Illustration by Seonaid Mackay

‘Having seen so much of Katie lately, when she has been illuminated by the electric light, I am enabled to add to the points of difference between her and her medium.

Katie's height varies; in my house I have seen her six inches taller than Miss Cook. Last night, with bare feet and not tip-toeing, she was four and a half inches taller than Miss Cook.

Katie's neck was bare last night; the skin was perfectly smooth both to touch and sight, whilst on Miss Cook's neck is a large blister...
Miss Cook's hair is so dark a brown as almost to appear black; a lock of Katie's, which is now before me, and which she allowed me to cut from her luxuriant tresses,, is a rich golden auburn.’

Kirsty Logan examines the Spiritualist movement, via the life of medium Florence Cook, and her spirit guide, Katie King, and discovers how a career communication with spirits could result in both opportunity and ruin for Victorian women. Show less