In this limited series, Jamie Loftus investigates and interrogates American spiritualism, a century-old tradition of communing with the dead that takes place in camps full of mediums across the country. Who is drawn to these camps, how did the religion come together, and why are the tarot card readers and the seance-havers fighting? Ghost Church is a look at grief, religion, and loneliness, with on-site reporting and interviews with everyone from spiritualist psychics to Protestant pastors to a very lonely carnival employee.
Latest episodes
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51 min
9: Waiting for the Spirit in the Cape
In the final episode of Ghost Church (for now), Jamie befriends a Cassadaga medium, reads a manifesto, and looks backwards and ahead to where American spiritualism goes from here.…
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1 h 04
8: The Boys Are Fighting (Over Crotch Goo and Ghosts): Arthur Conan Doyle vs. Harry Houdini
This week, Jamie takes a look at the second wave of spiritualism in the United States through American Spiritualism's most famous schism -- believer Arthur Conan Doyle versus skept…
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1 h 02
7: The Fool's Golden Rule (Espiritismo and Spiritual Churches)
This week, Jamie goes to a ghost museum, high fives a Jigsaw doll, and takes a look at two religious movements that pulled from American Spiritualism, took what they needed, and le…
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50 min
6: The Legend of Seneca the Spirit Guide (or: Colonizer, Please)
This week, Jamie heads to the only spiritualist library in the American south -- open two hours a week -- to try and trace the legend of Cassadaga's founding to its root, as land t…
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60 min
5: Apples, The Manipulator, and The Curse of Spiritualism
This week, Jamie visits a legendary Cassadaga medium and traces the story of spiritualism's Fox sisters to its end -- where the sisters abandoned the religion that had defined thei…
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51 min
4: Four Roads to Cassadaga
This week, Jamie passes the mic to four women of Cassadaga to tell their stories about how they came to American spiritualism -- from being raised by NASA scientists to a tragic lo…
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1 h 06
3: The Tables Are Tipping
This week, Jamie goes to a table tipping class — a Spiritualist tradition that uses tables to connect people with their dead. Elsewhere in the past, the Fox sisters go on tour, whe…
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1 h 02
2: No Proof is Necessary, No Proof is Sufficient
This week, Jamie returns to Cassadaga for a Gala Day with one Reverend Doctor and one Reverend Doctor / Former Dojo Owner, then attends her first spiritualist church service, compl…
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49 min
1: Not a Cult
American Spiritualism is a frequently invoked, rarely understood religion that hinges on speaking with spirit through mediums. In our first episode, Jamie Loftus puts your little b…
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3 min
Introducing: Ghost Church by Jamie Loftus
Jamie Loftus investigates American spiritualism, a tradition of communing with the dead that takes place in camps full of mediums across the country.See omnystudio.com/listener for…