Ectoplasm

Ectoplasm, also known as spiritplasm, teleplasm, ideoplasm, and psychoplasm, is an alleged quasi-physical material which gained notoriety in the 19th century as a phenomena supposedly produced by physical mediums. It was formless, shifting, could take on a variety of textures and feelings, and could be manipulated by spirits to create semi-physical constructs, from apparitionss, hands, voice boxes, etc. Of primary note is its extreme sensitivity to light, even of IR light, and especially UV light. Camera flashes would supposedly cause the ectoplasmic structure to retract rapidly into the medium, causing bruising. After a series of highly publicized "debunks" of notable mediums, particularly Helen Duncan, the phenomena was widely considered fake and interest vanished. Any mediums who claimed to produce it were automatically considered frauds.

Additional notes

Some^[who?] have claimed that the physical weight of the medium decreases as the ectoplasm is produced, suggesting that it's actually biological tissue undergoing an unknown process to convert into a more etheric form. It was also incredibly sensitive to touch, the barest touch to any unformed parts would illicit cries of pain from the medium and potentially a similar retraction as rapid light exposure.

See also

• Photoplasm - an attempt to create a similar substance which is less sensitive to light via group manifestation
• Orgone
• Chi
• Prana
• Mana
• Morphic resonance - a similar theory is required to account for tissue conversion to allow the ectoplasm to "remember" how reform into the tissues it came from