The origin of mysticism is in the primitive people's fear of the unknown nature. People have always believed in heaven and hell. People believed that the souls of the self-murdered and the murdered would always contact with the real world. This contact frightened. But in the caricatures laughter changed fright, the unknown became familiar.

Through the years curiosity about mysticism changed. A lot of caricatures mocking gullible, easily deceived people were presented in England at the end of the XVIIIth century. A man was self-deceived, scared of his own clothes (D. Cruikshank), or was deceived by somebody. A shoe-maker from Hammersmith put on a white gown and frightened his neighbours trying to convince them in the existence of the future world. He got to the next world himself as he was shot by one "ghost hunters".

In the Middle Ages chimeras protected the churches from evil spirits. Some people kept skulls at home also as a protection against evil spirits. When somebody tried to dig them into the ground the skulls shouted and became naughty.

"Polter Geist" in German means "naughty spirit". Different things fly and burn themselves, floor boards squeak, something always makes a noise. A Russian farmer would say that those are the jokes of a brownie. Brownie is tricky and likes to play jokes.

This story happened in 1662. One magician's drum flew and made noise around the house of a judge who had sent the magician out of town.

A naughty spirit that emerged in one Moscow dormitory in 1988 was named "Barabashka".

The interest in spirits arose again at the end of the XIXth-beginning of the XXth century. Spiritualism proved the idea of contact between the real and unreal world.

Caricaturists pictured famous people who were interested in mysticism and spiritualism - the French astronomer K. Flammarion, the English writer Conan Doyle. O. Gulbranson painted the Austrian mystical writer G. Myrink in "Simplitsissimus".

Russian humorous magazines also laughed at these popular hobbies. Leo Tolstoy in the comedy "Fruit of Education" ridiculed the idea of calling the spirits of the dead. During a spiritual performance a medium imperceptibly touches everybody with his shoe. Is not it funny?

All spiritualists were at least once caught lying. Their ingenious tools were pictured in the humorous magazines.

Laughter unmasked spiritualism, but people still believed the tricks, and

D. Hyume's performances with self-playing accordion were sold out.

In the Soviet times caricaturists ridiculed superstitions - the dread of a black cat, of number 13, etc. Later a ghost that looked like a member of KKK became a commonplace in caricature (R. Tilberg "Jokes with Ghosts", 1960s).