Talking to the Dead (39 page)

Johnson, Paul E.
A Shopkeeper's Millennium: Society and Revivals in Rochester, New York, 1815–1837.
New York: Hill and Wang, 1978.

Johnson, Paul E., and Sean Wilentz.
The Kingdom of Matthias: A Story of Sex and Salvation in Nineteenth-Century America.
New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.

Kaminer, Wendy.
Sleeping with Extra-Terrestrials: The Rise of Irrationalism and Perils of Piety.
New York: Vintage Books, 1999.

Kerr, Howard.
Mediums, and Spirit-Rappers, and Roaring Radicals: Spiritualism in American Literature, 1850–1900.
Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1973.

Kerr, Howard, and Charles L. Crow, eds.
The Occult in America: New Historical Perspectives.
Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1983.

Landay, Lori.
Madcaps, Screwballs, and Con Women: The Female Trickster in American Culture.
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998.

Lifton, Robert Jay.
The Protean Self: Human Resilience in an Age of Fragmentation.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993.

Lystra, Karen.
Searching the Heart: Women, Men, and Romantic Love in Nineteenth-Century America.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989.

Maddox, Brenda.
Yeats's Ghost: The Secret Life of W. B. Yeats.
New York: HarperCollins, 1999.

Marx, Leo.
The Machine in the Garden: Technology and the Pastoral Ideal in America.
New York: Oxford University Press, 1964.

McDannell, Colleen, and Bernhard Lang.
Heaven: A History.
New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1988.

Mirsky, Jeannette.
Elisha Kent Kane and the Seafaring Frontier.
Boston: Little, Brown, 1954.

Moore, R. Laurence.
In Search of White Crows: Spiritualism, Parapsychology, and American Culture.
New York: Oxford University Press, 1977.

Morus, Iwan Rhys.
Frankenstein's Children: Electricity, Exhibition, and Experiment in Early-Nineteenth-Century London.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998.

Mulholland, John.
Beware Familiar Spirits.
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1938.

Nelson, Geoffrey K.
Spiritualism and Society.
New York: Schocken, 1969.

Oppenheim, Janet.
The Other World: Spiritualism and Psychical Research in England, 1850–1914.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.

Pearsall, Ronald.
The Table Rappers.
London: Book Club, 1972.

Podmore, Frank.
Modern Spiritualism: A History and a Criticism.
2 vols. London: Methuen, 1902. Reprint,
Mediums of the Nineteenth Century.
New Hyde Park, NY: University Books, 1963.

Pond, Mariam Buckner.
Time Is Kind: The Story of the Unfortunate Fox Family.
New York: Centennial, 1947.

Randi, James.
Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions.
Buffalo, NY: Prometheus, 1986.

Ribuffo, Leo P.
Right Center Left: Essays in American History.
New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1992.

Rich, Frank. “American Pseudo.”
New York Times Magazine,
December 12, 1999.

Sawin, Mark Horst. “Heroic Ambition: The Early Life of Dr. Elisha Kent Kane.”
Bulletin of the American Philosophical Society Library,
Fall 2002.

———. “Raising Kane: The Making of a Hero, the Marketing of a Celebrity.” Master's thesis, University of Texas, 1997.

Saxon, A. H.
P. T. Barnum: The Legend and the Man.
New York: Columbia University Press, 1989.

Schmitt, Jean-Claude.
Ghosts in the Middle Ages: The Living and the Dead in Medieval Society.
Translated by Teresa Lavender Fagan. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998.

Silverman, Kenneth.
Houdini! The Career of Ehrich Weiss.
New York: HarperCollins, 1996.

Simon, Linda.
Genuine Reality: A Life of William James.
New York: Harcourt Brace, 1998.

Smith-Rosenberg, Carroll.
Disorderly Conduct: Visions of Gender in Victorian America.
New York: Knopf, 1985.

Somerlott, Robert.
“Here, Mr. Splitfoot”: An Informal Exploration into Modern Occultism.
New York: Viking, 1971.

Stage, Sarah.
Female Complaints: Lydia Pinkham and the Business of Women's Medicine.
New York: Norton, 1979.

Stashower, Daniel.
Teller of Tales: The Life of Arthur Conan Doyle.
New York: Henry Holt, 1999.

Taves, Ann.
Fits, Trances, and Visions: Experiencing Religion and Explaining Experience from Wesley to James.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999.

Thomas, Keith.
Religion and the Decline of Magic: Studies in Popular Beliefs in Sixteenth-and Seventeenth-Century England.
1971. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.

Voorsanger, Catherine Hoover, and John K. Howat, eds.
Art and the Empire City: New York, 1825–1861.
New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2000.

Washington, Peter.
Madame Blavatsky's Baboon: A History of the Mystics, Mediums, and Misfits Who Brought Spiritualism to America.
New York: Schocken, 1993.

Wells, Robert V.
Facing the “King of Terrors”: Death and Society in an American Community, 1750–1990.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Wicker, Christine.
Lily Dale: The True Story of the Town That Talks to the Dead.
San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2003.

Wills, Garry.
Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America.
New York: Touchstone, 1992.

Winter, Alison.
Mesmerized: Powers of Mind in Victorian Britain.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998.

Note: Entries in this index, carried over verbatim from the print edition of this title, are unlikely to correspond to the pagination of any given e-book reader. However, entries in this index, and other terms, may be easily located by using the search feature of your e-book reader.

 

abolition: Civil War and, 204–206; Kansas-Nebraska Act and, 175–176; in Rochester (NY), 41–42; spirits and, 118–119; women's rights and, 64

abolitionists: Amy Post as, 136; Fugitive Slave Law and, 115

Academy of Music event, 244–245

Advance
brig: abandonment of, 179; bound for Arctic, 168; troubles with, 174–175

African Americans.
See also
abolition: abolitionists and feminists, 64; Civil War and, 204–206; Kansas-Nebraska Act, 175–176; spirit of John Calhoun and, 118

Agassiz, Louis, 190–192

Aksakoff, A., 231–232

Albany (NY), 105

alcoholism: of Ferdinand Jencken, 267; of Kate Fox, 212, 214, 236–237; of Maggie Fox, 209, 218

Alexander III, Czar of Russia, 232

Allen, Mary B., 98

AMA (American Medical Association), 262

Ambler, R. P., 105, 147

American Medical Association (AMA), 262

American School Songbook
, 45

American Society for Psychical Research: decline of Spiritualism and, 262; formation of, 234

apple dropping, 242–243

Arctic Explorations: the Second Grinnell Expedition in Search of Sir John Franklin
(Kane), 183

Arctic region: Elisha Kent Kane's first expedition to, 155, 156–157; Elisha Kent Kane's second expedition to, 168, 174–175, 179

Ariosophical societies, 265

A. T. Stewart department store, 106

Auburn and Rochester Railroad, 63

Auburn Daily Advertiser
, 74, 79

automatic writing, 121.
See also
spirit writing

 

Balfour, Arthur, 232

Bancroft, George, 110

Banner of Light
(newspaper): Civil War and, 204–205; on Maggie's death, 259; on Maggie's denunciation of Spiritualism, 254

Barnum, P.T.: circus of, 76; Mermaid of, 91; scenes of “American Indians”, 147

Barrett, William, 232

Barron, Henry D., 91–94

Bayard, Edward: care of Kane's letters, 207; care of Maggie, 172; Kate Fox and, 212; magnetized, 173–174; at seance, 178

Beaver, John, 93

Bell, John: Hydesville raps incident and, 20, 23–24, 28–29; witch and, 25

Belmont, August, 106

Bissel, Josiah: investigation of raps and, 83, 84–85

Blauvelt, Elizabeth, 31

Blauvelt, Mr., 267

Blavatsky, Helena Petrovna, 263

Booth, John Wilkes, 208

Boston Courier
investigation, 190–192

Boston Journal
, 266

Bouton, Robert, 119–120

Brittan, Samuel B.:
Shekinah
journal by, 147; spirit communication and, 69; spirit of, 254

Brown, Calvin: with David Fox, 39; death of, 168; with Fox sisters in Albany, 105; marriage to Leah, 138; in Ohio, 133, 134; sickness of, 135; spirit events in Rochester and, 48, 54

Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, 221

Browning, Robert, 221

Brown, John, 204

Brown, Leah Fox Fish.
See also
Fish, Leah Fox; Fox, Leah; Underhill, Leah Fox Fish Brown:
Boston Courier
investigation and, 190–192; daguerrotype of, 148; Elisha Kent Kane and, 159, 161, 167; marriage to Daniel Underhill, 194–195; move to Ludlow Street, 171; move to Manhattan, 140–141; opinions about, 142; seances of, 189–190

Bryant, William Cullen, 110

Buchanan, Joseph Rhodes, 266

Buffalo (NY), 123–126

Burned-over District: religious/political movements in, 40–41; revivals of, 36–37

Burr, C. Chauncey, 123, 133

Burr, Heman, 123

Bush, Abigail, 64

Bushnell, Mrs. G. B., 135

 

Calhoun, John, 118

Canada, 37–38

Capron, Eliab: contests Mrs. Culver's claims, 129; Corinthian Hall demonstrations/investigations and, 79, 80–81, 82, 84; Fox sisters professional tour and, 104–105; investigation of raps, 67; on Kate as medium, 127; Kate Fox's visit with, 73–74; on mediums, 121;
Modern Spiritualism
book by, 177–178;
Singular Revelations
book by, 91–94; spirits insistence on public appearance and, 75–76

Capron, George, 67

Capron, Rebecca, 73–74

Catholicism: Maggie and Spiritualism, 256; Maggie's conversion to, 192–193

“The Celestial Railroad” (Hawthorne), 91

cemetery, 56

cholera epidemic, 70

Christianity: death and, 56; opinion of spirits, 68

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), 36–37

Church of New Jerusalem, 26

Cincinnati (OH), 135, 138–140

Civil War: life after, 210–211; Spiritualists and, 203–209

Clackner, John S., 69

clairvoyance.
See also
mediums: of Andrew Jackson Davis, 26; of Elizabeth Smith, 32; of Leah, 61

Clark, Lemuel, 49–54

Clay, Cassius, 139

Cleveland (OH), 133–134, 135

Cleveland Plain Dealer
(newspaper), 133

Clinton, DeWitt, 32–33

Coggshall, William T., 135

Coleman, Benjamin, 207–208

Columbus (OH), 135

Commercial Advertiser
(newspaper), 124

Committee of Ladies, 82–83, 85

Community of the Publick Universal Friend, 36

Compromise of 1850, 115

Congregational Friends, 66

conjurers, 27

Consecon (Canada), 37–38

Coons, A. J., 140

Cooper, James Fenimore, 110, 111

Corinthian Hall: demonstrations/investigations, 78–86; Fox sisters return to, 105; for spirit communication event, 76–77

Coventry, C.B., 124–125

Crookes, William: life of, 221–222; seances with Kate, 224–226

Crookville (NY), 172–174

Culver, Mrs. Norman, 128–129

Currier, Nathaniel, 148

 

daguerrotypes, 148

Daily Advertiser
(newspaper), 76–77

Davenport brothers, 191

Davenport, Reuben Briggs, 253

Davis, Andrew Jackson: belief in extraterrestrial beings, 90–91; Mrs. R.S. Lillie on, 254; as seer, 26–27;
Singular Revelations
pamphlet and, 93–94

Davies, Mr., 112

Day, Horace H., 170

death: of Abraham Lincoln, 208–209; of Calvin Brown, 168; Civil War and, 205–206, 208, 210–211; of Daniel Underhill, 257; decline of Spiritualism and, 261; of Elisha Kent Kane, 184; of Elizabeth Smith, 33; fear of/attention on,
54–56; of Ferdinand Dietrich Lowenstein Jencken, 267; of Henry Dietrich Jencken, 230; of Henry Jencken, Jr., 267; of Horace Greeley, 227; of John David Fox, 209; of Kate Fox Jencken, 258; of Leah Fox Fish Brown Underhill, 257; of Maggie Fox, 258–259; of Margaret Fox, 209

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
(Davenport), 253

deism, 36

Dewey, D. M., 95

dinosaur, 90

Douglass, Frederick: Maggie Fox and, 140;
North Star
newspaper of, 41, 69; at Seneca Falls Convention, 64; on spirits, 96

Doyle, Arthur Conan, 5, 264

Draper, Nathaniel, 102–103

Draper, Rachel, 102–103

Duesler, William, 19–21

 

Easterly, Thomas, 148

Eddy, Mary Baker, 242

Edmonds, John Worth: resignation from bench, 176–177; at seance, 129–132

Edwards, Jonathan, 55

electricity: decline of Spiritualism and, 261–262; as explanation of manifestations, 141

electromagnetic induction, 90

The Elements of Spiritual Philosophy; Being an Exposition of Interior Principles
(Ambler), 147

Ellet, Elizabeth Fries Lummis, 155

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 91

epilepsy, 228–229

Erie Canal, 32–33

extraterrestrial beings, 90–91

 

fame of Fox sisters, 85–86

family life, 39–40

Faraday, Michael: electromagnetic induction and, 90; research of, 220

Fillmore, Millard, 115

Finney, Charles Grandison, 37

First National Convention, 208

Fishbough, William, 68–69, 112–113

Fish, Bowman, 35

Fish, Leah Fox.
See also
Brown, Leah Fox Fish; Fox, Leah; Underhill, Leah Fox Fish Brown: Amy Post and, 136–137; Buffalo investigations, 123–126; clairvoyance of, 61; Corinthian Hall demonstrations/ investigations, 78–86; discovery of Charles Rosna's bones and, 56–58; Fox sisters professional tour and, 104–105; investigation of raps and, 67–68; marriage to Calvin Brown, 138; as music teacher, 44–45; new home on Troup Street, 72; in New York City, 106–115; in Ohio, 133–135; rescue of Maggie, 120; seances in Rochester, 117–119; seances of Fox sisters, 95–103; spirit events in Rochester, 46–54; spirit messages through, 68–69; spirits insistence on public appearance and, 74–75; visit to Hydesville, 45–46; in Wayne County, 70

Fish, Lizzie: birth of, 35; Maggie and, 242; reunited with family, 138; spirit events in Rochester and, 47, 48, 52–53, 54

Fish, Sarah, 65

Flint, Austin, 124–125

Footfalls on the Boundary of Another World
(Owen), 195–196

Fourier, Charles, 41

Fowler, Edward, 121

Fox, Catherine, 31

Fox, David (father of John David Fox), 31

Fox, David Smith: birth of, 32; discovery of Charles Rosna's bones and, 57–58; house of, 13; Hydesville peddler's name, 46; Hydesville raps incident and, 17–18, 21;

Kate's move to house of, 234

Fox, Elizabeth: birth of, 32; in Canada, 13; marriage of, 38

Fox, Elizabeth Culver: Hydesville raps incident, 21

Fox, Ella, 58

Fox, Georgie, 168

Fox, John David: in Arcadia, 141; death of, 209; failure towards daughters, 245–246; family history of, 30–31; hopes of reuniting family, 74; Hydesville raps incident, 2, 16–24, 46; life in Rochester, 38–43; move to Canada, 37–38; move to Hydesville, 11–13; rented house in Hydesville, 14–15; reunion with family, 194; separation from children's lives, 86; separation from Margaret Fox, 34; transformation of, 35–36

Fox, Kate.
See also
Jencken, Kate Fox: alcoholism of, 212; birth of/life in Canada,
37–38;
Boston Courier
investigation and, 190–192; Charles Livermore and, 199–203, 209–210; in Cincinnati, 138–139; daguerrotypes of, 148; at David's farm, 45–46; death of Elisha Kent Kane and, 185; death of parents, 209; debate over, 3–8; description of, 12; discovery of Charles Rosna's bones and, 56–58; Eliab Capron on, 177; Elisha Kent Kane and, 154, 165; exposure in Rochester, 41–43; family history of, 30–37; George Willets and raps, 61–63; at Greeley's home, 115–117; Greeley's invitation to, 114–115; historic instrumentality of, 93; Hydesville raps incident, 1–3, 16–24, 29; investigation of raps, 66–68; Isaac Post and, 59–60; Jacob Smith's spirit and, 171; Leah on, 137; move to Hydesville, 11–13; Mrs. Norman Culver and, 128–129; multiauthored tale of, 95; mysterious noises, 273; in New York City, 106–115, 126–127, 178–179; in New York towns, 104–106; in Ohio, 134–135; Partridge house seance, 129–132; questions about, 142–143; religiosity and, 120–121; return to Wayne County, 70; seances of Fox sisters, 95–103; sexuality and, 151–154; spirit events in Rochester, 46–54; in St. Louis, 140; at Swedish Movement Cure, 212–218; trip to Europe, 219–220, 221–222; visit to Auburn (NY), 73–74; in Washington D. C., 162; weekly public meetings by, 170

Fox, Leah.
See also
Brown, Leah Fox Fish; Fish, Leah Fox; Underhill, Leah Fox Fish Brown: birth of, 32; on family, 33; on John C. Smith, 34; marriage to Bowman Fish, 35; as single mother, 42; ties to family, 13

Fox, Maggie: in 1875, 226–227; abandonment of Spiritualism, 206–207; alcoholism of, 218; author on, 270–272; birth of/life in Canada, 37–38; Buffalo investigations, 123–126; in Cincinnati, 138, 139–140; conversion to Catholicism, 192–193; Corinthian Hall demonstrations/investigations, 78–86; daguerrotypes of, 148; at David's farm, 45–46; death of, 258–259; death of Elisha Kent Kane and, 184–185; death of parents, 209; debate over, 3–8; denunciation of Spiritualism, 239–245, 247–248; description of, 12; discovery of Charles Rosna's bones and, 56–58; Elisha Kent Kane and, 154–155, 180–184; Elisha Kent Kane's courtship of, 157–169; exposure in Rochester, 41–43; family history of, 30–37; historic instrumentality of, 93; Hydesville raps incident, 1–3, 16–24, 29; investigation of raps, 66–68; Isaac Post and, 59–60; Leah on, 137; Leah's marriage and, 194; life in Crookville and New York City, 172–175, 178–179; memorial garden for, 267; move to Hydesville, 11–13; multiauthored tale of, 95; mysterious noises, 273; in New York City, 106–115; in New York towns, 104–106; in Ohio, 134; Partridge house seance, 129–132; questions about, 142–143; recants denunciation of Spiritualism, 255–256; religiosity and, 120–121; return of Elisha Kent Kane and, 179–180; seances in Rochester, 117–119; seances of Fox sisters, 95–103; sexuality and, 151–154; spirit events in Rochester, 47–54; spirits insistence on public appearance and, 74–77; Spiritualist movement and, 237–238; in St. Louis, 140; Titus Merritt and, 268; in Troy (NY), 119–120; unhappiness of, 196–197; in Wayne County, 70–71

Fox, Margaret: Calvin Brown and, 138; death of, 209; death of Elisha Kent Kane and, 185; Elisha Kent Kane and, 157, 158, 159, 165, 181, 182; family history of, 31–32; Fox sisters professional tour and, 105–106; Hydesville raps incident, 2, 16–24; at Kate's wedding, 223; life in Rochester, 38–43; Maggie's accusations against, 246; as mother, 15–16; move to Canada, 37–38; move to Hydesville, 11–13; move to Tenth Street, 171; in New York City, 109, 110; seances of Fox sisters and, 97, 99; separation from John Fox, 34; spirit events in Rochester and, 47–54; spirit of, 219; strain from Hydesville raps incident, 46