Spirit-rappings
A few years ago, an account was published throughout this country and Europe, of a prodigy in the shape of an electrical girl in Paris, who was indued with an extraordinary power—electrical of course—by which, when she attempted to sit down in a chair, it was thrown from her with great violence. This was one of the wonders of the day, and after having deceived multitudes, and become an object of universal interest and sympathy, she fell into the hands of a select committee of the Academy of Sciences, with Arago at their head. Does any one suppose that Arago ever entertained for a moment the idea of electrical action in this connection? Not at all! Arago immediately set himself to the examination of the girls heels, and soon found that she moved the chairs by muscular effort. By long practice she had acquired such skill and power of kicking, or thrusting the chair away from herself, that it was always done without exhibiting any motion exterior to her dress, or the slightest disturbance of her person. Of course she belonged to the new fluid class, for no one acquainted with the laws of electricity, would have entertained a suspicion that electricity had any thing to do with the phenomenon.
We came across a similar case, but this time with wooden tables. When persons put their hands lightly upon tables, their hands always follow the motion of the table, whichever way the table moves. It certainly appeared to us a very significant fact, when we first encountered table-tipping. This imposture originated with two girls, by the name of Fox, from Rochester, New-York, who are now, with their mother, travelling through the country, and exhibiting their art for money. A few weeks ago, the Fox-mother gave us an account of this wonderful development of noises or rappings about the two daughters, and from her we learned that the noises were kept up for a long time before they discovered the cause. At first they were annoyed by them, but, after a while, they became so familiar with the sounds, that they took but little notice of them, until they discovered the mode of communicating with their authors, and ascertained that the sounds were made by spirits of the departed. According to her account, the spirits then rapped at points remote from the girls, but it seems that the spiritual habit has changed somewhat, for since the girls have been on exhibition, the spirits rap nowhere except directly under the girls, and about their feet, or upon something with which their persons or dresses are in contact. We had no desire to see these creatures, except to discover the precise means by which they made the raps, and although fully prepared to condemn them before we paid them a visit, we preferred not to condemn them unseen, lest, on that ground, the clique of rappers should have some advantage over our argument.
When we are told that a table is moved by the mere effort of the will, that it moves about when it is not touched, we deny the statement flatly at once, and challenge the reproduction of the miracle, and when we are told that spirits rap upon tables, floors, doors, walls, or any thing else, we deny the statement, and challenge the production of any kind of rap or sound in these cases, which is not clearly traceable to human agency. Perhaps it will be inferred that we either do or should take ground against supernatural interference and miracles altogether, seeing that we are prepared to condemn à priori, these manifestations, claiming for themselves supernatural origin. We confess that one of the greatest obstacles we have to encounter in the course of this exposition, is the deep-rooted belief in the existence, at the present day, of miraculous powers, agencies and deeds, and the readiness with which many persons ascribe every thing which eludes their judgment or senses, and especially whatever savors in the least of religion, to superhuman agency.
We believe that miracles were performed of old, for holy purposes, and no other; that they were necessary to enforce the truth of revelation; that the day of miracles has gone by, and that they ceased when their necessity ceased. We take the ground that every witch, wizard, magician, astrologer, sorcerer, necromancer, and fortune-teller, from the earliest, down to the present time, has had no more power over matter, or the laws of nature, than any other person, and that whoever lays claim to familiar spirits, foresight, or any direct communication with the invisible world, through raps and tips, is either witch, wizard, conjurer, or sorcerer de facto. The prime movers in all these marvels are impostors, and their disciples, dupes. While the former are filling their coffers at the expense of the latter, they must often indulge in secret merriment at the credulity of their adherents; and particularly at the grave discussions of the learned clergy and others upon electricity, magnetism, the new fluid, the nervous fluid, or the devil’s immediate agency, as probable causes of these strange phenomena.
Our first visit to the rappers, was in company with a gentleman of high eminence in science, of keen discernment, and very fruitful in expedients. We had formed no particular plan of procedure, except that we had agreed to feign belief in these performances, lest incredulity might prove an obstacle to investigation, and keep the rappers too much on their guard. After the mother of the Fox girls had given us an account of the spiritual visitation of her daughters, they three took seats at a large circular table, and we joined the circle sitting opposite to them. We were directed to ask if there were any spirits present. This done, Bang, Bang upon the table announced the presence of the spirits. The table was evidently struck underneath by something hard, solid, material, and so as to jar the table perceptibly to the hand resting upon it. Our coadjutor feigned surprise and alarm, and stooped to look under the table, when the raps immediately ceased. This he repeated several times and each time the raps ceased. We asked again if there were any spirits present, but no answer came while he had his eyes below the level of the table top, but as soon as he sat up, the raps upon the table commenced again.
He however was so persevering in his scrutiny about the table as to give us a good opportunity to say—for mere effect—“Why do you look under there, you cannot see a spirit?” The rappers finding themselves baffled in making their demonstrations through the table, were forced to retreat from it, and taking their seats a short distance from the table, the rappings then commenced upon the floor immediately under the girls, or about their feet. Both the girls were rappers, but one conspicuously so, she rapping much louder than the other, and did most of the rapping for the occasion. Both the girls wore long dresses sweeping the floor, but the principal rapper ought to have been attended by a train bearer.
“Are there any spirits present?” was again asked, and the raps came promptly and so thick and fast that the spirits seemed anxious to make some communications, so we proceeded to this part of the ceremony. The instructions being given to us how to proceed, we commenced by asking several questions, but to these we received either no answers, or incorrect ones. The programme was this: We were to write down three names of spirits, one of which was to be the name of the spirit we intended to invoke. We were then to put down the names of three diseases, one of which was to be the disease of which the person had died. We were then to put down three places, one of which was to be the place where the person died. We were then to point seriatim to the names of the persons, and that when we pointed to the name of the person intended, the spirit would signify his presence and approbation, by two raps, which mean Yes. Names of others, or those not intended, would be answered by one rap, which meant No. We made no progress, however, and, although there was an abundance of rapping, there was no communication, no intelligence, no confirmation to us, of what we already knew (in the imperfection of human knowledge), and we appealed with an air and tone of assumed naïveté to the rappers to know if perhaps our failures were not owing to our great wickedness? “Oh, no!” said the Mother Fox, “it will happen so sometimes.” Just then a gentleman entered who, it appears, was a devotee of Rappism, for the purpose of holding communication with the spirit of a departed wife. As we had failed, entirely, to elicit even a respectable guess in answer to our inquiries of the spirits, his visit was rather fortunate at this juncture, for it gave us an opportunity to observe more closely than when our minds were occupied with the manipulation of the spiritual telegraph.
Mr. * * * commenced at once with an account of his previous interviews and then proceeded to inquire for his beloved spirit. Rap, rap, indicated her presence, and he asked some several questions which were answered to his satisfaction, the Fox mother repeating over and over the alphabet, so fast that we could not follow to get the answer for ourselves, but the rappers being in good practice, seemed to find no difficulty in keeping pace.
We inquired if these rappings ever occurred any where except immediately about the persons of these girls. “Oh yes,” was the mother’s answer, “the sounds have been made in that wardrobe, and upon the door,” etc. We pressed hard to have the raps from the wardrobe, but to our surprise and disappointment the girl got into the wardrobe, leaving the door open, and so snugly was she encased there in consequence of a partition in the wardrobe, that her dress was largely in contact with three sides or walls of the little apartment. Of course we did not expect any better or different performance from that with which we had been entertained outside the wardrobe. “Will the spirit rap here?” says the girl, and rap, rap, it came on the floor of the wardrobe. She was then requested to have the rappings made upon the sides and back of the wardrobe, which she did, taking a little extra time to arrange herself for these performances.
She then requested us to put our ear to the top of the wardrobe and the rap would proceed from that quarter. We were not to be entrapped by this trick, for we knew full well the old and trite experiment of placing the ear upon one end of a long stick when a sound is made upon the other end. In this experiment the sound will always appear to be made near the ear. We therefore kept our attention fixed upon the bottom or lower part of the wardrobe. The girl then called attention to several points in the upper part of the wardrobe, and it appeared to the satisfaction of some present that the sounds came from those points, while to us it was perfectly evident that the sounds were not at all changed in direction or character, and in reality proceeded from the old quarter.
Our knowledge of ventriloquism also fortified us against this trick. Ventriloquism is a deception, the success of which depends upon a certain power of modulating the voice, a correct ear for imitation of sounds, and skill and judgment in selection of time, place and circumstances for the performance. When persons present are not aware or apprised of the attempt to deceive them, the ventriloquist is not obliged to be very particular in his selection. Nothing is more easy than to deceive completely, by calling the attention of persons present to sounds from a certain position or direction, while in reality the sounds are made elsewhere and in a remote quarter, provided the real origin of the sounds be concealed from the sight. So it was in the case of the raps, with those whose eyes and expectations were fixed upon the top of the wardrobe.
The trick was poorly done however, for the sound did not undergo the proper modification, and in fact it was out of the girl’s power to modify it to suit this case. For the origin of the raps, being concealed under her dress, she could not divest it of its muffled character without exposing her art. It is particularly worthy of note here, that for these experiments in the wardrobe no particular spirit was invoked, and the raps were continued as long as necessary for the gratification of the bystanders, and were several times commenced without any particular invocation on the part of the girl, she evidently forgetting the dignity of the spirit in the excitement of the moment.
On the second visit we were there with our former coadjutor and several other gentlemen of eminence, and a lady of the highest respectability, strong mind, and distinguished for her indomitable energy and perseverance. The enthusiast, Mr. * * * , then invoked his favorite spirit and proposed a question, the answer to which was spelled out by the Fox mother as before, and he expressed himself perfectly satisfied with the answer. We then took our turn. We put down upon paper the names of three departed spirits, three diseases, and three places. In pointing to these names with the pencil, we took good care to conceal the pencil movement behind a book, and carefully guarded against any emphatic movement which should betray our will to the practiced eyes of the girls.
The raps came for the wrong spirit, and rapped the wrong disease, and place of death. We then made another effort. Three names were selected, as follows, Webster, Clay, and Calhoun; Webster’s was the spirit we invoked, and they hit it right this time for the name, but mark the sequel. The answer was that Webster died of Croup! and at Salem, Mass. Of course we did not indicate by any look or movement that our inquiries had been answered correctly or incorrectly until we had got through.
Next another friend of ours came to the trial. He had not been accustomed to investigate such tricks, and very imprudently suffered Mr. * * * to put the questions for him. The answers came in accordance with the facts, that is the right spirit was designated by the raps, and the manner of his death. Mr. * * * put the questions each in different tone and shape, and the girls undoubtedly read him as they had done before. Noticing this, we remarked to Mr. * * * that as he had been so successful we would like to have him inquire for us, to which he readily assented. We, however premised, that he must use the same intonation and language in asking each question, which he agreed to do, as far as he could.
With these precautions, the question was put to the rappers. We were to fix our thoughts upon a particular spirit, the disease of which the person died, and the place where; the name with two others was put down upon paper, the disease with several others, and also the place of death with two others. Mr. * * * propounded as follows: Will the spirit inform us of the spirit the gentleman is thinking of? Rap, rap! Yes. Will it inform us correctly? Rap, rap! Yes. Pointing to a name with a pencil, he asked, Is it this? Rap! No. Is it this? Rap, rap! Yes. Pointing to the diseases and places, with the same question each time; when the whole was gone through with, Mr. * * * asked, Has the spirit informed us correctly? Rap, rap! Yes. The rappers hit it right as to the name, but they informed us this time that Mr. Webster died of Fungus Hæmatodes, in Newark, New Jersey.
This was too much for forbearance, but still we kept our purpose of investigation in view, and again pleaded our own wickedness as the probable cause of these failures. “Oh! no,” said they, “it will happen so sometimes.” These girls and their mother sitting there, with all gravity, and pretending to be the “mediums” of communication with disembodied spirits, and dealing out such nonsense as that just related.
The rappers were then sitting some distance from the table, and we asked if the “Spirits would rap upon the table?” Rap! No. “Will the spirit please to rap upon the table?” Rap, rap, rap. “Not now.” It seems that three raps for the expression “Not now“ was a part of the spiritual stenography, as they had occasion to use this evasion quite often to escape difficulties. “Will the spirit please to explain why it will not rap upon the table?” Rap, rap, rap “Not now.” “When will it?” “This evening, at such an hour,” naming it. This last communication was spelled out by the Fox mother, and a time was named at which it would be impossible to get an opportunity to propound such a question, as they held their spiritual levee in the evening to crowds. Moreover, we had no desire to repeat the question to these tricksters, to be shuffled, as we most certainly should have been, with the same prevarication.
On the occasion of our first visit, Mr. * * * said that the spirits had rapped upon his foot, while sitting at a table. The experiment was repeated by request, and very likely would have been successful, if we had not fixed our eyes very intently upon his and the rappers’ feet. As it was, this feat was not performed. On the second visit, we implored the spirits to rap upon our feet. “Not now,” was the answer. It was evident that we were not receiving our money’s worth of spiritual manifestations according to the show-bill; but, as every failure was our gain, we were not disposed to quarrel with the rappers or the spirits.
One of my scientific friends then asked if they would not rap if they were suspended in a swing, or stood upon a pillow? “Oh yes,” was the reply, “we have done that; that has all been tried.” One of the Fox girls proposed to send upstairs for a pillow, but it occurred to us that they might rap while standing upon any common-sized pillow, for the reason that their dresses would cover and extend beyond the pillow, and thus give them an opportunity to get their rapping instrument down upon the floor over the sides of the pillow. We therefore proceeded immediately, while they were engaged in some conversation, to make up a cushion upon the floor to suit our own views.
We gathered a number of cloaks, and laid them folded upon the floor, so as to make a circular cushion of about three and a half feet diameter, and so thick that we were persuaded no ordinary raps with their instrument could be heard through the soft mass, or if any sound should be produced it would be so modified as to betray its origin. The Fox mother objected to this preparation; but the girls said, “We know we can rap; the spirits will rap there, for they have always done so.” By way of an excuse for making this cushion, we remarked that one of the coats was silk, and that we would ascertain if electricity had any thing to do with it.
The Fox mother said, “All that had been tried before; and that the girls could rap standing upon glass tumblers, and that she knew it must be the spirits, for these manifestations had been with them now for six years.” We replied (to keep up our argument), “You know that there are persons who think these sounds are all due to some modification of electricity, and others who think that electricity is the very essence of spirituality, and we wish to see in this case how far it may be concerned in the phenomena.” There was no resisting this, and we were allowed to proceed.
The result was exactly as we anticipated. While standing upon the cushion they could not rap at all. The principal rapper saw her predicament, and took her stand upon the cushion so that her dress was partly over the edge of the cushion, but this we objected to, and requested her to stand upon the centre of the cushion, upon the plea that if her dress touched the floor, it would conduct away the electricity. A perfectly empirical reason, of course; but they were none the wiser for that, and as soon as every thing was arranged to our liking, she invoked the spirit to rap. No rap came. Again and again the spirit was besought, but no response was given. She then asked her sister to come and stand upon the cushion with her, thinking, in her subtlety, that two of them would occupy so much room as to give one, at least, a chance to have her dress over the edge of the cushion. But this we were prepared for; and gathered in the skirts of their dresses upon the cushion, upon the same plea as before. The result was the same as with one. No raps. The fact was, their arts were completely baffled, the spirits had fled, and the experiment not only proved the falsity of the assertion that they could rap standing on cushions, or when suspended in a swing, but afforded the most conclusive evidence of the immediate and wilful agency of these Fox girls in producing these sounds.
Thinking to redeem themselves from the inevitable verdict of this trial, the principal rapper proposed to stand upon glass tumblers, to see if the spirits would rap then, as they had done on former occasions. She took her stand upon the tumblers. This elevated the lower border of her dress above the floor, and it so happened that one of our number was sufficiently far from her that he could have seen her feet on the rapping instrument. She invoked the spirit. “Will the spirit please to rap?” No rap. She then stooped a little, as if addressing the spirit below. “Will the spirit please to rap now?” No rap. She then stooped a little more, and by this time her dress was fairly down upon the floor, so as to cover feet and tumblers. “Will the spirit please to rap now?” Rap, rap. This was very adroitly done, but the trick was clear to us.
How strange it is, that she should have been obliged to stoop, and to have invoked the spirit three times before the answer came; and, moreover, that she should look down to the floor for the spirit; and how passing strange it is that these modern spirits should have such a fondness for long dresses and girls’ toes. We then requested her to stand upon a chair, and rap. This she did promptly, and the rap came at a bidding. The sound was different from that produced upon the carpeted floor, and underwent just the proper modification of a blow struck upon a hard, uncovered, wooden seat.
Here we stopped, having seen quite enough of this game of “Fox and Geese.” Before leaving the room, one of the rappers requested our scientific friend not to publish them, and another stepped up to the lady present, saying, “You do not think that I have any machinery about me to make these sounds, do you?” We have it on the authority of this lady, who seemed determined to leave nothing untried to lead to the detection of this imposture, that she asked these rappers if they would consent to a private examination of their persons, and that they refused it positively, adding that if she had any doubt as to the reality of these spiritual manifestations she would have satisfactory revelations made to her in her bed-chamber five weeks from that time. This prophetic intelligence they rapped out for the occasion according to their own fancy and usual evasive duplicity in such cases. The five weeks have passed, but the lady has, of course, received no spiritual visitations as predicted.
