. . "Mediumship is the practice of certain people\u2014known as mediums\u2014to purportedly mediate communication between spirits of the dead and living human beings.Attempts to contact the dead date back to early human history, with mediumship gaining in popularity during the 19th century. Investigations during this period revealed widespread fraud\u2014with some practitioners employing techniques used by stage magicians\u2014and the practice started to lose credibility."@en .