Life — July 29, 1915 — page 27: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cartoon satirizes spiritualism and séances, popular in early 20th-century America. A large hippopotamus consults a medium (spiritualist) to contact his deceased wife. The joke hinges on the medium's weight-based pricing: he charges extra for "anything over a ton," implying the hippo's late wife was extremely heavy. The humor targets both spiritualism itself—presented as fraudulent commerce—and the hippo's absurdly literal interpretation of supernatural services. The medium's casual, mercenary attitude suggests spiritualists were viewed as opportunistic charlatans exploiting grieving clients. The cartoon mocks both the gullible believers and the charlatans profiting from them during an era when séances were widespread middle and upper-class pursuits.