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THE HISTORY OF SPIRITUALISM
stage on which a higher evolution could take place, the highest class
here starting as the lowest class there. This process he saw renew
itself innumerable times, covering trillions of years, and ever working towards refi nement and purifi cation. These spheres he pictured
as concentric rings round the world, but as he admits that neither
time nor space defi ne themselves clearly in his visions, we need not
take their geography in too literal a sense. The object of life was to
qualify for advancement in this tremendous scheme, and the best
method of human advancement was to get away from sin – not only
the sins which are usually recognized, but also those sins of bigotry,
narrowness and hardness, which are very especially blemishes not
of the ephemeral fl esh but of the permanent spirit. For this purpose
the return to simple life, simple beliefs, and primitive brotherhood
was essential. Money, alcohol, lust, violence and priestcraft – in its
narrow sense – were the chief impediments to racial progress.
It must be admitted that Davis, so far as one can follow his life,
lived up to his own professions. He was very humble-minded, and
yet he was of the stuff that saints are made of. His autobiography
extends only to 1857, so that he was little over thirty when he published it, but it gives a very complete and sometimes an involuntary
insight into the man. He was very poor, but he was just and charitable. He was very earnest, and yet he was patient in argument and
gentle under contradiction. The worst motives were imputed to him,
and he records them with a tolerant smile. He gives a full account
of his fi rst two marriages, which were as unusual as everything else
about him, but which refl ect nothing but credit upon him. From the
date at which “The Magic Staff “ fi nishes he seems to have carried
on the same life of alternate writing and lecturing, winning more
and more the ear of the world, until he died in the year 1910 at the
age of eighty-four. The last years of his life he spent as keeper of
some small book-store in Boston. The fact that his “Harmonial Phi-
51
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
losophy” has now passed through some forty editions in the United
States is a proof that the seed which he scattered so assiduously has
not all fallen upon barren ground.
What is of importance to us is the part played by Davis at the
commencement of the spiritual revelation. He began to prepare the
ground before that revelation occurred. He was clearly destined to
be closely associated with it, for he was aware of the material demonstration at Hydesville upon the very day when it occurred. From
his notes there is quoted the sentence, under the vital date of March
31, 1848: “About daylight this morning a warm breathing passed
over my face and I heard a voice, tender and strong, saying, Brother,
the good work has begun – behold, a living demonstration is born.’
I was left wondering what could be meant by such a message.” It was
the beginning of the mighty movement in which he was to act as
prophet. His own powers were themselves supernormal upon the
mental side, just as the physical signs were upon the material side.
Each supplemented the other. He was, up to the limit of his capacity,
the soul of the movement, the one brain which had a clear vision
of the message which was heralded in so novel and strange a way.
No man can take the whole message, for it is infi nite, and rises ever
higher as we come into contact with higher beings, but Davis interpreted it so well for his day and generation that little can be added
even now to his conception.
He had advanced one step beyond Swedenborg, though he had
not Swedenborg’s mental equipment with which to marshal his results. Swedenborg had seen a heaven and hell, even as Davis saw it
and has described it with fuller detail. Swedenborg did not, however, get a clear vision of the position of the dead and the true. nature
of the spirit world with the possibility of return as it was revealed
to the American seer. This knowledge came slowly to Davis. His
strange interviews with what he described as “ materialized spirits “
52
THE HISTORY OF SPIRITUALISM
were exceptional things, and he drew no common conclusions from
them. It was later when he was brought into contact with actual
spiritual phenomena that he was able to see the full meaning of
them. This contact was not established at Rochester, but rather at
Stratford in Connecticut, where Davis was a witness of the Poltergeist phenomena which broke out in the household of a clergyman,
Dr. Phelps, in the early months of 1850. A study of these led him
to write a pamphlet, “The Philosophy of Spiritual Intercourse,” expanded afterwards to a book which contains much which the world
has not yet mastered. Some of if, in its wise restraint, may also be
commended to some Spiritualists. “Spiritualism is useful as a living
demonstration of a future existence,” he says. “Spirits have aided me
many times, but they do not control either my person or my reason. They can and do perform kindly offi ces for those on earth. But
benefi ts can only be secured on the condition that we allow them
to become our teachers and not our masters – that we accept them
as companions, not as gods to be worshipped.” Wise words – and
a modern restatement of the vital remark of Saint Paul th’at the
prophet must not be subject to his own gifts.
In order to explain adequately the life of Davis one has to ascend to supernormal conditions. But even then there are alternative
explanations. When one considers the following undeniable facts :
1. That he claims to have seen and heard the materialized form
of Swedenborg before he knew anything of his teachings.
2. That something possessed this ignorant youth, which gave him
great knowledge.
3. That this knowledge took the same broad sweeping universal
lines which were characteristic of Swedenborg.
4. But that they went one step farther, having added just that
knowledge of spirit power which Swedenborg may have attained after his death.
53
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
Considering these four points, then, is it not a feasible hypothesis that the power which controlled Davis was actually Swedenborg ? It would be well if the estimable but very narrow and limited
New Church took such possibilities into account. But whether Davis stood alone, or whether he was the refl ection of one greater than
himself, the fact remains that he was a miracle man, the inspired,
learned, uneducated apostle of the new dispensation. So permanent
has been his infl uence that the well-known artist and critic Mr. E.
Wake Cook, in his remarkable book “Retrogression in Art,”
back to Davis’s teaching as the one modern infl uence which could
recast the world. Davis left his mark deep upon Spiritualism. “Summerland,” for example, as a name for the modern Paradise, and the
whole system of Lyceum schools with their ingenious organization,
are of his devising. As Mr. Baseden Butt has remarked, “ Even to-day
the full and fi nal extent of his infl uence is extremely diffi cult, if not
impossible, to assess.”
[1]
harks
CHAPTER IV
THE HYDESVILLE EPISODE
We have now traced various disconnected and irregular uprushes
of psychic force in the cases which have been set forth, and we come
at last to the particular episode which was really on a lower level
than those which had gone before, but which occurred within the
ken of a practical people who found means to explore it thoroughly
and to introduce reason and system into what had been a mere object of aimless wonder. It is true that the circumstances were lowly,
the actors humble, the place remote, and the communication sordid,
being based on no higher motive than revenge. When, however, in
the everyday affairs of this world one wishes to test whether a telegraphic wire is in operation, one notices whether a message comes
through, and the high or low nature of that message is quite a secondary consideration. It is said that the fi rst message which actually
came through the Transatlantic cable was a commonplace inquiry
from the testing engineer. None the less, kings and presidents have
used it since. So it is that the humble spirit of the murdered pedlar
of Hydesville may have opened a gap into which the angels have
thronged. There is good and bad and all that is intermediate on the
Other Side as on this side of the veil. The company you attract depends upon yourself and your own motives.
Hydesville is a typical little hamlet of New York State, with
a primitive population which was, no doubt, half-educated, but
was probably, like the rest of those small American centres of life,
55
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
more detached from prejudice and more receptive of new ideas than
any other set of people at that time. This particular village, situated
about twenty miles from the rising town of Rochester, consisted of
a cluster of wooden houses of a very humble type. It was in one of
these, a residence which would certainly not pass the requirements
of a British district council surveyor, that there began this development which is already, in the opinion of many, by far the most
important thing that America has given to the commonweal of the
world. It was inhabited by a decent farmer family of the name of
Fox – a name which, by a curious coincidence, has already been
registered in religious history as that of the apostle of the Quakers. Besides the father and mother, who were Methodists in religion,
there were two children resident in the house at the time when the
manifestations reached such a point of intensity that they attracted
general attention. These children were the daughters – Margaret,
aged fourteen, and Kate, aged eleven. There were several other children out in the world, of whom only one, Leah, who was teaching
music in Rochester, need come into this narrative.
The little house had already established a somewhat uncanny
reputation. The evidence to this effect was collected and published
very shortly after the event, and seems to be as reliable as such
evidence can be. In view of the extreme importance of everything
which heap upon the matter, some extracts from these depositions
must be inserted, but to avoid dislocation of the narrative the evidence upon this point has been relegated to the Appendix. We will
therefore pass at once to the time of the tenancy of the Fox family,
who took over the house on December 1847. It was not until the
next year that the sounds heard by the previous tenants began once
more. These sounds consisted of rapping noises. A rap would seem
to be the not unnatural sound to be produced by outside visitors
when they wished to notify their presence at the door of human life
56
THE HISTORY OF SPIRITUALISM
and desired that door to be opened for them. Just such raps (all unknown to these unread farmers) had occurred in England in 1661 at
[2]
the house of Mr. Mompesson, at Tedworth.
by Melancthon as having occurred at Oppenheim, in Germany, in
1520, and raps were heard at the Epworth Vicarage in 1716. Here
they were once more, and at last they were destined to have the
closed door open.
The noises do not seem to have incommoded the Fox family until the middle of March, 1848. From that date onwards they continually increased in intensity. Sometimes they were a mere knocking;
at other times they sounded like the movement of furniture. The
children were so alarmed that they refused to sleep apart and were
taken into the bedroom of their parents. So vibrant were the sounds
that the beds thrilled and shook. Every possible search was made,
the husband waiting on one side of the door and the wife on the
other, but the rappings still continued. It was soon noticed that daylight was inimical to the phenomena, and this naturally strengthened the idea of trickery, but every possible solution was tested and
failed. Finally, upon the night of March 31 there was a very loud and
continued outbreak of inexplicable sounds. It was on this night that
one of the great points of psychic evolution was reached, for it was
then that young Kate Fox challenged the unseen power to repeat
the snaps of her fi ngers. That rude room, with its earnest, expectant,
half-clad occupants with eager upturned faces, its circle of candlelight, and its heavy shadows lurking in the corners, might well be
made the subject of a great historical painting. Search all the palaces and chancelleries of 1848, and where will you fi nd a chamber
which has made its place in history as secure as this little bedroom
of a shack ?
The child’s challenge, though given with fl ippant words, was
instantly answered. Every snap was echoed by a knock. However
Raps, too, are recorded
57
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
humble the operator at either end, the spiritual telegraph was at
last working, and it was left to the patience and moral earnestness of
the human race to determine how high might be the uses to which
it was put in the future. Unexplained forces were many in the world,
but here was a force claiming to have independent intelligence at
the back of it. That was the supreme sign of a new departure.
Mrs. Fox was amazed at this development, and at the further discovery that the force could apparently see as well as hear, for when
Kate snapped her fi ngers without sound the rap still responded.
The mother asked a series of questions, the answers to which, given
in numerals, showed a greater knowledge of her own affairs than
she herself possessed, for the raps insisted that she had had seven
children, whereas she protested that she had borne only six, until
one who had died early came back to her mind. A neighbour, Mrs.
Redfi eld, was called in, and her amusement was changed to wonder,
and fi nally to awe, as she also listened to correct answers to intimate
questions.
The neighbours came fl ocking in as some rumours of these wonders got about, and the two children were carried off by one of them,
while Mrs. Fox went to spend the night at Mrs. Redfi eld’s. In their
absence the phenomena went on exactly the same as before, which
disposes once for all of those theories of cracking toes and dislocating knees which have been so frequently put forward by people
unaware of the true facts.
Having formed a sort of informal committee of investigation,
the crowd, in shrewd Yankee fashion, spent a large part of the night
of March 31 in playing question and answer with the unseen intelligence. According to its own account he was a spirit; he had been
injured in that house; he rapped out the name of a former occupant who had injured him; he was thirty-one years old at the time
of death (which was fi ve years before); he had been murdered for
58
THE HISTORY OF SPIRITUALISM
money; he had been buried in the cellar ten feet deep. On descending to the cellar, dull, heavy thumps, coming apparently from under the earth, broke out when the investigator stood at the centre.
There was no sound at other times. That, then, was the place of
burial It was a neighbour named Duesler who, fi rst of all modern
men, called over the alphabet and got answers by raps on the letters. In this way the name of the dead man was obtained – Charles
B. Rosma. The idea of connected messages was not developed until
four months later, when Isaac Post, a Quaker, of Rochester, was the
pioneer. These, in very brief outline, were the events of March 31,
which were continued and confi rmed upon the succeeding night,
when not fewer than a couple of hundred people had assembled
round the house. Upon April 2 it was observed that the raps came
in the day as well as at night.
Such is a synopsis of the events of the night of March 3rd, 1848,
but as it was the small root out of which sprang so great a tree, and
as this whole volume may be said to be a monument to its memory, it
would seem fi tting that the story should be given in the very words
of the two original adult witnesses. Their evidence was taken within
four days of the occurrence, and forms part of that admirable piece
of psychic research upon the part of the local committee which will
be described and commented upon later. Mrs. Fox deposed :
On the night of the fi rst disturbance we all got up, lighted a candle and searched the entire house, the noises continuing during
the time, and being heard near the same place. Although not very
loud, it produced a jar of the bedsteads and chairs that could be felt
when we were in bed. It was a tremulous motion, more than a sudden jar. We could feel the jar when standing on the fl oor. It continued on this night until we slept. I did not sleep until about twelve
o’clock. On March Both we were disturbed all night. The noises were
heard in all parts of the house. My husband stationed himself out-
59
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
side of the door while I stood inside, and the knocks came on the
door between us. We heard footsteps in the pantry, and walking
downstairs ; we could not rest, and I then concluded that the house
must be haunted by some unhappy restless spirit. I had often heard
of such things, but had never witnessed anything of the kind that
I could not account for before.
On Friday night, March 31st, 1848, we concluded to go to bed
early and not permit ourselves to be disturbed by the noises, but try
and get a night’s rest. My husband was here on all these occasions,
heard the noises, and helped search. It was very early when we went
to bed on this night – hardly dark. I had been so broken of my rest
I was almost sick. My husband had not gone to bed when we fi rst
heard the noise on this evening. I had just lain down. It commenced
as usual. I knew it from all other noises I had ever heard before. The
children, who slept in the other bed in the room, heard the rapping,
and tried to make similar sounds by snapping their fi ngers.
My youngest child, Cathie, said : “Mr. Splitfoot, do as I do,” clapping her hands. The sound instantly followed her with the same
number of raps. When she stopped, the sound ceased for a short
time. Then Margaretta said, in sport, “Now, do just as I do. Count
one, two, three, four,” striking one hand against the other at the
same time; and the raps came as before. She was afraid to repeat
them. Then Cathie said in her childish simplicity, “Oh, mother,
I know what it is. To-morrow is April-fool day, and it’s somebody
trying to fool us.”
I then thought I could put a test that no one in the place could
answer. I asked the noise to rap my different children’s ages, successively. Instantly, each one of my children’s ages was given correctly,
pausing between them suffi ciently long to individualize them until
the seventh, at which a longer pause was made, and then three more
60
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