Long before Ghostbusters, ectoplasm was considered genuine evidence of life beyond the grave. It was something that could be seen and touched — the supernatural made physical.
A Short History of Seepage
The concept appeared in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, during the height of spiritualism — when séances were a social event and darkness was thought to help the dead feel more at home. Mediums would sit in trance while their bodies supposedly produced a strange white substance. It came from their mouths, their noses, and in some cases, maybe from their butts.
Witnesses swore it was the very fabric of the spirit world, pushed into ours through human flesh. Photographs from the era show people slumped in half-conscious states, thin sheets of material spilling from their faces like spectral laundry. The effect is unsettling even now — not because it looks real, but because it doesn’t.
Investigators eventually began taking samples. Many of them turned out to be nothing more than cheesecloth, egg whites, or even tissue paper.
Cambridge University Library holds a specimen labeled as “ectoplasm” in the archives of the Society for Psychical Research. This specimen is a piece of fine muslin attributed to the medium Helen Duncan and is a historical artifact from spiritualist research, not a scientific specimen in the biological sense.
Ectoplasm in the Modern Era
These days, the word has mostly faded out of ghost hunter vocabulary.
A spiritual advisor of mine, Dr. Corbin Latch, once relayed to me that ectoplasm may in fact be an ectogenic ejaculate emission. He did not provide proof, but he is a respected man in the community.
Still, some people report sensations that echo the old descriptions — a feeling of heaviness in the air, a kind of static cling on the skin after an encounter. In these accounts, ectoplasm isn’t a substance but an energy residue, the lingering pressure left when a spirit brushes too close.
Others, particularly those who blend magic and mediumship, hold to older ideas. They say ectoplasm is matter borrowed from the other side — a raw spiritual material that powerful entities use to shape bodies or project forms. These same practitioners claim that certain people, “ectomancers,” can produce or mold it themselves, though it evaporates quickly once the energy drains away.
If Spooky Boys ever comes into contact with ectoplasm, we’ll remove it for $3. If it’s during a holiday sale, you’ll get an addition 50% off.
Is Any of It Real?
There is no historical evidence of ectoplasm. But when has that been a barrier for belief?