Journeys to the Planet Mars; or, Our Mission to Ento

In 1892, a woman named Sara Weiss became the 'instrument' for a group of disembodied spirits called the Evon-thia, who used her to journey across the solar system. Through her semi-automatic trance states, Weiss traveled to Mars - which its inhabitants call 'Ento, 'meaning 'chosen, or set apart' - documenting a dying civilization of luminous beings who communicate through light and color. What makes this odd document compelling isn't the science (though it engages seriously with late-Victorian astronomical speculation about Martian canals), but the earnest spiritualist framework: the Evon-thia present their account not as fiction but as urgent testimony, pleading with readers to 'not pass unfriendly judgment' upon what may seem 'merely imaginative.' The result is a fascinating time capsule from a moment when spiritualism and scientific discovery seemed to promise revelation just beyond the next séance or telescope. For readers curious about the forgotten fringes of early science fiction, or the strange places where Victorians sought transcendence, this is genuine oddness - a document that takes its own strangeness completely seriously.