Servants of the Supernatural
Antonio Melechi Explores the Night Side of the Victorian Mind
May 27, 2008
Servants of the Supernatural is Antonio Melechi’s second book and in it he provides a meticulously researched history of the Victorian spiritualist movement, those who believed in the spirits, those who created them and those who sought to expose them.
Victorian Beliefs
Despite the much noted piety and stiff formality of the Victorian era, it was in fact a time of great moral upheaval in Britain, a time when unquestioning belief in conventional religion was on the way out and a time that was ripe for some other movement to capture the public’s imagination. Once the work of Charles Darwin had cast doubt on the Biblical origins of humanity and thus on the idea of heaven as being the place of eternal life, people began to question what happened after death. Although described by The Times as “a mere exhibition of revolting imposture”, for many the answer to this important question was found in the increasing popular fields of mesmerism and spiritualism.
Servants of the Supernatural begins with an account of the origins of mesmerism in Britain. Born from the “animal magnetism” phenomenon of Anton Mesmer, many Victorian physicians, notably John Elliotson, considered mesmerism a “new and mysterious science” that had great medical potential. Although on one hand described in Ambrose Pierce’s Devil’s Dictionary as “hypnotism before it wore good clothes, kept a carriage, and asked incredulity to dinner”, mesmerism was deemed to be capable of “curing directly all disorders of the nervous system and, indirectly, all other maladies”.
Following on from mesmerism was the phenomenally popular spiritualist movement. The idea of communicating with spirits through encouraging them to tap out answers to questions originated from the supposed hauntings experienced by two young girls in Hydesville, New York in 1848. Within six months of the publicity surrounding the girls, there were professional mediums at work in New York and their practices of table-turning and spirit communication quickly spread throughout the USA and across to Europe.
A Complex History
In the introduction to Servants of the Supernatural, Melechi acknowledges that he has provided a thorough overview rather than an in-depth analysis of the spiritualist movement and it is perhaps true that he has set himself too arduous a task. While the development and history of spiritualism is undoubtedly a fascinating and multifaceted subject, the incredible range of individuals and events that Melechi covers leads to a fairly convoluted narrative that is hard to follow in places. This admirable desire to provide a complete account of the spiritualist movement also means that certain interesting events and characters are given a disappointingly hasty treatment so that Melechi is able to move on to a discussion of the next pressing element.
While the mesmerists, mediums, table-turners, magicians and tricksters are undoubtedly an intriguing bunch, the number of scientists, literary figures and other notables who, at one time or another, became embroiled in the spiritualism controversy is staggering. On the side of the spiritualists were such greats as Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope and George Eliot while the sceptics included Charles Darwin, Michael Faraday and Thomas Wakley. Melechi is at his best when discussing the human frailties, criminal tendencies and scientific egos that were so prominent in the development of spiritualism.
Although at times overly complicated, Servants of the Supernatural is a well balanced and thoroughly engaging history of Victorian spiritualism and the individuals who, for better or for worse, influenced the movement.
Servants of the Supernatural by Antonio Melechi
ISBN 978-0434013340, William Heinemann Ltd, 2008, £20.00, pp320
