Lily Dale, New York: A Spiritualist Community

2010-05-22T08:52:00.004-04:00

“I didn’t like her when she was alive, and I don’t want to hear from her now. Why don’t you bring someone interesting like Elizabeth Cady?” ---Susan B. Anthony’s response when a Lily Dale medium claimed to have a message from her deceased aunt.

Located in western New York state, Lily Dale was founded in the 19th century when spiritualism was thriving in the United States (estimates state that anywhere from 8 to 11 million people practiced this new religion at its peak, near the end of the century). New York is where spiritualism officially began (with the Fox sisters of Hydesville; see general article on spiritualism). According to the Lily Dale Assembly, a spiritualist is, “One who believes, as the basis of his or her religion, in the continuity of life and in individual responsibility. Some, but not all, Spiritualists are Mediums and/or Healers. Spiritualists endeavor to find the truth in all things and to live their lives in accordance therewith.”

About 400 spiritualist churches and communities are thought to exist still in the U.S., and Lily Dale is one of the more famous. It is thought to be the first settlement in the world formed specifically as a spiritualist village (in 1879). With the publication of Christine Wicker’s ambitiously named book Lily Dale: The True Story of the Town that Talks to the Dead in 2003, this small gated district (actually not a town on its own but part of the town of Pomfret) has seen a resurgence of visitors and interest in its history and current condition.

Lily Dale has seen many famous visitors: Susan B. Anthony, Harry Houdini, Sinclair Lewis, Mae West, Gandhi, Eleanor Roosevelt, and others. In its heyday, the town had thousands of inhabitants, and, among other things, a Ferris wheel, a bowling alley, a ballroom, its own newspaper, the Maplewood Hotel, and a collection of ornate Victorian homes. In 1916 the Fox sisters’ home was moved to Lily Dale (it, unfortunately, burned in 1955). Today the town shows its age, but still survives with its Lily Dale spiritualist Church, Assembly Hall, Forest Temple and the still-standing Maplewood Hotel. Each summer the ‘town’ of less than 500 residents continues its original mission, offering up a plethora of spiritualist opportunities in the form of workshops, spiritualist meetings, and private readings with mediums. (An estimated 20,000 intellectually curious and weird folks alike visit the town.) Indeed, no one is allowed to own property in Lily Dale, a gated community, unless he or she passes a medium test administered by the Lily Dale Assembly. Many women live in Lily Dale today; the spiritualist movement attracted thousands of female practitioners, with its opportunity for them to speak up and be taken seriously, and with its free love message. While table tilting, channeling, and spirit guides still can be found here, the Lily Dale Assembly outlawed many forms of physical mediumship in the early 20th century. Activities such as spirit photography and spirit boards are no longer allowed because of the rampant fraudulent practices of many residents here and in other spiritualist communities (Houdini, the greatly feared fraud detector, visited Lily Dale to learn from Ira Davenport, a famous medium, only to return later to expose him and others as ‘fakes’).

Wicker, in her best-selling book, visited Lily dale three times in an effort to either confirm spiritualism is alive and thriving in Lily Dale, or that the town boasts one fraud after another. She found some of each in the community and her study ends rather inconclusively. What struck Wicker the most deeply is the number of grieving people who visit Lily Dale each year in their desperation to communicate with deceased loved ones (no one uses the word ‘dead’ in Lily Dale). [It has been argued that spiritualism survived (after waning substantially in the early 20th century) because of the flu epidemic in America of 1918 that killed over a million people. Many of those left behind were frantic to contact those who had died.] The inhabitants whom Wicker profiles often believe they are the true psychics but their neighbors are inept and even charlatans. “May I come to you?” is the catchphrase Lily Dale mediums use to ask your permission to read one’s thoughts, pass on a message from the dead or attempt to heal someone.

Wicker arrives a skeptic and leaves. . . . well, she is not sure what to believe after immersing herself in this town and its culture. The people and events show her enough to make her consider the possibility that some psychics are genuine, at least part of the time.

If you want to judge this historic community for yourself, take
I-90 exit 59 to Hwy 60 south, or I-86 exit 12 or Hwy 60 north. Once in Cassadaga, turn west on Dale Drive to get to Lily Dale.

Holy Ghostbuster: A Parson’s Encounters with the Paranormal

2010-04-03T20:44:00.001-04:00

-- J. Aelwyn Roberts
1990/ published by Element Books

Dr. Shari Stacy

This is a well-written, easy-to-read book by a Welsh reverend who came to see ghost busting as part of his calling. Roberts explains how he first became involved in the spirit world, and takes us on his amazing journey to help those bothered by troublesome ghosts and those seeking contact with loved ones. The Reverend’s career has spanned 60 years and he shares some of his more memorable encounters with us.

Roberts’ overall message is one of love and closure. His ghosts are not really scary but more “lost” or on a mission to help a loved one. The stories are credible and affirm the minister’s unwavering belief in the spiritual world. He says, “[I] found myself enjoying the company of these people from the world of yesterday…. I just can’t understand anyone being afraid of ghosts.”

Two of my favorite stories from the book are the cases of the “Smelly Ghost” and the “Ghost that Changed Houses.” In the first case, a remodeled house cannot be rented because of a horrible stench that periodically pervades the home. With the help of a namesake medium named Elwyn Roberts, the Reverend discovers two layers of ghosts on the property. One consists of a regiment of soldiers from the 19th century who come to life on the lawn and parade through the house. The medium Roberts is able to come up with several names and verification of these persons from the past is made by the curator of a local museum. The number of accurate “hits” is astounding. It turns out, though, that it is the presence of a young blond boy who cries almost incessantly that carries the unbearable smell with it. In later sessions, the medium is able to piece together the details of the child’s tragic drowning in 1938. Mr. Roberts (the medium) is able to bring the boy’s mother to him and she helps him to cross over. The smell nor the boy are ever experienced again.

The story of the “Ghost” who followed his wife and children to their new home is heart-breaking. The widow had angrily yelled at her husband for incurring a very expensive traffic ticket and he shot himself that same night. The young woman, Beth, discovers that her husband is still in the home. The woman, whose guilt weighs heavily upon her, moves to a new dwelling to escape Brian’s visits, only to find he has followed her. She goes through deep depression before consulting the priest for help. Roberts brings his medium friend Elwyn into this case as well, and he helps wife and husband communicate. It turns out that Brian does not want to harm Beth in any way but instead feels deep shame that in a moment of weakness he did a stupid thing, leaving the impoverished wife and children alone. Beth forgives him and he her, and Brian is able to go on to the other side.

Not once does Roberts indicate in this book that any communication with the spirit world has suggested a God or a Heaven à la the King James version of the Bible. He reports his experiences faithfully, experiencing over and over the concept of “moving on,” but he never learns exactly where the spirits go when they move on. My point is that this deeply religious man does not embellish his stories with a religious theme to win over souls for the Church; instead he describes his encounters with a reporter’s integrity.

Perhaps Sis Jones, a parishioner of Roberts, should have the last word on the subject. When Roberts urges the dying Jones to take morphine to ease her pain, she chastises him:
‘Don’t you remember how… you said this doctor had interviewed many people who had died and who had been resuscitated, and how they all described what they had seen; how they had heard wonderful music; how they had walked through some tunnel where they felt so happy; and how they had seen their parents beckoning to them and welcoming them…. Well then…how is it you ask me such a stupid question as why I refuse to take morphia? I don’t want to be doped and muddle-headed when this exciting thing happens to me! I want to enjoy my death when it comes!’
Here is my last word on J. Aelwyn Roberts’ work

Darkobjects.com

Lily Dale, New York: A Spiritualist Community

Holy Ghostbuster: A Parson’s Encounters with the Paranormal