In the aftermath of the Great War, people from across the British Isles and Dominion nations read prophecies about the coming new millennium, experimented with seances, and claimed to see the ghosts of their loved ones in dreams and in photographs. On the battlefields, soldiers had premonitions and attributed their survival to angelic, psychic, or spiritual forces. These experiences contrast sharply with the legacy of the Great War and modernity in general as a disenchanting experience. What were ghosts and psychics doing amidst a war involving tanks, airplanes, submarines, chemical weapons, and machine guns? This talk narrates compelling and previously undocumented abnormal experiences to challenge popular myths about the Great War. Between 1914 and 1939 an array of ghosts haunted the British Empire.

Spirts, Psychics, & Divination: How the Great War Haunted the British Empire is presented by Kyle Falcon. The lecture will premier both in-person at the Civic Museum, and online via our Facebook livestream. The recorded conversation is available on Facebook, YouTube, and our Museum Everywhere Portal. 

Guelph Museums’ Military Lecture series is presented in partnership with the Laurier Centre for the Study of Canada.

Watch The Recording:

Due to technical difficulties the October presentation at the Guelph Civic Museum was not able to be uploaded or displayed on the livestream. This recording is from the presentation Kyle Falcon gave at the Laurier Centre for the Study of Canada 

About Kyle Falcon:

Kyle Falcon is a historian of the British Empire whose research focuses on the role of spiritualism and psychical research during the era of the Great War. He received his MA at Nipissing University and his PhD from Wilfrid Laurier University. His book, Haunted Britain: Spiritualism, Psychical Research and the Great War was released by Manchester University Press in July 2023.