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+--- Thread: Spiritualism in the 19th century (/thread-11019.html)
Spiritualism in the 19th century - Magical Realist - Sep 23, 2021
"...Modern Spiritualism began in the 1840s in a small
town in New York, and quickly grew to become one of
the greatest – and most divisive – religious
movements of the 19th Century. Almost all
historians point to movement beginning in 1848 in
Hydesville, New York, where sisters Maggie and Kate
Fox began communicating with a “spirit” in their
home through rappings and knockings. The girls
became a phenomenon; before long they were
communicating with spirits around the nation in front
of hundreds of rapt audience members. Soon,
spiritual mediums could be found in almost every
town. America’s new religion had taken root and
showed no signs of stopping...." cont'd on website.
http://www.austintexas.gov/sites/default/files/files/Parks/OHenry/spiritualism.pdf
RE: Spiritualism in the 19th century - C C - Sep 25, 2021
Yep, one adage for con artists and small-time villains that might be gleaned rather indirectly (since it was primarily just them in this case) from the Fox sisters is: "Never get involved in a good racket that's dependent upon supposedly deeply religious individuals. Because when they reach a certain age, they may finally start feeling guilty and worried enough about their hypocrisy to sell themselves and the whole operation out."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_sisters#Rejection_of_Spiritualism
Margaretta and Katie made very strong statements against Spiritualism: "That I have been chiefly instrumental in perpetrating the fraud of Spiritualism upon a too-confiding public, most of you doubtless know. The greatest sorrow in my life has been that this is true, and though it has come late in my day, I am now prepared to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God! I am here tonight as one of the founders of Spiritualism to denounce it as an absolute falsehood from beginning to end, as the flimsiest of superstitions, the most wicked blasphemy known to the world." – Margaretta Fox Kane, quoted in A.B. Davenport, The Deathblow to Spiritualism, p. 76. (Also see New York World, for October 21, 1888 and New York Herald and New York Daily Tribune, for October 22, 1888.)
"I regard Spiritualism as one of the greatest curses that the world has ever known." – Katie Fox Jencken, New York Herald, October 9, 1888.
RE: Spiritualism in the 19th century - Magical Realist - Sep 25, 2021
(Sep 25, 2021 03:50 PM)C C Wrote: Yep, one adage for con artists and small-time villains that might be gleaned rather indirectly (since it was primarily just them in this case) from the Fox sisters is: "Never get involved in a good racket that's dependent upon supposedly deeply religious individuals. Because when they reach a certain age, they may finally start feeling guilty and worried enough about their hypocrisy to sell themselves and the whole operation out."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_sisters#Rejection_of_Spiritualism
Margaretta and Katie made very strong statements against Spiritualism: "That I have been chiefly instrumental in perpetrating the fraud of Spiritualism upon a too-confiding public, most of you doubtless know. The greatest sorrow in my life has been that this is true, and though it has come late in my day, I am now prepared to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God! I am here tonight as one of the founders of Spiritualism to denounce it as an absolute falsehood from beginning to end, as the flimsiest of superstitions, the most wicked blasphemy known to the world." – Margaretta Fox Kane, quoted in A.B. Davenport, The Deathblow to Spiritualism, p. 76. (Also see New York World, for October 21, 1888 and New York Herald and New York Daily Tribune, for October 22, 1888.)
"I regard Spiritualism as one of the greatest curses that the world has ever known." – Katie Fox Jencken, New York Herald, October 9, 1888.
The possibilities for fraud from communicating thru raps are endless. It is a wonder that this fad took off like it did. There is no overestimating the gullibility of the American public.