Sensory deprivation 2

So, if this guy in his solitary cell is almost driven to madness by his deprivation of light and sound, can this be manipulated on a smaller scale to, for example, a seance type setting? 

http://youtu.be/S7wrgTpQkZo

It has always been believed that spirits are more likely to speak to us during night time hours, and in darkness. I've been told by many mediums different reasons for this. For example, the spirit realm opens up during the night or that spirits have more energy to commune with us after daylight has drained from the sky's. But does this go back to the Victorian times, when mediums would hold large seances and were paid by the rich people of society to contact loved ones? I think they were a little more savy than we give them credit for...