Guided By Spirits: The Story Of A Movement With Dr. Nick Richbell

In this episode of Haunted History Chronicles, I’m joined by Dr Nick Richbell, historian, archivist, and Spiritualist.

Together, we discuss the fascinating world of spirit guides: what they are, how mediums have worked with them, and why they became such an important feature of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Spiritualism. We explore famous cases, the rise of the movement, and the controversies surrounding fraud, scepticism, and representation in the Spiritualist press. With Nick’s unique perspective as both a historian and a believer, this episode offers a compelling look at Spiritualism’s past and what its enduring appeal reveals about society’s hopes, fears, and search for life beyond the veil.

My Special Guest Is Dr. Nick Richbell  

Dr. Nick Richbell received his PhD in History from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. His area of research is the history of Spiritualism, and his doctoral dissertation is a biographical history about the medium Maurice Barbanell and his guide, Silver Birch. The teachings of Silver Birch are still talked about in Spiritualist churches today, however, Maurice Barbanell’s name is rarely mentioned. Barbanell spent 61-years dedicated to Spiritualism and Dr. Richbell’s research has started to correct this omission and put’s Barbanell back into the historical discourse about him being the twentieth-century’s leading propagandist of the religion and movement. Nick is currently finishing writing his book about Maurice Barbanell that will be published in 2026.

Nick has long believed that there is more to life than an earthly existence. However, it was not until he started work as the Head of Special Collections and Archives at the University of Waterloo Library that he started to further consider the afterlife. The archives had two séance related collections. The Maines-Pincock Family collection holds records of seances conducted by the American medium William Cartheuser in the private home of Jenny O’Hara Pincock in St. Catharines, Ontario. Another collection, the Thomas Lacey Lecture collection contains over 400 lectures given by Lacey while in trance. Nick was able to bring in a new Lacey collection during his tenure at Waterloo: the Thomas Lacey séance collection: over 100 reel-to-reel tapes from the 1960s of recordings of seances conducted by Lacey in Kitchener, Ontario home. Nick is fascinated by the people in Spiritualism, and he began a journey, that continues today, to learn more about the British-born medium, Thomas Lacey. Nick was the research associate on the audio-documentary, The Ghost of Thomas Lacey, produced by Anthroscope Media. 

In this conversation, expect insights into: 

• The world of spirit guides—their role in séances, Spiritualist belief, and how they shaped the movement’s rise in the 19th and 20th centuries.

• Unpack the controversies of Spiritualism, from fraud allegations and sceptics like Houdini to debates over race, gender, and representation.

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