Spiritualism in St. Catharines
Since we just finished Halloween, it is a good time to delve into a spiritual side of St. Catharines' history.
Dating back to the 1850s, St. Catharines has been an active centre for the spiritualist movement in Canada. Because of high death rates from WWI and the Spanish Flu epidemic, there was a significant increase in people who looked to spiritualism to communicate with deceased loved ones into the 1920s.
Established in 1932, the Radiant Healing Centre was a spiritualist church in St. Catharines "under guidance of ‘Dr. Anderson’ who manifests in direct voice through psychic powers of Dr. William Cartheuser." Dr. Anderson was said to have been a medical doctor from the late-18th century. The members of the church met regularly to speak with Dr. Anderson and to send healing to people all over the world.
Records from the Radiant Healing Centre including notebooks, hymns, Dr. Anderson's instructions, and every issue of the church's journal "Progression" can be found in the Brock University Archives.