Chapter XX: Part 20

1678. “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. P. 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.

1679. “An umbrella which he was carrying was, in a mysterious manner, torn in several pieces. His pantaloons were torn from the bottom upward, 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. P., 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. P. 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. P.‘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.’

1680. “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 mantel 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 every thing was still, the clothing about the floor, which, upon going in again within a few minutes, were found wrought into forms. The marked rapidity of their construction, and the lifelike 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.

1681. “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. Beside 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 down stairs, 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.

1682. “[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 tight 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.]

1683. “The hiding of hats, caps, clothing, &c., seems at this time to have become of common occurrence. On several occasions a hat was seen to go up stairs—not thrown, but seemed to be carried rapidly by unseen hands. For several days Dr. P. 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 seeing nothing, they were about to leave, when the person who expressed the wish found himself minus a hat. A thorough searching 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, afterward occurred.

1684. “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 neighbour’s 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. P. 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.

1685. “On Friday and Saturday, March 23d 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 the house, 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 fifteen minutes, and for which no human cause could be assigned.

1686. “Somewhere about the 20th or 22d of March, Dr. P.‘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.

1687. “On the 26th of March Anna left Stratford, and on the 3d 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[37] to read as follows:

1688. ‘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.’

1689. 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:

1690. ‘The good ones say that all is done,
But the wicked ones say it has just begun.’

1691. The ‘wicked ones,’ in this case, seemed to come nearer the truth than the ‘good ones;’ for, on the afternoon of the eighth 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 any thing being thrown against it.

1692. 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.

1693. Dr. P. 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.

1694. The mysterious visitors, whoever they were, seemed at times to be actuated by a spirit of sheer mischief in the destruction of property, particularly glass and crockery. Even the glass in the carriage-top was broken out. Pitchers of water were, on two or three occasions, poured into the beds, and the pitchers and other vessels thrown about the room and broken. The damage to furniture during the whole time was nearly two hundred dollars. Sometimes there was a cessation of ‘hostilities’ for two or three days; but they would then return with additional violence; in fact, they increased gradually in violence from the beginning to the middle of April. On the evening of that day, and during the night, they were more violent and destructive than ever before. On the night of the 13th of April, loud pounding and beating, as with some hard substance, were frequent in the room adjoining that in which Dr. P. slept; so loud and continued were they, that at one o’clock no person in the house had been able to sleep. Soon after, a small drawer was taken from a dressing-table, and beaten so violently against the bedstead as to break it into fragments, some of which were thrown against the windows, breaking two panes of glass. The knockings were now transferred to Mrs. P.‘s room. She was pinched, pricked with pins, and otherwise annoyed in a manner beyond explanation ‘on any known laws of matter or mind.’ Mr. W. C. was staying in the house that night. He went to the room by request, and proposed to interrogate them, as they were then doing at Rochester and other places in Western New York. Being left to act his pleasure, he queried, and was replied to as follows: ‘Who are you? If a spirit, knock.’ Immediately there were heard on the head of the bed distinct knocks. _Q._—‘Are you a good or bad spirit? If good, knock.’ To this there was no answering sound. ‘If a bad spirit, knock.’ At once the same sounds as before were heard. _Q._—‘Will you spell your name if the alphabet is called?’ _A._—Knock. It was done; and a name was spelled out, and a communication made of a most extraordinary character, detailing the particulars of a transaction in which a portion of the family were said to have been defrauded out of a large property. As this whole communication relates to a matter which may yet come before the tribunals of our country for adjudication, I am expressly prohibited from making any extracts from this part of the journal. I regret this more, as the facts in this case form one of the most wonderful and unaccountable cases on record.

1695. The family concluded that, after these important disclosures were made, the disturbances would cease; but they were doomed to be disappointed. The following night no communications were made, but the throwing of articles and breaking of windows, crockery, etc., were renewed with greater violence than before. Four or five panes of glass were broken in one room in the space of half an hour. While the family were together in the east chamber, a small sauce-dish, with an iron handle, rose from the floor, under the washstand, and beat against the bedstead with such violence as to break the handle off, and was then thrown back from whence it started. It beat seven or eight times against the bedstead, producing a noise that could easily be heard twenty rods. A round of a chair was beaten against the bedstead in the same manner, when there was no person within seven or eight feet of it. A lamp that was on the mantel leaped into the middle of the floor, and was extinguished. Being left thus suddenly in the dark produced no little agitation, and Mrs. Phelps proposed that they should take the children and go into the street, rather than stay in the house that night. In a few minutes two gentlemen, who had appointed to spend the night with them, arrived, and the more violent of the manifestations ceased.

1696. About this time, Dr. P.‘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.

1697. 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 fac-simile 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.

1698. 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 New York—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.

1699. “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.

1700. 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 any thing else. To the question why they destroyed property, they replied, ‘For fun.’ It was asked of the opposing spirit 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:

1701. ‘SIR: Sir Sambo’s compliments, and begs the laddyes to accept as a token of esteem.’

1702. 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:

1703. ‘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.’

1704. The initials of the lady’s name who asked for the letter were H. P.

1705. 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.

1706. The following was in pencil, and seems to be written in the same hand as the other. It was superscribed ‘E. Phelps:’

1707. ‘If you promise not to write what I told you, I will not throw any thing all this week.’

1708. 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.

1709. ‘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 mad-house, 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.’

1710. ‘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,’ &c., when he was suddenly overturned by an invisible power, which frightened him so that his hair turned white in five minutes.

1711. ‘Brother Barnes, to render his church more attractive, is going to have opera-singing and dancing every Sunday afternoon. 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.’

1712. On Sunday, April 27th, 1851, on returning from church, the family found strange characters written on the last leaf of a writing-book, lying on the hall floor, although it was known to be in the nursery previous to their going away. None of the family had any knowledge of how the book got into the hall.[38]

1713. H. C. Gordon, a clairvoyant, interpreted the characters as follows: The first line, 95th Psalm, 2d verse; second line, 3d and 6th verse; and the third line, the 10th verse.

1714. Certain characters were found on the wall in the east chamber, on Sunday morning, May 4th, 1851. They were made with a candle on the wall near the south window.

1715. These were translated to be, ‘Spirits of a higher order desire to communicate with you soon.’

1716. 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.[39]

1717. Sometimes these missives were enclosed in a book, and thrown down stairs or into the room; sometimes wrapped about a key or nail, or any thing 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 his 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.

1718. About the first of May, Dr. Phelps, of Boston, brother of the Rev. Doctor, and Prof. 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 Tuesday evening 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 mid-day. 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 story, 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 not be heard; and again for days they were heard every day.

1719. 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 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 command. This was five or six times repeated, and 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 named would drop at her side, or in her lap, within a minute. Things of this kind occurred very many times in the course of the time that these phenomena were continued. If a key or knife, or any thing 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 both were standing.

1720. 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.

1721. 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 some 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 person 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 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. P. His mother told him it was nothing but a dream, and turned it off as a light affair.

1722. 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. P. 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. P., 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 watch-maker. 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.

1723. On one occasion the piano-forte was played while it is known that no person was in the room; and, at another time, it was turned around, the front toward 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.

1724. On several occasions, about this time, certain members of the family saw, or thought they did, visible appearances. Dr. P. 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. Toward 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. P., 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. P. 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 covered up her head, and in a few minutes looked up and saw nothing. He was represented as moving slowly from one room to the other.

1725. 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.

1726. 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 it; 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. P. 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 any thing himself. Others of the family saw persons in a mysterious way several times.

1727. 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.

1728. 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 sympathize 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.

1729. 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. P. was writing at the desk, which contained the following: “How soon do the family expect to go to Pennsylvania? 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.

1730. 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 afterward 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.

1731. 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.

1732. 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.

1733. 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’s daughter, who died at the age of twelve years. On being questioned, this spirit could not give any evidence of identity.

1734. 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:

1735. ‘Be not afraid that they will trouble you more,
Though we have not quitted Connecticut shore.’

1736. 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.

1737. 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.

1738. On the 29th of July Harry left to spend some time at New Lebanon, N. Y., and during his absence no 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 magnetic sleep, into which he passed with a sudden shock. He had never been magnetized 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.’

1739. On several occasions characters of a unique description were made. Some were written early in April, 1851, which Harry interpreted to read: ‘We are to take our leave of you soon.’

1740. Some were traced out with chalk on the piazza of the house, on the 31st of March, 1850.

1741. These Harry interpreted to mean: ‘_You may expect good spirits to come by-and-by_.’ The same characters had been said, by A. J. Davis, to read: ‘_Our society desires through various mediums to impart thoughts_.’ The spirit that seemed to be most prominent in all these communications claimed to be Harry’s father, and sometimes a sister of Dr. Phelps, who died about three years previous to this; also a child of Dr. Phelps, who died more than twenty-two years before. The communications seemed generally to come from the boy’s father. On the 12th of October he passed into a mesmeric state, and wrote some characters, which he translated as follows:

1742. ‘_My dear children_: I love you, and try to do every thing that will do you good. Obey dear Mr. Phelps in every thing, for he knows what is right and what is wrong. This is the advice of your spirit father.’

1743. On the same paper were written others, which, being translated, read: ‘You were troubled once with evil spirits, but now they are no more. They have bid adieu, and good spirits have come and are with you all the time.’

1744. Again occur others, which read: ‘You must not fear, brother, that you will be troubled with evil spirits any more. No, brother, no more. Your spirit sister, BLISS.’

1745. The person here supposed to communicate is a sister of Dr. Phelps, a widow, who left the earth-sphere in 1848, and by whom several of the previous communications are said to have been made. Other characters, of the same general formation, were made at the same time, but were not then translated.