I remember a curious circumstance which occurred some few years ago at the house of a Mr Tyers, Nash Mills, a village a few miles the other side of Watford, in Hertfordshire.
All of a sudden the bells were set ringing, and the crockery commenced rattling in very unmusical tones. There was a general belief that some trick had been played. The servant was closely watched, still the invisible hands pulled the bells, and still the crockery shoot as though subjected to the force of a distant earthquake.
These unusual phenomena continued at intervals several days and nights. Yet despite the vigilance of a host of learned and unlearned men, some of whom mounted to the roof of the house armed with pistols or guns, the discordant noises were heard. Some said they were brought about by some secret magic, known only to the servant. Everybody believed that the cause was natural, although undiscoverable.
The servant was discharged, and the bells and crockery were silenced. This latter fact stimulated popular prejudice against her. There is little doubt but that she was innocent of all premeditated trickery and even ignorant of her own medium-power. The noises ceased the moment she left the house and have not since returned. Neither have any persons from that day to this discovered a clue to the mystery. They have settled the matter prejudicially, and the truth remains far from them.
In ‘Spiritualism, its facts and phases’ by JH Powell, 1864.