One of the most intriguing aspects of artistic creation is the mysterious nature of inspiration. While some artists attribute their works to a muse, others believe it comes from the subconscious mind. Beyond these conventional explanations, some artists have claimed that their creative sparks come from otherworldly sources.
This list explores ten remarkable works of art that claim to be inspired by eerie and transcendent sources, from modern progressive rock to 20th-century poetry. These creations are linked by their creators’ claims that otherworldly spirits were summoned to collaborate in their artistic expression.
The Bedlam in Goliath (The Mars Volta)
The Mars Volta created a story, which may be real or fabricated, about their fourth album, The Bedlam in Goliath. Allegedly, while on holiday, band member Omar Rodriguez-Lopez bought a Ouija board called the “Soothsayer” from a curio shop in Jerusalem. The band started using the board after their shows. Soon, they claimed to be visited nightly by a spirit named Goliath. The album The Bedlam in Goliath is said to reflect the band’s interactions with this spirit.
During the album’s recording, the Ouija board’s messages reportedly turned sinister. The studio flooded, and equipment malfunctioned. These events cast a shadow over the album’s creation. An engineer working on the album voiced concerns, believing the band was trying to capture something malevolent.
To counteract the negative effects of the Ouija board and the associated curse, Rodriguez-Lopez broke the board in half and buried it in a remote location. The band also included “traps” in the album’s songs to reverse the perceived ill fortunes associated with the board. [1]
The Changing Light at Sandover (James Merrill)
James Merrill created “The Changing Light at Sandover,” a seventeen-thousand-line poem, with the help of a Ouija board. The spirits Merrill communicated with were described as droll and aesthetic, with a tendency for whimsical speculation.
Merrill acted as the “scribe,” and his lover, David Jackson, served as the “hand.” The poem’s first book, “The Book of Ephraim,” is organized alphabetically, while the second, “Mirabell: Book of Numbers,” is arranged numerically. The third volume, “Scripts for the Pageant,” is divided into sections: “Yes,” “&,” and “No.” Merrill incorporated fragments of spirit speech into his poems, blurring the line between reality and fantasy. [2]
Assorted Poems (Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes)
Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes, both celebrated poets and novelists, are also remembered for their fascination with the paranormal. Using an overturned brandy glass as a planchette and a ring of letters on a table, they used a handmade Ouija board for inspiration. Their spirit guide, Pan, addressed topics like the spirits’ favorite poems by each poet, what to name their children, and which publisher would print Plath’s next book.
While some scholars suggest Hughes initiated the Ouija board use, both Hughes and Plath participated in the interactions with the alleged spirit. In a 1958 journal entry, Plath described the Ouija experience as more enjoyable than watching a movie.
These interactions inspired countless Plath poems, including “Ouija” and “Dialogue over a Ouija Board,” which explores channeling and its impact on real people. Some scholars suggest the Ouija board allowed Plath to temporarily shut out external influences and focus on her inner creative voice. [3]
Jap Herron (Emily Grant Hutchings)
Jap Herron, published in 1917, is a novel written by Emily Grant Hutchings, who claimed it was channeled from Mark Twain using a Ouija board. Grant Hutchings had corresponded with Twain 15 years earlier. During their letters, Twain’s spirit gave her advice and wrote, “Idiot! Must preserve.”
Grant Hutchings and a friend began receiving messages from Twain in 1915 while using a Ouija board at a spiritualist meeting in St. Louis. The novel borrows heavily from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and attempts humor reminiscent of Twain, though it largely fails.
Twain’s daughter, Clara Clemens, was upset by the book and pursued the matter in court with the publishers, Harper and Brothers. The case never went to trial because Hutchings agreed to stop publishing and destroy any copies. As a result, surviving copies of Jap Herron are rare. [4]
The Sorry Tales and Other Works (Pearl Curran)
Pearl Curran, an early 20th-century artist, is remembered for her alleged interaction with a 17th-century spirit named Patience Worth. Born in 1883, Curran experienced a nervous collapse at 13 and dropped out of school. In 1933, Curran and her friend, Emily Grant Hutchings, began using a Ouija board and claimed to contact Worth. Curran’s home became a gathering place for those wanting to witness her interactions with Worth through the Ouija board. Curran transcribed Worth’s messages, sometimes at 1,500 words an hour.
Under Worth’s influence, Curran wrote several novels, including The Sorry Tale, published in 1917. This novel is set during the time of Christ and focuses on one of the thieves crucified beside Jesus. Worth also authored poetry, prose, and plays. After her husband’s death, Curran supported herself and her children by providing Ouija board demonstrations.
Some believed Curran’s claim of divine inspiration, while others questioned the authenticity and whether Curran’s subconscious mind was responsible. Curran’s writings displayed extensive knowledge of historical details, raising questions about how she possessed such knowledge. [5]
The Seth Material (Jane Roberts)
Channeled by Jane Roberts from 1963 to 1984, The Seth Material has influenced many New Age works. In the early 1960s, Roberts and her husband used a Ouija board to research extrasensory perception. The couple began receiving coherent messages from a male spirit, Seth.
Seth later communicated through Jane while she was in a trance. For over twenty years, Roberts held sessions where she conveyed Seth’s teachings. From the late 1960s until her death in the 1980s, she offered small psychic classes and public channeling sessions in her home.
The teachings stress that consciousness shapes matter and that individuals create their own reality through their beliefs and expectations. Seth also revealed that he had once lived in a lost civilization, Lumania, and was reborn in Atlantis. Seth allegedly performed paranormal feats, including transforming Roberts’s hand into an animal paw and appearing as a tall, robed apparition. [6]
A Vision (William Butler Yeats)
William Butler Yeats, a well-known Irish poet and playwright, is also remembered for his interest in the mystical. Published in 1925, A Vision is a nuanced work that explores metaphysics, spirituality, and the supernatural. The book explores automatic writings and mystical occurrences experienced by Yeats and his wife, Georgie Hyde-Lees.
Using channeling to write the book, Yeats believed he tapped into a higher realm of knowledge. A Vision is divided into two parts: the “Phases of the Moon” and the “Mask,” each presenting a perspective on the human journey, historical cycle, and the interplay of opposites in the universe. [7]
Take Over (Mrs. A)
In an unpublished 1970 James Bond novel, the author of Take Over: A James Bond Thriller claimed the work was written by the spirit of Ian Fleming six years after his death. The author, known only as Mrs. A, was the deceased sister of a retired bank officer from Hertfordshire, England. Mrs. A. dictated the work longhand from Ian Fleming’s spirit. She also claimed to write works channeled by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, H.G. Wells, Edgar Wallace, and George Bernard Shaw.
Mr. A’s presence was first noted in October 1970, when he wrote to Fleming’s brother, Peter, offering some “unusual” news about the author. Mr. A. asked to meet Fleming’s brother, who hesitantly agreed. Despite his skepticism, Fleming’s brother read the manuscript, which was written in a tone vastly unlike Ian Fleming’s other work. It involves a poisonous gas that allows users to take over the world.
Fleming’s brother later questioned Mr. A’s daughter, who could not recall how many children Fleming’s brother had, their names, or their gender. Despite his skepticism and deciding Ian Fleming was not involved, Peter Fleming remained fascinated with the manuscript and claimed that the author was trustworthy. [8]
A Dweller on Two Planets (Frederick Spencer Oliver)
The 19th-century work A Dweller on Two Planets is about the fabled city of Atlantis. It was allegedly channeled by Frederick S. Oliver, who claimed he was directed to write it by a spirit called Phylos. Oliver claimed that Phylos began sharing spiritual messages with him when he was 17. The channeled writings became such a preoccupation that Oliver’s parents planned to have him treated for “approaching imbecility.” In 1884, Oliver began writing down Phylos’s channeled stories.
Oliver completed the book in 1886, but A Dweller on Two Planets was first published in 1905 by Frederick’s mother following his death. The book is divided into two sections: the first describes Phylos’s 11,160 BC Atlantean incarnations, and the second tells of Phylos’s California gold rush incarnation as Walter Pierson. [9]
The Poem of the Man-God (Maria Valtorta)
This five-volume work about the life of Jesus was written in the 1940s by an Italian woman, Maria Valtorta. The poem offers additional narratives about parts of Jesus’ life that are not described in the Gospels. Valtorta claimed to be the “secretary” of Jesus and Mary and stated that her poem was divinely inspired, though the Catholic Church has rejected this claim. Despite its controversial nature, the poem has gained many readers and was included in the Index of Forbidden Books until it was abolished in the 1960s.
When she was 32, Valtorta was attacked and beaten by a mugger, from which she never fully recovered. After 1933, Valrotra was left unable to leave her bed. After first receiving dictations on Good Friday, 1943, Valtorta handed in 10,000 handwritten pages four years later to Father Romauld Migliorini, who gave them to another religious leader who bound them. The workers were later brought to Cardinal Augustin Bea, S.J., who was the spiritual director of Pope Pius XII. Despite initial confidence in papal approval, the Holy Office condemned the work in 1949, but it was still published in 1956. [10]
From cursed albums to novels dictated by spirits, the stories behind these artworks are as captivating as the works themselves. They challenge our understanding of creativity and inspiration, blurring the line between the tangible and the otherworldly.
What do you think? Are these works truly divinely inspired, or are they products of the artists’ own subconscious minds? Leave your comment below!
