"Ghosts spoke. Women listened. Everything changed.

It began with whispers in a dimly lit room. In the 1840s, the Fox Sisters - and the legions of mediums they inspired - ignited the Spiritualist movement that swept through Victorian parlors and presidential campaigns alike. Contacting the dead wasn't merely a parlor trick: It was a political statement, a declaration of self that still echoes. Séances attracted suffragists and scientists, skeptics and charlatans, giving women a voice in a society that often refused to hear them. But as Spiritualism surged, it also blurred the lines between faith, fraud, feminism, and financial opportunity, drawing figures as varied as Harry Houdini, Victoria Woodhull, and even modern self-help gurus into its ever-expanding orbit.

From wartime séances to the rise of televangelists, from Victorian ghosts to goop-approved wellness rituals, When We Spoke to the Dead unearths the forgotten roots of today's obsession with manifestation, mysticism, and the power of belief. Exploring America's deep-seated hunger for the unseen - whether through politics, personal empowerment, or grief - this book traces how the supernatural, once condemned as heresy, became the ultimate commodity.

Step inside the séance room. The spirits have been waiting."

Such an interesting angle to take on Spiritualism. It makes it more empowerment than exploitation.

At 1/4 of the way through the book, I finally found something interesting. Most of this is conjecture and opinion. But the few paragraphs on Lincoln and spiritualism are interesting to say the least, and offer some drawing of the line between women and politics at the time. However, it comes from one woman's memoir - which isn't totally reliable as a single source. The author treats everything in this book as science or fact, and I found that completely off-putting. Also the thoughts are disjointed, and don't follow a linear path to showing me why there is a connection between women speaking to the dead and gaining power, other than having a way to get money. Honestly I could not finish this book. I got to about 37% and just could not finish it. This could have been a paper? As a book I find it confusing and her points don't make a lot of sense as she ties in side stories.

Our story starts in the 1840s with the Fox Sisters and extends to truly even now! the stories of mediums who have been inspired and the spiritualist movement!

This story covers 4 F’s

🧡 Feminism

⭐️ Faith

🎈 Fraud

💵 And Financial Opportunity

This story unravels the beliefs and attitudes of mystics, mysticism, and more! How spirits gave women a voice when one was not freely had! It also expands and explains upon spiritualism and witchcraft and how throughout history these two have been intertwined as well as explains their differences!

4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thanks so much to NetGalley for the free Kindle book. My review is voluntarily given, and my opinions are my own.

While I am not convinced there are ghosts, I allow that it is possible. So I read these books, not because I believe, but because of the history behind it. Love learning about all different kinds of historical facts.

I really enjoyed the chapter on the Salem witch trials. Although I am sure I must have read about it at some point, I couldn't recall anything about the last person tried in Salem for being a witch. Killed, yes, but not tried. The whole thing was very interesting.

Also, I really loved reading about the divorce of Cora V.L. Hatch. Funny that I don't follow any celebrity drama, but I love reading about the historical stuff. I think it's because it's easier to find out what is actually true about people who have been dead for centuries than it is about people alive today.

Definitely would recommend this book, whether you are just a history buff or a true believer.

Séances, suffragists, and sass—who knew ghost stories could be this empowering?

This book is like sitting in a velvet-draped parlor with a martini in one hand and a Ouija board in the other. Ilise S. Carter takes you on a wild, witty ride through America’s obsession with talking to the dead—and somehow makes it feel like a feminist mic drop.

From the Fox Sisters to modern wellness gurus, Carter connects the dots between grief, power, and the supernatural with style and smarts. It’s part history, part cultural critique, and part ghostly gossip column. I laughed, I learned, and I may or may not have Googled “how to host a séance.”

This wasn’t quite what I expected. I went in hoping for more witch history, but it leaned more into spiritualism and the roots of talking to the dead in America. That said, I still really enjoyed it. The way it tied séances to feminism, politics, and even modern self-help culture was fascinating. It’s more about belief, power, and how women carved space for themselves in a world that didn’t want to listen until the spirits made them. Creepy, empowering, and surprisingly relevant.

I enjoyed this book. The cover and title were fascinating and immediately caught my interest. The chapters cover intriguing topics of the American obsession with Spiritualism. I recommend this to anyone interested in America's occult history or spiritualism. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

#WhenWeSpoketotheDead

The breakdown of spiritualism and why it is synonymous but different from witchcraft saved this narrative for me. Inclusive history bits that are not rooted in colonized perspectives. There is much overlap in history between racism, queerness, and tries to eradicate indigenous cultures that defined the American obsession with Spiritualism. This narrative supports information in a proactive way.
The diction throughout the narrative felt best suited for adolescents. This is a great introduction into America’s history with the occult with a why. This narrative focuses on spiritualism – so do not expect this to be a history of witchcraft. Overall, it was fun, but the diction made me feel disconnected from the narrative and hard for me to read at times. Thank you Netgalley and Sourcebooks for this advanced digital copy.

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