The rise of spirtualism, mediums, and séances in the 1800s is an endlessly fascinating topic, especially when you consider that, for all of the people that were committing fraud, what if some of them were really contacting the dead? Having read the first issue of Séance in the Asylum, I am very excited to read more, and I was just as thrilled to catch up with Clay McLeod Chapman to talk all about the new series.
The mid-late 1800s are such a fascinating time when it comes to mysticism and the occult. What inspired the idea behind Séance in the Asylum?
I had two guiding lights for Séance in the Asylum. First, I’ve always been a fan of the Fox Sisters. I’m dying to write something for them, about them, some day. I had a feature in development for years and it just fizzled… but I’ve been dying to tell a version of their story for years. This is as close to it as I’ve gotten in a while, even if it’s more of a spiritual sister to Kate and Maggie Fox.
Second, and the driving force for the Séance in the Asylum… was this jaw-dropping text I encountered titled The Homeopathic Principle Applied to Insanity: A Proposal to Treat Lunacy by Spiritualism by Dr. James John Garth Wilkinson. Written all the way back in 1857, it would appear that Dr. Wilkinson believed the summoning of spirits could in fact cure mental illness. He would perform seances with his patients in hopes of those spirits drawing out whatever maladies they may have. I just found that absolutely fascinating. I had to write a story about it.
What kind of research went into the story and did anything surprise you or that you found fascinating while creating this story of spiritual therapy?
Beyond spiritualism itself, there really isn’t much written about ‘spiritual therapy.’ I’ve devoured copious amounts of texts documenting the summoning of spirits from beyond the veil… but when it comes to the curative aspects of contacting the dead, I don’t know. I haven’t found it. Is there? Tell me if you’ve come across any. For me, it’s been a blast to dig into the Fox Sisters and beyond, with books like Talking to the Dead by Barbara Weisberg and Calling the Spirits by Lisa Morton. The first time I learned about Dr. Wilkinson, I’d been reading a book called Common Phantoms: An American History of Psychic Science by Alicia Puglionesi, so I really feel like I owe her everything. If it weren’t for Alicia’s book, I wouldn’t have found Wilkinson and Séance in the Asylum wouldn’t exist.
Over the years, I know you've had the opportunity to attend a number of horror events and spooky locations. Have you ever taken part in a séance and what was your experience?
Oh, man… I have. The Overlook Film Festival has been pretty notorious for its extracurricular activities in the supernatural arena. I attended a séance one night while at The Stanley Hotel and the guiding psychic was attempting to connect to the ghost of Stanley Kubrick. No luck.
Can you talk about teaming up with Leonardo Marcello Grassi on this story? His art is great at creating these unsettling moments, even if it's just two characters looking at or talking to each other.
Leo is amazing. I truly lucked out with him. His shadow play just sends me into a tizzy. I love it. I feel like his work crawls out of the darkness—like, we begin in the absence of light with his work, then his characters creep out from the shadows and find their light. It’s gorgeously gothic.
Can you give our readers a tease of what to expect over the course of the story beyond the first issue?
Things ramp up pretty quickly. Issue one is all about world building, character building, setting the stage, getting us in the hospital and establishing the lay of the lunatic land… but from there it really starts to ratchet up. More seances. More possessions. More ghosts. More madness. Just more more more. We’re working on the art for issue three right now and it just gets… so wild.
With the first issue coming out just in time for Halloween, can you give a handful of movie recommendations to get people in the mood for Séance in the Asylum?
Yes! Absolutely! I think Séance in the Asylum has a lovely kinship to such films as Session 9, The Changeling (1980), Shutter Island, A Cure for Wellness, Stonehurst Asylum, The Devil’s Backbone, Crimson Peak, The Others, The Woman in Black, The Little Stranger (maybe the book), The Haunting (the original)… So many! Too many! Enough to make one lose their mind!
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"1865. Defrauded spiritual medium Alicia Wilkinson is brought to The Ashcroft Hospital at the behest of Dr. John James Templeton. He offers Alicia a second chance to revive her once-thriving career: Perform a séance amongst the patients in order to drawing out their mental maladies. Alicia performs her first series of séances with the patients—including traumatized soldiers returning from the Civil War, women whose sanity has slipped through their fingers—only to realize their sessions might work all too well. What no one knows is Alicia is a fake. A liar. A cheat… So why are the patients suddenly acting possessed?"
The first issue is due out on October 9th from Dark Horse Comics and you can read a preview below. To keep up with Séance in the Asylum and more from Dark Horse Comics, visit:
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