The Religio-Philosophical Journal notes with glee in 1891 the expiration of the journal. $1.00-$2.00 a year, 4 pp. Advertised in The Gnostic, Mind and Matter, Banner of Light, and the Watchman, 1885-1887. Beacon lights, a form of early electric lighting for theater performances, were the rage in the late 1880s and undoubtedly contributed to the choice of title. The journal was the work of Mrs. M.E. ("Minnie") Williams, a long-lived and rather notorious New York materializing medium. She was the vehicle for a variety of spirits, including a Mr. Holland (a philosopher), Bright Eyes (a baby), Priscilla (a spinster), and Henry Ward Beecher, and was said to produce 30-40 materialized forms at a single seance. She ran the usual risks of the materializing mediums and was several times exposed with the lights were lit or the spirit was grabbed, but she also reaped rewards appropriate to the risks, receiving a $25,000 house as a bequest from a believer who had been swayed to remember her in his will. The journal featured advertisements for and notes on other dubious mediums of the period (James A. Bliss, J.W. Fletcher, Carrie Miller, Dr. Henry Rogers (Magnetist, Independent Slate Writing & Trance medium), et al.), contributions by Henry Kiddle (on spirit grabbing), and the like, and promoted something called the Order of the New Life. It included an interview with Colonel S.P. Kase on his spiritualist experiences with President Lincoln, a subject that Mrs. Williams lectured widely on. Harvard University; University of Pennsylvania (2 issues in Seybert Commission papers).

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