Talking to the Dead (41 page)

Republican Party, 176

revivals, 36–37

Rhine, Joseph, 265

Richmond, C. M., 244–245

Rinn, Joseph, 256–257

Ripley, George, 110–111

Robinson, John E.: Kate's affection for, 127; Kate's letter to, 116; seances and, 100

Rochester Daily Democrat
(newspaper), 80

Rochester Daily Magnet
(newspaper), 102

Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
(newspaper), 255

Rochester (NY): description of, 39–42; Fox family moves back to, 38–39; George Willets and, 60–63; Leah's new home in, 72; Maggie Fox's longing for, 71; prosperity of, 33; spirit events in, 46–54; spirits insistence on public appearance in, 74–77

Rosna, Charles B. (Hydesville raps peddler): determination of name of, 46; discovery of bones of, 56–57; gathering with, 51; house of, 266–267; Hydesville raps incident, 1–3, 16–24, 28–29

Ruggles, Emily, 258–259

Russia, 231–233

Rutan, Margaret, 31

Ruttan family, 38

 

science: death and, 55; scientific discoveries in 1800s, 90–91; spirit communication and, 92

seances.
See also
spirit communication: after Civil War, 210, 211; author on, 269–272; Civil War and, 206, 207; defined, 4; doubts about, 189–190; of Fox sisters, 95–103; Fox sisters in New York City, 106–115; with Jenny Lind, 117; Kate and Leah's, 171; by Kate in London, 238–239; Kate with William Crookes, 224–225;
Kate with William Stainton Moses, 224; of Maggie and Leah, 117–119; Partridge house seance, 129–132; proliferation of mediums, 144–147; questions about, 141–144; spirit events in Auburn, 73–74; spirit events in Rochester, 46–54; at Swedish Movement Cure, 214–218

second sight, 31

Seneca Falls Convention, 63–65

sexuality: in 1850s, 151–154; of Maggie and Kane, 166; Victorian attitudes towards, 213

Seybert Commission, 233–234

Seybert, Henry, 227, 233

Shakers, 27

Shekinah
(journal), 147

Shields, James, 177

Sidgwick, Eleanor, 232–233

Sidgwick, Henry, 232–233

Singular Revelations: 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
(Capron and Barron), 91–94

slavery.
See also
abolition: Civil War and, 204–206; Kansas-Nebraska Act, 175–176; spirit of John Calhoun and, 118

Smith, Catherine, 34

Smith, Charlie, 135

Smith, Elizabeth: death of, 33; second sight of, 32

Smith, Jacob: spirit communication and, 60; spirit guide for Kate, 171

Smith, John C., 31, 34

Smith, John J., 38, 42

Smith, Joseph: formation of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 36–37; murder of, 57

Smith, Margaret.
See
Fox, Margaret Smith, Maria, 133, 135

Smith, Maria (mother of Margaret Fox), 39

Smith, Stephen, 13, 57

society, 41–42, 151–154

Society for Psychical Research (SPR), 232–233, 262

Society for the Diffusion of Spiritual Knowledge, 177

Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, 236

Sons of Temperance Hall, 80

South Carolina, 204

Soverhill, Andrew, 22–23

spelling mistakes, 98

spirit communication.
See also
raps; seances: after Civil War, 210–212;
Boston Courier
investigation, 190–192; Charles Livermore and Kate, 199–203; Civil War and, 205; controversy over, 141–144; conversion of spirits, 118–119; doubts about, 189–190; emergence of mediums, 120–121; in Europe, 220–222; Fox sisters in New York City, 106–115; George Willets and, 60–63; Hydesville raps incident, 1–3, 16–24, 28–29; Isaac Post and, 59–60; Kate in Auburn, 73–74; letters/books on, 95; Maggie and Kate's denunciation/ recantation of, 253–257; Maggie's denunciation of, 239–245; Modern Spiritualism movement, 176–178; proliferation of mediums, 144–147; Robert Dale Owen and, 195–197, 198; in Russia, 231–233;
Singular Revelations
pamphlet about, 91–94; Spiritualism after 1893, 260–268; at Swedish Movement Cure, 214–218

Spirit Messenger
, 118, 145

spirit pictures, 216–218

spirits.
See also
seances: Corinthian Hall demonstrations/investigations, 78–86; events in Rochester, 46–54; Fox sisters belief in, 247; insistence on public appearance, 74–77; Modern Spiritualism and, 3–8; seances of Fox sisters, 95–103

Spiritualism.
See also
Modern Spiritualism: after 1893, 260–268; after Civil War, 210–212; author on, 269–272; Elisha Kent Kane's criticism of, 161, 164, 165, 167; investigation of phenomena, 232–234; Kate and Maggie Fox and, 236–240; Maggie and Kate's denunciation/recantation of, 241–249, 253–257; in Russia, 231–233

Spiritualists, 203–209

Spiritual Telegraph
(newspaper), 147–148

spirit writing: Kate Fox and, 200, 224, 232–233; through Edward Fowler, 121

SPR (Society for Psychical Research), 232–233, 262

Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, 64

St. Louis (MO), 140

St. Marylebone Parish Church (London), 223

Stowe, Calvin, 216

Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 136, 215–216

Strong, Alvah, 97–98

Strong, Augustus H., 96–98

Strong, George Templeton: doubts about Spiritualism, 189–190; on raps, 109

supernatural: Hydesville raps incident, 16–24, 28–29; ideas/events in 1800s, 24–28; spirit events in Rochester, 46–54

Swedenborg, Emanuel: cemetery and, 56; ideas of, 26

Swedish Movement Cure: Kate Fox at, 212–218; Kate's visit to, 227–228

Syracuse Herald
(newspaper), 22–23

 

table tilting, 220

Tallmadge, Nathaniel, 167, 177

Tamill, Sarah, 93

Taylor, Frankie: spirit communication with, 214–215, 257; spirit pictures, 217–218

Taylor, George: finds Kate drunk, 236; Kate Fox under care of, 212–218; last meetings with Kate, 257–258; visit from Kate, 227–228

Taylor, Leila: spirit communication with, 214–215, 257; spirit pictures, 217

Taylor, Sarah: departure of Kate and, 219–220; description of, 213; Kate and, 214, 217, 218; Kate's seances and, 235–236; last meetings with Kate, 257–258; visit from Kate, 227–228

Taylor, William Langworthy, 214, 258

Taylor, Zachary, 115

technology: advances in 1800s, 91; decline of Spiritualism and, 261–262; God and, 271

telegraph: invention of, 91; spirit communication and, 102–103

temperance movement, 37

test questions, 67

Theosophical Society, 263

Thompson, Waddy, 167

Thompson, William, 107 “Toe-ology”, 123

Troy (NY): Fox sisters in, 105–106; Maggie Fox in, 119–120

Turner, Susannah, 169

 

Uncle Tom's Cabin
(Stowe), 136

Underhill, Daniel: death of, 257; interest in Leah, 190; marriage to Leah, 194–195

Underhill, Leah Fox Fish Brown.
See also
Brown, Leah Fox Fish; Fish, Leah Fox; Fox, Leah: author on, 270–272; death of, 257; death of parents, 209; Kate on, 229–230; Maggie and Kate's denunciation of, 254–255; Maggie's denunciation of, 238, 239–240, 242–244; marriage to Daniel Underhill, 194–195; memoir of, 7; motives of, 246–247; publication of book, 234–235; Robert Dale Owen and, 195–196, 198; seances during Civil War, 207

The United States Grinnell Expedition in Search of Sir John Franklin
(Kane), 174

The Univercoelum and Spiritual Philosopher
(journal), 69

 

Victoria, Queen of England, 221

Voices from the Spirit World; Being Communications From Many Spirits by the Hand of Isaac Post, Medium
(Post), 146–147

 

Walter, Ellen: Maggie Fox and, 172, 173; return of Elisha Kent Kane and, 179–180

Washington (D.C.), 162, 163, 164

Washington, Peter, 5

Webster, John, 118

Weekmans, 23

Weiss, Ehrich (Houdini), 5, 264

Wells, Charlotte Fowler, 121

Wesley, John, 25

Western Argus
(newspaper), 11, 22

Whitman, Walt, 208

Whittlesey, Frederick, 81

Wiley, William, 63

Wilkinson, Jemima, 36

Willets, George: Corinthian Hall demonstrations/investigations and, 80–81, 82, 84; doubts about Fox sisters, 190; as hopeful medium, 64–65; spirit communication and, 60–63; spirits and, 74, 75–76

Willets, William, 62

Willis, Mrs., 259

Willis, N.P., 110

witches, 25

Woman in the Nineteenth Century
(Fuller), 114

women: as mediums, 146; sexuality and, 153–154; suffrage, 41–42

women's rights, 63–64

Woodhull, Victoria, 210, 227

World
(newspaper), 241–242, 243

World War I, 264

 

Yeats, William Butler, 263