In Episodes 13, 15, and 19, I covered the early history of parapsychology – the study of psychic phenomena from a scientific perspective. Tonight, I’ll dig into the history of one town steeped in the spiritual side of psychic phenomena – Lily Dale, NY.

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Welcome to the PEEP Podcast. I’m your host Nicolle Morock, and on this episode, we’re diving into a topic suggested by a listener.

Thank you, Robert, for the idea!

I’d heard of Lily Dale, New York, when I was a teenager, and I wanted to visit because I assumed it was close to my mom’s side of the family in the Catskills. Unfortunately, I was wrong, and it wasn’t just a quick trip around a mountain to get there because it’s on the opposite side of the state. So, I soon forgot about it as kids often do when told flatly “no.”

I honestly hadn’t thought about it again until Robert reached out in the PEEP Podcast Facebook group. There’s so much more to the story than I remember!

According to Wikipedia, Lily Dale is considered a small hamlet near the Village of Cassadaga in the Township of Pomfret in southwestern New York with an estimated year-round population of 275 living souls. Every year, approximately 22,000 visitors pass through to attend classes, workshops, church services, mediumship demonstrations, and more.

Lily Dale was formed in 1879 as the first spiritualist center in the United States. The Spiritualist movement was at its apex between the 1840s and 1920s, which puts Lily Dale’s foundation in the middle of this period.

A little bit of Spiritualism history from New York:

• The Fox sisters – Kate and Maggie – two famous psychics who may or may not have been frauds depending on whose story you believe – are credited with having started the movement in the US. While living in a cabin in Hydesville, New York, east of Rochester as young girls, they experienced rapping on the walls, floors, and ceilings of the home. After working out a way to interpret the knocks, they eventually claimed that a traveling salesman who had been killed in or near the home prior to their family’s arrival was haunting the place. Neighbors witnessed the events there, and eventually, their older sister, Leah, saw a way to make the girls famous for their alleged abilities to communicate with the dead, and they traveled the country putting on public seances.
• Around the same time, Andrew Jackson Davis  of Blooming Grove in eastern New York was practicing Mesmerism (which I covered in an Episode 15) and making a name for himself as a faith healer and clairvoyant. He also receives credit as an early pioneer of Spiritualism in America. His texts are still used by many Spiritualists.
• If you’re interested in a deep dive of Spiritualism, Aaron Mahnke’s podcast Unobscured covered the era wonderfully in Season 2! I highly recommend it.

Spiritualism is called a movement rather than a religion. Technically, there is no strict set of rules like we have in most Christian denominations. But some groups have formed and adopted “principles” or guidelines to live by.

Early Spiritualism took off with the belief that the dead stick around, watch out for us, and are eager to give advice and encouragement. It turned out to be a way to sort of give the power back to people who didn’t otherwise have much say in what happened in society – women, people of color, and people with little money could communicate with spirits. In fact, most of the famous practitioners were women. One even ran for public office in New York City at a time when that was unheard of.

Spiritualism quickly gained popularity during the Civil War because so many people were dying far from home without the chance to truly say goodbye, or even be properly buried among relatives. The trauma of knowing loved ones suffered violent deaths sparked the need to find a way to reach out across the veil for reassurance that they were no longer suffering and could find rest.

Linking back to Lily Dale, that cabin where the Fox sisters discovered their talents was moved from Hydesville to Lily Dale in 1915. Sadly, it burned down in September of 1955, so all that’s left on the spot is a clearing.

That’s how important the early days of Spiritualism were to the residents of Lily Dale, though. Moving a cabin 142 miles was no small task, especially in 1915.

Around 1870, Lily Dale was a place to meet – sort of a summer camp for practicing Spiritualists. They purchased 20 acres  and incorporated it as the Cassadaga Lake Free Association. It was eventually renamed The City of Light – sounds lovely! And in 1900 was renamed again Lily Dale Assembly after the flowers that grow in the lakes of the area.

Now it’s a 160-acre town on the National Register of Historic Places and still holding true to its original roots – home to mediums, psychics, and energy healers. While those titles might have once evoked images of women dressed in dark layers of scarves with dark eyes and creepy vibes, the reality is they are bright, bold people who have developed their abilities to help others.

You can find registered psychics, who have to pass tests administered by the Assembly to become registered, sweat lodge ceremonies, butterfly releases, and more. People visit to learn more about mediumship, reconnect with deceased loved ones, or to have their fortunes told. That number of 22,000 visitors during the summer season is no exaggeration. The place has a great reputation for being full of “real-deal” psychics.

Of course, not everyone believes the practitioners in Lily Dale are the real thing. With the fame of being a summer camp for psi, comes the skeptics who think it’s all bunk and cold reading. I’ll let you make your own decisions.

As for me - a person who even as a teen called herself Catholic Spiritualist with a little Buddhism thrown in - my curiosity is piqued once again, and Lily Dale has found its way back onto my bucket list. Why let the internet tell me what it’s like when I can go check it out for myself one day? And if you’re curious, too, look it up! I’ll put a few of the links that I used for research in the show notes.

Thanks again to Robert for the topic idea, and thank you for listening!

Research articles:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiritualism

https://classicnewyorkhistory.com/lily-dale-new-yorks-impact-on-spiritualism-and-mediums/

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/04/style/lily-dale-mediums-spiritualism.html

https://www.businessinsider.com/psychic-mediums-lily-dale-new-york-2020-2