Spiritualist erotica inspiration needed
January 6, 2020 8:05 AM   Subscribe

Last year I decided that the genre I most needed to write was "spiritualist erotica." This story is the only one I've posted. I'm looking for awesome moments in spiritualist (or spiritualist-adjacent) history to inspire more--please don't recommend whole books or movies or podcasts; just looking for specific examples. Some ideas below the fold.

Some topics I've used include the Cottingley Fairies, the Flower Medium of Berlin, a Houdini-type debunking mediums, the medium named Florence who had a spirit double named Katie King, a story that takes place in present-day Lily Dale, a young alchemist intent on making a powder to find whores, and a Fox sisters story (where they are age of consent and not sisters).

I'm avoiding violence, incest, and nonconsensual encounters. Fine with any configuration of gender, orientation, number of participants, naughty ectoplasm, etc.

The stories are meant to be silly as is hopefully obvious, though still erotic.
posted by mermaidcafe to Grab Bag (3 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Mod note: Deleted the link - if you want to put it in Projects or your profile, that's fine, but it's not serving the question here and we need to avoid even the appearance of SEO/whatever on AskMe.
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 10:59 AM on January 6, 2020 [1 favorite]


The origins of the novel Jap Herron, which was dictated by the spirit of Mark Twain to mediums Emily Grant Hutchings and Lola V. Hays, could serve as some fodder.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 12:59 PM on January 6, 2020


Swedish artist Hilma af Klint (1862–1944) might be someone to look at—her "Paintings for the Temple" series of 193 colorful, oversized, and startlingly abstract works, guided by a channeled spirit known as Amaliel, were well before their time and only recently rediscovered by the art world (there was a show at the Guggenheim in the past few years). Her interest in Spiritualism developed after the death of her young sister Hermina in 1880. By 1896 she had formed "The Five" (de fem), a group of women artists who would hold séances & do weird art together every week.

Then there's Miss Etta de Camp (b. 1866), of whom I know little except that she published The Return of Frank R. Stockton (1913), in which she produces, through precipitated writing, stories & letters by the spirit hand of Mr. Stockton, who died in 1902—about seven years before she began working with him on the book. (I have a copy—love the cover art!) Stockton was probably best known for his short story "The Lady, or the Tiger?" I think their relationship must have been quite interesting!
posted by obloquy at 4:12 AM on January 7, 2020 [1 favorite]


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