initial commit of ebook 30403HEADmain

25 files changed, 6671 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6833f05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+* text=auto
+*.txt text
+*.md text
diff --git a/30403-0.txt b/30403-0.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..479b622
--- /dev/null
+++ b/30403-0.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,1242 @@
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30403 ***
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 30403-h.htm or 30403-h.zip:
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/30403/30403-h/30403-h.htm)
+      or
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/30403/30403-h.zip)
+
+
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive/American Libraries. See
+      http://www.archive.org/details/hydesvillestoryo00todd
+
+
+
+
+
+HYDESVILLE.
+
+
+[Illustration: ADVENT OF SPIRITUALISM 1848.
+JOHN D. FOX.
+HIS WIFE AND DAUGHTERS.
+HYDESVILLE
+NEW YORK U.S.A.]
+
+HYDESVILLE:
+
+The Story of the Rochester Knockings,
+Which Proclaimed
+the Advent of Modern Spiritualism,
+
+by
+
+THOMAS OLMAN TODD,
+
+Past President of the British Spiritualists' Lyceum Union.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Published at
+The Keystone Press,
+Sunderland.
+
+
+
+
+DEDICATED TO DAISY.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+          A creature not too bright or good
+          For human nature's daily food,
+          For transient sorrows, simple wiles,
+          Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears and smiles.
+                                           --Wordsworth.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+          "Some secret truths from learned pride concealed,
+          To maids alone and children are revealed:
+          What though no credit doubting wits may give,
+          The fair and innocent shall still believe."
+                                                --POPE.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Rightly viewed, no meanest object is insignificant; all objects are as
+windows, through which the philosophic eye looks into infinitude
+itself."--CARLYLE.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+                     "Rivers from bubbling springs
+          Have rise at first, and great from abject things."
+                                                 --MIDDLETON.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+The interesting events narrated in this book which occurred at
+Hydesville, in the house of the Fox Family, are those by which Modern
+Spiritualism made its advent into this world as a new revelation in
+spiritual matters.
+
+History is not without its reliable records of similar phenomena, but,
+just as many scientific men have experimented and stopped short of the
+gateway of the actual discovery of Nature's secrets, so, many who came
+in contact with phenomena similar to those of Hydesville whilst being
+mystified as to the meaning of the operating power, stopped short of the
+actual discovery that "It can see as well as hear." Notably in the case
+of the disturbances at Mr. Mompesson's house at Tedworth (1661--1663)
+and Mr. Wesley's parsonage at Epworth (1716--1717).
+
+The early literature of the Spiritualist Movement is replete with most
+interesting records of phenomena of bewildering variety, but during the
+past twenty years the demand for literature on this absorbing subject
+has taken a more philosophic turn. The phenomena are admittedly real.
+The philosophy is the subject of debate, hence these early records are
+fast going out of print and becoming difficult to obtain.
+
+Some few years ago, when the writer paid what proved to be his last
+visit to Mrs. Emma Hardinge Britten, he was deeply impressed with her
+desire that the early history of the Spiritualist Movement, for which
+she spent the greater part of her industrious life, and with which she
+had been so intimately connected, should not be allowed to pass into
+oblivion, and that at least the story of HYDESVILLE should be published
+in a handy form and at a reasonable price. For this purpose she
+presented him with what appeared to be her only remaining copy of her
+invaluable historical work "Modern American Spiritualism," and requested
+him to undertake that duty.
+
+The incidents recorded in the following pages are based chiefly on the
+information given in the work mentioned above, and considerable use is
+made of the actual words and sentences penned by Mrs. Britten; these are
+given without quotation marks. Some portions however have been
+re-written to adapt them to the requirements of the present book, whilst
+a few other facts have been gathered from various sources, chiefly
+Robert Dale Owen's "Footfalls on the Boundary of Another World." Both
+Mrs. Britten and Mr. Owen were personally acquainted with the Fox family
+and many of the persons incidentally mentioned in connection with the
+phenomena at HYDESVILLE--a fact which gives superior weight to their
+records.
+
+                                                       T. O. T.
+
+Sunderland, 1905.
+
+
+                                           Manchester,
+                                               December 5th, 1897.
+
+   Mr. T. O. Todd.
+
+Dear Sir,
+
+Having been a sad invalid since June of this year, and still suffering,
+I do not quite remember whether I have or not written to you on the
+subject to which I desire to devote this poor scrawl. If I have not done
+so hitherto--permit me to say,--altho' I have been obliged from severe
+illness to suspend my platform work and writings, I am as much
+interested in the earnest desire to help the progress of Spiritualism as
+I have been in my long years of past devotion to that cause.
+
+In consequence of my sad illness I have been obliged to refuse my kind
+American Friends' urgent invitation to attend their Grand Celebration at
+Rochester, N.Y., next June.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I am most anxious to do something for our noble cause, [enquirers] will
+necessarily want to have some special accounts of the first opening of
+the Spiritual Movement and the history of the poor Fox Family and their
+immediate connection with the famous "Rochester Knockings." All this I,
+who knew the Fox Family and all the circumstances of the case
+personally and intimately, have written and published in full detail in
+my widely circulated work "Modern American Spiritualism."--But this work
+consists of 560 pages, and tho' bought by thousands of American
+Spiritualists, I should not know in England where to turn to find a copy
+except in my own bookcase.
+
+Now what I propose is this: In the first hundred pages is the full and
+entire history of the movement; the life and labours of A. J.
+Davis,--the life, sufferings, and bitter persecutions of the poor Foxes,
+and all their early trials; friends, foes, and all connected with them.
+Why cannot you . . . take those hundred pages, condense them, and make a
+splendid pamphlet of them?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+                                            Sincerely yours,
+                                          EMMA HARDINGE BRITTEN.
+
+
+
+
+SPIRIT RAPPINGS.
+
+
+[Illustration: Decoration]
+
+(This poem will be found set to music in the "Spiritual Songster.")
+
+[Illustration: Decoration]
+
+
+            Rap, rap, rap! Rap, rap, rap! Rap, rap, rap!
+              Who is it rapping to-night?
+            Only invisible friends,
+              Come from those chambers whose light
+            Radiantly earth-ward descends,
+          Those whose dear forms you have covered from sight,
+          And mark'd by a marble shaft solemn and white,
+          Have come from the land where their life bloom'd anew,
+          And lo! by those raps they are talking to you.
+
+            Rap, rap, rap! Rap, rap, rap! Rap, rap, rap!
+              Daintiest fingers of air
+            Wake the most delicate sound
+              Rapping on table or chair,
+            Lov'd ones of earth gather round
+          Making us know that our lov'd ones have come,
+          Come back to our hearts, and their dear earthly home,
+          Forget they will never, thro' glory bath'd years,
+          How lonely they left us in sadness and tears.
+
+            Rap, rap, rap! Rap, rap, rap! Rap, rap, rap!
+              Guests we would honour are here!
+            Hear the light rappings, and know
+              Visiting Angels are near,
+            Greeting their earth friends below!
+          Oh, bid them welcome, in garments of white,
+          To hearts which are pure and illumin'd with light;
+          They wander at will o'er two wonderful lands,
+          Oh, list to their counsels, and give them your hands.
+
+            Rap, rap, rap! Rap, rap, rap! Rap, rap, rap!
+              Lov'd ones are rapping to-night;
+            Heaven seems not far away;
+              Death's sweeping river is bright,
+            Soft is the sheen of its spray.
+          Magical changes those rappings have wrought,
+          Sweet hope to the hopeless their patter has brought,
+          And death is bridg'd over with amaranth flow'rs:
+          Blest Spirits come back from their bright homes to ours.
+
+                                              --Emma R. Tuttle.
+
+[Illustration: Kate Fox]
+
+
+
+
+HYDESVILLE.
+
+
+
+
+THE STORY OF THE ROCHESTER KNOCKINGS.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+The birth-places of the greatest of the world's social, political, and
+religious reformations have generally been of insignificant and lowly
+aspect, and apparently under the most inauspicious circumstances for
+producing any great effect upon mankind. The Babe of the lowly manger
+becomes the Spiritual King of millions of human hearts and souls, and
+the "Wood Hut" becomes the gateway through which Holy Ministers of
+Light, from their world of Truth and Beauty, send the evidence of man's
+immortality, through the instrumentality of a child, to the weary worn
+pilgrims of earth, who, praying for the "touch of a vanish'd hand, and
+the sound of a voice that is still," welcome with joyful hearts the
+Spirit message "WE STILL LIVE."
+
+The scene of the manifestations dealt with in the following pages, was a
+small wooden homestead, one of a cluster of houses like itself, in the
+little village of Hydesville, near to the town of Newark, Wayne County,
+New York (being so called after Dr. Hyde, an old settler, whose son was
+the proprietor of the house in question). The place not being directly
+accessible from a railroad, was lonely and unmarked by those tokens of
+progress that the locomotive generally leaves in its track, hence it was
+the last spot where a scene of fraud and deception could find a
+possibility of a successful execution. The house was a humble frame
+dwelling fronting south, consisting of two fair-size parlours opening
+into each other, east of these a bedroom and a buttery or pantry,
+opening into one of the sitting rooms; and a stairway between the
+buttery and the bedroom leading from the sitting room up to the half
+storey above and from the buttery down to the cellar.
+
+This humble dwelling had been selected as a temporary residence during
+the erection of another house in the country, by Mr. John D. Fox, who,
+with his family, soon afterwards became so prominently identified with
+the phenomena which have since become world famous. Their little
+dwelling, though so small and simply furnished as to leave no shadow of
+opportunity for concealment or trick, was the residence of honest piety
+and rural simplicity. All who ever knew them bore witness to the
+unimpeachable character of the good mother, while the integrity of the
+simple-minded farmers who were father and brother to the sisters who
+have since become so celebrated as the "Rochester Knockers" stands
+proved beyond all question.
+
+The ancestors of Mr. Fox were Germans, the name being originally "Voss";
+but both he and Mrs. Fox were native born. In Mrs. Fox's family, French
+by origin and Rutan by name, several individuals had evinced the power
+of second sight,--her maternal grandmother (Margaret Ackerman) who
+resided at Long Island, had frequent perceptions of coming events; so
+vivid were these presentiments that she frequently followed phantom
+funerals to the grave as if they were real.
+
+Mrs. Fox's sister also, Mrs. Elizabeth Higgins, had similar power. On
+one occasion, in the year 1823, the two sisters, then residing in New
+York, proposed to go to Sodus by canal. But one morning Elizabeth said,
+"We shall not make this trip by water." "Why so?" her sister asked.
+"Because I dreamed last night that we travelled by land, and there was a
+strange person with us. In my dream, too, I thought we came to Mott's
+tavern on the Beech Woods, and that they could not admit us because
+Mrs. Mott lay dying in the house. I know it will all come true." "Very
+likely indeed!" her sister replied, "for last year, when we passed
+there, Mr. Mott's wife lay dead in the house." "You will see. He must
+have married again and he will lose his second wife." Every particular
+came to pass as Mrs. Higgins had predicted. Mrs. Johnson, a stranger,
+whom at the time of the dream they had not seen, did go with them, they
+made the journey by land and were refused admittance into Mott's tavern
+for the very cause assigned in the dream.
+
+The family of Mr. and Mrs. Fox consisted of six children, but at the
+time of the manifestations the house was occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Fox
+and their two youngest children only, Margaretta, aged twelve, and Kate,
+aged nine years. These details, insignificant as they may now appear,
+are due alike to the family and posterity. When the future of this
+wonderful movement shall have become matter of history and antiquity, if
+not reverence for spiritual truth, and shall induce mankind to follow
+the example of their ancestors and label the records "sacred," the names
+now sunk in obscurity and masked by slander may perchance be engraved in
+monuments of bronze and marble, and the incidents now deemed too slight
+for notice become reverenced as "Holy Writ." These changes of chance
+and time have happened before; if history repeats itself they will occur
+again. It was reserved to this family to be the instruments of
+communicating to the world this most singular affair. They were the ones
+who first, as if by accident, found out that there was an INTELLIGENCE
+MANIFESTED EVEN IN THE RAPPING, which at first appeared nothing more
+than an annoying and unaccountable noise.
+
+In a publication of the early investigations connected with this house,
+entitled: "A Report of the Mysterious Noises heard in the house of Mr.
+John D. Fox, in Hydesville, Arcadia, Wayne County, authenticated by the
+certificates and confirmed by the statements of the citizens of that
+place and vicinity," we find that some disturbances had affected the
+house before the Fox family came to live there. In the year 1843-4, the
+farm was occupied by a Mr. and Mrs. Bell, who, during the last three
+months of their stay were joined by a young girl--Lucretia Pulver, who
+sometimes worked for them, and at other times boarded with them and went
+to school, she being about fifteen years old.
+
+According to the statement of Lucretia, called forth by subsequent
+investigations, a pedlar called at the house one afternoon whom Mrs.
+Bell seemed to recognise as an acquaintance. He was a man about thirty
+years of age, dressed in a black frock coat, light trousers and vest,
+and carried with him a pack of goods containing dress material and other
+draperies.
+
+Shortly after the arrival of the pedlar, Mrs. Bell called the girl to
+say that she could not afford to keep her any longer, and that as she
+was going to the next village the same afternoon, she might pack her
+clothes and they would go together. Before going, Lucretia chose from
+the pedlar's pack a piece of delaine, asking him to leave it at her
+father's house; this he promised to do the next day. Mrs. Bell and
+Lucretia then left the house, the pedlar and Mr. Bell remained behind,
+the former apparently having decided to stay there for the day. The
+pedlar did not call at Lucretia's father's house next day in fulfilment
+of his promise to do so, nor, in fact, was he ever seen again, a
+circumstance which should be borne in mind when the sequel to this story
+is under consideration.
+
+About three days afterwards, much to the girl's surprise, Mrs. Bell sent
+for Lucretia to return to her again. She did so, and from that time she
+began to hear noises and knockings in her bedroom, the same room which
+was afterwards occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Fox. On one occasion, when Mr.
+and Mrs. Bell were away from home at Lock Berlin, and Lucretia had to
+remain in the house, she sent for her young brother and a girl friend
+named Aurelia Losey to stay in the house with her. During the night they
+all heard noises which they declared sounded like the footsteps of a man
+passing from the bedroom to the buttery, then down the cellar stairs,
+traversing the cellar for a short time and then suddenly stopping. They
+were all very much frightened and got up to fasten the doors and
+windows, but were scarcely able to sleep the remainder of the night.
+
+About a week after the visit of the pedlar to the house, Lucretia having
+occasion to go down into the cellar, stumbled and fell into a hole
+filled with soft soil, this somewhat frightened her and caused her to
+scream for assistance. Mrs. Bell coming to her rescue, Lucretia asked
+what Mr. Bell had been doing in the cellar that it was all "dug up."
+Mrs. Bell replied that "the holes were only rat holes," and a few nights
+afterwards Lucretia observed that Mr. Bell was busy for some time in the
+cellar filling up the "rat holes" with earth which he carried there
+himself.
+
+During the remainder of the period in which the house was occupied by
+the Bell family, the sounds continued to be heard, not only by Lucretia
+but by Mrs. Bell. Lucretia's mother, Mrs. Pulver, was a frequent
+visitor at the house, and on one occasion in particular, after the
+foregoing events, when she called upon Mrs. Bell, she found the latter
+quite ill from want of rest, and on enquiring the cause, Mrs. Bell
+declared she was "sick of her life," and that she frequently "heard the
+footsteps of a man traversing the house all night."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+A few months after these events happened the Bells left the
+neighbourhood, and the house became tenanted by a Mr. and Mrs. Weekman,
+who lived there about eighteen months, and left in the year 1847. Mr.
+Weekman's statement respecting the noises he heard was to the effect
+that one evening when he was about to retire for the night, he heard a
+rapping on the outside door, and, what was rather unusual for him,
+instead of familiarly bidding them "come in," stepped to the door and
+opened it. He had no doubt of finding some one who wished to come in,
+but to his surprise found no one there. He stepped out and looked
+around, supposing that some person was imposing on him, he could
+discover no one, and went back into the house. After a short time he
+heard the rapping again, and stepped up and held on to the latch, so
+that he might ascertain if any one had taken that means to annoy him.
+The rapping was repeated, the door opened instantly, but no one was in
+sight. Mr. Weekman states that he could feel the jar of the door very
+plainly when the rapping was heard. As he opened the door he sprang out
+and went around the house, but no one was in sight, nor could he find
+trace of any intruder.
+
+They were frequently afterwards disturbed by strange and unaccountable
+noises. One night Mrs. Weekman heard what she deemed to be the footsteps
+of someone walking in the cellar. Another night Mr. Weekman and his wife
+were disturbed by hearing a scream from their child, a girl about eight
+years of age,--this happened at midnight,--they went to her and she told
+them that something like a hand passed over her face and head; it seemed
+cold, and so badly had she been frightened that it was some time before
+she could be induced to tell her parents the cause of her alarm, nor
+would she consent to sleep in the same room for several nights
+afterwards.
+
+All this might have happened, and been only the idle fabric of a child's
+dream, the Weekman family might have imagined what they gave out as
+fact, and we should be inclined to believe that such was the case, if we
+had not the most conclusive evidence that such manifestations were quite
+common, not only in this house, but in various others where similarly
+strange things have happened.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+          "Know well my soul, God's hand controls
+             Whate'er thou fearest."
+
+
+From the time the Fox family entered the house at Hydesville, about
+December, 1847, they were incessantly disturbed by similar noises to
+those heard by Lucretia Pulver and the Weekmans. During the next month
+however (January, 1848) the noises began to assume the character of
+slight knockings heard at night in the bedroom; sometimes appearing to
+sound from the cellar beneath. At first Mrs. Fox sought to persuade
+herself this might be the hammering of a shoemaker in a house hard by,
+sitting up late at work. But further observation showed that the sounds
+originated in the house. For not only did the knockings become more
+distinct, and not only were they heard first in one part of the house,
+then in another, but the family remarked that these raps, even when not
+very loud, often caused a motion, tremulous rather than a sudden jar, of
+the bedsteads and chairs--sometimes of the floor; a motion which was
+quite perceptible to the touch when a hand was laid on the chairs, which
+was sometimes sensibly felt at night in the slightly oscillating motion
+of the bed, and which was occasionally perceived as a sort of vibration
+even when standing on the floor. After a time also, the noises varied in
+their character, sounding occasionally like distinct footfalls in the
+different rooms.
+
+In the month of February, the noises became so distinct and continuous
+that their rest was broken night after night, and they were all becoming
+worn out in their efforts to discover the cause of the annoyances. These
+disturbances were not confined to sounds merely,--once something heavy,
+as if a dog, seemed to lie on the feet of the children; but it was gone
+before the mother could come to their aid. Another time (this was late
+in March) Kate felt as if a cold hand was on her face. Occasionally too,
+the bedclothes were pulled during the night. Finally chairs were moved
+from their places. The disturbances, which had been limited to
+occasional knockings throughout February and March, gradually increased
+towards the close of the latter month, both in loudness and frequency.
+Mr. Fox and his wife got up night after night, lit a candle, and
+thoroughly searched every nook and corner of the house; but without any
+result. They discovered nothing. When the raps came on a door, Mr. Fox
+would stand, ready to open the door the instant the raps were repeated.
+Though he opened the door immediately there was no one to be seen. Nor
+did he or Mrs. Fox obtain any clue as to the cause of the trouble,
+notwithstanding all the efforts they made and the precautions they
+exercised.
+
+The only circumstance which seemed to suggest the possibility of
+trickery or of mistake was, that these various unexplained occurrences
+never happened in daylight, and thus notwithstanding the strangeness of
+the thing, when morning came they began to think it must have been the
+fancy of the night. Not being given to superstition, they clung,
+throughout several weeks of annoyance, to the idea that some natural
+explanation of these seemingly mysterious events would at last appear,
+nor did they abandon this hope till the night of
+
+                    FRIDAY, MARCH 31st, 1848,
+
+a date which was destined to be indelibly imprinted on the minds of the
+coming generations as the daybreak of a new era in the spiritual
+development of humanity, a date which has since been regularly observed
+as marking the advent of the greatest spiritual revelation of modern
+times, and recognised as the anniversary of the Spiritualist movement in
+all parts of the world.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+The day had been cold and stormy, with snow on the ground. In the course
+of the afternoon, David, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Fox, came to visit his
+parents from his farm about three miles distant. Mrs. Fox then first
+recounted to him the particulars of the annoyances they had endured; for
+until now they had been little disposed to communicate these to any one.
+He listened to her with a smiling face. "Well mother," he said, "I
+advise you not to say a word about it to the neighbours. When you find
+it out it will be one of the simplest things in the world." And in that
+belief he returned to his own home.
+
+Wearied out by a succession of sleepless nights and of fruitless
+attempts to penetrate the mystery, the Fox family retired on that Friday
+evening very early to rest, hoping for a respite from the disturbances
+that harassed them. But they were doomed to disappointment. The parents
+had had the children's beds removed into their own bedroom, and strictly
+enjoined them not to talk of the noises even if they heard them. But
+scarcely had the mother seen them safely in bed, and was retiring to
+rest herself, when the children cried out "Here they are again." The
+mother chid them and lay down, but as though in rebuke of her apparent
+indifference, they were on this occasion louder and more pertinacious
+than ever. Rest was impossible. The children kept up a continuous
+chatter, sitting up in bed to listen to the sounds. Mr. Fox tried the
+windows and doors, to discover, if possible, the source of the
+annoyance. The night being windy it suggested itself to him that it
+might be the sashes rattling, but all in vain; the raps continued and
+were evidently answering the noise occasioned by the father shaking the
+windows, as if in mockery.
+
+At length the youngest child, Kate--who in her guileless innocence had
+become familiar with the invisible knocker, until she was more amused
+than alarmed at its presence--merrily exclaimed: "Here, Mr. Split-foot,
+do as I do." The effect was instantaneous: the invisible rapper
+responded by imitating the number of her movements. She then made a
+given number of motions with her finger and thumb in the air, but
+without noise, and her astonishment was re-doubled to find that these
+movements were seen by the invisible rapper, for a corresponding number
+of knocks were immediately given to her noiseless motions, whilst from
+her lips as though but in childish jest and transport at her new
+discovery there sprang to life the words which revealed the sublimest
+Spiritual Truth of modern times: "Only look mother
+
+                    IT CAN SEE AS WELL AS HEAR."
+
+Words which have since become a text which Doctors, Professors, sceptics
+and scoffers have tried to crush out of existence--and ignominously
+failed, but which on the other hand have brought comfort, solace, and
+permanent joy to the hearts of hundreds of thousands--nay, millions
+surely,--of earth's weary pilgrims. Words which declared a truth since
+tested by every possible subtlety and sophistry which the ingenuity of
+man could suggest or devise, but which has stood firmly through every
+ordeal. Words which declare a truth that has already become the firm
+foundation of faith for an ever progressive Spiritual Church, made up of
+almost every nation of the earth, and embracing adherents from every
+rank of philosophic, scientific, religious and social life, which,
+moreover, reveals its own attributes to the child and the philosopher
+alike, and provides the missing link between a finite material world and
+a world of infinite spiritual possibilities by proving the continuity of
+life.
+
+[Illustration:
+
+          It can
+          SEE
+          as well as
+          HEAR
+
+          HYDESVILLE
+
+March 31st., 1848.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+Happily for the momentous work which the spiritual telegraphers had
+undertaken to initiate in this humble dwelling, the first manifestations
+did not appeal to the high and learned of the earth, but to the plain
+common-sense of an honest farmer's wife, and suggested that whatever
+could see, hear, and intelligently respond to relevant queries, must
+have in it something in common with humanity; and thus Mrs. Fox
+continued her investigations. Addressing the viewless rapper she said
+"count ten;" the raps obeyed. "How old is my daughter Margaret?" then
+"Kate?" Both questions were distinctly and correctly rapped out. Mrs.
+Fox then asked "How many children have I?" Seven, was the reply; this
+however proved to be wrong for she had only six living. She repeated her
+question and was again answered by seven raps; suddenly she cried "How
+many have I living?" Six raps responded. "How many dead?" a single
+knock; and both these answers proved correct. To the next question, "Are
+you a man that knocks?" there was no response; but "Are you a spirit?"
+elicited firm and distinctive responsive knocks.
+
+Emboldened by her success, Mrs. Fox continued her enquiries and
+ascertained by raps that the messages were coming from what purported to
+be the Spirit of an injured man who had been murdered for his money. To
+the question how old he was, there came thirty-one distinct raps. He
+also gave them to understand that he was a married man, and had left a
+wife and five children; that his wife was dead, and had been dead two
+years. After ascertaining so much, she asked the question "Will the
+noise continue if I call in some neighbours?" The answer was by rapping
+in the affirmative.
+
+At first they called in their nearest neighbours, who came thinking they
+would have a hearty laugh at the family for being frightened--but when
+the first neighbour came in and found that the noise, whatever it might
+be, could tell the age of herself as well as others, and give correct
+answers to questions on matters of which the family of Mr. Fox was quite
+ignorant, she concluded that there was something beside a subject of
+ridicule and laughter in these unseen but audible communications. These
+neighbours insisted on calling others who came, and after investigation
+were as much confounded as at first.
+
+The reader must endeavour to picture to himself the scene which followed
+the introduction of the neighbours to this weird and most novel court
+of inquiry. Imagine the place to be an humble cottage in a remote and
+obscure hamlet; the judge and jurors, simple unsophisticated rustics;
+and the witness an invisible, unknown being, a denizen of a world of
+whose very existence mankind has been ignorant; acting by laws
+mysterious and inconceivable, in modes utterly beyond all human control
+or comprehension, and breaking through what has been deemed the dark and
+eternal seal of death, to reveal the long-hidden mysteries of the grave,
+and drag to the light secrets which not even the fabled silence of the
+grave could longer hide away. Those who have been accustomed to dream of
+death as the end of all whom its shadowy portals inclose, alone are
+prepared to appreciate the awful and startling reality of this strange
+scene, breaking apart, as it did, like a rope of sand, all the
+preconceived opinions of countless ages on the existence and destiny of
+the living dead.
+
+Those who have become familiar with the revealments of the spirit circle
+will only smile at the consternation evoked in this rustic party by the
+now familiar presence and manifestations of "the spirits," but to those
+who still stand in the night of superstition, deeming of all earth's
+countless millions as "dead," "lost," "gone," no one knows whither;
+never to return; to give no sign, no echo, no dim vibration from that
+vast gulf profound of unfathomed mystery--what a picture is that which
+suddenly brings them face to face with the mighty hosts of the vanished
+dead, all clothed in life, and girded round with a panoply of power, and
+light, and strength; with vivid memory of the secret wrongs deemed
+buried in their graves. Our cities are thronged with an unseen people
+who flit about us, their piercing eyes invisible to us, are scanning all
+our ways. The universe is teeming with them,--"THERE ARE NO DEAD,"--the
+air, the earth, and the sky above, are filled with a viewless host of
+spirit--witnesses whose messages ever declare "There is no death."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+Amongst the investigators introduced to the household was a Mr. William
+Deusler, of Arcadia, an immediate neighbour of the Fox family at this
+time, and from his testimony we gather a great many interesting facts as
+to the evidence offered by the injured spirit in order that its identity
+could be clearly established.
+
+Mr. Deusler had formerly lived with his father in this house, and the
+message that the spirit had received an injury, prompted him to ask if
+either he or his father had been the cause of such an injury. On
+receiving an assurance that they were in no way responsible, the
+investigation was continued, the results being here given in Mr.
+Deusler's own words--
+
+"I then asked if Mr. ---- [naming a person who had formerly lived in the
+house] had injured it, and if so, to manifest it by rapping, and it made
+three knocks louder than common, and at the same time the bedstead
+jarred more than it had done before. I then inquired if it was murdered
+for money, and the knocking was heard. I then requested it to rap when
+I mentioned the sum of money for which it was murdered. I then asked if
+it was one hundred, two, three or four, and when I came to five hundred
+the rapping was heard. All in the room said they heard it distinctly. I
+then asked the question if it was five hundred dollars, and the rapping
+was heard.
+
+"After this, I sent over and got Artemus W. Hyde to come over.[A] He
+came over. I then asked over nearly the same questions as before, and
+got the same answers. Mr. Redfield sent after David Jewel and wife, and
+Mrs. Hyde also came. After they came in I asked the same questions over
+and got the same answers. . . . I then asked it to rap my age--the
+number of years of my age. It rapped thirty times. This is my age, and
+I do not think any one about here knew my age, except myself and family.
+I then told it to rap my wife's age, and it rapped thirty times, which
+is her exact age; several of us counted it at the same time. I then
+asked it to rap A. W. Hyde's age; then Mrs. A. W. Hyde's age. I then
+continued to ask it to rap the ages of different persons--naming
+them--in the room, and it did so correctly, as they all said. I then
+asked the number of children in the different families in the
+neighbourhood, and it told them correctly in the usual way, by rapping;
+also the number of deaths that had taken place in the different
+families, and it told correctly. . . .
+
+"I then asked in regard to the time it was murdered, and in the usual
+way, by asking the different days of the week and the different hours of
+the day, learned that it was murdered on Tuesday night, about twelve
+o'clock. The rapping was heard only when this particular time was
+mentioned. When it was asked if it was murdered on a Wednesday, or
+Thursday, or Friday night, etc., there was no rapping. I then asked if
+it carried any trunk, and it rapped that it did. Then how many, and it
+rapped once. In the same way we ascertained that it had goods in the
+trunk, and that ---- took them when he murdered him; and that he had a
+pack of goods besides. I asked if its wife was living, and it did not
+rap. If she was dead, and it rapped. . . . This was tried over several
+times and the result was always the same.
+
+"I then tried to ascertain the first letters of its name by calling over
+the different letters of the alphabet. I commenced with A, and asked if
+it was the initial of its name; and when I asked if it was B the rapping
+commenced. We then tried all the other letters, but could get no answer
+by the usual rapping. I then asked if we could find out the whole name
+by reading over all the letters of the alphabet, and there was no
+rapping. I then reversed the question, and the rapping was heard. . . .
+There were a good many more questions asked on that night by myself and
+others which I do not now remember. They were all readily answered in
+the same way. I staid in the house until about twelve o'clock and then
+came home. Mr. Redfield and Mr. Fox staid in the house that night.
+
+"Saturday night I went over again about seven o'clock. The house was
+full of people when I got there. They said it had been rapping some
+time. I went into the room. It was rapping in answer to questions when I
+went in. . . .
+
+"There were as many as three hundred people in and around the house at
+this time, I should think. Hiram Soverhill, Esq., and Volney Brown asked
+it questions while I was there, and it rapped in answer to them.
+
+"I went over again on Sunday between one and two o'clock p.m. I went
+into the cellar with several others, and had them all leave the house
+over our heads; and then I asked, if there had been a man buried in the
+cellar, to manifest it by rapping or any other noise or sign. The moment
+I asked the question there was a sound like the falling of a stick
+about a foot long and half an inch through, on the floor in the bedroom
+over our heads. It did not seem to rebound at all; there was but one
+sound. I then asked Stephen Smith to go right up and examine the room,
+and see if he could discover the cause of the noise. He came back and
+said he could discover nothing; that there was no one in the room, or in
+that part of the house. I then asked two more questions, and it rapped
+in the usual way. We all went up-stairs and made a thorough search, but
+could find nothing.
+
+"I then got a knife and fork, and tried to see if I could make the same
+noise by dropping them, but I could not. This was all I heard on Sunday.
+There is only one floor, or partition, or thickness between the bedroom
+and the cellar; no place where anything could be secreted to make the
+noise. When this noise was heard in the bedroom I could feel a slight
+tremulous motion or jar. . . .
+
+"On Monday night I heard this noise again, and asked the same questions
+I did before and got the same answers. This is the last time I have
+heard any rapping. I can in no way account for this singular noise which
+I and others have heard. It is a mystery to me which I am unable to
+solve. . . .
+
+"I lived in the same house about seven years ago, and at that time never
+heard any noises of the kind in and about the premises. I have
+understood from Johnston and others who have lived there before
+----moved there, that there were no such sounds heard there while they
+occupied the house. I never believed in haunted houses, or heard or saw
+anything but what I could account for before.
+
+                                                     (Signed),
+                                                  WILLIAM DEUSLER."
+
+   "April 12, 1848."
+
+To the same effect is the testimony of the following persons, whose
+certificates were published in a pamphlet by E. E. Lewis, Esq., of
+Canandaigua, New York, namely: John D. Fox, Walter Scotten, Elizabeth
+Jewel, Lorren Tenney, James Bridger, Chauncey P. Losey, Benjamin F.
+Clark, Elizabeth Fox, Vernelia Culver, William D. Storer, Marvin P.
+Losey, David S. Fox, and Mary Redfield.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[A] The son of the proprietor of the house at Hydesville.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+The news of the mysterious rappings continued to spread abroad, and the
+house was filled with anxious seekers for the unknown and invisible
+visitor. Up to this time the noises had only been heard at night, but on
+Sunday morning, April 2nd, the sounds were first heard in the daytime,
+and by any who could get into the house. It has been estimated that at
+one time there were about five hundred people gathered around the house,
+so great was the excitement at the commencement of these strange
+occurrences.
+
+On the Monday following, Mr. Fox and others commenced digging in the
+cellar, but as the house was built on low ground and in the vicinity of
+a stream then much swollen by rains, it was not surprising that they
+were baffled by the influx of water at the distance of three feet down.
+In the summer of 1848, when the ground was dry and the water lowered,
+the digging again commenced, when they found a plank, a vacant place or
+hole, some bits of crockery, which seemed to have been a washbowl,
+traces of charcoal, quicklime, some human hair, bones (declared on
+examination by a surgeon to be human), including a portion of a skull,
+but no connected skull was found.
+
+[Interesting facts relating to the missing portions of the human body
+were announced in the public newspapers as recently as December, 1904,
+for which see Appendix.]
+
+Such were the results of the examination of the cellar; such the only
+corroborative evidences obtained of the truth of the spirit's tale of
+untimely death. The presence of human remains in the cellar proves that
+someone was buried there, and the quicklime and charcoal testify to the
+fact that attempts were made to secretly dispose of the body of the
+victim.
+
+The Fox family did not immediately quit the scene of this mysterious
+haunting, but remained to witness still more astounding phenomena. The
+furniture was frequently moved about; the girls were often touched by
+hard cold hands; doors were opened and shut with violence; their beds
+were so violently shaken that they were obliged to "camp out" as they
+termed it, on the ground; their bedclothes were dragged from them, and
+the very floor and house made to rock as in an earthquake. Night after
+night they would be appalled by hearing a sound like a death struggle,
+the gurgling of the throat, a sudden thud as of something falling, the
+dragging as of a helpless body across the room and down the cellar
+stairs, the digging of a grave, nailing of boards, and the filling up as
+of a new made grave. These sounds have subsequently been produced by
+request, and spontaneously also, in the presence of many persons
+assembled in circles at Rochester.
+
+It was perceived that "the spirits" seemed to select or require the
+presence of the two younger girls of the family for the production of
+the sounds, and though these had been made without them, especially on
+the night of the 31st of March, when all the members of the family save
+Mr. Fox were absent from the house, still as curiosity prompted them to
+close observation and conversation with the invisible power, it was
+clear that the manifestations became more powerful in the presence of
+Kate, the youngest daughter, than with any one else.
+
+As the house was continually thronged with curious inquirers, and the
+time, comfort and peace of the family were consumed with these harassing
+disturbances, besides the most absurd though injurious suspicions being
+cast upon them, they endeavoured to baffle the haunters by sending Kate
+to reside with her eldest sister, Mrs. Fish, at Rochester; but no
+sooner had she gone than the manifestations re-commenced with more force
+than ever, in the presence of Margaretta. In course of time Mrs. Fox,
+with both her daughters, went to live in Rochester, but neither change
+of place nor house, nor yet the separation of the family, afforded them
+any relief from the disturbances that evidently attached themselves to
+persons rather than places as formerly.
+
+Although the Fox family had for months striven to banish the power that
+tormented them, praying with all the fervour of true Methodism to be
+released from it, and enduring fear, loss and anxiety in its
+continuance, the report of its persistence began to spread abroad,
+causing a rain of persecutions to fall upon them from all quarters. Old
+friends looked coldly on them, and strangers circulated the most
+atrocious slanders at their expense.
+
+Mrs. Fish, the eldest sister, who was a teacher of music in Rochester,
+began to lose her pupils, and whilst the blanching of the poor mother's
+hair in a single week bore testimony to the mental tortures which
+supra-mundane terrors and mundane cruelties had heaped upon them, the
+world was taunting them with imposture and with originating the very
+manifestations which were destroying their health, peace of mind, and
+good name. They had solicited the advice of their much-respected
+friend, Isaac Post, a highly esteemed Quaker citizen of Rochester, and
+at his suggestion succeeded in communicating by raps with the invisible
+power, through the alphabet (an attempt had been previously made but
+without success). Telegraphic numbers were given to signify "Yes" or
+"No," "Doubtful," etc., and sentences were spelled out by which they
+learned the astounding facts that not only "Charles Rosna" the murdered
+pedlar, but hosts of spirits, good and bad, high and low, could under
+certain conditions not understood, and impossible for mortals yet to
+comprehend, communicate with earth; that such communication was produced
+through the forces of spiritual magnetism, in chemical affinity; that
+the varieties of magnetism in different individuals afforded "medium
+power" to some, and denied it to others; that the magnetic relations
+necessary to produce phenomena were very subtle, liable to disturbance
+and singularly susceptible to the influence of the mental emotions. In
+addition to communications purporting thus to explain the object and
+something of the modus operandi of the communion, numerous spirit
+friends of the family, and also of those who joined in their
+investigations, gladdened the hearts of their astonished relatives by
+direct and unlooked-for tests of their presence. They came spelling out
+their names, ages and various tokens of identity correctly, and
+proclaiming the joyful tidings that they all "still lived," "still
+loved," and with the tenderness of human affection and the wisdom of a
+higher sphere of existence, watched over and guided the beloved ones who
+had mourned them as dead, with all the gracious ministry of guardian
+angels.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+But redolent of joy and consolation as is the intercourse with beloved
+friends, at this time when orderly communion has succeeded doubtful
+experiment, it must not be supposed that any such harmonious results
+characterised the initiatory proceedings of the spiritual movement which
+now made its advent in Rochester.
+
+Within and without the dwellings of the medium, all was fear,
+consternation, doubt, and anxiety. Fanatical religionists of different
+sects had forced themselves into the family gatherings, and the wildest
+scenes of rant, cant, and absurdity often ensued. Opinions of the most
+astounding nature were hazarded concerning the object of this movement;
+some determining that it was a "millennium" and looking for the speedy
+reign of a personal Messiah and the equally speedy destruction of the
+wicked.
+
+It must not be supposed that the clergy were idle spectators of the
+tumultuous wave that was sweeping over the city. On the contrary,
+several of them called on Mrs. Fox with offers to "exorcise the
+spirits," and when they found their attempts futile, and that though the
+spirits would rap in chorus to the "amens" with which they concluded
+their incantations, they were otherwise unmoved by these reverend
+performances, they generally ended by proclaiming abroad that the family
+were "in league with the evil one," or the "authors of a vile
+imposture."
+
+Honourable exceptions, however, were found to this cowardly and
+unchristian course, and amongst these was the Rev. A. H. Jervis, a
+Methodist minister of Rochester, in whose family remarkable
+manifestations occurred of the same character as in that of the Foxes,
+and whose appreciation of the beauty and worth of the communications he
+received, several of his published letters bear witness of. Mr. Lyman
+Granger, Rev. Charles Hammond, Deacon Hale, and several other families
+of wealth and influence, both in Rochester and the surrounding towns,
+also began to experience similar phenomena in their own households,
+while the news came from all quarters, extending as far as Cincinnati
+and St. Louis, West, and Maine, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and New
+York, East, that the mysterious rappings and other phases of what is now
+called "medium power" were rapidly spreading from town to town and State
+to State, in fulfilment of an assurance made in the very first of the
+communications to the Fox family, namely, "that these manifestations
+were not to be confined to them, BUT WOULD GO ALL OVER THE WORLD."
+
+The remarkable manner in which this prophecy has been fulfilled the most
+casual observer will readily admit; for Spiritualism--even as a
+religious power--has far outstripped any other form of religion in the
+world in the rapidity of its growth, having reached every civilized
+nation and permeated every other form of belief in less than half a
+century.
+
+The Fox Sisters were still called the "Rochester Knockers," the "Fox
+Girls," the "Rappers," and other epithets, equally foolish and obnoxious
+to their interests and feelings. Catherine Fox, the youngest girl, had
+been removed to the house of Mr. W. E. Capron, of Auburn. Mrs. Fish,
+though generally present when phenomena were transpiring, was not in its
+earliest phases conscious of being a medium. Margaretta, the other
+sister, was then in reality the only one through whom the manifestations
+appeared to proceed, when in November, 1848, the spirits, who had long
+been urging them to permit public investigations to be made through her
+mediumship, informed them by raps that "they could not always strive
+with them," and since they were constantly disobedient to the spirits'
+requests, and obviously opposed to their presence, they should leave
+them, and in all probability withdraw for another generation, or seek
+through other sources for the fulfilment of the high and holy purposes
+for which this spiritual outpouring had been designed. To these appeals
+the family were inflexible. They constantly prayed that the cup of this
+great bitterness "might pass from them." They did not wish to be
+"mediums," and abhorred the notoriety, scandal, and persecution which
+their fatal gift had brought them, and when warned that the spirits
+would leave them, they protested their delight at the announcement, and
+expressed their earnest desire that it might be fulfilled.
+
+There were present at a circle, when communications of this character
+were made, several influential persons of the city, who had become
+greatly interested in the manifestations and were warm friends of the
+family. They could not, however, realise that the threat here implied
+would actually be fulfilled until the spirits, by rappings, spelled out
+several messages of a particularly affectionate and valedictory
+character. The scene became, says an eye-witness, solemn and impressive.
+The spirits announced that in twenty minutes they would depart, and
+exactly as that time expired they spelled out, "We will now bid you all
+farewell;" when the raps entirely ceased.
+
+The family expressed themselves "glad to get rid of them;" the friends
+present vainly tried to obtain, by solicitations, made, as it would
+seem, to empty air, some demonstration that this beneficent and
+wonderful visitation had not indeed wholly ceased. All was useless. A
+mournful silence filled the apartment which had but a few minutes before
+been tenanted with angels, sounding out their messages of undying
+affection, tender counsel, wise instruction, and prescient warning. The
+spirits indeed were gone; and as one by one the depressed party
+separated and passed out into the silent moonlit streets of Rochester,
+all and each of them felt as if some great light had suddenly gone out,
+and life was changed to them. There was a mighty blank in space and a
+shadow everywhere, but spirit light came no more to illuminate the thick
+darkness.
+
+A fortnight passed away, during which the former investigators called
+constantly on the Fox family to enquire if their spirit friends had
+returned. For the first few days a stoical negative was their only
+reply; after this, they began more and more fully to recognise the loss
+they had sustained. The wise counsellors were gone; the sources of
+strange strength and superhuman consolation were cut off. The tender,
+loving, wonderful presence no more flitted around their steps, cheered
+their meals, encouraged them in their human weakness, or guided them in
+their blindness. And these most wonderful and providential beings their
+own waywardness had driven from them. At last, then, they met their
+enquiring friends with showers of tears, choking sobs, and expressions
+of the bitterest self-reproach and regret.
+
+On the twelfth day of this great heart-dearth, Mr. W. E. Capron, being
+in Rochester on business, called at the house of Mrs. Fish, with Mr.
+George Willets, a member of the Society of Friends, and one of their
+earliest spiritual investigators. On receiving the usual sorrowful reply
+that "the spirits had left them," Mr. Capron said: "Perhaps they will
+rap for us if not for you." They then entered the hall and put the usual
+question if the spirits would rap for them, in answer to which, and to
+the unspeakable delight of all present, they were greeted with a perfect
+shower of the much-lamented sounds.
+
+Once more the spirits urged them to make the manifestations public.
+Again they reiterated the charge with solemn earnestness, and despite of
+the mediums' continued aversion to the task imposed upon them, the fear
+of a fresh and final bereavement of the inestimable boon of spirit
+communion prevented their continued resistance to the course proposed.
+
+When the persons who were called upon to aid the mediums and take
+somewhat prominent parts in the work urged the awkwardness of the
+positions assigned them, the spirits only replied, "Your triumph will be
+so much the greater." There is no doubt that the severe warning they had
+just received, and the fear of its repetition, acted upon the whole
+party with more force than any argument that could have been used to
+induce their submission.
+
+At the injunctions of the spirits a public investigation into the
+possibility of communion between the world of spirits and the earth they
+once inhabited was carried out. Magistrates, editors, and professional
+men were the judges, and enlightened American citizens the jury. The aim
+of wide-spread publicity was attained. Thousands heard and wondered at,
+and finally believed in spiritual communion who would never have dreamed
+of the subject but for the persecution and slander that was publicly
+directed against the "Rochester Knockers."
+
+The records of these persecutions and slanders abound with disgraceful
+and painful incidents which, whilst being discreditable to the persons
+responsible for their propagation redound with full credit to the honour
+and integrity of the mediums selected by the Spirit world to be the
+forerunners of a new dispensation.
+
+And thus the fiery cross, carried by the hands of unseen messengers,
+sped from point to point; the beacon fires lighted by invisible hands
+gleamed on every mountain top, and the low muffled sound of the
+spirit-raps that first broke the slumbers of the peaceful inhabitants of
+the humble tenement at Hydesville, became the clarion peal that sounded
+out to the millions of the Western Hemisphere, the anthem of the soul's
+immortality, chorused by hosts of God's bright ministering angels.
+
+
+
+
+THE MAIDENS OF THE DAWNING LIGHT.
+
+                   (Leah, Kate, Margaret.)
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+          Oh, rustic little martyrs for the truth!
+            Whose earthly eyes so oft were dimmed with tears,
+          While on your cheeks the blush and bloom of youth
+            Was yet unsoiled by unborn struggling years.
+
+          Long years of suffering, years of holy joys,
+            Years of defeats and years of victories;
+          Years of sweet singing and of brawling noise,
+            Despair--but ever angel messages.
+
+          The memory of your mortal lives comes back;
+            Poor little girls! Why was the world so rough?
+          Of balm you brought there ever was a lack--
+            Of heavenly tidings never half enough!
+
+          Yet when to you the gentle "rappings" came,
+            Telling the story of immortal life,
+          The hungry world went crazy-mad to blame,
+            Accuse, defile, hunt, mob, make venomed strife.
+
+          Humble and poor as Christ was--kindly, too,
+            It seems so strange the thistle, hatred, grew
+          To whip your tender backs, with great ado,
+            Because you builded better than you knew.
+
+          But that is over. You have disappeared
+            From conflicts and from suffering, and to-day
+          From God's high country, we, your friends, endeared
+            By common aims, feel that you look this way.
+
+          Welcome, oh, heavenly sisters! See the light
+            Your youthful fingers kindled! How it spreads,
+          Lighting up places where were sin and night,
+            Whitening souls and shaping princely heads.
+
+          Lo! far it spreads! Beyond the rolling seas
+            Vast congregations celebrate the day
+          Your questionings unlocked death's mysteries,
+            And hailed the angels, who had come your way.
+
+                                      --Emma Rood Tuttle.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX
+
+
+
+
+A SEQUEL to the "ROCHESTER KNOCKINGS," after 56 years.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+          Copied from the "Banner of Light," (Boston, U.S.A.)
+          December 3rd, 1904.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"TRUTH CRUSHED TO EARTH WILL RISE AGAIN."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Regardless of what the "Banner" knows of this matter, we prefer to
+present the following statement as given in the Boston Journal of Nov.
+23. To opponents of the claims made by Spiritualists, the account may
+bear greater weight than if made by a Spiritualist paper. Take note that
+the Journal says, "an almost entire human skeleton," and not the bones
+of a large dog or of any four-footed animal.
+
+Rochester, N. Y., Nov. 22, 1904.--The skeleton of the man supposed to
+have caused the rappings first heard by the Fox sisters in 1848 has been
+found in the walls of the house occupied by the sisters, and clears
+them from the only shadow of doubt held concerning their sincerity in
+the discovery of spirit communication.
+
+The Fox sisters declared they learned to communicate with the spirit of
+a man, and that he told them he had been murdered and buried in the
+cellar. Repeated excavations failed to locate the body and thus give
+proof positive of their story.
+
+The discovery was made by school children playing in the cellar of the
+building in Hydesville known as the "Spook house," where the Fox sisters
+heard the wonderful rappings. William H. Hyde, a reputable citizen of
+Clyde, who owns the house, made an investigation and found an almost
+entire human skeleton between the earth and crumbling cellar walls,
+undoubtedly that of the wandering pedlar whom it was claimed was
+murdered in the east room of the house, and whose body was hidden in the
+cellar.
+
+Mr. Hyde has notified relatives of the Fox sisters and the notice of the
+discovery will be sent to the National Order of Spiritualists, many of
+whom remember having made pilgrimages to the "Spook house," as it is
+commonly called. The finding of the bones practically corroborates the
+sworn statement made by Margaret Fox, April 11, 1848. The Fox sisters
+claimed to have been disturbed by rappings and finally by a system of
+signals got into communication with the spirit.
+
+According to Margaret Fox's statement the spirit was that of a pedlar,
+who described how he had been murdered in the house, his body being
+buried in the cellar. There were numerous witnesses to the rappings, but
+although the cellar had been dug up many times no traces of the body was
+found until the crumbling cellar walls revealed the skeleton.
+
+The name of the murdered man, according to his revelation to the Fox
+sisters, was Charles Rosna, and the murderer a man named Beck. In 1847
+the house was occupied by Michael Weekman, a poor laborer. He and his
+family became troubled by these mysterious rappings, which followed in
+succession at different intervals, especially during the night. The
+family became so broken by fear and loss of sleep that they vacated the
+house. On Dec. 11, the Fox family moved in and two months later the
+rappings were resumed and the family became frightened. Finally Margaret
+and Cathie grew bold and asked questions which were answered, revealing
+the murder.
+
+
+FROM HYDESVILLE.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The "Sunflower," December, 1904, says: "The following bit of information
+was transmitted hitherward, which, if confirmed, will create additional
+interest in Spiritualism, although, by no means confirming the latter,
+as that does not rest exclusively on the phenomena at Hydesville; for
+since then we have had many additional phenomena, as the varied physical
+phases, materialisation, slate-writing and drawing, painting,
+levitation, passing of matter through matter, trance-speaking,
+clairvoyance, psychometric reading, and numerous other modes of
+communicating with the spirit world. The correspondent says: William H.
+Hyde, who recently found the arm and leg bones of a human being at the
+old Fox homestead, made another search in the cellar where the bones
+were first exposed by the caving in of the inside cellar wall. Mr. Hyde
+discovered all the other important bones except the skull. The latter
+corroborates the statement as made in the history of the first rappings,
+a work entitled, 'The Missing Link in Spiritualism.'"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Note by Editor.--Attention is drawn to the fact that a portion of the
+skull (which the foregoing report declares to be missing) was discovered
+during the digging operations at the time of the "Knockings"--1848.
+
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+Obvious punctuation errors were corrected.
+
+Page 30, "harrased" changed to "harassed" (that harassed them)
+
+Page 59, word "Appendix" taken from page header and added to text.
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30403 ***
diff --git a/30403-h/30403-h.htm b/30403-h/30403-h.htm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..33b3ec7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/30403-h/30403-h.htm
@@ -0,0 +1,1684 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Hydesville, by Thomas Olman Todd</title>
+    <style type="text/css">
+
+    p {margin-top: .75em;
+       text-align: justify;
+       text-indent: 1.25em;
+       margin-bottom: .75em;
+        }
+    img {border: 0;}
+    .tnote      {border: dashed 1px; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em;
+                  padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em;}
+    ins {text-decoration:none;  border-bottom: thin dotted gray;}
+    h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {
+         text-align: center; /* all headings centered */
+         clear: both;
+         }
+    hr { width: 33%;
+	 margin-top: 2em;
+	 margin-bottom: 2em;
+         margin-left: auto;
+         margin-right: auto;
+         clear: both;
+       }
+
+    table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;}
+
+    body{margin-left: 10%;
+         margin-right: 10%;
+        }
+
+    .pagenum  { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */
+            /*  visibility: hidden;  */
+                position: absolute;
+                left: 92%;
+                font-size: smaller;
+                text-align: right;
+              } /* page numbers */
+     .copyright {text-align: center; font-size: 70%;}
+    .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: justify;}
+
+    .bbox     {border: solid 2px; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em;
+                  padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em;}
+
+    .center   {text-align: center;}
+    .smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
+
+    .caption  {font-weight: bold; font-size: 70%;}
+
+    .figcenter   {margin: auto; text-align: center;}
+
+    .figleft     {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top:
+                 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;}
+
+    .figright    {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;
+                 margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;}
+
+    .unindent {margin-top: .75em;
+       text-align: justify;
+       margin-bottom: .75em;
+        }
+    .right    {text-align: right;}
+    .poem      {margin-left: 30%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: left;}
+    .poem2   {margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: left;}
+    .sig    {margin-right: 10%; text-align: right;}
+
+    .footnotes        {border: dashed 1px;}
+    .footnote         {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;}
+    .fnanchor         {vertical-align:baseline;
+        position: relative;
+        bottom: 0.33em;
+        font-size: .8em;
+        text-decoration: none;}
+
+    hr.full { width: 100%;
+              margin-top: 3em;
+              margin-bottom: 0em;
+              margin-left: auto;
+              margin-right: auto;
+              height: 4px;
+              border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */
+              border-style: solid;
+              border-color: #000000;
+              clear: both; }
+    pre      {font-size: 85%;}
+    </style>
+</head>
+<body>
+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30403 ***</div>
+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Hydesville, by Thomas Olman Todd</h1>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;" cellpadding="10">
+  <tr>
+    <td valign="top">
+      Note:
+    </td>
+    <td>
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive/American Libraries. See
+      <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/hydesvillestoryo00todd">
+      http://www.archive.org/details/hydesvillestoryo00todd</a>
+	</td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 360px;">
+<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="360" height="600" alt="Cover" title="" />
+</div>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span></p>
+<h1>HYDESVILLE.</h1>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 422px;">
+<img src="images/ill01.jpg" width="422" height="600" alt="Advent of Spiritualism 1848." title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span></p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 426px;">
+<img src="images/tp.jpg" width="426" height="700" alt="Title Page" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p>
+<h3>DEDICATED TO DAISY.</h3>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80px;">
+<img src="images/dec02.png" width="80" height="31" alt="decoration" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<div class='poem'>
+A creature not too bright or good<br />
+For human nature's daily food,<br />
+For transient sorrows, simple wiles,<br />
+Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears and smiles.<br />
+<div class='sig'>
+&mdash;Wordsworth.<br /></div></div>
+
+
+
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 124px;">
+<img src="images/dec01.png" width="124" height="40" alt="decoration" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<div class='poem'>
+"Some secret truths from learned pride concealed,<br />
+To maids alone and children are revealed:<br />
+What though no credit doubting wits may give,<br />
+The fair and innocent shall still believe."<br />
+<div class='sig'>
+&mdash;<span class="smcap">Pope.</span><br />
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 124px;">
+<img src="images/dec01.png" width="124" height="40" alt="decoration" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+<div class='blockquot'><p>"Rightly viewed, no meanest object is insignificant; all
+objects are as windows, through which the philosophic eye looks
+into infinitude itself."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Carlyle.</span></p></div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 124px;">
+<img src="images/dec01.png" width="124" height="40" alt="decoration" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<div class='poem'>
+<span style="margin-left: 5.5em;">"Rivers from bubbling springs</span><br />
+Have rise at first, and great from abject things."<br />
+<div class='sig'>
+&mdash;<span class="smcap">Middleton.</span><br />
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 124px;">
+<img src="images/dec01.png" width="124" height="40" alt="decoration" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span></p>
+<h2>PREFACE.</h2>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80px;">
+<img src="images/dec02.png" width="80" height="31" alt="decoration" title="" />
+</div>
+<p>The interesting events narrated in this book
+which occurred at Hydesville, in the house of the
+Fox Family, are those by which Modern Spiritualism
+made its advent into this world as a new revelation
+in spiritual matters.</p>
+
+<p>History is not without its reliable records of
+similar phenomena, but, just as many scientific men
+have experimented and stopped short of the gateway
+of the actual discovery of Nature's secrets, so, many
+who came in contact with phenomena similar to
+those of Hydesville whilst being mystified as to
+the meaning of the operating power, stopped short
+of the actual discovery that "It can see as well as
+hear." Notably in the case of the disturbances at
+Mr. Mompesson's house at Tedworth (1661&mdash;1663) and
+Mr. Wesley's parsonage at Epworth (1716&mdash;1717).</p>
+
+<p>The early literature of the Spiritualist Movement
+is replete with most interesting records of phenomena
+of bewildering variety, but during the past twenty
+years the demand for literature on this absorbing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>
+subject has taken a more philosophic turn. The
+phenomena are admittedly real. The philosophy is
+the subject of debate, hence these early records are
+fast going out of print and becoming difficult to
+obtain.</p>
+
+<p>Some few years ago, when the writer paid what
+proved to be his last visit to Mrs. Emma Hardinge
+Britten, he was deeply impressed with her desire that
+the early history of the Spiritualist Movement, for
+which she spent the greater part of her industrious
+life, and with which she had been so intimately
+connected, should not be allowed to pass into oblivion,
+and that at least the story of HYDESVILLE should
+be published in a handy form and at a reasonable
+price. For this purpose she presented him with what
+appeared to be her only remaining copy of her
+invaluable historical work "Modern American Spiritualism,"
+and requested him to undertake that duty.</p>
+
+<p>The incidents recorded in the following pages
+are based chiefly on the information given in the
+work mentioned above, and considerable use is made
+of the actual words and sentences penned by Mrs.
+Britten; these are given without quotation marks.
+Some portions however have been re-written to adapt
+them to the requirements of the present book, whilst
+a few other facts have been gathered from various<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>
+sources, chiefly Robert Dale Owen's "Footfalls on
+the Boundary of Another World." Both Mrs. Britten
+and Mr. Owen were personally acquainted with the
+Fox family and many of the persons incidentally
+mentioned in connection with the phenomena at
+HYDESVILLE&mdash;a fact which gives superior weight
+to their records.</p>
+
+<div class='sig'>
+T. O. T.<br />
+</div>
+
+<p>Sunderland, 1905.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class='right'><br /><br />
+<span style="margin-right: 6em;">Manchester,</span><br />
+
+December 5th, 1897.<br />
+</div>
+<div class='unindent'>
+Mr. T. O. Todd.<br />
+</div>
+
+<p>Dear Sir,</p>
+
+<p>Having been a sad invalid since June of this
+year, and still suffering, I do not quite remember
+whether I have or not written to you on the subject
+to which I desire to devote this poor scrawl. If I
+have not done so hitherto&mdash;permit me to say,&mdash;altho'
+I have been obliged from severe illness to suspend
+my platform work and writings, I am as much interested
+in the earnest desire to help the progress of
+Spiritualism as I have been in my long years of past
+devotion to that cause.</p>
+
+<p>In consequence of my sad illness I have been
+obliged to refuse my kind American Friends' urgent
+invitation to attend their Grand Celebration at
+Rochester, N.Y., next June.</p>
+
+<div class='center'><b>.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.</b></div>
+
+
+<p>I am most anxious to do something for our noble
+cause, [enquirers] will necessarily want to have some
+special accounts of the first opening of the Spiritual
+Movement and the history of the poor Fox Family
+and their immediate connection with the famous
+"Rochester Knockings." All this I, who knew the
+Fox Family and all the circumstances of the case<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>
+personally and intimately, have written and published
+in full detail in my widely circulated work "Modern
+American Spiritualism."&mdash;But this work consists of
+560 pages, and tho' bought by thousands of American
+Spiritualists, I should not know in England where
+to turn to find a copy except in my own bookcase.</p>
+
+<p>Now what I propose is this: In the first hundred
+pages is the full and entire history of the movement;
+the life and labours of A. J. Davis,&mdash;the life, sufferings,
+and bitter persecutions of the poor Foxes, and all
+their early trials; friends, foes, and all connected
+with them. Why cannot you .&nbsp;.&nbsp;. take those
+hundred pages, condense them, and make a splendid
+pamphlet of them?</p>
+
+<div class='center'><b>.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.</b></div>
+
+
+<div class='sig'>
+<span style="margin-right: 6em;">Sincerely yours,</span><br />
+EMMA HARDINGE BRITTEN.<br />
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span></p>
+<h2>SPIRIT RAPPINGS.</h2>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 124px;">
+<img src="images/dec01.png" width="124" height="40" alt="Decoration" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<div class='center'><br />(This poem will be found set to music in<br />
+the "Spiritual Songster.")<br /><br /></div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 124px;">
+<img src="images/dec01.png" width="124" height="40" alt="Decoration" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+<div class='poem2'><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rap, rap, rap! Rap, rap, rap! Rap, rap, rap!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Who is it rapping to-night?</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Only invisible friends,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Come from those chambers whose light</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Radiantly earth-ward descends,</span><br />
+Those whose dear forms you have covered from sight,<br />
+And mark'd by a marble shaft solemn and white,<br />
+Have come from the land where their life bloom'd anew,<br />
+And lo! by those raps they are talking to you.<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rap, rap, rap! Rap, rap, rap! Rap, rap, rap!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Daintiest fingers of air</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wake the most delicate sound</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Rapping on table or chair,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lov'd ones of earth gather round</span><br />
+Making us know that our lov'd ones have come,<br />
+Come back to our hearts, and their dear earthly home,<br />
+Forget they will never, thro' glory bath'd years,<br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>How lonely they left us in sadness and tears.<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rap, rap, rap! Rap, rap, rap! Rap, rap, rap!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Guests we would honour are here!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hear the light rappings, and know</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Visiting Angels are near,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Greeting their earth friends below!</span><br />
+Oh, bid them welcome, in garments of white,<br />
+To hearts which are pure and illumin'd with light;<br />
+They wander at will o'er two wonderful lands,<br />
+Oh, list to their counsels, and give them your hands.<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rap, rap, rap! Rap, rap, rap! Rap, rap, rap!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Lov'd ones are rapping to-night;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Heaven seems not far away;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Death's sweeping river is bright,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Soft is the sheen of its spray.</span><br />
+Magical changes those rappings have wrought,<br />
+Sweet hope to the hopeless their patter has brought,<br />
+And death is bridg'd over with amaranth flow'rs:<br />
+Blest Spirits come back from their bright homes to ours.<br />
+</div>
+
+<div class='sig'>
+&mdash;Emma R. Tuttle.<br /></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span></p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 348px;">
+<img src="images/ill02.jpg" width="348" height="500" alt="Kate Fox" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span></p>
+<h2>HYDESVILLE.</h2>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 83px;">
+<img src="images/deco3.png" width="83" height="31" alt="Decoration" title="" />
+</div>
+<h2>THE STORY OF THE ROCHESTER KNOCKINGS.</h2>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 83px;">
+<img src="images/deco3.png" width="83" height="31" alt="Decoration" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The birth-places of the greatest of the world's
+social, political, and religious reformations have
+generally been of insignificant and lowly aspect, and
+apparently under the most inauspicious circumstances
+for producing any great effect upon mankind. The
+Babe of the lowly manger becomes the Spiritual
+King of millions of human hearts and souls, and the
+"Wood Hut" becomes the gateway through which
+Holy Ministers of Light, from their world of Truth
+and Beauty, send the evidence of man's immortality,
+through the instrumentality of a child, to the weary
+worn pilgrims of earth, who, praying for the "touch
+of a vanish'd hand, and the sound of a voice that is
+still," welcome with joyful hearts the Spirit message
+"WE STILL LIVE."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The scene of the manifestations dealt with in the
+following pages, was a small wooden homestead, one
+of a cluster of houses like itself, in the little village
+of Hydesville, near to the town of Newark, Wayne
+County, New York (being so called after Dr. Hyde,
+an old settler, whose son was the proprietor of the
+house in question). The place not being directly
+accessible from a railroad, was lonely and unmarked
+by those tokens of progress that the locomotive
+generally leaves in its track, hence it was the last
+spot where a scene of fraud and deception could find
+a possibility of a successful execution. The house
+was a humble frame dwelling fronting south, consisting
+of two fair-size parlours opening into each
+other, east of these a bedroom and a buttery or
+pantry, opening into one of the sitting rooms; and
+a stairway between the buttery and the bedroom
+leading from the sitting room up to the half storey
+above and from the buttery down to the cellar.</p>
+
+<p>This humble dwelling had been selected as a
+temporary residence during the erection of another
+house in the country, by Mr. John D. Fox, who, with
+his family, soon afterwards became so prominently
+identified with the phenomena which have since become
+world famous. Their little dwelling, though
+so small and simply furnished as to leave no shadow
+of opportunity for concealment or trick, was the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>
+residence of honest piety and rural simplicity. All
+who ever knew them bore witness to the unimpeachable
+character of the good mother, while the integrity
+of the simple-minded farmers who were father and
+brother to the sisters who have since become so
+celebrated as the "Rochester Knockers" stands proved
+beyond all question.</p>
+
+<p>The ancestors of Mr. Fox were Germans, the
+name being originally "Voss"; but both he and Mrs.
+Fox were native born. In Mrs. Fox's family, French
+by origin and Rutan by name, several individuals
+had evinced the power of second sight,&mdash;her maternal
+grandmother (Margaret Ackerman) who resided at
+Long Island, had frequent perceptions of coming
+events; so vivid were these presentiments that she
+frequently followed phantom funerals to the grave
+as if they were real.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Fox's sister also, Mrs. Elizabeth Higgins, had
+similar power. On one occasion, in the year 1823,
+the two sisters, then residing in New York, proposed
+to go to Sodus by canal. But one morning Elizabeth
+said, "We shall not make this trip by water." "Why
+so?" her sister asked. "Because I dreamed last night
+that we travelled by land, and there was a strange
+person with us. In my dream, too, I thought we
+came to Mott's tavern on the Beech Woods, and that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>
+they could not admit us because Mrs. Mott lay
+dying in the house. I know it will all come true."
+"Very likely indeed!" her sister replied, "for last
+year, when we passed there, Mr. Mott's wife lay dead
+in the house." "You will see. He must have
+married again and he will lose his second wife."
+Every particular came to pass as Mrs. Higgins had
+predicted. Mrs. Johnson, a stranger, whom at the
+time of the dream they had not seen, did go with
+them, they made the journey by land and were
+refused admittance into Mott's tavern for the very
+cause assigned in the dream.</p>
+
+<p>The family of Mr. and Mrs. Fox consisted of six
+children, but at the time of the manifestations the
+house was occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Fox and their
+two youngest children only, Margaretta, aged twelve,
+and Kate, aged nine years. These details, insignificant
+as they may now appear, are due alike to the
+family and posterity. When the future of this wonderful
+movement shall have become matter of history
+and antiquity, if not reverence for spiritual truth,
+and shall induce mankind to follow the example of
+their ancestors and label the records "sacred," the
+names now sunk in obscurity and masked by slander
+may perchance be engraved in monuments of bronze
+and marble, and the incidents now deemed too slight
+for notice become reverenced as "Holy Writ."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>
+These changes of chance and time have happened
+before; if history repeats itself they will occur again.
+It was reserved to this family to be the instruments
+of communicating to the world this most singular
+affair. They were the ones who first, as if by accident,
+found out that there was an INTELLIGENCE
+MANIFESTED EVEN IN THE RAPPING, which
+at first appeared nothing more than an annoying and
+unaccountable noise.</p>
+
+<p>In a publication of the early investigations connected
+with this house, entitled: "A Report of the
+Mysterious Noises heard in the house of Mr. John D.
+Fox, in Hydesville, Arcadia, Wayne County, authenticated
+by the certificates and confirmed by the
+statements of the citizens of that place and vicinity,"
+we find that some disturbances had affected the
+house before the Fox family came to live there. In
+the year 1843-4, the farm was occupied by a Mr. and
+Mrs. Bell, who, during the last three months of their
+stay were joined by a young girl&mdash;Lucretia Pulver,
+who sometimes worked for them, and at other times
+boarded with them and went to school, she being
+about fifteen years old.</p>
+
+<p>According to the statement of Lucretia, called
+forth by subsequent investigations, a pedlar called at
+the house one afternoon whom Mrs. Bell seemed to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>
+recognise as an acquaintance. He was a man about
+thirty years of age, dressed in a black frock coat,
+light trousers and vest, and carried with him a pack
+of goods containing dress material and other draperies.</p>
+
+<p>Shortly after the arrival of the pedlar, Mrs. Bell
+called the girl to say that she could not afford to
+keep her any longer, and that as she was going to
+the next village the same afternoon, she might pack
+her clothes and they would go together. Before
+going, Lucretia chose from the pedlar's pack a piece
+of delaine, asking him to leave it at her father's
+house; this he promised to do the next day. Mrs.
+Bell and Lucretia then left the house, the pedlar and
+Mr. Bell remained behind, the former apparently
+having decided to stay there for the day. The pedlar
+did not call at Lucretia's father's house next day in
+fulfilment of his promise to do so, nor, in fact, was
+he ever seen again, a circumstance which should be
+borne in mind when the sequel to this story is under
+consideration.</p>
+
+<p>About three days afterwards, much to the girl's
+surprise, Mrs. Bell sent for Lucretia to return to her
+again. She did so, and from that time she began to
+hear noises and knockings in her bedroom, the same
+room which was afterwards occupied by Mr. and
+Mrs. Fox. On one occasion, when Mr. and Mrs. Bell<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>
+were away from home at Lock Berlin, and Lucretia
+had to remain in the house, she sent for her young
+brother and a girl friend named Aurelia Losey to
+stay in the house with her. During the night they
+all heard noises which they declared sounded like
+the footsteps of a man passing from the bedroom to
+the buttery, then down the cellar stairs, traversing
+the cellar for a short time and then suddenly stopping.
+They were all very much frightened and got up to
+fasten the doors and windows, but were scarcely able
+to sleep the remainder of the night.</p>
+
+<p>About a week after the visit of the pedlar to the
+house, Lucretia having occasion to go down into the
+cellar, stumbled and fell into a hole filled with soft
+soil, this somewhat frightened her and caused her to
+scream for assistance. Mrs. Bell coming to her
+rescue, Lucretia asked what Mr. Bell had been doing
+in the cellar that it was all "dug up." Mrs. Bell
+replied that "the holes were only rat holes," and a
+few nights afterwards Lucretia observed that Mr.
+Bell was busy for some time in the cellar filling up
+the "rat holes" with earth which he carried there
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>During the remainder of the period in which the
+house was occupied by the Bell family, the sounds
+continued to be heard, not only by Lucretia but by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>
+Mrs. Bell. Lucretia's mother, Mrs. Pulver, was a
+frequent visitor at the house, and on one occasion
+in particular, after the foregoing events, when she
+called upon Mrs. Bell, she found the latter quite ill
+from want of rest, and on enquiring the cause, Mrs.
+Bell declared she was "sick of her life," and that
+she frequently "heard the footsteps of a man traversing
+the house all night."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2>
+
+
+<p>A few months after these events happened the
+Bells left the neighbourhood, and the house became
+tenanted by a Mr. and Mrs. Weekman, who lived
+there about eighteen months, and left in the year
+1847. Mr. Weekman's statement respecting the noises
+he heard was to the effect that one evening when he
+was about to retire for the night, he heard a rapping
+on the outside door, and, what was rather unusual
+for him, instead of familiarly bidding them "come
+in," stepped to the door and opened it. He had no
+doubt of finding some one who wished to come in,
+but to his surprise found no one there. He stepped
+out and looked around, supposing that some person
+was imposing on him, he could discover no one, and
+went back into the house. After a short time he
+heard the rapping again, and stepped up and held
+on to the latch, so that he might ascertain if any one
+had taken that means to annoy him. The rapping
+was repeated, the door opened instantly, but no one
+was in sight. Mr. Weekman states that he could
+feel the jar of the door very plainly when the rapping
+was heard. As he opened the door he sprang out
+and went around the house, but no one was in sight,
+nor could he find trace of any intruder.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>They were frequently afterwards disturbed by
+strange and unaccountable noises. One night Mrs.
+Weekman heard what she deemed to be the footsteps
+of someone walking in the cellar. Another night Mr.
+Weekman and his wife were disturbed by hearing a
+scream from their child, a girl about eight years of
+age,&mdash;this happened at midnight,&mdash;they went to her
+and she told them that something like a hand passed
+over her face and head; it seemed cold, and so
+badly had she been frightened that it was some time
+before she could be induced to tell her parents the
+cause of her alarm, nor would she consent to sleep
+in the same room for several nights afterwards.</p>
+
+<p>All this might have happened, and been only the
+idle fabric of a child's dream, the Weekman family
+might have imagined what they gave out as fact,
+and we should be inclined to believe that such was
+the case, if we had not the most conclusive evidence
+that such manifestations were quite common, not
+only in this house, but in various others where
+similarly strange things have happened.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2>
+
+<div class='poem'>
+"Know well my soul, God's hand controls<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Whate'er thou fearest."</span><br />
+</div>
+
+
+<p>From the time the Fox family entered the house
+at Hydesville, about December, 1847, they were incessantly
+disturbed by similar noises to those heard
+by Lucretia Pulver and the Weekmans. During the
+next month however (January, 1848) the noises began
+to assume the character of slight knockings heard at
+night in the bedroom; sometimes appearing to sound
+from the cellar beneath. At first Mrs. Fox sought
+to persuade herself this might be the hammering of
+a shoemaker in a house hard by, sitting up late at
+work. But further observation showed that the
+sounds originated in the house. For not only did
+the knockings become more distinct, and not only
+were they heard first in one part of the house, then
+in another, but the family remarked that these raps,
+even when not very loud, often caused a motion,
+tremulous rather than a sudden jar, of the bedsteads
+and chairs&mdash;sometimes of the floor; a motion which
+was quite perceptible to the touch when a hand was
+laid on the chairs, which was sometimes sensibly
+felt at night in the slightly oscillating motion of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>
+bed, and which was occasionally perceived as a sort
+of vibration even when standing on the floor. After
+a time also, the noises varied in their character,
+sounding occasionally like distinct footfalls in the
+different rooms.</p>
+
+<p>In the month of February, the noises became so
+distinct and continuous that their rest was broken
+night after night, and they were all becoming worn
+out in their efforts to discover the cause of the
+annoyances. These disturbances were not confined
+to sounds merely,&mdash;once something heavy, as if a dog,
+seemed to lie on the feet of the children; but it was
+gone before the mother could come to their aid.
+Another time (this was late in March) Kate felt as if
+a cold hand was on her face. Occasionally too, the
+bedclothes were pulled during the night. Finally
+chairs were moved from their places. The disturbances,
+which had been limited to occasional knockings
+throughout February and March, gradually increased
+towards the close of the latter month, both in loudness
+and frequency. Mr. Fox and his wife got up
+night after night, lit a candle, and thoroughly searched
+every nook and corner of the house; but without
+any result. They discovered nothing. When the
+raps came on a door, Mr. Fox would stand, ready to
+open the door the instant the raps were repeated.
+Though he opened the door immediately there was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>
+no one to be seen. Nor did he or Mrs. Fox obtain
+any clue as to the cause of the trouble, notwithstanding
+all the efforts they made and the precautions
+they exercised.</p>
+
+<p>The only circumstance which seemed to suggest
+the possibility of trickery or of mistake was, that
+these various unexplained occurrences never happened
+in daylight, and thus notwithstanding the strangeness
+of the thing, when morning came they began to think
+it must have been the fancy of the night. Not being
+given to superstition, they clung, throughout several
+weeks of annoyance, to the idea that some natural
+explanation of these seemingly mysterious events
+would at last appear, nor did they abandon this hope
+till the night of</p>
+
+<div class='center'>
+FRIDAY, MARCH 31st, 1848,<br />
+</div>
+
+<div class='unindent'>a date which was destined to be indelibly imprinted
+on the minds of the coming generations as the daybreak
+of a new era in the spiritual development of
+humanity, a date which has since been regularly
+observed as marking the advent of the greatest
+spiritual revelation of modern times, and recognised
+as the anniversary of the Spiritualist movement in
+all parts of the world.</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The day had been cold and stormy, with snow
+on the ground. In the course of the afternoon, David,
+a son of Mr. and Mrs. Fox, came to visit his parents
+from his farm about three miles distant. Mrs. Fox
+then first recounted to him the particulars of the
+annoyances they had endured; for until now they
+had been little disposed to communicate these to any
+one. He listened to her with a smiling face. "Well
+mother," he said, "I advise you not to say a word
+about it to the neighbours. When you find it out it
+will be one of the simplest things in the world."
+And in that belief he returned to his own home.</p>
+
+<p>Wearied out by a succession of sleepless nights
+and of fruitless attempts to penetrate the mystery,
+the Fox family retired on that Friday evening very
+early to rest, hoping for a respite from the disturbances
+that <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'harrased'">harassed</ins> them. But they were doomed to
+disappointment. The parents had had the children's
+beds removed into their own bedroom, and strictly
+enjoined them not to talk of the noises even if they
+heard them. But scarcely had the mother seen them
+safely in bed, and was retiring to rest herself, when
+the children cried out "Here they are again." The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>
+mother chid them and lay down, but as though in
+rebuke of her apparent indifference, they were on this
+occasion louder and more pertinacious than ever.
+Rest was impossible. The children kept up a continuous
+chatter, sitting up in bed to listen to the
+sounds. Mr. Fox tried the windows and doors, to
+discover, if possible, the source of the annoyance.
+The night being windy it suggested itself to him that
+it might be the sashes rattling, but all in vain; the
+raps continued and were evidently answering the
+noise occasioned by the father shaking the windows,
+as if in mockery.</p>
+
+<p>At length the youngest child, Kate&mdash;who in her
+guileless innocence had become familiar with the
+invisible knocker, until she was more amused than
+alarmed at its presence&mdash;merrily exclaimed: "Here,
+Mr. Split-foot, do as I do." The effect was instantaneous:
+the invisible rapper responded by imitating
+the number of her movements. She then made a
+given number of motions with her finger and thumb
+in the air, but without noise, and her astonishment
+was re-doubled to find that these movements were
+seen by the invisible rapper, for a corresponding
+number of knocks were immediately given to her
+noiseless motions, whilst from her lips as though but
+in childish jest and transport at her new discovery
+there sprang to life the words which revealed the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>
+sublimest Spiritual Truth of modern times: "Only
+look mother</p>
+
+<div class='center'>
+IT CAN SEE AS WELL AS HEAR."<br />
+</div>
+
+<div class='unindent'>Words which have since become a text which Doctors,
+Professors, sceptics and scoffers have tried to crush
+out of existence&mdash;and ignominously failed, but which
+on the other hand have brought comfort, solace, and
+permanent joy to the hearts of hundreds of thousands&mdash;nay,
+millions surely,&mdash;of earth's weary pilgrims.
+Words which declared a truth since tested by every
+possible subtlety and sophistry which the ingenuity
+of man could suggest or devise, but which has stood
+firmly through every ordeal. Words which declare
+a truth that has already become the firm foundation
+of faith for an ever progressive Spiritual Church,
+made up of almost every nation of the earth, and
+embracing adherents from every rank of philosophic,
+scientific, religious and social life, which, moreover,
+reveals its own attributes to the child and the philosopher
+alike, and provides the missing link between
+a finite material world and a world of infinite
+spiritual possibilities by proving the continuity of life.</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 340px;">
+<img src="images/ill03.jpg" width="340" height="600" alt="It can see as well as hear" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Happily for the momentous work which the
+spiritual telegraphers had undertaken to initiate in
+this humble dwelling, the first manifestations did not
+appeal to the high and learned of the earth, but to
+the plain common-sense of an honest farmer's wife,
+and suggested that whatever could see, hear, and
+intelligently respond to relevant queries, must have
+in it something in common with humanity; and thus
+Mrs. Fox continued her investigations. Addressing
+the viewless rapper she said "count ten;" the raps
+obeyed. "How old is my daughter Margaret?" then
+"Kate?" Both questions were distinctly and correctly
+rapped out. Mrs. Fox then asked "How many children
+have I?" Seven, was the reply; this however
+proved to be wrong for she had only six living. She
+repeated her question and was again answered by
+seven raps; suddenly she cried "How many have I
+living?" Six raps responded. "How many dead?"
+a single knock; and both these answers proved
+correct. To the next question, "Are you a man
+that knocks?" there was no response; but "Are you
+a spirit?" elicited firm and distinctive responsive
+knocks.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Emboldened by her success, Mrs. Fox continued
+her enquiries and ascertained by raps that the messages
+were coming from what purported to be the Spirit of
+an injured man who had been murdered for his money.
+To the question how old he was, there came thirty-one
+distinct raps. He also gave them to understand
+that he was a married man, and had left a wife and
+five children; that his wife was dead, and had been
+dead two years. After ascertaining so much, she
+asked the question "Will the noise continue if I call
+in some neighbours?" The answer was by rapping
+in the affirmative.</p>
+
+<p>At first they called in their nearest neighbours,
+who came thinking they would have a hearty laugh
+at the family for being frightened&mdash;but when the first
+neighbour came in and found that the noise, whatever
+it might be, could tell the age of herself as well
+as others, and give correct answers to questions on
+matters of which the family of Mr. Fox was quite
+ignorant, she concluded that there was something
+beside a subject of ridicule and laughter in these
+unseen but audible communications. These neighbours
+insisted on calling others who came, and after
+investigation were as much confounded as at first.</p>
+
+<p>The reader must endeavour to picture to himself
+the scene which followed the introduction of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>
+neighbours to this weird and most novel court of
+inquiry. Imagine the place to be an humble cottage
+in a remote and obscure hamlet; the judge and
+jurors, simple unsophisticated rustics; and the witness
+an invisible, unknown being, a denizen of a world
+of whose very existence mankind has been ignorant;
+acting by laws mysterious and inconceivable, in
+modes utterly beyond all human control or comprehension,
+and breaking through what has been deemed
+the dark and eternal seal of death, to reveal the
+long-hidden mysteries of the grave, and drag to the
+light secrets which not even the fabled silence of the
+grave could longer hide away. Those who have
+been accustomed to dream of death as the end of
+all whom its shadowy portals inclose, alone are
+prepared to appreciate the awful and startling reality
+of this strange scene, breaking apart, as it did, like
+a rope of sand, all the preconceived opinions of
+countless ages on the existence and destiny of the
+living dead.</p>
+
+<p>Those who have become familiar with the revealments
+of the spirit circle will only smile at the
+consternation evoked in this rustic party by the now
+familiar presence and manifestations of "the spirits,"
+but to those who still stand in the night of superstition,
+deeming of all earth's countless millions as
+"dead," "lost," "gone," no one knows whither; never<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>
+to return; to give no sign, no echo, no dim vibration
+from that vast gulf profound of unfathomed mystery&mdash;what
+a picture is that which suddenly brings them
+face to face with the mighty hosts of the vanished
+dead, all clothed in life, and girded round with a
+panoply of power, and light, and strength; with
+vivid memory of the secret wrongs deemed buried in
+their graves. Our cities are thronged with an unseen
+people who flit about us, their piercing eyes
+invisible to us, are scanning all our ways. The universe
+is teeming with them,&mdash;"THERE ARE NO DEAD,"&mdash;the
+air, the earth, and the sky above, are filled with
+a viewless host of spirit&mdash;witnesses whose messages
+ever declare "There is no death."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Amongst the investigators introduced to the
+household was a Mr. William Deusler, of Arcadia,
+an immediate neighbour of the Fox family at this
+time, and from his testimony we gather a great
+many interesting facts as to the evidence offered by
+the injured spirit in order that its identity could be
+clearly established.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Deusler had formerly lived with his father
+in this house, and the message that the spirit had
+received an injury, prompted him to ask if either he
+or his father had been the cause of such an injury.
+On receiving an assurance that they were in no way
+responsible, the investigation was continued, the
+results being here given in Mr. Deusler's own words&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I then asked if Mr. &mdash;&mdash; [naming a person who
+had formerly lived in the house] had injured it, and
+if so, to manifest it by rapping, and it made three
+knocks louder than common, and at the same time
+the bedstead jarred more than it had done before.
+I then inquired if it was murdered for money, and
+the knocking was heard. I then requested it to rap<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>
+when I mentioned the sum of money for which it
+was murdered. I then asked if it was one hundred,
+two, three or four, and when I came to five hundred
+the rapping was heard. All in the room said they
+heard it distinctly. I then asked the question if it
+was five hundred dollars, and the rapping was heard.</p>
+
+<p>"After this, I sent over and got Artemus W. Hyde
+to come over.<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> He came over. I then asked over
+nearly the same questions as before, and got the
+same answers. Mr. Redfield sent after David Jewel
+and wife, and Mrs. Hyde also came. After they
+came in I asked the same questions over and got the
+same answers.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. I then asked it to rap my
+age&mdash;the number of years of my age. It rapped
+thirty times. This is my age, and I do not think
+any one about here knew my age, except myself and
+family. I then told it to rap my wife's age, and it
+rapped thirty times, which is her exact age; several
+of us counted it at the same time. I then asked it
+to rap A. W. Hyde's age; then Mrs. A. W. Hyde's
+age. I then continued to ask it to rap the ages of
+different persons&mdash;naming them&mdash;in the room, and it
+did so correctly, as they all said. I then asked the
+number of children in the different families in the
+neighbourhood, and it told them correctly in the
+usual way, by rapping; also the number of deaths<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>
+that had taken place in the different families, and it
+told correctly.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.</p>
+
+<p>"I then asked in regard to the time it was
+murdered, and in the usual way, by asking the
+different days of the week and the different hours of
+the day, learned that it was murdered on Tuesday
+night, about twelve o'clock. The rapping was heard
+only when this particular time was mentioned. When
+it was asked if it was murdered on a Wednesday, or
+Thursday, or Friday night, etc., there was no rapping.
+I then asked if it carried any trunk, and it rapped
+that it did. Then how many, and it rapped once.
+In the same way we ascertained that it had goods in
+the trunk, and that &mdash;&mdash; took them when he murdered
+him; and that he had a pack of goods besides.
+I asked if its wife was living, and it did not rap.
+If she was dead, and it rapped.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. This was
+tried over several times and the result was always
+the same.</p>
+
+<p>"I then tried to ascertain the first letters of its
+name by calling over the different letters of the
+alphabet. I commenced with A, and asked if it was
+the initial of its name; and when I asked if it was
+B the rapping commenced. We then tried all the
+other letters, but could get no answer by the usual
+rapping. I then asked if we could find out the whole<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>
+name by reading over all the letters of the alphabet,
+and there was no rapping. I then reversed the
+question, and the rapping was heard.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.
+There were a good many more questions asked on
+that night by myself and others which I do not now
+remember. They were all readily answered in the
+same way. I staid in the house until about twelve
+o'clock and then came home. Mr. Redfield and Mr.
+Fox staid in the house that night.</p>
+
+<p>"Saturday night I went over again about seven
+o'clock. The house was full of people when I got
+there. They said it had been rapping some time.
+I went into the room. It was rapping in answer to
+questions when I went in.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.</p>
+
+<p>"There were as many as three hundred people in
+and around the house at this time, I should think.
+Hiram Soverhill, Esq., and Volney Brown asked it
+questions while I was there, and it rapped in answer
+to them.</p>
+
+<p>"I went over again on Sunday between one and
+two o'clock p.m. I went into the cellar with several
+others, and had them all leave the house over our
+heads; and then I asked, if there had been a man
+buried in the cellar, to manifest it by rapping or any
+other noise or sign. The moment I asked the question<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>
+there was a sound like the falling of a stick about a
+foot long and half an inch through, on the floor in
+the bedroom over our heads. It did not seem to
+rebound at all; there was but one sound. I then
+asked Stephen Smith to go right up and examine the
+room, and see if he could discover the cause of the
+noise. He came back and said he could discover
+nothing; that there was no one in the room, or in
+that part of the house. I then asked two more
+questions, and it rapped in the usual way. We all
+went up-stairs and made a thorough search, but
+could find nothing.</p>
+
+<p>"I then got a knife and fork, and tried to see if
+I could make the same noise by dropping them, but
+I could not. This was all I heard on Sunday. There
+is only one floor, or partition, or thickness between
+the bedroom and the cellar; no place where anything
+could be secreted to make the noise. When this
+noise was heard in the bedroom I could feel a slight
+tremulous motion or jar.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.</p>
+
+<p>"On Monday night I heard this noise again, and
+asked the same questions I did before and got the
+same answers. This is the last time I have heard any
+rapping. I can in no way account for this singular
+noise which I and others have heard. It is a mystery
+to me which I am unable to solve.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I lived in the same house about seven years ago,
+and at that time never heard any noises of the kind
+in and about the premises. I have understood from
+Johnston and others who have lived there before &mdash;&mdash;
+moved there, that there were no such sounds heard
+there while they occupied the house. I never believed
+in haunted houses, or heard or saw anything but
+what I could account for before.</p>
+
+<div class='sig'>
+<span style="margin-right: 4em;">(Signed),</span><br />
+WILLIAM DEUSLER."<br /></div>
+
+<div class='unindent'>"April 12, 1848."<br />
+</div>
+
+<p>To the same effect is the testimony of the following
+persons, whose certificates were published in a
+pamphlet by E. E. Lewis, Esq., of Canandaigua, New
+York, namely: John D. Fox, Walter Scotten, Elizabeth
+Jewel, Lorren Tenney, James Bridger, Chauncey
+P. Losey, Benjamin F. Clark, Elizabeth Fox, Vernelia
+Culver, William D. Storer, Marvin P. Losey, David
+S. Fox, and Mary Redfield.<br /><br /></p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> The son of the proprietor of the house at Hydesville.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The news of the mysterious rappings continued
+to spread abroad, and the house was filled with
+anxious seekers for the unknown and invisible visitor.
+Up to this time the noises had only been heard at
+night, but on Sunday morning, April 2nd, the sounds
+were first heard in the daytime, and by any who
+could get into the house. It has been estimated that
+at one time there were about five hundred people
+gathered around the house, so great was the excitement
+at the commencement of these strange occurrences.</p>
+
+<p>On the Monday following, Mr. Fox and others
+commenced digging in the cellar, but as the house
+was built on low ground and in the vicinity of a
+stream then much swollen by rains, it was not
+surprising that they were baffled by the influx of
+water at the distance of three feet down. In the
+summer of 1848, when the ground was dry and the
+water lowered, the digging again commenced, when
+they found a plank, a vacant place or hole, some bits
+of crockery, which seemed to have been a washbowl,
+traces of charcoal, quicklime, some human hair,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>
+bones (declared on examination by a surgeon to be
+human), including a portion of a skull, but no connected
+skull was found.</p>
+
+<p>[Interesting facts relating to the missing portions
+of the human body were announced in the public
+newspapers as recently as December, 1904, for which
+see <a href="#Page_59">Appendix</a>.]</p>
+
+<p>Such were the results of the examination of the
+cellar; such the only corroborative evidences obtained
+of the truth of the spirit's tale of untimely death.
+The presence of human remains in the cellar proves
+that someone was buried there, and the quicklime
+and charcoal testify to the fact that attempts were
+made to secretly dispose of the body of the victim.</p>
+
+<p>The Fox family did not immediately quit the
+scene of this mysterious haunting, but remained to
+witness still more astounding phenomena. The furniture
+was frequently moved about; the girls were
+often touched by hard cold hands; doors were
+opened and shut with violence; their beds were so
+violently shaken that they were obliged to "camp
+out" as they termed it, on the ground; their bedclothes
+were dragged from them, and the very floor
+and house made to rock as in an earthquake. Night
+after night they would be appalled by hearing a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span>
+sound like a death struggle, the gurgling of the
+throat, a sudden thud as of something falling, the
+dragging as of a helpless body across the room and
+down the cellar stairs, the digging of a grave, nailing
+of boards, and the filling up as of a new made grave.
+These sounds have subsequently been produced by
+request, and spontaneously also, in the presence of
+many persons assembled in circles at Rochester.</p>
+
+<p>It was perceived that "the spirits" seemed to
+select or require the presence of the two younger
+girls of the family for the production of the sounds,
+and though these had been made without them,
+especially on the night of the 31st of March, when
+all the members of the family save Mr. Fox were
+absent from the house, still as curiosity prompted
+them to close observation and conversation with the
+invisible power, it was clear that the manifestations
+became more powerful in the presence of Kate, the
+youngest daughter, than with any one else.</p>
+
+<p>As the house was continually thronged with
+curious inquirers, and the time, comfort and peace of
+the family were consumed with these harassing disturbances,
+besides the most absurd though injurious
+suspicions being cast upon them, they endeavoured
+to baffle the haunters by sending Kate to reside with
+her eldest sister, Mrs. Fish, at Rochester; but no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>
+sooner had she gone than the manifestations re-commenced
+with more force than ever, in the presence
+of Margaretta. In course of time Mrs. Fox, with both
+her daughters, went to live in Rochester, but neither
+change of place nor house, nor yet the separation of
+the family, afforded them any relief from the disturbances
+that evidently attached themselves to persons
+rather than places as formerly.</p>
+
+<p>Although the Fox family had for months striven
+to banish the power that tormented them, praying
+with all the fervour of true Methodism to be released
+from it, and enduring fear, loss and anxiety in its
+continuance, the report of its persistence began to
+spread abroad, causing a rain of persecutions to fall
+upon them from all quarters. Old friends looked
+coldly on them, and strangers circulated the most
+atrocious slanders at their expense.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Fish, the eldest sister, who was a teacher of
+music in Rochester, began to lose her pupils, and
+whilst the blanching of the poor mother's hair in a
+single week bore testimony to the mental tortures
+which supra-mundane terrors and mundane cruelties
+had heaped upon them, the world was taunting them
+with imposture and with originating the very manifestations
+which were destroying their health, peace
+of mind, and good name. They had solicited the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>
+advice of their much-respected friend, Isaac Post, a
+highly esteemed Quaker citizen of Rochester, and at
+his suggestion succeeded in communicating by raps
+with the invisible power, through the alphabet (an
+attempt had been previously made but without success).
+Telegraphic numbers were given to signify "Yes" or
+"No," "Doubtful," etc., and sentences were spelled
+out by which they learned the astounding facts that
+not only "Charles Rosna" the murdered pedlar, but
+hosts of spirits, good and bad, high and low, could
+under certain conditions not understood, and impossible
+for mortals yet to comprehend, communicate
+with earth; that such communication was produced
+through the forces of spiritual magnetism, in chemical
+affinity; that the varieties of magnetism in different
+individuals afforded "medium power" to some, and
+denied it to others; that the magnetic relations
+necessary to produce phenomena were very subtle,
+liable to disturbance and singularly susceptible to the
+influence of the mental emotions. In addition to
+communications purporting thus to explain the object
+and something of the modus operandi of the communion,
+numerous spirit friends of the family, and
+also of those who joined in their investigations,
+gladdened the hearts of their astonished relatives by
+direct and unlooked-for tests of their presence. They
+came spelling out their names, ages and various
+tokens of identity correctly, and proclaiming the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>
+joyful tidings that they all "still lived," "still loved,"
+and with the tenderness of human affection and the
+wisdom of a higher sphere of existence, watched
+over and guided the beloved ones who had mourned
+them as dead, with all the gracious ministry of
+guardian angels.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>But redolent of joy and consolation as is the
+intercourse with beloved friends, at this time when
+orderly communion has succeeded doubtful experiment,
+it must not be supposed that any such
+harmonious results characterised the initiatory proceedings
+of the spiritual movement which now made
+its advent in Rochester.</p>
+
+<p>Within and without the dwellings of the medium,
+all was fear, consternation, doubt, and anxiety.
+Fanatical religionists of different sects had forced
+themselves into the family gatherings, and the wildest
+scenes of rant, cant, and absurdity often ensued.
+Opinions of the most astounding nature were hazarded
+concerning the object of this movement; some
+determining that it was a "millennium" and looking
+for the speedy reign of a personal Messiah and the
+equally speedy destruction of the wicked.</p>
+
+<p>It must not be supposed that the clergy were
+idle spectators of the tumultuous wave that was
+sweeping over the city. On the contrary, several of
+them called on Mrs. Fox with offers to "exorcise<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>
+the spirits," and when they found their attempts
+futile, and that though the spirits would rap in
+chorus to the "amens" with which they concluded
+their incantations, they were otherwise unmoved by
+these reverend performances, they generally ended by
+proclaiming abroad that the family were "in league
+with the evil one," or the "authors of a vile imposture."</p>
+
+<p>Honourable exceptions, however, were found to
+this cowardly and unchristian course, and amongst
+these was the Rev. A. H. Jervis, a Methodist minister
+of Rochester, in whose family remarkable manifestations
+occurred of the same character as in that of the
+Foxes, and whose appreciation of the beauty and
+worth of the communications he received, several of
+his published letters bear witness of. Mr. Lyman
+Granger, Rev. Charles Hammond, Deacon Hale, and
+several other families of wealth and influence, both
+in Rochester and the surrounding towns, also began
+to experience similar phenomena in their own households,
+while the news came from all quarters,
+extending as far as Cincinnati and St. Louis, West,
+and Maine, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and New
+York, East, that the mysterious rappings and other
+phases of what is now called "medium power" were
+rapidly spreading from town to town and State to
+State, in fulfilment of an assurance made in the very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>
+first of the communications to the Fox family, namely,
+"that these manifestations were not to be confined
+to them, BUT WOULD GO ALL OVER THE
+WORLD."</p>
+
+<p>The remarkable manner in which this prophecy
+has been fulfilled the most casual observer will readily
+admit; for Spiritualism&mdash;even as a religious power&mdash;has
+far outstripped any other form of religion in the
+world in the rapidity of its growth, having reached
+every civilized nation and permeated every other
+form of belief in less than half a century.</p>
+
+<p>The Fox Sisters were still called the "Rochester
+Knockers," the "Fox Girls," the "Rappers," and
+other epithets, equally foolish and obnoxious to their
+interests and feelings. Catherine Fox, the youngest
+girl, had been removed to the house of Mr. W. E.
+Capron, of Auburn. Mrs. Fish, though generally
+present when phenomena were transpiring, was not
+in its earliest phases conscious of being a medium.
+Margaretta, the other sister, was then in reality the
+only one through whom the manifestations appeared
+to proceed, when in November, 1848, the spirits, who
+had long been urging them to permit public investigations
+to be made through her mediumship, informed
+them by raps that "they could not always strive with
+them," and since they were constantly disobedient to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>
+the spirits' requests, and obviously opposed to their
+presence, they should leave them, and in all probability
+withdraw for another generation, or seek
+through other sources for the fulfilment of the high
+and holy purposes for which this spiritual outpouring
+had been designed. To these appeals the family
+were inflexible. They constantly prayed that the
+cup of this great bitterness "might pass from them."
+They did not wish to be "mediums," and abhorred
+the notoriety, scandal, and persecution which their
+fatal gift had brought them, and when warned that
+the spirits would leave them, they protested their
+delight at the announcement, and expressed their
+earnest desire that it might be fulfilled.</p>
+
+<p>There were present at a circle, when communications
+of this character were made, several influential
+persons of the city, who had become greatly interested
+in the manifestations and were warm friends of the
+family. They could not, however, realise that the
+threat here implied would actually be fulfilled until
+the spirits, by rappings, spelled out several messages
+of a particularly affectionate and valedictory character.
+The scene became, says an eye-witness, solemn and
+impressive. The spirits announced that in twenty
+minutes they would depart, and exactly as that time
+expired they spelled out, "We will now bid you all
+farewell;" when the raps entirely ceased.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The family expressed themselves "glad to get rid
+of them;" the friends present vainly tried to obtain,
+by solicitations, made, as it would seem, to empty
+air, some demonstration that this beneficent and
+wonderful visitation had not indeed wholly ceased.
+All was useless. A mournful silence filled the
+apartment which had but a few minutes before been
+tenanted with angels, sounding out their messages of
+undying affection, tender counsel, wise instruction,
+and prescient warning. The spirits indeed were gone;
+and as one by one the depressed party separated and
+passed out into the silent moonlit streets of Rochester,
+all and each of them felt as if some great light had
+suddenly gone out, and life was changed to them.
+There was a mighty blank in space and a shadow
+everywhere, but spirit light came no more to illuminate
+the thick darkness.</p>
+
+<p>A fortnight passed away, during which the former
+investigators called constantly on the Fox family to
+enquire if their spirit friends had returned. For the
+first few days a stoical negative was their only reply;
+after this, they began more and more fully to recognise
+the loss they had sustained. The wise counsellors
+were gone; the sources of strange strength and
+superhuman consolation were cut off. The tender,
+loving, wonderful presence no more flitted around
+their steps, cheered their meals, encouraged them in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>
+their human weakness, or guided them in their blindness.
+And these most wonderful and providential
+beings their own waywardness had driven from them.
+At last, then, they met their enquiring friends with
+showers of tears, choking sobs, and expressions of the
+bitterest self-reproach and regret.</p>
+
+<p>On the twelfth day of this great heart-dearth,
+Mr. W. E. Capron, being in Rochester on business,
+called at the house of Mrs. Fish, with Mr. George
+Willets, a member of the Society of Friends, and one
+of their earliest spiritual investigators. On receiving
+the usual sorrowful reply that "the spirits had left
+them," Mr. Capron said: "Perhaps they will rap for
+us if not for you." They then entered the hall and
+put the usual question if the spirits would rap for
+them, in answer to which, and to the unspeakable
+delight of all present, they were greeted with a
+perfect shower of the much-lamented sounds.</p>
+
+<p>Once more the spirits urged them to make the
+manifestations public. Again they reiterated the
+charge with solemn earnestness, and despite of the
+mediums' continued aversion to the task imposed
+upon them, the fear of a fresh and final bereavement
+of the inestimable boon of spirit communion
+prevented their continued resistance to the course
+proposed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>When the persons who were called upon to aid
+the mediums and take somewhat prominent parts in
+the work urged the awkwardness of the positions
+assigned them, the spirits only replied, "Your triumph
+will be so much the greater." There is no doubt
+that the severe warning they had just received, and
+the fear of its repetition, acted upon the whole party
+with more force than any argument that could have
+been used to induce their submission.</p>
+
+<p>At the injunctions of the spirits a public investigation
+into the possibility of communion between
+the world of spirits and the earth they once inhabited
+was carried out. Magistrates, editors, and professional
+men were the judges, and enlightened American
+citizens the jury. The aim of wide-spread publicity
+was attained. Thousands heard and wondered at,
+and finally believed in spiritual communion who
+would never have dreamed of the subject but for the
+persecution and slander that was publicly directed
+against the "Rochester Knockers."</p>
+
+<p>The records of these persecutions and slanders
+abound with disgraceful and painful incidents which,
+whilst being discreditable to the persons responsible
+for their propagation redound with full credit to the
+honour and integrity of the mediums selected by the
+Spirit world to be the forerunners of a new dispensation.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And thus the fiery cross, carried by the hands of
+unseen messengers, sped from point to point; the
+beacon fires lighted by invisible hands gleamed on
+every mountain top, and the low muffled sound of
+the spirit-raps that first broke the slumbers of the
+peaceful inhabitants of the humble tenement at
+Hydesville, became the clarion peal that sounded out
+to the millions of the Western Hemisphere, the anthem
+of the soul's immortality, chorused by hosts of God's
+bright ministering angels.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span></p>
+<h2>THE MAIDENS OF THE DAWNING LIGHT.</h2>
+
+<div class='center'>
+(Leah, Kate, Margaret.)<br />
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 25%;" />
+
+<div class='poem2'>
+Oh, rustic little martyrs for the truth!<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Whose earthly eyes so oft were dimmed with tears,</span><br />
+While on your cheeks the blush and bloom of youth<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Was yet unsoiled by unborn struggling years.</span><br />
+<br />
+Long years of suffering, years of holy joys,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Years of defeats and years of victories;</span><br />
+Years of sweet singing and of brawling noise,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Despair&mdash;but ever angel messages.</span><br />
+<br />
+The memory of your mortal lives comes back;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Poor little girls! Why was the world so rough?</span><br />
+Of balm you brought there ever was a lack&mdash;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of heavenly tidings never half enough!</span><br />
+<br />
+Yet when to you the gentle "rappings" came,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Telling the story of immortal life,</span><br />
+The hungry world went crazy-mad to blame,<br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Accuse, defile, hunt, mob, make venomed strife.</span><br />
+<br />
+Humble and poor as Christ was&mdash;kindly, too,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">It seems so strange the thistle, hatred, grew</span><br />
+To whip your tender backs, with great ado,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Because you builded better than you knew.</span><br />
+<br />
+But that is over. You have disappeared<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">From conflicts and from suffering, and to-day</span><br />
+From God's high country, we, your friends, endeared<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">By common aims, feel that you look this way.</span><br />
+<br />
+Welcome, oh, heavenly sisters! See the light<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Your youthful fingers kindled! How it spreads,</span><br />
+Lighting up places where were sin and night,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Whitening souls and shaping princely heads.</span><br />
+<br />
+Lo! far it spreads! Beyond the rolling seas<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Vast congregations celebrate the day</span><br />
+Your questionings unlocked death's mysteries,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And hailed the angels, who had come your way.</span><br />
+</div>
+
+<div class='sig'>
+&mdash;Emma Rood Tuttle.<br />
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span></p>
+<h2>APPENDIX</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 25%;" />
+<h2>A SEQUEL to the "ROCHESTER KNOCKINGS,"
+after 56 years.</h2>
+
+<hr style="width: 25%;" />
+
+<div class='center'>
+Copied from the "Banner of Light," (Boston, U.S.A.)<br />
+December 3rd, 1904.<br />
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 25%;" />
+
+<div class='center'>"TRUTH CRUSHED TO EARTH WILL<br />
+RISE AGAIN."</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 25%;" />
+
+<p>Regardless of what the "Banner" knows of this
+matter, we prefer to present the following statement
+as given in the Boston Journal of Nov. 23. To
+opponents of the claims made by Spiritualists, the
+account may bear greater weight than if made by a
+Spiritualist paper. Take note that the Journal says,
+"an almost entire human skeleton," and not the bones
+of a large dog or of any four-footed animal.</p>
+
+<p>Rochester, N. Y., Nov. 22, 1904.&mdash;The skeleton of
+the man supposed to have caused the rappings first
+heard by the Fox sisters in 1848 has been found in
+the walls of the house occupied by the sisters, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>
+clears them from the only shadow of doubt held
+concerning their sincerity in the discovery of spirit
+communication.</p>
+
+<p>The Fox sisters declared they learned to communicate
+with the spirit of a man, and that he told them
+he had been murdered and buried in the cellar.
+Repeated excavations failed to locate the body and
+thus give proof positive of their story.</p>
+
+<p>The discovery was made by school children playing
+in the cellar of the building in Hydesville known as
+the "Spook house," where the Fox sisters heard the
+wonderful rappings. William H. Hyde, a reputable
+citizen of Clyde, who owns the house, made an investigation
+and found an almost entire human skeleton
+between the earth and crumbling cellar walls, undoubtedly
+that of the wandering pedlar whom it was
+claimed was murdered in the east room of the house,
+and whose body was hidden in the cellar.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Hyde has notified relatives of the Fox sisters
+and the notice of the discovery will be sent to the
+National Order of Spiritualists, many of whom remember
+having made pilgrimages to the "Spook house,"
+as it is commonly called. The finding of the bones
+practically corroborates the sworn statement made by
+Margaret Fox, April 11, 1848. The Fox sisters claimed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>
+to have been disturbed by rappings and finally by a
+system of signals got into communication with the
+spirit.</p>
+
+<p>According to Margaret Fox's statement the spirit
+was that of a pedlar, who described how he had been
+murdered in the house, his body being buried in the
+cellar. There were numerous witnesses to the rappings,
+but although the cellar had been dug up many
+times no traces of the body was found until the
+crumbling cellar walls revealed the skeleton.</p>
+
+<p>The name of the murdered man, according to his
+revelation to the Fox sisters, was Charles Rosna, and
+the murderer a man named Beck. In 1847 the house
+was occupied by Michael Weekman, a poor laborer.
+He and his family became troubled by these mysterious
+rappings, which followed in succession at different
+intervals, especially during the night. The family
+became so broken by fear and loss of sleep that they
+vacated the house. On Dec. 11, the Fox family
+moved in and two months later the rappings were
+resumed and the family became frightened. Finally
+Margaret and Cathie grew bold and asked questions
+which were answered, revealing the murder.</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>FROM HYDESVILLE.</h2>
+
+<hr style="width: 25%;" />
+
+<p>The "Sunflower," December, 1904, says: "The
+following bit of information was transmitted hitherward,
+which, if confirmed, will create additional
+interest in Spiritualism, although, by no means confirming
+the latter, as that does not rest exclusively
+on the phenomena at Hydesville; for since then we
+have had many additional phenomena, as the varied
+physical phases, materialisation, slate-writing and
+drawing, painting, levitation, passing of matter
+through matter, trance-speaking, clairvoyance, psychometric
+reading, and numerous other modes of communicating
+with the spirit world. The correspondent
+says: William H. Hyde, who recently found the arm
+and leg bones of a human being at the old Fox
+homestead, made another search in the cellar where
+the bones were first exposed by the caving in of the
+inside cellar wall. Mr. Hyde discovered all the other
+important bones except the skull. The latter corroborates
+the statement as made in the history of the
+first rappings, a work entitled, 'The Missing Link in
+Spiritualism.'"</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 25%;" />
+
+<p>Note by Editor.&mdash;Attention is drawn to the fact
+that a portion of the skull (which the foregoing report
+declares to be missing) was discovered during the digging
+operations at the time of the "Knockings"&mdash;1848.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<div class='tnote'><h3>Transcriber's Notes:</h3>
+<p>Obvious punctuation errors were corrected.</p>
+<p><a href="#Page_59">Page 59</a>, word "Appendix" taken from page header and added to text.</p>
+<p>The remaining correction made is indicated by a dotted line under the correction. Scroll the mouse over the word and the original text will <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'apprear'">appear</ins>.</p></div>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30403 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/30403-h/images/cover.jpg b/30403-h/images/cover.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0d1fdb4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/30403-h/images/cover.jpg
diff --git a/30403-h/images/dec01.png b/30403-h/images/dec01.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6813ce5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/30403-h/images/dec01.png
diff --git a/30403-h/images/dec02.png b/30403-h/images/dec02.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..999909a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/30403-h/images/dec02.png
diff --git a/30403-h/images/deco3.png b/30403-h/images/deco3.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9bc2dab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/30403-h/images/deco3.png
diff --git a/30403-h/images/ill01.jpg b/30403-h/images/ill01.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9a29426
--- /dev/null
+++ b/30403-h/images/ill01.jpg
diff --git a/30403-h/images/ill02.jpg b/30403-h/images/ill02.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..afbeaf0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/30403-h/images/ill02.jpg
diff --git a/30403-h/images/ill03.jpg b/30403-h/images/ill03.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..285944c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/30403-h/images/ill03.jpg
diff --git a/30403-h/images/tp.jpg b/30403-h/images/tp.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..771fd79
--- /dev/null
+++ b/30403-h/images/tp.jpg
diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6312041
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e6d08cd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #30403 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/30403)
diff --git a/old/30403-h.zip b/old/30403-h.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e14ba1b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/30403-h.zip
diff --git a/old/30403-h/30403-h.htm b/old/30403-h/30403-h.htm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ba34f40
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/30403-h/30403-h.htm
@@ -0,0 +1,2091 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" />
+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Hydesville, by Thomas Olman Todd</title>
+    <style type="text/css">
+
+    p {margin-top: .75em;
+       text-align: justify;
+       text-indent: 1.25em;
+       margin-bottom: .75em;
+        }
+    img {border: 0;}
+    .tnote      {border: dashed 1px; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em;
+                  padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em;}
+    ins {text-decoration:none;  border-bottom: thin dotted gray;}
+    h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {
+         text-align: center; /* all headings centered */
+         clear: both;
+         }
+    hr { width: 33%;
+	 margin-top: 2em;
+	 margin-bottom: 2em;
+         margin-left: auto;
+         margin-right: auto;
+         clear: both;
+       }
+
+    table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;}
+
+    body{margin-left: 10%;
+         margin-right: 10%;
+        }
+
+    .pagenum  { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */
+            /*  visibility: hidden;  */
+                position: absolute;
+                left: 92%;
+                font-size: smaller;
+                text-align: right;
+              } /* page numbers */
+     .copyright {text-align: center; font-size: 70%;}
+    .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: justify;}
+
+    .bbox     {border: solid 2px; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em;
+                  padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em;}
+
+    .center   {text-align: center;}
+    .smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
+
+    .caption  {font-weight: bold; font-size: 70%;}
+
+    .figcenter   {margin: auto; text-align: center;}
+
+    .figleft     {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top:
+                 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;}
+
+    .figright    {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;
+                 margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;}
+
+    .unindent {margin-top: .75em;
+       text-align: justify;
+       margin-bottom: .75em;
+        }
+    .right    {text-align: right;}
+    .poem      {margin-left: 30%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: left;}
+    .poem2   {margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: left;}
+    .sig    {margin-right: 10%; text-align: right;}
+
+    .footnotes        {border: dashed 1px;}
+    .footnote         {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;}
+    .fnanchor         {vertical-align:baseline;
+        position: relative;
+        bottom: 0.33em;
+        font-size: .8em;
+        text-decoration: none;}
+
+    hr.full { width: 100%;
+              margin-top: 3em;
+              margin-bottom: 0em;
+              margin-left: auto;
+              margin-right: auto;
+              height: 4px;
+              border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */
+              border-style: solid;
+              border-color: #000000;
+              clear: both; }
+    pre      {font-size: 85%;}
+    </style>
+</head>
+<body>
+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Hydesville, by Thomas Olman Todd</h1>
+<pre>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: Hydesville</p>
+<p>       The Story of the Rochester Knockings, Which Proclaimed the Advent of Modern Spiritualism</p>
+<p>Author: Thomas Olman Todd</p>
+<p>Release Date: November 4, 2009  [eBook #30403]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HYDESVILLE***</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h4>E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell<br />
+    and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br />
+    (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net/c/">http://www.pgdp.net</a>)<br />
+    from page images generously made available by<br />
+    Internet Archive/American Libraries<br />
+    (<a href="http://www.archive.org/details/americana">http://www.archive.org/details/americana</a>)</h4>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;" cellpadding="10">
+  <tr>
+    <td valign="top">
+      Note:
+    </td>
+    <td>
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive/American Libraries. See
+      <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/hydesvillestoryo00todd">
+      http://www.archive.org/details/hydesvillestoryo00todd</a>
+	</td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 360px;">
+<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="360" height="600" alt="Cover" title="" />
+</div>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span></p>
+<h1>HYDESVILLE.</h1>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 422px;">
+<img src="images/ill01.jpg" width="422" height="600" alt="Advent of Spiritualism 1848." title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span></p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 426px;">
+<img src="images/tp.jpg" width="426" height="700" alt="Title Page" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p>
+<h3>DEDICATED TO DAISY.</h3>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80px;">
+<img src="images/dec02.png" width="80" height="31" alt="decoration" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<div class='poem'>
+A creature not too bright or good<br />
+For human nature's daily food,<br />
+For transient sorrows, simple wiles,<br />
+Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears and smiles.<br />
+<div class='sig'>
+&mdash;Wordsworth.<br /></div></div>
+
+
+
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 124px;">
+<img src="images/dec01.png" width="124" height="40" alt="decoration" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<div class='poem'>
+"Some secret truths from learned pride concealed,<br />
+To maids alone and children are revealed:<br />
+What though no credit doubting wits may give,<br />
+The fair and innocent shall still believe."<br />
+<div class='sig'>
+&mdash;<span class="smcap">Pope.</span><br />
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 124px;">
+<img src="images/dec01.png" width="124" height="40" alt="decoration" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+<div class='blockquot'><p>"Rightly viewed, no meanest object is insignificant; all
+objects are as windows, through which the philosophic eye looks
+into infinitude itself."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Carlyle.</span></p></div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 124px;">
+<img src="images/dec01.png" width="124" height="40" alt="decoration" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<div class='poem'>
+<span style="margin-left: 5.5em;">"Rivers from bubbling springs</span><br />
+Have rise at first, and great from abject things."<br />
+<div class='sig'>
+&mdash;<span class="smcap">Middleton.</span><br />
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 124px;">
+<img src="images/dec01.png" width="124" height="40" alt="decoration" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span></p>
+<h2>PREFACE.</h2>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80px;">
+<img src="images/dec02.png" width="80" height="31" alt="decoration" title="" />
+</div>
+<p>The interesting events narrated in this book
+which occurred at Hydesville, in the house of the
+Fox Family, are those by which Modern Spiritualism
+made its advent into this world as a new revelation
+in spiritual matters.</p>
+
+<p>History is not without its reliable records of
+similar phenomena, but, just as many scientific men
+have experimented and stopped short of the gateway
+of the actual discovery of Nature's secrets, so, many
+who came in contact with phenomena similar to
+those of Hydesville whilst being mystified as to
+the meaning of the operating power, stopped short
+of the actual discovery that "It can see as well as
+hear." Notably in the case of the disturbances at
+Mr. Mompesson's house at Tedworth (1661&mdash;1663) and
+Mr. Wesley's parsonage at Epworth (1716&mdash;1717).</p>
+
+<p>The early literature of the Spiritualist Movement
+is replete with most interesting records of phenomena
+of bewildering variety, but during the past twenty
+years the demand for literature on this absorbing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>
+subject has taken a more philosophic turn. The
+phenomena are admittedly real. The philosophy is
+the subject of debate, hence these early records are
+fast going out of print and becoming difficult to
+obtain.</p>
+
+<p>Some few years ago, when the writer paid what
+proved to be his last visit to Mrs. Emma Hardinge
+Britten, he was deeply impressed with her desire that
+the early history of the Spiritualist Movement, for
+which she spent the greater part of her industrious
+life, and with which she had been so intimately
+connected, should not be allowed to pass into oblivion,
+and that at least the story of HYDESVILLE should
+be published in a handy form and at a reasonable
+price. For this purpose she presented him with what
+appeared to be her only remaining copy of her
+invaluable historical work "Modern American Spiritualism,"
+and requested him to undertake that duty.</p>
+
+<p>The incidents recorded in the following pages
+are based chiefly on the information given in the
+work mentioned above, and considerable use is made
+of the actual words and sentences penned by Mrs.
+Britten; these are given without quotation marks.
+Some portions however have been re-written to adapt
+them to the requirements of the present book, whilst
+a few other facts have been gathered from various<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>
+sources, chiefly Robert Dale Owen's "Footfalls on
+the Boundary of Another World." Both Mrs. Britten
+and Mr. Owen were personally acquainted with the
+Fox family and many of the persons incidentally
+mentioned in connection with the phenomena at
+HYDESVILLE&mdash;a fact which gives superior weight
+to their records.</p>
+
+<div class='sig'>
+T. O. T.<br />
+</div>
+
+<p>Sunderland, 1905.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class='right'><br /><br />
+<span style="margin-right: 6em;">Manchester,</span><br />
+
+December 5th, 1897.<br />
+</div>
+<div class='unindent'>
+Mr. T. O. Todd.<br />
+</div>
+
+<p>Dear Sir,</p>
+
+<p>Having been a sad invalid since June of this
+year, and still suffering, I do not quite remember
+whether I have or not written to you on the subject
+to which I desire to devote this poor scrawl. If I
+have not done so hitherto&mdash;permit me to say,&mdash;altho'
+I have been obliged from severe illness to suspend
+my platform work and writings, I am as much interested
+in the earnest desire to help the progress of
+Spiritualism as I have been in my long years of past
+devotion to that cause.</p>
+
+<p>In consequence of my sad illness I have been
+obliged to refuse my kind American Friends' urgent
+invitation to attend their Grand Celebration at
+Rochester, N.Y., next June.</p>
+
+<div class='center'><b>.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.</b></div>
+
+
+<p>I am most anxious to do something for our noble
+cause, [enquirers] will necessarily want to have some
+special accounts of the first opening of the Spiritual
+Movement and the history of the poor Fox Family
+and their immediate connection with the famous
+"Rochester Knockings." All this I, who knew the
+Fox Family and all the circumstances of the case<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>
+personally and intimately, have written and published
+in full detail in my widely circulated work "Modern
+American Spiritualism."&mdash;But this work consists of
+560 pages, and tho' bought by thousands of American
+Spiritualists, I should not know in England where
+to turn to find a copy except in my own bookcase.</p>
+
+<p>Now what I propose is this: In the first hundred
+pages is the full and entire history of the movement;
+the life and labours of A. J. Davis,&mdash;the life, sufferings,
+and bitter persecutions of the poor Foxes, and all
+their early trials; friends, foes, and all connected
+with them. Why cannot you .&nbsp;.&nbsp;. take those
+hundred pages, condense them, and make a splendid
+pamphlet of them?</p>
+
+<div class='center'><b>.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;.</b></div>
+
+
+<div class='sig'>
+<span style="margin-right: 6em;">Sincerely yours,</span><br />
+EMMA HARDINGE BRITTEN.<br />
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span></p>
+<h2>SPIRIT RAPPINGS.</h2>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 124px;">
+<img src="images/dec01.png" width="124" height="40" alt="Decoration" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<div class='center'><br />(This poem will be found set to music in<br />
+the "Spiritual Songster.")<br /><br /></div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 124px;">
+<img src="images/dec01.png" width="124" height="40" alt="Decoration" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+<div class='poem2'><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rap, rap, rap! Rap, rap, rap! Rap, rap, rap!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Who is it rapping to-night?</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Only invisible friends,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Come from those chambers whose light</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Radiantly earth-ward descends,</span><br />
+Those whose dear forms you have covered from sight,<br />
+And mark'd by a marble shaft solemn and white,<br />
+Have come from the land where their life bloom'd anew,<br />
+And lo! by those raps they are talking to you.<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rap, rap, rap! Rap, rap, rap! Rap, rap, rap!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Daintiest fingers of air</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wake the most delicate sound</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Rapping on table or chair,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lov'd ones of earth gather round</span><br />
+Making us know that our lov'd ones have come,<br />
+Come back to our hearts, and their dear earthly home,<br />
+Forget they will never, thro' glory bath'd years,<br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>How lonely they left us in sadness and tears.<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rap, rap, rap! Rap, rap, rap! Rap, rap, rap!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Guests we would honour are here!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hear the light rappings, and know</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Visiting Angels are near,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Greeting their earth friends below!</span><br />
+Oh, bid them welcome, in garments of white,<br />
+To hearts which are pure and illumin'd with light;<br />
+They wander at will o'er two wonderful lands,<br />
+Oh, list to their counsels, and give them your hands.<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rap, rap, rap! Rap, rap, rap! Rap, rap, rap!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Lov'd ones are rapping to-night;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Heaven seems not far away;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Death's sweeping river is bright,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Soft is the sheen of its spray.</span><br />
+Magical changes those rappings have wrought,<br />
+Sweet hope to the hopeless their patter has brought,<br />
+And death is bridg'd over with amaranth flow'rs:<br />
+Blest Spirits come back from their bright homes to ours.<br />
+</div>
+
+<div class='sig'>
+&mdash;Emma R. Tuttle.<br /></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span></p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 348px;">
+<img src="images/ill02.jpg" width="348" height="500" alt="Kate Fox" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span></p>
+<h2>HYDESVILLE.</h2>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 83px;">
+<img src="images/deco3.png" width="83" height="31" alt="Decoration" title="" />
+</div>
+<h2>THE STORY OF THE ROCHESTER KNOCKINGS.</h2>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 83px;">
+<img src="images/deco3.png" width="83" height="31" alt="Decoration" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The birth-places of the greatest of the world's
+social, political, and religious reformations have
+generally been of insignificant and lowly aspect, and
+apparently under the most inauspicious circumstances
+for producing any great effect upon mankind. The
+Babe of the lowly manger becomes the Spiritual
+King of millions of human hearts and souls, and the
+"Wood Hut" becomes the gateway through which
+Holy Ministers of Light, from their world of Truth
+and Beauty, send the evidence of man's immortality,
+through the instrumentality of a child, to the weary
+worn pilgrims of earth, who, praying for the "touch
+of a vanish'd hand, and the sound of a voice that is
+still," welcome with joyful hearts the Spirit message
+"WE STILL LIVE."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The scene of the manifestations dealt with in the
+following pages, was a small wooden homestead, one
+of a cluster of houses like itself, in the little village
+of Hydesville, near to the town of Newark, Wayne
+County, New York (being so called after Dr. Hyde,
+an old settler, whose son was the proprietor of the
+house in question). The place not being directly
+accessible from a railroad, was lonely and unmarked
+by those tokens of progress that the locomotive
+generally leaves in its track, hence it was the last
+spot where a scene of fraud and deception could find
+a possibility of a successful execution. The house
+was a humble frame dwelling fronting south, consisting
+of two fair-size parlours opening into each
+other, east of these a bedroom and a buttery or
+pantry, opening into one of the sitting rooms; and
+a stairway between the buttery and the bedroom
+leading from the sitting room up to the half storey
+above and from the buttery down to the cellar.</p>
+
+<p>This humble dwelling had been selected as a
+temporary residence during the erection of another
+house in the country, by Mr. John D. Fox, who, with
+his family, soon afterwards became so prominently
+identified with the phenomena which have since become
+world famous. Their little dwelling, though
+so small and simply furnished as to leave no shadow
+of opportunity for concealment or trick, was the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>
+residence of honest piety and rural simplicity. All
+who ever knew them bore witness to the unimpeachable
+character of the good mother, while the integrity
+of the simple-minded farmers who were father and
+brother to the sisters who have since become so
+celebrated as the "Rochester Knockers" stands proved
+beyond all question.</p>
+
+<p>The ancestors of Mr. Fox were Germans, the
+name being originally "Voss"; but both he and Mrs.
+Fox were native born. In Mrs. Fox's family, French
+by origin and Rutan by name, several individuals
+had evinced the power of second sight,&mdash;her maternal
+grandmother (Margaret Ackerman) who resided at
+Long Island, had frequent perceptions of coming
+events; so vivid were these presentiments that she
+frequently followed phantom funerals to the grave
+as if they were real.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Fox's sister also, Mrs. Elizabeth Higgins, had
+similar power. On one occasion, in the year 1823,
+the two sisters, then residing in New York, proposed
+to go to Sodus by canal. But one morning Elizabeth
+said, "We shall not make this trip by water." "Why
+so?" her sister asked. "Because I dreamed last night
+that we travelled by land, and there was a strange
+person with us. In my dream, too, I thought we
+came to Mott's tavern on the Beech Woods, and that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>
+they could not admit us because Mrs. Mott lay
+dying in the house. I know it will all come true."
+"Very likely indeed!" her sister replied, "for last
+year, when we passed there, Mr. Mott's wife lay dead
+in the house." "You will see. He must have
+married again and he will lose his second wife."
+Every particular came to pass as Mrs. Higgins had
+predicted. Mrs. Johnson, a stranger, whom at the
+time of the dream they had not seen, did go with
+them, they made the journey by land and were
+refused admittance into Mott's tavern for the very
+cause assigned in the dream.</p>
+
+<p>The family of Mr. and Mrs. Fox consisted of six
+children, but at the time of the manifestations the
+house was occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Fox and their
+two youngest children only, Margaretta, aged twelve,
+and Kate, aged nine years. These details, insignificant
+as they may now appear, are due alike to the
+family and posterity. When the future of this wonderful
+movement shall have become matter of history
+and antiquity, if not reverence for spiritual truth,
+and shall induce mankind to follow the example of
+their ancestors and label the records "sacred," the
+names now sunk in obscurity and masked by slander
+may perchance be engraved in monuments of bronze
+and marble, and the incidents now deemed too slight
+for notice become reverenced as "Holy Writ."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>
+These changes of chance and time have happened
+before; if history repeats itself they will occur again.
+It was reserved to this family to be the instruments
+of communicating to the world this most singular
+affair. They were the ones who first, as if by accident,
+found out that there was an INTELLIGENCE
+MANIFESTED EVEN IN THE RAPPING, which
+at first appeared nothing more than an annoying and
+unaccountable noise.</p>
+
+<p>In a publication of the early investigations connected
+with this house, entitled: "A Report of the
+Mysterious Noises heard in the house of Mr. John D.
+Fox, in Hydesville, Arcadia, Wayne County, authenticated
+by the certificates and confirmed by the
+statements of the citizens of that place and vicinity,"
+we find that some disturbances had affected the
+house before the Fox family came to live there. In
+the year 1843-4, the farm was occupied by a Mr. and
+Mrs. Bell, who, during the last three months of their
+stay were joined by a young girl&mdash;Lucretia Pulver,
+who sometimes worked for them, and at other times
+boarded with them and went to school, she being
+about fifteen years old.</p>
+
+<p>According to the statement of Lucretia, called
+forth by subsequent investigations, a pedlar called at
+the house one afternoon whom Mrs. Bell seemed to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>
+recognise as an acquaintance. He was a man about
+thirty years of age, dressed in a black frock coat,
+light trousers and vest, and carried with him a pack
+of goods containing dress material and other draperies.</p>
+
+<p>Shortly after the arrival of the pedlar, Mrs. Bell
+called the girl to say that she could not afford to
+keep her any longer, and that as she was going to
+the next village the same afternoon, she might pack
+her clothes and they would go together. Before
+going, Lucretia chose from the pedlar's pack a piece
+of delaine, asking him to leave it at her father's
+house; this he promised to do the next day. Mrs.
+Bell and Lucretia then left the house, the pedlar and
+Mr. Bell remained behind, the former apparently
+having decided to stay there for the day. The pedlar
+did not call at Lucretia's father's house next day in
+fulfilment of his promise to do so, nor, in fact, was
+he ever seen again, a circumstance which should be
+borne in mind when the sequel to this story is under
+consideration.</p>
+
+<p>About three days afterwards, much to the girl's
+surprise, Mrs. Bell sent for Lucretia to return to her
+again. She did so, and from that time she began to
+hear noises and knockings in her bedroom, the same
+room which was afterwards occupied by Mr. and
+Mrs. Fox. On one occasion, when Mr. and Mrs. Bell<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>
+were away from home at Lock Berlin, and Lucretia
+had to remain in the house, she sent for her young
+brother and a girl friend named Aurelia Losey to
+stay in the house with her. During the night they
+all heard noises which they declared sounded like
+the footsteps of a man passing from the bedroom to
+the buttery, then down the cellar stairs, traversing
+the cellar for a short time and then suddenly stopping.
+They were all very much frightened and got up to
+fasten the doors and windows, but were scarcely able
+to sleep the remainder of the night.</p>
+
+<p>About a week after the visit of the pedlar to the
+house, Lucretia having occasion to go down into the
+cellar, stumbled and fell into a hole filled with soft
+soil, this somewhat frightened her and caused her to
+scream for assistance. Mrs. Bell coming to her
+rescue, Lucretia asked what Mr. Bell had been doing
+in the cellar that it was all "dug up." Mrs. Bell
+replied that "the holes were only rat holes," and a
+few nights afterwards Lucretia observed that Mr.
+Bell was busy for some time in the cellar filling up
+the "rat holes" with earth which he carried there
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>During the remainder of the period in which the
+house was occupied by the Bell family, the sounds
+continued to be heard, not only by Lucretia but by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>
+Mrs. Bell. Lucretia's mother, Mrs. Pulver, was a
+frequent visitor at the house, and on one occasion
+in particular, after the foregoing events, when she
+called upon Mrs. Bell, she found the latter quite ill
+from want of rest, and on enquiring the cause, Mrs.
+Bell declared she was "sick of her life," and that
+she frequently "heard the footsteps of a man traversing
+the house all night."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2>
+
+
+<p>A few months after these events happened the
+Bells left the neighbourhood, and the house became
+tenanted by a Mr. and Mrs. Weekman, who lived
+there about eighteen months, and left in the year
+1847. Mr. Weekman's statement respecting the noises
+he heard was to the effect that one evening when he
+was about to retire for the night, he heard a rapping
+on the outside door, and, what was rather unusual
+for him, instead of familiarly bidding them "come
+in," stepped to the door and opened it. He had no
+doubt of finding some one who wished to come in,
+but to his surprise found no one there. He stepped
+out and looked around, supposing that some person
+was imposing on him, he could discover no one, and
+went back into the house. After a short time he
+heard the rapping again, and stepped up and held
+on to the latch, so that he might ascertain if any one
+had taken that means to annoy him. The rapping
+was repeated, the door opened instantly, but no one
+was in sight. Mr. Weekman states that he could
+feel the jar of the door very plainly when the rapping
+was heard. As he opened the door he sprang out
+and went around the house, but no one was in sight,
+nor could he find trace of any intruder.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>They were frequently afterwards disturbed by
+strange and unaccountable noises. One night Mrs.
+Weekman heard what she deemed to be the footsteps
+of someone walking in the cellar. Another night Mr.
+Weekman and his wife were disturbed by hearing a
+scream from their child, a girl about eight years of
+age,&mdash;this happened at midnight,&mdash;they went to her
+and she told them that something like a hand passed
+over her face and head; it seemed cold, and so
+badly had she been frightened that it was some time
+before she could be induced to tell her parents the
+cause of her alarm, nor would she consent to sleep
+in the same room for several nights afterwards.</p>
+
+<p>All this might have happened, and been only the
+idle fabric of a child's dream, the Weekman family
+might have imagined what they gave out as fact,
+and we should be inclined to believe that such was
+the case, if we had not the most conclusive evidence
+that such manifestations were quite common, not
+only in this house, but in various others where
+similarly strange things have happened.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2>
+
+<div class='poem'>
+"Know well my soul, God's hand controls<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Whate'er thou fearest."</span><br />
+</div>
+
+
+<p>From the time the Fox family entered the house
+at Hydesville, about December, 1847, they were incessantly
+disturbed by similar noises to those heard
+by Lucretia Pulver and the Weekmans. During the
+next month however (January, 1848) the noises began
+to assume the character of slight knockings heard at
+night in the bedroom; sometimes appearing to sound
+from the cellar beneath. At first Mrs. Fox sought
+to persuade herself this might be the hammering of
+a shoemaker in a house hard by, sitting up late at
+work. But further observation showed that the
+sounds originated in the house. For not only did
+the knockings become more distinct, and not only
+were they heard first in one part of the house, then
+in another, but the family remarked that these raps,
+even when not very loud, often caused a motion,
+tremulous rather than a sudden jar, of the bedsteads
+and chairs&mdash;sometimes of the floor; a motion which
+was quite perceptible to the touch when a hand was
+laid on the chairs, which was sometimes sensibly
+felt at night in the slightly oscillating motion of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>
+bed, and which was occasionally perceived as a sort
+of vibration even when standing on the floor. After
+a time also, the noises varied in their character,
+sounding occasionally like distinct footfalls in the
+different rooms.</p>
+
+<p>In the month of February, the noises became so
+distinct and continuous that their rest was broken
+night after night, and they were all becoming worn
+out in their efforts to discover the cause of the
+annoyances. These disturbances were not confined
+to sounds merely,&mdash;once something heavy, as if a dog,
+seemed to lie on the feet of the children; but it was
+gone before the mother could come to their aid.
+Another time (this was late in March) Kate felt as if
+a cold hand was on her face. Occasionally too, the
+bedclothes were pulled during the night. Finally
+chairs were moved from their places. The disturbances,
+which had been limited to occasional knockings
+throughout February and March, gradually increased
+towards the close of the latter month, both in loudness
+and frequency. Mr. Fox and his wife got up
+night after night, lit a candle, and thoroughly searched
+every nook and corner of the house; but without
+any result. They discovered nothing. When the
+raps came on a door, Mr. Fox would stand, ready to
+open the door the instant the raps were repeated.
+Though he opened the door immediately there was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>
+no one to be seen. Nor did he or Mrs. Fox obtain
+any clue as to the cause of the trouble, notwithstanding
+all the efforts they made and the precautions
+they exercised.</p>
+
+<p>The only circumstance which seemed to suggest
+the possibility of trickery or of mistake was, that
+these various unexplained occurrences never happened
+in daylight, and thus notwithstanding the strangeness
+of the thing, when morning came they began to think
+it must have been the fancy of the night. Not being
+given to superstition, they clung, throughout several
+weeks of annoyance, to the idea that some natural
+explanation of these seemingly mysterious events
+would at last appear, nor did they abandon this hope
+till the night of</p>
+
+<div class='center'>
+FRIDAY, MARCH 31st, 1848,<br />
+</div>
+
+<div class='unindent'>a date which was destined to be indelibly imprinted
+on the minds of the coming generations as the daybreak
+of a new era in the spiritual development of
+humanity, a date which has since been regularly
+observed as marking the advent of the greatest
+spiritual revelation of modern times, and recognised
+as the anniversary of the Spiritualist movement in
+all parts of the world.</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The day had been cold and stormy, with snow
+on the ground. In the course of the afternoon, David,
+a son of Mr. and Mrs. Fox, came to visit his parents
+from his farm about three miles distant. Mrs. Fox
+then first recounted to him the particulars of the
+annoyances they had endured; for until now they
+had been little disposed to communicate these to any
+one. He listened to her with a smiling face. "Well
+mother," he said, "I advise you not to say a word
+about it to the neighbours. When you find it out it
+will be one of the simplest things in the world."
+And in that belief he returned to his own home.</p>
+
+<p>Wearied out by a succession of sleepless nights
+and of fruitless attempts to penetrate the mystery,
+the Fox family retired on that Friday evening very
+early to rest, hoping for a respite from the disturbances
+that <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'harrased'">harassed</ins> them. But they were doomed to
+disappointment. The parents had had the children's
+beds removed into their own bedroom, and strictly
+enjoined them not to talk of the noises even if they
+heard them. But scarcely had the mother seen them
+safely in bed, and was retiring to rest herself, when
+the children cried out "Here they are again." The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>
+mother chid them and lay down, but as though in
+rebuke of her apparent indifference, they were on this
+occasion louder and more pertinacious than ever.
+Rest was impossible. The children kept up a continuous
+chatter, sitting up in bed to listen to the
+sounds. Mr. Fox tried the windows and doors, to
+discover, if possible, the source of the annoyance.
+The night being windy it suggested itself to him that
+it might be the sashes rattling, but all in vain; the
+raps continued and were evidently answering the
+noise occasioned by the father shaking the windows,
+as if in mockery.</p>
+
+<p>At length the youngest child, Kate&mdash;who in her
+guileless innocence had become familiar with the
+invisible knocker, until she was more amused than
+alarmed at its presence&mdash;merrily exclaimed: "Here,
+Mr. Split-foot, do as I do." The effect was instantaneous:
+the invisible rapper responded by imitating
+the number of her movements. She then made a
+given number of motions with her finger and thumb
+in the air, but without noise, and her astonishment
+was re-doubled to find that these movements were
+seen by the invisible rapper, for a corresponding
+number of knocks were immediately given to her
+noiseless motions, whilst from her lips as though but
+in childish jest and transport at her new discovery
+there sprang to life the words which revealed the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>
+sublimest Spiritual Truth of modern times: "Only
+look mother</p>
+
+<div class='center'>
+IT CAN SEE AS WELL AS HEAR."<br />
+</div>
+
+<div class='unindent'>Words which have since become a text which Doctors,
+Professors, sceptics and scoffers have tried to crush
+out of existence&mdash;and ignominously failed, but which
+on the other hand have brought comfort, solace, and
+permanent joy to the hearts of hundreds of thousands&mdash;nay,
+millions surely,&mdash;of earth's weary pilgrims.
+Words which declared a truth since tested by every
+possible subtlety and sophistry which the ingenuity
+of man could suggest or devise, but which has stood
+firmly through every ordeal. Words which declare
+a truth that has already become the firm foundation
+of faith for an ever progressive Spiritual Church,
+made up of almost every nation of the earth, and
+embracing adherents from every rank of philosophic,
+scientific, religious and social life, which, moreover,
+reveals its own attributes to the child and the philosopher
+alike, and provides the missing link between
+a finite material world and a world of infinite
+spiritual possibilities by proving the continuity of life.</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 340px;">
+<img src="images/ill03.jpg" width="340" height="600" alt="It can see as well as hear" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Happily for the momentous work which the
+spiritual telegraphers had undertaken to initiate in
+this humble dwelling, the first manifestations did not
+appeal to the high and learned of the earth, but to
+the plain common-sense of an honest farmer's wife,
+and suggested that whatever could see, hear, and
+intelligently respond to relevant queries, must have
+in it something in common with humanity; and thus
+Mrs. Fox continued her investigations. Addressing
+the viewless rapper she said "count ten;" the raps
+obeyed. "How old is my daughter Margaret?" then
+"Kate?" Both questions were distinctly and correctly
+rapped out. Mrs. Fox then asked "How many children
+have I?" Seven, was the reply; this however
+proved to be wrong for she had only six living. She
+repeated her question and was again answered by
+seven raps; suddenly she cried "How many have I
+living?" Six raps responded. "How many dead?"
+a single knock; and both these answers proved
+correct. To the next question, "Are you a man
+that knocks?" there was no response; but "Are you
+a spirit?" elicited firm and distinctive responsive
+knocks.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Emboldened by her success, Mrs. Fox continued
+her enquiries and ascertained by raps that the messages
+were coming from what purported to be the Spirit of
+an injured man who had been murdered for his money.
+To the question how old he was, there came thirty-one
+distinct raps. He also gave them to understand
+that he was a married man, and had left a wife and
+five children; that his wife was dead, and had been
+dead two years. After ascertaining so much, she
+asked the question "Will the noise continue if I call
+in some neighbours?" The answer was by rapping
+in the affirmative.</p>
+
+<p>At first they called in their nearest neighbours,
+who came thinking they would have a hearty laugh
+at the family for being frightened&mdash;but when the first
+neighbour came in and found that the noise, whatever
+it might be, could tell the age of herself as well
+as others, and give correct answers to questions on
+matters of which the family of Mr. Fox was quite
+ignorant, she concluded that there was something
+beside a subject of ridicule and laughter in these
+unseen but audible communications. These neighbours
+insisted on calling others who came, and after
+investigation were as much confounded as at first.</p>
+
+<p>The reader must endeavour to picture to himself
+the scene which followed the introduction of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>
+neighbours to this weird and most novel court of
+inquiry. Imagine the place to be an humble cottage
+in a remote and obscure hamlet; the judge and
+jurors, simple unsophisticated rustics; and the witness
+an invisible, unknown being, a denizen of a world
+of whose very existence mankind has been ignorant;
+acting by laws mysterious and inconceivable, in
+modes utterly beyond all human control or comprehension,
+and breaking through what has been deemed
+the dark and eternal seal of death, to reveal the
+long-hidden mysteries of the grave, and drag to the
+light secrets which not even the fabled silence of the
+grave could longer hide away. Those who have
+been accustomed to dream of death as the end of
+all whom its shadowy portals inclose, alone are
+prepared to appreciate the awful and startling reality
+of this strange scene, breaking apart, as it did, like
+a rope of sand, all the preconceived opinions of
+countless ages on the existence and destiny of the
+living dead.</p>
+
+<p>Those who have become familiar with the revealments
+of the spirit circle will only smile at the
+consternation evoked in this rustic party by the now
+familiar presence and manifestations of "the spirits,"
+but to those who still stand in the night of superstition,
+deeming of all earth's countless millions as
+"dead," "lost," "gone," no one knows whither; never<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>
+to return; to give no sign, no echo, no dim vibration
+from that vast gulf profound of unfathomed mystery&mdash;what
+a picture is that which suddenly brings them
+face to face with the mighty hosts of the vanished
+dead, all clothed in life, and girded round with a
+panoply of power, and light, and strength; with
+vivid memory of the secret wrongs deemed buried in
+their graves. Our cities are thronged with an unseen
+people who flit about us, their piercing eyes
+invisible to us, are scanning all our ways. The universe
+is teeming with them,&mdash;"THERE ARE NO DEAD,"&mdash;the
+air, the earth, and the sky above, are filled with
+a viewless host of spirit&mdash;witnesses whose messages
+ever declare "There is no death."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Amongst the investigators introduced to the
+household was a Mr. William Deusler, of Arcadia,
+an immediate neighbour of the Fox family at this
+time, and from his testimony we gather a great
+many interesting facts as to the evidence offered by
+the injured spirit in order that its identity could be
+clearly established.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Deusler had formerly lived with his father
+in this house, and the message that the spirit had
+received an injury, prompted him to ask if either he
+or his father had been the cause of such an injury.
+On receiving an assurance that they were in no way
+responsible, the investigation was continued, the
+results being here given in Mr. Deusler's own words&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I then asked if Mr. &mdash;&mdash; [naming a person who
+had formerly lived in the house] had injured it, and
+if so, to manifest it by rapping, and it made three
+knocks louder than common, and at the same time
+the bedstead jarred more than it had done before.
+I then inquired if it was murdered for money, and
+the knocking was heard. I then requested it to rap<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>
+when I mentioned the sum of money for which it
+was murdered. I then asked if it was one hundred,
+two, three or four, and when I came to five hundred
+the rapping was heard. All in the room said they
+heard it distinctly. I then asked the question if it
+was five hundred dollars, and the rapping was heard.</p>
+
+<p>"After this, I sent over and got Artemus W. Hyde
+to come over.<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> He came over. I then asked over
+nearly the same questions as before, and got the
+same answers. Mr. Redfield sent after David Jewel
+and wife, and Mrs. Hyde also came. After they
+came in I asked the same questions over and got the
+same answers.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. I then asked it to rap my
+age&mdash;the number of years of my age. It rapped
+thirty times. This is my age, and I do not think
+any one about here knew my age, except myself and
+family. I then told it to rap my wife's age, and it
+rapped thirty times, which is her exact age; several
+of us counted it at the same time. I then asked it
+to rap A. W. Hyde's age; then Mrs. A. W. Hyde's
+age. I then continued to ask it to rap the ages of
+different persons&mdash;naming them&mdash;in the room, and it
+did so correctly, as they all said. I then asked the
+number of children in the different families in the
+neighbourhood, and it told them correctly in the
+usual way, by rapping; also the number of deaths<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>
+that had taken place in the different families, and it
+told correctly.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.</p>
+
+<p>"I then asked in regard to the time it was
+murdered, and in the usual way, by asking the
+different days of the week and the different hours of
+the day, learned that it was murdered on Tuesday
+night, about twelve o'clock. The rapping was heard
+only when this particular time was mentioned. When
+it was asked if it was murdered on a Wednesday, or
+Thursday, or Friday night, etc., there was no rapping.
+I then asked if it carried any trunk, and it rapped
+that it did. Then how many, and it rapped once.
+In the same way we ascertained that it had goods in
+the trunk, and that &mdash;&mdash; took them when he murdered
+him; and that he had a pack of goods besides.
+I asked if its wife was living, and it did not rap.
+If she was dead, and it rapped.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. This was
+tried over several times and the result was always
+the same.</p>
+
+<p>"I then tried to ascertain the first letters of its
+name by calling over the different letters of the
+alphabet. I commenced with A, and asked if it was
+the initial of its name; and when I asked if it was
+B the rapping commenced. We then tried all the
+other letters, but could get no answer by the usual
+rapping. I then asked if we could find out the whole<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>
+name by reading over all the letters of the alphabet,
+and there was no rapping. I then reversed the
+question, and the rapping was heard.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.
+There were a good many more questions asked on
+that night by myself and others which I do not now
+remember. They were all readily answered in the
+same way. I staid in the house until about twelve
+o'clock and then came home. Mr. Redfield and Mr.
+Fox staid in the house that night.</p>
+
+<p>"Saturday night I went over again about seven
+o'clock. The house was full of people when I got
+there. They said it had been rapping some time.
+I went into the room. It was rapping in answer to
+questions when I went in.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.</p>
+
+<p>"There were as many as three hundred people in
+and around the house at this time, I should think.
+Hiram Soverhill, Esq., and Volney Brown asked it
+questions while I was there, and it rapped in answer
+to them.</p>
+
+<p>"I went over again on Sunday between one and
+two o'clock p.m. I went into the cellar with several
+others, and had them all leave the house over our
+heads; and then I asked, if there had been a man
+buried in the cellar, to manifest it by rapping or any
+other noise or sign. The moment I asked the question<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>
+there was a sound like the falling of a stick about a
+foot long and half an inch through, on the floor in
+the bedroom over our heads. It did not seem to
+rebound at all; there was but one sound. I then
+asked Stephen Smith to go right up and examine the
+room, and see if he could discover the cause of the
+noise. He came back and said he could discover
+nothing; that there was no one in the room, or in
+that part of the house. I then asked two more
+questions, and it rapped in the usual way. We all
+went up-stairs and made a thorough search, but
+could find nothing.</p>
+
+<p>"I then got a knife and fork, and tried to see if
+I could make the same noise by dropping them, but
+I could not. This was all I heard on Sunday. There
+is only one floor, or partition, or thickness between
+the bedroom and the cellar; no place where anything
+could be secreted to make the noise. When this
+noise was heard in the bedroom I could feel a slight
+tremulous motion or jar.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.</p>
+
+<p>"On Monday night I heard this noise again, and
+asked the same questions I did before and got the
+same answers. This is the last time I have heard any
+rapping. I can in no way account for this singular
+noise which I and others have heard. It is a mystery
+to me which I am unable to solve.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I lived in the same house about seven years ago,
+and at that time never heard any noises of the kind
+in and about the premises. I have understood from
+Johnston and others who have lived there before &mdash;&mdash;
+moved there, that there were no such sounds heard
+there while they occupied the house. I never believed
+in haunted houses, or heard or saw anything but
+what I could account for before.</p>
+
+<div class='sig'>
+<span style="margin-right: 4em;">(Signed),</span><br />
+WILLIAM DEUSLER."<br /></div>
+
+<div class='unindent'>"April 12, 1848."<br />
+</div>
+
+<p>To the same effect is the testimony of the following
+persons, whose certificates were published in a
+pamphlet by E. E. Lewis, Esq., of Canandaigua, New
+York, namely: John D. Fox, Walter Scotten, Elizabeth
+Jewel, Lorren Tenney, James Bridger, Chauncey
+P. Losey, Benjamin F. Clark, Elizabeth Fox, Vernelia
+Culver, William D. Storer, Marvin P. Losey, David
+S. Fox, and Mary Redfield.<br /><br /></p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> The son of the proprietor of the house at Hydesville.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The news of the mysterious rappings continued
+to spread abroad, and the house was filled with
+anxious seekers for the unknown and invisible visitor.
+Up to this time the noises had only been heard at
+night, but on Sunday morning, April 2nd, the sounds
+were first heard in the daytime, and by any who
+could get into the house. It has been estimated that
+at one time there were about five hundred people
+gathered around the house, so great was the excitement
+at the commencement of these strange occurrences.</p>
+
+<p>On the Monday following, Mr. Fox and others
+commenced digging in the cellar, but as the house
+was built on low ground and in the vicinity of a
+stream then much swollen by rains, it was not
+surprising that they were baffled by the influx of
+water at the distance of three feet down. In the
+summer of 1848, when the ground was dry and the
+water lowered, the digging again commenced, when
+they found a plank, a vacant place or hole, some bits
+of crockery, which seemed to have been a washbowl,
+traces of charcoal, quicklime, some human hair,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>
+bones (declared on examination by a surgeon to be
+human), including a portion of a skull, but no connected
+skull was found.</p>
+
+<p>[Interesting facts relating to the missing portions
+of the human body were announced in the public
+newspapers as recently as December, 1904, for which
+see <a href="#Page_59">Appendix</a>.]</p>
+
+<p>Such were the results of the examination of the
+cellar; such the only corroborative evidences obtained
+of the truth of the spirit's tale of untimely death.
+The presence of human remains in the cellar proves
+that someone was buried there, and the quicklime
+and charcoal testify to the fact that attempts were
+made to secretly dispose of the body of the victim.</p>
+
+<p>The Fox family did not immediately quit the
+scene of this mysterious haunting, but remained to
+witness still more astounding phenomena. The furniture
+was frequently moved about; the girls were
+often touched by hard cold hands; doors were
+opened and shut with violence; their beds were so
+violently shaken that they were obliged to "camp
+out" as they termed it, on the ground; their bedclothes
+were dragged from them, and the very floor
+and house made to rock as in an earthquake. Night
+after night they would be appalled by hearing a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span>
+sound like a death struggle, the gurgling of the
+throat, a sudden thud as of something falling, the
+dragging as of a helpless body across the room and
+down the cellar stairs, the digging of a grave, nailing
+of boards, and the filling up as of a new made grave.
+These sounds have subsequently been produced by
+request, and spontaneously also, in the presence of
+many persons assembled in circles at Rochester.</p>
+
+<p>It was perceived that "the spirits" seemed to
+select or require the presence of the two younger
+girls of the family for the production of the sounds,
+and though these had been made without them,
+especially on the night of the 31st of March, when
+all the members of the family save Mr. Fox were
+absent from the house, still as curiosity prompted
+them to close observation and conversation with the
+invisible power, it was clear that the manifestations
+became more powerful in the presence of Kate, the
+youngest daughter, than with any one else.</p>
+
+<p>As the house was continually thronged with
+curious inquirers, and the time, comfort and peace of
+the family were consumed with these harassing disturbances,
+besides the most absurd though injurious
+suspicions being cast upon them, they endeavoured
+to baffle the haunters by sending Kate to reside with
+her eldest sister, Mrs. Fish, at Rochester; but no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>
+sooner had she gone than the manifestations re-commenced
+with more force than ever, in the presence
+of Margaretta. In course of time Mrs. Fox, with both
+her daughters, went to live in Rochester, but neither
+change of place nor house, nor yet the separation of
+the family, afforded them any relief from the disturbances
+that evidently attached themselves to persons
+rather than places as formerly.</p>
+
+<p>Although the Fox family had for months striven
+to banish the power that tormented them, praying
+with all the fervour of true Methodism to be released
+from it, and enduring fear, loss and anxiety in its
+continuance, the report of its persistence began to
+spread abroad, causing a rain of persecutions to fall
+upon them from all quarters. Old friends looked
+coldly on them, and strangers circulated the most
+atrocious slanders at their expense.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Fish, the eldest sister, who was a teacher of
+music in Rochester, began to lose her pupils, and
+whilst the blanching of the poor mother's hair in a
+single week bore testimony to the mental tortures
+which supra-mundane terrors and mundane cruelties
+had heaped upon them, the world was taunting them
+with imposture and with originating the very manifestations
+which were destroying their health, peace
+of mind, and good name. They had solicited the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>
+advice of their much-respected friend, Isaac Post, a
+highly esteemed Quaker citizen of Rochester, and at
+his suggestion succeeded in communicating by raps
+with the invisible power, through the alphabet (an
+attempt had been previously made but without success).
+Telegraphic numbers were given to signify "Yes" or
+"No," "Doubtful," etc., and sentences were spelled
+out by which they learned the astounding facts that
+not only "Charles Rosna" the murdered pedlar, but
+hosts of spirits, good and bad, high and low, could
+under certain conditions not understood, and impossible
+for mortals yet to comprehend, communicate
+with earth; that such communication was produced
+through the forces of spiritual magnetism, in chemical
+affinity; that the varieties of magnetism in different
+individuals afforded "medium power" to some, and
+denied it to others; that the magnetic relations
+necessary to produce phenomena were very subtle,
+liable to disturbance and singularly susceptible to the
+influence of the mental emotions. In addition to
+communications purporting thus to explain the object
+and something of the modus operandi of the communion,
+numerous spirit friends of the family, and
+also of those who joined in their investigations,
+gladdened the hearts of their astonished relatives by
+direct and unlooked-for tests of their presence. They
+came spelling out their names, ages and various
+tokens of identity correctly, and proclaiming the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>
+joyful tidings that they all "still lived," "still loved,"
+and with the tenderness of human affection and the
+wisdom of a higher sphere of existence, watched
+over and guided the beloved ones who had mourned
+them as dead, with all the gracious ministry of
+guardian angels.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>But redolent of joy and consolation as is the
+intercourse with beloved friends, at this time when
+orderly communion has succeeded doubtful experiment,
+it must not be supposed that any such
+harmonious results characterised the initiatory proceedings
+of the spiritual movement which now made
+its advent in Rochester.</p>
+
+<p>Within and without the dwellings of the medium,
+all was fear, consternation, doubt, and anxiety.
+Fanatical religionists of different sects had forced
+themselves into the family gatherings, and the wildest
+scenes of rant, cant, and absurdity often ensued.
+Opinions of the most astounding nature were hazarded
+concerning the object of this movement; some
+determining that it was a "millennium" and looking
+for the speedy reign of a personal Messiah and the
+equally speedy destruction of the wicked.</p>
+
+<p>It must not be supposed that the clergy were
+idle spectators of the tumultuous wave that was
+sweeping over the city. On the contrary, several of
+them called on Mrs. Fox with offers to "exorcise<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>
+the spirits," and when they found their attempts
+futile, and that though the spirits would rap in
+chorus to the "amens" with which they concluded
+their incantations, they were otherwise unmoved by
+these reverend performances, they generally ended by
+proclaiming abroad that the family were "in league
+with the evil one," or the "authors of a vile imposture."</p>
+
+<p>Honourable exceptions, however, were found to
+this cowardly and unchristian course, and amongst
+these was the Rev. A. H. Jervis, a Methodist minister
+of Rochester, in whose family remarkable manifestations
+occurred of the same character as in that of the
+Foxes, and whose appreciation of the beauty and
+worth of the communications he received, several of
+his published letters bear witness of. Mr. Lyman
+Granger, Rev. Charles Hammond, Deacon Hale, and
+several other families of wealth and influence, both
+in Rochester and the surrounding towns, also began
+to experience similar phenomena in their own households,
+while the news came from all quarters,
+extending as far as Cincinnati and St. Louis, West,
+and Maine, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and New
+York, East, that the mysterious rappings and other
+phases of what is now called "medium power" were
+rapidly spreading from town to town and State to
+State, in fulfilment of an assurance made in the very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>
+first of the communications to the Fox family, namely,
+"that these manifestations were not to be confined
+to them, BUT WOULD GO ALL OVER THE
+WORLD."</p>
+
+<p>The remarkable manner in which this prophecy
+has been fulfilled the most casual observer will readily
+admit; for Spiritualism&mdash;even as a religious power&mdash;has
+far outstripped any other form of religion in the
+world in the rapidity of its growth, having reached
+every civilized nation and permeated every other
+form of belief in less than half a century.</p>
+
+<p>The Fox Sisters were still called the "Rochester
+Knockers," the "Fox Girls," the "Rappers," and
+other epithets, equally foolish and obnoxious to their
+interests and feelings. Catherine Fox, the youngest
+girl, had been removed to the house of Mr. W. E.
+Capron, of Auburn. Mrs. Fish, though generally
+present when phenomena were transpiring, was not
+in its earliest phases conscious of being a medium.
+Margaretta, the other sister, was then in reality the
+only one through whom the manifestations appeared
+to proceed, when in November, 1848, the spirits, who
+had long been urging them to permit public investigations
+to be made through her mediumship, informed
+them by raps that "they could not always strive with
+them," and since they were constantly disobedient to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>
+the spirits' requests, and obviously opposed to their
+presence, they should leave them, and in all probability
+withdraw for another generation, or seek
+through other sources for the fulfilment of the high
+and holy purposes for which this spiritual outpouring
+had been designed. To these appeals the family
+were inflexible. They constantly prayed that the
+cup of this great bitterness "might pass from them."
+They did not wish to be "mediums," and abhorred
+the notoriety, scandal, and persecution which their
+fatal gift had brought them, and when warned that
+the spirits would leave them, they protested their
+delight at the announcement, and expressed their
+earnest desire that it might be fulfilled.</p>
+
+<p>There were present at a circle, when communications
+of this character were made, several influential
+persons of the city, who had become greatly interested
+in the manifestations and were warm friends of the
+family. They could not, however, realise that the
+threat here implied would actually be fulfilled until
+the spirits, by rappings, spelled out several messages
+of a particularly affectionate and valedictory character.
+The scene became, says an eye-witness, solemn and
+impressive. The spirits announced that in twenty
+minutes they would depart, and exactly as that time
+expired they spelled out, "We will now bid you all
+farewell;" when the raps entirely ceased.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The family expressed themselves "glad to get rid
+of them;" the friends present vainly tried to obtain,
+by solicitations, made, as it would seem, to empty
+air, some demonstration that this beneficent and
+wonderful visitation had not indeed wholly ceased.
+All was useless. A mournful silence filled the
+apartment which had but a few minutes before been
+tenanted with angels, sounding out their messages of
+undying affection, tender counsel, wise instruction,
+and prescient warning. The spirits indeed were gone;
+and as one by one the depressed party separated and
+passed out into the silent moonlit streets of Rochester,
+all and each of them felt as if some great light had
+suddenly gone out, and life was changed to them.
+There was a mighty blank in space and a shadow
+everywhere, but spirit light came no more to illuminate
+the thick darkness.</p>
+
+<p>A fortnight passed away, during which the former
+investigators called constantly on the Fox family to
+enquire if their spirit friends had returned. For the
+first few days a stoical negative was their only reply;
+after this, they began more and more fully to recognise
+the loss they had sustained. The wise counsellors
+were gone; the sources of strange strength and
+superhuman consolation were cut off. The tender,
+loving, wonderful presence no more flitted around
+their steps, cheered their meals, encouraged them in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>
+their human weakness, or guided them in their blindness.
+And these most wonderful and providential
+beings their own waywardness had driven from them.
+At last, then, they met their enquiring friends with
+showers of tears, choking sobs, and expressions of the
+bitterest self-reproach and regret.</p>
+
+<p>On the twelfth day of this great heart-dearth,
+Mr. W. E. Capron, being in Rochester on business,
+called at the house of Mrs. Fish, with Mr. George
+Willets, a member of the Society of Friends, and one
+of their earliest spiritual investigators. On receiving
+the usual sorrowful reply that "the spirits had left
+them," Mr. Capron said: "Perhaps they will rap for
+us if not for you." They then entered the hall and
+put the usual question if the spirits would rap for
+them, in answer to which, and to the unspeakable
+delight of all present, they were greeted with a
+perfect shower of the much-lamented sounds.</p>
+
+<p>Once more the spirits urged them to make the
+manifestations public. Again they reiterated the
+charge with solemn earnestness, and despite of the
+mediums' continued aversion to the task imposed
+upon them, the fear of a fresh and final bereavement
+of the inestimable boon of spirit communion
+prevented their continued resistance to the course
+proposed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>When the persons who were called upon to aid
+the mediums and take somewhat prominent parts in
+the work urged the awkwardness of the positions
+assigned them, the spirits only replied, "Your triumph
+will be so much the greater." There is no doubt
+that the severe warning they had just received, and
+the fear of its repetition, acted upon the whole party
+with more force than any argument that could have
+been used to induce their submission.</p>
+
+<p>At the injunctions of the spirits a public investigation
+into the possibility of communion between
+the world of spirits and the earth they once inhabited
+was carried out. Magistrates, editors, and professional
+men were the judges, and enlightened American
+citizens the jury. The aim of wide-spread publicity
+was attained. Thousands heard and wondered at,
+and finally believed in spiritual communion who
+would never have dreamed of the subject but for the
+persecution and slander that was publicly directed
+against the "Rochester Knockers."</p>
+
+<p>The records of these persecutions and slanders
+abound with disgraceful and painful incidents which,
+whilst being discreditable to the persons responsible
+for their propagation redound with full credit to the
+honour and integrity of the mediums selected by the
+Spirit world to be the forerunners of a new dispensation.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And thus the fiery cross, carried by the hands of
+unseen messengers, sped from point to point; the
+beacon fires lighted by invisible hands gleamed on
+every mountain top, and the low muffled sound of
+the spirit-raps that first broke the slumbers of the
+peaceful inhabitants of the humble tenement at
+Hydesville, became the clarion peal that sounded out
+to the millions of the Western Hemisphere, the anthem
+of the soul's immortality, chorused by hosts of God's
+bright ministering angels.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span></p>
+<h2>THE MAIDENS OF THE DAWNING LIGHT.</h2>
+
+<div class='center'>
+(Leah, Kate, Margaret.)<br />
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 25%;" />
+
+<div class='poem2'>
+Oh, rustic little martyrs for the truth!<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Whose earthly eyes so oft were dimmed with tears,</span><br />
+While on your cheeks the blush and bloom of youth<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Was yet unsoiled by unborn struggling years.</span><br />
+<br />
+Long years of suffering, years of holy joys,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Years of defeats and years of victories;</span><br />
+Years of sweet singing and of brawling noise,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Despair&mdash;but ever angel messages.</span><br />
+<br />
+The memory of your mortal lives comes back;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Poor little girls! Why was the world so rough?</span><br />
+Of balm you brought there ever was a lack&mdash;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of heavenly tidings never half enough!</span><br />
+<br />
+Yet when to you the gentle "rappings" came,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Telling the story of immortal life,</span><br />
+The hungry world went crazy-mad to blame,<br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Accuse, defile, hunt, mob, make venomed strife.</span><br />
+<br />
+Humble and poor as Christ was&mdash;kindly, too,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">It seems so strange the thistle, hatred, grew</span><br />
+To whip your tender backs, with great ado,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Because you builded better than you knew.</span><br />
+<br />
+But that is over. You have disappeared<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">From conflicts and from suffering, and to-day</span><br />
+From God's high country, we, your friends, endeared<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">By common aims, feel that you look this way.</span><br />
+<br />
+Welcome, oh, heavenly sisters! See the light<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Your youthful fingers kindled! How it spreads,</span><br />
+Lighting up places where were sin and night,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Whitening souls and shaping princely heads.</span><br />
+<br />
+Lo! far it spreads! Beyond the rolling seas<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Vast congregations celebrate the day</span><br />
+Your questionings unlocked death's mysteries,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And hailed the angels, who had come your way.</span><br />
+</div>
+
+<div class='sig'>
+&mdash;Emma Rood Tuttle.<br />
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span></p>
+<h2>APPENDIX</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 25%;" />
+<h2>A SEQUEL to the "ROCHESTER KNOCKINGS,"
+after 56 years.</h2>
+
+<hr style="width: 25%;" />
+
+<div class='center'>
+Copied from the "Banner of Light," (Boston, U.S.A.)<br />
+December 3rd, 1904.<br />
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 25%;" />
+
+<div class='center'>"TRUTH CRUSHED TO EARTH WILL<br />
+RISE AGAIN."</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 25%;" />
+
+<p>Regardless of what the "Banner" knows of this
+matter, we prefer to present the following statement
+as given in the Boston Journal of Nov. 23. To
+opponents of the claims made by Spiritualists, the
+account may bear greater weight than if made by a
+Spiritualist paper. Take note that the Journal says,
+"an almost entire human skeleton," and not the bones
+of a large dog or of any four-footed animal.</p>
+
+<p>Rochester, N. Y., Nov. 22, 1904.&mdash;The skeleton of
+the man supposed to have caused the rappings first
+heard by the Fox sisters in 1848 has been found in
+the walls of the house occupied by the sisters, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>
+clears them from the only shadow of doubt held
+concerning their sincerity in the discovery of spirit
+communication.</p>
+
+<p>The Fox sisters declared they learned to communicate
+with the spirit of a man, and that he told them
+he had been murdered and buried in the cellar.
+Repeated excavations failed to locate the body and
+thus give proof positive of their story.</p>
+
+<p>The discovery was made by school children playing
+in the cellar of the building in Hydesville known as
+the "Spook house," where the Fox sisters heard the
+wonderful rappings. William H. Hyde, a reputable
+citizen of Clyde, who owns the house, made an investigation
+and found an almost entire human skeleton
+between the earth and crumbling cellar walls, undoubtedly
+that of the wandering pedlar whom it was
+claimed was murdered in the east room of the house,
+and whose body was hidden in the cellar.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Hyde has notified relatives of the Fox sisters
+and the notice of the discovery will be sent to the
+National Order of Spiritualists, many of whom remember
+having made pilgrimages to the "Spook house,"
+as it is commonly called. The finding of the bones
+practically corroborates the sworn statement made by
+Margaret Fox, April 11, 1848. The Fox sisters claimed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>
+to have been disturbed by rappings and finally by a
+system of signals got into communication with the
+spirit.</p>
+
+<p>According to Margaret Fox's statement the spirit
+was that of a pedlar, who described how he had been
+murdered in the house, his body being buried in the
+cellar. There were numerous witnesses to the rappings,
+but although the cellar had been dug up many
+times no traces of the body was found until the
+crumbling cellar walls revealed the skeleton.</p>
+
+<p>The name of the murdered man, according to his
+revelation to the Fox sisters, was Charles Rosna, and
+the murderer a man named Beck. In 1847 the house
+was occupied by Michael Weekman, a poor laborer.
+He and his family became troubled by these mysterious
+rappings, which followed in succession at different
+intervals, especially during the night. The family
+became so broken by fear and loss of sleep that they
+vacated the house. On Dec. 11, the Fox family
+moved in and two months later the rappings were
+resumed and the family became frightened. Finally
+Margaret and Cathie grew bold and asked questions
+which were answered, revealing the murder.</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>FROM HYDESVILLE.</h2>
+
+<hr style="width: 25%;" />
+
+<p>The "Sunflower," December, 1904, says: "The
+following bit of information was transmitted hitherward,
+which, if confirmed, will create additional
+interest in Spiritualism, although, by no means confirming
+the latter, as that does not rest exclusively
+on the phenomena at Hydesville; for since then we
+have had many additional phenomena, as the varied
+physical phases, materialisation, slate-writing and
+drawing, painting, levitation, passing of matter
+through matter, trance-speaking, clairvoyance, psychometric
+reading, and numerous other modes of communicating
+with the spirit world. The correspondent
+says: William H. Hyde, who recently found the arm
+and leg bones of a human being at the old Fox
+homestead, made another search in the cellar where
+the bones were first exposed by the caving in of the
+inside cellar wall. Mr. Hyde discovered all the other
+important bones except the skull. The latter corroborates
+the statement as made in the history of the
+first rappings, a work entitled, 'The Missing Link in
+Spiritualism.'"</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 25%;" />
+
+<p>Note by Editor.&mdash;Attention is drawn to the fact
+that a portion of the skull (which the foregoing report
+declares to be missing) was discovered during the digging
+operations at the time of the "Knockings"&mdash;1848.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<div class='tnote'><h3>Transcriber's Notes:</h3>
+<p>Obvious punctuation errors were corrected.</p>
+<p><a href="#Page_59">Page 59</a>, word "Appendix" taken from page header and added to text.</p>
+<p>The remaining correction made is indicated by a dotted line under the correction. Scroll the mouse over the word and the original text will <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'apprear'">appear</ins>.</p></div>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HYDESVILLE***</p>
+<p>******* This file should be named 30403-h.txt or 30403-h.zip *******</p>
+<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br />
+<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/0/4/0/30403">http://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/4/0/30403</a></p>
+<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.</p>
+
+<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.</p>
+
+
+
+<pre>
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/license">http://www.gutenberg.org/license)</a>.
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS,' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's
+eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII,
+compressed (zipped), HTML and others.
+
+Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over
+the old filename and etext number.  The replaced older file is renamed.
+VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving
+new filenames and etext numbers.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org">http://www.gutenberg.org</a>
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000,
+are filed in directories based on their release date.  If you want to
+download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular
+search system you may utilize the following addresses and just
+download by the etext year.
+
+<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/">http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/</a>
+
+    (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99,
+     98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90)
+
+EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are
+filed in a different way.  The year of a release date is no longer part
+of the directory path.  The path is based on the etext number (which is
+identical to the filename).  The path to the file is made up of single
+digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename.  For
+example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at:
+
+http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/0/2/3/10234
+
+or filename 24689 would be found at:
+http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/8/24689
+
+An alternative method of locating eBooks:
+<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL">http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL</a>
+
+*** END: FULL LICENSE ***
+</pre>
+</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/old/30403-h/images/cover.jpg b/old/30403-h/images/cover.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0d1fdb4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/30403-h/images/cover.jpg
diff --git a/old/30403-h/images/dec01.png b/old/30403-h/images/dec01.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6813ce5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/30403-h/images/dec01.png
diff --git a/old/30403-h/images/dec02.png b/old/30403-h/images/dec02.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..999909a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/30403-h/images/dec02.png
diff --git a/old/30403-h/images/deco3.png b/old/30403-h/images/deco3.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9bc2dab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/30403-h/images/deco3.png
diff --git a/old/30403-h/images/ill01.jpg b/old/30403-h/images/ill01.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9a29426
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/30403-h/images/ill01.jpg
diff --git a/old/30403-h/images/ill02.jpg b/old/30403-h/images/ill02.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..afbeaf0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/30403-h/images/ill02.jpg
diff --git a/old/30403-h/images/ill03.jpg b/old/30403-h/images/ill03.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..285944c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/30403-h/images/ill03.jpg
diff --git a/old/30403-h/images/tp.jpg b/old/30403-h/images/tp.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..771fd79
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/30403-h/images/tp.jpg
diff --git a/old/30403.txt b/old/30403.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..96c8c80
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/30403.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,1638 @@
+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Hydesville, by Thomas Olman Todd
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Hydesville
+       The Story of the Rochester Knockings, Which Proclaimed the Advent of Modern Spiritualism
+
+
+Author: Thomas Olman Todd
+
+
+
+Release Date: November 4, 2009  [eBook #30403]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HYDESVILLE***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell and the Project Gutenberg Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images
+generously made available by Internet Archive/American Libraries
+(http://www.archive.org/details/americana)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 30403-h.htm or 30403-h.zip:
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/30403/30403-h/30403-h.htm)
+      or
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/30403/30403-h.zip)
+
+
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive/American Libraries. See
+      http://www.archive.org/details/hydesvillestoryo00todd
+
+
+
+
+
+HYDESVILLE.
+
+
+[Illustration: ADVENT OF SPIRITUALISM 1848.
+JOHN D. FOX.
+HIS WIFE AND DAUGHTERS.
+HYDESVILLE
+NEW YORK U.S.A.]
+
+HYDESVILLE:
+
+The Story of the Rochester Knockings,
+Which Proclaimed
+the Advent of Modern Spiritualism,
+
+by
+
+THOMAS OLMAN TODD,
+
+Past President of the British Spiritualists' Lyceum Union.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Published at
+The Keystone Press,
+Sunderland.
+
+
+
+
+DEDICATED TO DAISY.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+          A creature not too bright or good
+          For human nature's daily food,
+          For transient sorrows, simple wiles,
+          Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears and smiles.
+                                           --Wordsworth.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+          "Some secret truths from learned pride concealed,
+          To maids alone and children are revealed:
+          What though no credit doubting wits may give,
+          The fair and innocent shall still believe."
+                                                --POPE.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Rightly viewed, no meanest object is insignificant; all objects are as
+windows, through which the philosophic eye looks into infinitude
+itself."--CARLYLE.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+                     "Rivers from bubbling springs
+          Have rise at first, and great from abject things."
+                                                 --MIDDLETON.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+The interesting events narrated in this book which occurred at
+Hydesville, in the house of the Fox Family, are those by which Modern
+Spiritualism made its advent into this world as a new revelation in
+spiritual matters.
+
+History is not without its reliable records of similar phenomena, but,
+just as many scientific men have experimented and stopped short of the
+gateway of the actual discovery of Nature's secrets, so, many who came
+in contact with phenomena similar to those of Hydesville whilst being
+mystified as to the meaning of the operating power, stopped short of the
+actual discovery that "It can see as well as hear." Notably in the case
+of the disturbances at Mr. Mompesson's house at Tedworth (1661--1663)
+and Mr. Wesley's parsonage at Epworth (1716--1717).
+
+The early literature of the Spiritualist Movement is replete with most
+interesting records of phenomena of bewildering variety, but during the
+past twenty years the demand for literature on this absorbing subject
+has taken a more philosophic turn. The phenomena are admittedly real.
+The philosophy is the subject of debate, hence these early records are
+fast going out of print and becoming difficult to obtain.
+
+Some few years ago, when the writer paid what proved to be his last
+visit to Mrs. Emma Hardinge Britten, he was deeply impressed with her
+desire that the early history of the Spiritualist Movement, for which
+she spent the greater part of her industrious life, and with which she
+had been so intimately connected, should not be allowed to pass into
+oblivion, and that at least the story of HYDESVILLE should be published
+in a handy form and at a reasonable price. For this purpose she
+presented him with what appeared to be her only remaining copy of her
+invaluable historical work "Modern American Spiritualism," and requested
+him to undertake that duty.
+
+The incidents recorded in the following pages are based chiefly on the
+information given in the work mentioned above, and considerable use is
+made of the actual words and sentences penned by Mrs. Britten; these are
+given without quotation marks. Some portions however have been
+re-written to adapt them to the requirements of the present book, whilst
+a few other facts have been gathered from various sources, chiefly
+Robert Dale Owen's "Footfalls on the Boundary of Another World." Both
+Mrs. Britten and Mr. Owen were personally acquainted with the Fox family
+and many of the persons incidentally mentioned in connection with the
+phenomena at HYDESVILLE--a fact which gives superior weight to their
+records.
+
+                                                       T. O. T.
+
+Sunderland, 1905.
+
+
+                                           Manchester,
+                                               December 5th, 1897.
+
+   Mr. T. O. Todd.
+
+Dear Sir,
+
+Having been a sad invalid since June of this year, and still suffering,
+I do not quite remember whether I have or not written to you on the
+subject to which I desire to devote this poor scrawl. If I have not done
+so hitherto--permit me to say,--altho' I have been obliged from severe
+illness to suspend my platform work and writings, I am as much
+interested in the earnest desire to help the progress of Spiritualism as
+I have been in my long years of past devotion to that cause.
+
+In consequence of my sad illness I have been obliged to refuse my kind
+American Friends' urgent invitation to attend their Grand Celebration at
+Rochester, N.Y., next June.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I am most anxious to do something for our noble cause, [enquirers] will
+necessarily want to have some special accounts of the first opening of
+the Spiritual Movement and the history of the poor Fox Family and their
+immediate connection with the famous "Rochester Knockings." All this I,
+who knew the Fox Family and all the circumstances of the case
+personally and intimately, have written and published in full detail in
+my widely circulated work "Modern American Spiritualism."--But this work
+consists of 560 pages, and tho' bought by thousands of American
+Spiritualists, I should not know in England where to turn to find a copy
+except in my own bookcase.
+
+Now what I propose is this: In the first hundred pages is the full and
+entire history of the movement; the life and labours of A. J.
+Davis,--the life, sufferings, and bitter persecutions of the poor Foxes,
+and all their early trials; friends, foes, and all connected with them.
+Why cannot you . . . take those hundred pages, condense them, and make a
+splendid pamphlet of them?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+                                            Sincerely yours,
+                                          EMMA HARDINGE BRITTEN.
+
+
+
+
+SPIRIT RAPPINGS.
+
+
+[Illustration: Decoration]
+
+(This poem will be found set to music in the "Spiritual Songster.")
+
+[Illustration: Decoration]
+
+
+            Rap, rap, rap! Rap, rap, rap! Rap, rap, rap!
+              Who is it rapping to-night?
+            Only invisible friends,
+              Come from those chambers whose light
+            Radiantly earth-ward descends,
+          Those whose dear forms you have covered from sight,
+          And mark'd by a marble shaft solemn and white,
+          Have come from the land where their life bloom'd anew,
+          And lo! by those raps they are talking to you.
+
+            Rap, rap, rap! Rap, rap, rap! Rap, rap, rap!
+              Daintiest fingers of air
+            Wake the most delicate sound
+              Rapping on table or chair,
+            Lov'd ones of earth gather round
+          Making us know that our lov'd ones have come,
+          Come back to our hearts, and their dear earthly home,
+          Forget they will never, thro' glory bath'd years,
+          How lonely they left us in sadness and tears.
+
+            Rap, rap, rap! Rap, rap, rap! Rap, rap, rap!
+              Guests we would honour are here!
+            Hear the light rappings, and know
+              Visiting Angels are near,
+            Greeting their earth friends below!
+          Oh, bid them welcome, in garments of white,
+          To hearts which are pure and illumin'd with light;
+          They wander at will o'er two wonderful lands,
+          Oh, list to their counsels, and give them your hands.
+
+            Rap, rap, rap! Rap, rap, rap! Rap, rap, rap!
+              Lov'd ones are rapping to-night;
+            Heaven seems not far away;
+              Death's sweeping river is bright,
+            Soft is the sheen of its spray.
+          Magical changes those rappings have wrought,
+          Sweet hope to the hopeless their patter has brought,
+          And death is bridg'd over with amaranth flow'rs:
+          Blest Spirits come back from their bright homes to ours.
+
+                                              --Emma R. Tuttle.
+
+[Illustration: Kate Fox]
+
+
+
+
+HYDESVILLE.
+
+
+
+
+THE STORY OF THE ROCHESTER KNOCKINGS.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+The birth-places of the greatest of the world's social, political, and
+religious reformations have generally been of insignificant and lowly
+aspect, and apparently under the most inauspicious circumstances for
+producing any great effect upon mankind. The Babe of the lowly manger
+becomes the Spiritual King of millions of human hearts and souls, and
+the "Wood Hut" becomes the gateway through which Holy Ministers of
+Light, from their world of Truth and Beauty, send the evidence of man's
+immortality, through the instrumentality of a child, to the weary worn
+pilgrims of earth, who, praying for the "touch of a vanish'd hand, and
+the sound of a voice that is still," welcome with joyful hearts the
+Spirit message "WE STILL LIVE."
+
+The scene of the manifestations dealt with in the following pages, was a
+small wooden homestead, one of a cluster of houses like itself, in the
+little village of Hydesville, near to the town of Newark, Wayne County,
+New York (being so called after Dr. Hyde, an old settler, whose son was
+the proprietor of the house in question). The place not being directly
+accessible from a railroad, was lonely and unmarked by those tokens of
+progress that the locomotive generally leaves in its track, hence it was
+the last spot where a scene of fraud and deception could find a
+possibility of a successful execution. The house was a humble frame
+dwelling fronting south, consisting of two fair-size parlours opening
+into each other, east of these a bedroom and a buttery or pantry,
+opening into one of the sitting rooms; and a stairway between the
+buttery and the bedroom leading from the sitting room up to the half
+storey above and from the buttery down to the cellar.
+
+This humble dwelling had been selected as a temporary residence during
+the erection of another house in the country, by Mr. John D. Fox, who,
+with his family, soon afterwards became so prominently identified with
+the phenomena which have since become world famous. Their little
+dwelling, though so small and simply furnished as to leave no shadow of
+opportunity for concealment or trick, was the residence of honest piety
+and rural simplicity. All who ever knew them bore witness to the
+unimpeachable character of the good mother, while the integrity of the
+simple-minded farmers who were father and brother to the sisters who
+have since become so celebrated as the "Rochester Knockers" stands
+proved beyond all question.
+
+The ancestors of Mr. Fox were Germans, the name being originally "Voss";
+but both he and Mrs. Fox were native born. In Mrs. Fox's family, French
+by origin and Rutan by name, several individuals had evinced the power
+of second sight,--her maternal grandmother (Margaret Ackerman) who
+resided at Long Island, had frequent perceptions of coming events; so
+vivid were these presentiments that she frequently followed phantom
+funerals to the grave as if they were real.
+
+Mrs. Fox's sister also, Mrs. Elizabeth Higgins, had similar power. On
+one occasion, in the year 1823, the two sisters, then residing in New
+York, proposed to go to Sodus by canal. But one morning Elizabeth said,
+"We shall not make this trip by water." "Why so?" her sister asked.
+"Because I dreamed last night that we travelled by land, and there was a
+strange person with us. In my dream, too, I thought we came to Mott's
+tavern on the Beech Woods, and that they could not admit us because
+Mrs. Mott lay dying in the house. I know it will all come true." "Very
+likely indeed!" her sister replied, "for last year, when we passed
+there, Mr. Mott's wife lay dead in the house." "You will see. He must
+have married again and he will lose his second wife." Every particular
+came to pass as Mrs. Higgins had predicted. Mrs. Johnson, a stranger,
+whom at the time of the dream they had not seen, did go with them, they
+made the journey by land and were refused admittance into Mott's tavern
+for the very cause assigned in the dream.
+
+The family of Mr. and Mrs. Fox consisted of six children, but at the
+time of the manifestations the house was occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Fox
+and their two youngest children only, Margaretta, aged twelve, and Kate,
+aged nine years. These details, insignificant as they may now appear,
+are due alike to the family and posterity. When the future of this
+wonderful movement shall have become matter of history and antiquity, if
+not reverence for spiritual truth, and shall induce mankind to follow
+the example of their ancestors and label the records "sacred," the names
+now sunk in obscurity and masked by slander may perchance be engraved in
+monuments of bronze and marble, and the incidents now deemed too slight
+for notice become reverenced as "Holy Writ." These changes of chance
+and time have happened before; if history repeats itself they will occur
+again. It was reserved to this family to be the instruments of
+communicating to the world this most singular affair. They were the ones
+who first, as if by accident, found out that there was an INTELLIGENCE
+MANIFESTED EVEN IN THE RAPPING, which at first appeared nothing more
+than an annoying and unaccountable noise.
+
+In a publication of the early investigations connected with this house,
+entitled: "A Report of the Mysterious Noises heard in the house of Mr.
+John D. Fox, in Hydesville, Arcadia, Wayne County, authenticated by the
+certificates and confirmed by the statements of the citizens of that
+place and vicinity," we find that some disturbances had affected the
+house before the Fox family came to live there. In the year 1843-4, the
+farm was occupied by a Mr. and Mrs. Bell, who, during the last three
+months of their stay were joined by a young girl--Lucretia Pulver, who
+sometimes worked for them, and at other times boarded with them and went
+to school, she being about fifteen years old.
+
+According to the statement of Lucretia, called forth by subsequent
+investigations, a pedlar called at the house one afternoon whom Mrs.
+Bell seemed to recognise as an acquaintance. He was a man about thirty
+years of age, dressed in a black frock coat, light trousers and vest,
+and carried with him a pack of goods containing dress material and other
+draperies.
+
+Shortly after the arrival of the pedlar, Mrs. Bell called the girl to
+say that she could not afford to keep her any longer, and that as she
+was going to the next village the same afternoon, she might pack her
+clothes and they would go together. Before going, Lucretia chose from
+the pedlar's pack a piece of delaine, asking him to leave it at her
+father's house; this he promised to do the next day. Mrs. Bell and
+Lucretia then left the house, the pedlar and Mr. Bell remained behind,
+the former apparently having decided to stay there for the day. The
+pedlar did not call at Lucretia's father's house next day in fulfilment
+of his promise to do so, nor, in fact, was he ever seen again, a
+circumstance which should be borne in mind when the sequel to this story
+is under consideration.
+
+About three days afterwards, much to the girl's surprise, Mrs. Bell sent
+for Lucretia to return to her again. She did so, and from that time she
+began to hear noises and knockings in her bedroom, the same room which
+was afterwards occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Fox. On one occasion, when Mr.
+and Mrs. Bell were away from home at Lock Berlin, and Lucretia had to
+remain in the house, she sent for her young brother and a girl friend
+named Aurelia Losey to stay in the house with her. During the night they
+all heard noises which they declared sounded like the footsteps of a man
+passing from the bedroom to the buttery, then down the cellar stairs,
+traversing the cellar for a short time and then suddenly stopping. They
+were all very much frightened and got up to fasten the doors and
+windows, but were scarcely able to sleep the remainder of the night.
+
+About a week after the visit of the pedlar to the house, Lucretia having
+occasion to go down into the cellar, stumbled and fell into a hole
+filled with soft soil, this somewhat frightened her and caused her to
+scream for assistance. Mrs. Bell coming to her rescue, Lucretia asked
+what Mr. Bell had been doing in the cellar that it was all "dug up."
+Mrs. Bell replied that "the holes were only rat holes," and a few nights
+afterwards Lucretia observed that Mr. Bell was busy for some time in the
+cellar filling up the "rat holes" with earth which he carried there
+himself.
+
+During the remainder of the period in which the house was occupied by
+the Bell family, the sounds continued to be heard, not only by Lucretia
+but by Mrs. Bell. Lucretia's mother, Mrs. Pulver, was a frequent
+visitor at the house, and on one occasion in particular, after the
+foregoing events, when she called upon Mrs. Bell, she found the latter
+quite ill from want of rest, and on enquiring the cause, Mrs. Bell
+declared she was "sick of her life," and that she frequently "heard the
+footsteps of a man traversing the house all night."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+A few months after these events happened the Bells left the
+neighbourhood, and the house became tenanted by a Mr. and Mrs. Weekman,
+who lived there about eighteen months, and left in the year 1847. Mr.
+Weekman's statement respecting the noises he heard was to the effect
+that one evening when he was about to retire for the night, he heard a
+rapping on the outside door, and, what was rather unusual for him,
+instead of familiarly bidding them "come in," stepped to the door and
+opened it. He had no doubt of finding some one who wished to come in,
+but to his surprise found no one there. He stepped out and looked
+around, supposing that some person was imposing on him, he could
+discover no one, and went back into the house. After a short time he
+heard the rapping again, and stepped up and held on to the latch, so
+that he might ascertain if any one had taken that means to annoy him.
+The rapping was repeated, the door opened instantly, but no one was in
+sight. Mr. Weekman states that he could feel the jar of the door very
+plainly when the rapping was heard. As he opened the door he sprang out
+and went around the house, but no one was in sight, nor could he find
+trace of any intruder.
+
+They were frequently afterwards disturbed by strange and unaccountable
+noises. One night Mrs. Weekman heard what she deemed to be the footsteps
+of someone walking in the cellar. Another night Mr. Weekman and his wife
+were disturbed by hearing a scream from their child, a girl about eight
+years of age,--this happened at midnight,--they went to her and she told
+them that something like a hand passed over her face and head; it seemed
+cold, and so badly had she been frightened that it was some time before
+she could be induced to tell her parents the cause of her alarm, nor
+would she consent to sleep in the same room for several nights
+afterwards.
+
+All this might have happened, and been only the idle fabric of a child's
+dream, the Weekman family might have imagined what they gave out as
+fact, and we should be inclined to believe that such was the case, if we
+had not the most conclusive evidence that such manifestations were quite
+common, not only in this house, but in various others where similarly
+strange things have happened.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+          "Know well my soul, God's hand controls
+             Whate'er thou fearest."
+
+
+From the time the Fox family entered the house at Hydesville, about
+December, 1847, they were incessantly disturbed by similar noises to
+those heard by Lucretia Pulver and the Weekmans. During the next month
+however (January, 1848) the noises began to assume the character of
+slight knockings heard at night in the bedroom; sometimes appearing to
+sound from the cellar beneath. At first Mrs. Fox sought to persuade
+herself this might be the hammering of a shoemaker in a house hard by,
+sitting up late at work. But further observation showed that the sounds
+originated in the house. For not only did the knockings become more
+distinct, and not only were they heard first in one part of the house,
+then in another, but the family remarked that these raps, even when not
+very loud, often caused a motion, tremulous rather than a sudden jar, of
+the bedsteads and chairs--sometimes of the floor; a motion which was
+quite perceptible to the touch when a hand was laid on the chairs, which
+was sometimes sensibly felt at night in the slightly oscillating motion
+of the bed, and which was occasionally perceived as a sort of vibration
+even when standing on the floor. After a time also, the noises varied in
+their character, sounding occasionally like distinct footfalls in the
+different rooms.
+
+In the month of February, the noises became so distinct and continuous
+that their rest was broken night after night, and they were all becoming
+worn out in their efforts to discover the cause of the annoyances. These
+disturbances were not confined to sounds merely,--once something heavy,
+as if a dog, seemed to lie on the feet of the children; but it was gone
+before the mother could come to their aid. Another time (this was late
+in March) Kate felt as if a cold hand was on her face. Occasionally too,
+the bedclothes were pulled during the night. Finally chairs were moved
+from their places. The disturbances, which had been limited to
+occasional knockings throughout February and March, gradually increased
+towards the close of the latter month, both in loudness and frequency.
+Mr. Fox and his wife got up night after night, lit a candle, and
+thoroughly searched every nook and corner of the house; but without any
+result. They discovered nothing. When the raps came on a door, Mr. Fox
+would stand, ready to open the door the instant the raps were repeated.
+Though he opened the door immediately there was no one to be seen. Nor
+did he or Mrs. Fox obtain any clue as to the cause of the trouble,
+notwithstanding all the efforts they made and the precautions they
+exercised.
+
+The only circumstance which seemed to suggest the possibility of
+trickery or of mistake was, that these various unexplained occurrences
+never happened in daylight, and thus notwithstanding the strangeness of
+the thing, when morning came they began to think it must have been the
+fancy of the night. Not being given to superstition, they clung,
+throughout several weeks of annoyance, to the idea that some natural
+explanation of these seemingly mysterious events would at last appear,
+nor did they abandon this hope till the night of
+
+                    FRIDAY, MARCH 31st, 1848,
+
+a date which was destined to be indelibly imprinted on the minds of the
+coming generations as the daybreak of a new era in the spiritual
+development of humanity, a date which has since been regularly observed
+as marking the advent of the greatest spiritual revelation of modern
+times, and recognised as the anniversary of the Spiritualist movement in
+all parts of the world.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+The day had been cold and stormy, with snow on the ground. In the course
+of the afternoon, David, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Fox, came to visit his
+parents from his farm about three miles distant. Mrs. Fox then first
+recounted to him the particulars of the annoyances they had endured; for
+until now they had been little disposed to communicate these to any one.
+He listened to her with a smiling face. "Well mother," he said, "I
+advise you not to say a word about it to the neighbours. When you find
+it out it will be one of the simplest things in the world." And in that
+belief he returned to his own home.
+
+Wearied out by a succession of sleepless nights and of fruitless
+attempts to penetrate the mystery, the Fox family retired on that Friday
+evening very early to rest, hoping for a respite from the disturbances
+that harassed them. But they were doomed to disappointment. The parents
+had had the children's beds removed into their own bedroom, and strictly
+enjoined them not to talk of the noises even if they heard them. But
+scarcely had the mother seen them safely in bed, and was retiring to
+rest herself, when the children cried out "Here they are again." The
+mother chid them and lay down, but as though in rebuke of her apparent
+indifference, they were on this occasion louder and more pertinacious
+than ever. Rest was impossible. The children kept up a continuous
+chatter, sitting up in bed to listen to the sounds. Mr. Fox tried the
+windows and doors, to discover, if possible, the source of the
+annoyance. The night being windy it suggested itself to him that it
+might be the sashes rattling, but all in vain; the raps continued and
+were evidently answering the noise occasioned by the father shaking the
+windows, as if in mockery.
+
+At length the youngest child, Kate--who in her guileless innocence had
+become familiar with the invisible knocker, until she was more amused
+than alarmed at its presence--merrily exclaimed: "Here, Mr. Split-foot,
+do as I do." The effect was instantaneous: the invisible rapper
+responded by imitating the number of her movements. She then made a
+given number of motions with her finger and thumb in the air, but
+without noise, and her astonishment was re-doubled to find that these
+movements were seen by the invisible rapper, for a corresponding number
+of knocks were immediately given to her noiseless motions, whilst from
+her lips as though but in childish jest and transport at her new
+discovery there sprang to life the words which revealed the sublimest
+Spiritual Truth of modern times: "Only look mother
+
+                    IT CAN SEE AS WELL AS HEAR."
+
+Words which have since become a text which Doctors, Professors, sceptics
+and scoffers have tried to crush out of existence--and ignominously
+failed, but which on the other hand have brought comfort, solace, and
+permanent joy to the hearts of hundreds of thousands--nay, millions
+surely,--of earth's weary pilgrims. Words which declared a truth since
+tested by every possible subtlety and sophistry which the ingenuity of
+man could suggest or devise, but which has stood firmly through every
+ordeal. Words which declare a truth that has already become the firm
+foundation of faith for an ever progressive Spiritual Church, made up of
+almost every nation of the earth, and embracing adherents from every
+rank of philosophic, scientific, religious and social life, which,
+moreover, reveals its own attributes to the child and the philosopher
+alike, and provides the missing link between a finite material world and
+a world of infinite spiritual possibilities by proving the continuity of
+life.
+
+[Illustration:
+
+          It can
+          SEE
+          as well as
+          HEAR
+
+          HYDESVILLE
+
+March 31st., 1848.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+Happily for the momentous work which the spiritual telegraphers had
+undertaken to initiate in this humble dwelling, the first manifestations
+did not appeal to the high and learned of the earth, but to the plain
+common-sense of an honest farmer's wife, and suggested that whatever
+could see, hear, and intelligently respond to relevant queries, must
+have in it something in common with humanity; and thus Mrs. Fox
+continued her investigations. Addressing the viewless rapper she said
+"count ten;" the raps obeyed. "How old is my daughter Margaret?" then
+"Kate?" Both questions were distinctly and correctly rapped out. Mrs.
+Fox then asked "How many children have I?" Seven, was the reply; this
+however proved to be wrong for she had only six living. She repeated her
+question and was again answered by seven raps; suddenly she cried "How
+many have I living?" Six raps responded. "How many dead?" a single
+knock; and both these answers proved correct. To the next question, "Are
+you a man that knocks?" there was no response; but "Are you a spirit?"
+elicited firm and distinctive responsive knocks.
+
+Emboldened by her success, Mrs. Fox continued her enquiries and
+ascertained by raps that the messages were coming from what purported to
+be the Spirit of an injured man who had been murdered for his money. To
+the question how old he was, there came thirty-one distinct raps. He
+also gave them to understand that he was a married man, and had left a
+wife and five children; that his wife was dead, and had been dead two
+years. After ascertaining so much, she asked the question "Will the
+noise continue if I call in some neighbours?" The answer was by rapping
+in the affirmative.
+
+At first they called in their nearest neighbours, who came thinking they
+would have a hearty laugh at the family for being frightened--but when
+the first neighbour came in and found that the noise, whatever it might
+be, could tell the age of herself as well as others, and give correct
+answers to questions on matters of which the family of Mr. Fox was quite
+ignorant, she concluded that there was something beside a subject of
+ridicule and laughter in these unseen but audible communications. These
+neighbours insisted on calling others who came, and after investigation
+were as much confounded as at first.
+
+The reader must endeavour to picture to himself the scene which followed
+the introduction of the neighbours to this weird and most novel court
+of inquiry. Imagine the place to be an humble cottage in a remote and
+obscure hamlet; the judge and jurors, simple unsophisticated rustics;
+and the witness an invisible, unknown being, a denizen of a world of
+whose very existence mankind has been ignorant; acting by laws
+mysterious and inconceivable, in modes utterly beyond all human control
+or comprehension, and breaking through what has been deemed the dark and
+eternal seal of death, to reveal the long-hidden mysteries of the grave,
+and drag to the light secrets which not even the fabled silence of the
+grave could longer hide away. Those who have been accustomed to dream of
+death as the end of all whom its shadowy portals inclose, alone are
+prepared to appreciate the awful and startling reality of this strange
+scene, breaking apart, as it did, like a rope of sand, all the
+preconceived opinions of countless ages on the existence and destiny of
+the living dead.
+
+Those who have become familiar with the revealments of the spirit circle
+will only smile at the consternation evoked in this rustic party by the
+now familiar presence and manifestations of "the spirits," but to those
+who still stand in the night of superstition, deeming of all earth's
+countless millions as "dead," "lost," "gone," no one knows whither;
+never to return; to give no sign, no echo, no dim vibration from that
+vast gulf profound of unfathomed mystery--what a picture is that which
+suddenly brings them face to face with the mighty hosts of the vanished
+dead, all clothed in life, and girded round with a panoply of power, and
+light, and strength; with vivid memory of the secret wrongs deemed
+buried in their graves. Our cities are thronged with an unseen people
+who flit about us, their piercing eyes invisible to us, are scanning all
+our ways. The universe is teeming with them,--"THERE ARE NO DEAD,"--the
+air, the earth, and the sky above, are filled with a viewless host of
+spirit--witnesses whose messages ever declare "There is no death."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+Amongst the investigators introduced to the household was a Mr. William
+Deusler, of Arcadia, an immediate neighbour of the Fox family at this
+time, and from his testimony we gather a great many interesting facts as
+to the evidence offered by the injured spirit in order that its identity
+could be clearly established.
+
+Mr. Deusler had formerly lived with his father in this house, and the
+message that the spirit had received an injury, prompted him to ask if
+either he or his father had been the cause of such an injury. On
+receiving an assurance that they were in no way responsible, the
+investigation was continued, the results being here given in Mr.
+Deusler's own words--
+
+"I then asked if Mr. ---- [naming a person who had formerly lived in the
+house] had injured it, and if so, to manifest it by rapping, and it made
+three knocks louder than common, and at the same time the bedstead
+jarred more than it had done before. I then inquired if it was murdered
+for money, and the knocking was heard. I then requested it to rap when
+I mentioned the sum of money for which it was murdered. I then asked if
+it was one hundred, two, three or four, and when I came to five hundred
+the rapping was heard. All in the room said they heard it distinctly. I
+then asked the question if it was five hundred dollars, and the rapping
+was heard.
+
+"After this, I sent over and got Artemus W. Hyde to come over.[A] He
+came over. I then asked over nearly the same questions as before, and
+got the same answers. Mr. Redfield sent after David Jewel and wife, and
+Mrs. Hyde also came. After they came in I asked the same questions over
+and got the same answers. . . . I then asked it to rap my age--the
+number of years of my age. It rapped thirty times. This is my age, and
+I do not think any one about here knew my age, except myself and family.
+I then told it to rap my wife's age, and it rapped thirty times, which
+is her exact age; several of us counted it at the same time. I then
+asked it to rap A. W. Hyde's age; then Mrs. A. W. Hyde's age. I then
+continued to ask it to rap the ages of different persons--naming
+them--in the room, and it did so correctly, as they all said. I then
+asked the number of children in the different families in the
+neighbourhood, and it told them correctly in the usual way, by rapping;
+also the number of deaths that had taken place in the different
+families, and it told correctly. . . .
+
+"I then asked in regard to the time it was murdered, and in the usual
+way, by asking the different days of the week and the different hours of
+the day, learned that it was murdered on Tuesday night, about twelve
+o'clock. The rapping was heard only when this particular time was
+mentioned. When it was asked if it was murdered on a Wednesday, or
+Thursday, or Friday night, etc., there was no rapping. I then asked if
+it carried any trunk, and it rapped that it did. Then how many, and it
+rapped once. In the same way we ascertained that it had goods in the
+trunk, and that ---- took them when he murdered him; and that he had a
+pack of goods besides. I asked if its wife was living, and it did not
+rap. If she was dead, and it rapped. . . . This was tried over several
+times and the result was always the same.
+
+"I then tried to ascertain the first letters of its name by calling over
+the different letters of the alphabet. I commenced with A, and asked if
+it was the initial of its name; and when I asked if it was B the rapping
+commenced. We then tried all the other letters, but could get no answer
+by the usual rapping. I then asked if we could find out the whole name
+by reading over all the letters of the alphabet, and there was no
+rapping. I then reversed the question, and the rapping was heard. . . .
+There were a good many more questions asked on that night by myself and
+others which I do not now remember. They were all readily answered in
+the same way. I staid in the house until about twelve o'clock and then
+came home. Mr. Redfield and Mr. Fox staid in the house that night.
+
+"Saturday night I went over again about seven o'clock. The house was
+full of people when I got there. They said it had been rapping some
+time. I went into the room. It was rapping in answer to questions when I
+went in. . . .
+
+"There were as many as three hundred people in and around the house at
+this time, I should think. Hiram Soverhill, Esq., and Volney Brown asked
+it questions while I was there, and it rapped in answer to them.
+
+"I went over again on Sunday between one and two o'clock p.m. I went
+into the cellar with several others, and had them all leave the house
+over our heads; and then I asked, if there had been a man buried in the
+cellar, to manifest it by rapping or any other noise or sign. The moment
+I asked the question there was a sound like the falling of a stick
+about a foot long and half an inch through, on the floor in the bedroom
+over our heads. It did not seem to rebound at all; there was but one
+sound. I then asked Stephen Smith to go right up and examine the room,
+and see if he could discover the cause of the noise. He came back and
+said he could discover nothing; that there was no one in the room, or in
+that part of the house. I then asked two more questions, and it rapped
+in the usual way. We all went up-stairs and made a thorough search, but
+could find nothing.
+
+"I then got a knife and fork, and tried to see if I could make the same
+noise by dropping them, but I could not. This was all I heard on Sunday.
+There is only one floor, or partition, or thickness between the bedroom
+and the cellar; no place where anything could be secreted to make the
+noise. When this noise was heard in the bedroom I could feel a slight
+tremulous motion or jar. . . .
+
+"On Monday night I heard this noise again, and asked the same questions
+I did before and got the same answers. This is the last time I have
+heard any rapping. I can in no way account for this singular noise which
+I and others have heard. It is a mystery to me which I am unable to
+solve. . . .
+
+"I lived in the same house about seven years ago, and at that time never
+heard any noises of the kind in and about the premises. I have
+understood from Johnston and others who have lived there before
+----moved there, that there were no such sounds heard there while they
+occupied the house. I never believed in haunted houses, or heard or saw
+anything but what I could account for before.
+
+                                                     (Signed),
+                                                  WILLIAM DEUSLER."
+
+   "April 12, 1848."
+
+To the same effect is the testimony of the following persons, whose
+certificates were published in a pamphlet by E. E. Lewis, Esq., of
+Canandaigua, New York, namely: John D. Fox, Walter Scotten, Elizabeth
+Jewel, Lorren Tenney, James Bridger, Chauncey P. Losey, Benjamin F.
+Clark, Elizabeth Fox, Vernelia Culver, William D. Storer, Marvin P.
+Losey, David S. Fox, and Mary Redfield.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[A] The son of the proprietor of the house at Hydesville.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+The news of the mysterious rappings continued to spread abroad, and the
+house was filled with anxious seekers for the unknown and invisible
+visitor. Up to this time the noises had only been heard at night, but on
+Sunday morning, April 2nd, the sounds were first heard in the daytime,
+and by any who could get into the house. It has been estimated that at
+one time there were about five hundred people gathered around the house,
+so great was the excitement at the commencement of these strange
+occurrences.
+
+On the Monday following, Mr. Fox and others commenced digging in the
+cellar, but as the house was built on low ground and in the vicinity of
+a stream then much swollen by rains, it was not surprising that they
+were baffled by the influx of water at the distance of three feet down.
+In the summer of 1848, when the ground was dry and the water lowered,
+the digging again commenced, when they found a plank, a vacant place or
+hole, some bits of crockery, which seemed to have been a washbowl,
+traces of charcoal, quicklime, some human hair, bones (declared on
+examination by a surgeon to be human), including a portion of a skull,
+but no connected skull was found.
+
+[Interesting facts relating to the missing portions of the human body
+were announced in the public newspapers as recently as December, 1904,
+for which see Appendix.]
+
+Such were the results of the examination of the cellar; such the only
+corroborative evidences obtained of the truth of the spirit's tale of
+untimely death. The presence of human remains in the cellar proves that
+someone was buried there, and the quicklime and charcoal testify to the
+fact that attempts were made to secretly dispose of the body of the
+victim.
+
+The Fox family did not immediately quit the scene of this mysterious
+haunting, but remained to witness still more astounding phenomena. The
+furniture was frequently moved about; the girls were often touched by
+hard cold hands; doors were opened and shut with violence; their beds
+were so violently shaken that they were obliged to "camp out" as they
+termed it, on the ground; their bedclothes were dragged from them, and
+the very floor and house made to rock as in an earthquake. Night after
+night they would be appalled by hearing a sound like a death struggle,
+the gurgling of the throat, a sudden thud as of something falling, the
+dragging as of a helpless body across the room and down the cellar
+stairs, the digging of a grave, nailing of boards, and the filling up as
+of a new made grave. These sounds have subsequently been produced by
+request, and spontaneously also, in the presence of many persons
+assembled in circles at Rochester.
+
+It was perceived that "the spirits" seemed to select or require the
+presence of the two younger girls of the family for the production of
+the sounds, and though these had been made without them, especially on
+the night of the 31st of March, when all the members of the family save
+Mr. Fox were absent from the house, still as curiosity prompted them to
+close observation and conversation with the invisible power, it was
+clear that the manifestations became more powerful in the presence of
+Kate, the youngest daughter, than with any one else.
+
+As the house was continually thronged with curious inquirers, and the
+time, comfort and peace of the family were consumed with these harassing
+disturbances, besides the most absurd though injurious suspicions being
+cast upon them, they endeavoured to baffle the haunters by sending Kate
+to reside with her eldest sister, Mrs. Fish, at Rochester; but no
+sooner had she gone than the manifestations re-commenced with more force
+than ever, in the presence of Margaretta. In course of time Mrs. Fox,
+with both her daughters, went to live in Rochester, but neither change
+of place nor house, nor yet the separation of the family, afforded them
+any relief from the disturbances that evidently attached themselves to
+persons rather than places as formerly.
+
+Although the Fox family had for months striven to banish the power that
+tormented them, praying with all the fervour of true Methodism to be
+released from it, and enduring fear, loss and anxiety in its
+continuance, the report of its persistence began to spread abroad,
+causing a rain of persecutions to fall upon them from all quarters. Old
+friends looked coldly on them, and strangers circulated the most
+atrocious slanders at their expense.
+
+Mrs. Fish, the eldest sister, who was a teacher of music in Rochester,
+began to lose her pupils, and whilst the blanching of the poor mother's
+hair in a single week bore testimony to the mental tortures which
+supra-mundane terrors and mundane cruelties had heaped upon them, the
+world was taunting them with imposture and with originating the very
+manifestations which were destroying their health, peace of mind, and
+good name. They had solicited the advice of their much-respected
+friend, Isaac Post, a highly esteemed Quaker citizen of Rochester, and
+at his suggestion succeeded in communicating by raps with the invisible
+power, through the alphabet (an attempt had been previously made but
+without success). Telegraphic numbers were given to signify "Yes" or
+"No," "Doubtful," etc., and sentences were spelled out by which they
+learned the astounding facts that not only "Charles Rosna" the murdered
+pedlar, but hosts of spirits, good and bad, high and low, could under
+certain conditions not understood, and impossible for mortals yet to
+comprehend, communicate with earth; that such communication was produced
+through the forces of spiritual magnetism, in chemical affinity; that
+the varieties of magnetism in different individuals afforded "medium
+power" to some, and denied it to others; that the magnetic relations
+necessary to produce phenomena were very subtle, liable to disturbance
+and singularly susceptible to the influence of the mental emotions. In
+addition to communications purporting thus to explain the object and
+something of the modus operandi of the communion, numerous spirit
+friends of the family, and also of those who joined in their
+investigations, gladdened the hearts of their astonished relatives by
+direct and unlooked-for tests of their presence. They came spelling out
+their names, ages and various tokens of identity correctly, and
+proclaiming the joyful tidings that they all "still lived," "still
+loved," and with the tenderness of human affection and the wisdom of a
+higher sphere of existence, watched over and guided the beloved ones who
+had mourned them as dead, with all the gracious ministry of guardian
+angels.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+But redolent of joy and consolation as is the intercourse with beloved
+friends, at this time when orderly communion has succeeded doubtful
+experiment, it must not be supposed that any such harmonious results
+characterised the initiatory proceedings of the spiritual movement which
+now made its advent in Rochester.
+
+Within and without the dwellings of the medium, all was fear,
+consternation, doubt, and anxiety. Fanatical religionists of different
+sects had forced themselves into the family gatherings, and the wildest
+scenes of rant, cant, and absurdity often ensued. Opinions of the most
+astounding nature were hazarded concerning the object of this movement;
+some determining that it was a "millennium" and looking for the speedy
+reign of a personal Messiah and the equally speedy destruction of the
+wicked.
+
+It must not be supposed that the clergy were idle spectators of the
+tumultuous wave that was sweeping over the city. On the contrary,
+several of them called on Mrs. Fox with offers to "exorcise the
+spirits," and when they found their attempts futile, and that though the
+spirits would rap in chorus to the "amens" with which they concluded
+their incantations, they were otherwise unmoved by these reverend
+performances, they generally ended by proclaiming abroad that the family
+were "in league with the evil one," or the "authors of a vile
+imposture."
+
+Honourable exceptions, however, were found to this cowardly and
+unchristian course, and amongst these was the Rev. A. H. Jervis, a
+Methodist minister of Rochester, in whose family remarkable
+manifestations occurred of the same character as in that of the Foxes,
+and whose appreciation of the beauty and worth of the communications he
+received, several of his published letters bear witness of. Mr. Lyman
+Granger, Rev. Charles Hammond, Deacon Hale, and several other families
+of wealth and influence, both in Rochester and the surrounding towns,
+also began to experience similar phenomena in their own households,
+while the news came from all quarters, extending as far as Cincinnati
+and St. Louis, West, and Maine, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and New
+York, East, that the mysterious rappings and other phases of what is now
+called "medium power" were rapidly spreading from town to town and State
+to State, in fulfilment of an assurance made in the very first of the
+communications to the Fox family, namely, "that these manifestations
+were not to be confined to them, BUT WOULD GO ALL OVER THE WORLD."
+
+The remarkable manner in which this prophecy has been fulfilled the most
+casual observer will readily admit; for Spiritualism--even as a
+religious power--has far outstripped any other form of religion in the
+world in the rapidity of its growth, having reached every civilized
+nation and permeated every other form of belief in less than half a
+century.
+
+The Fox Sisters were still called the "Rochester Knockers," the "Fox
+Girls," the "Rappers," and other epithets, equally foolish and obnoxious
+to their interests and feelings. Catherine Fox, the youngest girl, had
+been removed to the house of Mr. W. E. Capron, of Auburn. Mrs. Fish,
+though generally present when phenomena were transpiring, was not in its
+earliest phases conscious of being a medium. Margaretta, the other
+sister, was then in reality the only one through whom the manifestations
+appeared to proceed, when in November, 1848, the spirits, who had long
+been urging them to permit public investigations to be made through her
+mediumship, informed them by raps that "they could not always strive
+with them," and since they were constantly disobedient to the spirits'
+requests, and obviously opposed to their presence, they should leave
+them, and in all probability withdraw for another generation, or seek
+through other sources for the fulfilment of the high and holy purposes
+for which this spiritual outpouring had been designed. To these appeals
+the family were inflexible. They constantly prayed that the cup of this
+great bitterness "might pass from them." They did not wish to be
+"mediums," and abhorred the notoriety, scandal, and persecution which
+their fatal gift had brought them, and when warned that the spirits
+would leave them, they protested their delight at the announcement, and
+expressed their earnest desire that it might be fulfilled.
+
+There were present at a circle, when communications of this character
+were made, several influential persons of the city, who had become
+greatly interested in the manifestations and were warm friends of the
+family. They could not, however, realise that the threat here implied
+would actually be fulfilled until the spirits, by rappings, spelled out
+several messages of a particularly affectionate and valedictory
+character. The scene became, says an eye-witness, solemn and impressive.
+The spirits announced that in twenty minutes they would depart, and
+exactly as that time expired they spelled out, "We will now bid you all
+farewell;" when the raps entirely ceased.
+
+The family expressed themselves "glad to get rid of them;" the friends
+present vainly tried to obtain, by solicitations, made, as it would
+seem, to empty air, some demonstration that this beneficent and
+wonderful visitation had not indeed wholly ceased. All was useless. A
+mournful silence filled the apartment which had but a few minutes before
+been tenanted with angels, sounding out their messages of undying
+affection, tender counsel, wise instruction, and prescient warning. The
+spirits indeed were gone; and as one by one the depressed party
+separated and passed out into the silent moonlit streets of Rochester,
+all and each of them felt as if some great light had suddenly gone out,
+and life was changed to them. There was a mighty blank in space and a
+shadow everywhere, but spirit light came no more to illuminate the thick
+darkness.
+
+A fortnight passed away, during which the former investigators called
+constantly on the Fox family to enquire if their spirit friends had
+returned. For the first few days a stoical negative was their only
+reply; after this, they began more and more fully to recognise the loss
+they had sustained. The wise counsellors were gone; the sources of
+strange strength and superhuman consolation were cut off. The tender,
+loving, wonderful presence no more flitted around their steps, cheered
+their meals, encouraged them in their human weakness, or guided them in
+their blindness. And these most wonderful and providential beings their
+own waywardness had driven from them. At last, then, they met their
+enquiring friends with showers of tears, choking sobs, and expressions
+of the bitterest self-reproach and regret.
+
+On the twelfth day of this great heart-dearth, Mr. W. E. Capron, being
+in Rochester on business, called at the house of Mrs. Fish, with Mr.
+George Willets, a member of the Society of Friends, and one of their
+earliest spiritual investigators. On receiving the usual sorrowful reply
+that "the spirits had left them," Mr. Capron said: "Perhaps they will
+rap for us if not for you." They then entered the hall and put the usual
+question if the spirits would rap for them, in answer to which, and to
+the unspeakable delight of all present, they were greeted with a perfect
+shower of the much-lamented sounds.
+
+Once more the spirits urged them to make the manifestations public.
+Again they reiterated the charge with solemn earnestness, and despite of
+the mediums' continued aversion to the task imposed upon them, the fear
+of a fresh and final bereavement of the inestimable boon of spirit
+communion prevented their continued resistance to the course proposed.
+
+When the persons who were called upon to aid the mediums and take
+somewhat prominent parts in the work urged the awkwardness of the
+positions assigned them, the spirits only replied, "Your triumph will be
+so much the greater." There is no doubt that the severe warning they had
+just received, and the fear of its repetition, acted upon the whole
+party with more force than any argument that could have been used to
+induce their submission.
+
+At the injunctions of the spirits a public investigation into the
+possibility of communion between the world of spirits and the earth they
+once inhabited was carried out. Magistrates, editors, and professional
+men were the judges, and enlightened American citizens the jury. The aim
+of wide-spread publicity was attained. Thousands heard and wondered at,
+and finally believed in spiritual communion who would never have dreamed
+of the subject but for the persecution and slander that was publicly
+directed against the "Rochester Knockers."
+
+The records of these persecutions and slanders abound with disgraceful
+and painful incidents which, whilst being discreditable to the persons
+responsible for their propagation redound with full credit to the honour
+and integrity of the mediums selected by the Spirit world to be the
+forerunners of a new dispensation.
+
+And thus the fiery cross, carried by the hands of unseen messengers,
+sped from point to point; the beacon fires lighted by invisible hands
+gleamed on every mountain top, and the low muffled sound of the
+spirit-raps that first broke the slumbers of the peaceful inhabitants of
+the humble tenement at Hydesville, became the clarion peal that sounded
+out to the millions of the Western Hemisphere, the anthem of the soul's
+immortality, chorused by hosts of God's bright ministering angels.
+
+
+
+
+THE MAIDENS OF THE DAWNING LIGHT.
+
+                   (Leah, Kate, Margaret.)
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+          Oh, rustic little martyrs for the truth!
+            Whose earthly eyes so oft were dimmed with tears,
+          While on your cheeks the blush and bloom of youth
+            Was yet unsoiled by unborn struggling years.
+
+          Long years of suffering, years of holy joys,
+            Years of defeats and years of victories;
+          Years of sweet singing and of brawling noise,
+            Despair--but ever angel messages.
+
+          The memory of your mortal lives comes back;
+            Poor little girls! Why was the world so rough?
+          Of balm you brought there ever was a lack--
+            Of heavenly tidings never half enough!
+
+          Yet when to you the gentle "rappings" came,
+            Telling the story of immortal life,
+          The hungry world went crazy-mad to blame,
+            Accuse, defile, hunt, mob, make venomed strife.
+
+          Humble and poor as Christ was--kindly, too,
+            It seems so strange the thistle, hatred, grew
+          To whip your tender backs, with great ado,
+            Because you builded better than you knew.
+
+          But that is over. You have disappeared
+            From conflicts and from suffering, and to-day
+          From God's high country, we, your friends, endeared
+            By common aims, feel that you look this way.
+
+          Welcome, oh, heavenly sisters! See the light
+            Your youthful fingers kindled! How it spreads,
+          Lighting up places where were sin and night,
+            Whitening souls and shaping princely heads.
+
+          Lo! far it spreads! Beyond the rolling seas
+            Vast congregations celebrate the day
+          Your questionings unlocked death's mysteries,
+            And hailed the angels, who had come your way.
+
+                                      --Emma Rood Tuttle.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX
+
+
+
+
+A SEQUEL to the "ROCHESTER KNOCKINGS," after 56 years.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+          Copied from the "Banner of Light," (Boston, U.S.A.)
+          December 3rd, 1904.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"TRUTH CRUSHED TO EARTH WILL RISE AGAIN."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Regardless of what the "Banner" knows of this matter, we prefer to
+present the following statement as given in the Boston Journal of Nov.
+23. To opponents of the claims made by Spiritualists, the account may
+bear greater weight than if made by a Spiritualist paper. Take note that
+the Journal says, "an almost entire human skeleton," and not the bones
+of a large dog or of any four-footed animal.
+
+Rochester, N. Y., Nov. 22, 1904.--The skeleton of the man supposed to
+have caused the rappings first heard by the Fox sisters in 1848 has been
+found in the walls of the house occupied by the sisters, and clears
+them from the only shadow of doubt held concerning their sincerity in
+the discovery of spirit communication.
+
+The Fox sisters declared they learned to communicate with the spirit of
+a man, and that he told them he had been murdered and buried in the
+cellar. Repeated excavations failed to locate the body and thus give
+proof positive of their story.
+
+The discovery was made by school children playing in the cellar of the
+building in Hydesville known as the "Spook house," where the Fox sisters
+heard the wonderful rappings. William H. Hyde, a reputable citizen of
+Clyde, who owns the house, made an investigation and found an almost
+entire human skeleton between the earth and crumbling cellar walls,
+undoubtedly that of the wandering pedlar whom it was claimed was
+murdered in the east room of the house, and whose body was hidden in the
+cellar.
+
+Mr. Hyde has notified relatives of the Fox sisters and the notice of the
+discovery will be sent to the National Order of Spiritualists, many of
+whom remember having made pilgrimages to the "Spook house," as it is
+commonly called. The finding of the bones practically corroborates the
+sworn statement made by Margaret Fox, April 11, 1848. The Fox sisters
+claimed to have been disturbed by rappings and finally by a system of
+signals got into communication with the spirit.
+
+According to Margaret Fox's statement the spirit was that of a pedlar,
+who described how he had been murdered in the house, his body being
+buried in the cellar. There were numerous witnesses to the rappings, but
+although the cellar had been dug up many times no traces of the body was
+found until the crumbling cellar walls revealed the skeleton.
+
+The name of the murdered man, according to his revelation to the Fox
+sisters, was Charles Rosna, and the murderer a man named Beck. In 1847
+the house was occupied by Michael Weekman, a poor laborer. He and his
+family became troubled by these mysterious rappings, which followed in
+succession at different intervals, especially during the night. The
+family became so broken by fear and loss of sleep that they vacated the
+house. On Dec. 11, the Fox family moved in and two months later the
+rappings were resumed and the family became frightened. Finally Margaret
+and Cathie grew bold and asked questions which were answered, revealing
+the murder.
+
+
+FROM HYDESVILLE.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The "Sunflower," December, 1904, says: "The following bit of information
+was transmitted hitherward, which, if confirmed, will create additional
+interest in Spiritualism, although, by no means confirming the latter,
+as that does not rest exclusively on the phenomena at Hydesville; for
+since then we have had many additional phenomena, as the varied physical
+phases, materialisation, slate-writing and drawing, painting,
+levitation, passing of matter through matter, trance-speaking,
+clairvoyance, psychometric reading, and numerous other modes of
+communicating with the spirit world. The correspondent says: William H.
+Hyde, who recently found the arm and leg bones of a human being at the
+old Fox homestead, made another search in the cellar where the bones
+were first exposed by the caving in of the inside cellar wall. Mr. Hyde
+discovered all the other important bones except the skull. The latter
+corroborates the statement as made in the history of the first rappings,
+a work entitled, 'The Missing Link in Spiritualism.'"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Note by Editor.--Attention is drawn to the fact that a portion of the
+skull (which the foregoing report declares to be missing) was discovered
+during the digging operations at the time of the "Knockings"--1848.
+
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+Obvious punctuation errors were corrected.
+
+Page 30, "harrased" changed to "harassed" (that harassed them)
+
+Page 59, word "Appendix" taken from page header and added to text.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HYDESVILLE***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 30403.txt or 30403.zip *******
+
+
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/0/4/0/30403
+
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://www.gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit:
+http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
diff --git a/old/30403.zip b/old/30403.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..254583d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/30403.zip