One evening in 1925, a woman dressed in the somber black clothes of a widow

knocks on the door of an imposing red brick house in Chicago.

The door is opened by a male servant in a dark suit.

The woman dabbs away the tears from her cheeks with a handkerchief and gives her name

as Mrs. Rosalind Richards, here to see Herman E. Parker, self-proclaimed pastor of the spiritualist

church. Parker is a renowned medium, in other words,

someone who claims to be able to communicate with the spirits of the dead.

Mrs. Richards is led down a dimly lit hallway.

Gas lights flicker turn down to the lowest setting.

The servant takes her to a room at the back of the house. With its chins fabrics, mahogany

furniture, and drooping half-drawn drapes, the room has a gloomy, old-fashioned feel. The air is dry and dusty. The temperature, chilly, as if it doesn't often see the sun.

The objects around the edges are little more than outlines. Vague shapes, looming in the darkness.

The sense of something existing just beyond her vision grows strong.

The mysterious servant gestures for Mrs. Richards to sit down at an oval table.

The faint glimmer of the dying day is reflected in its highly polished surface.

The servant withdraws and Mrs. Richards is left to her own thoughts.

As she told Mr. Parker in a letter, her main reason for consulting him is for solace.

She loved her deceased husband dearly, and would

give anything to hear from him just one last time. Mr. Parker wrote back and informed her

that for $25, he is willing to oblige. Another door opens, and Parker himself enters.

In the gloom, it's difficult to make out his features clearly, or to read his expression.

Like his servant, he too is dressed in a dark suit.

...