A lot of Theosophists (proto-New Agers, basically) were fascinated with Tibet as a purported source of spiritual knowledge but believed that white people were destined to succeed them as the highest form of human life. There were some people claiming to be channeling Tibetan spirits

Oh ugh, this just makes me feel even more weird about people in the tulpamancy community trying to prove their validity by saying "it's a thing that Tibetan monks did!"

Like, come on guys. If you want something to point to, the whole long precedent of writers' characters coming to life is RIGHT THERE. Nimoy literally wrote about Spock talking to him!