Where did all the Ectoplasm go?

Well First of all, let me describe what Ectoplasm is.

Ectoplasm is said to be produced by physical mediums when in a trance state. This material is excreted as a gauze-like substance from orifices on the medium's body and spiritual entities are said to drape this substance over their nonphysical body, enabling them to interact in our physical universe.

During the 19th century, many photos surfaced of mediums conducting seances and being photographed to have some type of substance being excreted from orifices. That substance was generally thought to be ectoplasm. It is thought to be something which allows the entity to materialize and be viewed by normal people.

[IMG]http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/12/assets/images/warner1.jpg[\IMG]
[IMG]http://www.hootingyard.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/minnie.jpg[\IMG]

Now what I'm getting at is this; photos of ectoplasm are pretty common for the 19th through early 20th century. However, there are not really any credible photos surfacing from the modern day of ectoplasm and mediums.

Is it because ectoplasm was a clever hoax played by many mediums, which I seriously doubt. Is it because our common technology can't capture photos of ectoplasm, or could it be because mediums don't want everyone to know what they can do and decide to hide it for fear of constant criticism. Or perhaps maybe our govt is covering up the photos coming out of ectoplasm.

I just thought I'd throw this out there and get some opinions from fellow members. Paranormal/ghost stuff is what interests me to the max.

I really don't know why this has been post in Aliens and UFOS. Mods if you could move this for me I would greatly appreciate it.

reply to post by skeetontheconspiracy


I am a paranormal investigator/ghost hunter and I have many books with hoax pics from the time period you speak of. In most of the pics I've seen, the ectoplasm is obviously fake... some of them are laughably fake! I don't know if the pics I have in my books are online or not, but I'm going to look right now and see if I can find them and will post them here if I do.

I know that there has to be a basis for the idea of ectoplasm. I doubt that somebody just made it up, but I think that most of the pics out there are hoaxes. Just my opinion though! I could be wrong.

I always thought ectoplasm was residue left by the spirits, not created by mediums for spirits to coat themselves in ?

You're talking about Ghostbusters right? The name of their ambulance was "the ecto".

This is what they called "getting slimmed" in ectoplasm.

Same thing as "Pearl Jam"......the ghost resides in it.

reply to post by skeetontheconspiracy


I found one! I remember that this one had me laughing hysterically! It doesn't seem as funny now, but at the time, I thought it was hilarious that anyone would possibly believe that this was really a pic of a ghost/ectoplasm.

Pic is here

In the book I have, it says that ghost hoaxes started not too long after photography was invented. Most of the pics I have seen look like people who have handkerchiefs, a sheet, cheese cloth etc, hanging out of their mouths, ears, noses or whatever.

Here is an article about one that I thought was rather interesting. I have no idea if it's real, but it seems to at least look a little more realistic than others I have seen.

Maybe they did coat themselves in it. Could have been in fashion in the afterlife to wear slime, hence why it only appeared in the 19th& early 20th century. But fashion trends ALWAYS come back around.

On a more serious note though, who knows.. Maybe its a rare occurance, and when other psychics heard of it they wanted to jump on the bandwagon. And it probably died out because we would have actual ways of testing whatever that stuff is.. so the thought of being seen as massive liars didnt suit people, so they stopped.

[edit on 18-7-2009 by Bluebelle]

has anyone ever tried to take samples of ectoplasm?
or claimed to at least? that would be interesting to study further.

The whole ectoplasm of the spritualist age is clearly hoax, and is downright hysterical.

HOWEVER, as with all legends and ritualistic practices, there is always a shred of truth or a point of origin that explains such a practice.

My personal theory as far as ectoplasm goes is that it dates back to the medieval practice of rubbing Paracelsian unguents, ointments or salves on the body which had anaesthetic properties. Such unguents would often contain psychoactive ingredients such as henbane, mandrake, belladonna, and datura, which would undoubtedly cause visual hallucinations. The spiritualist would cover themselves with the psychotropic unguent and fall into a trance, gaining communication with the spirits.

At some point, most likely during Victorian times, was this replaced with a cheap parlor trick that lost all meaning relating to it's origins.

FUnny thing is, the only thing I could fin through searching was a couple incidents where scientists actually had a sample of ectoplasm to study and it came back as being not much. I think it was of the same composition as skin cells. dunno if thats odd or just proved that incifent as a hoax.

There has to be some truth to this phenomenon, its just kinda like finding a needle in a haystack. There is so much fake stuff in paranormal studies, it's hard to single out the truly unexplainable/real stuff.

I still honestly believe there is some truth to ectoplasm. Albeit buried in bunk.