Sara Weiss’s Journeys to the Planet Mars
Summary
Hosts Tracy B. Wilson and Holly Fry explore Sarah Weiss, a late 19th-century spiritualist who claimed to have psychic journeys to Mars. The episode contextualizes her 1903 book, *Journeys to the Planet Mars*, within the era’s "Mars Mania" and the rise of the spiritualist movement. It details Weiss’s life, her channeling of historical figures like Giordano Bruno, and the mixed reception of her work by contemporaries and psychical researchers. The discussion also covers the scientific shift away from the "canals of Mars" theory and includes listener mail about school discipline.
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