Feb 22nd, 2011 by Annie
Spirit Rappers and Table Tiltings
I recently read The Spiritualist
 Margaret, Kate and Leah Fox |
 The Fox Home |
In western New York state, two young sisters, Margaret, age 15 and Kate, age 12, claimed the power to communicate with a murdered peddler who haunted their home. The communication was established through a series of raps supposedly coming from the dead peddler as the alphabet or numbers were called out. Margaret and Kate were instant celebrities and older sister Leah arranged for the girls to perform and demonstrate their skills as mediums for a fee which she gladly pocketed. Séances or spirit circles were organized to summon the dead and other means of communication with the spirit world, such as spirit writing, table titling, spirit possession, and spirit photography, developed.
As the Fox sisters gained fame and notoriety, other opportunists began making claims and conducting séances and spirit lectures. Most mediums were women.
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 (1827-1862) |
Ascha Sprague suffered a life threatening illness and claimed angels appeared to her and led her to spiritualism. She is also recognized as a social activist. |
|
 Cora L.V. Scott (1840-1923) |
Young, beautiful and charismatic Cora Scott enthralled her audiences and made her mark in spiritualism as a trance lecturer. |
|
 Paschal Beverly Randolph (1825-1875) |
Paschal Beverly Randolph was born a Free Man of Color and was one of a few male mediums. He was also a medical doctor, philosopher, author, and social activist favoring abolition. |
 Emma Hardinge Britten (1823–1899) |
Emma Hardinge Britton was a trance lecturer and instrumental in the spread of spiritualism through a series of lectures on such topics as The Discovering of Spirits and The Philosophy of the Spirit Circle. But her greatest renown comes from her publication titled Modern American Spiritualism (1870). |
England was introduced to spiritualism in 1852 by medium Maria B. Hayden.
Notable Believers
 Mary Todd Lincoln (1818 - 1882) Mary Todd Lincoln grieved the loss of her son Willie and organized séances while in the White House. Her involvement with spiritualism increased following the assassination of President Lincoln. |
 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of the fictional Sherlock Holmes, was a true believer in spiritualism and an avid séance participant. |
and Non-Believers
 Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) Emerson referred to spiritualism as “midnight fumblings over mahogany” and “rat-hole revelation”. |
 P.T. Barnum (1810-1891) P.T. Barnum said “There’s a sucker born every minute” and this creator of P. T. Barnum’s Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan & Hippodrome billed as “The Greatest Show On Earth” spent his latter years exposing the tricks used by mediums to deceive and cheat grieving victims. |
 Harry Houdini (1874 - 1926) Houdini dedicated himself to debunking mediums, and held demonstrations on how mediums performed their tricks. He even went so far as to go incognito to séances to expose the fraud. This is especially interesting in light of the fact that early in Houdini’s career, he used his magician’s tricks to hold séances of his own. Perhaps a guilty conscience over past involvement in spiritualism drove him to expose the mediums, but more likely, he saw it as a mean for self-promotion. |
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini had a falling out when Doyle refused to believe Houdini’s claims that he did not possess supernatural powers and that his stunts were all illusions!
In 1888, forty years after Margaret and her sister Kate launched the spiritualist movement, Margaret admitted their claims were a huge hoax and demonstrated the techniques, she and her sister used to create the rapping noises. Long abandoned by eldest sister Leah, made wealthy off their performances, Margaret and Kate died penniless alcoholics within six months of each other.
Below is an interesting animation short on the Fox sisters.
Even though the Fox sisters were discredited, the spiritualist movement, remarkably, was not hurt by Margaret’s revelations. The faith of the believers, in their bereavement and inability to let go of a deceased loved one, could not be shaken.
 A Levitating Table |
 Spiritualistic Seance  Houdini Demonstrates How a Foot Can be Released Under a Seance Table |
Check back tomorrow for my book club party post on The Spiritualist by Megan Chance
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This sort of stuff just really draws me in – I’m always fascinated by these stories and especially the time period. Will have to check this one out and am jumping to your review!
Comment by Coffee and a Book Chick on February 22, 2011 at 11:22 am
I just reviewed The Spiritualist! I’ve also read a couple of nonfiction books about the Fox sisters, but will add Noyes’ novel to my list. I find the phenomenon fascinating!
Comment by jenclair on February 23, 2011 at 7:30 am
Coffee and a Book Chick, I concur! Victorian + spooky = my fav genre! I once went to a candlelight reading of Edgar Allen Poe on a Halloween night at a spooky old inn in a neighboring town. I still get the shivers just thinking about it!
Jenclair, I haven’t read Noyes’ book yet, but plan to do so shortly. I’ve never actually read anything on the Fox sisters and didn’t know anything about their story until I heard Deborah Noyes speak! I’m intrigued!
Comment by Annie on February 23, 2011 at 10:25 am
Spiritualism is still alive and well. However, the reliance on physical mediumship has been supplanted by a more personal spiritual mediumship that still proves life continues after the change we call “death,” but does away with physical interactions with spirits. Spiritualists themselves made the decision to back away from physical mediumship since it was so often faked. They found the press and competing religions were always hungry for news of a fake, but were not interested in any actual phenomena. Spiritualist mediums now rely on obtaining evidentiary information (something only the departed and their loved ones would know) from spirits to prove who they are.
In the case of the Fox sisters, there were Spiritualists in attendance when Margaret supposedly “debunked” spirit rappings that had also heard the real rappings at their home in Hydesville. They said the sounds she produced at the demonstration were not even close to those heard in Hydesville. Many Spiritualists feel that Margaret was coerced or bribed into denouncing Spiritualism, as she later retracted her so-called confession. Incidentally, Kate Fox never corroborated Margaret’s claims that the phenomena were faked.
Still it’s a great story, and one I’m sure will continue to inspire literary works like these.
Comment by Sean B. on March 25, 2011 at 10:36 am
Thank you for the comments, insights and information, Sean B! As always, a facinating topic!
Comment by Annie on March 25, 2011 at 11:03 am
I just came across your post on the Fox Sister and nineteenth century Spiritualism. I liked the video too, even though it had a very slanted viewpoint and had several factual errors. Mary Todd Lincoln attended séances in and out of the White House, but she was not the only one; Lincoln too participated, as did a number of leading politicians. Before the Civil War, people involved in Spiritualism were also involved in other reform movements, such as Abolitionism and Feminism. I write about the political connection and the Fox sisters in my book The Paranormal Presidency of Abraham Lincoln.
Comment by Chris Coleman on May 15, 2013 at 12:48 pm