It Started Out As A Harmless Prank When These Two Sisters Said They Could Talk To The Dead In 1848, But Then They Ignited The Trend Of Spiritualism
In March 1848, two young girls living in Hydesville, New York, incited a trend of spiritualism with what started out as a harmless prank.
Every night, when teenager Maggie Fox and her younger sister Kate were asleep, a rapping noise could be heard coming from their shared bedroom.
The sisters claimed that there was a spirit communicating with them. Their mother asked the spirit how many children she’d had, and the spirit responded with the correct number of raps.
A neighbor had also witnessed the spirit at work, and soon, word spread that something strange was happening at the Fox house.
Shortly after the girls’ supernatural abilities were discovered, they were sent to live in Rochester with Leah, their older sister.
Leah decided to take advantage of her sisters’ gifts as a way of making some money. In November 1849, Maggie and Kate showcased their skills in front of 400 paying customers. Afterward, they began holding regular public demonstrations.
Many people criticized the girls for being frauds and believed they were just cracking their joints. But plenty of others were under the impression that a true spiritual phenomenon was unfolding in front of their very eyes.
Following the Fox sisters’ rise to fame, other people came onto the spiritual scene, declaring that they were mediums who could talk to the dead.
Those who were in the business of spiritualism didn’t just talk the talk. They also walked the walk by putting on fabulous shows to entertain their audiences.
CsaboPhoto – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
Their performances would often include dramatic lighting and music to set the mood, along with stunning seances.
Although some well-known spiritualists were exposed as fakes, spiritualism persisted in popularity throughout the nineteenth century.
Even people who didn’t necessarily believe that mediums could communicate with the dead ended up attending the shows.
In the times of the Civil War, many surviving relatives of lost loved ones found comfort in the idea of being able to speak to dead family members and friends.
For instance, President Abraham Lincoln’s wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, held seances in the White House to try to talk to her dead children.
Spiritualism also reached Europe. After Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, died in 1861, the queen held seances in Buckingham Palace in an attempt to communicate with him.
Forty years later, in 1888, Maggie confessed to a major newspaper at the time that she and her sister were the source of the rapping noises. They would crack their knuckles and other joints to create the sounds.
At a public demonstration that was held shortly after Maggie’s admission, she told the audience that she regretted her actions and for perpetuating the false idea of spiritualism for so long.
But the next year, she withdrew her statement about her and her sister’s communication with the dead being a hoax.
Why do you think that Maggie confessed it had all been a hoax? And what caused her to take back her confession?
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