Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Pagan
Lily Dale: A Rainy Day with the Spirits

Lily Dale: A Rainy Day with the Spirits

Last updated on: July 27, 2012 at 1:31 pm by Jason Mankey

Lily Dale: A Rainy Day with the Spirits 2012-07-27T13:31:57-06:00 Jason Mankey

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

During my road trip I got to do a few things outside of Pagandom, one of them was visiting Lily Dale, a Spiritualist community in Western (western) New York. Lily Dale is a place that brings out mixed feelings in me. I’m fascinated by it, while also being (mostly) a skeptic. I’m skeptical of mediums, I’m not skeptical about ghosts. I’ve had real life encounters with ghosts and I’m firmly convinced that we share this world with a spirit or two.

While I’ve been to Lily Dale before, I’ve never visited it during a period of twenty four hour rain. The wet both enhanced and limited our trip to Lily Dale. The overcast skies seemed to fit the idea of spirits and the Victorian architecture. The rain meant that we hurried from place to place and probably spent too much time at the gift shop. (Weirdly the rain doesn’t ever show up in the pictures I took, that’s the power of Spirit.)

Sepia tone only because my phone was near battery death, on the plus side things look cooler this way.

The Spiritualism of the 19th Century fascinated me as a kid (and still holds a lot of appeal today). Mediums in that era were said to produce physical phenomenon. Spirit writing would appear on formerly blank chalk slates, people watched paintings magically appear on blank canvases, mediums produced ectoplasm, and of course weird sounds were a part of the proceedings. That stuff fascinates me, and while I’m pretty sure the majority of it could be attributed to “parlor tricks,” it’s amazing how many people believed in it. I read a figure once that 20% of Americans were Spiritualists* (or believed in the phenomenon) in the post-Civil War period. That’s a huge number, and something very rarely mentioned in the history books.

Spiritualism at Lily Dale today is nothing like it was in the 19th Century. There are no french horns suspended in the air, no raps signifying yes or no, connection to spirit is done entirely through mediums. If you’ve ever watched John Edward (not the politician) on television then you know exactly what it’s like. Since I’m far too cheap to pay for a one on one reading at Lily Dale most of my interaction with the mediums there have been at Inspiration Stump.

Inspiration Stump

Inspiration Stump is a tranquil spot tucked into the woods of Lily Dale where mediums come to give some of us who have paid our ten dollar admission free cold readings. Decades ago mediums used to stand on The Stump so they could be heard (and seen) by the assembled masses. Today The Stump is more of a backdrop (it’s not in the best of shape so no one stands on it anymore) and the mediums use microphones. Since gatherings at The Stump generally attract large audiences (anywhere between 50 and 100 people) only a small handful get a reading.

During a service at Inspiration Stump you might see ten or twelve different mediums. Most readings at The Stump begin one of two ways. Some mediums stand in front of the crowd and begin relating random information. “I’m getting something from a Nora or a Noreen or an Eleanor. I’m sensing she has a problem with her throat, there’s something radiating from just below her chin down to her upper chest. Perhaps she was a smoker or had a problem with her speech. Does that mean anything to anyone in the audience?” Usually at least one or two hands will go up at this point and the medium will then give a message from the spirit to one (or sometimes both) of the people whose hands went up. Sometimes the medium will ask a few additional questions and interact with the person getting the reading. Usually the response to the medium is positive, but I’ve seen a few instances where the person getting the reading reacts negatively. One medium told an individual that he could picture that person “dancing.” The person getting the reading replied through gritted teeth “I’m in a wheelchair.” It was pretty awkward.

The second method I’ve witnessed at Lily Dale leaves no room for argument. The medium runs up to the front of assembly, picks someone out of the audience, and then doesn’t let the person getting the reading say anything. I was fascinated by this, and when I got out of Lily Dale I began giving people “readings” in this fashion for the rest of the week. “I see someone standing behind you. They are wearing blue pants and a white shirt. They are telling me that there are big changes coming up in your life. In October you are going to come to a door that will change you forever. The spirit is telling me that they are going to push you through that door. That’s right, they are going to push you, and you may not even realize it at the time. In December or January you are going to be somewhere thinking about the past year and you are going to look back and say, ‘that’s it, that’s the time spirit pushed me through the door.’ So be waiting for it, it’s going to happen, and spirit will get you through it.”

I witnessed a reading nearly exactly like that and I thought it was awesome. There was nothing awkward about it at all, and the person getting the reading seemed genuinely excited about it. You’ve probably figured out by now that I’m pretty skeptical about all of this, but at the same time I don’t think there’s anything bad about it. If it’s real then it’s all for the better, and if it’s not I think the idea of spirits watching over us or relating messages from the other side is probably beneficial to a lot of people. It gives solace, comfort, and hope. I have a hard time being angry about that.

There’s a lot of pretty at Lily Dale.

The friends I went to Lily Dale with weren’t quite as skeptical as I was, and they thought that several of the readings we witnessed at The Stump were genuinely real. While I disagreed, I did concede that it was possible. Until I get a private reading from a registered Lily Dale psychic I can’t discount everything entirely. I have a feeling that readings at The Stump are probably not ideal for either medium or readee.

Slate with spirit writing from the Lily Dale Museum.

While I’m mostly a skeptic, as a fan of Spiritualism and the unexplained Lily Dale was like an amusement park. Visiting the Lily Dale Museum and getting to see old slates, megaphones, and other things involved in seances was a thrill for me. The slates were especially interesting as many of them still had stuff written on them from the 19th Century. I don’t think the people I was with were as excited about this side of Lily Dale as I was, but they put up with my slow trek through the museum with a great deal of patience.

Raymond Buckland’s car at Lily Dale, as a Witch this was definitely a highlight. Blue tone caused by the power of Bucky’s Big Blue Book a mistake with my phone.

Perhaps it’s the long hair, but during my most recent trip to Lily Dale I ended up talking to a lot of (living) people I didn’t know. I had one woman ask me if everything at Lily Dale was as uninspiring as the afternoon we shared together at The Stump. I told her that the private readings were better, so some medium at Lily Dale currently owes me twenty bucks. I also had a lot of people nod at me, I’m nearly convinced that some of them thought that I might be a medium. Anytime I’m visiting someone else’s spiritual home I do my best to be respectful. I might mostly be a skeptic but I don’t wear that emotion on my sleeve. I think most people only saw my excitement at visiting a living part of history.

(My friend Lauren beat me posting about our experiences at Lily Dale. Her blog has a different take on our adventures, and more pictures of Lily Dale.)

*Today Spiritualism is a religion. For many people in the 19th and early 20th Centuries spiritualism was probably a supplement to their own beliefs.

Previous Post

July 26, 2012

Ramble On-Sirius Rising

Next Post

July 31, 2012 My Religion is Just as Fake as Yours

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Editorializing Gateways to Paganism Guest Posts Holiday Histories Led Zeppelin News and Views Occult Pagan Pagan TV Club Paganism polytheism Ramble On Reviews Ritual Strange Days Uncategorized

Select a Month August 2026 March 2026 February 2026 November 2025 September 2025 August 2025 April 2025 August 2024 April 2024 February 2024 December 2023 October 2023 August 2023 June 2023 May 2023 January 2023 October 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 April 2012 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does "Hallelujah" mean?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Praise the Lord Holy is the Lord God is Great Glory to God