (as it was believed that darkness or low light would facilitate the emergence of spirit) and the medium would enter a trance. After hymns were sung, prayers said, or following a simple period of silence, the medium would be ready to contact spirit.

Ectoplasm, once caught on film, was clear in its construction. What had once thrived, concealed in darkness, was instantly exposed, in all its woven wonder.

Most ectoplasm expelled by mediums was made from cheesecloth or butter muslin.

Being loosely woven fabrics from fine thread, large amounts could be compressed into impossibly small spaces. To make the fabric more pliant or smooth when

Most commonly, ectoplasm emerged from the medium via the mouth. In many other studies, mediums produced the substance from their ears, nose, stomach and from between their shoes. A famous manifestation medium, Mina Crandon, would produce ectoplasm in her sittings, The medium could be called upon to contact a specific individual and be directed by sitters or lead by their own means. Ultimately the resulting display was the same. The medium would produce ectoplasm, either from their body, or from a concealed area by their clothing. Arthur Conan Doyle described ectoplasm as “a viscous, gelatinous substance which appeared to differ from every known form of matter in that it could solidify and be used for material purposes”. Others describe it as light and flimsy. And of course, if seen in daylight, the substance would dissolve, so a level of darkness was necessary. The ectoplasm could fall from the medium’s mouth, snake across their body, or take on a life of its own, emerging and taking on the appearance of a fully manifested spirit. regurgitated or removed by the medium, it could be mixed with soap, egg white or animal gelatine.

This could completely change the consistency of the fabric, allowing it to ‘flop’ from the medium, or adhere to surfaces.

Spirit hands are a small subdivision of ectoplasm or spirit manifestations, appearing in darkened seances and moving or tapping to signal the appearance of spirit. Much like their including a small spirit hand that emerged from her stomach and waved at the assembled sitters. Crandon’s reputation was later left in tatters when it was proved that her spirit hand was in fact little more than a piece of carved animal liver. Investigators armed with early home cameras brought the claims of home circles and small-town mediums into the wider public eye. It is through these investigations by scientists, self-styled ghost hunters or pseudointellectuals, that we can grasp the fantastical nature of ectoplasm itself. Similarly, should we want to rebrand ourselves as contemporary ectoplasmic mediums, spiritualist archives offer up a veritable ‘HowTo’ guide and shopping list, for those bold (or stupid) enough to try it.

If there is one thing I love, it is a challenge. If there is another thing I love, it is embracing the opportunity to repeat the word ‘orifice’ under the guise of

What is Ectoplasm?

‘In the darkness, a queer-looking vapoury, luminous form floated around in the air and paused in front of the spectators. My friend slipped down quietly on his knees, and gradually worked closer and closer to the luminous form, until he could detect that the vapor was a kind of luminous “cheese cloth.” David P. Abbott

informing others. ectoplasmic cousin, they were frequently debunked and exposed as mannequin hands, rubber gloves or animal innards. However, their usage and popularity is a story for another day.

Despite endless debunking and the introduction of flash photography, mediums, believers, and investigators alike still sung the praises of plasm. However, understandably its believers have

Where Did it Come From?

dwindled considerably today.

The Danish medium, Einer Nielsen was similarly investigated for his ectoplasmic claims and, in 1922, was exposed as a fraud. Nielsen’s ectoplasm did not originate in the spirit world, but a little closer to home, in his rectum.

As much as I can advocate for body assembled sitters. Still, the ectoplasm positivity, under no circumstances was regarded as a part of the medium will I suggest that storing vast and, following séance, re-joined the amounts of cheesecloth up your medium’s body through absorption. bum with heighten your mediumistic One of the most celebrated abilities. ectoplasmic photographs depicts Sadly, for those of us with a sensitive where ectoplasm has emerged from disposition, Einer was not alone in her shoe and is tipping the table in his unconventional storage methods. front of her. The French medium, Eva Carrière was renowned for conducting seances As written in the Evening World of naked, storing ectoplasm around her 1922, ‘In the pictures, you see it breasts, in her vagina and shocking exuding from the legs and body of sitters with the request for a full the medium and lifting a table by a gynaecological examination before, cantilever of the substance, fixed at during or after seances. Thankfully, one end to the medium’s body and some of Eva’s manifestations were a with the free, or working, end gripping little more family-friendly, which we the under-surface of the table.’ will entertain a little later. Following the descriptions of the When observing so many of these strange photographs, one cannot help but wonder, how would one investigators, I grabbed my chiffon, a broom handle and set about joining Kathleen’s ranks. go about recreating them? If the mediums in question were proven to be fraudulent, then my similar lack of spiritual ability would be of little hindrance in recreating their finest moments. I grabbed my cheesecloth and set about recreating the greatest ectoplasmic frauds this side of the afterlife. My first problem with the Goligher recreation hit early on - sadly, both Kathleen and I have quite different styles, meaning that finding sensible footwear was a rather earthly hurdle to overcome. From other photographs of her ectoplasmic work, it is clear that a large pole is propped between her legs, with the gauze draped in Kathleen Goligher front, flowing into her shoe. As shown, from a front-facing perspective, no Famously ridiculed for his is a simple, effective methodology, unconventional beliefs, Sir Arthur but at a time when so many mediums Conan Doyle (creator of Sherlock re-absorbed, swallowed or discarded Holmes and self-styled Spiritualist their ectoplasm, it begs the question… Investigator) was a great believer what on earth happened to Kathleen’s in the Goligher Circle of Belfast. pole? Kathleen Goligher in particular Kathleen, sitting at a séance table, pole is visible in the photographs. It was the subject of Conan Doyle’s Cutting down the broom handle and investigation; whose ectoplasmic adding fabric was relatively easy mediumship caught his attention but supporting the table with the and his unwavering belief. Dr pole clamped between my legs was Crawford, an investigator of quite the workout. Nonetheless, for Kathleen, explained that ‘the plasma photographs, I think my recreation is part of the medium’s body, was relatively successful. However, exteriorised in space.’ (Source - The assembling the rods and cloths in a Evening World, 26/04/1922) darkened room, with my hands tied? That would be another story, and I From the photographs and commend Kathleen for her dedication reports that remain from these and development of her fraud. investigations, we can see that much of Kathleen’s ectoplasm emerged from her shoe or boot, where the sound of fabric moving across her silk stockings was audible to the And, while she may have been not entirely truthful in her seances, one thing is for sure; the woman had thighs of steel.

Helen Duncan

Helen Duncan, otherwise known as ‘Hellish Nell’, was one of the UK’s most famous, or infamous, mediums. Carved into the history books as the last woman imprisoned under the Witchcraft Act of 1735, her reputation grew in the post-war years of the 20s and 30s, as more people sought to contact their deceased loved ones.

Duncan’s ectoplasmic seances differed from the Golighers’ in that she produced not just a substance, but one that physically transformed into spirits. Duncan’s ability to bring her spirit guides and deceased individuals into the séance room was celebrated for a time. However, what passed in dimly lit seances was soon dismissed when flash photography and eager investigators entered onto the scene. Indeed, in 1928, photographer Harvey Metcalfe attended a séance and was able to prove that Duncan’s spirits were simply papier-mache masks, draped in a white sheet. Duncan was also the subject of several tests by notorious famous ‘ghost hunter’ Harry Price, who studied her production of ectoplasm closely. Duncan would produce the ectoplasm from her mouth (which may contain two dimensional images of faces), perform her piece, then re-absorb the matter. Foolishly on Duncan’s part, she allowed Price to retain a piece of her ectoplasm, suspended in a bottle of water. When Price took the sample to a chemist, it was revealed to be little but egg white and various chemicals.

Price’s investigations were wild to say the least, involving X-Rays, punch ups and desperate attempts to secure more samples. Price himself wrote that, when investigators had gathered to sample her ectoplasm, ‘The medium screamed and the rest of the “teleplasm” went down her throat. This time it wasn’t cheesecloth. It proved to be paper, soaked in white of egg, and folded into a flattened tube... Could anything be more infantile than a group of grown-up men wasting time, money, and energy on the antics of a fat female crook.’ - Paul

Tabori. (1961). The Art of Folly.

One of the most curious of Price’s investigations was Helen Duncan’s ‘séance suit’. During Price’s investigations at the National Laboratory of Psychical Research, he commissioned an all-in-one black satin suit, for her to wear during seances and ectoplasmic production. This was with the intention of securing all limbs of the medium and allowing no opportunity for outside interference. She was also blindfolded and bound to the chair with surgical tape. Although Helen Duncan’s satin onesie is rarely analysed in academic work, she is, undeniably, an untapped fetish icon. Restraints and a restrictive satin suit? So many missed marketing opportunities in the name of mediumship!

Obviously, in my personal recreations, I could not let Duncan’s suit go un-recreated. To my shame, I lack a satin onesie, but I am in proud possession of a roll of 100 sturdy bin bags. With a little wiggling and a lot more electrical tape, my transformation to peak Duncan was nearing. In an attempt to mimic Duncan’s grandest ectoplasm work, I endured a few short attempts at cheesecloth regurgitation. However, after half an hour of retching, a sore throat, and some seriously disapproving looks from the dog, I admitted defeat. Nonetheless, I was able to hold three yards of cheesecloth in my mouth with little issue, proving just how easy it was to conceal ectoplasm, even by the uninitiated. With a little more practise, I believe I could hone my regurgitation skills, yet much like my untapped gymnastic and juggling talents, I can’t say I am in any rush to develop them.

Eva Carrière Eva Carrière was the wild child of materialisation mediumship. She was the Marilyn Manson of spiritualism who lived a life of sex, more sex, more public sex and occasionally, ghosts. Eva claimed to have developed mystical powers after the death of her fiancé in 1904. In her 1905 seances, Eva went straight in at the Spiritual deep- end, manifesting her spirit guide – Bien Boa, a 300-yearold Brahmin Hindu. When photography was introduced into the arena of the séance, there were two clear differences within Bien’s manifestations. Firstly, one was a cardboard cut-out, the other was a hired hand in a dodgy costume. Not to be outdone by an unmasked stooge, Eva continued with her seances which were notoriously explosive. She would conduct seances naked, strip and run around the room, have sex with her female lover in the séance space, or engage in sexual activities with attending audience members. As previously mentioned, she frequently closed her spiritual efforts with the insistence of a full gynaecological examination. However, Eva was also a renowned ectoplasmic medium, producing enormous reems of matter and manifested faces. These faces were often current celebrities, whose portraits she had cut out from French newspapers. As with so many others, with the advent of flash photography, the true identity of Eva’s spirits was made painfully clear. Arthur Conan Doyle investigated Eva and found her to be legitimate. Houdini investigated Eva and found her to be a fraud. The investigations by Albert von Schrenck-Notzing are regarded as nothing short of pornographic. Regardless of Eva’s sexual proclivities, her ectoplasm was frequently examined and found to be predominantly heavily chewed paper, interspersed with folded portraits of celebrities and statesmen. When recreating Eva’s image, as tempting as it was to run about the house naked, covered in filth and spitty paper, I am a far more sedentary soul. Instead, I chose to get naked, jump in a wardrobe and manifest the spiritual likeness of King Ferdinand I of Bulgaria. After all, if there is one thing we can take from her wild and unfettered life, it is the untapped motto of ‘what would Eva do?’ (Spoiler: the answer is probably ‘get naked.’) Although ectoplasm is now confined to the realms of funny anecdotes and horror films, its importance in western spiritualism was so wild and varied that no article can ever do it justice. From Helen Duncan’s dodgy masks to Eva Carrière’s exhibitionism, ectoplasm touched séance rooms across the world, bringing comfort to the grieving, bafflement to the intrigued and annoyance to the investigators. Should you want to spice up your seances with a little bit of ectoplasmic action, I can fully attest to the effectiveness of the form. Just try to make sure that the room is dimly lit, and no-one has a functioning camera

Kate x!

Photo Credit: Marcus Weber 93, Pixabay