Puck — May 14, 1879 — page 8: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page contains multiple cartoons satirizing spiritualism and séances, popular phenomena in late 19th-century America. The top cartoon titled "Miraculous Movements of Furniture" depicts a séance where spirits allegedly move objects—here shown as chaotic, levitating furniture. The satire mocks spiritualist claims of supernatural communication. The lower cartoon, "Wanted to See the Spirit of his Child," shows a grieving man at a séance window viewing ghostly faces. The caption's reference to "springs" breaking loose suggests the cartoonist is exposing séance tricks as mechanical fraud rather than genuine spiritual contact. These cartoons ridicule spiritualism as deceptive entertainment exploiting people's grief and credulity—a common Puck theme mocking pseudoscientific fads of the era.