Brewer's: Spiritualism

or Spiritism. A system which started up in America in 1848. It professes that certain living persons have the power of holding communion with the “spirits of the dead.” Nineteenth century spiritualism probably owes its origin to Andrew Jackson Davis, “the seer of Poughkeepsie.”

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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