A medium expelling "ectoplasm" from her ear during a sceance.

A seemingly lifelike substance, solid or vaporous in nature, which allegedly extrudes from the body of a medium and can be transformed into materialized limbs, faces or even entire bodies of spirits. Ectoplasm often appears milky white in color and smells like ozone.

Coined by French physiologist Charles Richet in 1894 to explain the strange third arm, or PSEUDOPOD, emanating from EUSAPIA PALLADINO, ectoplasm comes from the Greek words ektos and plasma, meaning "exteriorized substance." But ectoplasm-like vapors had been observed surrounding D.D. HOME by SzR WIULAM CROOKW. And medium Madame desperance described being covered with luminous spiderwebs which eventually developed into a living organism. Earlier, a 17th-century philosopher named Vaughn described a substance he called "first matter" or "mercury" which seemed to be like ectoplasm. These extrusions often seemed warm to the touch, had weight, produced carbonic acid and seemed to wax and wane from the medium's body. They could also be cold and rubbery or doughlike. Emanations usually came from a body orifice, such as the mouth, ears and nose, but could also pour from the eyes, navel, nipples or vagina. Their structure varied from amorphous clouds to thin rods to a wide membrane resembling a net.

Ectoplasm disappeared altogether in the Night, preferring red incandescent light and darkness. If suddenly exposed to light, the ectoplasm snapped back violently, perhaps causing injury to the medium or nearby sitters. The substance could be light and airy, like smoke, or sticky and viscous. And like all other physical manifestations, ectoplasm appeared best in an atmosphere of faith, not skepticism. Ectoplasm allegedly must be released from the medium's body before MATERIALIZATION may occur. GUSTAVE GELFI, head of the INSTITUTE METAPSYCHIQUE INTERNATIONAL in Paris, described ectoplasm as an externalization of decen- tralized energy in solid, liquid or vapor states. This decentralization expended great vital energy, which could manifest through rapping, phosphorescence, telekinesis or the production of ectoplasm. Complete materialization was the final product of the ectoplasmic process. WILLIAM J. CRAWFORD, of Queen's University in Belfast, opined that ectoplasm was the basis of all psychic phenomena. It gave consistency to all physical structures during the seance and gave these structures the ability to come into contact with ordinary forms of matter, thereby forming hands and faces. He also found ectoplasm responsible for direct voice phenomena.

Rev. Robert Chaney, himself a medium, described ectoplasm as the spiritual counterpart of protoplasm. He said that the medium's ectoplasmic body exists in the intercellular spaces of her physical body in vibration halfway between the physical and spiritual forms. In order to materialize spirits, the medium projects ectophsm from her own body and draws it magnetically from the bodies of the sitters. The spirit is then clothed in this astral substance and appears. If the transformation is incomplete, the medium takes the spirit drapery and assumes the part of the spirit, a process called transfiguration. Although Palladino's knobby pseudopods were fascinating, the real experts at ectoplasmic manifestations were MARTHE BERAUD, alias Eva C., and MINA STINSON CRANDON, known as Margery. Another successful ectoplasmic medium was Kathleen Goligher.
In experiments in the early 1900s with her colleague, Juliette Bisson, and later with German physician BARON ALBERT VON SCHRENCK-NOTZING, Beraud would produce masses of amorphous white or gray material. She was thoroughly examined before each sitting, often wearing tights or a veil. Schrenck-Notzing even had Bisson examine Beraud's genitalia to verify that she was concealing nothing.

Schrenck-Notzing described Beraud's ectoplasm as similar to sticky, gelatinous icicles dripping from her mouth, ears, nose and eyes and down her chin onto the front of her body. When touched by hand or light, the ectoplasm writhed back into Beraud's body like the tentacles of an octopus. He found the stuff could go through fabric and not leave a trace.

After forming, the ectoplasm often assumed faces or shapes, some resembling President Wil- son and other popular government or historical figures. In seances held with Beraud and Bisson alone, Bisson testified that Beraud produced copious extrusions from her breasts and vagina--even an ectoplasmic pseudo- birth. She also materialized a tiny naked woman, eight inches high, with long flowing hair. Few researchers gave much credence to these testimonials, however, surmising that they were not so much paranormal manifestations as sermal.

From 1917 to 1920, Crawford studied the Goligher family, especially their daughter Kathleen. Crawford was convinced that Kathleen Goligher could lift tables using a pseudopod, or what he called a psychic structl-ire or rod. The work intrigued Dr. LeRoi Crandon, a Boston surgeon, who began experiments with his wife, Mina. Mina Crandon's mediumistic talents soon developed, complete with the production of ectoplasm. Famous photographs show long strings of ectoplasm, like umbilical cords, pouring from her mouth, earsand nose. They seemed to hang by tiny threads. Other extrusions came from between her legs; psychical researcher Eric J. Dingwall suspected Crandon concealed the ectoplasm in her vagina and extruded it by muscular contractions. She even produced a third hand, grossly formed, from her navel.

Analysis of small pieces of ectoplasm yielded few clues. Several critics claimed the stuff was either chewed paper, gauze or other fabric, probably regurgitated, or even animal tissue. Beraud's ectoplasm was most likely paper, and Harvard biologists found Crandon's pseudo- pod to be animal lung cleverly carved to resemble a hand.

In the world of modern ghost hunting, ectoplasm is a term that is loosely used to describe various odd light forms such as mists and clouds.