Significance of The Seybert Commission
A number of independent investigators examined the claims of Spiritualists in the Nineteenth Century. Some, like William Crookes, came away convinced that the phenomena could not be explained as legerdemain. The Seybert Commission stands as an example of reputable and impartial investigators concluding that Spiritualist mediums were engaging in fraud. The report's appendices provide a good primary source describing how Spiritualist mediums operated in the mid-1880s.
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