Editing Ghost (section)

====Spiritualist movement====
[[File:Spirit rappings coverpage to sheet music 1853.jpg|thumb|left|upright|By 1853, when the popular song ''Spirit Rappings'' was published, Spiritualism was an object of intense curiosity.]]<!--

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[[Spiritualism (movement)|Spiritualism]] is a [[monotheism|monotheistic]] belief system or [[religion]], postulating a belief in [[God]], but with a distinguishing feature of belief that spirits of the dead residing in the [[spirit world (Spiritualism)|spirit world]] can be contacted by "[[mediumship|mediums]]", who can then provide information about the [[afterlife]].<ref name="Carroll">{{cite book
 | last = Carroll
 | first = Bret E.
 | year = 1997
 | title = Spiritualism in Antebellum America. (Religion in North America.)
 | publisher = Bloomington: Indiana University Press
 | isbn = 978-0-253-33315-5
 | page = 248}}</ref>

Spiritualism developed in the United States and reached its peak growth in membership from the 1840s to the 1920s, especially in [[English-speaking world|English-language countries]].<ref name=Braude>{{cite book
 | last = Braude
 | first = Ann
 | year = 2001
 | title = Radical Spirits: Spiritualism and Women's Rights in Nineteenth-Century America, Second Edition
 | publisher = Indiana University Press
 | isbn = 978-0-253-21502-4
 | page = 296}}
</ref><ref name="Britten">{{cite book |last= Britten |first= Emma Hardinge |author-link= Emma Hardinge Britten |title= Nineteenth Century Miracles: Spirits and their Work in Every Country of the Earth |url= https://archive.org/details/nineteenthcentu00britgoog |publisher= New York: William Britten |year= 1884 |isbn=978-0-7661-6290-7}}</ref> By 1897, it was said to have more than eight million followers in the United States and Europe,<ref name="NYT">{{cite news |title=THREE FORMS OF THOUGHT; M.M. Mangassarian Addresses the Society for Ethical Culture at Carnegie Music Hall. UNREST OF THE HUMAN MIND Theosophy, Spiritualism, and Christian Science Discussed -- The Theory of Reaction a Fallacy -- Ineffectiveness of the Spiritualistic Idea |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1897/11/29/archives/three-forms-of-thought-mm-mangassarian-addresses-the-society-for.html |work=The New York Times |date=29 November 1897 |access-date=4 November 2019 |archive-date=4 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191104152314/https://www.nytimes.com/1897/11/29/archives/three-forms-of-thought-mm-mangassarian-addresses-the-society-for.html |url-status=live }}</ref> mostly drawn from the [[middle class|middle]] and [[upper class|upper]] classes, while the corresponding movement in continental Europe and Latin America is known as [[#Spiritism|Spiritism]].

The religion flourished for a half century without canonical texts or formal organization, attaining cohesion by periodicals, tours by trance lecturers, camp meetings, and the missionary activities of accomplished mediums.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Supernatural Entertainments: Victorian Spiritualism and the Rise of Modern Media Culture|last = Natale|first = Simone|publisher = Pennsylvania State University Press|year = 2016|isbn=978-0-271-07104-6|location = University Park, PA}}</ref> Many prominent Spiritualists were women. Most followers supported causes such as the [[abolitionism|abolition of slavery]] and [[women's suffrage]].<ref name="Braude"/> By the late 1880s, credibility of the informal movement weakened, due to accusations of fraud among mediums, and formal Spiritualist organizations began to appear.<ref name="Braude"/> Spiritualism is currently practiced primarily through various denominational [[Spiritualist church]]es in the United States and United Kingdom.