In part 1 of this "Spookiest Years" series, which you can read here, I first discussed how it is very important to search for the earliest documents describing any extraordinary or seemingly supernatural or seemingly paranormal events. Turning my attention to the famous mysterious raps first reported in Hydesville, New York and nearby Rochester, New York, I was able to find what is the very earliest document written on this topic. That document (which you can read here) had the great virtue of having witness statements written within a few weeks of the start of the phenomenon. I described and quoted from the document in my previous post, and gave some reasons why it turns out to be remarkably strong evidence that something utterly inexplicable to science was occurring in Hydesville, NY beginning about March 31, 1848.
The immediate aftermath of the Hydesville affair occurred rather slowly and gradually but was very dramatic, with reports of the paranormal spreading from Hydesville, NY to nearby Rochester, NY, and to other places in New York and Massachusetts and Connecticut such as Bridgeport. After a less-than-comprehensive search, I could find only one 1849 account of the paranormal published in 1849 (excluding the Celestial Telegraph book mentioned below which may come from either 1849 or 1850), although some accounts published in 1850 refer to spooky events of 1849. In the "Strange Manifestations" section on page 155 of the periodical here (the February 3, 1849 edition of the Univercoelum and Spiritual Philosopher) we have this reference to mysterious sounds:
"We have recently heard through various and individual mediums of the most respectable character, of some strange manifestations now occurring in Rochester, this State. The manifestations are said to have commenced in the village of Hydesville, Wayne county, in April last.They are said to consist of certain noise...the agency by which they are caused being entirely invisible!...The noises, we are informed, purport to be from departed spirits in answers to questions that are propounded to them. When a question is asked, they give a rap for an affirmative, while for a negative there is no sound heard. They also, as it said, have a way of communicating by way of the alphabet. When the interrogator, saying over the letters consecutively, comes to the letter which begins the word or substance, a rap will be heard, and in the same way succeeding letters will be indicated, until sometimes long sentences will be spelt out...As to the actual fact of these manifestations, we think there cannot be a shadow of doubt, if the numerous concurrent and direct testimonies which we have had from respectable persons on this subject, are deserving of any weight."
I found numerous 1850 accounts of mediums and mysterious raps and mysterious movements of objects, many of which rather seem to be kind of events slowly growing from the seeds of the Hydesville phenomenon. One such document on this topic that I have been able to find is the 1850 book Explanation and History of the Mysterious Communion With Spirits Comprehending the Rise and Progress of the Mysterious Noises in Western New York, Generally Received as Spiritual Communications by Eliab W. Capron and Henry D. Barron, which you can read here. Chapter II of the book gives an account of the Hydesville rappings matching that of the 1848 E. E. Lewis booklet quoted in my previous post (the booklet you can read here), and includes a long quote matching the quote from Duesler in that booklet.
Chapter V of the book starts to tell us what seems to be the earliest available detailed account of the mysterious rapping phenomena and similar phenomena spreading to Rochester NY, not far from Hydesville, NY where the rapping phenomena was first widely reported. We read that some of the Fox family moved to Rochester, and we read this: "Not long after it began to be heard by this family in Rochester, it began to be heard in other houses in the same city, and among others, in the house of a Methodist clergyman. Rev. A. H. Jarvis, where the same sounds have continued from that time to this, as they have in other places and houses." Soon thereafter we read this, referring to the town of Auburn, NY, 62 miles from Rochester:
"Hardly a week passes without our receiving authentic information of some new place where these occurrences have commenced. We are informed of at least six families in Auburn who hear more or less of the same sounds."
It seems that people soon devised a system by which the alphabet was recited, and when mysterious raps were heard after a particular letter was recited, that letter was written down. Soon people were reporting intelligent communications coming from the raps. A minister reported that a man received word by such mysterious means that his child had died. The claim was soon confirmed. Soon a public meeting was held at the Corinthian Hall in Rochester. According to a New York Weekly Tribune account of December 8, 1849, quoted by Barron and Capron, many witnesses reported hearing mysterious raps at such a meeting, the source of which could not be determined. The newspaper quote mentions the formation of various committees to investigate the matter, without any resolution of how the sound originated, and with the sounds being reported coming from a variety of places such as walls and floors. We have this impressive-sounding quote as part of the quoted newspaper account:
"On Friday evening, after the lecture, three of the Committee, viz : Hon. A. P. Hascall, D. C. McCallum, and William Fisher, repaired to the house of a citizen and pursued their investigations still farther. There were nearly a score of persons present. The members of the Committee wrote many questions on paper, which no person present knew the purport of, and they were answered correctly. At times they would ask mentally and would receive the answers with equal correctness and they were fully satisfied that there was something present manifesting intelligence beyond the persons visible."
I tried to find the original newspaper quote cited to make sure the quotation was accurate. It seems that there was a daily publication called the New York Daily Tribune, and a weekly publication called the New York Weekly Tribune, published only on Saturday. There seemed to be no account of this event in the New York Daily Tribune of December 8, 1849, but I was unable to find a copy of the Saturday-edition New York Weekly Tribune for December 8, 1849. But we can assume the above quote is accurate, as it also appears in an 1852 book, which on pages 12 to 15 makes an even fuller quote from the story on this event in the New York Weekly Tribune for December 8, 1849, one noting numerous witnesses doing thorough examinations, and finding nothing to explain the phenomenon of the raps.
At the conclusion of Chapter VI we have this impressive-sounding summary:
"When we take into consideration the facts that this matter has now been spreading for two years — that every means have been tried in private circles, and committees appointed by public meetings — that all have failed to discover any thing like collusion — we may safely assert that in regard to the sounds merely — the following facts are established beyond dispute, viz: That the sounds are heard in various places and at various times — that those sounds are not made by, or under the control of any person or persons, although manifested in the presence of particular persons ; and that they evince a remarkable degree of intelligence. These facts, among those who have carefully investigated are no longer disputed."
On page 53 one of the co-authors gives an account from his personal journal. The account gives details that seem to exclude any explanation involving a person making sounds by cracking of the joints, or anyone using machinery to make sounds. We read this statement from the journal of E. W. Capron:
"On the 23d of November, 1848, 1 went to the city of Rochester on business. I had previously made up my mind to investigate this so called mystery, if I should have an opportunity. In doing so, I had no doubt but what I possessed shrewdness enough to detect the trick, as I strongly suspected it to be, or discover the noise if it should be unknown to the inmates ot the house.
A friend of mine, John Kedzie, of Rochester, who I had long known as a skeptic in regard to any such wonders, invited me to go with him to hear it. I accepted the invitation with a feeling that was far from serious apprehension of communicating with anything beyond my power to discover.
Before I heard the sound, we seated ourselves around a table. As soon as we got quiet, I heard a slight but distinct rapping on the floor, apparently on the under side. Although I concluded that such a sound might be made by machinery, I could see no possible motive in the family taking so such pains to deceive people, as they received nothing but annoyance and trouble in return for their pains. I proceeded to ask some questions and they were answered very freely and correctly. I asked if it would rap my age ? It was done correctly. I then took my memorandum book from my pocket and wrote my questions so that no person could know the nature of the questions. I would write ; ' rap four times ; rap one ; rap seven ;' and to each and every question I got a correct answer. I then laid aside my book and proceeded to ask similar test questions mentally, and as before, received correct answers."
So this is the second case in the very early literature in which someone reports getting replies from the mysterious raps that could not possibly have come from some nearby faker, either because the answers given are those known only by the person asking, or because the question itself was never orally stated so that some nearby faker could have faked an answer. On page 69 we have evidence of a phenomenon beyond mere rapping. We read this:
"Wednesday Evening, June 20th. Present six persons and none of the family of Mr. Fox in town. The rapping was heard very freely by all. The table moved on the floor with no person touching it — moved to the distance of a foot or more and back, in various directions. At our request the table (which was a very light one) was held down to the floor so that it required the whole strength of a man to move it from its position. We also held one side, and requested, if there was power to do it, that it would be drawn away from us; this was done and our strength was not sufficient to hold it ...The table was then raised from the floor on one side, and there stood, although we used considerable strength to push it down. While the table stood in that position, by placing our hands upon it we would feel a quick, tremulous motion like the action of a galvanic battery. The witnesses present at this time were Miss Mary M. Bennett, H. D, Barron, Mrs. Mary Miller. Miss Amanda Hoskins, Mrs. Sarah A. Tamlin, and L. W. Capron.''
Fantastic as this account sounds, very similar results were recorded by very many observers in the years ahead. Notice how impossible it is to explain such a result as some kind of joint cracking of one of the Fox sisters. For one thing, we read that none of the Fox family was even in town. We also read of effects much beyond mere rapping: effects such as tables mysteriously moving and rising up in the air.
On page 70 we learn of another impressive effect:
"Sunday Evening, October 7th. This evening we were directed to go into the hall and take the guitar. We went, and while there the guitar was played by unseen hands, and played so exquisitely too that it seemed more like far distant music to one just aroused from midnight slumber, than the music of an instrument a few feet from us. Several tunes were thus played, while not a person in the room knew how to play a tune on that or any other instrument. Witnesses present this evening at the house of Mr. Bennet, Mrs. Burton Straight, of Troy, Bradford county, Penn., Mrs. G. B. Bennett R. M C. Capron, E. W. Capron, and H. D. Barron, of Auburn."
Here is a tale that many would say is too wondrous-sounding to be believed: an account of a guitar playing by itself in the middle of the nineteenth century. But why dismiss the account, when something very similar was reported by one of the leading scientists of that century? Sir William Crookes was the co-discoverer of the element thallium, and the inventor of the Crookes tube that was the technological ancestor of every computer, tablet device and smartphone. On page 2 of his 1871 work Experimental Investigations on Psychic Force, Sir William Crookes states this about the medium Daniel Dunglas Home:
"Among the remarkable phenomena which occur under Mr. Home's influence, the most striking, as well as the most easily tested with scientific accuracy, are — (1) the alteration in the weight of bodies, and (2) the playing of tunes upon musical instruments (generally an accordion, for convenience of portability) without direct human intervention, under conditions rendering contact or connection with the keys impossible. Not until I had witnessed these facts some half-dozen times, and scrutinized them with all the critical acumen I possess, did I become convinced of their objective reality."
Crookes then describes an experiment done at Crookes' home, using an accordion Crookes bought himself. There were four other witnesses, including William Huggins and Edward William Cox, both fellows of the Royal Society, the leading scientific organization in England. The accordion was placed in a cage, and Home merely touched one end of it, the end on the opposite side of the keyboard. The accordion was heard to play by itself. On page 5 Crookes says this:
"I and two of the others present saw the accordion distinctly floating about in the cage with no visible means of support. This was repeated a second time, after a short interval."
In 1850 there appeared a periodical called the Spirit Messenger. It started out mainly as a vehicle for the teachings of Andrew Jackson Davis, an astonishing anomaly in American literature who was called the Poughkeepsie Seer. At a very early age the untutored Davis seemed to produce literary output of astonishing insight. He also would seem to go into trances, have visions and display clairvoyance. Telling his tale would require a separate post. As early as early as September 7, 1850 the Spirit Messenger began to report striking observations of the paranormal. We read on page 35 of a professor who had an extremely strange compulsion one day to move his bed. That very night he found that a large beam had fallen just on the spot where the bed previously was. On the same page we read of a young naval lieutenant who became convinced that his brother very far away had died on August 12 at 6:00. Later this was confirmed to be true.
In the next edition of the Spirit Messenger, dating from September 14, 1850, we read this on page 44:
"In accordance with intentions previously expressed, our renders shall now have the result of our inquiries, into the nature and character of the manifestations we witnessed at the house of J. R Mettler, in Bridgeport, Conn. The sounds and demonstrations generally, together with the mode of communication adopted, are intrinsically the same as those which attend the ladies of the Fox family, at Rochester. In this case, the medium of communication is a young man, of light complexion and nervous temperament, who has been somewhat distinguished as a clairvoyant. His name is Henry Gordon. From him we learn, that in the incipient stages of the phenomena manifested in his presence, his attention was often attracted by sounds, resembling those produced by the dropping of water from some point of elevation, to the floor of the room he occupied. The sounds, which he could trace to no visible agency, gradually increased in frequency, variety and loudness, and were occasionally attended by startling phenomena, such as the sudden and unaccountable moving of chairs, tables, and other articles of furniture."
We read of messages being spelled out, apparently by some system in which the alphabet is recited, and raps or other sounds occur after particular letters are spoken. Page 54 of the September 21, 1850 edition describes a seance involving the Fox sisters in Rochester. Page 59 of the September 28, 1850 edition has a correspondent report of a seance with glorious paranormal music and mysterious mists seeming to form into human heads. On page 14S of the December 14, 1850 edition we have an account that claims a clairvoyant went into a trance and then spoke just as you would expect the brother of a nearby person to speak, while claiming to be controlled by that brother. Page 157 of the December 21, 1850 edition has a similar account.
In 1850 there was published an anonymous book entitled "Philosophy of modern miracles, or, the relations of spiritual causes to physical effects : with especial reference to the mysterious developments at Bridgeport." You can read the book at www.archive.org, which lists S. B. Brittan as the author. S. B. Brittan was the author of the 1865 opus Man and His Relations, which I review here, calling it a little-known classic of parapsychology. S. B. Brittan also wrote an 1853 book (under his own name) sounding like the 1850 "Philosophy of modern miracles." The 1850 "Philosophy of modern miracles" book has this very dramatic opening:
"That many strange and startling phenomena — displays of a mysterious power and intelligence — have of late occurred, in various parts of the United States, is a fact too well authenticated to admit of rational controversy. At Rochester, Auburn and New York, Stratford and Bridgeport, Ct. — and other places which need not be mentioned in this connection — a succession of explosive sounds are frequently or constantly occurring, which appear to proceed from some intelligence that is more than mortal. These invisible agents exhibit at times a power to put ponderable objects in motion ; they are intimately acquainted with the minutest circumstances of individual experience, and have an unfailing memory of all the Past. They penetrate and disclose the secrets of the human soul ; the most opaque substances are transparent before them, and they have a power to unlock the Future and read from the page of Destiny."
WESTERN NEW YORK.
Knowing that the public mind, in various loca-
tions in Western New York, has been somewhat
agitated on account of certain sounds, called by
some ‘ mysterious,’ we shall offer no apology for
making the following plain statement of facts in regard to our knowledge of the matter.
The sounds were first heard about two years since,
and have not yet ceased, but seem to be spreading
from one place to another, and gradually claiming
the attention of the public mind. When first heard,
they were manifested by a simple hollow-sounding
rap upon the floor of a house. This rapping was
continued every night for a long time, and finally
commenced in the day-time. It was at first entirely
unintelligible to the inhabitants of the house.
At length, a little girl said, ‘ Now do as I do,’ and
snapped her finger three times. She was answered
by three raps. On repeating it, she found that
it invariably repeated the number she made herself.
Another person said, ‘Now count ten,’ (one of
the children.) It was done correctly. Another was
tried with like success. As it began to display
signs of intelligence, the family became alarmed,
and the females all left the house at night. The
neighbors were called in, but there was no cessation
of the sounds. The excitement became intense, and
atone time, it is said, nearly or quite three hundred
persons assembled to discover from whence the
sounds proceeded. The house was thoroughly ex-
amined from garret to cellar, but, while the sounds
continued, no one ever discovered the operator. At
length, it was discovered that every time a question
was put that required an affirmative, a rap was
heard—for a negative—no sound.
The question was put— ‘ Are you a spirit ?’ The
answer was by rapping—three raps. By this means
they found that it purported to be the spirit of a
man. Many expedients were resorted to by which
to find out the name of the man whose spirit was
making these manifestations. At length a stranger
asked, ‘lf I will call the alphabet, beginning with
A, will you rap when I come to the first letter of his
name?’ The answer was affirmative. He then
commenced, ‘A, B, C,’ —when he came to C, there
was a rap. Again he went on, and it rapped at H,
and in that way he spelled out Charles Rasme.
As before stated, these sounds have, from that time,
been heard in various families in that place, and in
the cities of Auburn and Rochester, and various
places in the country. Although confined to this
rapping sound, the mode of communication has
gradually improved, so that many very curious and
astonishing sentences have been spelled by the use
of the alphabet. It no longer purports to be the
spirit of one man or person, but when an individual
makes the inquiry, ‘ Who is it that wishes to communicate
of some friend or relative—a mother, father, sister or
brother—who has passed from visible existence.
Many persons have made the trial, and have had
names spelled out to them of their friends, unknown
to any persons present. Strangers have tried the
experiment, and had their names spoiled out before
any persons present knew it, or where they came
from.
In each family where the sounds appear, there
seem to be some one or two, whose presence is
necessary to insure communications freely. Gen-
erally we find that these persons are susceptible to
magnetic influences, and clairvoyant, although we
have heard it where there were none that had ever
been magnetized, or were known to be clairvoyant.
In the family of Mr. Granger of Rochester, —a cit-
izen well known there, —the communications could
be had with any two of the family previous to any of
them being placed under the magnetic influence, but
after a daughter was magnetized and became clair-
voyant, no communication could be had without her
presence. No person had ever been magnetized in
the family where it first appeared.
We first became acquainted with these manifesta-
tions about one year since, and we have taken every
opportunity to discover, if possible, what it is. We
have become convinced that these three facts there
is no disputing, viz: The sounds, the intelligence,
and the absence of any collusion or deception in
the matter.
Some two weeks since, we were in company with
some persons who were getting communications
from the invisible communicator, when a message
was spelled out to us to the import that the matter
should be made more public—that the time had arrived
that it was a thing which will ultimately become
known to all men, and that we should immediately
take measures to have it investigated. The direc-
tions were then minutely given by these spirits, as
they purport to be, and which we are willing to be
lieve are, until we have as much proof to the contra
ry as it requires to bring us to this conclusion. These
directions will appear in the following history, as
they were fully and strictly followed. The great
object was to start investigation, and clear those
who had been hearing it for the last two years from
the imputation of fraud and deception.
Accordingly, on the evening of November 14, a
lecture was delivered in Corinthian hall, in the city
of Rochester, and a full history of the rise and progress
After the lecture, a committee was chosen by the
audience, composed of the following persons—A. J.
Combs, Daniel Marsh, Nathaniel Clark, Esq., A.
Judson, and Edwin Jones.
On the following- evening, the committee reported,
in substance, as follows:—That without the knowledge
tations are made, the committee selected the hall of
the Sons of Temperance for the investigation—that
the sound on the floor near where the two ladies
stood was heard as distinctly as at other places, and
that part of the Committee heard the rapping on the
wall behind them—that a number of questions were
asked which were answered not altogether right nor
altogether wrong—that in the afternoon, they went
to the house of a private citizen, and while there,
the sounds were heard on the outside (apparently) of
the front door, after they had entered, and on the
door of a closet By placing the hand on the door,
there was a sensible jar felt when the rapping was
heard. One of the Committee placed one of his
hands upon the feet of the ladies, and the other on
the floor, and though the feet were not moved, there
was a distinct jar on the floor. On the pavement
and on the ground the same sound was heard —a
kind of double rap, as if a stroke and rebound were
distinguishable. When the ladies were separated at
a distance, no sound was heard ; but when a third
person was interposed between them, the sounds were
heard. The ladies seemed ready to give every op-
portunity to the Committee to investigate the cause
fully, and would submit to a thorough investigation
by a committee of ladies, if desired. They all
agreed that the sounds were heard, but they entirely
failed to discover any means by which it could be
done.
After this report and some discussion on the sub
feet, the audience selected another Committee, com-
posed of the following persons—Dr. H. H. Langworthy, Hon. Frederick Whittlesey, D. C. McCallum,
Hascall, of Leroy. At the next lecture, this Committee
that the ladies were placed in different positions, and,
like the other Committee, they were wholly unable
to tell from what the sounds proceeded, or how they
were made—that Dr. Langworthy made observations
with a stethescope, to ascertain whether there was any
movement of the lungs, and found not the least dif-
ference when the sounds were made; and that there
was no kind of probability or possibility of their being made by ventriloquism, as some had supposed—
and they could not have been made by machinery.
Again, after this report, another committee was
formed, from persons who had opposed in the meet-
ing all pretensions to there being any thing but a
trick.
This Committee was composed of Dr. E. P. Langworthy,
women into a room, disrobed them, and examined
their persons and clothing, to be sure that there were
no fixtures about them that could produce the
sounds. When satisfied on this point, the Committee
the young ladies the following certificate:—
‘When they were standing on pillows, with a
handkerchief tied round the bottom of their dress,
tight to the ancles, we all heard the rapping on the
wall and floor distinctly.’ (Signed,)
Mrs. Stone,
Mrs. J. Gates,
Miss M. P. Lawrence.
In the evening, the Committee, through their
chairman, Dr. Langworthy, made a very full report
of their examinations during the day. They reported
ation only in presence of the Committee of gentlemen, and ladies chosen by them. Notwithstanding
all this precaution, these sounds were heard when the
ladies stood on large feather pillows, without shoes,
and in various other positions, both on the floor and
on the wall,- —that a number of questions were asked,
which, when answered, were generally correct. Each
member of the Committee reported separately,
agreeing with and corroborating the first state
ments.
Thus, by three days of the strictest scrutiny, by
means of intelligence, candor and science, were the
persons in whose presence these sounds are heard
acquitted| of all fraud.
On Friday evening, after the lecture, three of
the Committee, viz: Hon. A. P. Hascall, D. C.
McCallum, and William Fisher, repaired to the
house of a citizen, and pursued their investigations
still farther. There were nearly a score of per
sons present. The members of the Committee
wrote many questions on paper, which no persons
present knew the purport of, and they were an
swered correctly. At times they would ask mentally,
and would receive the answers with equal correct
ness, and they were fully satisfied that there was
something present manifesting an intelligence beyond
the persons visible.
One of the Committee tried the experiment of
standing the ladies on glass, and failed to get any
sounds; but the same was subsequently tried in the
presence of a large number of persons, and the
sounds were as loud and distinct as before, on the
floor, as usual.
Such are the facts, as for as the public proceed-
ings are concerned, (which is but a small part of
these strange occurrences,) with the Committees’ report
Thus the matter stands at present, and whether it
is only a remarkable phenomenon, which will pass
away with the present generation, or with the persons
ordinary communication ; or whether it be the com-
mencement of a new era of spiritual influx into the
world, it is certainly something worthy the attention
of men of candor and philosophy.
E. W. CAPRON, Auburn,
GEORGE WILLETS, Rochester.
Rochester, Nov. 22. 1849."
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