{"id":140541,"date":"2019-10-30T11:00:08","date_gmt":"2019-10-30T15:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=140541"},"modified":"2019-10-30T11:55:18","modified_gmt":"2019-10-30T15:55:18","slug":"seance-sights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2019\/10\/30\/seance-sights\/","title":{"rendered":"S\u00e9ance Sights"},"content":{"rendered":"

The town of Lily Dale, situated near the western tip of New York State, is home to one of the most active Spiritualist communities in the world. The website for the Lily Dale Assembly, the official headquarters of the local Spiritualist scene, lists forty-nine registered mediums\u2014roughly one per every four permanent residents. What better place to embark on a quest to glimpse the unknown? Shannon Taggart, a photographer whose passion for documenting Spiritualist rituals began in Lily Dale, has spent nearly two decades capturing the practices by which mediums (and their curious customers) attempt to reach those beyond the veil. Her new book, <\/em>S\u00e9ance<\/a>, published by Fulgur Press, collects a hundred fifty of her photographs, a<\/em> selection of which appears below.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Table-tipping workshop with the mediums Reverend Jane and Chris Howarth, Erie, Pennsylvania, 2014.<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The medium Sylvia Howarth enters a trance, England, 2013.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

A woman said to be overshadowed by either the spirit of her grandmother, the Voodoo priestess Marie Laveau, or her own doppelga\u0308nger, Lily Dale, New York, 2003.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Instrumental-transcommunication and smoke-scrying experiment outside the se\u0301ance room, England, 2013.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The medium Sylvia Howarth conducts a trance spirit art demonstration in her home, England, 2013.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Se\u0301ance trumpets with celebrity spirit guides, hand-painted by the medium Sylvia Howarth, England, 2013.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Gretchen Clark laughs as her deceased brother Chapman interrupts a reading to tell her a joke, Lily Dale, New York, 2001.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The medium Kai Muegge emits an ectoplasmic hand, Basler Psi-Verein, Switzerland, 2018.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

All photos from\u00a0<\/em>Shannon Taggart: S\u00e9ance<\/a>, published by Fulgur Press.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The photographer Shannon Taggart has spent nearly two decades capturing the rituals by which mediums attempt to reach those beyond the veil.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2384],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-140541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-look"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nS\u00e9ance Sights by The Paris Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The photographer Shannon Taggart has spent nearly two decades capturing the rituals by which mediums attempt to reach those beyond the veil.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2019\/10\/30\/seance-sights\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"S\u00e9ance Sights by The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"October 30, 2019 \u2013 The photographer Shannon Taggart has spent nearly two decades capturing the rituals by which mediums attempt to reach those beyond the veil.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2019\/10\/30\/seance-sights\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-10-30T15:00:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-10-30T15:55:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/seance_shannon_taggart_001.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"667\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2019\/10\/30\/seance-sights\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2019\/10\/30\/seance-sights\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4a14f739935c82f100675b84e220252e\"},\"headline\":\"S\u00e9ance Sights\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-30T15:00:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-10-30T15:55:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2019\/10\/30\/seance-sights\/\"},\"wordCount\":318,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2019\/10\/30\/seance-sights\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/seance_shannon_taggart_001.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Look\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2019\/10\/30\/seance-sights\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2019\/10\/30\/seance-sights\/\",\"name\":\"S\u00e9ance Sights by The Paris Review\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2019\/10\/30\/seance-sights\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2019\/10\/30\/seance-sights\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/seance_shannon_taggart_001.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-30T15:00:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-10-30T15:55:18+00:00\",\"description\":\"The photographer Shannon Taggart has spent nearly two decades capturing the rituals by which mediums attempt to reach those beyond the veil.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2019\/10\/30\/seance-sights\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2019\/10\/30\/seance-sights\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2019\/10\/30\/seance-sights\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/seance_shannon_taggart_001.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/seance_shannon_taggart_001.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2019\/10\/30\/seance-sights\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"S\u00e9ance Sights\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4a14f739935c82f100675b84e220252e\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c15ccd1e2629bc3b1a8aa1a407e1186742acfaf923abe2addfec0885197794ff?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c15ccd1e2629bc3b1a8aa1a407e1186742acfaf923abe2addfec0885197794ff?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/parisreview\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"S\u00e9ance Sights by The Paris Review","description":"The photographer Shannon Taggart has spent nearly two decades capturing the rituals by which mediums attempt to reach those beyond the veil.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2019\/10\/30\/seance-sights\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"S\u00e9ance Sights by The Paris Review","og_description":"October 30, 2019 \u2013 The photographer Shannon Taggart has spent nearly two decades capturing the rituals by which mediums attempt to reach those beyond the veil.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2019\/10\/30\/seance-sights\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2019-10-30T15:00:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-10-30T15:55:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":667,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/seance_shannon_taggart_001.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"The Paris Review","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"The Paris Review","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2019\/10\/30\/seance-sights\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2019\/10\/30\/seance-sights\/"},"author":{"name":"The Paris Review","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4a14f739935c82f100675b84e220252e"},"headline":"S\u00e9ance Sights","datePublished":"2019-10-30T15:00:08+00:00","dateModified":"2019-10-30T15:55:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2019\/10\/30\/seance-sights\/"},"wordCount":318,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2019\/10\/30\/seance-sights\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/seance_shannon_taggart_001.jpg","articleSection":["Look"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2019\/10\/30\/seance-sights\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2019\/10\/30\/seance-sights\/","name":"S\u00e9ance Sights by The Paris Review","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2019\/10\/30\/seance-sights\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2019\/10\/30\/seance-sights\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/seance_shannon_taggart_001.jpg","datePublished":"2019-10-30T15:00:08+00:00","dateModified":"2019-10-30T15:55:18+00:00","description":"The photographer Shannon Taggart has spent nearly two decades capturing the rituals by which mediums attempt to reach those beyond the veil.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2019\/10\/30\/seance-sights\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2019\/10\/30\/seance-sights\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2019\/10\/30\/seance-sights\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/seance_shannon_taggart_001.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/seance_shannon_taggart_001.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2019\/10\/30\/seance-sights\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"S\u00e9ance Sights"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4a14f739935c82f100675b84e220252e","name":"The Paris Review","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c15ccd1e2629bc3b1a8aa1a407e1186742acfaf923abe2addfec0885197794ff?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c15ccd1e2629bc3b1a8aa1a407e1186742acfaf923abe2addfec0885197794ff?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"The Paris Review"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/parisreview\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140541"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":140612,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140541\/revisions\/140612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}