How do you perform a seonce?

Question:1. Blackout the room - i.e., cover the windows with black curtains and make sure you can get it totally black when all the lights are off.

2. Get your best friend to dress all over in black and maybe even to paint his/her face in black theatrical greasepaint too.

3. Conceal your friend in the room - behind a sofa, in a cupboard, somewhere he (let's call the friend he) can come out from quietly and quickly.

4. Light the room with a single table lamp, with a low wattage bulb, say 15w. Maybe shade the lamp with a red shade, too.

5. Assemble a crowd of credulous people (we'll call them, in the best carny tradition, 'marks') who believe/sort-of-believe in ghosts. Be very serious and a bit preoccupied.

6. Have the marks sit around the table with you and join hands.

7. Out of kindness, don't pretend to be contacting anyone's recently dead relatives, or anything. Just go for either distant ancestors or strangers.

8. When you are all ready, turn off the light. When you want your black-clad friend to start making with the spirituals, throw him a pre-arranged verbal signal (a phrase like 'Give me a sign if you're there!')

9. This is the cue for your invisible friend to start bumping the furniture, etc. He mustn't get too close to the marks or they will feel he's there, hear his breath and so on. If he has noisemaking devices, they can come in very useful.

This is the traditional way to do a séance, anyway, and don't let anyone tell you different. I assumed you asked it in Performing Arts rather than Religion and Spirituality for a reason.

Finally - honour as well as politeness demand that you don't take money off people when you do this. They could give the money to charity, though. (They'll be more inclined to believe that it's real if they've paid for it, but I obviously can't encourage you to perpetrate a fraud for financial reward.)

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: 1. Blackout the room - i.e., cover the windows with black curtains and make sure you can get it totally black when all the lights are off.

2. Get your best friend to dress all over in black and maybe even to paint his/her face in black theatrical greasepaint too.

3. Conceal your friend in the room - behind a sofa, in a cupboard, somewhere he (let's call the friend he) can come out from quietly and quickly.

4. Light the room with a single table lamp, with a low wattage bulb, say 15w. Maybe shade the lamp with a red shade, too.

5. Assemble a crowd of credulous people (we'll call them, in the best carny tradition, 'marks') who believe/sort-of-believe in ghosts. Be very serious and a bit preoccupied.

6. Have the marks sit around the table with you and join hands.

7. Out of kindness, don't pretend to be contacting anyone's recently dead relatives, or anything. Just go for either distant ancestors or strangers.

8. When you are all ready, turn off the light. When you want your black-clad friend to start making with the spirituals, throw him a pre-arranged verbal signal (a phrase like 'Give me a sign if you're there!')

9. This is the cue for your invisible friend to start bumping the furniture, etc. He mustn't get too close to the marks or they will feel he's there, hear his breath and so on. If he has noisemaking devices, they can come in very useful.

This is the traditional way to do a séance, anyway, and don't let anyone tell you different. I assumed you asked it in Performing Arts rather than Religion and Spirituality for a reason.

Finally - honour as well as politeness demand that you don't take money off people when you do this. They could give the money to charity, though. (They'll be more inclined to believe that it's real if they've paid for it, but I obviously can't encourage you to perpetrate a fraud for financial reward.)

You may get a better answer if you ask over in religion and spirituality.

start with a group of people,

one person acts as medium to speak for the spirits,

gather around a table hold hands as a force of unity, Light candles

the meduim ask if the spirits would grant an audience= in Hope the spirits will allow you to talk with them..if they do ask question one at a time to the medium..

if not , the medium thanks the spirits and the group disbands

It's all play acting so here is probably the better place to ask.....

What in the world is a "seonce"?