The Wasp — 1877 — page 254: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical cartoon mocks "Prof. Fraud, Egyptian Fortune Teller," who has set up shop at Swindel Avenue near Humbug Street in San Francisco. The top panel depicts the charlatan conducting a séance with theatrical props—skull, cauldron, mystical apparatus—while duping clients with supernatural pretenses. Various creatures and supernatural imagery surround the scene. The bottom panel shows animal characters (appearing to be goats or similar creatures) in what looks like a gambling or money-exchange scenario, labeled "CASH," suggesting the fortune teller's real business is separating gullible customers from their money. The satire targets the popularity of spiritualism and fortune-telling fraud in late 19th-century America, mocking both the fake practitioners and the public's credulity toward such schemes.