5 years ago, I did a red light seance show based on Lillian's Diary and Carlyle's One Man Seance. I will be presenting this at EAST COAST SPIRIT SESSIONS VI as a Parlor Show. That Red Light Seance show really changed my performance style and I am thrilled to resurrect it!

It was 2014 and I was asked to do a seance for a group of ghost hunters, mediums, and their fans. The audience was probably a bit under 50 persons. The event coordinator wanted a Victorian era red light senace. The theme was steampunk /Victorian and he wanted the dinner show to fit the event. I was very concerned about how this group would accept / react to a theatrical seance. I figured if the seance was entertaining, I would be OK. So entertaining was my goal.

I ended up doing a show based on Lilli@ns di@ry. Those familiar, know that the diary takes place in 1932. I figured that was OK as long as I used lots of victorian era equipment and worked the red light in.


If you are not familiar with "The Diary", you are missing out. It is a fantastic ghost story and keeps the audience an the edge of their seats (possibly still available from Gemini Artifacts?)


The ghost story is what sells this. It has everything, love, loss, mystery, and is scary as hell! Easy to make a one hour show out of the story alone. I worked spirit slates in also for a couple of revelations. That helped keep the story progressing in the right direction. They LOVED the story and everyone was glued to what was going to happen next.

E Raymond Carlyle has a great red light bit called one man seance. I used that as the finale.


All I can say is that Carlyle's bit KILLED! I changed his premise a bit so it would play for stage, but the basic elements were all Carlyle. Here is a brief description. The medium sits at a small table in front of a black drape. There are red flood lights behind the drape projecting red light on the back stage wall. On the mediums table is a spirit trumpet, a tambourine, and a candle. During this effect, the tambourine flies off the table, a face appears out of thin air and then disappears, the trumpet floats and delivers messages, and finally, the candle floats off the table. All the time the medium is completely visible, both hands and both feet. The audience was only 8 feet away from the table.

Carlyle taught me this effect and I have used it lots of times since.

Come to ECSS VI and check it out! http://www.eastcoastspiritsessions.com/

I can’t wait to see this!

Sounds fantastic. If anyone in the UK is doing anything along these lines this Christmas I would love to know.

The di@ry is still available from Vic via this link:
https://www.geminiartifacts.com/products......a3&_ss=r

He also has an accompanying letter as a free printable download available.

This will indeed be a treat Steve! Looking forward to seeing the pairing of 'The Diary' with Carlyle's one man séance. I'm sure this will provide some inspiration to get the Diary off the shelf and start playing. See you in January!

Oh, wow! I can't wait to see this.

I’ve never performed with Lillians diary but I just ordered the last copy GA had in stock. We’ll see if it’s a good fit for me.

I'm also looking forward to this. Never experienced a Red Light Seance.

I adore Lillian's Diary. It has an intriguing, multi-layered mystery which opens up a whole plethora of ways to gently guide the audience to solve it for themselves, and they get a real sense of achievement - and awe - when they do. I've used Konxari cards, Tarot, slates and all manner of other nudges to hint at the keys. Since Lillian was a child, it also plays REALLY well with Dolly Darko and can easily supply a full mystery evening.

The show will be resurrected live and in person Friday October 18th and 19th at Poe's Magic Theater Baltimore MD USA. This seance will also be featured at East Coast Spirit Sessions Ten January 10th, 2025, Myrtle Beach SC USA.

Can't wait to see this at ESCC!

Was so excited... it's ECSS!

Does anyone have a video performance of Lillian's Diary?

I'll definitely will be going back to ECSS in 2024. Looking forward to seeing the show!