Editing Planchette (section)

==History==
[[File:1860 Cottrell Cornhill Boston2.png|thumb|left|1860 ad for Boston Planchette]]

Planchettes rose to prominence in the years following the establishment of [[Spiritualism (movement)|spiritualism]] in America, which began with the purported spirit communications of the [[Fox Sisters]] in 1848 and the resulting popularity of supernatural-themed parlor games, [[séance]]s, and experiments in [[mediumship]] and [[table-turning]]. Participants in these events would experience strange movements of tables, and communicate with spirits that indicated their messages through a series of coded negative or affirmative knocks. In other instances, sitters received more complicated messages of spelled-out words and phrases by transcribing letters indicated by the knocks or raps as the participants called out the alphabet into the empty air.<ref name="brown">[[William Slater Brown|Brown, Slater]], ''The Heyday of Spiritualism''. New York: Hawthorn Books. 1970.</ref> Believers in these spirit communications soon began to experiment with refining and expediting various forms of communication, including pointing to letters printed on alphabet cards, [[automatic writing]], direct [[channeling (mediumistic)|channeling]], and other methods.<ref name="DoyleVol1">Arthur Conan Doyle, [http://www.classic-literature.co.uk/scottish-authors/arthur-conan-doyle/the-history-of-spiritualism-vol-i/ ''The History of Spiritualism Vol I''], Arthur Conan Doyle, 1926.</ref>

In the winter of 1852–53, the fervor of the [[Modern Spiritualism]] movement and spirit communications reached Europe,<ref name="brown"/> where the French educator and eventual founder of [[Kardecist spiritism|Spiritism]], [[Allan Kardec]] claimed that on 10 June 1853 a séance participant received a spiritual message proposing a more expedient alternative to the laborious processes of alphabet-calling and rapped responses. According to Kardec, the spirit suggested the group secure a pencil to a small upturned basket, allowing multiple participants to cooperatively write out messages from the attending spirits.<ref name="kardec">[[Allan Kardec]], [http://www.geae.inf.br/en/books/codification/sb.pdf ''The Spirits Book''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120218082730/http://www.geae.inf.br/en/books/codification/sb.pdf |date=18 February 2012 }}, Psychic Press, Ltd (1975), {{ISBN|0-85384-043-1}}</ref> After some refinements to construct a more sturdy wooden plank, word of the invention spread throughout Paris and into England, where a cottage industry sprang up to produce the devices.

The use of planchettes in Europe became popular enough to attract the attention of the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Viviers|Bishop of Viviers]], who railed against their use in a pastoral letter in 1853.<ref name="cottrell">Cottrell, George, ''Revelations of Planchette''], G.W. Cottrell, 1868</ref> Despite their respected status in the growing religion of Spiritualism, planchettes remained a specialized novelty for adherents for the next 15 years, produced only within a small cottage industry or on special request by scientific instrument manufacturers. During this period, they remained popular only among devout séance circles and enthusiastic Spiritualists, who at the time still largely relied on the services of celebrity mediums (such as the [[Fox Sisters]] and [[D.D. Home]]) to lead spirit communications, rather than using planchettes and other "do-it-yourself" devices. Mediums, seeing their monopoly threatened, often rallied against the devices and warned of the dangers of amateur experimentation.<ref name="sargent">[[Epes Sargent (poet)|Sargent, Epes]], [https://archive.org/details/despairofscience00sargrich ''Planchette or, The Despair of Science''], Roberts Brothers, Boston, 1869</ref>

Planchettes came to America in 1858 when Spiritualist and social reformer [[Robert Dale Owen]] and his friend Dr. H.F. Gardner observed the devices in use at séances in Paris, and returned with several of them. Their friend, the Boston bookseller G.W. Cottrell, became the first to manufacture planchettes on a large scale the following year.<ref name="cottrell">Cottrell, George, ''Revelations of Planchette''], G.W. Cottrell, 1868</ref>

In 1867, the British publication ''[[Once a Week (magazine)|Once a Week]]'' published a sensational piece on planchettes. The article was reprinted in European and American newspapers,<ref name="onceaweek">''[[Once a Week (magazine)|Once a Week]]'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=g9FMAAAAMAAJ&dq=once%20a%20week%20planchette&pg=PA491 ''Once a Week, Vol. 4; Vol. 17''], 26 October 1867</ref> and by 1868 dozens of booksellers and toy manufacturers were producing the items to meet an insatiable demand on both sides of the Atlantic. Kirby & Co., the undisputed kings of planchette manufacturing, claimed to have sold over 200,000 in their first season alone.<ref name="sargent"/>

Over the years, planchette manufacturers included such established firms as [[Selchow & Righter]], [[George Gibson Bussey|George G. Bussey]], [[Jaques of London|Jaques & Son]], [[Chad Valley (toy brand)|Chad Valley]], and even the great magician and crystal seer [[Alexander (magician)|Alexander]].<ref name="plank">{{cite web |title=List of Planchette Manufacturers|url=http://mysteriousplanchette.com/Manu_Portal/manu_portal.html|access-date=2012-01-16}}</ref>