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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 19:53:43 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 19:53:43 -0700 |
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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> </p> +<p> </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> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </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'> +—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'> +—<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."—<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'> +—<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—1663) and +Mr. Wesley's parsonage at Epworth (1716—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—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—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.</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>. . . + . + . + . + .</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."—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,—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?</p> + +<div class='center'><b>. . . + . + . + . + .</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'> +—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,—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—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,—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.</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—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,—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—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<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—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.</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—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—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."</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—</p> + +<p>"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<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. . . . 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<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. . . .</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 —— 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.</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. . . . +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. . . .</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. . . .</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. . . .<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 —— +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—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.</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—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—<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—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'> +—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.—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.—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.</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> </p> +<p> </p> +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30403 ***</div> +</body> +</html> |