![]() Virginia Kujala is in her 80s with a strong Boston accent. There were others too, like my aunt and my mother, who had come on a lark. ![]() I met people who were taking courses in mediumship, investing hundreds of dollars to improve their skills, and people who believed not only in spirits, but also in orbs (a manifestation of a spirit visible in a photograph), as well as in crop circles. These different approaches are reflected in the visitors at Lily Dale. There seems to be gradations in what we believe and nuances in the terms we are willing to attach to our beliefs. Our beliefs and motivations for seeking out spirituality do not fit precisely into the binary categories of “Yes, I’m a believer,” or “No, I’m not.” If almost a third of Americans believe they have been in touch with someone who passed away, only one-fifth answered yes to having felt they were in the presence of a ghost. The Pew poll illustrates what I found at Lily Dale. It’s tempting to point to a subset of crystal-wielding New Ageists to dismiss these statistics yet 2012 Pew data indicates that Christians are about as likely as those unaffiliated with any religion to believe they’ve experienced psychic or spiritual phenomenon. A 2009 Pew Research Center survey noted that 29% of Americans believe they have been in touch with someone who passed away and 18% feel they have been in the presence of a ghost. ![]() Mystical beliefs have endured in the United States. ![]() * This is Part IV of a series on Lily Dale, New York. ![]()
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