1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,520 Speaker 1: Welcomed, unobscured a production of I Heart Radio and Aaron Minky. 2 00:00:14,160 --> 00:00:18,000 Speaker 1: A bloody flag hung over the door. Cora stepped up 3 00:00:18,040 --> 00:00:21,279 Speaker 1: onto the platform, surrounded by black drapery that covered the 4 00:00:21,320 --> 00:00:24,720 Speaker 1: columns of the Mechanics Institute. After all, they were in 5 00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:28,400 Speaker 1: mourning for the honored dead. The flag didn't represent the 6 00:00:28,440 --> 00:00:31,800 Speaker 1: Civil War, though, and the blood on the flag wasn't decorative. 7 00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:34,680 Speaker 1: It was a relic from a dark event that took 8 00:00:34,680 --> 00:00:40,440 Speaker 1: place A year before America's first black daily newspaper, the 9 00:00:40,479 --> 00:00:44,559 Speaker 1: New Orleans Tribune, had called a political convention. The Tribune 10 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:47,560 Speaker 1: had been founded by an Afro Creole doctor named Louis 11 00:00:47,680 --> 00:00:52,199 Speaker 1: Charles Rudinat as rallying point for Louisiana radicals, and it 12 00:00:52,280 --> 00:00:56,120 Speaker 1: commanded respect among the state's reformers. They met to confirm 13 00:00:56,160 --> 00:00:59,640 Speaker 1: in eighteen sixty four state constitution that had stripped power 14 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:05,679 Speaker 1: the planter class and abolished slavery. The backlash, though, was vicious. 15 00:01:06,200 --> 00:01:09,440 Speaker 1: White planters had the ear of General Banks, the Union 16 00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:13,320 Speaker 1: Army commander governing the state. They said Louisiana should have 17 00:01:13,640 --> 00:01:16,920 Speaker 1: and I quote, a government of white people for the 18 00:01:16,959 --> 00:01:21,800 Speaker 1: exclusive political benefits of the white race. Yeah, they weren't 19 00:01:21,840 --> 00:01:26,080 Speaker 1: subtle about it at all. The planters were powerful, though. 20 00:01:26,560 --> 00:01:30,000 Speaker 1: They convinced Banks to keep the plantation system, and he 21 00:01:30,080 --> 00:01:33,520 Speaker 1: used the Union Army to force black Louisiana's to keep 22 00:01:33,560 --> 00:01:36,800 Speaker 1: working the land of any planter who would declare loyalty 23 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:40,920 Speaker 1: to the United States. His soldiers marched the roads, capturing 24 00:01:40,959 --> 00:01:45,160 Speaker 1: anyone who left their work. Meanwhile, he let imprisoned Confederate 25 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:50,320 Speaker 1: soldiers walk. But the black folk on the sharp end 26 00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:54,120 Speaker 1: of these policies didn't go quietly. The Tribune started by 27 00:01:54,160 --> 00:01:57,720 Speaker 1: publishing articles showing how Banks was forcing workers to keep 28 00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:00,560 Speaker 1: living in slavery. It was a voice that would echo 29 00:02:00,600 --> 00:02:04,240 Speaker 1: back across the Atlantic, where Victor Hugo would return with 30 00:02:04,280 --> 00:02:07,360 Speaker 1: the letter to the Tribune, encouraging the radicals to keep 31 00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:12,760 Speaker 1: fighting for justice. Messages came from across the Last Horizon 32 00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:15,960 Speaker 1: as well. The spirit of John Brown appeared to Henri 33 00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:20,120 Speaker 1: and the Sir Harmonique with a word of celebration. He 34 00:02:20,200 --> 00:02:24,680 Speaker 1: praised the Tribune for its defense of black equality. So 35 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:28,400 Speaker 1: in eighteen sixty six, when the Tribune announced a convention 36 00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:31,959 Speaker 1: to amend the earlier constitution and finally give black men 37 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:35,320 Speaker 1: the right to vote in Louisiana, people came in crowds, 38 00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:38,880 Speaker 1: and the meeting started on a hopeful note too. That 39 00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:41,760 Speaker 1: first night, the city's police fought with a group of 40 00:02:41,840 --> 00:02:45,320 Speaker 1: armed delegates who were defending the convention and killed two 41 00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:48,600 Speaker 1: of them. Sadly, it was a dire omen of what 42 00:02:48,639 --> 00:02:52,520 Speaker 1: would happen the next day. When black delegates to the 43 00:02:52,560 --> 00:02:55,680 Speaker 1: convention arrived at the Mechanics Institute the next morning for 44 00:02:55,840 --> 00:02:58,480 Speaker 1: the second day of the meeting, they were confronted by 45 00:02:58,520 --> 00:03:01,200 Speaker 1: a crowd of white opponents that was swelling with anger. 46 00:03:01,720 --> 00:03:07,480 Speaker 1: Here's historian Emily Clark. The day begins with some fanfare. 47 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:10,880 Speaker 1: There's a little parade of black New Orleanans marching to 48 00:03:10,919 --> 00:03:13,320 Speaker 1: the Mechanics Institute to celebrate this. This is gonna be 49 00:03:13,320 --> 00:03:16,600 Speaker 1: a great day, but it's not. It ends up being 50 00:03:16,639 --> 00:03:20,840 Speaker 1: an absolutely horrid, horrid day because a white mob, aided 51 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:26,119 Speaker 1: by local police and firefighters, storm the building and massacre 52 00:03:26,240 --> 00:03:29,919 Speaker 1: many of the delegates inside. Most of the delegates were unarmed, 53 00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:33,320 Speaker 1: but that white supremacist mob was heavily armed. Over forty 54 00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:36,760 Speaker 1: people died that day, almost all of them Black. Violence 55 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:40,440 Speaker 1: like this in eighteen sixty six ended up galvanizing a 56 00:03:40,440 --> 00:03:44,760 Speaker 1: new brand of reconstruction politics. Nationally, which then worked harder 57 00:03:44,760 --> 00:03:49,720 Speaker 1: to promote black civil rights. In the wake of the violence, 58 00:03:49,880 --> 00:03:53,520 Speaker 1: someone had collected the tattered flag and tucked it away. 59 00:03:53,560 --> 00:03:56,160 Speaker 1: When the community gathered to hold a memorial service for 60 00:03:56,200 --> 00:03:59,080 Speaker 1: the convention, they brought it out again. It was a 61 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:01,920 Speaker 1: stark reminder of the nation they were working to build, 62 00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:05,240 Speaker 1: and of the courage and sacrifices some had made to 63 00:04:05,320 --> 00:04:10,000 Speaker 1: bring that nation, that Louisiana, that New Orleans into being. 64 00:04:11,480 --> 00:04:14,520 Speaker 1: It was exactly a year later that Cora stepped into 65 00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:18,680 Speaker 1: the Mechanic Institute to honor those who were killed that day. Afterwards, 66 00:04:18,880 --> 00:04:22,840 Speaker 1: the Tribune published her poems call for solemn mournful bells 67 00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:26,800 Speaker 1: to ring out over the city. Nathan must have been proud, 68 00:04:27,400 --> 00:04:29,680 Speaker 1: but when he wrote to the Rochester Express to give 69 00:04:29,760 --> 00:04:33,360 Speaker 1: them news on the progress of reconstruction, he wasn't praising 70 00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:37,279 Speaker 1: Corps powers of oratory. Instead, he was reporting on a 71 00:04:37,360 --> 00:04:40,880 Speaker 1: new scourge in the city. People were fleeing New Orleans 72 00:04:40,880 --> 00:04:47,600 Speaker 1: in the face of two deadly diseases, cholera and yellow fever. Nathan, 73 00:04:47,839 --> 00:04:51,120 Speaker 1: so often traveling those streets as he rallied for change, 74 00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:54,240 Speaker 1: came home one night in late September feeling dizzy and 75 00:04:54,279 --> 00:04:58,039 Speaker 1: shivering with fever. By October one, it had burned through 76 00:04:58,120 --> 00:05:02,000 Speaker 1: his body. Henrietta, less than a year old, wasn't strong 77 00:05:02,120 --> 00:05:06,680 Speaker 1: enough to fight off the infection. By October they were 78 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:15,520 Speaker 1: both dead. Grieving her losses, Cora retreated back to the Northeast. 79 00:05:16,080 --> 00:05:19,120 Speaker 1: The future that she had envisioned with her radical husband 80 00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:22,960 Speaker 1: had been taken away. If Cora was going to find peace, 81 00:05:23,440 --> 00:05:26,719 Speaker 1: as so many others like her had wanted, it would 82 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:30,719 Speaker 1: have to come from the most unusual of places, the 83 00:05:30,800 --> 00:05:57,960 Speaker 1: spirits of the dead. This is unobscured. I'm Aaron manky M. 84 00:06:20,160 --> 00:06:23,880 Speaker 1: Benjamin Butler led the charge During the war. He was 85 00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:26,640 Speaker 1: the general in command of the Union forces that sees 86 00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:30,040 Speaker 1: New Orleans. When he returned to Massachusetts, he was elected 87 00:06:30,040 --> 00:06:33,080 Speaker 1: to the United States Congress. During the time that Nathan 88 00:06:33,160 --> 00:06:36,560 Speaker 1: Daniels was in Washington, he had connected with Butler, who 89 00:06:36,640 --> 00:06:40,360 Speaker 1: had once been his superior officer. In Washington. The two 90 00:06:40,360 --> 00:06:45,480 Speaker 1: men lobbied together for reconstruction, but they were opposed by 91 00:06:45,560 --> 00:06:49,960 Speaker 1: Andrew Johnson. Like General Banks, Johnson's opinions were swayed by 92 00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:53,640 Speaker 1: the powerful interests of Southern planters, who still wielded enough 93 00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:56,640 Speaker 1: influence to reach into the White House. It was the 94 00:06:56,680 --> 00:07:00,400 Speaker 1: compromises that President Johnson made and his v toe of 95 00:07:00,440 --> 00:07:04,120 Speaker 1: bills supporting the newly freed Black Americans that put him 96 00:07:04,160 --> 00:07:08,800 Speaker 1: in General Butler's crosshairs. After all, Butler had never been 97 00:07:08,839 --> 00:07:12,400 Speaker 1: shy about fighting southern white leaders he considered traitors to 98 00:07:12,400 --> 00:07:17,000 Speaker 1: the nation. They considered him evil. They called him beast Butler. 99 00:07:17,520 --> 00:07:21,560 Speaker 1: When President Johnson was impeached, Beast Butler was the ringmaster 100 00:07:21,680 --> 00:07:26,160 Speaker 1: who choreographed the events. In the years before she went 101 00:07:26,240 --> 00:07:28,920 Speaker 1: to New Orleans, Cora had been the spirit adviser to 102 00:07:29,040 --> 00:07:33,800 Speaker 1: radical congressmen. Just like Butler, they pushed for reconstruction policies 103 00:07:33,840 --> 00:07:35,840 Speaker 1: that put the government of the South in the hands 104 00:07:35,880 --> 00:07:40,120 Speaker 1: of northern reformers. Lincoln's spirit had spoken through Cora frequently 105 00:07:40,240 --> 00:07:44,480 Speaker 1: and guided their approach to policy, alongside dead Boston abolitionist 106 00:07:44,560 --> 00:07:48,280 Speaker 1: ministers and the spirit of William Wilberforce. Now that she 107 00:07:48,280 --> 00:07:51,040 Speaker 1: had returned to the capital, with grief stripping her of 108 00:07:51,160 --> 00:07:54,400 Speaker 1: any shyness she might have had, she took bolder steps 109 00:07:54,400 --> 00:07:59,080 Speaker 1: than she ever had before. In September of eighteen sixty eight, 110 00:07:59,160 --> 00:08:03,240 Speaker 1: she joined a ritualist newspaper editor in confronting President Andrew 111 00:08:03,280 --> 00:08:07,640 Speaker 1: Johnson directly barging right into his White House office. As 112 00:08:07,640 --> 00:08:10,560 Speaker 1: soon as the door closed behind them, Cora opened her 113 00:08:10,600 --> 00:08:14,440 Speaker 1: mouth and laughed. But the voice wasn't her own. As 114 00:08:14,520 --> 00:08:18,600 Speaker 1: the papers reported it, Johnson was and I quote dumb 115 00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:24,200 Speaker 1: with astonishment because the laugh was Abraham Lincoln's. The voice 116 00:08:24,240 --> 00:08:29,440 Speaker 1: that followed said, let him laugh, who wins. No one 117 00:08:29,520 --> 00:08:32,880 Speaker 1: in the room, not Cora, not the reporter, not President 118 00:08:32,960 --> 00:08:36,320 Speaker 1: Johnson explained what the phrase meant. But it was just 119 00:08:36,480 --> 00:08:39,400 Speaker 1: months after Andrew Johnson had been impeached by the House 120 00:08:39,760 --> 00:08:42,160 Speaker 1: and the country was facing the new election that would 121 00:08:42,200 --> 00:08:46,760 Speaker 1: put Grants in office. Cora's spirit address to Johnson was cryptic, 122 00:08:47,080 --> 00:08:49,240 Speaker 1: but there was no doubt that she wanted to confront 123 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:51,520 Speaker 1: the president with the knowledge that the Spirits had not 124 00:08:51,640 --> 00:08:54,720 Speaker 1: given up on the nation, and anyone who opposed their 125 00:08:54,800 --> 00:08:59,640 Speaker 1: vision for reform was destined to fail. In May of 126 00:08:59,679 --> 00:09:02,679 Speaker 1: a t sixty nine, Cora was still thinking hard about 127 00:09:02,760 --> 00:09:05,320 Speaker 1: that nation, and she was seeing it with more and 128 00:09:05,400 --> 00:09:09,160 Speaker 1: more distress. After mourning the violence of white supremacy in 129 00:09:09,200 --> 00:09:12,400 Speaker 1: New Orleans, she came back to Washington with new words 130 00:09:12,480 --> 00:09:16,239 Speaker 1: of rebuke. She spoke in a meeting of the Universal 131 00:09:16,280 --> 00:09:20,800 Speaker 1: Peace Society, and she wasn't gentle a government that has, 132 00:09:20,920 --> 00:09:24,520 Speaker 1: for nearly a century enslaved the African race. She said, 133 00:09:25,080 --> 00:09:29,760 Speaker 1: that proscribes the Chinese race, proposes to exterminate the Indian race, 134 00:09:30,160 --> 00:09:33,679 Speaker 1: and persistently refuses to recognize the rights of one half 135 00:09:33,720 --> 00:09:39,280 Speaker 1: of its citizens. Women cannot justly be called perfect. If 136 00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:42,640 Speaker 1: Cora was thinking more expansively than ever before about how 137 00:09:42,679 --> 00:09:46,240 Speaker 1: the US government treated and control that's people, we can 138 00:09:46,280 --> 00:09:49,280 Speaker 1: see why she had just married for a third time. 139 00:09:49,720 --> 00:09:53,800 Speaker 1: Her new husband, Samuel Tapin, was a spiritualist, a journalist, 140 00:09:54,080 --> 00:09:57,120 Speaker 1: and a soldier who had been deeply involved in uncovering 141 00:09:57,160 --> 00:09:59,920 Speaker 1: the truth of a brutal mass murder of the Cheyenne 142 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:04,040 Speaker 1: and Arapaho people in Colorado known as the Sand Creek Massacre. 143 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:08,760 Speaker 1: Samuel had investigated the killing for the federal government. He 144 00:10:08,840 --> 00:10:12,319 Speaker 1: determined that the commanding officer of the Third Colorado Volunteer, 145 00:10:12,480 --> 00:10:17,320 Speaker 1: a Methodist minister nicknamed the Fighting Parson, had deliberately carried 146 00:10:17,320 --> 00:10:21,000 Speaker 1: out the slaughter in cold blood. As far as Nathan 147 00:10:21,040 --> 00:10:23,520 Speaker 1: could tell, this was a minister who had hoped that 148 00:10:23,600 --> 00:10:26,959 Speaker 1: by killing enough of his indigenous neighbors, he could raise 149 00:10:27,040 --> 00:10:29,800 Speaker 1: his public profile high enough to make a run at 150 00:10:29,840 --> 00:10:33,760 Speaker 1: political office. Nathan's reports went back to the federal government, 151 00:10:34,240 --> 00:10:37,600 Speaker 1: and they went to the spiritualist press as well. His 152 00:10:37,679 --> 00:10:42,640 Speaker 1: opinions resonated with Corus Christians, he wrote, professing to be 153 00:10:42,760 --> 00:10:46,520 Speaker 1: followers of the Prince of Peace, had instead attacked Native 154 00:10:46,640 --> 00:10:51,560 Speaker 1: nations with sword and cannon, creeds and whiskey, bibles and 155 00:10:51,600 --> 00:10:55,680 Speaker 1: booie knives. And he wasn't just talking about one incident either. 156 00:10:56,200 --> 00:10:59,000 Speaker 1: In Samuel's eyes, if it wasn't the steel of sabers 157 00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:02,360 Speaker 1: and rifles threatened the indigenous nations, it was the steel 158 00:11:02,440 --> 00:11:05,960 Speaker 1: of the railroads cutting through the land monopoly, he wrote, 159 00:11:06,440 --> 00:11:09,679 Speaker 1: is fast turning this western garden of the world into 160 00:11:09,679 --> 00:11:14,200 Speaker 1: a moral wilderness. Over the next few years, his opinion 161 00:11:14,280 --> 00:11:17,280 Speaker 1: would be published frequently by the Banner of Light. His 162 00:11:17,360 --> 00:11:20,760 Speaker 1: stature rose within the government at the same time. Ever 163 00:11:20,880 --> 00:11:24,840 Speaker 1: since his work investigating and testifying about the Sand Creek Massacre, 164 00:11:25,200 --> 00:11:28,840 Speaker 1: Samuel had served on the Indian Peace Commission. In that role, 165 00:11:29,160 --> 00:11:33,040 Speaker 1: he helped to negotiate treaties with the Plains nations. After 166 00:11:33,080 --> 00:11:36,040 Speaker 1: that he joined a separate commission, one task with making 167 00:11:36,080 --> 00:11:39,960 Speaker 1: sure the United States government followed those treaties. He had 168 00:11:40,040 --> 00:11:44,360 Speaker 1: little success, though, which only made him more angry. When 169 00:11:44,400 --> 00:11:48,200 Speaker 1: Samuel Tapin married Cora, she was reporting messages from Native 170 00:11:48,240 --> 00:11:52,040 Speaker 1: spirit guides like Weena. Together, the couple joined their voices 171 00:11:52,080 --> 00:11:55,679 Speaker 1: to shape spiritualist opinions about the ongoing seizure of native 172 00:11:55,760 --> 00:11:58,920 Speaker 1: land across the West. In fact, some seance circles even 173 00:11:58,960 --> 00:12:02,880 Speaker 1: reported messages from Cheyenne and Arapaho leaders who had died 174 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:11,400 Speaker 1: at Sand Creek. Here's historian and browdie. Spiritualists are always reformers, 175 00:12:11,440 --> 00:12:16,559 Speaker 1: and they are very active in Indian rights reform movements. 176 00:12:16,640 --> 00:12:22,160 Speaker 1: They are extremely critical of massacres of Indians. They protest 177 00:12:22,240 --> 00:12:27,040 Speaker 1: against them. Samuel Tappan in particular, who is an Indian 178 00:12:27,120 --> 00:12:34,079 Speaker 1: rights reformer. With leading spiritualist speakers like Cora regularly giving 179 00:12:34,080 --> 00:12:38,200 Speaker 1: addresses on Indian rights, and government officials like Samuel Tapin 180 00:12:38,360 --> 00:12:42,679 Speaker 1: publishing in the spiritualist newspapers, spiritualists continue to find themselves 181 00:12:42,720 --> 00:12:46,920 Speaker 1: criticizing violence that was widely accepted in white communities across 182 00:12:46,920 --> 00:12:53,960 Speaker 1: the nation. Spiritualists are in an odd position in my view, 183 00:12:54,360 --> 00:12:59,880 Speaker 1: where they are espousing Indian rights, but they are all 184 00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:07,240 Speaker 1: so perpetrating stereotypes that place Indians in the past, in 185 00:13:07,320 --> 00:13:11,920 Speaker 1: a romantic past where Indians are appropriately living in the 186 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:17,840 Speaker 1: spirit world and providing support for spirit mediums, rather than 187 00:13:19,120 --> 00:13:26,040 Speaker 1: exercising sovereignty in the present. But if the early seances 188 00:13:26,080 --> 00:13:30,200 Speaker 1: portrayed Native spirits as guides and healers for white spiritualists, 189 00:13:30,480 --> 00:13:33,760 Speaker 1: the tone changed as reports of more violence reached seance 190 00:13:33,760 --> 00:13:36,920 Speaker 1: circles in the East. When murdered leaders arrived to speak 191 00:13:36,960 --> 00:13:40,520 Speaker 1: at seance tables. During the reports of genocide and dispossession 192 00:13:40,559 --> 00:13:44,839 Speaker 1: of the eighteen sixties and seventies, Indian blessings on spiritualists 193 00:13:44,880 --> 00:13:49,000 Speaker 1: were replaced by Indian curses, curses on a nation whose 194 00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:54,479 Speaker 1: soldiers and citizens had murdered them. But as other newspapers 195 00:13:54,480 --> 00:13:57,240 Speaker 1: fell in line with the white supremacist rhetoric of writers 196 00:13:57,280 --> 00:14:01,280 Speaker 1: who pushed the idea of manifest destin the banner of light, 197 00:14:01,360 --> 00:14:04,840 Speaker 1: continued to print criticisms of that message. It was their 198 00:14:04,920 --> 00:14:08,079 Speaker 1: responsibility to heed the voices of the spirits, after all, 199 00:14:08,559 --> 00:14:13,400 Speaker 1: and report their messages to the reading public. Something was happening. 200 00:14:13,920 --> 00:14:16,840 Speaker 1: Spiritualists who had viewed slavery as a sin that left 201 00:14:16,840 --> 00:14:19,600 Speaker 1: a stain on the nation had begun to see America's 202 00:14:19,640 --> 00:14:23,280 Speaker 1: westward advancement into the territory of the Native Americans as 203 00:14:23,320 --> 00:14:26,440 Speaker 1: just more of the same. Their editorials called u S 204 00:14:26,520 --> 00:14:29,880 Speaker 1: policy a fraud and a swindle at a time when 205 00:14:29,920 --> 00:14:34,560 Speaker 1: few other voices would as violence piled on violence. Cora 206 00:14:34,760 --> 00:14:38,200 Speaker 1: and the radical politicians who heeded her spirits were sure 207 00:14:38,280 --> 00:14:41,040 Speaker 1: that this was just one more way that the nation 208 00:14:41,160 --> 00:14:44,840 Speaker 1: needed to be knocked down and made new again. But 209 00:14:44,960 --> 00:14:55,480 Speaker 1: to take those stains away, they needed more than hope. 210 00:14:56,960 --> 00:14:59,640 Speaker 1: The letters burned so bright that they lit up the 211 00:14:59,680 --> 00:15:02,960 Speaker 1: whole room. They were right there, scrawled into the very 212 00:15:03,040 --> 00:15:07,080 Speaker 1: surface of the table. Too many spirits had spoken through 213 00:15:07,160 --> 00:15:10,080 Speaker 1: so many tables over the years to even count, but 214 00:15:10,280 --> 00:15:13,320 Speaker 1: this marble surface looked like it was inscribed with fire. 215 00:15:13,880 --> 00:15:19,760 Speaker 1: The word was a single Greek name, Demosthenes. It glowed 216 00:15:19,800 --> 00:15:22,840 Speaker 1: as a calling card for the stately figure dressed in 217 00:15:22,840 --> 00:15:27,240 Speaker 1: a tunic, solemn and graceful, who stood before Victoria wood Hall. 218 00:15:27,720 --> 00:15:30,200 Speaker 1: She recognized him, of course. It was one of the 219 00:15:30,240 --> 00:15:32,480 Speaker 1: spirits who had appeared to her from time to time 220 00:15:32,520 --> 00:15:35,200 Speaker 1: over the years, and he'd always told her that she 221 00:15:35,240 --> 00:15:38,000 Speaker 1: would rise to great distinction in a city of ships. 222 00:15:39,720 --> 00:15:42,560 Speaker 1: At last, he had arrived to reveal his identity to her, 223 00:15:42,720 --> 00:15:44,920 Speaker 1: because the time had come for her to lead her 224 00:15:44,920 --> 00:15:49,280 Speaker 1: people just as he had the ancient Athenians. Journey to 225 00:15:49,400 --> 00:15:52,400 Speaker 1: New York. The spirit told her there was a house 226 00:15:52,400 --> 00:15:55,720 Speaker 1: waiting for her there, along with the future he'd always promised. 227 00:15:56,080 --> 00:16:00,320 Speaker 1: At least that's how Victoria told the story that Marble 228 00:16:00,360 --> 00:16:03,600 Speaker 1: Table had been in a Pittsburgh apartment where Victoria had 229 00:16:03,600 --> 00:16:06,920 Speaker 1: been staying after years of traveling with James Blood. She 230 00:16:07,040 --> 00:16:10,160 Speaker 1: had even been to disease stricken New Orleans, arriving just 231 00:16:10,360 --> 00:16:14,480 Speaker 1: as Cora left and shortly before Christmas. In eighteen sixty six, 232 00:16:14,880 --> 00:16:18,160 Speaker 1: Victoria and James had published an advertisement for their powers 233 00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:22,280 Speaker 1: of healing to the city's alien residents. They had been 234 00:16:22,320 --> 00:16:25,200 Speaker 1: to Memphis, Tennessee, which had also been plagued by white 235 00:16:25,200 --> 00:16:28,800 Speaker 1: supremacist violence that year. Then they returned to St. Louis 236 00:16:28,880 --> 00:16:31,560 Speaker 1: before moving on to Chicago, where the courts were more 237 00:16:31,600 --> 00:16:34,360 Speaker 1: willing to hand out divorce papers than anywhere else in 238 00:16:34,400 --> 00:16:38,680 Speaker 1: the Midwest. But now in eighteen sixty eight, those trips 239 00:16:38,720 --> 00:16:41,520 Speaker 1: were coming to an end. It was time for Victoria 240 00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:46,960 Speaker 1: and James to build something. They weighed their options. Following 241 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:49,760 Speaker 1: the Spirit of Demosthenes to New York was one, but 242 00:16:49,840 --> 00:16:53,280 Speaker 1: there was another leading light that they considered. Victoria reached 243 00:16:53,280 --> 00:16:57,120 Speaker 1: out to some friends in high places. She traveled to Galena, 244 00:16:57,200 --> 00:16:59,960 Speaker 1: Illinois and visited one of the officers who had come 245 00:17:00,040 --> 00:17:03,120 Speaker 1: man died James Blood's troops during the war. Since then, 246 00:17:03,280 --> 00:17:06,200 Speaker 1: Victoria and James had spent time with that officer's father 247 00:17:06,320 --> 00:17:10,120 Speaker 1: in Cincinnati and become friends with his family. And Victoria 248 00:17:10,160 --> 00:17:12,200 Speaker 1: thought it would be nice if he took on James 249 00:17:12,200 --> 00:17:16,320 Speaker 1: Blood as his personal secretary. Because you see, that man 250 00:17:16,440 --> 00:17:19,000 Speaker 1: was Ulysses S. Grant, and he had just won the 251 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:23,200 Speaker 1: presidential election. He was headed to Washington. We can't blame 252 00:17:23,240 --> 00:17:25,239 Speaker 1: him if he didn't want to bring Blood with him 253 00:17:25,280 --> 00:17:27,960 Speaker 1: to the White House. Though you see, his escapades with 254 00:17:28,040 --> 00:17:31,160 Speaker 1: Victoria had already hit the papers where they were saying 255 00:17:31,160 --> 00:17:34,200 Speaker 1: that the gallant colonel had abandoned his family and thrown 256 00:17:34,200 --> 00:17:36,800 Speaker 1: away his money to travel the world with and I 257 00:17:36,880 --> 00:17:41,960 Speaker 1: quote the Witch of Washington Avenue. When Grant decided against 258 00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:45,280 Speaker 1: taking James Blood with him, it settled the matter. James 259 00:17:45,359 --> 00:17:48,320 Speaker 1: and Victoria set out for New York instead, But the 260 00:17:48,440 --> 00:17:51,040 Speaker 1: choices that Grant would make while in office would still 261 00:17:51,080 --> 00:17:55,439 Speaker 1: prove crucial to lifting Victoria's fortunes. First, though, there were 262 00:17:55,520 --> 00:17:59,560 Speaker 1: connections to be made in Manhattan. Here's author Mary Gabriel. 263 00:18:01,359 --> 00:18:03,040 Speaker 1: When they arrived in New York, you know, they had 264 00:18:03,040 --> 00:18:05,439 Speaker 1: no connections there, and it was, as you say, the 265 00:18:05,600 --> 00:18:09,840 Speaker 1: entire Clafland clan followed. And so Victoria and Tenny got 266 00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:12,480 Speaker 1: to work doing what they did best, their only sure 267 00:18:12,560 --> 00:18:15,200 Speaker 1: way of making money, which was working as spiritualists. And 268 00:18:15,359 --> 00:18:17,440 Speaker 1: Tenney was an expert of laying out of hands, and 269 00:18:17,720 --> 00:18:22,040 Speaker 1: Victoria was the spiritualist advisor. And Buck Claflin did what 270 00:18:22,080 --> 00:18:24,280 Speaker 1: he did, which would go out and try to recruit clients. 271 00:18:25,760 --> 00:18:29,879 Speaker 1: New York had plenty of possible subjects. Spiritualism was strong 272 00:18:29,920 --> 00:18:32,840 Speaker 1: in the city after all. But it wasn't just spiritualism 273 00:18:32,840 --> 00:18:36,000 Speaker 1: that interested Victoria. She didn't want to spend her days 274 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:39,320 Speaker 1: entertaining a line of tourists. She wanted to finally put 275 00:18:39,320 --> 00:18:44,240 Speaker 1: her political vision into practice. For that she needed a patron, 276 00:18:44,520 --> 00:18:47,920 Speaker 1: a dedicated supporter with money. And there was one person 277 00:18:48,040 --> 00:18:50,560 Speaker 1: whose name was floating around the city with the echoes 278 00:18:50,640 --> 00:18:55,680 Speaker 1: of cash following after it, Cornelius Vanderbilt. His is a 279 00:18:55,800 --> 00:18:58,479 Speaker 1: name that many of us have heard before. His shipping 280 00:18:58,520 --> 00:19:01,359 Speaker 1: empire had brought him mounts of cash, but in the 281 00:19:01,440 --> 00:19:04,600 Speaker 1: years before Victoria arrived, he had felt the sting of 282 00:19:04,640 --> 00:19:08,760 Speaker 1: personal losses. His wife Sophia had recently died, and he 283 00:19:08,840 --> 00:19:11,040 Speaker 1: had lost a fortune in a battle with a fellow 284 00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:15,800 Speaker 1: Wall Street speculator over control of Western railroads. All of 285 00:19:15,840 --> 00:19:19,720 Speaker 1: this was well known, but Victoria's father, Buck Claflin, and 286 00:19:19,800 --> 00:19:21,800 Speaker 1: the rest of the clan that was settling in New 287 00:19:21,880 --> 00:19:26,680 Speaker 1: York learned something else. Through their spiritualist network. Cornelius Vanderbilt 288 00:19:27,040 --> 00:19:32,280 Speaker 1: was willing to hear from the spirits. Spiritualism may have 289 00:19:32,359 --> 00:19:34,880 Speaker 1: come into Vanderbilt's life through his daughter, who had been 290 00:19:34,880 --> 00:19:38,639 Speaker 1: a believer for years. By eighteen sixty four, Cornelius was 291 00:19:38,680 --> 00:19:41,360 Speaker 1: trying to contact the spirit of his dead father through 292 00:19:41,440 --> 00:19:44,840 Speaker 1: New York City mediums. By eighteen sixty eight, he was 293 00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:48,560 Speaker 1: feeling old himself and had already been turning to magnetizers 294 00:19:48,560 --> 00:19:51,679 Speaker 1: and spiritualist healers for relief from his aches and pains. 295 00:19:52,960 --> 00:19:56,320 Speaker 1: So when Victoria and her sister Tenny arrived in New York, 296 00:19:56,600 --> 00:19:59,880 Speaker 1: the wealthy industrialist found comforts in a young woman who 297 00:20:00,119 --> 00:20:03,520 Speaker 1: mode of healing was the laying on of hands. Soon 298 00:20:03,600 --> 00:20:06,720 Speaker 1: the sisters were spending a lot of time with Cornelius. 299 00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:09,520 Speaker 1: He often invited Tenney to his office and called her 300 00:20:09,560 --> 00:20:13,080 Speaker 1: his little sparrow, while she joked with them, read to him, 301 00:20:13,440 --> 00:20:18,080 Speaker 1: and laid on hands in Victoria, he got a personal medium, 302 00:20:18,200 --> 00:20:21,360 Speaker 1: and as their conversations multiplied, he found in her an 303 00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:25,919 Speaker 1: unusual and inspiring energy and intelligence. He also started to 304 00:20:25,960 --> 00:20:29,240 Speaker 1: hear investment advice from the spirits, and he would give 305 00:20:29,280 --> 00:20:32,560 Speaker 1: it in turn, along with hefty fees for their services. 306 00:20:33,080 --> 00:20:38,440 Speaker 1: Here's more from Mary Gabriel. And so they became confidence 307 00:20:38,520 --> 00:20:42,320 Speaker 1: of Cornelia's Vanderbilt, one of the most important and wealthiest 308 00:20:42,359 --> 00:20:45,239 Speaker 1: man in America. And you know, it's one of these 309 00:20:45,280 --> 00:20:49,320 Speaker 1: incredible American stories that you know, they went literally overnight 310 00:20:49,359 --> 00:20:52,680 Speaker 1: from being no one in New York to being within 311 00:20:52,760 --> 00:20:57,959 Speaker 1: the circle where all the powerful decisions are made. Demosthenes 312 00:20:58,119 --> 00:21:02,639 Speaker 1: hadn't steered her wrong, and neither had Cornelius. James Blood 313 00:21:02,640 --> 00:21:05,760 Speaker 1: took the money Victoria made from Vanderbilt and invested it 314 00:21:05,840 --> 00:21:10,160 Speaker 1: according to his advice. And as those investments blossomed, James 315 00:21:10,160 --> 00:21:12,959 Speaker 1: and Victoria put their heads together to decide how they 316 00:21:12,960 --> 00:21:17,000 Speaker 1: could put this growing fortune to use. The spirits, it seems, 317 00:21:17,600 --> 00:21:21,919 Speaker 1: weren't just ghostly visitors from another world. They also knew 318 00:21:22,680 --> 00:21:32,800 Speaker 1: just what made this world go round. Trouble was brewing. 319 00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:36,000 Speaker 1: In eighteen sixty eight, The Banner of Light published a 320 00:21:36,040 --> 00:21:39,440 Speaker 1: report from the third Annual Convention of the Illinois State 321 00:21:39,560 --> 00:21:43,880 Speaker 1: Spiritual Association with a foreboding warning. They said that there 322 00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:49,439 Speaker 1: was and I quote lack of harmony among spiritualists for 323 00:21:49,480 --> 00:21:52,760 Speaker 1: a movement built on the foundation of Andrew Jackson Davis's 324 00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:57,119 Speaker 1: harmonial philosophy, this was a dangerous thing to hear. Every 325 00:21:57,200 --> 00:22:00,520 Speaker 1: seance required harmony among the participants in order for the 326 00:22:00,560 --> 00:22:02,920 Speaker 1: spirits to be heard, and if they hope to keep 327 00:22:02,960 --> 00:22:07,880 Speaker 1: growing into an enduring cultural force, they would need that harmony. 328 00:22:08,920 --> 00:22:11,240 Speaker 1: The Reformers might have seemed to win the day and 329 00:22:11,440 --> 00:22:14,880 Speaker 1: motivate the victorious army through four long years of war. 330 00:22:15,400 --> 00:22:17,919 Speaker 1: They might even have been able to claim legions of 331 00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:21,159 Speaker 1: new converts as the widows and mourning mothers found their 332 00:22:21,160 --> 00:22:24,160 Speaker 1: way to the seance table, but their new world had 333 00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:27,680 Speaker 1: not yet clicked into place. In fact, cities all across 334 00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:31,080 Speaker 1: the country were still filled with conflict, and that included 335 00:22:31,119 --> 00:22:35,520 Speaker 1: the capital. But with President Grant in office, there were 336 00:22:35,600 --> 00:22:38,400 Speaker 1: some among the reformers who saw a clearer path into 337 00:22:38,400 --> 00:22:41,840 Speaker 1: the future. In eighteen sixty nine, sojourn nerd Truth was 338 00:22:41,880 --> 00:22:44,520 Speaker 1: headed back to Washington, d C. To be present for 339 00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:48,440 Speaker 1: the ratification of the fifteenth Amendment, finally ensuring that black 340 00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:51,240 Speaker 1: men had the right to vote to cross the entire nation. 341 00:22:52,280 --> 00:22:54,600 Speaker 1: On the way there, she stopped in New York City, 342 00:22:54,680 --> 00:22:57,720 Speaker 1: where she stayed with friends, including a visit to Leah 343 00:22:57,760 --> 00:23:02,919 Speaker 1: Underhill's Street, Brownstone. Although she had retreated from the public stage, 344 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:06,720 Speaker 1: Leah had lost no stature among spiritualists and would still 345 00:23:06,760 --> 00:23:10,600 Speaker 1: give private sittings to friendly visitors, especially when that visitor 346 00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:14,959 Speaker 1: was so journal truth. She also stayed with Theodore Tilton, 347 00:23:15,240 --> 00:23:19,240 Speaker 1: the editor of a powerful liberal religious newspaper. Tilton was 348 00:23:19,280 --> 00:23:21,320 Speaker 1: well known for printing the power of God and the 349 00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:24,840 Speaker 1: rhetoric of reform. He was a natural friend to Sojourner, 350 00:23:24,960 --> 00:23:27,439 Speaker 1: but he and his wife Elizabeth were going to become 351 00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:32,560 Speaker 1: very familiar with Victoria Woodhall in the coming years. Also 352 00:23:32,800 --> 00:23:35,199 Speaker 1: while in the city, Sojourner spoke at one of the 353 00:23:35,240 --> 00:23:38,800 Speaker 1: most popular pulpits in the nation, Plymouth Church, where the 354 00:23:38,800 --> 00:23:42,800 Speaker 1: preacher Henry Ward Beecher held court. But Sojourner wasn't the 355 00:23:42,880 --> 00:23:47,000 Speaker 1: only one on the road to Washington that year. In January, 356 00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:50,879 Speaker 1: the city played host to the first national female Suffrage Convention. 357 00:23:51,200 --> 00:23:54,080 Speaker 1: With money in her pockets and a determination to join 358 00:23:54,119 --> 00:23:57,639 Speaker 1: the cause, Victoria Woodhall was one of the many to arrive. 359 00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:01,480 Speaker 1: There was hope in the air with the War one 360 00:24:01,600 --> 00:24:05,040 Speaker 1: and Grant elected. Surely it was time for every reformer 361 00:24:05,040 --> 00:24:07,560 Speaker 1: who had served in the cause of abolition to now 362 00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:11,120 Speaker 1: turn their interests towards the cause of women. Organizers who 363 00:24:11,119 --> 00:24:14,720 Speaker 1: expected it to be that easy, though, we're deeply disappointed. 364 00:24:15,880 --> 00:24:19,800 Speaker 1: Some leaders, like Elizabeth Katie Stanton and Susan B. Anthony 365 00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:22,880 Speaker 1: wanted to push for a sixteenth Amendment that would give 366 00:24:22,920 --> 00:24:25,400 Speaker 1: women the right to vote, but others thought a more 367 00:24:25,480 --> 00:24:28,879 Speaker 1: gradual approach that pushed for suffrage state by state was 368 00:24:28,920 --> 00:24:31,840 Speaker 1: the only way to achieve that goal, and this difference 369 00:24:31,840 --> 00:24:35,080 Speaker 1: in approach led to some ferocious arguments. It seems that 370 00:24:35,119 --> 00:24:38,159 Speaker 1: advocates for women's rights were no more united than the 371 00:24:38,160 --> 00:24:42,119 Speaker 1: spiritualists were, and no surprise, they were often one and 372 00:24:42,160 --> 00:24:46,120 Speaker 1: the same. Victoria made her way back to New York 373 00:24:46,280 --> 00:24:49,880 Speaker 1: thoroughly unimpressed. To her the battles between the reformers were 374 00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:53,920 Speaker 1: what she called teacup hurricanes. Women needed to gain real 375 00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:57,399 Speaker 1: ground and fast, so she decided that at the first 376 00:24:57,440 --> 00:25:01,480 Speaker 1: opportunity she would lead by example, an opportunity that swiftly 377 00:25:01,560 --> 00:25:06,040 Speaker 1: came thanks to Cornelius Vanderbilt and Ulysses S. Grant. Here's 378 00:25:06,080 --> 00:25:10,919 Speaker 1: more from Mary Gabriel. Two of the big traders on 379 00:25:10,960 --> 00:25:14,680 Speaker 1: Wall Street, Jim Fiskin and Jay Gould, knew that every 380 00:25:14,680 --> 00:25:18,280 Speaker 1: week Grant sold a lot of gold on the market 381 00:25:18,280 --> 00:25:19,879 Speaker 1: to try to keep kind of keep the coffers, the 382 00:25:19,920 --> 00:25:23,399 Speaker 1: United States Conference government coffers full, and it was a 383 00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:27,600 Speaker 1: weekly sort of release of precious metals to enrich the government. 384 00:25:28,720 --> 00:25:32,400 Speaker 1: Through an acquaintance, they decided to try to convince Grant 385 00:25:32,840 --> 00:25:36,760 Speaker 1: not to sell, and so that would drive up the 386 00:25:36,800 --> 00:25:39,080 Speaker 1: price of gold and it would become even more precious, 387 00:25:39,080 --> 00:25:41,720 Speaker 1: and it normally was well. That happened, but then Grant 388 00:25:41,800 --> 00:25:44,680 Speaker 1: learned of the scheme, and so in a counter move, 389 00:25:44,920 --> 00:25:47,520 Speaker 1: he opened the flood again and the gold started pouring 390 00:25:47,520 --> 00:25:51,000 Speaker 1: out onto the market. Vanderbilt had been privy to all 391 00:25:51,040 --> 00:25:53,879 Speaker 1: of this, and so he told Tenney and Victoria that 392 00:25:53,960 --> 00:25:55,600 Speaker 1: this was going to happen. And so on the day 393 00:25:55,600 --> 00:26:00,840 Speaker 1: this Black Friday in occurred, Victoria was there eyeing up gold. 394 00:26:01,200 --> 00:26:04,920 Speaker 1: It was dropping in price, dropping like a stone, and 395 00:26:05,359 --> 00:26:10,439 Speaker 1: in that day she amassed a sizeable fortune. By the 396 00:26:10,520 --> 00:26:13,000 Speaker 1: end of the day, Victoria and Tenny had made a 397 00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:17,200 Speaker 1: stunning seven hundred thousand dollars in profit. Their names were 398 00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:22,560 Speaker 1: splashed across the pages Queens of Finance, Vanderbilt's protegees. With 399 00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:26,160 Speaker 1: their new fortune as ballast, Victoria and Tenny threw open 400 00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:29,560 Speaker 1: the doors of Woodhull, Claflin and Co. The first woman 401 00:26:29,640 --> 00:26:33,639 Speaker 1: owned brokerage in the city. Victoria would later write, we 402 00:26:33,760 --> 00:26:37,199 Speaker 1: had been instructed by the spirits in the administration of 403 00:26:37,280 --> 00:26:41,400 Speaker 1: public affairs. Now it was time to apply that knowledge, though, 404 00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:43,639 Speaker 1: and when it came to striking a claim for the 405 00:26:43,680 --> 00:26:46,480 Speaker 1: place of women in society, she said, there could have 406 00:26:46,560 --> 00:26:49,399 Speaker 1: been nothing else in legitimate business that would attract the 407 00:26:49,440 --> 00:26:52,320 Speaker 1: comments of the press more than the establishment of a 408 00:26:52,359 --> 00:26:56,720 Speaker 1: banking house by two women. Victoria Woodhull had begun the 409 00:26:56,840 --> 00:27:00,359 Speaker 1: year as the Witch of Washington Avenue, and now she 410 00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:04,639 Speaker 1: was something more. She was the Witch of Wall Street. 411 00:27:14,320 --> 00:27:18,160 Speaker 1: Gold was good, but Victoria's vision for the future wasn't 412 00:27:18,160 --> 00:27:20,520 Speaker 1: the only way. The spirits were putting flesh on the 413 00:27:20,520 --> 00:27:24,400 Speaker 1: bones of the movement. In eighteen seventy, Emma Harding would 414 00:27:24,400 --> 00:27:27,840 Speaker 1: put spiritualism on paper with a landmark history She called 415 00:27:28,119 --> 00:27:32,160 Speaker 1: modern American spiritualism a twenty years record of a communion 416 00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:35,199 Speaker 1: between Earth and the world of the spirits. It was 417 00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:39,280 Speaker 1: a sweeping history that collected stories from across spiritualist networks. 418 00:27:39,680 --> 00:27:42,960 Speaker 1: Newspapers telling local stories had hit the public from the 419 00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:46,160 Speaker 1: moment's first days, but this was a project with much 420 00:27:46,240 --> 00:27:53,920 Speaker 1: larger ambitions. Here's historian Kathy Gutierrez. Emma started off with 421 00:27:54,560 --> 00:27:59,440 Speaker 1: doing trance lectors, and she was very erudite and very 422 00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:04,360 Speaker 1: articulate it, and she over time became what I consider 423 00:28:04,440 --> 00:28:08,240 Speaker 1: to be probably still the most important historian of spiritualism. 424 00:28:08,240 --> 00:28:13,200 Speaker 1: And she wrote this massive compendium using primary sources, which 425 00:28:13,520 --> 00:28:16,720 Speaker 1: how she collected all of that in the nineteenth century, 426 00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:20,359 Speaker 1: I have no idea, and put it together in what 427 00:28:20,640 --> 00:28:26,280 Speaker 1: sort of created a coherent narrative of spiritualism. She laid 428 00:28:26,280 --> 00:28:29,080 Speaker 1: out a picture of the movement from its first steps 429 00:28:29,119 --> 00:28:32,400 Speaker 1: to its full strength. It was a play for legitimacy, 430 00:28:32,440 --> 00:28:35,800 Speaker 1: but it was also a play for authority. If Emma's 431 00:28:35,840 --> 00:28:38,280 Speaker 1: book was a landmark in driving home the history of 432 00:28:38,320 --> 00:28:41,920 Speaker 1: spiritualism for scholars, the year it was published was also 433 00:28:41,960 --> 00:28:44,960 Speaker 1: a landmark in Emma's life. She married a man whose 434 00:28:45,040 --> 00:28:48,200 Speaker 1: name might sound familiar from the years before the Civil War, 435 00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:52,960 Speaker 1: William Britain. He was the spiritualist whose kindness had made 436 00:28:53,040 --> 00:28:55,040 Speaker 1: him stand out from the crowd when he helped Cora 437 00:28:55,200 --> 00:28:58,200 Speaker 1: to escape the clutches of Benjamin Hatch. And it was 438 00:28:58,280 --> 00:29:02,000 Speaker 1: as Emma Harding Britain that the English pianist turned trance 439 00:29:02,040 --> 00:29:06,080 Speaker 1: medium turned religious historian would go down in the record books. 440 00:29:07,600 --> 00:29:09,520 Speaker 1: But she wasn't the only one making a bid to 441 00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:11,800 Speaker 1: put themselves in the author's chair. When it came to 442 00:29:11,840 --> 00:29:15,040 Speaker 1: the story of spiritualism in the books of one Boston 443 00:29:15,120 --> 00:29:19,600 Speaker 1: writer who wanted palpable proof of immortality, the question of 444 00:29:19,600 --> 00:29:23,560 Speaker 1: testing the spirits took on more weight, sometimes quite literally. 445 00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:26,680 Speaker 1: In fact, when it came to the evolution of spiritualism, 446 00:29:26,920 --> 00:29:31,800 Speaker 1: the eighteen seventies were the decade of materialization. More and 447 00:29:31,840 --> 00:29:35,960 Speaker 1: more seances weren't just filled with tapping sounds, turning tables, 448 00:29:35,960 --> 00:29:39,960 Speaker 1: and flickering lights. Instead, mediums were bringing something more into being. 449 00:29:40,280 --> 00:29:44,440 Speaker 1: Physical objects called up ports were arriving in the room. 450 00:29:44,520 --> 00:29:47,120 Speaker 1: And then the ghostly hands that had so often been 451 00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:51,760 Speaker 1: invisible to previous sitters began to take on material form. 452 00:29:51,800 --> 00:29:55,680 Speaker 1: But if a hand, why not more. Here's Emily Clark 453 00:29:55,760 --> 00:30:00,719 Speaker 1: once again. You'd find these descriptions from people who are 454 00:30:00,720 --> 00:30:03,640 Speaker 1: out of materialization seance and they might notice by their 455 00:30:03,720 --> 00:30:07,720 Speaker 1: feet what looks like a small white handkerchief has appeared, 456 00:30:08,040 --> 00:30:12,160 Speaker 1: and very slowly the handkerchief grows and it turns into 457 00:30:12,200 --> 00:30:14,400 Speaker 1: something bigger and bigger and bigger. In the next thing, 458 00:30:14,440 --> 00:30:18,560 Speaker 1: you know, the spirit of your deceased wife has materialized 459 00:30:18,640 --> 00:30:20,880 Speaker 1: right next to you, and then she hugs you, or 460 00:30:20,880 --> 00:30:23,000 Speaker 1: she kisses you, she grabs you. You can feel her 461 00:30:23,080 --> 00:30:30,520 Speaker 1: material body. It was spiritualism's second wave, and it upended 462 00:30:30,560 --> 00:30:33,560 Speaker 1: what people expected to see when they went to a seance. 463 00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:40,040 Speaker 1: Here's historian John Busher. I think about that as part 464 00:30:40,040 --> 00:30:43,320 Speaker 1: of this notion that the process that was going on 465 00:30:43,760 --> 00:30:48,880 Speaker 1: in this new era was the elevation of Earth to 466 00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:54,320 Speaker 1: heaven and the drawing down of Heaven to earth. Tapping 467 00:30:54,360 --> 00:30:58,760 Speaker 1: sounds could be misinterpreted, trans lectures could be explained away. 468 00:30:58,800 --> 00:31:01,560 Speaker 1: But when a medium con you're a gauzy object into 469 00:31:01,600 --> 00:31:04,840 Speaker 1: the room that could be seen, that could be felt, Well, 470 00:31:05,040 --> 00:31:10,040 Speaker 1: what could explain away something so tangible. In eighteen seventy two, 471 00:31:10,080 --> 00:31:13,600 Speaker 1: the reformer Robert Dale Owen published a book on spiritualism 472 00:31:13,600 --> 00:31:17,440 Speaker 1: that hit the shelves, just as new waves of materialization seance, 473 00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:20,360 Speaker 1: as we're putting the movement back into the headlines. It 474 00:31:20,520 --> 00:31:24,080 Speaker 1: was published by a big non spiritualist publishing house, too, 475 00:31:24,560 --> 00:31:28,560 Speaker 1: and it was a smash hit. That's because Robert wasn't 476 00:31:28,600 --> 00:31:31,720 Speaker 1: just some unknown He was the son of the Scottish 477 00:31:31,720 --> 00:31:36,120 Speaker 1: reformer whose utopian towns had inspired so many spiritualist communities 478 00:31:36,160 --> 00:31:38,920 Speaker 1: in the eighteen forties, and he had spent the eighteen 479 00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:42,160 Speaker 1: sixties in Washington, d C. Where he had served on 480 00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:45,240 Speaker 1: the Commission for Establishing Government aid to the newly free 481 00:31:45,280 --> 00:31:49,640 Speaker 1: Black Americans. Working alongside Nathan Daniels, he helped lay the 482 00:31:49,680 --> 00:31:53,320 Speaker 1: foundation for the Freedman's Bureau that would oversee efforts like 483 00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:57,720 Speaker 1: sojourn or Truth's work on the Freedman's Hospital. In his 484 00:31:57,800 --> 00:32:00,360 Speaker 1: new book, though, he was stepping deeper into the world 485 00:32:00,360 --> 00:32:05,120 Speaker 1: of spiritualism by publishing fascinating stories about his experiences with 486 00:32:05,240 --> 00:32:07,880 Speaker 1: a medium who had been off limits to the public 487 00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:12,200 Speaker 1: for years. In fact, he had participated in private, dramatic 488 00:32:12,240 --> 00:32:15,920 Speaker 1: sittings with her right inside her fancy New York home, 489 00:32:16,720 --> 00:32:22,080 Speaker 1: and the medium's name the Oldest Fox Sister, Leah Underhill. 490 00:32:30,920 --> 00:32:34,160 Speaker 1: They answered the questions on his mind. In the very 491 00:32:34,200 --> 00:32:38,080 Speaker 1: first seance, Robert remembered seeing lights that floated around the room. 492 00:32:38,160 --> 00:32:41,400 Speaker 1: As they did, though they also slowly grew larger, and 493 00:32:41,480 --> 00:32:43,760 Speaker 1: at the same time they took on the distinct shape 494 00:32:43,880 --> 00:32:48,240 Speaker 1: of hands. One of those hand shaped lights, he later explained, 495 00:32:48,560 --> 00:32:51,480 Speaker 1: grew as large as a human head before it lowered 496 00:32:51,520 --> 00:32:54,160 Speaker 1: itself to the floor and began to pound out those 497 00:32:54,200 --> 00:32:59,240 Speaker 1: infamous knocking sounds that had become so commonplace in the movement. Finally, 498 00:32:59,720 --> 00:33:02,960 Speaker 1: that which had been invisible had now been revealed to 499 00:33:03,120 --> 00:33:08,080 Speaker 1: his eyes. At a smaller, more intimate seance the following summer, 500 00:33:08,200 --> 00:33:11,440 Speaker 1: Robert had an even closer encounter. They had retreated to 501 00:33:11,520 --> 00:33:15,840 Speaker 1: Leah's bedroom for the seance, Robert, Leah, her husband Daniel, 502 00:33:16,120 --> 00:33:19,360 Speaker 1: and one other close friend. Everyone took a seat around 503 00:33:19,360 --> 00:33:24,240 Speaker 1: a small, intimate, rectangular table, and the knocking started almost immediately, 504 00:33:24,680 --> 00:33:29,160 Speaker 1: so they turned on the lights and started to sing again. 505 00:33:29,400 --> 00:33:32,360 Speaker 1: A light appeared. Robert said it took the form of 506 00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:35,800 Speaker 1: a small hand, but covered with a shimmering veil. He 507 00:33:35,840 --> 00:33:38,600 Speaker 1: watched it approach him and then felt a light touch 508 00:33:38,920 --> 00:33:42,360 Speaker 1: like fingers on his shoulder. When he asked the spirit 509 00:33:42,400 --> 00:33:44,560 Speaker 1: to move to the door and knock on it. The 510 00:33:44,680 --> 00:33:49,120 Speaker 1: light wandered off, knocked, and caused, in response, a lapdog 511 00:33:49,200 --> 00:33:51,920 Speaker 1: outside in the hall to start barking at the sound. 512 00:33:53,440 --> 00:33:56,640 Speaker 1: The light returned and brushed Owen's hand and then caressed 513 00:33:56,680 --> 00:33:59,800 Speaker 1: his head. He later wrote that it felt as if 514 00:33:59,840 --> 00:34:02,840 Speaker 1: a soft and fine piece of gauze were pressed gently 515 00:34:02,960 --> 00:34:06,560 Speaker 1: against the back of my head and neck. Not once, however, 516 00:34:06,680 --> 00:34:09,880 Speaker 1: did Robert detect the footfalls or rustle of clothing that 517 00:34:09,960 --> 00:34:13,960 Speaker 1: might have been caused by a body moving around the room. 518 00:34:14,000 --> 00:34:16,560 Speaker 1: No one in the small group before ever moved or 519 00:34:16,680 --> 00:34:19,360 Speaker 1: let go of each other's hand around the table, and 520 00:34:19,480 --> 00:34:23,360 Speaker 1: Robert was convinced the spirits were bringing Heaven to Earth, 521 00:34:23,800 --> 00:34:27,680 Speaker 1: one material body at a time. They were literally reaching 522 00:34:27,719 --> 00:34:32,640 Speaker 1: out to be touched. Publishing this story made Robert Dale 523 00:34:32,640 --> 00:34:35,719 Speaker 1: Owen the darling of the spiritualist world, so much so, 524 00:34:35,880 --> 00:34:38,760 Speaker 1: in fact, that he decided to lean in. He wanted 525 00:34:38,800 --> 00:34:42,279 Speaker 1: evidence of eternal life that was irrefutable, so when he 526 00:34:42,280 --> 00:34:45,680 Speaker 1: heard that a spirit whose whole body had materialized in 527 00:34:45,719 --> 00:34:50,040 Speaker 1: a Philadelphia seance had asked for him by name, well, 528 00:34:50,160 --> 00:34:55,279 Speaker 1: he couldn't refuse. The seances were enchanting. He sat with 529 00:34:55,360 --> 00:34:58,279 Speaker 1: two mediums, a husband and wife for a series of 530 00:34:58,280 --> 00:35:01,120 Speaker 1: meetings with the spirit. As they lowered the lights and 531 00:35:01,160 --> 00:35:04,400 Speaker 1: went into their trance, the promised specter would appear. She 532 00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:07,960 Speaker 1: seemed to grow out of nothing like the spectral hands. 533 00:35:07,960 --> 00:35:10,919 Speaker 1: She would start out as a faint light loading through 534 00:35:10,960 --> 00:35:14,520 Speaker 1: space until it took form and strode into his presence. 535 00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:19,880 Speaker 1: The spirit called herself Katie King and gave Robert everything 536 00:35:19,960 --> 00:35:23,400 Speaker 1: he was hoping for. She audibly spoke with him, calling 537 00:35:23,480 --> 00:35:27,000 Speaker 1: him father Owen, and then kissed him. Over the course 538 00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:30,200 Speaker 1: of their meetings, they even traded gifts. He would eventually 539 00:35:30,239 --> 00:35:32,799 Speaker 1: possess a lock of her hair he cut from her head, 540 00:35:33,120 --> 00:35:35,920 Speaker 1: pieces of fabric cut from her dress and veil, a 541 00:35:35,960 --> 00:35:40,720 Speaker 1: bouquet of flowers, and a small tortoise shell box. Owen 542 00:35:40,920 --> 00:35:43,960 Speaker 1: rushed to write a report to the encounters. The medium's 543 00:35:44,160 --> 00:35:46,719 Speaker 1: never moved. He said there was no chance that one 544 00:35:46,760 --> 00:35:50,120 Speaker 1: of them was impersonating the spirit of Katie King. While 545 00:35:50,200 --> 00:35:52,799 Speaker 1: she was manifest in the room. He had explored its 546 00:35:52,840 --> 00:35:55,840 Speaker 1: corners and the spirit cabinet from which she had emerged, 547 00:35:56,120 --> 00:36:00,400 Speaker 1: and determined that everything was as it seemed. With his 548 00:36:00,440 --> 00:36:03,880 Speaker 1: book flying into hands around the country, the Atlantic Magazine 549 00:36:03,920 --> 00:36:06,759 Speaker 1: agreed to publish his account he sent it to the 550 00:36:06,880 --> 00:36:11,400 Speaker 1: editors under the title Touching Spiritual Visitants from a Higher Life. 551 00:36:12,000 --> 00:36:15,839 Speaker 1: But that's when things went south. Before his article could 552 00:36:15,840 --> 00:36:19,480 Speaker 1: be published, Robert had a shocking revelation. A young woman 553 00:36:19,520 --> 00:36:22,200 Speaker 1: went public with the confession that she was the person 554 00:36:22,280 --> 00:36:25,319 Speaker 1: who had been Katie King in that darkened room. He 555 00:36:25,360 --> 00:36:28,560 Speaker 1: had given her gifts during the seance. Eventually, Owen met 556 00:36:28,600 --> 00:36:30,759 Speaker 1: with her in the light of day, and she gave 557 00:36:30,760 --> 00:36:33,960 Speaker 1: those gifts back. She was, in fact an actor who 558 00:36:34,000 --> 00:36:38,640 Speaker 1: conspired with the mediums to trick their visitors. Robert even 559 00:36:38,719 --> 00:36:40,960 Speaker 1: had some help digging up the evidence of the fraud. 560 00:36:41,360 --> 00:36:43,800 Speaker 1: His agent and pulling together the facts of the case 561 00:36:44,000 --> 00:36:46,960 Speaker 1: was none other than Henry Steele Alcott, the man who 562 00:36:46,960 --> 00:36:50,880 Speaker 1: had helped solve Lincoln's murder. Alcott questioned how reliable the 563 00:36:50,920 --> 00:36:54,839 Speaker 1: woman actually was because plenty about her story didn't add up. 564 00:36:55,560 --> 00:37:02,800 Speaker 1: Even so, her confession was devastating. Robert's article was eventually published. 565 00:37:03,120 --> 00:37:05,200 Speaker 1: Alongside it was a note that made it clear that 566 00:37:05,239 --> 00:37:09,360 Speaker 1: it was all humbug, and it turned Owen and spiritualism 567 00:37:09,360 --> 00:37:13,759 Speaker 1: by association into a laughing stock. Too many spiritualists, though 568 00:37:13,840 --> 00:37:17,560 Speaker 1: the events only served as evidence that materializations were fraudulent. 569 00:37:17,800 --> 00:37:20,719 Speaker 1: They remained convinced that it was the result of predators 570 00:37:20,760 --> 00:37:23,680 Speaker 1: taking on what was good and true about spiritualism and 571 00:37:23,800 --> 00:37:28,960 Speaker 1: exploiting it for their personal gain. Things didn't end well 572 00:37:29,040 --> 00:37:32,080 Speaker 1: for Robert dale Owen I'm afraid. In the aftermath of 573 00:37:32,080 --> 00:37:35,080 Speaker 1: the ordeal, his own family demanded that he turned away 574 00:37:35,120 --> 00:37:38,319 Speaker 1: from the beliefs that had led to such a public humiliation, 575 00:37:39,040 --> 00:37:42,040 Speaker 1: but he refused, leaving them with the difficult choice of 576 00:37:42,120 --> 00:37:46,640 Speaker 1: having him declared insane. When his children were through with him, 577 00:37:46,760 --> 00:37:51,240 Speaker 1: his life was effectively over. They had him placed against 578 00:37:51,280 --> 00:38:07,279 Speaker 1: his will in an asylum. Her gallery opened in the 579 00:38:07,360 --> 00:38:11,319 Speaker 1: heart of London. That might not sound unusual at first, 580 00:38:11,760 --> 00:38:16,640 Speaker 1: After all, it was full of bright pieces of artwork, watercolors, acrylics, pencils, 581 00:38:17,000 --> 00:38:20,520 Speaker 1: all of which are familiar mediums, but there was another 582 00:38:20,600 --> 00:38:24,000 Speaker 1: layer to the display. All one hundred and fifty five 583 00:38:24,080 --> 00:38:26,880 Speaker 1: works were created by the woman who had opened the gallery, 584 00:38:27,239 --> 00:38:32,680 Speaker 1: a middle aged spinster named Georgiana Houghton. In the previous 585 00:38:32,719 --> 00:38:36,200 Speaker 1: decades of spiritualism in London, most spirit communication was the 586 00:38:36,280 --> 00:38:40,200 Speaker 1: kind we know. There was plenty of table tapping, table tilting, 587 00:38:40,600 --> 00:38:44,000 Speaker 1: trans lectures and spirit writing, but every one of these 588 00:38:44,040 --> 00:38:48,520 Speaker 1: modes had become old hat now, though, mediums and their 589 00:38:48,600 --> 00:38:52,360 Speaker 1: followers were looking for new manifestations of spirit power, and 590 00:38:52,520 --> 00:38:56,200 Speaker 1: Georgiana gave it to them. Her wild swirls of color, 591 00:38:56,400 --> 00:39:00,759 Speaker 1: she said, were the physical representations of spirits through her, 592 00:39:01,000 --> 00:39:06,719 Speaker 1: the invisible world took on vibrant form. Georgiana didn't start 593 00:39:06,719 --> 00:39:09,560 Speaker 1: out as a public medium, though, when the British press 594 00:39:09,600 --> 00:39:12,360 Speaker 1: was still calling out mediums as frauds for the simplest 595 00:39:12,400 --> 00:39:15,080 Speaker 1: table wrappings, she had gone with her cousin to a 596 00:39:15,160 --> 00:39:17,680 Speaker 1: seance so that she could judge for herself if any 597 00:39:17,719 --> 00:39:20,640 Speaker 1: of it was true. At the first seance, one spirit 598 00:39:20,719 --> 00:39:23,960 Speaker 1: singled her out, claiming to be her dead sister Zillah. 599 00:39:24,480 --> 00:39:29,839 Speaker 1: The things it said apparently shot Georgiana into belief. Soon after, 600 00:39:29,960 --> 00:39:33,000 Speaker 1: she started to read spiritualist books. She talked with her 601 00:39:33,040 --> 00:39:36,759 Speaker 1: mother about the possibility of eternal life and spirit communication, 602 00:39:37,280 --> 00:39:40,000 Speaker 1: and then together they started their own seances at home. 603 00:39:41,480 --> 00:39:45,640 Speaker 1: One historian called Georgiana sincere and reverent. She seems to 604 00:39:45,680 --> 00:39:48,520 Speaker 1: have held her seances in an attitude of quiet prayer, 605 00:39:49,200 --> 00:39:53,799 Speaker 1: like the Sir Harmonique in New Orleans. Her seances were private, devotional, 606 00:39:53,920 --> 00:39:58,040 Speaker 1: and deeply felt. This was far from the stagey showmanship 607 00:39:58,120 --> 00:40:01,480 Speaker 1: of town hall demonstrations or the red carpet rolled out 608 00:40:01,520 --> 00:40:04,839 Speaker 1: at the entrance of a Claflind hospital house. After one 609 00:40:04,920 --> 00:40:08,560 Speaker 1: seance held at Pentecost, Georgiana wrote that the experience of 610 00:40:08,600 --> 00:40:12,240 Speaker 1: spirit contact was simply a new outpouring of God's spirit, 611 00:40:14,160 --> 00:40:16,680 Speaker 1: rather than being a means of raking in cash. Her 612 00:40:16,719 --> 00:40:21,120 Speaker 1: spiritualist practice almost became her ruin, as the spirits became 613 00:40:21,160 --> 00:40:24,239 Speaker 1: her muse. Rather than just received messages through taps on 614 00:40:24,280 --> 00:40:27,440 Speaker 1: the table. She began to paint, and soon the spectral 615 00:40:27,520 --> 00:40:32,240 Speaker 1: hands of masters, lectician and Correggio were guiding her. Once 616 00:40:32,320 --> 00:40:35,000 Speaker 1: she even claimed to fall under the control of Joseph, 617 00:40:35,080 --> 00:40:38,440 Speaker 1: the husband of the Virgin Mary. With him, she said, 618 00:40:38,480 --> 00:40:42,640 Speaker 1: the colors were laid on with much more strength. When 619 00:40:42,640 --> 00:40:44,680 Speaker 1: others started to see her art, she got some of 620 00:40:44,719 --> 00:40:48,279 Speaker 1: the same unwanted attention that hit Robert dale Owen. There 621 00:40:48,320 --> 00:40:52,000 Speaker 1: were whispers that she was mentally disturbed. The weird shapes 622 00:40:52,040 --> 00:40:55,520 Speaker 1: that filled her paintings were unsettling to some. They wanted 623 00:40:55,560 --> 00:40:59,880 Speaker 1: to get her medical attention. Fortunately for Georgiana, she avoided 624 00:41:00,040 --> 00:41:05,000 Speaker 1: one's fate. That eight seventy one exhibition in London was 625 00:41:05,040 --> 00:41:08,440 Speaker 1: put on at Georgiana's own expense. Her ambition was to 626 00:41:08,440 --> 00:41:11,319 Speaker 1: make spirit drawings more popular, to spread her work as 627 00:41:11,320 --> 00:41:14,319 Speaker 1: an example for others to follow. By that measure, it 628 00:41:14,400 --> 00:41:17,799 Speaker 1: was a complete failure, but there were a few newspaper 629 00:41:17,840 --> 00:41:20,320 Speaker 1: reviews that urged people to go and see her work 630 00:41:20,880 --> 00:41:24,360 Speaker 1: and to be astonished. But there was also plenty of 631 00:41:24,400 --> 00:41:28,920 Speaker 1: contempt too, and even horror at the hallucinations that she produced. 632 00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:32,840 Speaker 1: And while many visited, almost none came to buy. Before 633 00:41:32,840 --> 00:41:36,400 Speaker 1: it was over, she was nearly bankrupt, and seeing the 634 00:41:36,520 --> 00:41:39,200 Speaker 1: lengths that she went to to advertise the exhibition to 635 00:41:39,320 --> 00:41:43,440 Speaker 1: Victorian high society, it's no wonder she created an elaborate 636 00:41:43,480 --> 00:41:47,279 Speaker 1: catalog and distributed it to notable names. What's more, she 637 00:41:47,360 --> 00:41:50,880 Speaker 1: even created a special edition for Queen Victoria, made of 638 00:41:50,920 --> 00:41:55,080 Speaker 1: pink satin, white calf skin and gold. She distributed all 639 00:41:55,200 --> 00:41:58,399 Speaker 1: kinds of advertisements and hired an army to help her 640 00:41:58,440 --> 00:42:02,520 Speaker 1: with the exhibition. Heavy was the loss, she later wrote, 641 00:42:02,960 --> 00:42:05,880 Speaker 1: but never for one moment have I experienced a shadow 642 00:42:05,920 --> 00:42:09,319 Speaker 1: of regret for having undertaken it. I threw myself and 643 00:42:09,440 --> 00:42:13,239 Speaker 1: my substance, heart and soul into God's treasury, and not 644 00:42:13,320 --> 00:42:17,879 Speaker 1: one fraction what I wished to withdraw. There was one 645 00:42:17,960 --> 00:42:22,719 Speaker 1: bright spot, though, all that advertising spread that even reached America, 646 00:42:23,160 --> 00:42:25,719 Speaker 1: and it caught the attention of a few dignitaries from 647 00:42:25,719 --> 00:42:29,279 Speaker 1: the spiritualist realm, perhaps none more significant than the woman 648 00:42:29,280 --> 00:42:32,240 Speaker 1: who had helped give birth to the very movement. Georgiana's 649 00:42:32,239 --> 00:42:37,920 Speaker 1: painting celebrated Leah Fox Underhill. Leah arrived in London just 650 00:42:38,000 --> 00:42:41,000 Speaker 1: before the exhibition began. In fact, it was her very 651 00:42:41,080 --> 00:42:44,360 Speaker 1: first stop in the city. As she and her husband, Daniel, 652 00:42:44,440 --> 00:42:48,200 Speaker 1: strode into the gallery, Daniel found Georgiana and told her, 653 00:42:48,520 --> 00:42:52,000 Speaker 1: motioning towards his wife, there goes the first medium in 654 00:42:52,040 --> 00:42:55,960 Speaker 1: the world. Georgiana later wrote that the two women spoke, 655 00:42:56,000 --> 00:42:59,359 Speaker 1: although she didn't record what it is they discussed. As 656 00:42:59,400 --> 00:43:01,799 Speaker 1: other amy it can streamed in. They told her that 657 00:43:01,920 --> 00:43:04,879 Speaker 1: news of her new manifestations had been printed as far 658 00:43:04,920 --> 00:43:10,200 Speaker 1: away as California. The exhibition might have been a financial failure, 659 00:43:10,400 --> 00:43:13,200 Speaker 1: but it brought a wave of spiritualist seekers to England 660 00:43:13,239 --> 00:43:15,839 Speaker 1: from the troubled United States, and it was just one 661 00:43:15,880 --> 00:43:18,440 Speaker 1: of the many attractions that would make the trip across 662 00:43:18,480 --> 00:43:23,000 Speaker 1: the Atlantic so popular in the coming years. After all, 663 00:43:23,800 --> 00:43:27,520 Speaker 1: if spiritualism truly was for everyone, and there was no 664 00:43:27,680 --> 00:43:33,120 Speaker 1: chance it was going to stay put. That's it for 665 00:43:33,160 --> 00:43:37,280 Speaker 1: this week's episode of Unobscured. Stick around after this short 666 00:43:37,320 --> 00:43:40,480 Speaker 1: sponsor break for a preview of what's in store for 667 00:43:40,560 --> 00:43:48,600 Speaker 1: next week. Next time on Unobscured Once, the spirit of 668 00:43:48,600 --> 00:43:51,239 Speaker 1: a woman arrived at a seance and simply said that 669 00:43:51,280 --> 00:43:55,320 Speaker 1: she was one who suffered the explanation of that suffering 670 00:43:55,440 --> 00:43:59,480 Speaker 1: could have been printed by Victoria Woodhull. This nameless woman 671 00:43:59,560 --> 00:44:01,920 Speaker 1: was born to a wealthy family, she told the circle, 672 00:44:02,320 --> 00:44:05,640 Speaker 1: but she married a predator. He scooped up her inheritance 673 00:44:05,719 --> 00:44:08,400 Speaker 1: and then abandoned her. In the years that followed, she 674 00:44:08,480 --> 00:44:11,359 Speaker 1: had supported herself through sex work, but found no one 675 00:44:11,440 --> 00:44:14,640 Speaker 1: to help her until she crossed into death. Now, she 676 00:44:14,760 --> 00:44:18,160 Speaker 1: said she was comforted by Mary Magdalen the New Orleans 677 00:44:18,239 --> 00:44:21,200 Speaker 1: at the seance table of men. Her radical message came 678 00:44:21,239 --> 00:44:25,000 Speaker 1: across clearly. A society that would judge and punish women 679 00:44:25,080 --> 00:44:31,080 Speaker 1: for surviving abuse was unjust. A society in harmony, however, 680 00:44:31,239 --> 00:44:34,600 Speaker 1: would look like something new, Not a hierarchy, but a 681 00:44:34,640 --> 00:44:37,759 Speaker 1: circle where the poor were lifted up and men and 682 00:44:37,800 --> 00:44:40,360 Speaker 1: women joined hands to seek out the wisdom of the 683 00:44:40,400 --> 00:44:43,759 Speaker 1: past and map out the future. And it was a 684 00:44:43,840 --> 00:44:47,920 Speaker 1: future Henri and the others we're still willing to fight for. 685 00:45:05,400 --> 00:45:08,680 Speaker 1: Unobscured was created by me Aaron Manky and produced by 686 00:45:08,680 --> 00:45:12,400 Speaker 1: Matt Frederick, Alex Williams, and Josh Thane in partnership with 687 00:45:12,440 --> 00:45:15,640 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. Research and writing for this season is 688 00:45:15,680 --> 00:45:18,160 Speaker 1: all the work of my right hand man Carl Nellis 689 00:45:18,280 --> 00:45:21,360 Speaker 1: and the brilliant Chad Lawson composed the brand new soundtrack. 690 00:45:21,880 --> 00:45:25,800 Speaker 1: Learn more about our contributing historians, source material and links 691 00:45:25,840 --> 00:45:30,160 Speaker 1: to our other shows over at history unobscured dot com, 692 00:45:30,200 --> 00:45:41,000 Speaker 1: and until next time, thanks for listening. Unobscured is a 693 00:45:41,000 --> 00:45:43,359 Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio and Aaron Monkey. For more 694 00:45:43,400 --> 00:45:45,640 Speaker 1: podcasts for my Heart Radio, visit i heeart Radio app, 695 00:45:45,719 --> 00:45:48,200 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.