|
The Fox sisters,
Conan Doyle and
Brazilian
Spiritism
The episodes of
Hydesville
became important
for triggering a
public research
of striking
consequences for
the history
of Spiritism in
the world
In 1848, a crowd
of Americans
pushed each
other in
Corinthian Hall,
in the
municipality of
Rochester,
located in
upstate New
York, United
States of
America, to
follow a
commission that
would supposedly
discover tricks
employed by two
teens who seemed
to simulate
sounds assigned
to dead people.
Since the noise
had become known
by their
neighbours and
some kind of
communication
had been
established with
their source,
much of the
quiet
surrounding
population of
Hydesville were
taken by a
certain
indignation that
seemed to
remember the
episodes of
witch-hunt of
Salem.
|
Three
young
girls
named
Catherine
(Kate),
Margaret
(Maggie)
and Ann
Leah
were the
target
of the
interests
of the
predominantly
Protestant
population.
Daughters
of
peasant
and
Methodist
pastor
John
Fox, the
first
two were
transferred
from his
home in
Hydesville
to two
homes in
Rochester,
the
uncle’s
and Ann
Leah’s
sister,
who was
already
married
and
started
signing
her name
as Ann
Leah
Fish.
Since
then,
these
phenomena
– which
began in
Hydesville
– began
to
express
themselves
in their
new
homes
and in
other
houses
of
Rochester
and
neighbouring
towns.
The
scholar
Canute
Abreu
(1996),
quoting
one of
the
best-known
disseminators
of
these
events
(1),
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|
made a
timely
analysis
of the
character
of
Quakers,
which
explains
the
notoriety
of what
happened.
Rochester
was
founded
by a
Quaker
(Nathaniel
Rochester),
a
Protestant
line
founded
by
George
Fox in
England,
which
believed
in the
immediate
and
individual
revelation
of God.
Canute
Abreu
affirms
they
were the
founders
of the
free
American
States
and
defenders
of
freedom
of
expression,
being
tolerant
to
different
beliefs
and
religions. |
As the noisy
manifestations
did not cease
with the removal
of the girls to
the city and the
population
became
increasingly
fractious and
prone to acts of
violence, Mrs.
Fox sought Mr.
Isaac Post, a
Quaker respected
by the
population and a
Director of the
“Society of
Friends"
(2), in
order that he
could intercede
in her favour
and clarify the
happenings.
After consulting
the "spirits",
Post decided to
promote public
demonstrations
in the biggest
city Hall,
accompanied by a
Committee of
researchers,
ensuring that
himself along
with Methodist
pastor Jervis,
Dr. Capron and
their respective
wives, the
integrity of
young girls.
This event took
place on 14th
of
November 1849.
(SMITH, 1997)
The commission,
which had as
reporter the
chief-editor of
the newspaper
Rochester
Democrat (which,
according to
Doyle (1926),
had already
prepared an
article called
"Full Exposure
of the
mystification of
the knocks"
which was held
back after the
referred works),
concluded that
the knockings
were true, and
that though
sometimes a far
distance from
the girls (on
the walls and
doors) and which
sometimes
answered right
and sometimes
wrong to the
questions which
were addressed
to them and that
"they could not
find any process
by which the
girls could have
produced these
knocks".
The report was
received with
signs of
displeasure by
the audience and
it was decided
by the
appointment of a
second
Committee, with
the presence of
Dr. Langworthy,
to check upon
the possibility
of ventriloquism
by the Fox
girls. After a
further new
investigation,
it was concluded
that the sounds
were heard, and
were not
produced by
machine or by
ventriloquism.
And then a third
Committee was
nominated and
which examined
the young Fox
girls naked with
their dresses
tied to their
bodies and made
them stand up on
glasses,
standing on
pillows, tied to
chairs and in
other situations
which it did not
prevent the
demonstrations.
The Commission
stated that
questions asked,
some of them
just by the
thought, had
been answered
correctly.
(Doyle 1926. p.
89) The episode,
however, almost
caused the
lynching of
mediums.
Researches and
reports on the
Fox sisters
I bring the
attention of the
spiritist reader
to these
episodes
reported above
and following
the reasoning of
Conan Doyle (the
creator of
Sherlock
Holmes), because
very recently
the mediumship
of the Fox
sisters were
questioned by a
Brazilian
journalist who
showed herself
as basing her
writing on
hearsay. On
finishing an
article written
in a somewhat
ironic tone
about Spiritism,
she wrote:
"Years later
after causing
furore, the Fox
sisters affirmed
they had lied.
They said that
the spirits were
their invention.
In Brazil,
nobody took
notice of this
fact ". (Varella,
2000.)
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Interestingly,
the
Scottish
physician
and
writer
Sir
Arthur
Conan
Doyle
has
devoted
an
entire
chapter
of his
book
“The
History
of
Spiritism”
debating
this
theme.
This
book was
translated
into
Portuguese
by a
spiritist
renown
to the
Brazilian
movement,
to whom
we also
owe the
translation
of the
spiritist
magazine
of Allan
Kardec (Spirite
Revue),
Júlio
Abreu.
In the
chapter
mentioned,
widely
documented
with
signed
declarations,
Doyle
shows
the
reader
the
investigations
to which
they
were
submitted
and the
persecution
the Fox
sisters
endured.
The
obsession
of the
vast
majority
of
researchers
who
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|
would
study
them
focused
on
discovering
the
physical
or
physiological
origins
of the
knocks.
Conan
Doyle
related
an
episode
from the
life of
Margaret
Fox
where
she
became
interested
in and
was
corresponding
with a
Puritan
doctor
named
Kane,
whom she
later
came to
marry,
and the
pressures
that he
exercised
so that
she
denied
the
communication
with
spirits.
From the
analysis
of the
letters,
the
creator
of
Sherlock
Holmes
concludes
that he
"vaguely
thought
there
had been
fraud",
but that
"in the
years of
their
greatest
intimacy
Margaret
never
admitted
it",
that "he
never
could
suggest
of what
the ruse
consisted"
and that
"she
employed
her
forces
in such
a way
that the
serious
spiritists
regret".
(Doyle
1926. p.
97.) |
As well as other
mediums from the
19th
century, the Fox
had doubts about
as the spiritual
origin of the
phenomena, and
it may be that
they had
practiced some
form of fraud in
isolated moments
of their career,
especially
because now they
went on to live
on
demonstrations
of phenomena.
Conan Doyle
transcribed the
next sentence of
the book by Dr.
Kane (3):
"... She always
said that she
had never really
believed that
the knocks were
works of
Spirits, but
thought that it
had a
relationship
with certain
hidden laws of
nature ". "This
was her attitude
later in life,
because her
professional
record said that
people should
judge the nature
of her forces by
themselves."
(Doyle 1926. p.
97.)
The New York
banker Charles
Livermore,
affirmed that he
received
communications
from his
deceased wife,
Estelle, over a
period of ten
years, through
the mediumship
of Kate Fox’s,
some written in
French, Spanish
and Italian,
languages not
known by the
medium. Mr.
Cromwell Varley
(the electrician
responsible for
the laying of
the submarine
cable accross
the Atlantic)
carried out
experiments on
electricity with
Kate Fox. In her
visit to
England, Kate
was studied by a
well-known
member of the
Dialectic
Society of
London, the
physicist
William Crookes.
I transcribe
below an account
of one of the
results obtained
by him, "The
report of the
observations in
the presence of
Kate Fox remains
a clear example
of paranormal
evidence for
paranormal
raps, except
for the lack of
multiple
witnesses. He
obtained raps
on various
objects and
materials – a
piece of glass,
a tambourine, a
tree, a piece of
paper hung by
one line. "
(RUSH, 1986, p.
241.)
The Fox sisters
were studied by
renowned
scientists
Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle reported
an episode of
Crookes research
which Crookes’
wife and her
relative attend
to: "I held both
hands of the
medium in one of
mine, while her
feet were on
mine. There was
a paper on the
desk in front of
us and I had a
pencil in my
free hand. A
luminous hand
went down from
the top of the
room and, after
oscillating near
me for a few
seconds, it took
the pencil from
my hand and
wrote quickly on
a sheet of
paper, then left
the pencil and
rose above our
heads, gradually
dissolving in
the darkness ".
(Doyle 1926. p.
101.)
Dr. Butlerof,
from University
of St.
Petersburg, had
his account
transcribed on
the work by
Conan Doyle:
"From all that I
was able to
observe in the
presence of Mrs.
Jencken (4), I
am led to the
conclusion that
the phenomena
peculiar to this
medium are of a
strongly
convincing and
objective nature
and that, I
think, would be
sufficient to
bring the most
pronounced
sceptic, as long
as also honest,
rejecting
ventriloquism,
muscular action
and similar
explanations of
the phenomena".
(5)
(Doyle 1926. p.
103.)
Here are other
reports and we
could still
transcribe more
quotes from
other books, but
these are
sufficient to
say that the Fox
girls were
studied by
scientists in
controlled
environments,
and showed
satisfactory
results, not
just "raps", as
other phenomena
of physical
effects.
Here we have a
chapter of their
lives that
cannot be
attributed to
the imagination
of the American
spiritists and
which are found
well documented
today. We see
also that the
chances of
muscular action
were known and
controlled by
scientists who
have studied
them, just as
they were by the
committees of
Corinthian Hall.
Why do we insist
on saying that
scientists have
studied the
mediumship of
Kate Fox?
One of the
arguments most
employed by
those who want
to debunk a
historical
source rests on
idealization and
mystification
that usually
accompanies
cultural and
social movements
in which
opinions are
polarised and
the emotional
component
becomes very
influential.
In the heat of
the discussions
at the
Corinthian Hall,
for example, his
witnesses could
stick to
isolated events
or tell their
version, deeply
marked by
sympathy with
spiritualist
ideas.. Although
this phenomenon
is a human one,
the scientist
was trained to
try to be as
descriptive as
possible, to
avoid their
sympathies and
stick to the
facts and
rebuild their
theories. He
deeply depends
on his
reputation in
the academic
field so that
his
communications
have
credibility. We
all know that in
the last century
the climate
prevailing in
academies was of
an empirical
understanding of
the sciences,
especially of
natural
sciences.
Moreover, the
researchers
concerned
present their
methodology and
their care to
avoid the
occurrence of
main
alternatives
hypothesis such
as fraud and
natural
occurrences.
We shall now
proceed to the
Declaration of
Margaret Fox,
her motives and
her disclaimer.
Why did Margaret
Fox assert that
she defrauded?
Margaret Fox
Kane gave a
statement-in
September 1888
to the New York
Herald
denouncing the
spiritist cult,
but preserving
the idea that
the raps "were
the only part of
the phenomena
worthy of
record". (Doyle
1926. p. 105.)
Some writers
like INARDI
(1979)
highlighted her
toughest words
and of effect:
"I find myself
here tonight, as
one of the
founders of
Spiritism
(6), to
denounce it as
absolute fraud
from beginning
to end, as the
most unhealthy
of superstitions
and more
malignant heresy
that the world
has ever known
..." (Margaret
Fox Kane-apud
INARDI, 1979; p.
89)
The reasons for
Margaret Fox
Kane’s conduct
Contrary to the
assertions of
our Brazilian
journalist, Kate
Fox bacame
troubled by her
sister’s
statements. The
reader shall
note the
correspondence
she wrote to Mrs
Cottel in
November of the
same year: "I
should have
written to you
before, but my
surprise was so
great, on
arriving and
finding out
about Maggie’s
declarations
about Spiritism,
that have not
had the heart to
write to anyone.
(...) Now I
think I could
make money,
proving that the
beats are not
produced by the
toes. So many
people look for
me because of
the Maggie’s
declaration, who
I refuse to
receive . "
(Doyle 1926. p.
107.)
Doyle presents
three reasons
for the conduct
of Margaret Fox-
Kane. The first
reason involves
a discussion
between Kate and
Leah due to the
alcoholism of
the former. Kate
and Margaret
became
alcoholics and
Leah pressurised
them to stop
drinking,
threatening Kate
with the loss of
custody of her
children.
Apparently, she
came to be
placed in jail
for some time
due to a
denunciation of
her older
sister, who
alleged
ill-treatment
towards the
children. (Doyle
1926. p. 106.)
Margaret become
ill-indisposed
towards Leah on
defence of the
sister,
offending her
belief in
spiritualism.
RINN (1954)
transcribed some
statements that
she gave about
the disagreement
with the sister.
I leave the
reader with the
translation of
one of them,
which sheds
light on her
state of inner
disturbance: "My
other sister,
Leah, damned,
made me accept
this (7).
She is my damn
enemy. I hate
her. Oh my god!
I would poison
her! No, I
don't, but I
lash her with my
tongue. Leah was
23 years old on
the day I was
born (8).
Leah's daughter,
Elisabeth, was
seven years on
the day I was
born. HA, HA! I
was already an
aunt seven years
before being
born! "(RINN,
1954, p. 55.)
The second
reason lies in
the pressure
that she
suffered on the
part of the
religious
Protestant and
Catholic
followers. In
her retraction,
Margaret refers
to the influence
that she endured
of people who
had an interest
"to crush
Spiritism”.
Conan Doyle
comes to submit
names of members
of the clergy
who made her
believing that
she dealt with
the devil.
Margaret had
converted to
Catholicism some
years prior to
the declaration,
which was
confirmed by
Rinn (1954), on
interviewing a
priest of the
Church of San
Pedro, Barclay
Street, New
York. Finally,
there was a
financial
proposal of a
newspaper,
interested in a
journalistic
"hole",
regardless
whether it was
or not
practicing
"journalism".
The Fox sisters
lived on the
phenomena which
they produced, a
practice which
is criticised
even by Conan
Doyle, who lived
in a country
where the
remuneration of
mediums is an
accepted
practice.
Although I have
not found in my
sources an exact
transcription of
Margaret
Fox-Kane’s
declaration,
based on Kate's
correspondence,
transcribed
above, she seems
to have
"explained" the
phenomena from
the theory of
"clicking
muscles". In the
text of Rinn
(1954) one can
read other
explanations for
phenomena. She
used to say that
the sounds on
the walls of the
"cottage" of
Hydesville came
from apples that
the sisters
dropped,
misleading her
parents, and
that the direct
writing
phenomena were
defrauded with a
chalk between
teeth, while
researchers
retained their
hands. We must
agree that these
explanations, in
the face of
research reports
carried out
since the
demonstration in
Rochester, are
quite
unsatisfactory.
How would they
have produced
sounds in
glasses, in the
walls and papers
placed far from
their own
bodies, by
popping muscles?
How would they
answer mental
questions? How
did they provide
correct answers
to questions
that were
unknown to them,
as the number of
shells taken at
random from a
pile of them, by
one of its
researchers ?
How did they
bypass the rules
and care of
scientists who
researched them?
The role of the
Fox girls for
Brazilian
Spiritism
None of this
seems
satisfactory,
though the
phenomena may
have been sneaky
tricks, for
financial
reasons.
Finally,
Margaret
Fox-Kane made a
retraction a
year later, on
20th
November 1889,
in an interview
given to the
press in New
York. For the
purpose of
avoidance of
doubt, I
transcribe some
parts: "Pleases
God (...) that I
can undo the
injustice done
to the cause of
Spiritism when,
under intense
psychological
influence of
people who are
its enemies,
made
declarations
which are not
based on facts.
(...) At that
time (in which
she denounced Spiritism)
I needed a lot
of money, and
creatures, whose
name I prefer
not to mention,
took advantage
of the
situation.
Hence the mess.
Also the
excitement
helped disrupt
my mental
balance. (...)
Those
accusations were
false in all
their minutiae.
Do not hesitate
to say it ...
(...) Nor all
Hermans alive
will be able to
reproduce the
wonders that are
produced through
some mediums. By
manual skill and
through expert
means they can
write on paper
and slates, but
even so they do
not resist an
accurate
research.
Materialisation
is above your
mental calibre
and I challenge
anyone to
produce beats on
the conditions
under which I
produce them".
(Doyle 1926. p.
108-109.)
From this moment
she proposed to
carry out
conferences to
"refute the
slanders" which
she herself
launched against
Spiritism. She
wrote an open
signed letter to
public,
witnessed by Mr.
O'Sullivan, who
had been a
United States
Minister in
Portugal for
twenty-five
years.
I believe I have
been tiring in
the explanation
of motives,
facts and
documents,
despite not
having had
access to
primary sources.
Even so, one
more analysis of
the Brazilian
reporter’s
comments fits
here. What is
the role of the
Fox sisters to
Brazilian
Spiritism? The
historic place
of the Fox
sisters to the
spiritist
movement and the
so-called North
American and
European Modern
Spiritualism was
the one to help
people, whose
faculty became
notorious and
attracted the
attention of
society and the
academia,
generating a
huge amount of
studies, surveys
and discussions.
They are a
milestone
regarded by
writers of the
history of
Spiritism as a
beginning to its
description as a
social movement
of the 19th
century. Even if
it was a
complete fraud,
which I have
discussed
sufficiently
with basis on
work by Conan
Doyle and other
authors,
Brazilian
Spiritism today
is not a body of
doctrine which
is based on the
communications
of Spirits who
manifested
themselves
through the Fox
sisters. On the
contrary, Kardec
had the common
sense to work
with multiple
mediums, from
various groups
and different
countries, and
not to propose
absolute truths,
legating us a
critical
mindset.We have
access and we
study works
produced in
different parts
of the world,
written by
scholars,
obtained through
mediumship or as
a result of
research
conducted in
academies. The
contribution of
the Fox sisters,
therefore, do
not require that
we idealise
them, or
transform them
into heroines,
hiding their
faults, but that
we understand
them as people
who, within
their weaknesses
and limitations,
braved the
intolerance of a
period and made
an important
contribution so
that today we
could have
access to so
many societies
and organised
groups, anxious
in understanding
the meaning of
spiritual
phenomena.
Notes:
1 Emma Harding
Britten
2 Society of
Friends, Quaker
community.
3 “Based on the
book entitled
“Love letter
from Dr. Elisha
Kane”.
4 Kate Fox’s
surname from
marriage
5 Our own
underlining
6 The best
translation
would be
Spiritualism or
Modern
Spiritualism; a
term which meant
the movement
that took place
in United States
and that Kardec
left aside due
to its
ambiguity, and
he himself
creating the
neologism
Spiritism.
7 She referred
to
Spirititualism.
8 This data is
also dubious,
incoherent with
other sources,
which makes us
to believe that
she declared
herself older
that she
actually was,
with the
intention to
offend her and
to appear as a
poor victim of
her.
Sources:
ABREU, Canuto.
The Gospel by
outside São
Paulo: LFU,
1996.
DELANNE,
Gabriel. Modern
Times: The
Spiritist
Phenomena Rio de
Janeiro: FEB,
1992.
DOYLE, Arthur
Conan. History
of Spiritism.
São Paulo:
Pensamento
Publishing
House, s.n.
[Originally
published in
1926]
GIBIER, Paul.
Origins of
Spiritism.
Rio de Janeiro: FEB,
1980.
INARDI,
Massimo.
The History of
Parapsicology.
Lisbon: Editions
70, 1979.
LOUREIRO, Carlos
Bernardo. The
Fox sisters: The
medium women.
Rio de Janeiro:
FEB, 1996.
RINN, Joseph.
Searchlight on
psychical
research. New
York: Rider and
Company, 1954.
RUSH, Joseph.
Findings from
experimental PK
research. In:
EDGE, H. et al.
Foundations of
parapsychology.
Boston-USA:
Routledge &
Kegan Paul,
1986.
SILVA, Eliane M.
Spiritualism in
19th century
CAMPINAS-SP:
UNICAMP, 1997.
[Teaching Texts
Collection No 27
]
VARELLA, Flávia.
To Our own
fashion, Veja
Magazine, number
1659, pages
78-82, 26th
July 2000.
Published
in
The Reformer
magazine,
Rio de Janeiro,
volume
119, number
2071, October
2001, pages
18-21.
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