Case file · High strangeness
Bangs sisters arrested at a séance
In 1888 Chicago police arrested the mediums May and Lizzie Bangs during a séance and seized their props; the sisters had held paid séances with slate writing since the early 1870s.
1888 CE · 41.88, -87.66 · status: hoax
The account
From 1894 they sold 'spirit portraits' that appeared on canvases in front of sitters, at up to $150 each.
The sceptical view
Stanley Krebs caught them with a hidden mirror in 1901; Hereward Carrington got a 'spirit' reply from a mother he had invented in 1909; magician David Abbott published their methods in 1913.