Talking to spirits and ghosts has gone on since the dawn of time. However, spiritualism came into its own during 1848 in a farmhouse where a farmer by the name of Jamie Fox lived with his wife and two daughters in Hydesville, near Rochester, NY, USA.
The Fox family had taken over the house after the previous tenant had left it. They were being disturbed by various loud knocks, the casue of which could not be found. The knocks had occured regularly since they moved in during December and were put down to the wind and the weather.
In March 1848 all the family retired to a shared bedroom. Kate, age 14, said out loud, “Mr. Splitfoot, do as I do,” as she snapped her fingers together and also clapped. To the family’s surprise, the spirit responded and answered a number of questions with two knocks for yes and one knock for no. Further questioning over a series of evenings, to which friends and neighbours were invited, revealed that the spirit was that of a Charles Rosma, a traveling salesman who had been killed at age 31 for his savings of $500. The spirit said he had been murdered by one of the previous tenants, a Mr. Bell, five years earlier and buried in the cellar.
Although accused of the murder, Mr. Bell was never tried for it, for even then it took more than the word of a ghost to bring a suspect to trial, and excavations of the cellar had unearthed nothing. However, in 1904 a skeleton was discovered in the cellar when a wall collapsed.
After the encounter with Rosma’s spirit, the daughters were sent to relatives’ homes where other spirit messages were coming through and the rapping had developed an alphabetical code. Tables moved and musical instruments played of their own accord. On 14 November 1849 the first spiritualist meeting took place in the town of Rochester.
Such encounters became known as table tapping. People sat around a small table and the table would rock on its legs to make the tapping. Occasionally the table was known to spin.
In other Rochester houses, more spirits came and by about 1850 there were already 100 mediums in the area. This table tapping soon spread across the country and then to Great Britain where even Queen Victoria tried it.
In 1882 the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) was formed, its members at the time included Lord Tennyson, William Gladstone, Mark Twain and Lewis Carroll as well as a number of respected scientists. Their purpose was to examine all these new spiritual subjects, including hypnotism which was thought to be an occult or magical power. The SPR is still going strong today.
If you are interested in learning more, there’s a lovely little village in South-western New York State, just south of Buffalo and only a few minutes’ drive from Chataqua, called Lily Dale.
Lily Dale, New York, or the Lily Dale Assembly, as it is known, refer to themselves as a small community of self-proclaimed “Spiritualists” who open their gates to the public during the summer months for workshops, guest speakers, sweat-lodges, ghost-walks, and seances among many other offered activities. As well, you may choose from almost 40 different registered mediums in which to connect with Spirit during a reading.
The official definition of a Spiritualist, as proclaimed by the Lily Dale Assembly is “One who believes, as the basis of his or her religion, in the continuity of life and in individual responsibility”.
In 1916, the childhood home of the Fox sisters was moved from Hydesville, New York to Lily Dale, NY. Unfortunately, on September 21, 1955 in Lily Dale the cottage was destroyed by a fire. The sisters are considered to be the primary founders of modern spiritualism.
If you are at all interested in life after death, séances, Mediumship, or other unexplained mysteries of our world, this is a great place to visit. Even sceptics, who do not believe in healing or magical powers, should go check Lily Dale out. It is truly a wonderful, serene location … and you may be surprised and amazed at what you see, learn or feel during your visit.