Mediumship refers to the supposed ability of certain people (the mediums) to mediate communication between the dead or other transcendent entities and the living. Physical mediumship is a subtype of mediumship. Here it is assumed that physical anomalies such as inexplicable light phenomena, object movements, and materializations of objects are generated by the medium, who is usually in a state of trance. However, the actual source of these phenomena is considered to be the spirits of the deceased or different otherworldly beings. The medium merely acts as a mediator between the worlds. Physical mediumship was practised particularly from the middle of the 19th century onward, when the movement of Spiritism spread rapidly from America to other countries. However, there are still a few individuals who are said to have mediumistic abilities.
The phenomena reported in the context of physical mediumship have fascinated people ever since they first appeared. At the same time, the history of physical mediumship is largely a history of fraud. It is hardly surprising that the controversy surrounding the authenticity of these phenomena has been part of physical mediumship from the very beginning and is still being led today.
