Fox sisters

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).^[1] 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.^[2]^[3] Despite their confession, the Spiritualism movement continued to grow in popularity.^[4]

^ Tyson, Philip John; Jones, Dai; Elcock, Jonathan (9 September 2011). Psychology in Social Context: Issues and Debates. John Wiley & Sons. p. 196. ISBN 978-1-4443-9623-2.
^ Podmore, Frankk (2011) [1902]. Modern Spiritualism: A History and a Criticism. Methuen & Co. p. 188. ISBN 978-1-108-07257-1. OCLC 14776095. In the autumn of 1888 Mrs. Kane (Margaretta Fox) and Mrs. Jencken (Catherine Fox) made public, and apparently spontaneous, confession, that the raps had been produced by fraudulent means. Mrs. Kane even gave demonstrations before large audiences of the actual manner in which the toe joints had been used at the early seances. Mrs. Jencken, at any rate, if not also Mrs. Kane, afterward recanted her confession.
^ Lehman, Amy (22 September 2009). Victorian Women and the Theatre of Trance: Mediums, Spiritualists and Mesmerists in Performance. McFarland Publishing. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-7864-3479-4. By the 1880s, Maggie, like her sister Kate who was now widowed after losing her English husband Jenckens, had become a full-blown alcoholic. In 1888, the sisters confessed that they had faked the ghostly rapping which precipitated the age of spirit contact. They claimed to have produced knocking sounds by manipulating and cracking the joints in their feet and knees. For a while they made money giving lectures about this "deathblow" to Spiritualism. However, before she died, Maggie recanted the confession, and Kate began conveying spirit messages to close friends once again. Ultimately, the trance mediumship brought the sisters neither wealth nor happiness. Both died in penurious circumstances, essentially drinking themselves to death.
^ Wiseman, Richard (2011). Paranormality: Why We See What Isn't There. Macmillan Publishers. p. 118. ISBN 978-0-230-75298-6. The only real impact of the confession was to distance the sisters from their supporters. The vast majority of Spiritualists were eager to cling to the comforting thought that they might survive bodily death, and they were not going to let a couple of rambling alcoholics stand in the way of immortality. But although Margaretta tried to retract her remarks shortly after confessing all, for the Fox sisters at least, the damage had been done. Increasingly distanced from the movement that they helped to create, both sisters died in poverty a few years later and were buried in pauper's graves. Neither made contact from the spirit world.

[1] Tyson, Philip John; Jones, Dai; Elcock, Jonathan (9 September 2011). Psychology in Social Context: Issues and Debates. John Wiley & Sons. p. 196. ISBN 978-1-4443-9623-2.

[2] Podmore, Frankk (2011) [1902]. Modern Spiritualism: A History and a Criticism. Methuen & Co. p. 188. ISBN 978-1-108-07257-1. OCLC 14776095. In the autumn of 1888 Mrs. Kane (Margaretta Fox) and Mrs. Jencken (Catherine Fox) made public, and apparently spontaneous, confession, that the raps had been produced by fraudulent means. Mrs. Kane even gave demonstrations before large audiences of the actual manner in which the toe joints had been used at the early seances. Mrs. Jencken, at any rate, if not also Mrs. Kane, afterward recanted her confession.

[3] Lehman, Amy (22 September 2009). Victorian Women and the Theatre of Trance: Mediums, Spiritualists and Mesmerists in Performance. McFarland Publishing. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-7864-3479-4. By the 1880s, Maggie, like her sister Kate who was now widowed after losing her English husband Jenckens, had become a full-blown alcoholic. In 1888, the sisters confessed that they had faked the ghostly rapping which precipitated the age of spirit contact. They claimed to have produced knocking sounds by manipulating and cracking the joints in their feet and knees. For a while they made money giving lectures about this "deathblow" to Spiritualism. However, before she died, Maggie recanted the confession, and Kate began conveying spirit messages to close friends once again. Ultimately, the trance mediumship brought the sisters neither wealth nor happiness. Both died in penurious circumstances, essentially drinking themselves to death.

[Wiseman_2011-4] Wiseman, Richard (2011). Paranormality: Why We See What Isn't There. Macmillan Publishers. p. 118. ISBN 978-0-230-75298-6. The only real impact of the confession was to distance the sisters from their supporters. The vast majority of Spiritualists were eager to cling to the comforting thought that they might survive bodily death, and they were not going to let a couple of rambling alcoholics stand in the way of immortality. But although Margaretta tried to retract her remarks shortly after confessing all, for the Fox sisters at least, the damage had been done. Increasingly distanced from the movement that they helped to create, both sisters died in poverty a few years later and were buried in pauper's graves. Neither made contact from the spirit world.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]