Can't say exactly how popular it was, but the 1800s had a huge surge in the popularity of many magical practices. Spiritualism emerged as a kind of post great revival trans-religious spirituality and resulted in renewed interest in mediumism and other forms of divination during the mid 1800s up into the early 1900s.
This episode of backstory suggests it would probably have been popular due to a general increase in "spiritualism" during the time.