Yet, although the nineteenth century is commonly viewed as an age of secularisation, there was still plenty of room for supernatural beliefs, or at the very least superstitions. (3) While the contemporary audience was increasingly interested in being enchanted by the mysteries of modern technology, their fascination with and belief in the supernatural should not be underestimated. These beliefs are commonly associated with the rural world, but even in London – arguably the most progressive city at least in Europe at that point – practices such as spiritualism thrived. Spiritualism is the belief that the dead can communicate with the living, usually through a ‘medium’. Séances, in which it was attempted to contact spirits, were held all over town. They could be private affairs, but the phenomena occurring during such séances – alleged ‘spiritual manifestations’ – could also be experienced on the big stage. By reproducing ‘supernatural’ effects in their own performances, established stage conjurors took it onto themselves to expose fraudulent mediums, who deceived audiences by claiming to have actual supernatural abilities. This was the decisive difference between conjurors of spirits and conjurors of tricks: the latter’s illusions were understood as illusions. Stage magicians strongly relied on the element of wonder, but worked hard to retain their respectability by defining themselves as distinctly ‘modern’.