The desire to understand the mysteries of life, death and fate goes back to the earliest days of humanity — Israel’s first king, Saul, allegedly used a medium to summon the spirit of the prophet Samuel for advice on an upcoming battle. (Spoiler alert: This did not end well.) But the modern spirituality movement took hold in the mid-1800s. When Queen Victoria sat on the British throne, the world was in a state of scientific and religious upheaval, and the upper classes were already enamored of elaborate rituals around death and grieving.

The Fox Sisters

Enter two sisters from upstate New York, Kate and Margaretta Fox, who claimed in 1848 that they could commune with the departed through a series of knocks on wooden surfaces. The sisters captured the popular imagination. Another American, Maria Hayden, brought the practice to England in 1852, intriguing the likes of Sherlock Holmes author Arthur Conan Doyle and the cream of fashionable society. Women had long been left out of religious positions of power, and many were drawn to the new movement of Spiritualism. President Lincoln’s wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, conducted séances in the White House after the death of their son Willie.

Harry Houdini

In the 20th century, increased lifespans, decreases in child mortality, and debunking of famous charlatans (including reveals by famed magician Harry Houdini) put Spiritualism on the decline. But talking to the dead is not dead yet, and modern-day Denver still boasts a community of mediums, psychics and other practitioners of the supernatural arts, along with the clients who seek their services.

For medium Hollis Taylor (who uses they/them pronouns), connecting with the spirit world is a way of healing unresolved trauma. “I don’t believe in evil spirits,” they asserted. “I think that that is a made-up, silly thing from Hollywood to sensationalize. For me, being a medium and doing what I do on a day-to-day basis, is to help people know that their loved ones are not in hell. Their loved ones are not being punished and burning to death because they overdosed on drugs. I’m reassuring them that their loved one is on the other side and that their loved one is with them all the time trying to help guide them through life. For me, the spirits on the other side are ancestors. They’re guidance for me. They’re like spirit guides. Some people might call it God. I would call it love.”

Hollis Taylor

Taylor has studied nursing, psychology and trauma-informed care. “I don’t think it’s a special gift,” they said. “Not at all. I think it’s a gift for me to be able to sit down and do a reading for someone and then be able to help that person, just as much as it would be for a therapist or a counselor or coach. I think everyone has the ability to connect with their loved ones on the other side.”

David Gold was a non-believer when he started the Seance Parlor in 2020 as entertainment at the Tears-McFarlane House, which adjoins Denver’s Cheesman Park. (A former cemetery, it’s estimated that nearly 2,000 bodies still rest in — hopefully — peace at the site.) Nevertheless, the death of an uncle and a chance office opening at Tears-McFarlane led him to the supernatural.

“I actually am a skeptic,” Gold insisted. “I really don’t believe in all the horror, scary movies. That’s all Hollywood. But I wanted to do a real seance because of what happened with my uncle. I was suddenly in a mansion that is on Cheesman Park, with all the bodies out there.” Gold said he tried to do “real seances,” but things kept getting “really weird.”

“It finally turned into a hybrid show where we said, ‘look, we’re just doing a theatrical presentation.’ But I find that spirits like to play, but they won’t start to play unless you do. And every seance that we do something happens. It seems to be real for the people that attend. So we call it a hybrid seance now.”

The Seance Parlor currently operates out of space on Hampden Avenue, but Gold has plans to open a “Dead and Breakfast” soon in Capitol Hill.

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