The Dark Side of Celebrity Mediums

Eusepia Peladino was one of the first celebrity mediums. She became famous for her ability to make heavy objects like a piano levitate off the floor. But as she got older and more tired, those performances became more and more sloppy which led to more claims of fraud. Claims that snowballed into a backlash so strong that she was ultimately forced to retire. Henry Slade is another example of how enterprising individuals turned public belief in the supernatural into celebrity level careers.