Fox sisters

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File:Mrs. Fish and the Misses Fox LCCN2002710596 (cropped).jpg

The Fox sisters. From left to right: Margaretta, Kate and Leah

The Fox sisters were three sisters from Rochester, New York who played an important role in the creation of Spiritualism: Leah (April 8, 1813 – November 1, 1890), Margaretta (also called Maggie), (October 7, 1833 – March 8, 1893) and Catherine Fox (also called Kate) (March 27, 1837 – July 2, 1892).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The two younger sisters used "rappings" to convince their older sister and others that they were communicating with spirits. Their older sister then took charge of them and managed their careers for some time. They all enjoyed success as mediums for many years.

In 1888, Margaretta confessed that their rappings had been a hoax and publicly demonstrated their method.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Despite their confession, the Spiritualism movement continued to grow in popularity.<ref name="Wiseman 2011">Template:Cite book</ref>

Early yearsEdit

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Braided Lock of Kate Fox's Hair

In 1848, the two younger sisters – Catherine and Margaretta – lived with their parents John and Margaret, who were Methodists, in Hydesville, New York,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> a former hamlet that was part of the township of Arcadia in Wayne County, New York, just outside Newark.<ref name="HistRoc">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Weisberg, Barbara. (2004). Talking to the Dead: Kate and Maggie Fox and the Rise of Spiritualism. HarperOne. pp. 12–13. Template:ISBN</ref> The girls had been born and raised "in or near Consecon", a tiny village in Prince Edward County, Ontario where their father owned a farm. The family moved to Hydesville, New York in 1847.<ref name="Weisberg">Template:Cite book</ref>

The house was reputed to be haunted, yet is reported to have been a prank.<ref name="HISTORY">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> (The sisters claimed in 1888 that they made the sounds by cracking their knuckles and other joints<ref name="HISTORY" /> as well as other means.<ref name="Houdini 1924" /> By that time, 40 years later, the sisters were famous mediums.<ref name="HISTORY" />Template:Efn) Margaretta Fox, in her later years noted that neighbors were sure that the house was haunted, reputedly after a man who had been murdered in the house by a (falsely accused) man named Bell.<ref name="Houdini 1924" />Template:Efn

Kate and Margaretta were sent to nearby Rochester during the excitement – Kate to the house of her sister Leah (now the married Leah Fox Fish), and Margaretta to the home of her brother David – and the rappings followed them.<ref name="Doyle" />Template:Rp Amy and Isaac Post, a radical Quaker couple and long-standing friends of the Fox family, invited the girls into their Rochester home. Immediately convinced of the genuineness of the phenomena, they helped to spread the word among their radical Quaker friends, who became the early core of Spiritualists.<ref name="Braude" /> In this way appeared the association between Spiritualism and radical political causes, such as abolition, temperance, and equal rights for women.<ref name="Braude">Braude, Ann. (2001). Radical Spirits: Spiritualism and Women's Rights in Nineteenth-Century America. Indiana University Press. Template:ISBN</ref>

Emergence as mediumsEdit

On 14 November 1849, the Fox sisters demonstrated their spiritualist rapping at the Corinthian Hall in Rochester. This was the first demonstration of spiritualism held before a paying public and inaugurated a long history of public events featured by spiritualist mediums and leaders in the United States and in other countries.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Kate and Margaretta became famous mediums and they held séances for hundreds of people. Many of these early séances were entirely frivolous, where sitters sought insight into "the state of railway stocks or the issue of love affairs."<ref name="Doyle" />Template:Rp<ref name="Reynolds, David S 1995">Reynolds, David S. Walt Whitman's America: A Cultural Biography. New York: Vintage Books, 1995. Template:ISBN. p. 263</ref>

Horace Greeley, the prominent publisher and politician, became a kind of mentor for them, enabling their movement in higher social circles.<ref name=Doyle />Template:Rp Their public séances in New York in 1850 attracted notable people, including William Cullen Bryant, George Bancroft, James Fenimore Cooper, Nathaniel Parker Willis, Horace Greeley, Sojourner Truth and William Lloyd Garrison.<ref name="Reynolds, David S 1995"/> Although Greeley watched over the sisters, the lack of parental supervision was pernicious, as both of the young women began to drink wine.<ref name=Doyle />Template:Rp

CriticismEdit

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The three sisters in 1884

Beginning in 1850, some critics concluded that the girls made the rappings themselves, including physician E. P. Longworthy,<ref name="Hansel 1989" />Template:Efn John W. Hurn, Reverend John M. Austin, and Reverend D. Potts.<ref name="Hansel 1989"/>Template:Efn In 1851, the Reverend C. Chauncey Burr wrote in the New-York Tribune that by cracking toe joints the sounds were so loud, they could be heard in a large hall.<ref name="Hansel 1989" /> In the same year, investigators from the University at Buffalo concluded that the raps were made by cracking joints of their body and that the raps would not occur if they had cushions under their feet.<ref name="Hansel 1989" />Template:Efn

In 1851, Mrs. Norman Culver, a relative of the Fox family, admitted in a signed statement that she had assisted them during their séances by touching them to indicate when the raps should be made. She also claimed that Kate and Margaretta revealed to her the method of producing the raps by snapping their toes and using their knees and ankles.<ref>Kurtz, Paul. (1985). Spiritualists, Mediums and Psychics: Some Evidence of Fraud. In Paul Kurtz (ed.). A Skeptic's Handbook of Parapsychology. Prometheus Books. pp. 177–223. Template:ISBN</ref><ref>Carpenter, William Benjamin. (2011, originally published in 1877). Mrs. Culver's Statement. In Mesmerism, Spiritualism, etc.: Historically and Scientifically Considered. Cambridge University Press. pp. 150–152. Template:ISBN</ref>

Charles Grafton Page, a patent examiner and patent advocate, had developed a keen eye for detecting fraudulent claims about science. In his book Psychomancy (1853), Page observed that the rapping sounds came from underneath the girls' long dresses.<ref name="Page 1853"/>Template:Efn In 1857, the Boston Courier set up a prize of $500 to any medium who could demonstrate a paranormal ability to their committee.<ref name="Hansel 1989"/> The Fox sisters made an attempt and were investigated by a committee which included the magician John Wyman.<ref name=Magic114>Template:Cite book</ref> The committee concluded the raps were produced by bone and feet movements and thus the Fox sisters failed the challenge.<ref name="Hansel 1989"/> A report by the Seybert Commission in 1887 stated that after investigating various mediums including Margaretta, the phenomena could have easily been produced by fraudulent methods. The report noted that the raps were heard close to Margaretta and a séance sitter, Professor Furness had felt pulsations in her foot.<ref name="Hansel 1989"/>

Kate was examined by William Crookes, the prominent physicist, between 1871 and 1874, who concluded the raps were genuine. However, Crookes was described as gullible and the mediums he investigated were caught using trickery.<ref>Neher, Andrew. (2011). Paranormal and Transcendental Experience: A Psychological Examination. Dover Publications. p. 214. Template:ISBN "William Crookes, the noted English physicist, had endorsed Catherine Fox as genuine... Crookes also endorsed several other mediums who were later exposed, including Anna Eva Fay (who was exposed more than once and who eventually explained how she duped Crookes), Florence Cook (who was the subject of more than one expose), and D.D. Home."</ref><ref>Zusne, Leonard; Jones, Warren H. (2014). Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical Thinking. Psychology Press. p. 216. Template:ISBN "The fact is that William Crookes, although very good at physics experiments, was rather weak on drawing inferences and on theorizing. Besides, he was gullible. He endorsed several mediums in spite of their demonstrated trickery. Having witnessed a single seance with Kate Fox, he became convinced that the Fox sisters' rappings were genuine."</ref>

Harry Houdini, the magician who devoted a large part of his life to debunking Spiritualist claims, provided this insight:

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ConfessionEdit

In 1888, the two sisters traveled to New York City, where a reporter offered $1,500 if they would "expose" their methods and give him an exclusive on the story. Margaretta appeared publicly at the New York Academy of Music on October 21, 1888, with Kate present.<ref name=Doyle />Template:Rp Before an audience of 2,000, Margaret demonstrated how she could produce—at will—raps audible throughout the theater. Doctors from the audience came on stage to verify that the cracking of her toe joints was the source of the sound.<ref>Davenport, Reuben Briggs. (1888). The Death-Blow to Spiritualism: Being the true story of the Fox sisters, as revealed by authority of Margaret Fox Kane and Catherine Fox Jencken. New York: G.W. Dillingham.</ref><ref>"How the Spirits Knocked: After Forty Years the Rochester Rappings confessed. to be Fraud", The (Washington) Evening Star, (Monday, 22 October 1888), p.3.</ref>

Margaretta told her story of the origins of the mysterious "rappings" in a signed confession given to the press and published in New York World, October 21, 1888.<ref name="Houdini 1924"/> In it, she explained the Hydesville events.

Later career and recantationEdit

Margaretta expanded on her career as a medium after leaving the homestead to begin her Spiritualist travels with her older sister, Mrs. Underhill. Margaretta used new methods of creating raps by using the muscles of her lower leg.<ref name="Houdini 1924"/>Template:Efn

Pressured by the Spiritualist movement and her own dire financial circumstances, Margaretta recanted her confession in writing in November 1889, about a year after her exhibition. She had attempted to return to Spiritualist performances, but never again attracted the attention or paying clientele of the sisters' earlier careers.<ref name="Houdini 1924" />

Bones in childhood houseEdit

In 1904, remains were found in the cellar when a false wall fell down. The Boston Journal published a story about the discovery, claiming that it was the body of the supposed peddler, on November 22, 1904.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> However, the police at the time didn't open an investigation, as a physician who examined the bones found that it consisted of random bits of bones, including chicken bones, and concluded they had been placed there as a practical joke.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

A few years later, a "peddler tin box" was claimed to have been found in the cellar along with the remains, although there is no mention of the box in earlier accounts of the finding.<ref name="Nickell">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The remains and the tin box are now in the Lily Dale Museum. Skeptical researcher Joe Nickell concluded after researching the box that at least part of the bones were those of animals, a continuation of the hoax. There has been no confirmation that the peddler existed. The alleged false wall appears to be due to an expansion of the foundation, not the concealment of a secret grave.<ref name="Nickell"/>

Personal livesEdit

Leah, on the death of her first husband, married a successful Wall Street banker. Margaretta met Elisha Kane, the Arctic explorer, in 1852. Kane was convinced that Margaretta and Kate were engaged in fraud, under the direction of their sister Leah, and he sought to break Margaretta from the group. Kane married Margaretta nonetheless, and she converted to the Roman Catholic faith. When Kane died in 1857, she returned to her activities as a medium.<ref name="Doyle" />Template:Rp

File:Kate Fox - DPLA - 3abcd5775ea27f3d6bf14a54fc07346e (cropped).jpg

Kate Fox (Jenkin)

Kate had traveled to England in 1871, the trip paid for by a wealthy New York banker, so she would not be compelled to accept payment for her services as a medium. The trip was apparently considered missionary work since Kate sat only for prominent persons, who would let their names be printed as witnesses to a séance. In 1872, Kate married H.D. Jencken, a London barrister, legal scholar, and enthusiastic Spiritualist. Jencken died in 1881, leaving Kate with two sons.<ref name="Doyle" />Template:Rp In 1876, Margaretta joined her sister Kate, who was living in England.

Over the years, sisters Kate and Margaretta had developed serious drinking problems. Around 1888, they became embroiled in a quarrel with their sister Leah and other leading Spiritualists, who were concerned that Kate was drinking too much to care for her children. At the same time, Margaretta, contemplating a return to the Roman Catholic faith, became convinced that her powers were diabolical.<ref name="Doyle" />Template:Rp

Kate died at her home, at 609 Columbus Avenue in New York City, on July 3, 1892.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Less than a year later, Margaretta, deep in alcoholism, was living on charity as the sole tenant of an old tenement house at 456 West 56th Street.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She was taken to the home of Spiritualist Mrs. Emily B. Ruggles, 492 State Street in Brooklyn, where she died on March 8, 1893.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Wiseman 2011" /> All three sisters are interred in Brooklyn, New York: Margaretta and Catherine in Cypress Hills Cemetery,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and Leah with the Fox family in Green-Wood Cemetery.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

LegacyEdit

ParapsychologyEdit

The Fox sisters have been widely cited in parapsychology and spiritualist literature. According to psychologists Leonard Zusne and Warren Jones, "many accounts of the Fox sisters leave out their confession of fraud and present the rappings as genuine manifestations of the spirit world."<ref>Zusne, Leonard; Jones, Warren. (1989). Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical Thinking. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. p. 212. Template:ISBN</ref> C. E. M. Hansel notes in 1989 that "remarkably, the Fox sisters are still discussed in the parapsychological literature without mention of their trickery."<ref name="Hansel 1989"/>

In popular cultureEdit

The Fabulist Fox Sister (2020 musical), by Luke Bateman and Michael Conley.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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The Foxes of Hydesville (2023 podcast), written & directed by Shawn Christensen and starring Carey Mulligan.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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The story of the Fox sisters was featured in "Siblings", the sixth episode in season four of Drunk History. Catherine and Maggie Fox were portrayed by Sugar Lyn Beard and Sarah Ramos, respectively.
Maggie and Catherine make a brief appearance in Dan Simmons’ 2007 novel The Terror. As protagonist Francis Crozier suffers through an alcohol withdrawal-induced fever dream, he experiences clairvoyant visions of various attempts to locate Franklin's lost expedition. One of these visions is of the Foxes as children, conducting a séance to find the expedition; another is of Maggie as a young woman, conversing with her lover Elisha Kane, a prominent Franklin searcher.