# Banner of Light — Messages from the dead — Spiritual civilities — Spirit "hollering" — Hans von Vleet, the female Dutchman — Mrs. Conant's "circles" — Paine's table-tipping humbug exposed. explained — The Humbugs of the World

> Chapter companion for The Humbugs of the World by P. T. Barnum.

## What happens

This chapter exposes the fraudulent practices of spiritualist mediums, focusing on the 'Banner of Light' newspaper's 'Message Department' where Mrs. J. H. Conant purportedly channels spirits. Barnum provides examples of absurd and trivial spirit messages, including one where a spirit claims to have become a woman. He then details the exposure of Paine's table-tipping trick, where a mechanical lever hidden under the floorboards was used to move a table, fooling believers until three investigators forced a confession.

## Themes in this chapter

### Gullibility and Human Nature

The chapter highlights how easily people are deceived by spiritualist claims, even when the tricks are mechanically simple.

### Advertising and Showmanship

The 'Banner of Light' uses sensational spirit messages to attract readers, similar to Barnum's own showmanship.

### Hypocrisy and Moral Judgment

Spiritualists who claim to be honest are shown to be hypocrites when their fraud is exposed, and they are 'cheaply sold'.

## Character check-ins

### Mrs. Conant

Medium who channels spirits for the 'Banner of Light' Message Department, claimed to be in a trance state.

### Charles Talbot

Spirit of a soldier from Chambersburg, PA, who communicates through Mrs. Conant, calling another spirit 'Old Grisly'.

### George W. Gage

Spirit who communicates through Mrs. Conant, mentions becoming a woman in the spirit world and his mother's deafness.

### Hans Von Vleet

Spirit who claims to have become a woman (a 'vrow') after death and insists his widow repay a debt to a Jew.

### Paine

Medium exposed for using a mechanical lever under the floor to move a table without contact; confessed after being confronted by investigators.

### The Davenports

Mentioned as mediums previously detected in imposture by the same investigators who exposed Paine.

## Key lines

> The Banner of Light , a weekly journal of romance, literature, and general intelligence, published in Boston, is the principal organ of spiritualism in this country. Its 'general intelligence' is rather questionable, though there is no doubt about its being a 'journal of romance,' strongly tinctured with humbug and imposture.

The Banner of Light is a Boston newspaper that claims to be about romance and general knowledge, but its content is actually full of deception and fraud.

_Barnum criticizes the newspaper's credibility, calling it a vehicle for humbug._

> Time and again have leading spiritualists, in various parts of the country, endorsed as 'spiritual manifestations,' what was subsequently proved to be an imposture.

Prominent spiritualists have repeatedly endorsed fake phenomena that were later shown to be frauds.

_Barnum emphasizes the pattern of deception within the spiritualist movement._

> The theory formed by one of the three investigators referred to, as to Paine's method of moving the table, was singularly correct.

One of the three investigators correctly guessed how Paine was moving the table using a hidden lever.

_The exposure of Paine's trick is a key moment in the chapter._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_humbugs_of_the_world_se/chapters/xv
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_humbugs_of_the_world_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_humbugs_of_the_world_se/chapters