History of the Seance & Theatrical Recreation

**Disclaimer: This is a theatrical performance and is NOT an actual seance**

Experience a Theatrical Recreation of a Civil War–Era Séance at Gettysburg’s historic Farnsworth House on August 28 at 9pm. This is a living, breathing historical plunge into the shadow‑lit world of 19th‑century Spiritualism — a world where parlors became portals, table‑tappers became celebrities, and the line between belief and deception blurred into something irresistible.

This program draws guests into the very heart of the American séance movement, where grieving families sought comfort, mediums claimed to speak for the dead, and illusionists quietly studied every trick in the book. It is history wrapped in atmosphere.

But this is more than a demonstration of tricks. It is an exploration of the unseen, of the yearning that fueled the Spiritualist movement, of the fragile boundary between faith and fraud. Candlelight flickers. A table stirs. A voice whispers from nowhere. And suddenly people believe they had touched the other side.

Richly theatrical, historically accurate, and steeped in the uncanny charm of the era, this program invites guests to sit in on the “séance” themselves, to feel the tension, the wonder, and the thrill that defined a generation hungry for answers from beyond.