Moni Basu, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Michael and Linda Connelly Lecturer for Narrative Nonfiction, is the author of “In Search of Spirits in Cassadaga” published in Flamingo magazine on Oct. 18.

Basu writes about Cassadaga, Florida. Founded in 1894, it’s home to the oldest Spiritualist camp in the Southeast. She profiles the people, business establishments and the famous Hotel Cassadaga that make this place the psychic capital of the world.

“Spiritualism, as a religious movement, is based on a diverse set of beliefs, but it promotes an individualistic experience with God and the proposition that God is infinite intelligence,” said Basu. “At its core is the principle of continual life—that departed souls are very much the same as they were in their physical lives and that they interact with the living to inform and guide us. The only disruption that the end of life brings for Spiritualists is the demise of the physical being, a concept that, I suppose, relieves us from grief, mourning and a fear of death.”

Basu adds, “How a religious community with ideas anathema to Christian traditions—ideas in which there is neither sin nor repentance, neither salvation nor eternal damnation to hell, and Jesus is a spiritual leader but not the son of God—had not just survived but thrived here in the heart of Florida was intriguing to me.”

“But despite its purest intents, despite the people who settled here in hopes of establishing a Spiritualist utopia, there’s no denying that for outsiders, Cassadaga has served as somewhat of a spectacle, swirling in urban myth that has earned the town monikers like “psychic capital of the world” and “metaphysical mecca,” she said.

Posted: November 3, 2020
Category: College News
Tagged as: Moni Basu