This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: In November 1857, during a séance in Jersey City, the medium Leah Brown claimed her body produced luminous particles. So intense was the luminosity emanating from her, she recalled in her memoir, that it almost burned her hands.
She rinsed her hands under a tap and then pushed them into the damp earth outside. The following evening, luminous particles were discovered in the soil where she'd pressed her hands. They were later identified as phosphorus.
In her memoir, Brown admitted to the presence of phosphorus but insisted her body had produced it. She further claimed that the manifestation of spirits in the body naturally produced "phosphoric lights" and the particles came naturally from her body. She added that mediums' bodies could produce phosphorus and implied that they were part of what was then known as ectoplasmic remains—the viscous, gauze-like substance historically claimed by 19th- and 20th-century spiritualist mediums to exude from their bodies during trances.
She'd probably secretly brought phosphorus with her and had used it in the séance. But her account shows how phosphorus was used in séances decades ago—and provides a glimpse of the chemistry behind making the dead seem visible as Halloween approaches. White phosphorus, also called yellow phosphorus, gives off a faint light as it slowly reacts with oxygen in the air.
The effect is chemiluminescence, light from a chemical reaction—it's not evidence of supernatural energy. In a dark room, the glow could indeed be rather uncanny and convincing of a phantom presence. Phosphorus is not a safe chemical.
It's toxic if swallowed, and inhaling the fumes can also be harmful. It's unclear whether those living in the Victorian era knew about these dangers. White phosphorus was used in "strike anywhere" matches, and many people—mostly women—working in factories where it was used developed a disease called phossy jaw.
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