Just as weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them, deceased persons will open up to a good listener.  Ask questions that are simple but open-ended.  Resist the urge to overshare.  And learn the difference between friendliness and flirtation.  From Unknown, 1941.

"A thick vapour arose, and the fantastic form swayed to and fro behind it."  From The Idler, 1906.

With the quill dipped in blood, the incredibly long serpent, the see-through cloak, and the radiant halo, this one is truly jaw-dropping (see the third skull at the top).  From State Female Normal School, Farmville, Va.'s 1900 yearbook. Explanations: How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.

From Shershen', 1906.

From The Fashionable Science of Parlour Magic by John Henry Anderson, 1860.

There's an ironic subliminal message in this book cover — the middle of the word "exposed," "pos," is highlghted by the box behind it, suggesting "positive."  Spirit Rapping Exposed by John Henry Anderson, 1860.  See Seance Parlor Feng Shui.

"I now call upon the spirits."  From Gilbert Chemical Magic by Alfred Carlton Gilbert, 1920.

"Communication from the spirit of the 'lowest circle.'"  From The Fashionable Science of Parlour Magic by John Henry Anderson, 1860.  See Seance Parlor Feng Shui.

Studying by moonlight.  The book, Cemetery Maps, was a gift from our friend Gordon.

By "A Mere Phantom."  The Magic Lantern, How to Buy and How to Use It, Also How to Raise a Ghost, 1866.

How to Speak to the Dead: A Practical Handbook, 1918.

"The three Boston witches," from Remarkable Apparitions and Ghost Stories, or Authentic Histories of Communications (Real or Imaginary) with the Unseen World by Clarence Day, 1848.

"Skeleton collectors."  From The Scarlet Letter yearbook (Rutgers, 1882).  See How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.

Talking With the Dead? by Joseph Franklin Rutherford, 1920.

Dr. Zell and the Princess Charlotte: An Autobiographical Relation of Adventures in the Life of a Distinguished Modern Necromancer, Seer, and Theosophist by Warren Richardson, 1892.

"I'll see, at midnight, what these omens mean; / And call on those prophetic spirits who / Attend on death, and darkness, to reveal / What is to happen."  From Stuart Alexander's Saul, King of Israel, 1843.

"A marvelous 'living skull' still has human power."  From a piece about the magician Joseffy in Popular Mechanics, 1909.