The Fox Sister
How a middle-school prank started a religion
The fall leaves in upstate New York are gorgeous. I highly recommend a trip to see them. The other day I was strolling through New
York in 1888 when I stumbled across the October 21st edition of the
New York World, with the confession from Margaret (Maggie) Fox. Have you heard of the Fox sisters?
Nice girls. They accidentally created a religion.
In the winter of 1847 the younger Fox Sisters, Maggie and
Katy decided to play a prank on their easily frightened mother. They began creating rapping sounds by tying
strings to apples and bouncing them on the floor. Or they would toss the apples onto the floor
which would create an odd sound every time it rebounded. Intrigued and frightened, their mother
investigated. Being superstitious, she
believed it was supernatural in origin.
Planning to do a grand finale for their prank, the sisters
decided to have an active conversation with the ghost they were creating. They enticed the ghost, whom they named Mr.
Splitfoot, to rap against the walls in the patterns they created by snapping
their fingers. To further prove it, they
mimed snapping their fingers and the ghost created the appropriate number of
raps.
Their mother took this performance to heart and began
questioning the ghost. The girls created
the appropriate answers, perhaps fearing that if they confessed then they would
be in trouble. Their mother was convinced; she asked the spirit if she could bring others to speak with
it. Not knowing what else to do, the
sisters made the ‘ghost’ agree to this.
Neighbors were brought in and asked questions which were answered so
acutely that the sisters began to gather a minor following.
Their older sister, Leah, was a single mother who saw
opportunity. She went to Hydesville to
speak to the younger sisters and got them to divulge the truth. Instead of turning them out, though, she
became their manager of sorts. She
pushed them to do more performances. The
sisters eventually moved to Rochester and continued their séances. One of the first couples to witness these
performances was a prominent Quaker couple who were also important local
figures who were pushing certain political agendas such as women’s suffrage and
equality of all people regardless of race, creed, nationality, or gender. They became the first ‘Spiritualists’ per se.
Much of what had happened up until that point could be
attributed to the religious climate of the country at the time. Popular religious theorists had come up with
the idea that the spiritual world was in constant contact with the physical
world and we humans simply couldn’t tell.
It was theorized that someday soon someone would find a way to speak to
the dead. Enter the Fox sisters.
Pushed by their older sister (Even when they were doubtful
and wished to stop) the Fox Sisters continued performing séances and traveling
the world. They did séances for
prominent politicians, actors, writers, etc.
They became wealthy and famous.
But the guilt of deceiving the public took its toll. They developed drinking problems. Their lives were troubled and they suffered
intense mental stress in trying to maintain the dual reality. In 1888 Margaret Fox gave an exclusive
confession for the sum of $1,500 (Roughly $36,585 in when adjusted for inflation in 2013) . She
hoped it would end the deception that she considered Spiritualism to be. She detailed how she and her sister had
developed the method of popping their toes in such a way to produce raps. A year later, she recanted her confession in
writing. Within five years, both younger
sisters were dead and buried in paupers’ graves.
But to this day, Spiritualism lives on. One can still find mediums giving séances for
donations all across the nation and overseas.
But how does this relate to magic, I hear you say. Simple.
The methods that the Fox Sisters created have never been duplicated, but
other methods took their place. The
methods of table tipping, table rapping, Ouija, pendulums, etc. are still used
to this day by the bizarre magicians of the world. A lovely evening of wine and conversations
with the Fox Sisters did wonders for my own act.
Further reading:
http://www.paranormal-encyclopedia.com/f/fox-sisters/confession.html
http://www.davemanuel.com/inflation-calculator.php
http://www.davemanuel.com/inflation-calculator.php
No comments:
Post a Comment