Remarkable Spiritual Manifestations In The House of The Rev. E. Phelps, D.D.
Two years after the earliest manifestations in connection with modern Spiritualism began at Hydesville, U.S., strange disturbances occurred in the house of the Rev. Eliakim Phelps, D.D., of Stratford Connecticut. Ast the manifestations were of considerable interest, and can be paralleled by many of more recent date, we quote nearly the whole of the authorised record of t hem which was published in E.W. Capron’s Modern Spiritualism, its Facts and Fanaticisms, published in 1855, by Mr. Bela Marsh, of Boston, Mass., one of the most interesting volumes connected with the early history of the movement. Mr Capron says: –
The Outbreak of the Disturbances.
I have been allowed to examine all the records kept of the occurrences by Dr. Phelps, and shall be able, therefore, to present the history with more minuteness and accuracy than has ever before appeared. The first disturbances took place at the house of the Rev. Eliakim Phelps, D.D., on the 10th day of March, 1850. The house had been occupied by him from the 22nd of February, 1848. It is a large and genteel country mansion, separated from the street by a fence forty-five feet from the front of the house; the house is thirty-two feet in front, and, including the piazza, seventy feet deep, with a hall thirteen feet wide, running through the whole depth of the building. Adjoining, and opening from this hall, are two parlours and a dining-room. On the second floor are five sleeping-rooms, and on the third floor two. The kitchen is in the basement. The house was built about the year 1829 or 1830 by a Captain Dondall, who for several years commanded a vessel in the China trade, and who died in the bay of Canton within two or three years after his family had taken up their residence in the house. The property then passed into the hands of another sea captain, by the name of Purcell, who, with his family, occupied it for several years. Captain Purcell dying suddenly in New York, the family removed, and the house was occupied and used by an Episcopal clergyman for a school for a year or more, and afterwards by a Mr. —, also as a school for boys.
None of the families who had thus far occupied the house had ever been disturbed, or witnessed anything aside from ordinary events. At the death of Captain Purcell it became the property of the two daughters, of whom Dr. Phelps purchased it during the month of November, 1847. For two years previous to this it had been unoccupied. Dr. Phelps and family commenced their residence therein on the 22nd of February, 1848. Nothing occurred to excite the attention of the family out of the ordinary course of events until the 10th of March, 1850; and, as before stated, nothing can be learned of any strange or unusual events occurring there previous to that time.
It will be observed by the dates given that Dr. Phelps had occupied the house more than two years, had found it an agreeable and quiet place of residence – having never been disturbed or alarmed by unusual occurrences. On the 10th of March, as above stated, it being the Sabbath, Dr. Phelps and family – consisting of Mrs Phelps, two daughters and two sons, the eldest a daughter aged sixteen, a son of twelve years, and a second daughter of six years, children of Mrs Phelps by a former marriage, and another son of Dr. Phelps by the present marriage, not then three years old – all attended church; and an Irish servant girl, who had been employed in the family some six months, and had shown herself to be honest and trustworthy, had gone on that day to Bridgeport, to attend the Catholic Church.
On leaving the house in the morning it appears that the doctor had secured the chamber doors, and put the keys in his pocket; those which could be were locked inside and the keys left in them. The only door by which the chambers could be entered was locked, and the key taken by Dr. Phelps. He also locked the front door inside, left the key in the lock, and, passing out at the back door, locked that and placed the key in his pocket. On returning from church at noon the front door was found standing open; and in the nursery the furniture was thrown about in disorder; chairs on the bed, and thrown down upon the floor; the shovel, tongs, and poker, with other things, were in unusual positions and places, everything showing unmistakable signs of the work of some rude hand making mischief in their absence.
Upon discovering the disorder here Dr. Phelps passed into other rooms on the same floor, but could see no further evidence of intrusion. The first supposition was, very naturally, that some person or persons had entered and robbed the house. Search was immediately made in the closets where silver plate, spoons, forks, etc., were kept. All were found safe and undisturbed. A gold watch, left in an exposed place, remained there as left. The impression still remained that burglars had been in; and on examination of the windows one was found that could be raised from the outside, and though there was no evidence of entrance having been made there, no doubt existed that this was the place of access. Thinking they might return during the afternoon, Dr. Phelps remained at home, the other members of the family going again to church. Being left alone the doctor armed himself, and, selecting a secluded position, awaited the return of the burglars. There was no disturbance during the afternoon; no sound of footfall; all remained quiet.
On the return of the family, after the service, usually closing at three o’clock, several other articles were found out of place, but not in a way to make it certain that they were not moved in the morning. Articles of kitchen furniture were out of their places. A tea-kettle, which had been used at dinner-time, was found hidden behind some boxes in the cellar. The bread, sugar-bowl, eggs, and numerous other things kept in the kitchen, were found where they did not belong, and where they had evidently been placed in some way which the family could not account for. Upon entering the middle chamber, occupied as a sleeping-room, a sheet was found spread over the bed outside the counterpane, and beneath which was a nightgown and chemise laid out with the arms folded across the breast, with stockings placed in a position to represent, as it seemed, a corpse disposed as is usual before placing it in the coffin. On the wall were written characters resembling those said by certain clairvoyants to belong to a spiritual language, but which none of the family were able to decipher. Whether they had any significance, or how they came there, was alike an unanswerable question by the family; they had not observed them before. Occurrences ceased for that day and night, yet, no one thinking of any mystery in the matter, they imputed it to roguish boys, or others, who had effected entrance with false keys, for mischief, rather than for robbery, and that the culprits would soon be detected.
The Passage Of Matter Through Matter.
The next morning, March 11th, when the family went upstairs, after breakfast, the middle chamber had again been visited, exhibiting much the same scene of disorder presented the previous day. A sheet was spread out upon the floor, the wash-stand laid upon its back upon the sheet, a candle-stick set upon the stand, the wash-bowl placed upon one side, and the pitcher on the other. The nightgown and chemise, used on the previous occasion to represent a dead body, were found one in the bowl, the other in the pitcher. It appears that these articles of clothing were not then in use; they had been placed in a trunk which stood in a closet adjoining that room. They were replaced in the trunk when removed from the bed the day before. As they were conversing in relation to the disposition of the things as above stated, Mrs Phelps looked under the bed, and discovered articles there, partially concealed by the bed, resembling those in question. They were taken out and pronounced to be the same. Dr Phelps had not before examined them, but then took them, noted the name and number on each, as they were marked, folded and placed them again in the trunk, remarking that he would put them where they would staty; did not lock the trunk, not having a key, but locked the closet and placed the key about his own person; then requesting the family to all leave the room first, which they did, the doctor, following, locked the door of the room, and kept the key.
Having observed that Mrs. Phelps seemed a little troubled as to the mystery, he thought to convince her that there was no mystery in the matter, and, having secured the closet and room, he descended to the rooms below, following them all. After the lapse of fifteen minutes, some person spoke to the doctor, upon which he went up to the chambers. At the head of the stairs, out in the hall, he found the same articles which he had left as before stated. He examined them, and was positive they were the same. He went to the door; found it locked; entered by applying the key from his pocket; went to the closet; found it locked; took the key from his pocket; opened the door; looked in the trunk; and the articles were gone!
Dr. Phelps states that he was confident there was no deception in the case, and that he then, for the first time, felt there was a mystery about the affair. He had never believed in the appearing of ghosts or departed spirits, warnings, or anything of that nature, and, at the age of three score, had never seen or heard anything connected with that class of phenomena. The evidence upon which superstitions, as he termed them, rest, he had never examined, and while he had no proof positive that they were impossible, and never did occur, he had no evidence to found a belief upon that they ever had. His idea of spiritual manifestations seems to have been that most, if not all, followed by a strict scrutiny, might be accounted for on natural or known principles, or some physical means, which would disrobe them of the mysterious altogether. But it was not to rest here.
The Movement Of Untouched Solid Objects.
On the same day (March 11th) the moving and throwing of furniture commenced. An umbrella, standing at the end of the hall, leaped, without visible assistance, a distance of, at least, twenty-five feet. Dr. Phelps saw the movement, and knows there was no perceptible agency by which the motion was produced. A bucket, standing at the head of the stairs, was thrown into the entry below. Smaller articles, such as nails, forks, knives, spoons, bits of tin, iron, and keys, were thrown from different directions about th ehouse. He says, “There were times when they came from such directions that they might have been thrown by some person in the house” – at least that may be admitted – but in very many cases the motion and point of starting were such as to preclude all possibility of deception on the part of person in the rooms.
During the afternoon Dr. and Mrs. Phelps had occasion to go to Bridgeport, a distance of some three miles. During their absence the shovel and tongs, standing in the dining-room, were thrown violently down the basement stairs; a piece of mourning crape fastened to the knocker of the back door, and the mirrors in the front chambers covered with sheets and tablecloths, as is the custom in some parts of the country while a person lies dead in the house. The crape on the door Dr. Phelps did not see, but the covering on the mirrors he removed with his own hands. The position of the mirrors in one room was such that the coverings could not, without great difficulty, have been placed there by any person about the house. Various articles were said to have been thrown about the room – the phenomena continuing in his absence about the same as when he was present in the fore part of the day. Soon after sundown all was again quiet, and so continued through the night.
The next morning (March 12th), soon after the family were up, the same phenomena began again: knives, forks, spoons, blocks of wood, nails, etc., etc., were thrown from different directions, and with increased frequency, attended by still stranger circumstances, and those of a still more mysterious character. Mrs Phelps expressed some alarm, and a wish that some of the neighbours might be called in. Dr. Phelps called on a retired clergyman of Stratford, a man of extensive information, much experience, and sound judgment, who was universally admitte dto be capable of rendering correct judgment and good advice in such a case. He requested him to call and spend an hour at the house, to which he cheerfully consented. Dr Phelps told him that his family had been a little excited by some occurrences in the house, but did not state any details fo the matter, but desired that he would sit with them for a short time and witness for himself. He remained all day, but was, at first, firmly of the opinion that the occurrences were produced, in some way, through the agency of the girl, or some other person about the house, and his main attention was directed to the girl in the kitchen, or the children, in the expectation that he should detect them in doing it.
The door leading from the parlours to the kitchen was, by his request, locked, and all communication between it and the other parts of the house cut off; still, the throwing of articles went on as before. The children were sent out of the room, and the doors locked; but this made no difference. He stayed through most of the day on Thursday, and returned soon after breakfast next morning, and remained most of the time for nearly three weeks. He became satisfied, before the close of the second day, that neither the girl in the kitchen nor the children had any agency in producing the strange movements. During the day (March 12th) some of the neighbours were in the house, and small blocks of wood were seen to fall in different places in their presence; but only one person noticed them in a way to excite inquiry, and that person was requested not to mention what she had seen.
On Wednesday, March 13th, the manifestations commenced early in the morning, in the middle chamber, the room in which two children slept, and began while they were both asleep. A book, standing in the library, ten or twelve feet from the bed, leaped from the shelf into the middle of the room. The blower, which was in the grate, leaped out on the floor, a distance of at least six feet, the noise of which first awakened the children. At the breakfast-table several articles were thrown; among them a large potato, which had been sent from Pennsylvania, and laid up in a closet in the east chamber, fell on the table directly by the side of Dr. Phelps’s plate, in a manner that no person could have done it without instant detection. The doctor’s curiosity was much excited, and he watched, with all the scrutiny he was capable, every person in the room. He took up the potato and let it fall from different heights, in order to determine how far it must have fallen to have made the concussion that it did; and it was adjudged by all that the distance could not have been more than twelve or fifteen inches.
Intelligence Connected With The Phenomena.
The Rev. Mr. — came in soon after breakfast, and remained during the day. Several Bibles were opened at different passages, which seemed to be selected with a great deal of care, and indicated either by placing pieces of paper on them or turning down a leaf. These things first occurred in the middle chamber where the library stood. While the family were at dinner similar things were done in the parlour adjoining the dining-room. Two Bibles and an Episcopal prayer-book were opened at different passages, chairs turned forward on the floor, two solar lamps placed on the floor, a hat and man’s cap put one on each; nearly everything in the room had been moved, and in so short a time, that it seems wholly inadmissable that any person about the house could have done it; besides, the whole household were in the dining-room, all seated at the table, except the servant, and she was employed waiting on the table.
In the afternoon the demonstrations were confined to the middle parlour, Dr. and Mrs. Phelps, and Mr. —, and a part of the time the eldest daughter, being present; in the absence of the daughter the doors were locked, and the three first-named only were present. The throwing of various things occupied the afternoon. The articles thrown were picked up and placed upon the mantle, and between the hours of one and four o’clock the number amounted to forty-six; among which were nails, bits of tin, iron, keys, and small blocks, all of which were gathered from different parts of the house; most of them from closets on the second floor, and the chambrs. At one time while Mr. M— was standing near the centre of the room, a padlock, which was known to have been in the closet of the middle chamber, fell at his feet. He took it in his hand, letting it fall from different heights, to discover the probable distance it must have fallen to produce the concussion. After various trials it was judged to have fallen not more than two or two and a half feet. As Dr. Phelps was sitting, perhaps ten feet from the pianoforte, he saw a small toy-mouse, which was on the piano, arise as if tossed, and, describing a parabola as it came, fall at his side, so near that he took it from the floor without leaving his chair. This he speaks of seeing as distinctly as ever he saw anything, the whole being perfectly in his view.
He also saw, in the same way, among other things, a nail, cotton-spool, and key, arise from behind the sofa, which stood diagonally across the corner of the room. He arose, went to the sofa, looking behind and under it, but could discover nothing which might give impulse to the articles. While examining the carpet about the sofa to find if any other things were there, without success, as his eyes were directed to one spot, there arose from that very point a piece of cheese-rind, perhaps eight inches from the floor; when he saw it first, it arose four or five feet, passed over the sofa, and fell on the floor. He is positive it was not there when he was looking at the carpet, and knows there were no visible means of its moving.
Rappings And Poundings First Heard.
Mr. M— suggested, as he was about to leave on Wednesday night, that if the strange phenomena should return, he would like to have some other persons called in. Early the next morning, Thursday the 14th, the manifestations commenced about the same as on the previous day. Soon after breakfast a sheet was found spread upon the floor, several Bibles were opened at different places, the candlesticks, in a row, the highest in the middle, and covered with a sheet; other articles changed about the room, without any seeming design, more than to attract attention. Mr. M— proposed that notes be despatched to Rev. Mr. W—, Congregational minister, and Mr Plant, a lawyer of high standing and respectability, which was accordingly done. It was at this time that they first began to hear rappings and heavy poundings. A loud sound, like some person striking the floor with some heavy substance, was heard, generally in the middle chamber. This was usually done when no one was in the chamber, and on any one entering all was still. In one instance a chair was seen to rise from the floor and beat down again, five or six times, with a violence which caused the house to tremble, so as to be felt in all the adjoining apartments.
A large plated candlestick, standing on the mantle, was moved by some unseen power to the floor, and then rose up and down, beating the floor, until the candlestick was broken. This was the first article that was damaged about the house. Several times during the day, loud noises, like some one pounding with an axe, or some heavy substance, on the floor, were heard in different parts of the house, and several times the loud poundings terminated with a frightful scream; it was not a cry of distress, or anything that could be easily imitated, seeming like something between the cry of a cat and the bleating of a calf, but louder than either. These sounds occurred, in all, probably twenty times while the manifestations were going on. Sometimes the screams seemed to be in the third story, sometimes in the front hall chamber, several times out in the yard, and occasionally in other places. There was, at no time, any audible expression of words. The sounds consisted of poundings, knockings, and screamings. On this day the first images were found, which will be spoken of more fully hereafter.
In the evening of this day, just after some young ladies had called, Dr. Phelps’s daughter returned to the parlour, it being between nine and ten o’clock. After seeing the young ladies to the door, an iron stand, in which stood the fire-shovel, tongs, and poker, leaped from the hearth, where it stood, into the middle of the floor, and rose up and beat the floor with a force that made a jar that could be felt, and the sound heard, in any part of the house. This was seen only by the daughter, but Dr. Phelps and his wife heard the noise. The daughter ran through the dining-room to get upstairs, and, as she passed, a large table was standing, with the other furniture, arranged for breakfast the next morning. The table was three feet nine inches wide, and five feet three inches long, made of solid mahogany; and when she entered the room it rose up and beat five or six times against the floor with a force which made the house jar. The noise was heard by many persons in the house. Mrs Phelps was alarmed, and screamed out, “Oh, take me from this place!” This happened between nine and ten o’clock p.m. Previous to this time, all manifestations had ceased by sundown, or a little after.
The Phenomena Connected With An Individual Or “Medium” – Images Made By The Spirits.
Soon after daylight on Friday, March 15th, movements similar to those on previous days commenced. Henry, a lad then eleven and a half years of age, attended the academy, and nothing had, thus far, ever occurred to connect these strange phenomena with his presence. Dr. Phelps had never heard or thought of particular persons being “mediums.” But on this day the remarkable occurrences seemed to be connected more or less with this boy. His cap was torn on his head, so as to be entirely destroyed. Another one which he put on was taken in the same way. first a small hole opened in the crown; this gradually extended, and in a short time it was torn into many pieces. On another cap characters were made, apparently with chalk. They resembled those sometimes made by persons in the higher mesmeric state, describing them as characters of a spiritual language.
Five or six of these characters were, at one time, made on the boy’s cap. Others, supposed to constitute a sentence, were written on a red pocket-handkerchief; others on his pantaloons and coat, and on the inside of his sack-coat. Copies of these characters were taken with great care, and were preserved till September following, when they were mysteriously destroyed. From this time it became evident that some of the phenomena had some kind of connection with this boy.
An umbrella, which he was carrying, was, in a mysterious manner, torn in several pieces. His pantaloons were torn from the bottom upwards, as high as the knee, and sometimes higher, and were literally torn to ribbons an inch or more wide. This occurred several times under the immediate inspection of Rev. Mr. M—, which seems to fix the fact that, in those instances at least, no power visible did it. Thus it continued for several weeks, clothing to the amount of twenty dollars being destroyed. At one time, while he was riding in a carriage with Dr. Phelps, his cap on his head was torn in a mysterious manner, and his pants torn from the waistband to the bottom, in a way that no human power could have done. Dr. Phelps heard them torn, but could see nothing doing it, and knows the boy could not have done it himself. It was on this day, March 15th, that images, dressed in articles of clothing, were again seen; only two or three appeared on that day.
The most extraordinary occurrences of this kind took place on Saturday, the 16th. Soon after breakfast two or three images appeared in the middle chamber; soon again another, followed by others still, numbering in all eleven or twelve. They were formed of articles of clothing, found about the house, stuffed to resemble the human figure. A lady’s dress would be stuffed in some cases with a muff; again with a pillow, and sometimes with other dresses; a bonnet and shoes were aptly placed to complete the figure. These, on this occasion, all but one, represented females in the attitude of devotion, some having Bibles or prayer-books placed before them. One, formed of Mrs Phelps’s dress, so much resembled the real, that the little boy, scarce three years old, coming into the room with his sister, older, whispered, “Be still, ma is saying prayers.”
A portable writing-desk, usually standing on the secretary in the room, was taken and placed upon the floor, a towel spread over it, and the image of a child kneeling beside it. A Yankee clock was taken from the mantle in the nursery, and placed upon the floor in the middle room, a distance of twenty feet, and so carefully done that the clock was still going when discovered in its new place, though it stopped some time after. It does not appear that any of these images were seen in the process of construction, or that the clothing, which was gathered from different localities, was seen in the act of moving. When persons entered the room everything was still, the clothing about the floor, which, upon going again within a few minutes, was found wrought into forms. The marked rapidity of their construction, and the life-like appearance of them, seems to have been truly wonderful. During this day several others than members of the family were present. In several instances, when the rooms were closed and the doors guarded, so that no person could enter, the images were constructed. To one reading or listening to the relation of these facts, the mischief and cunning evinced will seem amusing as well as most wonderful; but to the family who bore the annoyance and witnessed the terrifying demonstrations, it was a serious and trying affair.
The reader will keep in mind that this was on Saturday of the first week of these strange proceedings, and many persons were still believing that they must be produced by some one in the house; every member of the family therefore was subjected to the most rigid scrutiny, which makes it morally certain that no member of the household could have had any agency in the matter without being at once detected. Besides the neatness and despatch with which they were formed, the natural appearance of most of them must have required taste and skill beyond the conception of ordinary persons in the flesh. Mr M— remained there throughout the day, Mr. W—, Governor Plant, and Captain S—, a part of the day. During the day and evening various things were thrown in different parts of the house. A brick-bat, which lay on the stairs leading to the third story, was thrown violently downstairs, passing very near the head of the eldest daughter as she was descending the stairs. A fire-shovel was also thrown near her, which she first saw high above her in a position to fall upon her head. She was several times constrained to cry out from fear, so much as to cause apprehension on her account.
{I omit, in this place, at the request of Dr. Phelps, a minute account of occurrences in which the medium seemed to be one who has now grown to be a young woman, and would feel a repugnance at having her name mentioned in connection with the subject. At one time a ribbon was tied around her neck, while she was sleeping, so tightly as to cause a serious affection of the brain. Dr Phelps was sitting in the room when it was done. Several other remarkable occurrences are omitted, on account of her connection with them. In the main they do not differ materially in their nature from the occurrences herein related.}
The hiding of hats, caps, clothing, etc., seems at this time to have become of common occurrence. On several occasions a hat was seen to go upstairs – not thrown, but seemed to be carried rapidly by unseen hands. For several days Dr. Phelps was forced to keep his hat under lock and key to prevent its disappearance if left out as usual. Coats, hats, and canes of gentlemen who were strangers in the house were spirited away, the only object seeming to be the gratification of mischievous desires, with the exception of a few instances. They were found sometimes in the chimney, under the bed, and in the bottom of trunks. The design seemed to be to detain the owners to witness further demonstrations. Two gentlemen from an adjoining town called, one of whom had expressed an earnest desire to witness the phenomena; but, having passed several hours and seen nothing, they were about to leave, when the person who expressed a wish found himself minus a hat. A thorough search followed, but no hat could be found; consequently the gentleman decided to remain until the next day. During the evening and night phenomena transpired sufficient to gratify his most abundant desire. Similar cases, with like results, afterwards occurred.
On the nineteenth and twentieth little occurred to cause alarm. Some of the family heard loud and frightful screams in an adjacent outhouse, which must have been torturing to the feelings, much more so than the silent images. Small articles were also thrown about the house. Reports had now got abroad, and some excitement was being produced, as is always the case in country towns, where each person knows their neighbours’ private business quite as well, and sometimes better, than those most interested. And in a matter of this kind all efforts to prevent publicity would prove unavailing. Curiosity and staring wonder would overstep all bounds of propriety and respect for the private rights and feelings of the family, forgetting that it is no slight thing for the harmony and quiet of a household to be invaded, each member being subjected to suspicion, ill-natured scrutiny, or careless reproach. On this subject I can speak from experience, having myself passed the ordeal. To persons of refined sensibility it is a trial indeed. In this case Dr. Phelps adopted the rule of giving all who called an opportunity to investigate for themselves, and to this rule he adhered, notwithstanding the annoyance such a constant visitation must have occasioned. In one instance, while a rabble was gathered outside, a stranger, who came unintroduced by letter or otherwise, asked to spend the night, and was refused for obvious reasons.
The Medium Floated In The Air.
On Friday and Saturday, March 23rd and 24th, the disturbances increased, and became still more annoying. Loud poundings and screams were heard in different places, and on Saturday evening, between sunset and dark, Harry was passing through the dining-room, and thought himself suddenly caught up by some unseen power from the floor, and supposed that he was about to be carried off through the ceiling. He was very much frightened, and screamed so as to alarm the family, and remained in a state of great nervous excitement for two or three hours, and the effects did not wholly wear off for more than a week. At times he was in such a state as to require two men to hold him. For several days after this he spent a portion of his time with one of the neighbours during the day, but the disturbances continued the same at th ehouse, although he appeared to be more or less the medium as long as the phenomena continued. At one time he was thrown into a cistern of water; at another he was tied up and suspended from a tree; and several times was thrown into a state of apparent insensibility, in which he would remain from ten to fifty minutes, and for which no human cause could be assigned.
Somewhere about the 20th or 22nd of March Dr Phelps’s attention was called to a pamphlet (Capron and Barron’s), giving a history of the “mysterious noises” at Rochester and Auburn. Several persons who had read the same proposed to question the agents of these disturbances in the manner there recorded, and see if they could get answers to questions. To this the doctor objected, for reasons known to himself, but which may readily be imagined by those knowing his position in life, and his general opinions of such phenomena.
Contentions Among The Spirits.
On the 26th of March Anna left Stratford, and on the 3rd of April Harry also left. No manifestations took place while both were away. Harry was absent a week, and Anna three weeks; but the very day that Harry returned, the manifestations commenced with greater power than ever. Even before he arrived at the house, a paper with some mysterious characters was dropped near the front door. These characters were interpreted by a clairvoyant (Andrew Jackson Davis) to read as follows: –
Fear not when he returns; all danger is o’er. / We came, we disturbed thy house; but shall no more. / Believe us not evil or good till we prove / Our speech to humanity, our language of love.
This was supposed to indicate that no further disturbance would be made; but in the course of two or three hours another paper was found in the boy’s hat in these words: –
The good ones say that all is done, / But the wicked ones say it has just begun.
The “wicked ones,” in this case, seemed to come nearer the truth than the “good ones,” for, on the afternoon of the 8th of April, the breaking of glass commenced for the first time by the breaking of a pane in a mysterious manner. In the evening of the same day another was broken during family prayers, some of the pieces falling inside and some outside. There were no indications of anything being thrown against it. From this time forward for several weeks glass was broken almost daily, until the whole number of panes broken amounted to seventy-one in the house and out-buildings. Most of them were broken by something being thrown against them; among the articles were a brush, a shoe, a poker, a fire-shovel, a candlestick, a pair of snuffers, books, and numerous other things; occasionally a stone or piece of brick, thrown from the outside.
Dr Phelps thinks it would have been possible, but not probable, that, in some of these cases, they might have been broken by human agency, but he was an eye-witness in some twenty or thirty cases, and knows that they could not have been so done. He saw a brush, which he knew to have been on a certain shelf but a moment before, and no person near the shelf, fly to the window, break out a glass, and fall down between the shutter and sash, where he knew, from the position, that no one could have thrown it. He saw a tumbler, which was standing on a bureau, rise from its place, fly to the window, and dash out the only pane remaining whole in the window, when no person was within twenty feet of it, and the only persons in the room were himself and Harry, the latter standing by the doctor’s side in the doorway of the room – a position in which it was utterly impossible for him to have done it without detection.
A System Of Communication Established With The Spirits – Curious Communications.
About this time, Dr. Phelps’s attention was called to the fact that the demonstrations were much more violent in the presence of some persons than of others. While some were present they would cease entirely, and commence as soon as they left with great vehemence.
On the 17th the communications were renewed, and from that time they had frequent communications, mainly respecting the property affair. At one time they asked how they should know that this was really from the spirit it purported to be, and requested his signature; when in less than four minutes a small piece of paper having on it an exact facsimile of his handwriting was seen sticking to the wall – the writing apparently done with a pencil. Dr Phelps still preserves the original paper with the name inked over. It was stuck to the wall by being made damp.
It was now discovered that, in order to get the rapping, the presence of Henry was necessary. At one time a request was made by the rapping to send him to New York, and a threat that all the windows in the house would be broken, if they did not, was made; but in a few minutes after, a small piece of paper was seen to fall, apparently from the ceiling, and on it written, “Send him not to N.Y. – evil will befall him.” It was evident that there were two or more contending agencies engaged in the manifestations. It was not easy to define or imagine what their objects were. At times, when one was making a communication the other would rap, seemingly to make confusion. At other times, when a communication was being made by alphabet, a paper would be dropped down, and on it written, “It is all a lie; don’t believe what he says.” Sometimes language the most profane, and occasionally, but rarely, obscene, would be written out in this way. Inquiry was made as to how these contradictory communications were to be accounted for, and the answer was that an opposing spirit was attempting to defeat the object of the first; that this spirit was now one of his tormentors; that both were in a state of misery, and his suffering would be mitigated if the object of the first could be accomplished, although he would never go to a state of happiness.
Among the spirits who communicated were two who professed to be in a state of happiness, and three in a state of misery. One of the good spirits claimed to be a sister of him who made the first communication; she communicated frequently, and constantly manifested herself in the morning and evening devotions of the family, and always gave two distinct knocks at the utterance of “Amen.” Upon inquiry as to the meaning of these two knocks, the answer was given that it was a response, after the manner of the Episcopal service, signifying that she joined in the devotions.
Much that was communicated after the first few days was of a trifling and childish character; some, more like what would be received from street rowdies than anything else. To the question why they destroyed property, they replied, “For fun.” It was asked of the opposing spirit that what could be done to afford him relief; he answered that “The best thing they could do would be to give him a piece of pie.” Sometimes letters would come, purporting to be from ministers of Philadelphia, giving accounts of conversions in their congregations and additions to their churches. These were addressed to the doctor, and indicated a knowledge of things in Philadelphia to an astonishing degree. Some of the letters were addressed to Mrs. Phelps, signed, or rather purporting to be signed, by departed spirits of persons who had lived in Philadelphia, and all, or nearly all, who had lived in a single square, and were the acquaintances of Mrs. Phelps, during a residence in that city, in the time of her former marriage. Sentimental notes were also addressed to the daughter. These letters and billets were frequent, amounting in all to nearly one hundred, and were all written in one hand, though purporting to come from different persons. The fact was at one time referred to, and an explanation desired, to which the following was given: “We do not write with the hand – do not touch the pencil; we write with the will.” At one time a paper was thrown down to Mrs. Phelps, while in the parlour with a number of ladies, having written on it, with a pencil, as follows: –
Sir, – Sir Sambo’s compliments, and begs the laddyes to accept as a token of esteem.
A lady in the family of Dr. Phelps had, in a humorous way, requested the spirits to write her a letter that she might send to a friend in Philadelphia. The spirit complied with the request by sending down the following: –
Dear Mary, – I have just time to write and tell you I am well. Give my love to Miss K— and her uncle. Also to Mrs. and Mr. D—. Also to Sarah. Good-bye. H.P. Devil.
The initials of the lady’s name, who asked for the letter, were H.P.
Papers were also thrown down, signed “Beelzebub,” and “Sam Slick.” Sometimes names of persons, whom the family had known in Philadelphia, but who had been dead several years, were signed to these papers. The following was in pencil, and seems to be written in the same hand as the other. It was superscribed “E. Phelps:” –
If you promise not to write that I told you, I will not throw anything all this week.
On the 28th of July, 1850, two singular letters were thrown down, addressed to Dr. Phelps. They were both in one handwriting, but were signed by two different orthodox clergymen of Philadelphia. Their interest in religious movements, and their acquaintance with the phraseology of “revival” correspondence, are seen at a glance. “St. Peter’s,” in the second letter, is a Puseyite church.
Dear Brother, – The Lord is dealing bountifully with His chosen people. Brother Barnes admitted to the church forty-nine last Sunday, and Brother Parker thirty-four to-day. Brother Converse has had the cholera, and Brother Fairchild has grown so fleshy as scarcely to be recognised. Our friend Mr. Tarr has buried his wife. She died of consumption. E. Tarr is married. Brother Mahu, being suddenly inspired last Sunday, spoke so eloquently and so loud, and used such majestic action, as to be quite done up for a while. He broke a blood-vessel. Old Tiers has gone crazy, and is shut up in a madhouse, or, rather, a hospital. The H—‘s have gone into the country to spend some time. That’s all the news. – Your faithful brother in Christ, R.A.
Dear Brother, – The millennium truly is coming. The day of the Lord is at hand. We are adding countless numbers to the altar of the Lord. Brother A— became inspired last Sunday, to such a degree, that his soul took its flight to the regions above, and has not yet returned. The Catholic churches, St. Joseph’s and St. Mary’s, were burned down; St. Peter’s, also – I believe that is a Catholic church. Brother Mahu was preaching from the text, “Resist the devil,” etc., when he was suddenly overturned by an invisible power, which frightened him so that his hair turned white in five minutes. Brother Barnes, to render his church more attractive, is going to have opera singing and dancing, every Sunday p.m. Mrs. Alexander Tower, old Mr. Tiers, Brother Fairchild, and Mrs. Somerville are going to dance. I think they will find it a very lucrative employment. Jane and Martha still progress in Hebrew. — Your affectionate brother, M.R.
Direct Spirit-Writing – Investigators At Fault.
Spirit-writing, without visible human agency, has never been a common mode of communicating, although it was among the early occurrences at Hydesville, Rochester, and Auburn. (Mr. Sunderland, in his Book of Human Nature, p.280, says this was the first of the spirit-writing, but he is in error. The author of this work was acquainted with cases of this kind long before the disturbances at Stratford).
Sometimes these missives were enclosed in a book, and thrown down stairs or into the room; sometimes wrapped about a key or nail, or anything that would give a momentum, and thrown into the room. Often they were seen to fall from above; this occurring frequently when the doors were closed, and it was not possible for any visible agent to have been the cause. Writing would appear on the wall at times, made, as it appeared, with a pencil. On one occasion Dr. Phelps was writing at his desk, and, turning his back for a few moments, without leaving his chair, turned again to this paper, where he found written in large letters, “Very nice paper and very nice ink for the devil.” The ink was not yet dry, the desk was not two feet from him as he sat, and he was entirely alone in the room.
About the 1st of May, Dr. Phelps of Boston, brother of the Rev. Doctor and Professor Phelps, of Andover, a son of the Rev. Doctor, went to Stratford to “expose the humbug;” and with a full belief that it was a trick of evil-minded persons, and that they should be able to detect and expose it without trouble; and they were disappointed, as hundreds have been under like circumstances. On Tuesdayevening a loud rap was heard on the back door, seeming to be made by the knocker, loud enough to be heard twenty rods distant. The servant went to the door, but no person was there. After the lapse of five or eight minutes the rap was repeated. It was then supposed that some one had done it mischievously, but on looking about no person was discovered. It was in the shades of evening, but not dark enough to prevent any person being seen who might have done it as easily as at midday. The knocking came the third time, when Dr. Phelps (the visitor) placed himself in the hall, perhaps four feet from the door, and the Professor, of Andover, took a position on the steps without, each having full view of the door. The same loud raps were repeated on the door between them. The knocker did not move, nor could the eye detect any cause for what met the ear. The noise was heard throughout the house, and both the gentlemen were positive that no visible agent was employed to produce it. About bed-time a loud pounding was heard on the chamber door. The gentlemen, each with a candle in hand, stood on either side of the door, as the pounding, as though done with a heavy boot, was continued. The noise appeared to each to be on the side of the door opposite to him. On the following morning, as Dr. Phelps, of Stratford, was standing at the foot of the stairs leading to the third storey, a noise as loud, and much resembling the report of a pistol, occurred apparently close to his ear. These boisterous sounds occurred at intervals during a great part of the time that the disturbance was continued. Sometimes for weeks they would be heard; and again for days they were heard every day.
It would seem, from various occurrences, that the agents of these sounds, whoever they were, must have been human beings, or at least possessed of all the leading characteristics of humanity. They were evidently influenced by kindness or unkindness, by respect and confidence, as persons generally are in this life. Some instances illustrating this are given. One morning, during the breakfast hour, they would push the breakfast table suddenly, raise up one side and shake it in such a manner as to spill the coffee, and otherwise occasion serious inconvenience. A person at the table spoke to them in a tone of authority, commanding them to desist; but the act was at once repeated. Again they were commanded to cease, but increased violence followed this demand. This was five or six times repeated, adn the shaking was each time renewed. At length another person at the table said, “I request you kindly to cease this annoyance, and allow us to take our breakfast quietly,” and they ceased at once without a repetition.
It was found from this time that kindness had about the same effect upon them that it produces upon mankind at large. A lady, the wife of a clergyman, spent a few weeks in the family during the summer, who received many communications from them, would often, when the scissors, thimble, or things of that kind were mislaid, say, “I will thank the spirits to return my thimble, scissors,” or whatever was missing, and the article missing would drop at her side, or in her lap, within a minute. Things of this kind occurred very many times in course of the time that these phenomena were continued. If a key or knife, or anything of the kind was mislaid, and any person was looking for it, frequently it would be thrown to them as though their wants were anticipated. Dr. Phelps was once with Harry in the stable, when the currycomb could not be found, and he asked Harry where it was, to which Harry replied that he did not know. At that moment the Doctor saw it rise, as if thrown, from a point ten feet distant from them, and, describing a parabola, fall within a short distance of the spot where they were both standing.
(To be concluded in our next.)
The Spiritualist, 16th August 1878.
About the middle of May Dr. Phelps and Harry were riding to Huntington, a distance of seven miles. When they had proceeded about one mile on the way, a stone, about the size of a hen’s egg, was thrown into the carriage, and lodged on Dr. Phelps’s hat. Soon another and another were thrown in. The carriage was a covered one, and the back curtain was down, and there was no way a stone could have been thrown in by ordinary means. At one house where they stopped, the moment the front door was opened two stones were thrown, one of which entered the door as it stood partly open, and the other hit one of the lights of glass, and broke it. Harry was standing on the door-steps at the time, and there was no one in the street who could have thrown them. Two stones were also thrown against another house where they stopped of an errand. Sixteen stones were thrown into the carriage on the doctor’s return, and including those thrown against the two houses, twenty, in driving three or four hours.
As it was now apparent that these strange things were in some way connected with Harry as a medium, it was thought best to separate him from the family. Accordingly board was obtained for him in a family two miles distant. One day, when he came home, he told his mother, in great secrecy, that on the night previous he had been awakened from his sleep by some persons dressed in white, whom he saw standing by his bedside. He was frightened, and was about to scream, when the person spoke and said, “Be not afraid, my son; I am your father;” and then placed in in the boy’s hand a silver watch, and told him to wear it for his sake. The boy affirms that he had the watch in his hand; that it was not a dream; and that he was entirely awake; and that his father told him to tell no one of it but his mother and Dr. Phelps. His mother told him it was nothing but a dream, and turned it off as a light affair.
It seems that a valuable silver watch had been left the boy by his father, which was not in use, but had been kept locked up in a drawer of a dressing-table, to which he (Harry) had no access. A member of the family, having occasion to look into the drawer, saw the watch and knows it was there, and that the drawer was locked, and the key given to Mrs. Phelps. A few minutes after the conversation with his mother about the apparition and the watch, the night previous, he came in from the yard with the watch in his hand! He said his father had again appeared to him, and put the watch into his hand again, and said, “Wear this for my sake.” He brought the watch into the house, and showed it to his mother, and said that his father said, “Tell your mother to look at the second-hand.” The hand was off, and lay on the face of the watch under the crystal. A credible person will make oath, if called upon, that she saw the watch in the drawer, where it was usually kept, not more than six or eight minutes before, and that she locked the drawer and gave the key to Mrs Phelps. The key had been in possession of no other person, and Harry had not been in the room during the time. The watch was taken to Dr. Phelps, and he tried to replace the second hand, but could not succeed. He closed it, leaving the hand loose on the face, and passed it back to Harry, saying that he must take it to the watchmaker. When he took it in his hand, he exclaimed, “Why, it’s on!” They looked, and it was on and going. In a few minutes it was off again, and was put on a second time, all within a minute or two. The doctor affirms that it was not out of his sight a moment; that he knows the watch was not opened, and that no visible power was employed in doing it.
On one occasion the pianoforte was played while it is known that no person was in the room; and, at another time, it was turned around, the front towards the wall, and so far removed from the side of the room as to allow the player room to sit next to the wall; the stool was also appropriately placed.
On several occasions, about this time, certain members of the family saw, or thought they did, visible appearances. Dr. Phelps did not give entire credit to these statements; not but what he had full confidence in the honesty of the family, but the excited state in which some of them had been for a long time led him to think that they might imagine they saw what had no existence in fact. Towards the last of May, it was signified that one of the spirits who had communicated would appear visibly – first to the daughter, then to Mrs. Phelps, and then to the doctor himself. They asked in what manner he would appear, and the answer was, “In a sheet.” Between ten and eleven o’clock the same night, soon after the family had retired, Anna, who occupied the east bedroom, the door between her room and that where the doctor and his wife slept being open, and a lamp burning on a stand so placed as to light both rooms, called to her mother, and said, “There it is, in a sheet.” Dr. Phelps asked where; when she said it was in the door between the two rooms, coming from the room the doctor occupied; but the doctor saw nothing. The daughter was frightened, and in a few minutes looked up and saw nothing. He was represented as moving slowly from one room to the other.
In about two minutes Mrs. Phelps exclaimed, “There it is,” and drew the clothes over her head. Both the daughter and mother saw it at this time, but still the doctor saw nothing, although in as favourable a position as either of the others.
After two or three minutes had elapsed, the doctor also saw it. It appeared to him to move slowly from the hall chamber into his, and turn and move slowly back. It had the appearance of a very tall person with a sheet thrown around; he saw only the sheet. In about one minute, something was thrown on to the bed, which proved to be a sheet which had been taken from the wardrobe in the hall. Dr. Phelps declares that he was not frightened in the least, and could not have been mistaken in the appearance. Some two or three weeks subsequent to this a similar appearance was seen, and Dr. Phelps sprang out of bed, determined to seize hold of it if possible. It came part way into his room, and then moved slowly back. The daughter affirmed that the doctor was within two or three feet of it when it disappeared, and a sheet dropped into a chair. These were the only instances in which the doctor saw anything himself. Others of the family saw persons in a mysterious way several times.
At one time, while Anna was in the dining-room, and a cousin of hers and some of the children in the front yard, her attention was arrested by some one entering the front parlour. She went in, and saw three gentlemen – two of them sitting on the sofa, and one on a chair by the table – all having their hats on, and drawn down over their eyes more than usual; the one by the table had his feet upon the table, and was reading a paper. She was surprised that neither of them rose up or looked at her as she entered the room; and when she was within five or six feet of the one nearest her, he leaned over on one side and fell, chair and all, on the floor, and instantly all disappeared! She was frightened, and ran to her cousin, who was near the front door. She came in; but no persons were there, neither could they have entered without her seeing them. The chair was thrown down, but no person near who could have done it.
A few other instances occurred in which appearances were supposed to have been seen; but the circumstances were not of a character to put the matter beyond a doubt, therefore no record was kept of them. About the middle of May, Dr. Phelps spent some time with the Fox family in New York. He soon decided that the manifestations were essentially the same as those at his house, with a few points of difference. With them property was not destroyed, and they were not painfully annoyed. The sounds were different, it being with them a double or rolling sound, and at his house a single knock. They could call upon and receive answers from different spirits, or what claimed to be different ones. This could be done at his house.
During the months of June and July the same general occurrences continued at Stratford. Sometimes for two or three days there would seem to be an entire cessation of “hostilities.” Then they would commence again with redoubled force. People from all parts of the country were visiting the house, to whom every facility was afforded to search into the cause. Newspaper discussions were going on, casting the most unjust and painful reflections, subjecting the family to suffering little short of martyrdom, while numberless other persons had as good an opportunity of explaining the matter as the persecuted family. In this affliction I can sympathise somewhat with Dr. Phelps and family. In the first days of these phenomena in western New York, all persons who were involved with or interested in them were looked upon and treated at once as void of all common feeling or sensibility, both privately and publicly; their names passed about, coupled with opprobrious epithets; their houses were entered without ceremony, and even in the face of direct request to the contrary; their right to quiet and repose invaded, their houses often being crowded with visitors, prompted by idle curiosity and a malicious desire to torture, beyond the midnight hour; still insisting to remain, and adding insult to injury by declaring in your ears that it was an arrant cheat – a grand humbug – being carried on; and all for – what? And at the same time those whose ill-fortune it then seemed to be to have an identity with it were weeping and praying for the scourge to be removed from them; for scourge it seemed, indeed, under such circumstances.
Dr. and Mrs. Phelps concluded, in August, as the demonstrations were then less frequent, on taking a short journey of three weeks. The disturbances were still more annoying in their absence than before; and it was decided as best to close the house for the winter, and remain away. Accordingly, on the 11th of September, Harry left for Pennsylvania, and it was arranged that the other members of the family should follow within three weeks. It seems that, although the manifestations were connected more intimately with Harry, his presence was not all-important, as they did not cease altogether when he left; but communications were still made, though with less force and violence. The knockings were not as loud, and the communications less free or frequent. At one time a note was thrown into the room, while Dr. Phelps was writing at the desk, which contained the following: “How soon do the family except to go to Pennsyvania? I wish to make some arrangements before they go. Please answer in writing.” The doctor replied as desired, as follows: “About the first of October,” and placed the paper in a position where he had before put writings of the kind, and heard nothing further.
Two or three days after this a communication was given by use of the alphabet, saying that Root, a gentleman who had been in the house, had destroyed the doctor’s book. He inquired “What book?” and was answered “The big book.” Yet he did not know what book was designated, and repeated the question, and received the answer, “The big book in the secretary.” Still it was not understood. Again was spelled “Look and see!” Dr. Phelps had in the secretary two blank books; in the larger one he had written a full account of the mysterious manifestations, in the form of a diary, and, having noted them as they occurred from day to day, they were recorded with more minuteness than could afterwards be done. Upon looking, it was discovered that every page that had been written upon was torn from the book and gone! After a long search, the fragments of the leaves were found in the vault. Copies of the characters, which the doctor had carefully taken, and felt anxious to preserve, were every scrap gone. There were, in a dressing-table drawer in the chamber, a great number of the notes sent. These were set on fire with a match and burned in the drawer. The fire was discovered by the smoke, but not until the papers were so far charred as to injure them beyond preservation. A few of these writings only are retained, which were in other places.
The last of the annoyances was on the 25th of September, and was that of throwing ink upon the daughter’s dress. She was standing on the piazza, near the front door; the window of the front chamber was open, from which was thrown a small bottle of ink. The ink went over her dress in a way to entirely unfit it for further use. There was no person in the chamber who would have done such a thing for mischief; and, indeed, no person in the house who would have been guilty of it. The young lady was just setting out for a visit at New Haven, from which she was anticipating much pleasure, and I cannot conceive of any feeling, short of sheer malevolence, that would prompt such an act.
On the second day of October the family, with the exception of Dr. Phelps and the cook, left Stratford to go to Pennsylvania. During their absence all demonstrations ceased, with what may be termed one exception. A letter, addressed by Dr. Phelps to Mrs. Phelps, contained, when it reached her, some of the spirit writing in pencil, saying that “her husband was sick and wished her to return if she expected to see him alive.” He was then in good health; but the next week was sick and confined to his bed two or three days. There may or may not have been some connection between the two occurrences. It was the design of Dr. Phelps to separate the family for a time, in order, if possible, to get rid of the annoyance; and for the five weeks he remained at Stratford, after the family had left, no disturbances took place. Harry stayed in Bucks county (Pa.) all winter, and the other members of the family lived in Philadelphia.
In the month of March the family returned to Stratford. The house had been closed and under the charge of a neighbour, and no sign of any disturbance was visible, as every article of furniture was found just as they left it. About the fourth or fifth day after their return slight rapping was heard as they sat at the tea-table. They affected not to notice it, and the next day it was repeated more distinctly, but no response was made. Soon after, certain characters were found about the house, which were known, from the circumstances, to be of recent origin. Two or three days after, distinct communications were made by a spirit purporting to be Dr. Phelps’ daughter, who died at the age of twelve years. On being questioned, this spirit could not give any evidence of identity.
About the first of May several communications of a trifling character were given. On one occasion the doctor asked if they would be troubled any more as they had been, when they answered by rapping the following: – “Be not afraid that they will trouble you more, Though we have not quitted Connecticut shore.”
At another time certain characters were given, which were interpreted by the rapping as follows: “Evil one has gone, and better one has come.” No communications were made after the early part of May, but some things occurred indicating their presence and desire for mischief.
At one time, on cutting a loaf of bread, there were found in it nails, pen-holders, small sticks and tin, under circumstances which showed that they must have been placed there after it was put on the table, and before the family were ready for tea. At one time Harry’s hat was hid away, and then his cap, and then another hat. He took his brother’s cap to use, and that was also taken away. On the evening of the 18th of July they set fire to some papers in the doctor’s secretary, and some twenty papers and letters were burned before they were discovered. Fire was set at the same time to the papers in both the closets, under the stairs in the hall. They were discovered by the smoke. Two or three days after this, when some friends who had visited them were about to leave, their bonnets and some other articles could not be found, although search was made in every part of the house, until the train by which they were to go to New York had passed. They were at last found, locked into an enclosed washstand, in a way that made it morally certain that they could not have been placed there by human hands.
On the 29th of July Harry left to spend some time at New Lebanon, N.Y.; and during his absence non manifestations were noticed, although they were constantly on the look-out for something of the kind. Anna and her mother left for Philadelphia on the 25th of September, and they had been so long exempt from annoyances that they hoped they had ceased altogether. But Harry had the manifestations at New Lebanon, and there was first operated on, by invisible agency, to produce a trance, into which he passed with a sudden shock. He had never been entranced before, although frequent attempts had been made to do so. In this state he evinced all the phenomena common to good clairvoyance. On his return to Stratford, on the 9th of October, the sounds accompanied him almost constantly; but they seemed less inclined to mischief than formerly, because, as they said, “Harry had passed to a higher state, where the low and ignorant spirits could not communicate with him.”
On the evening of the 12th, Dr. Phelps, Harry, and two younger children, were seated at a table; responses were frequently given by raps under the table. Dr. Phelps inquired if it would accommodate them at all to have some substance to rap with; to which they replied affirmatively. He threw down a table-knife; the raps seemed immediately to be made by striking the knife against the table-leaf, and soon it was tossed up on to the table. A small tea-bell was then placed under the table; it was rung several times and tossed on to the table as the knife had been. It was again put down, and returned as before; the same being repeated several times in succession. The light was then extinguished, and the candle put under the table with a match-box containing matches, and the spirits requested to light it. They distinctly heard the match drawn upon the bottom of the box, which was prepared with sand-paper for that use. All saw the light; but the first match went out. Again the scratching of the match was heard; it ignited, the candle lighted, and was placed upon the table! The experiment was repeated several times, with the same result; every precaution being taken to prevent collusion in the matter.
On a subsequent occasion a chair was placed upon the table by invisible power, and the two children, Harry and Hannah, raised up and placed upon it; they could neither of them tell how it was done. The sensation was that of some person placing a hand under them and raising them up. Many of these things occurred when the room was darkened, as has been the case in numerous other places, and for which explanations have been recorded, as given by the spirits. On the evening of the 20th of October, the light being put out of the room, the bell was placed under the table, with a request that it should be rung, and placed in the doctor’s hand. He was sitting by the table with both his hands lying on his lap open, with the palms upward. The bell rang several times with some violence, and then was placed in his left hand. This was repeated four or five times in succession. Dr. Phelps sat beyond the reach of any one, and the room was sufficiently light for him to have detected any movement on the part of persons present. He requested them to let him feel the hand that placed the bell in his. Very soon a hand came in contact with his, took hold of his fingers, shaking his hand, passed slowly over the back of his hand, then over the palm again, took hold of his fingers, and he felt what he is sure to have been a human hand. He describes it as being cold and moist, which accords with my own experience repeatedly, and that of my friends. They then took hold of his foot, shook it with much force, loosened the string, took off the shoe, and placed it upon the table before him. At his request the shoe was replaced, the heel adjusted, and the strings drawn up, but not tied.
On a subsequent occasion a large-sized tea-bell was rung under the table, then rose up, passed round the room, ringing violently all the way, and fell upon the table. The candle was in the closet, but the room was sufficiently light to make it certain that no person left the table to convey it. It was manifest that from the time Harry returned from New Lebanon the manifestations began gradually to subside. They were less frequent and less marked. It was arranged that he should accompany the family to Philadelphia, and go to a boarding-school at a town about twenty miles distant from the city. At different times he had been told that if he went there he would again be annoyed by bad spirits. The question was many times put, “Will you annoy him again if he goes to the school?” Answer. – “We will not , but others will.” – “What others?” Answer. – “Those who were with him last summer.” – “Will they disturb him if he stays here and goes to the academy in Stratford?” – “No. They will not disturb him while he is with you.” – “What will they do if he goes to Pennsylvania?” Answer. – “They will tear his clothes, destroy his books, and break his windows.” – “Can you not control those bad spirits, and prevent their doing him any injury?” – “No.” – “Will you do all you can?” – “Yes.”
At another time Dr. Phelps inquired if they would not leave him, as his mother was so much opposed to the whole thing. “Will you not, to oblige her, leave him, that he may be a medium no longer?” said the doctor. The reply was, “If we leave him, evil spirits will get possession of him again.” These communications were made by what purported to be the boy’s father. For two weeks previously to going to Philadelphia the manifestations had almost wholly subsided; perhaps only occurred when requested; and notwithstanding the repeated declarations that when he should leave for the school in Pennsylvania, the bad spirits would come in and make him trouble, it was determined to try the experiment, and on the 11th of November the family set out for Philadelphia, where they were to spend the winter, while Harry was to go to school. He remained with the family in Philadelphia about a week, where a few communications were given to Dr. Phelps in private.
The spirits said they would begin to annoy the boy on the cars, on his way to the school, would pinch him and tear his clothes, so that, when he got there, they would be found torn, and that the troubles would follow him in the school as long as he stayed there. Dr. Phelps, under all the circumstancs, thought it best not to send him; but on consultation it was decided to have him go, and on the 19th of November he started for the school. Dr. Phelps went a mile or two with him, put him under the care of the conductor, and told him to report on his return if anything worthy of notice occurred on the way. In two days the dotor was sent for to come and take him away. He said that soon after his father left him on the cars, he was pinched, pricked with pins, and annoyed in various other ways until he reached his destination; that, on his arrival there, he found that his pantaloons were torn in front, between the waistband and the knees, in two places, several inches in length. He changed them for another pair, which were new, and made of very substantial material, and these were torn down in front, at least half a yard in length, before the doctor arrived there. The knockings had attended him in school and other places; his books were torn and damaged to the amount of two dollars, which the doctor paid. The family where he was had become alarmed, and would not keep him, and he was taken away. The boy stated that on one of the evenings, while he was there, he was walking in the street, when his cap was mysteriously taken from his head and thrown upon the side walk. As he stooped to pick it up, he saw the flash of a gun at some distance, and a bullet passed over his back and struck a board fence near him. He was afterwards informed by the rapping that, had he not stooped down, he would have been killed, and that his friendly spirit took this means to preserve him.
Dr. Phelps now concluded to return with Harry to Stratford, and was told that the bad spirits would have no control over him there. The family in which they resided in Philadelphia had become alarmed at the strange occurrences, and finally they again returned to Stratford. From that time the disturbances began to subside, and by the 15th December, 1851, they had ceased altogether. The family remained at Stratford till the spring of 1852, when they returned to their former residence in the city. The house at Stratford is occupied by another family, but no disturbances have ever occurred with the family which now occupies the house, and none with Dr. Phelps’s family since the above date.
Thus ends one of the most remarkable histories in the whole course of modern spiritual manifestations. The authority on which it comes to the world is indisputable, and the characters of all concerned are beyond suspicion. It will be observed that generally the demonstrations, as in the case of Mr. Calvin R. Brown, in the Fox family, were less boisterous after the family consented to hold communication with them. It seemed to be the desire of a spirit to communicate and set right a matter which was making him unhappy. This accomplished, the demonstration ceased.
From the foregoing narrative it will be seen that these phenomena do not attach to places, as some have supposed. It makes the fact equally clear that they do attach to persons, and that without certain media they cannot, to any extent, take place. If there is such a thing as “haunted houses,” they must belong to another class of phenomena, or a very different phase of the same, than those always depending on the presence of particular persons, as at the house in Stratford.
Another fact seems also to be proved by the above narration, namely, that persons may be powerful mediums at one time and afterwards lose the power, for neither of the media of Dr. Phelps’s family in Stratford have had any proof of mediumship for years.
The Spiritualist, 30th August 1878.
[…] The strange goings-on at Epworth Rectory, John Wesley’s childhood home, where his sister Nancy was “raised from the floor together with the bed she sat in” form a classic example, but the poltergeist who afflicted the family of Dr Phelps, a Presbyterian Minister in Stratford, Connecticut, just over a century ago, is not so well known.
For more than two years Dr Phelps and his four children occupied the house without the occurrence of anything unusual. But on Sunday, March 10, 1850, their troubles began. “An umbrella standing in the hall, leaped a distance of at least 25ft. A large plated candlestick, standing on the mantelshelf, was moved by some unseen power to the floor, and then rose up and down beating the floor till the candlestick was broken.”
And one day, writing alone in his study, when Dr Phelps turned his back on the table for a moment. “On resuming his task he found written in large letters, the ink still wet: ‘Very nice paper and very nice ink for the devil.'”
Young Harry Phelps was lifted violently from the floor until his head nearly struck the ceiling; once he was thrown into a cistern of water, and on another occasion he was tied up and suspended from a tree.
“The mediumistic power seemed to centre mainly in the boy Harry, aged 12, but also in his sister, Anna, who was four years older.”
[in Thurston’s ‘Ghosts and Poltergeists’]
Coventry