By Adedoyin Adekunle and Justine Truc, 2024 University of South Carolina Oral History Fellows
The Orange County Regional History Center’s oral histories cover a wide range of topics, including narratives from the Volusia County community of Cassadaga, sometimes called the “Psychic Capital of the World.” Such narratives are recalled in the oral histories of the Rev. Louis Gates and Elizabeth Janie Owens, recorded on Aug. 2, 2023. Both have been part of the Cassadaga community since the 1980s. We begin with an overview of the practice of spiritualism and the history of Cassadaga.
What Is Spiritualism?
For its adherents, spiritualism is a science, a philosophy, and a religion. It gained momentum in 19th-century America as a response to rapid social and spiritual changes. Once considered a cult by critics, it is now recognized as a religion, with organized churches and communities worldwide.
What sets spiritualism apart from other religions is its belief in the continuity of life after death, as the soul of the deceased continues to exist beyond physical death of the body. Mediums, who are central to spiritualist practices, act as intermediaries between the spirit world and the living by communicating with spirits through seances and other practices to seek insight into the afterlife.
Spiritualists also believe in the existence of spirit guides who offer wisdom, protection, and assistance to individuals during their earthly lives. They often believe in the ability to heal physical, emotional, and spiritual ailments through spiritual means.
Cassadaga: A Spiritual Haven
By the late 19th century, spiritualist camps flourished throughout the United States, providing communities for psychics to practice and share their experiences. These camps played a crucial role in the development of spiritualism as a recognized religious movement.
Cassadaga, a small, unincorporated community in Volusia County, is one of the oldest continuously active spiritualist camps from the 19th century. It was founded in 1894 by George Colby (1848-1933), who said he had been directed by his spirit guide, Seneca, to establish a community in Florida where mediums could reside and practice spiritualism. The camp’s official title is the Southern Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp Meeting Association. It now consists of approximately 57 acres with 55 homes, many of them older than a century. In 1991, Cassadaga was placed on the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district.
Though pivotal in founding Cassadaga, Colby became disenchanted with the camp’s operations. He moved to New Smyrna Beach and only returned to Cassadaga toward the end of his life, due to illness. Today, mediums such as the Rev. Louis Gates and Elizabeth Owens have kept Colby’s legacy alive by being active members of the Cassadaga community.
The Rev. Louis Gates
The Rev. Louis Gates was born on July 11, 1952, in New York. Coming from a long lineage of mediums, he was immersed in the world of spiritualism from an early age and recalls seeing spirits from the age of 4.
“I saw people just like I see you now. They’d walk around my room, they’d sit on my bed, they’d be there,” he recalls in his oral history interview, describing how he quickly formed connections with these apparitions.
Gates remembers growing up cautious of the energy surrounding Cassadaga, due to nearby communities’ negative perceptions of i. He recalls hearing stories that “your car would die” upon entering the camp and that “no birds flew over Cassadaga.” From his perspective, perceptions shifted in the 1980s as mediumship gained more mainstream acceptance. People no longer feared Cassadaga, clearing its energy and prompting him become an active member of the community.
Since the late 1980s, Gates has devoted his psychic talents to the community, serving as pastor of the Cassadaga church for a few years before fully focusing on his role as a spiritual healer and teacher. “I love teaching people, allowing them to awaken their vibrations,” he says.
With the aid of his spirit guides, Gates hopes to find ways to draw people to Cassadaga, and he emphasizes the need for spiritualism to progress with the times. “We can’t preach [like] the 1890s anymore; we have to bring it more into the view of now,” he asserts, highlighting the camp’s desire for survival into the future.
To sustain Cassadaga, the community organizes annual events such as Gala Days in the spring and fall, featuring readings and lectures on spiritualism to attract tourists and engage the younger generation. Throughout his interview, Gates often underscores the idea that Cassadaga is not about spookiness but about “working with, proving that there is life after death.”
Elizabeth Janie Owens
Born on March 6, 1948, in Washington, D.C., Janie Owens grew up as an only child in Alexandria and Springfield, Virginia. In her oral history, she reflects on her sheltered upbringing and early adulthood, marked by a quest for independence.
Luckily, being invited for a meditation session at Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp in 1980 after a traumatic accident proved to be the turning point for Janie Owens. It “seemed like an answer for me, and I guess it was because that brought a new path for me,” she recalls. Cassadaga became an answer to her search for purpose, leading her onto a new path. Following her first meditation session, where “she felt a sense of belonging,” she continued her studies at the camp, immersing herself in various roles and spiritual teachings.
Owens first aspired to be a spiritual reader, but a teacher at Cassadaga guided her toward a more profound spiritual journey, which she describes as “giving her religion.” She became a certified medium, ordained minister, and eventually served as pastor of the church at Cassadaga for four years and president of the camp three times.
Despite finding spiritualism, which she emphasizes is a medium that “provides comfort and solace to those who grieve” at Cassadaga, a place she believes “equals comfort,” she became troubled after realizing that “the ignorance of people and the lack of publicized truth about spiritualism” has led to wide false ideas about spiritualism.
This realization led her to dedicate her life to clarifying the true nature of spiritualism and dispelling myths. She has written numerous books to explain that spiritualists are human, not devil worshippers or witches. In ther interview, she expresses doubts that tourists visiting Cassadaga truly understand spiritualism, “as many come for reasons other than seeking knowledge.”
For more about Cassadaga on the History Center’s Around the Museum Blog, see Adam Ware’s 2020 article, “A Thin Veil Among the Scrub: Spiritualism and Cassadaga,” at TheHistoryCenter.org/Cassadaga/