Learn about the uncanny world of 19th-century American Spiritualism during Calling Call Spirits, a special event offered on two October nights in the historic Hayes Home at the Hayes Presidential Library & Museums.
More than an occult parlor game, Victorian spiritualism was a new religion that channeled the voices of the dead, linked the present with the past and conjured new worldly and otherworldly futures.
During Calling All Spirits: Spiritualism in the Victorian Era, event leader Dave Desimone of Wisconsin will cover everything from the Fox sisters, often credited with creating the first major wave of Spiritualism in America, to the Morris Pratt Institute, the first school dedicated to teaching Spiritualism in America, located in Whitewater, Wisconsin.
Calling All Spirits is offered from 5:30 to 7 p.m. and 7:30 to 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 22, and Thursday, Oct. 23. Space is limited, and advance tickets are required.
Tickets are $50 per person for non-members and $45 for Hayes Presidential Library & Museums members. They are available online at
https://www.rbhayes.org/news/2025/06/11/general/calling-all-spirits-spiritualism-in-the-victorian-era/.
Note: This program will cover spiritualism and ritualism of the 19th Century, but there will not be any actual séance or attempts to conjure any spirits. It is purely a historical program.
Desimone is the director of Black Point Estate and Gardens in Wisconsin. He has a bachelor’s degree in history from Youngstown State University and a master’s degree in public history from Kent State University. He worked for the Ohio History Connection Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens in Akron and the Cleveland Botanical Garden before moving to Wisconsin in 2013.
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