Views on death and the afterlife vary from person to person and culture to culture. This course gives US Air Force cadets a broad perspective on mortality and its effects on people and society.
The Ouija board was first developed in 1890.
Couperfield/ Shutterstock
Today viewers may be preoccupied by the methods used by spirit photographers, but spirit photographs had a notable impact on the bereaved who commissioned the portraits.
Spirit photograph from 1901.
(Library of Congress/John K. Hallowell; S.W. Fallis, photographer)
Ancient Christian and Jewish texts threatened women with hellfire if they stepped out of line – and those terrifying visions still resonate in U.S. society today.
Every day, the internet fills up with more and more dead people while our ability to reanimate them grows. The dead are more robust and more vulnerable — and we’re not ready for any of this.
Priests in Taiwan perform a ritual for the souls of the dead.
Alberto Buzzola/LightRocket via Getty Images
Taiwan’s death rituals come from multiple spiritual sources. A Taiwanese-American scholar explains what changes for those who make their home in the US.