PSYCHED OUT
In 1929, Frank Robinson invented America’s first mail-order religion. He called it “Psychiana,” a name that came to him in a dream, and hyped his creation in eyeball-grabbing magazine advertisements. “I TALKED WITH GOD,” one read. “Yes, I did, Actually & Literally.”
Robinson’s ads put readers on the spot. Did they want “Wealth or Poverty—Happiness or Despair—Which?” People preferring wealth and happiness could find those treasures, Robinson promised, by subscribing to his 20-lesson mail-order course in Psychiana, a “psychological religion” that not only revealed how to converse with God but also how to acquire godlike powers. The course cost $20—a buck a lesson—and during the
