Meet the Relatives

Last week, I received an unexpected message on Facebook from a descendant of the Fox sisters! This lady, who lives in a neighboring county ...

What About Kate?

In writing We Hear the Dead , it became necessary for me to focus on one of the two Fox sisters. Maggie was my obvious choice, because she w...

The 19th Century Twitter

The Fox sisters had a clever little hoax, but it certainly would never have become a nationwide movement and a religion without the endorsem...

The Haunting of Hydesville

The history of spiritualism in America began in 1848 with a house in Hydesville, New York that was supposedly haunted by the spirit of a mur...

Witches and Rappings

Last night I had the honor of attending the mid-winter concert of SATORI , a professional chamber music ensemble based in Pennsylvania’s Leh...

A Spirited Hoax -- Part 2

With little more than a clever prank, two adolescent girls hornswoggled scores of adults into believing they had a special power to communic...

A Spirited Hoax -- Part 1

Uncle Albert, are you with us? Knock twice for yes ... It's a recurring theme in popular media. Whether Patricia Arquette is solving cri...