Ghost Church by Jamie Loftus

Hi, Ghost Church listeners! iHeartPodcasts has geared up for a riveting new podcast called The Legend of SwordQuest. Hosted by Jamie Loftus, The Legend of SwordQuest started as a promotion for a new Atari game that would become one of the most controversial moments in ‘80s pop culture, with a central mystery that's consumed fans for decades: what happened to the missing SwordQuest prizes? Don't just take our word for it, though. Check out this trailer and start listening now! Listen to The Legend of SwordQuest on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hi Ghost Church Fans! Take a listen to the trailer of our newest show, Weird Little Guys. About the show: Investigative journalist Molly Conger takes you beyond the headlines to examine some of the worst people on the planet, most of whom you've never heard of. These are the weird little guys trying to ruin life as we know it. Listen here and subscribe to Weird Little Guys on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hi Ghost Church Fans! Take a listen to the trailer of our newest show Sixteenth Minute (of Fame) About the show: Sixteenth Minute (of Fame) is a weekly show from Jamie Loftus that takes a closer look at the internet's main characters – one part reported, one part interviews, and one part Jamie collapsing her permanently internet-damaged brain. Whether it's an enduring meme or a dreaded Character of the Day distinction, it's the kind of notoriety that often results in little money, unwarranted attention, and a confusing blurred line of consent. What do you do when you get more attention and judgement than any one person is built to handle? The Sixteenth Minute of Fame is the place where we figure that out, putting people in the context of the moment they've been frozen inside of. Listen here and subscribe to Sixteenth Minute (of Fame) on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hi, Ghost Church Fans! Take a listen to the trailer from the newest show from Cool Zone Media - Better Offline  About the show: Better Offline is a weekly show exploring the tech industry's influence and manipulation of society - and interrogating the growth-at-all-costs future that tech's elite wants to build. Combining narrative-form storytelling, one-on-one interviews and panel-based discussions, Better Offline cuts through the buzzwords and obfuscation of the tech industry, investigating and evaluating the schemes and scams of everyone from cryptocurrency scumbags to the greediest of the venture capital elite. Tech industry veteran Ed Zitron and a dynamic coterie of guests will help listeners understand the who, how and why of how tech's most powerful players are changing the world - for better or for worse. Listen here and subscribe to Better Offline on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hi, Ghost Church Fans! Take a listen to the trailer from the new season of Hood Politics with Prop.  About the show: The political landscape can be confusing, but it doesn't have to be. If you've survived junior high, lived in an urban city or understand gang life, you can understand geopolitics. Join rapper and author Propaganda and his friends as they use their hood-knowledge to break down the political scene. This 2024 election year is going to be wild, BUT Prop is going to be right there with you helping you understand all of it. Check out new episodes of Hood Politics every Wednesday wherever you get your podcasts. Listen here and subscribe to Hood Politics with Prop on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hi, Ghost Church fans! Here's a preview of a new podcast, We the Unhoused — Created by Theo Henderson with the goal of uplifting voiceless citizens. The show provides an intimate look at the unhoused experience that began while Theo was living on the streets of LA for over eight years.  Listen here and subscribe to We the Unhoused on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hi, Ghost Church fans! Here's a preview of a new podcast, Internet Hate Machine. Bridget Todd explains how bad actors use the internet to target and silence women, especially Black women. Excluding them from discourse and desensitizing us to sexist, racist attacks makes us all less safe. Bridget talks with women who have been the targets of coordinated attacks, activists who are fighting back, and experts to help break down the deliberate agenda behind it. Listen here and subscribe to Internet Hate Machine on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the final episode of Ghost Church (for now), Jamie befriends a Cassadaga medium, reads a manifesto, and looks backwards and ahead to where American spiritualism goes from here. Thank you for listening, and abolish the Supreme Court bitch. Find Uncle Dennis Here: http://www.mysticallahan.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, Jamie takes a look at the second wave of spiritualism in the United States through American Spiritualism's most famous schism -- believer Arthur Conan Doyle versus skeptic Harry Houdini over the mediumship (and yes, ectoplasm) of Mina Crandon. Featuring Paul F. Tompkins as Doyle and Robert Evans as Houdini. I know, right? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, Jamie goes to a ghost museum, high fives a Jigsaw doll, and takes a look at two religious movements that pulled from American Spiritualism, took what they needed, and left the rest. Dr. Carlos Camacho stops by for a chat about espiritismo, and still no talk of ectoplasm. Dr. Margarita Simon Guillory on "The Religious Studies Project": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q3kvN3RDpI More information on Dr. Camacho here: https://linktr.ee/carloscreates2018 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, Jamie heads to the only spiritualist library in the American south -- open two hours a week -- to try and trace the legend of Cassadaga's founding to its root, as land taken from indigenous Americans. Writer Olivia Woodward stops by to discuss spiritual traditions of the Caddo Nation, thoughts on spiritualism's appropriation of Native culture, and questions George Colby's spirit guide. Follow Olivia's work here: https://twitter.com/LivNative93 More on the Seneca Nation: https://sni.org/ More on the Mascogo: https://about.proquest.com/en/blog/2019/what-juneteenth-means-to-the-mascogo-tribe/ More on the Timucua: https://read.dukeupress.edu/hahr/article/77/3/502/144849/The-History-of-the-Timucua-Indians-and-Missions More on the Miccosukee: https://www.miccosukee.com/history  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, Jamie visits a legendary Cassadaga medium and traces the story of spiritualism's Fox sisters to its end -- where the sisters abandoned the religion that had defined their lives. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, Jamie passes the mic to four women of Cassadaga to tell their stories about how they came to American spiritualism -- from being raised by NASA scientists to a tragic loss. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, Jamie goes to a table tipping class — a Spiritualist tradition that uses tables to connect people with their dead. Elsewhere in the past, the Fox sisters go on tour, where the skeptics put increasing pressure on the teenagers to meet their hype.   Further Reading: Talking to the Dead, Barbara Weisberg Calling the Spirits: A History of Seances by Lisa Morton The Road to Seneca Falls by Judith Wellman Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women by Susan Faludi See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, Jamie returns to Cassadaga for a Gala Day with one Reverend Doctor and one Reverend Doctor / Former Dojo Owner, then attends her first spiritualist church service, complete with a message from the spirit after hymns. Back in 1848, spiritualist's founding Fox sisters become stars overnight, immediately stoking skepticism and smothering press attention. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

American Spiritualism is a frequently invoked, rarely understood religion that hinges on speaking with spirit through mediums. In our first episode, Jamie Loftus puts your little baby brain at rest -- it's not a cult. But what is it? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jamie Loftus investigates American spiritualism, a tradition of communing with the dead that takes place in camps full of mediums across the country. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.