Spiritual vampirism: The history of Etherial Softdown, and her friends of the "New Light"

"Spiritual Vampirism: The History of Etherial Softdown, and Her Friends of the New Light" by C. W. Webber is a story set in the mid-1800s that explores ideas about spiritualism using the character Etherial Softdown. The book looks at vampirism not as drinking blood, but as a way of taking advantage of people's feelings and spirits. Readers meet Etherial as a strange-looking, mistreated child in Vermont. After she marries a Quaker, she quickly changes, both in body and soul, and discovers she can take energy from others. Thinking she can get stronger by using the life force of people around her, she starts her journey shaped by wanting only what benefits her, coming across other mysterious characters that share "New-Light" ideas, combining individual goals with dark, supernatural powers.