Inside L.A.'s chilling séance that gets deeply personal — and keeps selling out

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I americium sitting successful a structure placed wrong the parlor of a Victorian-era house. Before maine lies a tone board, a lone tarot paper and a achromatic scrying mirror. I americium present to commune with the dead.

There is nary medium. It is lone myself and 8 different attendees— our usher has near the tent. Though earlier we could perceive tension-rattling euphony mounting a cryptic mood, present determination is nothing. Lights? Off. The structure has gone transportation black. At this peculiar moment, there’s lone the dependable of our breaths, our thoughts and possibly immoderate caller guests.

Welcome to “Phasmagorica,” what composer-turned-magician-turned-spiritual explorer BC Smith describes arsenic “a séance reimagined arsenic art.” It’s been moving since precocious summertime astatine Heritage Square Museum, and volition reemerge this autumn astatine West Hollywood’s Petit Ermitage Hotel opening Oct. 18.

I’ll get close to the point: I did not person an brushwood with the dead. And yet I near “Phasmagorica” profoundly curious. That’s due to the fact that Smith sets up the evening arsenic an exploration of the modern Western past of communing with the deceased, attempting to conjure the feeling of a séance arsenic it occurred successful precocious 1880s America, albeit with a amended dependable strategy and each the Death successful the Afternoon cocktails you tin devour (note: you should not devour precise many).

The “experiment” — Smith shirks astatine the connection show — is designed, helium says, for believers and nonbelievers. He himself falls determination successful the middle.

“I’m a hopeful skeptic,” Smith says. “If I were a 100% believer, ‘Phasmagorica’ would beryllium a church. I conscionable wanted to make a abstraction that started a speech for people.”

It is applicable to constituent retired that Smith is besides a magician, a subordinate of the Magic Castle, location itself to a fashionable séance. While Smith has not conducted a Magic Castle séance, helium has — and volition — orchestrate what helium refers to arsenic a “theatrical séance,” for which helium is contiguous arsenic a storyteller. “Phasmagorica” is different, Smith says, and was calved retired of those much melodramatic performances, successful portion due to the fact that helium kept encountering the unaccountable.

“It’s highly curated,” Smith says of a halfway quality betwixt a theatrical séance and “Phasmagorica,” arsenic the erstwhile volition beryllium tailored specifically to impermanent needs and requests. “But radical were experiencing a batch successful those séances that I could not explain,” Smith says. He recites a communicative that opens “Phasmagorica” of a shadiness reaching retired and touching idiosyncratic connected a shoulder. Smith says helium witnessed this phenomena, and astatine that constituent decided to make an lawsuit that focused connected realism and dispensed with the conception that determination could beryllium immoderate illusions oregon magic.

A tarot platform and a tone committee connected a table.

I was surprised, for instance, erstwhile Smith near the room. At that point, we were with lone a television, which narrates a abbreviated past of séances successful America earlier instructing america to clasp a pendulum implicit a tone board. Knowing Smith’s past, I went successful expecting much of a show. Instead, we are prodded to analyse a tarot card, adjacent into the scrying reflector and inquire questions to our tone board.

“It becomes much personal,” Smith says. “Even successful my theatrical séances, I’ve had radical privation to chopped maine disconnected mid-sentence and say, ‘This conscionable happened to me.’ And they privation to walk the adjacent 5 minutes talking astir it. At the extremity of the day, I deliberation what radical similar is that this is each astir them.”

And still, Smith says, audiences are looking for wizardry. But there’s nary tricks of the light, nary hidden fans. He stresses aggregate times successful this interrogation and astatine the commencement of “Phasmagorica” that this is “not theater, not a performance, not a show.”

“I’ve had radical locomotion retired of the country and curse determination was a magnet successful the pendulum board,” helium says. “Or curse determination was immoderate effect that made them spot a idiosyncratic standing. People inactive person an mentation that I had thing to bash with it. Whatever helps you slumber with the airy off.”

While galore cultures and spiritual movements person passim past agelong attempted to commune with the dead, a séance, says Lisa Morton, writer of “Calling the Spirits: A History of Séances,” is simply a comparatively caller occurrence. She and Smith hint their popularity to the Fox sisters, Kate and Maggie, who performed to packed crowds successful the precocious 1880s successful New York, attempting to show that spirits could talk via a bid of raps connected the walls.

BC Smith astatine Heritage Square Museum wherever helium leads seances. (Roger Kisby / For The Times)

BC Smith calls “Phasmagorica” an “experiment,” shirking astatine the connection performance. (Roger Kisby / For The Times)

Prior to the Fox sisters, Morton says, attempts to commune with the beyond, broadly speaking, were a much idiosyncratic and ritualistic affair. “The Greeks believed that sleeping connected a sedate mightiness springiness you dreams successful which you communed with a spirit,” she says. Popular myths, too, would represent the signifier arsenic borderline arcane. In Homer’s “The Odyssey,” for instance, a span to the tone satellite is reached lone aft a analyzable bid of sacrifices and offerings — a potent premix of saccharine vino and the humor of a lamb.

“The séance comes along, and not lone is it a radical activity, but it suggests that anyone tin pass with the spirits of the dead,” Morton says. “You conscionable request a mean — idiosyncratic who tin participate a trance authorities and unfastened themselves to receiving tone communications. It was done with a group, and successful the comfortableness of someone’s home. Those were startlingly caller ideas.”

Morton has taken portion successful Smith’s “Phasmagorica.” She, too, appreciated the humanities emphasis, specifically the mode a instrumentalist performs aft the séance arsenic guests mingle with 1 different and stock their experience. Music was a large portion of aboriginal séances, Morton says.

“People would beryllium astir a array and the lights would beryllium lowered and they would sing,” Morton says “Now, singing did person a scammy treble purpose, arsenic they allowed the mean to commencement doing things successful the acheronian unheard. But these evenings were wondrous for people, and I thought that was what BC Smith captured truly well.”

Smith intends to proceed adding events passim the autumn arsenic his docket allows, announcing them connected Instagram. Though intimate, they bash typically merchantability out. It’s traveling via connection of mouth, theorizes Smith, due to the fact that radical contiguous are progressively searching for “connection and meaning.”

“The acquisition is truly up to you,” helium says. “I deliberation we’re each searching for something. This is simply a harmless abstraction to explore.”

Late successful life, Maggie Fox denounced the spiritualism question that she and her sister Kate had helped start, demonstrating the ways successful which they had fooled their audiences. Smith again stresses that helium himself is simply a “hopeful skeptic,” and purposefully stays retired of the acquisition truthful that guests aren’t trying to fig retired if he’s holding onto immoderate secrets.

And yet helium says, “Phasmagorica” has permanently changed him. He notes that his woman is simply a commercialized hose aviator and indispensable question often.

“When she’s away, I slumber with a night-light,” helium says. “Maybe that’s the reply to the question whether I judge oregon not.”

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