The Ceramic Medium - Miniature Spirit Slates

'Spiritualism has been gaining more converts every day, leading many eminent men to investigate its mysteries, no matter how small.'

The Montrose, Arbroath and Brechin Review, 1921

Seances and doll's houses - during the 1920s, everybody did them, and everybody had one, so it's no surprise that someone would eventually combine these two most fashionable pastimes.

J Merewether was a manufacturer of fine doll's houses and accessories, although he had made a name as a noteworthy architect in his earlier years. These skills translated particularly well to constructing and designing his doll's houses. The waiting list for a J Merewether commission was in the region of years rather than months. Still, to satisfy the impatient, he also produced a small line of fixings and furnishings that could be purchased without a wait. Amongst the tales of miniature manifestations Reverend Egerton had collected, a name would regularly appear, giving reason to investigate further; J. Merewether's 'Doll's House Spirit Slate'. What initially struck Egerton as peculiar was that this accessory was clearly marketed as 'not a toy'. Not only this, it came with a guarantee to make contact with those beyond the grave. Egerton acquired a copy of Merewether's spirit slate and began to conduct his investigation.

Tonight we will attempt to replicate Egerton's tests.

Just in time for Halloween, this miniature mystery gives a cursory nod to the MR James classic 'The Haunted Dolls' House'. Although the Ragged School Slates are now officially out of production, the Lebanon Circle range would seem incomplete without a spirit slate routine. Probably the smallest spirit slates ever produced, yet also the creepiest.  Works with any doll, the spirits do all the hard work for you.  

Performance Example

• You attempt to replicate Reverend Egerton's experiment

• The miniature slate is passed around the audience while you recount the tale of Egerton's investigation into the mysterious slate. It is then placed into the box

• An obituary is randomly selected by a spectator, but not revealed

• A random coloured chalk is selected and also placed in the box

• The box is closed and the miniature seance begins

• The box is finally opened to reveal a message from the deceased mentioned in the chosen obituary written on the slate in the selected coloured chalk.

Remember

• No magnets or gimmicks
• No chemicals
• Self-contained and self-working
• Can be performed in the spectator's hand or using a 'ceramic medium' (any doll).
• The miniature spirit slates are fully compatible with The Foundling routine.
• Ideal for close-up parlour performances

[It will be said, perhaps, and not unjustly, that this is no more than a variation on a former routine of mine called The Ragged School Slates. I can only hope that there is enough of variation in the setting to make the repetition of the motif tolerable.]