Spiritualism and the Occult: The History of Ectoplasm and Gooey Ghosts

Ectoplasm was a substance said to be the materialization of spirits in our world. The fascinating ectoplasm gave some insane pictures from seances and plenty of bonkers debunking of fraudulent mediums using it. 

“Ectoplasm is a thick, vapory, slightly luminous substance which exudes from some materializing mediums. Immediately there comes from her body this vaperous substance which surrounds her like a fog. As the ectoplasm increases it becomes more dense. It coalesces, becomes sticky. It can be felt. It can be photographed.”
– Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Ectoplasm is the name given to a type of psychic energy which is said to be the medium by which the spirits interact with the physical world. According to the Spiritism movement, ectoplasm is a translucent, luminous substance that forms around the mouth, eyes, and nose of mediums during a seance. 

Although we today mostly know it to popular media like Ghostbusters like a gooey and sticky substance, it was an actual thing that mediums used in their seances to prove the existence of ghosts. The word “ectoplasm” was coined in 1894 by the French Scientist Charles Richet to explain a third arm that allegedly appeared from a medium named Eusapia Palladino, and derives from the Greek words ἐκτός ektos, “outside” and πλάσμα plasma, “anything formed”.

What is Ectoplasm in the Paranormal Realm?

Ectoplasm is a type of spiritual energy that can be seen by clairvoyants and mediums in Spiritualism. Ectoplasm is said to be a type of energy that can be seen and felt by people who have the ability to see or sense it.

It wasn’t a new discovery in 1894, and before it was called ectoplasm it was called soul substance, biogen or a manifestation of the perispirit. It is not to be confused by the actual scientific term ectoplasm.

Real Ectoplasm: Ectoplasm is a defined term in science. It’s used to describe the cytoplasm of the one-celled organism, the amoeba, which moves by extruding portions of itself and flowing into space. Ectoplasm is the outer portion of an amoeba’s cytoplasm, while endoplasm is the inner portion of the cytoplasm. Ectoplasm is a clear gel that helps the “foot” or pseudopodium of an amoeba change direction. Ectoplasm changes according to the acidity or alkalinity of the fluid. The endoplasm is more watery and contains most of the cell’s structures.

Some people see ectoplasm as a type of mist or a kind of energy that surrounds living beings. This mist or energy is said to appear in the form of a white, wispy substance, often light colored and can only be seen in the darkened atmosphere a seance brings. It has been said that ectoplasm can appear in many different ways, including as a solid, liquid, or gas.

What are the Different Purposes of Ectoplasm?

Ectoplasm is a term used to describe a medium’s or spiritist’s substance which is supposedly seen. Ectoplasm is said to be formed by physical mediums when in a trance state. People who have had a spiritist experience may have seen a ghostly image with a white substance. This substance is said to be the medium’s or spiritist’s “ectoplasm” or “spirit substance.” 

This substance is said to have the ability to move, fly, and even change shape. Often said to start out as clear before darkening when the psychic energy becomes stronger. It is also sometimes said to have had a strong odor.

Within Spiritualism and seances, levitation is a common trope said to happen to some. Many say that the levitation of material objects comes from a gradual buildup of ectoplasm under the objects. 

What is the Difference Between Ectoplasm fluids and forms?

In the early 1900s, ectoplasm was seen as a physical manifestation of the spirit itself. It is believed that spirits would leave a body and move into ectoplasm, which was seen in the form of a white cloud, slimy and soft tissue or other forms. 

There was also teleplasm, referring to ectoplasm acting separate from the medium’s body. Ideoplasm is when the ectoplasm molds itself into another person.  

Where did the Idea of Ectoplasma come from?

But where did this idea come from? You can often draw a line of medium using ectoplasm in their seances after the idea of an ‘ectenic force’ came along. This was an early psychical researcher who tried to seek a physical explanation for psychokinesis and Table Turning. 

Absurd as it seemed, ectoplasm looked like it could change the understanding of science. Dr. Gustave Geley, a French doctor and researcher, saw this paranormal phenomenon as proof of new human abilities and thought it could bring a major shift in scientific thinking.

Throughout the years, notable scientists experimented and researched this phenomenon. Although most of the research was to find out if the medium was a fraud or not. Even though people were starting to leave the ectoplasm thing in the past as a hoax, it had dire consequences for some of the mediums claiming they were real. 

Helen Duncan and Britain’s Last Witch

Although a visually strong thing during seances, not every medium used it. One who did however, was Helen Duncan. Today, she is perhaps best known for her trial in 1944, were she became the last woman convicted and imprisoned under Great Britain’s Witchcraft Act of 1735.

Helen Duncan was born in Scotland in 1898 and in 1926 Duncan claimed to have developed her mediumistic powers. She was around 29 years old at the time. But long before that she had scared her fellow pupils at with her dire prophecies and hysterical behavior. eventually, Duncan claimed to be able to produced fully-formed physical materialization of spirits by emitting them as ectoplasm through her mouth.

Pictures taken of her seances, showed the reality behind her papier-mâché dolls and slimy cloths that something strange was going on, but not the paranormal one. Things really got worse for Duncan after she was investigated by the famed paranormal investigator Harry Price in 1931.   

During the sitting in Edinburgh one of the participants grabbed the supposed spirit and discovered it was made from fabric. The police were called and Duncan was arrested for fraud.

Her 1933 conviction followed a séance in which she allegedly made contact with a dead sailor, before the loss of his ship was public knowledge. This supposed clairvoyance was perceived as a breach of wartime security. Duncan’s trial for fraudulent witchcraft was followed closely by the public, even in London in the midst of the war. Duncan was imprisoned for nine months after being found guilty.

On her release in 1945, Duncan promised to stop conducting séances, but she was arrested during another one in 1956. She died shortly after this, some of her followers spreading rumors about it being because of the ectoplasma. Truth was that she had been in bad health for years. She fought against her verdict until her death.

What Really Was Ectoplasma?

Although a popular fad at the time, now many paranormal researchers, mediums and other ghost interested people take much notice and talk about ectoplasma anymore. The substance has also been proven many times to be nothing more than a fraud. 

Because ectoplasm was believed susceptible to destruction by light, the possibility that ectoplasm might appear became a reason for making sure that Victorian séances took place in near darkness. Poor lighting conditions also became an opportunity for fraud, particularly as faux ectoplasm was easy to make with a mixture of soap, gelatin and egg white, or perhaps merely well-placed muslin.
– John Ryan Haule

Most often it was some sort of textile products like cloths, gauze with potato starch. Sometimes it was paper, sometimes it was egg white or butter muslin. The mediums used a method of swallowing and spewing out the cloth during the seance. 

This was the case with Eva Carrière who was a medium known for making fake ectoplasm from chewing paper and cutting out faces from magazines and newspapers. Danish medium Einer Nielsen was investigated by a committee from the Kristiania University in Norway in 1922 and it was also caught hiding ectoplasm in his rectum. Nielsen continued to work as a medium until his death but was never considered credible again by people outside his small circle of influence.

Famous Medium, Mina Crandon produced a small ectoplasmic hand from her stomach which waved about in the darkness. Her career ended, however, when biologists examined the hand and found it to be made of a piece of carved animal liver

The Future of Ectoplasm

Is the use of ectoplasm really dead, or has it merely evolved into a form that is less recognized today? In the past, ectoplasm was often associated with spiritualism and paranormal phenomena, particularly during the late 19th and early 20th centuries when mediums would claim to produce this mysterious substance as a manifestation of spiritual energy. As we delve deeper into the realms of science and technology, one might wonder whether ectoplasm has become an obsolete concept, overshadowed by modern understandings of the universe.

There are however cases of paranormal investigation where people insist on seeing different residues, often explained as a slimy and gooey substance.

More like this