Case file · High strangeness
The Fox sisters
In 1848 Kate and Maggie Fox of Hydesville, New York, said rapping noises were spirits answering them, launching the Spiritualist movement.
1848 CE · 43.07, -77.11 · status: hoax
The account
Managed by their older sister Leah, they had long careers as mediums.
The sceptical view
In 1888 Maggie confessed that the raps were a hoax and demonstrated how they were made, though she later retracted the confession.
Connections in the atlas
- Lily Dale Spiritualist camp
- Margaretta Fox’s confession (New York World)
- A Report of the Mysterious Noises (Hydesville)
- Fox sisters' cottage, Hydesville
- Kate Fox
- ▶ Where the dead go
- The Cock Lane ghost
- The Hydesville rappings
- William Mumler's spirit photographs