Red, White, & Occult: A Brief History of Spiritualism, Magic, & Secret Societies in the United States

This course is a short religious-cultural history of the American esoteric movement, and serves as an introduction to the account of the occult in the United States. Students will be exposed to film of magic rituals, testimonies of mediums, and the diary entries of ‘the wickedest man in the world’ and his cohorts. We will cover American spiritualism and strange topics such as American Witchcraft, the Abraham Lincoln connection to spirit rapping and the rise of Spiritualism, Aleister Crowley and his Scarlet Women, and the rise of Anton LaVey and Satanism. This often ignored history serves as the nightmare fuel for countless musical groups, horror films, and ghost tours. Further enlightenment of this field will contextualize the strange people and curious events that have beat at the back of the American imagination for centuries.