A psychic medium or spiritual medium is someone believed to possess the extraordinary ability to communicate with spirits, or the souls of those who have passed away. This communication can take various forms, including hearing voices or seeing spirits.

The concept of mediumship has roots that stretch back to ancient times, across various cultures and religions. The modern spiritualist movement, which emerged in the mid-19th century, brought psychic mediums into the public eye. Séances, where groups of people gather with a medium to communicate with spirits, became a popular pastime during this period.

These séances often included demonstrations of physical mediumship, a form of mediumship where the medium facilitates direct physical interactions with the spirit world. Unlike mental mediumship, which involves spirits communicating through thoughts or images perceived by the medium, physical mediumship results in observable phenomena. These phenomena can include moving objects, producing sounds, or manifesting physical forms. The medium is...