1 00:00:01,040 --> 00:00:04,240 Speaker 1: Welcomed, unobscured a production of I Heart Radio and Aaron Minkey. 2 00:00:09,800 --> 00:00:13,800 Speaker 1: Daniel was sitting pretty. He was in South Manchester, Connecticut, 3 00:00:13,920 --> 00:00:16,919 Speaker 1: in the well appointed home of Ward Cheney. All the 4 00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:19,440 Speaker 1: little comforts around them were the benefits of the families 5 00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:24,280 Speaker 1: growing fortune from silk manufacturing. They patented a new machine 6 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:27,560 Speaker 1: for rolling silk just five years before, and now it 7 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:30,800 Speaker 1: was the money that was rolling right into their pockets. 8 00:00:31,240 --> 00:00:34,040 Speaker 1: In August of eighteen fifty two. The comforts Ward Cheney 9 00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:37,440 Speaker 1: afforded because of the new machines would become set dressings 10 00:00:37,479 --> 00:00:42,720 Speaker 1: for the turning point in Daniel Hume's career as a medium. 11 00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:45,280 Speaker 1: Like other movers and shakers who invited their friends to 12 00:00:45,320 --> 00:00:48,960 Speaker 1: private seances in their parlors, Ward brought a small group 13 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:51,720 Speaker 1: to his home to sit with Daniel. The Scottish team 14 00:00:52,159 --> 00:00:56,040 Speaker 1: didn't let them down. They started around a typical seance 15 00:00:56,120 --> 00:00:58,600 Speaker 1: table with the dust floating in the dim light that 16 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:02,640 Speaker 1: trickled in through the windows. The spirits started with Daniel's body. 17 00:01:03,080 --> 00:01:06,320 Speaker 1: He fell into a shuddering trance. One of the men 18 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:09,280 Speaker 1: who published his account later in the London Quarterly Review, 19 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:13,640 Speaker 1: said that a dramatic, powerful knocking followed pounding the floor 20 00:01:13,959 --> 00:01:18,480 Speaker 1: and then the walls. The table also started to spin, 21 00:01:18,920 --> 00:01:22,600 Speaker 1: then to rise and fall. A violent creaking like the 22 00:01:22,640 --> 00:01:25,160 Speaker 1: cables of a ship and a storm rose up in 23 00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:28,039 Speaker 1: the room, and voices started to call out, like they 24 00:01:28,040 --> 00:01:32,320 Speaker 1: were shouting over a high wind. The table rose, then tipped, 25 00:01:32,800 --> 00:01:38,600 Speaker 1: and finally capsized, crashing to the floor. They were eager 26 00:01:38,680 --> 00:01:42,600 Speaker 1: to see more lifting Daniel. They retreated to a darker 27 00:01:42,680 --> 00:01:45,640 Speaker 1: room and resumed their circle so that they could catch 28 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:48,320 Speaker 1: the dim flashes of light that warred Cheney claimed the 29 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:53,040 Speaker 1: specters made in Daniel's presence. In the dark, one of 30 00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:56,320 Speaker 1: the sitters could feel a cold, childlike hand pressed against 31 00:01:56,360 --> 00:02:00,280 Speaker 1: his forehead. A pitter patter of tapping sounds skittered around 32 00:02:00,320 --> 00:02:04,160 Speaker 1: the room. A feeling of certainty washed over word. It 33 00:02:04,280 --> 00:02:10,360 Speaker 1: was the spirit of his dead daughter. Then, unexpectedly, something 34 00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:14,840 Speaker 1: else happened to Daniel's body. He started to lift. Still 35 00:02:14,880 --> 00:02:18,320 Speaker 1: trembling from foot to head, he rose up into the air. 36 00:02:18,800 --> 00:02:21,560 Speaker 1: The group broke their circle and reached out for him, 37 00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:24,440 Speaker 1: grabbing his hands and feet to pull him back down. 38 00:02:25,080 --> 00:02:28,359 Speaker 1: Daniel was raised up from the floor three times, one 39 00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:31,480 Speaker 1: man later said, and then lowered again to be examined. 40 00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:37,160 Speaker 1: It was the first of Daniel's levitation seances. They would 41 00:02:37,160 --> 00:02:41,520 Speaker 1: eventually become the hallmark of his career as a spiritualist medium. 42 00:02:41,520 --> 00:02:44,000 Speaker 1: On the arms of the spirits, he rose above the 43 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:48,440 Speaker 1: criticism that was dragging down other mediums. This was not 44 00:02:48,600 --> 00:02:52,600 Speaker 1: some popping leg bone or cracking knuckle. This wasn't a 45 00:02:52,639 --> 00:02:56,040 Speaker 1: prank on an anxious mother or a caring neighbor. It 46 00:02:56,200 --> 00:02:59,079 Speaker 1: was one thing for spirits to capsize at table. It 47 00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:02,320 Speaker 1: was another to lift a living body off the ground. 48 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:07,000 Speaker 1: Daniel's attendant spirits, and the news of their action swept 49 00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:10,200 Speaker 1: him off to New York City and into high society. 50 00:03:11,480 --> 00:03:14,680 Speaker 1: Now get ready for a few names here, Because Daniel 51 00:03:14,720 --> 00:03:17,720 Speaker 1: could have gathered quite a collection for his autograph book. 52 00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:21,760 Speaker 1: William Cullen Bryant hosted him on New York's Fifth Avenue. 53 00:03:22,160 --> 00:03:26,040 Speaker 1: Bryant's friends strode through the doorway, and not just Horace Greeley, 54 00:03:26,120 --> 00:03:29,280 Speaker 1: who was already there, but other intellectual lights of the nation, 55 00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:34,200 Speaker 1: men like the writer James Fenimore Cooper and historian George Bancroft. 56 00:03:35,200 --> 00:03:37,800 Speaker 1: In fact, Bancroft was so impressed he was the one 57 00:03:37,880 --> 00:03:40,720 Speaker 1: to next host a seance with Daniel. And he wasn't 58 00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:44,360 Speaker 1: a newly rich silk merchant, or even a well known poet. No. 59 00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:48,200 Speaker 1: Bancroft had been Secretary of the Navy for President James Polk, 60 00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:52,200 Speaker 1: then the Secretary of War, all before establishing the U. S. 61 00:03:52,280 --> 00:03:57,720 Speaker 1: Naval Academy. In when Bancroft was U S. Minister to 62 00:03:57,800 --> 00:04:01,040 Speaker 1: England for five years, William Cullen Bryan had visited him, 63 00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:03,960 Speaker 1: a trip that had forged their friendship. With the claims 64 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:06,680 Speaker 1: floating in the air that the spirits of Benjamin Franklin 65 00:04:06,680 --> 00:04:10,520 Speaker 1: and George Washington were suddenly speaking at seances, we can't 66 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:13,600 Speaker 1: be too surprised that someone like Bancroft was interested in 67 00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:18,280 Speaker 1: what they had to say. Bancroft was a writer, though, 68 00:04:18,480 --> 00:04:22,000 Speaker 1: and a famous one. His Histories of the United States 69 00:04:22,200 --> 00:04:25,839 Speaker 1: was monumental. He started in eighteen thirty four and wrote 70 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:29,040 Speaker 1: nine more volumes over the next forty years. Much of 71 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:32,200 Speaker 1: it was based on his personal correspondence with James Madison 72 00:04:32,560 --> 00:04:37,440 Speaker 1: and his reading in Madison's private archives. Later we'll talk 73 00:04:37,480 --> 00:04:40,320 Speaker 1: more about what kind of place Bancroft imagined the United 74 00:04:40,360 --> 00:04:43,760 Speaker 1: States was, but now it's simply worth understanding that his 75 00:04:43,839 --> 00:04:47,479 Speaker 1: writing made him the most popular and powerful historian of 76 00:04:47,520 --> 00:04:52,320 Speaker 1: the nineteenth century. Bancroft's dinners brought other international stars to 77 00:04:52,360 --> 00:04:56,599 Speaker 1: the table. Washington Irving visited in eighteen fifty three. If 78 00:04:56,640 --> 00:04:59,440 Speaker 1: you know the Headless Horseman or Rip van Winkle, then 79 00:04:59,480 --> 00:05:02,279 Speaker 1: you know things work. But he also served as US 80 00:05:02,320 --> 00:05:05,960 Speaker 1: ambassador to Spain. When he came to daniel seance, he 81 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:10,599 Speaker 1: brought along the British writer William Makepeace Thackeray. The men 82 00:05:10,920 --> 00:05:14,600 Speaker 1: peppered the medium with questions and laughed at the responses 83 00:05:14,640 --> 00:05:17,760 Speaker 1: that were hammered out on the table, even when Thackeray, 84 00:05:17,920 --> 00:05:22,800 Speaker 1: who called spirit communication a dreary and foolish superstition, came 85 00:05:22,839 --> 00:05:26,839 Speaker 1: around when the table began to spin, whether or not 86 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:31,440 Speaker 1: the spirit communications had been dire, humbug and imposture, he said, 87 00:05:32,240 --> 00:05:41,559 Speaker 1: the manifestations he witnessed were undeniable. This is unobscured. I'm 88 00:05:41,600 --> 00:06:19,960 Speaker 1: Aaron Manky. When Emma landed in New York, she got 89 00:06:19,960 --> 00:06:22,920 Speaker 1: a very different view of the city, and the city 90 00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:27,000 Speaker 1: took a different view of her. Emma's first impression of 91 00:06:27,040 --> 00:06:30,360 Speaker 1: New York was its ceaseless hurry and rush. She had 92 00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:33,039 Speaker 1: lived in London and Paris, but there was something about 93 00:06:33,040 --> 00:06:35,960 Speaker 1: New York's energy that impressed her. But when the theater 94 00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:39,040 Speaker 1: where she was engaged to perform opened, she started her 95 00:06:39,040 --> 00:06:43,040 Speaker 1: new career on an unpromising note. Emma was met with 96 00:06:43,080 --> 00:06:46,000 Speaker 1: praise from the critics, but failed to find a foothold 97 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:48,520 Speaker 1: in the theater company. She would later say that the 98 00:06:48,520 --> 00:06:52,680 Speaker 1: theater manager who hired her had expectations about their relationship 99 00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:55,840 Speaker 1: that Emma rejected. We can only guess what he might 100 00:06:55,880 --> 00:06:58,960 Speaker 1: have demanded from the actress, especially when we consider that 101 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:01,080 Speaker 1: one of her English friend was so angry when he 102 00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:03,440 Speaker 1: heard about it all that he threatened to thrash the 103 00:07:03,520 --> 00:07:08,320 Speaker 1: unsavory man when she didn't bow to her manager's wishes. 104 00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:11,840 Speaker 1: Emma was given smaller and smaller parts to play until 105 00:07:11,960 --> 00:07:15,360 Speaker 1: she was completely sidelined, and even though her reviews by 106 00:07:15,400 --> 00:07:19,560 Speaker 1: the critics were, as she said, warm and complimentary, an 107 00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:23,239 Speaker 1: actress wasn't likely to win respectable friends outside the theater. 108 00:07:24,080 --> 00:07:29,680 Speaker 1: Here's historian and Browdy remember that the theater was not 109 00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:35,920 Speaker 1: a morally neutral environment. Women of the theater were considered 110 00:07:35,960 --> 00:07:40,960 Speaker 1: to be public women. They were considered to be women 111 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:44,920 Speaker 1: of the night, and not necessarily women of the moral 112 00:07:45,040 --> 00:07:50,200 Speaker 1: caliber that one would meet at one's church or want 113 00:07:50,360 --> 00:07:55,240 Speaker 1: one's son to marry. Women were considered to be appropriate 114 00:07:55,320 --> 00:07:58,920 Speaker 1: to the private sphere, to the sphere of the home, 115 00:07:59,280 --> 00:08:04,640 Speaker 1: of the detections of domesticity, and being public. A public 116 00:08:04,760 --> 00:08:10,040 Speaker 1: woman was often another word for a prostitute. That is, 117 00:08:10,080 --> 00:08:14,560 Speaker 1: there was a moral equivalence between a woman being in 118 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:21,880 Speaker 1: public rather than private and selling her body. Unwilling to 119 00:08:21,920 --> 00:08:26,200 Speaker 1: fully embrace this identity, Emma found herself facing obscurity in 120 00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:30,240 Speaker 1: a city she didn't know or understand. Left with idle hands, 121 00:08:30,280 --> 00:08:34,280 Speaker 1: she went looking for amusements and opportunities. Actresses weren't the 122 00:08:34,320 --> 00:08:37,880 Speaker 1: only professional performing women in the city, so Emma decided 123 00:08:37,920 --> 00:08:40,200 Speaker 1: to see what else New York had in store, and 124 00:08:40,240 --> 00:08:44,720 Speaker 1: she began by investigating American spiritualism and sending her reports 125 00:08:44,760 --> 00:08:49,600 Speaker 1: home to her curious London friends. Even though she dismissed 126 00:08:49,600 --> 00:08:54,480 Speaker 1: seances as foolish behavior, Emma was nervous, So nervous, in fact, 127 00:08:54,520 --> 00:08:57,200 Speaker 1: that when she went to her first seance, she got spooked. 128 00:08:57,600 --> 00:08:59,480 Speaker 1: It seems that as the people around the table were 129 00:08:59,520 --> 00:09:02,760 Speaker 1: questioning the spirit about the Bible and theology, the answers 130 00:09:02,800 --> 00:09:06,040 Speaker 1: they received back were so irreverent and blasphemous that Emma 131 00:09:06,160 --> 00:09:10,360 Speaker 1: bolted from the room before it was even over. She 132 00:09:10,480 --> 00:09:13,520 Speaker 1: rushed down the stairs, out into the street, and back 133 00:09:13,520 --> 00:09:17,480 Speaker 1: to her boarding house, thoroughly indignant and disgusted. It would 134 00:09:17,480 --> 00:09:19,839 Speaker 1: take some time before the shock wore off, and it 135 00:09:19,840 --> 00:09:22,120 Speaker 1: would take the coaxing of one of her theater friends 136 00:09:22,160 --> 00:09:24,720 Speaker 1: to get her back to another seance. When the pair 137 00:09:24,920 --> 00:09:30,120 Speaker 1: finally went together, Emma had an entirely different experience. She 138 00:09:30,200 --> 00:09:32,640 Speaker 1: climbed the stairs of a boarding house, determined to sit 139 00:09:32,679 --> 00:09:35,800 Speaker 1: through the whole seance this time, and also to collect 140 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:38,320 Speaker 1: a full collection of flaws that she might use to 141 00:09:38,320 --> 00:09:42,440 Speaker 1: write a crushing article about spiritualism. But her angry thoughts 142 00:09:42,440 --> 00:09:45,800 Speaker 1: were interrupted when the door was pushed open and in 143 00:09:45,960 --> 00:09:50,880 Speaker 1: walked a woman named Ada Foy. Aida was courteous and 144 00:09:50,920 --> 00:09:53,640 Speaker 1: welcoming and sat down with Emma and her friend at 145 00:09:53,640 --> 00:09:56,760 Speaker 1: a simple table before the seance had even begun, though 146 00:09:56,880 --> 00:09:59,840 Speaker 1: a pounding broke the silence, as if something was slam 147 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:03,480 Speaker 1: being into the bottom of the table. Even Aida seemed 148 00:10:03,480 --> 00:10:06,960 Speaker 1: surprised and looked into Emma's face with wonder. She had 149 00:10:07,040 --> 00:10:09,880 Speaker 1: come prepared to invite the spirits, but never had they 150 00:10:09,880 --> 00:10:13,360 Speaker 1: attended her with so much force. In fact, she claimed 151 00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:15,920 Speaker 1: that her powers as a medium weren't nearly strong enough 152 00:10:15,960 --> 00:10:18,840 Speaker 1: for something like this. It would take someone more attuned 153 00:10:18,880 --> 00:10:22,680 Speaker 1: to the spirits, someone who was a great medium, someone 154 00:10:23,360 --> 00:10:28,600 Speaker 1: apparently like Emma. Aida pushed a card into Emma's hand 155 00:10:28,679 --> 00:10:31,240 Speaker 1: that was covered with the letters of the alphabet, followed 156 00:10:31,280 --> 00:10:33,760 Speaker 1: by a pencil. She told Emma to point to the 157 00:10:33,840 --> 00:10:36,120 Speaker 1: letters and wait for the knocking sounds to tell her 158 00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:39,160 Speaker 1: which ones to copy down, but Emma wasn't ready to 159 00:10:39,160 --> 00:10:43,800 Speaker 1: play along. When the knocking sounds began again, Emma didn't write. Instead, 160 00:10:43,880 --> 00:10:47,640 Speaker 1: she jumped to her feet, knocking the table over. She 161 00:10:47,760 --> 00:10:50,199 Speaker 1: was certain that there was some kind of electric device 162 00:10:50,280 --> 00:10:54,080 Speaker 1: hidden under it that was responsible. Instead, it was her 163 00:10:54,120 --> 00:10:57,120 Speaker 1: certainties that were overturned. She would later say that she 164 00:10:57,200 --> 00:11:01,439 Speaker 1: stood baffled and aghast as the knocking thundered beneath her feet. 165 00:11:01,920 --> 00:11:04,640 Speaker 1: After that, they then left the floor, hammering up the 166 00:11:04,640 --> 00:11:07,240 Speaker 1: walls around the room and even on the very chair 167 00:11:07,360 --> 00:11:10,640 Speaker 1: she sat in. That's when Aida looked at her and said, 168 00:11:11,240 --> 00:11:13,840 Speaker 1: the spirits have a mighty work to perform through you. 169 00:11:14,880 --> 00:11:18,080 Speaker 1: And then she bent over, picked the pencil off the floor, 170 00:11:18,760 --> 00:11:26,920 Speaker 1: and put it back in Emma's hand. It wasn't just 171 00:11:27,040 --> 00:11:30,240 Speaker 1: New York, of course, as spiritualism climbed the ladder of 172 00:11:30,280 --> 00:11:33,640 Speaker 1: prestige in the Empire state and explored the back stairwells 173 00:11:33,640 --> 00:11:36,360 Speaker 1: of its boarding houses. It also traveled south to the 174 00:11:36,440 --> 00:11:40,600 Speaker 1: nation's capital. Kate and Maggie Fox made a journey to Washington, 175 00:11:40,679 --> 00:11:43,880 Speaker 1: d C. In eighteen fifty three. There they found curious 176 00:11:43,880 --> 00:11:47,000 Speaker 1: spiritualists already waiting for them. In fact, they were welcomed 177 00:11:47,040 --> 00:11:49,400 Speaker 1: into the home of the chief stattician for the U. S. 178 00:11:49,440 --> 00:11:52,560 Speaker 1: Postal Service, who allowed them to hold seances with them 179 00:11:52,679 --> 00:11:55,880 Speaker 1: right there. The capital was also home to followers of 180 00:11:55,880 --> 00:12:00,120 Speaker 1: Scottish utopian manufacturer Robert Owen, and they welcome spiritual is 181 00:12:00,200 --> 00:12:03,560 Speaker 1: Um just as he did. Others who thought of themselves 182 00:12:03,559 --> 00:12:06,200 Speaker 1: as radical free thinkers were among the most willing to 183 00:12:06,240 --> 00:12:09,040 Speaker 1: give the new revelations a test drive, and of course, 184 00:12:09,320 --> 00:12:11,599 Speaker 1: statesmen from Upper New York gave an ear to the 185 00:12:11,640 --> 00:12:14,040 Speaker 1: message that was coming out of their region. In fact, 186 00:12:14,040 --> 00:12:17,600 Speaker 1: one congressman who represented New York's thirty third district, Senator 187 00:12:17,679 --> 00:12:21,400 Speaker 1: Nathaniel P. Talmadge, had actually been a champion of spiritualism 188 00:12:21,400 --> 00:12:25,840 Speaker 1: since his election in eighteen fifty one. As the Fox 189 00:12:25,880 --> 00:12:30,920 Speaker 1: sisters made converts and Spiritualism elected, spiritualist candidates to represent them. 190 00:12:31,200 --> 00:12:34,480 Speaker 1: Hope started to grow. Perhaps everything the mediums and their 191 00:12:34,480 --> 00:12:37,600 Speaker 1: friends were witnessing along the rivers in Ohio and around 192 00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:42,040 Speaker 1: pianos in Rochester would finally be studied and understood if 193 00:12:42,080 --> 00:12:45,360 Speaker 1: only the right attention was given, which is why. In 194 00:12:45,440 --> 00:12:49,320 Speaker 1: April of eighteen fifty four, Senator James Shields of Illinois 195 00:12:49,600 --> 00:12:52,360 Speaker 1: brought a new petition before the United States Senate. It 196 00:12:52,520 --> 00:12:55,320 Speaker 1: requested that the Senate turned the resources of the government 197 00:12:55,400 --> 00:12:59,400 Speaker 1: toward investigating the strange powers at work around the seance table. 198 00:13:00,200 --> 00:13:03,479 Speaker 1: In particular, he requested that the Senator point a scientific 199 00:13:03,520 --> 00:13:09,760 Speaker 1: commission to investigate the many undocumented forces tilting tables, mysterious lights, 200 00:13:09,800 --> 00:13:13,400 Speaker 1: and the knocking, rumbling, and low murmurs of human voices 201 00:13:13,600 --> 00:13:18,000 Speaker 1: that seemed to emanate from thin air. Here's author Nancy Stewart. 202 00:13:19,520 --> 00:13:24,000 Speaker 1: By eighteen fifty four, there are fifteen thousand signed in 203 00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:28,440 Speaker 1: a petition by some very prominent senators and judges and 204 00:13:28,559 --> 00:13:32,040 Speaker 1: so on, and it's brought to Congress because now it's 205 00:13:32,080 --> 00:13:35,719 Speaker 1: become this outrage, I mean, the religions are all up 206 00:13:35,720 --> 00:13:39,880 Speaker 1: in the air about the standard religions. Despite the fifteen 207 00:13:39,880 --> 00:13:42,920 Speaker 1: thousand signatures on the petition, though not every member of 208 00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:46,560 Speaker 1: Congress was able to take the suggestion seriously. In fact, 209 00:13:46,640 --> 00:13:49,680 Speaker 1: when Shields presented the petition, it was greeted with laughter. 210 00:13:50,280 --> 00:13:53,560 Speaker 1: In the face of mockery, Senator Shields himself admitted that 211 00:13:53,640 --> 00:13:57,440 Speaker 1: he believed the manifestations at seances were delusions, yet he 212 00:13:57,559 --> 00:14:02,200 Speaker 1: still pushed for the commission. In the past, he argued, 213 00:14:02,440 --> 00:14:05,920 Speaker 1: studying the arcane delusions of occultists like John d and 214 00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:10,360 Speaker 1: Cornelius Agrippa had led to scientific breakthroughs, so naturally, these 215 00:14:10,440 --> 00:14:12,920 Speaker 1: new mysteries at the edge of knowledge in the eighteen 216 00:14:12,960 --> 00:14:16,480 Speaker 1: fifties were also worth studying. In the end, though it 217 00:14:16,559 --> 00:14:21,320 Speaker 1: seems pretty clear that his argument wasn't taken seriously. One 218 00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:24,640 Speaker 1: senator said that since the spirits were in another country, 219 00:14:24,720 --> 00:14:28,200 Speaker 1: the petition should be referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. 220 00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:32,440 Speaker 1: This brought another laugh from the Senate floor. Senator Shields 221 00:14:32,440 --> 00:14:35,000 Speaker 1: responded that he hoped the petition would be referred to 222 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:38,240 Speaker 1: the Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads, just like 223 00:14:38,280 --> 00:14:42,440 Speaker 1: the Telegraph had been. No such luck, though, Instead the 224 00:14:42,480 --> 00:14:46,840 Speaker 1: petition was tabled and it's fifteen thousand signers were turned away. 225 00:14:47,240 --> 00:14:52,600 Speaker 1: Here's Nancy Stewarts once again. It just shows you the 226 00:14:52,800 --> 00:14:57,880 Speaker 1: enormity of the popularity of it and the fantastic publicity 227 00:14:57,920 --> 00:15:02,840 Speaker 1: that surrounded this early movement. When news of the Senate's 228 00:15:02,880 --> 00:15:07,400 Speaker 1: rejection reached the press, it ruffled spiritualist feathers. Nathan Talmidge, 229 00:15:07,400 --> 00:15:09,720 Speaker 1: who had been a U. S Senator and then governor 230 00:15:09,760 --> 00:15:13,280 Speaker 1: of Wisconsin, published a sharp response. You see, he had 231 00:15:13,320 --> 00:15:15,880 Speaker 1: been one of the people who had urged Senator Shields 232 00:15:15,880 --> 00:15:20,440 Speaker 1: to bring the petition to Congress. In his view, spiritualism 233 00:15:20,480 --> 00:15:22,960 Speaker 1: had been laughed out of the government without ever getting 234 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:26,120 Speaker 1: a fair hearing. In fact, he said, if the senators 235 00:15:26,120 --> 00:15:29,160 Speaker 1: believed that spiritualism was a delusion, it was all the 236 00:15:29,200 --> 00:15:32,080 Speaker 1: more important to put it under the microscope rather than 237 00:15:32,120 --> 00:15:35,960 Speaker 1: wave it away with a dismissive hand. When the petition 238 00:15:36,040 --> 00:15:39,840 Speaker 1: was tabled, one Indiana senator suggested that spiritualism was a 239 00:15:39,880 --> 00:15:43,480 Speaker 1: religious matter and should be left to the nation's religious experts, 240 00:15:43,840 --> 00:15:47,960 Speaker 1: the pastors of America's churches. But if the senators had 241 00:15:47,960 --> 00:15:51,280 Speaker 1: paid attention to what was being said inside those churches, 242 00:15:51,680 --> 00:15:57,680 Speaker 1: they would have noticed something very surprising. Those pastors weren't laughing. 243 00:16:04,400 --> 00:16:08,000 Speaker 1: They were the nemesis of the pulpit. That was Oliver 244 00:16:08,120 --> 00:16:11,080 Speaker 1: Wendell Holmes assessment of it all with the snap of 245 00:16:11,080 --> 00:16:13,920 Speaker 1: a knee joint. He wrote, Kate and Maggie Fox had 246 00:16:13,960 --> 00:16:17,520 Speaker 1: started a spiritual earthquake that ended with and I quote, 247 00:16:17,960 --> 00:16:20,480 Speaker 1: such a crack of old beliefs that the roar of 248 00:16:20,520 --> 00:16:25,120 Speaker 1: it is heard in all the minister studies in Christendom. 249 00:16:25,120 --> 00:16:28,680 Speaker 1: When he was writing his article to Defend Spiritualism, Nathaniel 250 00:16:28,680 --> 00:16:32,600 Speaker 1: Talmadge estimated that support for spiritualism was much stronger than 251 00:16:32,720 --> 00:16:35,720 Speaker 1: the fifteen thousand who had signed the petition. In fact, 252 00:16:35,920 --> 00:16:38,640 Speaker 1: he guessed that in eighteen fifty four there were over 253 00:16:38,680 --> 00:16:43,520 Speaker 1: two million Spiritualists in the United States. Elliot cape Roun, 254 00:16:43,640 --> 00:16:46,880 Speaker 1: the radical Quaker who had been the Fox sisters first manager, 255 00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:49,680 Speaker 1: included the same guests in his book the next year. 256 00:16:50,280 --> 00:16:53,320 Speaker 1: Later on, Cora would write that spiritualists would claim no 257 00:16:53,560 --> 00:16:57,880 Speaker 1: definite number, but both supporters and opponents agreed on one thing. 258 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:03,760 Speaker 1: The movement was going gangbusters. Besides, as Cora wrote, it 259 00:17:03,840 --> 00:17:06,280 Speaker 1: wasn't the number that was the most important aspect of 260 00:17:06,320 --> 00:17:09,600 Speaker 1: the movement. It was the truth of its principles. If 261 00:17:09,640 --> 00:17:12,960 Speaker 1: something was true, she said, then all the world must follow, 262 00:17:14,200 --> 00:17:17,720 Speaker 1: and follow they did by eighteen fifty two, the editor 263 00:17:17,800 --> 00:17:20,399 Speaker 1: of the New York Tribune, Horace Greeley, had given the 264 00:17:20,440 --> 00:17:25,520 Speaker 1: movement its name Modern Spiritualism. He offered the title Spiritualists 265 00:17:25,520 --> 00:17:28,440 Speaker 1: two seekers who flocked to seances and the mediums who 266 00:17:28,440 --> 00:17:31,880 Speaker 1: conducted them, speaking in the voices of their dead loved ones. 267 00:17:33,359 --> 00:17:36,199 Speaker 1: But it was also personal for Greeley. He'd seen the 268 00:17:36,200 --> 00:17:39,399 Speaker 1: Fox Sisters demonstrate their powers in New York. After he 269 00:17:39,440 --> 00:17:42,400 Speaker 1: wrote his public defense of their seances. He even invited 270 00:17:42,440 --> 00:17:44,639 Speaker 1: them to stay in his home. He wanted them to 271 00:17:44,680 --> 00:17:47,879 Speaker 1: hold seances for his wife Mary. You see, Horace and 272 00:17:47,960 --> 00:17:50,679 Speaker 1: Mary had recently lost their four year old son, Picky. 273 00:17:51,040 --> 00:17:53,600 Speaker 1: In fact, four of their five children had already died. 274 00:17:53,960 --> 00:17:56,800 Speaker 1: As a parent myself, I can't imagine the cavern of 275 00:17:56,880 --> 00:17:59,760 Speaker 1: grief they navigated each day, and it was into this 276 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:04,360 Speaker 1: overn that the Fox Sisters descended. But Greeley is convinced 277 00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:07,320 Speaker 1: Kate to live with them the following autumn. Mary had 278 00:18:07,359 --> 00:18:10,639 Speaker 1: been consumed by Picky's death, and Horace wanted her to 279 00:18:10,640 --> 00:18:13,199 Speaker 1: be able to talk to Picky spirit whenever she wanted. 280 00:18:13,640 --> 00:18:16,320 Speaker 1: But if Kate's visit to the Greeley's house brought comfort 281 00:18:16,320 --> 00:18:20,880 Speaker 1: to them, it was deeply disturbing to her. She wrote 282 00:18:20,880 --> 00:18:24,000 Speaker 1: a letter to Amy post Back in Rochester, telling her 283 00:18:24,040 --> 00:18:27,520 Speaker 1: friend and mentor that she was deeply lonely. She admitted 284 00:18:27,560 --> 00:18:31,159 Speaker 1: that the spirits did wonderful things, from invisible fingers that 285 00:18:31,200 --> 00:18:34,600 Speaker 1: played the piano to the now routine rapping sounds, but 286 00:18:34,720 --> 00:18:37,200 Speaker 1: young Kate didn't find it easy to be the personal 287 00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:42,160 Speaker 1: attendant of a devastated mother. That people like Mary Greeley 288 00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:45,520 Speaker 1: would flock to the comforts of spiritualism was a difficult 289 00:18:45,560 --> 00:18:49,159 Speaker 1: pill to swallow for the leaders of American churches. Every 290 00:18:49,160 --> 00:18:53,520 Speaker 1: time a new spiritualist gathering delivered information that contradicted church teachings, 291 00:18:53,800 --> 00:18:57,400 Speaker 1: it was seen as a problem because the movement was popular, 292 00:18:58,680 --> 00:19:02,240 Speaker 1: but pastors in seminary didn't take it lying down. Church 293 00:19:02,320 --> 00:19:07,440 Speaker 1: magazines and newspapers published articles condemning spiritualism as heresy. They 294 00:19:07,480 --> 00:19:10,280 Speaker 1: warned Christians to reject the teachings of a movement that 295 00:19:10,359 --> 00:19:13,920 Speaker 1: was all about contact with familiar spirits and to rely 296 00:19:14,040 --> 00:19:18,240 Speaker 1: instead on the revelations of God through the Bible. Throughout 297 00:19:18,320 --> 00:19:21,800 Speaker 1: the eighteen fifties, ministers published books with titles like The 298 00:19:21,880 --> 00:19:26,240 Speaker 1: Infidelity of the Times as connected with Rappings and Mesmerism, 299 00:19:26,359 --> 00:19:32,040 Speaker 1: or Ancient sorcery as revived in modern spiritualism, and spiritualism 300 00:19:32,119 --> 00:19:35,600 Speaker 1: a Satanic delusion and a sign of the times. You 301 00:19:35,640 --> 00:19:38,480 Speaker 1: get the point. I'm sure then, as we've mentioned before, 302 00:19:38,800 --> 00:19:41,640 Speaker 1: there are clear reasons why church leaders would have seen 303 00:19:41,720 --> 00:19:47,080 Speaker 1: spiritualism as a revival of ancient sorcery. Here's historian emmlin Clark. 304 00:19:48,800 --> 00:19:52,960 Speaker 1: By taking religious authority away from formal church structures and 305 00:19:53,280 --> 00:19:59,200 Speaker 1: the traditional purveyors of religious authority more or less white 306 00:19:59,320 --> 00:20:05,600 Speaker 1: educated men, white educated um in seminaries men. By taking 307 00:20:05,640 --> 00:20:09,520 Speaker 1: religious authority away from these more formal structures and placing 308 00:20:09,520 --> 00:20:13,159 Speaker 1: it in the bodies the hands of mediums themselves. I mean, 309 00:20:13,160 --> 00:20:15,760 Speaker 1: there were a lot of churches really didn't like about spiritualism. 310 00:20:15,800 --> 00:20:20,639 Speaker 1: They could see it as a dangerous threat. American Protestant 311 00:20:20,720 --> 00:20:23,840 Speaker 1: churches of every stripe were in a tricky position in 312 00:20:23,840 --> 00:20:27,119 Speaker 1: those decades, and not just the young denominations like the 313 00:20:27,200 --> 00:20:30,520 Speaker 1: Methodists who are trying to grow into something respectable. Like 314 00:20:30,600 --> 00:20:33,600 Speaker 1: we talked about in the last episode, it was the fresh, 315 00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:37,080 Speaker 1: vibrant energy of all those new denominations that had the 316 00:20:37,119 --> 00:20:42,880 Speaker 1: older traditions feeling unstable and no wonder their own domains 317 00:20:42,920 --> 00:20:47,440 Speaker 1: were splintering as denominations divided and subdivided. At the same time, 318 00:20:47,440 --> 00:20:50,159 Speaker 1: they faced more and more questions about the evidence of 319 00:20:50,200 --> 00:20:53,080 Speaker 1: their spiritual claims that were taught from the pulpit. What 320 00:20:53,200 --> 00:20:56,639 Speaker 1: were the reasons to believe everything these pastors preached, or 321 00:20:56,720 --> 00:20:59,040 Speaker 1: even to believe in the authority in the first place. 322 00:21:00,280 --> 00:21:03,879 Speaker 1: In particular, most Protestant ministers were sensitive to the idea 323 00:21:03,920 --> 00:21:07,479 Speaker 1: that their faith was in conflict with science. Pastors in 324 00:21:07,480 --> 00:21:11,600 Speaker 1: that position tended less to criticize spiritualism as satanic. Instead, 325 00:21:11,960 --> 00:21:15,640 Speaker 1: they taught that spiritualism was best explained by fraud. They 326 00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:19,000 Speaker 1: fought against spiritualism not because they were afraid of the devil, 327 00:21:19,359 --> 00:21:22,439 Speaker 1: but because it was so unbiblical. In their eyes, the 328 00:21:22,480 --> 00:21:26,439 Speaker 1: teachings of these fraudulent mediums was simply a trick. Devil 329 00:21:26,640 --> 00:21:30,399 Speaker 1: or not behind the curtain. Still, we can't forget that 330 00:21:30,440 --> 00:21:36,800 Speaker 1: most spiritualists were Christians. Here's an browdie once again. Christians 331 00:21:36,840 --> 00:21:42,520 Speaker 1: are taught in many contexts that they should try to 332 00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:46,800 Speaker 1: communicate with benevolent spirits who are looking after them, who 333 00:21:46,880 --> 00:21:51,600 Speaker 1: are looking down from heaven to lead them in positive directions. 334 00:21:52,040 --> 00:21:56,879 Speaker 1: Whether their formal theological doctrines of their religions teach that 335 00:21:57,160 --> 00:22:01,280 Speaker 1: or not. Popular culture teaches that, so the ideas of 336 00:22:01,320 --> 00:22:07,719 Speaker 1: spiritualism should not be so foreign to Christians, and in 337 00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:11,720 Speaker 1: many cases they're not. In many cases, people who are 338 00:22:11,880 --> 00:22:16,760 Speaker 1: church members, um even members of other religions are also 339 00:22:16,920 --> 00:22:23,800 Speaker 1: participating in communication with spirits, even though it formally contradicts 340 00:22:23,840 --> 00:22:29,040 Speaker 1: the doctrines of their faith. For Christians who long believed 341 00:22:29,040 --> 00:22:31,640 Speaker 1: that they're dead loved ones were looking down on them 342 00:22:31,680 --> 00:22:34,960 Speaker 1: from heaven, the rituals of spiritualism could be taken at 343 00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:38,720 Speaker 1: face value. We saw this in Sojourn or Truths reliance 344 00:22:38,800 --> 00:22:41,640 Speaker 1: on both her dead father's voice and the guiding voice 345 00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:44,879 Speaker 1: of God. And there's the story of chorus teacher Mary 346 00:22:44,920 --> 00:22:49,520 Speaker 1: in Wisconsin. The message was simple, though. If the voices 347 00:22:49,560 --> 00:22:52,600 Speaker 1: of the spirits urged Christians to follow God and read 348 00:22:52,600 --> 00:22:56,960 Speaker 1: the Bible, then who could say that spiritualism was wrong. 349 00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:08,480 Speaker 1: Andrew Jackson Davis had taken many beatings. They came from 350 00:23:08,520 --> 00:23:12,240 Speaker 1: the pens and pulpits of American ministers. They also came 351 00:23:12,280 --> 00:23:16,239 Speaker 1: from people he admired, like Emerson and Thorreau. Those in 352 00:23:16,280 --> 00:23:20,240 Speaker 1: particular must have stung. But he had friends too, and 353 00:23:20,359 --> 00:23:23,120 Speaker 1: when he was invited by admirers to leave New York 354 00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:26,080 Speaker 1: City and moved to Hartford, Connecticut. Andrew was only too 355 00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:29,080 Speaker 1: happy to oblige. When he arrived, though, he opened the 356 00:23:29,119 --> 00:23:32,960 Speaker 1: paper to find disparaging comments from America's most popular minister, 357 00:23:33,400 --> 00:23:36,600 Speaker 1: Henry Ward Beecher, and as he walked to the cottage 358 00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:39,040 Speaker 1: where he had been invited to live, he was greeted 359 00:23:39,040 --> 00:23:42,480 Speaker 1: by more insults. A group of Sunday schoolboys had chalked 360 00:23:42,560 --> 00:23:47,680 Speaker 1: vulgarities across the fence and gate. One source of comfort 361 00:23:47,800 --> 00:23:51,199 Speaker 1: was his new friendship with Bronson Elcott. Bronson was a 362 00:23:51,280 --> 00:23:53,880 Speaker 1: friend of Emerson and Threau, so there was a little 363 00:23:53,920 --> 00:23:56,560 Speaker 1: of that atmosphere Andrew craved, even if it was only 364 00:23:56,760 --> 00:24:00,240 Speaker 1: second hand. Together they swapped stories and discuss us the 365 00:24:00,280 --> 00:24:04,960 Speaker 1: various communes sprouting up in the northeast. Bronson was convinced 366 00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:07,480 Speaker 1: that Andrew's books were good for people. He thought the 367 00:24:07,520 --> 00:24:10,480 Speaker 1: new spiritual visions would help his followers to sort out 368 00:24:10,600 --> 00:24:14,119 Speaker 1: the old perplexities, as he called them, and the perverted 369 00:24:14,160 --> 00:24:18,320 Speaker 1: teachings of former times. For Bronson, it wasn't that spiritualism 370 00:24:18,320 --> 00:24:21,639 Speaker 1: twisted Christian teachings away from the truth, but rather that 371 00:24:21,680 --> 00:24:24,600 Speaker 1: it corrected the contortions and errors that had built up 372 00:24:24,600 --> 00:24:28,919 Speaker 1: in the church. Over time, with friends like this, Andrew 373 00:24:28,960 --> 00:24:31,000 Speaker 1: felt he was ready to become more than just a 374 00:24:31,040 --> 00:24:33,919 Speaker 1: trance healer and writer. He wanted to step out from 375 00:24:33,960 --> 00:24:36,720 Speaker 1: behind the page, and he decided to start in his 376 00:24:36,760 --> 00:24:41,320 Speaker 1: own backyard. In a series of public lectures, he blasted 377 00:24:41,359 --> 00:24:45,399 Speaker 1: the teachings of Hartford's most prominent congregational minister. He was 378 00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:49,679 Speaker 1: unsound in his teaching, Andrew said, insufficient in his thinking. 379 00:24:50,280 --> 00:24:54,080 Speaker 1: His preaching wasn't as rational as spiritualism, which Andrew told 380 00:24:54,119 --> 00:24:59,000 Speaker 1: his audiences was invulnerable and satisfying. And As Andrew made 381 00:24:59,040 --> 00:25:02,880 Speaker 1: these pronouncements, he suggested that other spiritualists do the same. 382 00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:08,199 Speaker 1: Soon enough, the circle in Hartford was regularly attacking the 383 00:25:08,280 --> 00:25:10,840 Speaker 1: errors of the church. They even put out a public 384 00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:13,320 Speaker 1: challenge to all the pastors in the city to join 385 00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:17,520 Speaker 1: them in a public debate about spirituality. Sometimes it seems 386 00:25:17,560 --> 00:25:20,560 Speaker 1: like the attacks on spiritualism from the churches was a 387 00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:24,760 Speaker 1: symptom of their fear of something new. Sometimes, though, it's 388 00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:29,119 Speaker 1: clear that spiritualists were the ones picking the fight. For 389 00:25:29,200 --> 00:25:32,879 Speaker 1: Andrew Jackson Davis and the Hartford Spiritualists. This came to 390 00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:35,199 Speaker 1: a head at the Bible Convention that they held in 391 00:25:35,280 --> 00:25:39,920 Speaker 1: June of eighteen fifty three, they invited reformers and spiritualists 392 00:25:39,920 --> 00:25:42,400 Speaker 1: from around the region to come to Hartford and discuss 393 00:25:42,480 --> 00:25:46,080 Speaker 1: the history and authority of the Bible. The abolitionist William 394 00:25:46,160 --> 00:25:49,760 Speaker 1: Lloyd Garrison came down from Boston, Sojourner Truth made the 395 00:25:49,760 --> 00:25:53,840 Speaker 1: trip as well, and they gathered a crowd. Notably, though 396 00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:58,080 Speaker 1: all the Hartford ministers and Christian scholars refused their invitations. 397 00:25:58,840 --> 00:26:01,280 Speaker 1: One pastor made it no him that he thought spiritualists 398 00:26:01,280 --> 00:26:04,399 Speaker 1: were dishonest plagiarizers and that it was impossible to have 399 00:26:04,480 --> 00:26:07,720 Speaker 1: a conversation with them. After all, they claimed to have 400 00:26:07,840 --> 00:26:11,320 Speaker 1: direct knowledge from the spirits. How could you possibly argue 401 00:26:11,359 --> 00:26:16,840 Speaker 1: against anything they would say. No prominent ministers joined Andrew 402 00:26:16,880 --> 00:26:20,400 Speaker 1: on stage, but they did send their congregations, and they 403 00:26:20,400 --> 00:26:24,040 Speaker 1: didn't come in peace. It started with the heckling. Whenever 404 00:26:24,119 --> 00:26:26,840 Speaker 1: spiritualist leaders took their place at the front of the room, 405 00:26:27,160 --> 00:26:30,919 Speaker 1: they were met with taunts and shouting. Trader someone screamed 406 00:26:30,920 --> 00:26:36,040 Speaker 1: at Andrew blasphemer, and their numbers were growing too. So 407 00:26:36,119 --> 00:26:39,240 Speaker 1: much hostility rippled through the crowd that the Hartford mayor 408 00:26:39,320 --> 00:26:42,639 Speaker 1: had to call in the police to keep order. That 409 00:26:42,760 --> 00:26:45,080 Speaker 1: seemed to hold things back until the final day of 410 00:26:45,080 --> 00:26:48,120 Speaker 1: the convention, when the crowds outside the convention hall filled 411 00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:51,960 Speaker 1: up the streets. Andrew Jackson Davis and William Lloyd Garrison 412 00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:55,639 Speaker 1: found themselves trapped inside. The mayor was so scared of 413 00:26:55,640 --> 00:26:59,000 Speaker 1: the potential violence that he declared the convention canceled. The 414 00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:02,720 Speaker 1: spiritualist speaker couldn't get out until bodyguards were available to 415 00:27:02,920 --> 00:27:06,480 Speaker 1: escort them through the mob of angry Christians. To them, 416 00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:10,119 Speaker 1: the links were clear between spiritualism and reform movements like 417 00:27:10,240 --> 00:27:13,199 Speaker 1: abolition and women's rights, and it created the kind of 418 00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:17,560 Speaker 1: disorder they expected from satanic rituals and atheist freethinkers. And 419 00:27:17,800 --> 00:27:21,639 Speaker 1: there were consequences for some of these attendees. Here's historian 420 00:27:21,800 --> 00:27:26,960 Speaker 1: Margaret Washington, William Lloyd Garrison's brother in law, as a 421 00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:30,080 Speaker 1: matter of fact, for supporting it, lost the new job 422 00:27:30,160 --> 00:27:33,320 Speaker 1: that he had ultimately had to leave and take his 423 00:27:33,359 --> 00:27:36,560 Speaker 1: whole family to Kansas. They were so ostracized. But that 424 00:27:36,680 --> 00:27:39,680 Speaker 1: was a big deal that Hartford Convention because they were 425 00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:44,760 Speaker 1: challenging the Bible. But even more devastating to Andrew than 426 00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:47,800 Speaker 1: any public outcry about his work was the death of 427 00:27:47,840 --> 00:27:51,240 Speaker 1: his wife, Katie. Her health had been slowly declining since 428 00:27:51,280 --> 00:27:54,919 Speaker 1: the previous winter. Of course, Andrew had tried multiple times 429 00:27:54,960 --> 00:27:58,200 Speaker 1: to heal her through his trances, but nothing made a difference. 430 00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:00,760 Speaker 1: He even called upon the spit or to the ancient 431 00:28:00,760 --> 00:28:05,880 Speaker 1: physician Galen, but that failed too. When William Lloyd Garrison 432 00:28:05,920 --> 00:28:08,600 Speaker 1: stayed with them during the Bible Convention, he saw Katie's 433 00:28:08,640 --> 00:28:11,600 Speaker 1: pallid features and began to wonder how sick she really was. 434 00:28:12,280 --> 00:28:15,320 Speaker 1: After the scare of the convention, Andrew and Katie moved 435 00:28:15,359 --> 00:28:18,359 Speaker 1: to the Massachusetts coast, hoping the sea air would be 436 00:28:18,359 --> 00:28:21,280 Speaker 1: a better therapy than the winds blowing off the spirit world, 437 00:28:22,280 --> 00:28:26,400 Speaker 1: but she continued to get worse. Finally, her crushing symptoms 438 00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:29,040 Speaker 1: forced Andrew to agree to bring Katie to a doctor, 439 00:28:29,560 --> 00:28:32,720 Speaker 1: but by then it was too late. Katie died a 440 00:28:32,760 --> 00:28:38,680 Speaker 1: short while later in November of eighteen fifty three. Andrew 441 00:28:38,760 --> 00:28:41,640 Speaker 1: worked through his grief by loudly proclaiming to others that 442 00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:45,240 Speaker 1: he had seen her spirit greeted by relatives in the afterlife. 443 00:28:45,680 --> 00:28:48,280 Speaker 1: Then he took to the road, where he tried to 444 00:28:48,320 --> 00:28:53,200 Speaker 1: outrun his loss among new, more sympathetic crowds. The power 445 00:28:53,240 --> 00:28:56,640 Speaker 1: of Andrew's trances had failed to heal his wife, but 446 00:28:56,720 --> 00:29:00,720 Speaker 1: he was still convinced it could remake the nation. Despite 447 00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:03,520 Speaker 1: the fury he had faced, he held on to hope 448 00:29:03,520 --> 00:29:08,120 Speaker 1: in something that others felt was out of reach, harmony. 449 00:29:14,720 --> 00:29:18,400 Speaker 1: Everywhere spiritualism went it met a church eager to stamp 450 00:29:18,440 --> 00:29:23,080 Speaker 1: it out, whether it was the Baptists, Presbyterians and Congregationalists 451 00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:26,760 Speaker 1: in the United States assorted French priests or the leaders 452 00:29:26,800 --> 00:29:30,200 Speaker 1: of the Church of England. Ministers everywhere struggled to maintain 453 00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:34,080 Speaker 1: the confidence of their flock. In England, though, the churches 454 00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:38,080 Speaker 1: responded with far less venom than their American counterparts. Maybe 455 00:29:38,120 --> 00:29:40,760 Speaker 1: that's because the British press was so quick to stab 456 00:29:40,800 --> 00:29:43,880 Speaker 1: at the first American mediums, and it probably helped that 457 00:29:43,920 --> 00:29:47,520 Speaker 1: there were leaders in the English Church who were actually curious. 458 00:29:47,920 --> 00:29:50,000 Speaker 1: It seemed that they were attempted by the news from 459 00:29:50,080 --> 00:29:55,320 Speaker 1: spiritualist meetings, as their congregations were. By eighteen fifty five, 460 00:29:55,480 --> 00:29:59,200 Speaker 1: three years after Maria Hayden had reached England with spiritualism, 461 00:29:59,240 --> 00:30:02,720 Speaker 1: the Yorkshire Spiritual Telegraph reported that ministers of the Church 462 00:30:02,720 --> 00:30:06,080 Speaker 1: of England were counted among their spirit circles, and they 463 00:30:06,120 --> 00:30:09,120 Speaker 1: said there were ministers from every other church as well. 464 00:30:09,600 --> 00:30:12,840 Speaker 1: For some, Briton's contact with the spirit world didn't threaten 465 00:30:12,920 --> 00:30:18,920 Speaker 1: their beliefs. Instead, seance after seance, trance after trance, they 466 00:30:18,960 --> 00:30:22,959 Speaker 1: found that spiritualism renewed their Christian faith. The tapping, sounds 467 00:30:22,960 --> 00:30:26,360 Speaker 1: and messages from beyond represented the proof of the afterlife 468 00:30:26,400 --> 00:30:29,680 Speaker 1: that they had always wanted. Roman Catholic Christians had the 469 00:30:29,720 --> 00:30:32,800 Speaker 1: same feeling. At first. There were even a few priests 470 00:30:32,840 --> 00:30:35,120 Speaker 1: who wondered if they had discovered a link with souls 471 00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:40,040 Speaker 1: in purgatory. One priest in Paris even published a pamphlet 472 00:30:40,080 --> 00:30:42,000 Speaker 1: declaring that this was a sign that the age of 473 00:30:42,040 --> 00:30:45,360 Speaker 1: miracles hadn't ended. With that in mind, the Archbishop of 474 00:30:45,400 --> 00:30:48,800 Speaker 1: Paris gave him permission to try out some experiments, and 475 00:30:48,880 --> 00:30:53,000 Speaker 1: he got some results. Spirits spoke to him through tapping 476 00:30:53,040 --> 00:30:56,880 Speaker 1: and knocking. Tables spun at his request, and this kept 477 00:30:56,880 --> 00:30:59,680 Speaker 1: happening even after he poured holy water on the table, 478 00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:02,200 Speaker 1: laid a crucifix on it, and said the name of 479 00:31:02,280 --> 00:31:05,360 Speaker 1: Christ to him. This was a clear sign that whatever 480 00:31:05,440 --> 00:31:09,040 Speaker 1: forces were answering in seances, they weren't demons, as some 481 00:31:09,120 --> 00:31:14,640 Speaker 1: priests feared. Spiritualism was popular in Italy too. It popped 482 00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:18,120 Speaker 1: up in Venice Milan and Turin, but Italian priests believed 483 00:31:18,160 --> 00:31:21,720 Speaker 1: it was a toxic stew of blasphemies and absurdities. A 484 00:31:21,760 --> 00:31:24,680 Speaker 1: few years later, Pope Pious the Ninth wede in writing 485 00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:28,600 Speaker 1: a letter about the abuses of mesmerism. His memorandum was 486 00:31:28,640 --> 00:31:32,040 Speaker 1: circulated to the bishops and inquisitors all over the Papal states. 487 00:31:32,560 --> 00:31:36,120 Speaker 1: Spiritualism was to be crushed. That was the official stance 488 00:31:36,160 --> 00:31:41,400 Speaker 1: of the Church. It didn't stop adventurous mediums from visiting Italy, though, 489 00:31:41,800 --> 00:31:45,240 Speaker 1: especially if they had friends in high places. Our favorite traveler, 490 00:31:45,320 --> 00:31:48,960 Speaker 1: Daniel Hume, held seances in Florence, Naples and Rome during 491 00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:52,160 Speaker 1: the eighteen fifties, slipping through with his network of high 492 00:31:52,240 --> 00:31:56,920 Speaker 1: profile supporters. A group of prominent citizens in turn organized 493 00:31:56,960 --> 00:32:00,440 Speaker 1: their own spirit circle in eighteen fifty six, which included 494 00:32:00,480 --> 00:32:03,480 Speaker 1: members of the Savoy nobility and even the vice president 495 00:32:03,560 --> 00:32:06,440 Speaker 1: of their parliament, but under pressure from the Catholic Church, 496 00:32:06,800 --> 00:32:11,280 Speaker 1: that group didn't last more than two years. In Spain, 497 00:32:11,400 --> 00:32:14,520 Speaker 1: the response was even more dramatic. There, the Bishop of 498 00:32:14,520 --> 00:32:17,640 Speaker 1: Barcelona called on the military to help. He had heard 499 00:32:17,640 --> 00:32:21,080 Speaker 1: that a Spanish bookseller ordered a shipment of spiritualist books 500 00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:24,000 Speaker 1: from France, and they were arriving on a French steamship 501 00:32:24,080 --> 00:32:27,160 Speaker 1: called the L Monarca. They whispered that the captain was 502 00:32:27,200 --> 00:32:29,760 Speaker 1: a known smuggler who had used compartments in the ship 503 00:32:29,800 --> 00:32:35,080 Speaker 1: to transport government fugitives and forbidden literature. From the bishop's 504 00:32:35,080 --> 00:32:37,480 Speaker 1: point of view, El Monarca might as well have shipped 505 00:32:37,480 --> 00:32:39,800 Speaker 1: the books direct from the fires of Hell. When the 506 00:32:39,800 --> 00:32:43,560 Speaker 1: ship landed, soldiers marched aboard and toward apart. They carted 507 00:32:43,560 --> 00:32:46,240 Speaker 1: the books into the city square and threw them into 508 00:32:46,240 --> 00:32:50,120 Speaker 1: a bonfire. The drifting spiral of smoke was all the 509 00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:54,480 Speaker 1: levitation the bishop wanted, but there were some who claimed that, 510 00:32:54,640 --> 00:32:57,240 Speaker 1: just like the mob and Hartford, the book burning had 511 00:32:57,240 --> 00:33:01,480 Speaker 1: the opposite effect. When Barcelona citizen realized what was happening, 512 00:33:01,960 --> 00:33:05,800 Speaker 1: a crowd gathered. First there were just murmurs, but then 513 00:33:05,960 --> 00:33:11,240 Speaker 1: someone shouted down with the inquisition. Soon the boldest people 514 00:33:11,240 --> 00:33:14,400 Speaker 1: in the crowd rushed toward the flames and snatched burning 515 00:33:14,480 --> 00:33:19,200 Speaker 1: fragments of paper. The declaration of forbidden knowledge ended up 516 00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:24,040 Speaker 1: drawing curious citizens like moths to a flame. An underground 517 00:33:24,040 --> 00:33:28,480 Speaker 1: network of spiritualist societies had formed, and it was spreading. 518 00:33:34,480 --> 00:33:38,760 Speaker 1: While Kate Fox had experienced misadventure at Greeley's, Maggie found 519 00:33:38,760 --> 00:33:43,560 Speaker 1: herself in much more dangerous waters. Maggie's reputation had grown 520 00:33:43,560 --> 00:33:46,760 Speaker 1: alongside the national acclaim of her sisters. Of course, they 521 00:33:46,760 --> 00:33:49,800 Speaker 1: were all in demand. When Leah saw opportunities to spread 522 00:33:49,800 --> 00:33:52,560 Speaker 1: their net wider by splitting the sisters up, it just 523 00:33:52,680 --> 00:33:56,360 Speaker 1: made sense. So when Maggie received an invitation to visit 524 00:33:56,400 --> 00:33:59,640 Speaker 1: family friends in Troy, New York and to hold seances there, 525 00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:03,480 Speaker 1: she accepted. Her family expected only friendly faces to be 526 00:34:03,520 --> 00:34:06,080 Speaker 1: waiting for her in Troy, so they sent her alone. 527 00:34:07,080 --> 00:34:09,680 Speaker 1: When she arrived, she was greeted by a friend, but 528 00:34:09,760 --> 00:34:12,160 Speaker 1: on their way into town, they realized that some people 529 00:34:12,200 --> 00:34:15,640 Speaker 1: in Troy wanted to give Maggie a Hartford welcome. You see, 530 00:34:15,760 --> 00:34:18,440 Speaker 1: they'd arrived at the dock for the Hudson River Ferry, 531 00:34:18,480 --> 00:34:20,359 Speaker 1: but what they found was a group of men who 532 00:34:20,400 --> 00:34:23,800 Speaker 1: didn't look very friendly. So Maggie's carriage was instead guided 533 00:34:23,880 --> 00:34:27,400 Speaker 1: up the riverside and across the Troy Bridge. When the 534 00:34:27,440 --> 00:34:29,960 Speaker 1: carriage turned to take the road, though the men followed 535 00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:33,319 Speaker 1: at a distance, That's when they went from sinister to 536 00:34:33,400 --> 00:34:37,480 Speaker 1: downright threatening. Fortunately, Maggie's friends were quick enough to avoid 537 00:34:37,480 --> 00:34:40,640 Speaker 1: the bridge, opting to drive on to an even farther crossing, 538 00:34:40,880 --> 00:34:44,200 Speaker 1: but the group of men kept up. Their plan, whatever 539 00:34:44,280 --> 00:34:47,320 Speaker 1: it had been, had failed, and now they were angry. 540 00:34:48,480 --> 00:34:50,960 Speaker 1: They closed in on Maggie's carriage just as she and 541 00:34:51,040 --> 00:34:53,160 Speaker 1: her friend near the house where she would be staying. 542 00:34:53,600 --> 00:34:56,160 Speaker 1: The final stretch must have been a mad dash, too, 543 00:34:56,320 --> 00:34:58,759 Speaker 1: but Maggie was able to rush inside and bolt the 544 00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:03,000 Speaker 1: door before the mob re her. Frustrated again, they surrounded 545 00:35:03,040 --> 00:35:05,319 Speaker 1: the house and tried to break down the door. When 546 00:35:05,360 --> 00:35:09,000 Speaker 1: that failed, they sent rocks crashing through the windows. After that, 547 00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:12,480 Speaker 1: gunfire began and the whole family had to cower out 548 00:35:12,480 --> 00:35:16,480 Speaker 1: of sight until dark. Under the cover of darkness, the 549 00:35:16,520 --> 00:35:19,680 Speaker 1: family rushed a panic telegram to the Fox family, telling 550 00:35:19,719 --> 00:35:22,840 Speaker 1: them that Maggie was in danger. Assassins had laid a 551 00:35:22,840 --> 00:35:25,719 Speaker 1: plot to destroy her, it said, and they were back 552 00:35:25,760 --> 00:35:29,080 Speaker 1: the next morning. Again they tried to break into the house, 553 00:35:29,239 --> 00:35:32,720 Speaker 1: but failed. Over the next few days, Maggie stayed bunkerd 554 00:35:32,719 --> 00:35:37,040 Speaker 1: in the house while threatening men were almost always seen nearby. 555 00:35:37,840 --> 00:35:40,319 Speaker 1: When Leah received the message, she rushed to catch the 556 00:35:40,360 --> 00:35:42,879 Speaker 1: next train to Troy. She arrived to find the house 557 00:35:42,880 --> 00:35:46,280 Speaker 1: where Maggie was staying besieged by a crowd in disguise 558 00:35:46,440 --> 00:35:49,279 Speaker 1: and surrounded by friends, Leah was able to make it 559 00:35:49,360 --> 00:35:52,080 Speaker 1: through the blockade, but only when one of those friends 560 00:35:52,160 --> 00:35:56,040 Speaker 1: brandished a pistol to clear the path. On their way through, 561 00:35:56,080 --> 00:35:59,160 Speaker 1: they overheard the charges. The group was certain that the 562 00:35:59,200 --> 00:36:02,480 Speaker 1: girls were pracked seen witchcraft, just like so many other 563 00:36:02,520 --> 00:36:05,239 Speaker 1: times in places, it was an accusation that worked like 564 00:36:05,280 --> 00:36:08,359 Speaker 1: a charm. The men were determined that no witchcraft would 565 00:36:08,360 --> 00:36:11,040 Speaker 1: come into their town, and they decided to oppose it 566 00:36:11,080 --> 00:36:15,560 Speaker 1: with violence. Once she was inside, Leah found Maggie so 567 00:36:15,680 --> 00:36:18,320 Speaker 1: overcome by fear that she was sobbing on the floor 568 00:36:18,360 --> 00:36:21,800 Speaker 1: and vomiting. That night, Leoh was able to spirit Maggie 569 00:36:21,840 --> 00:36:24,880 Speaker 1: away in the dark, leaving Troy to return to Rochester. 570 00:36:25,600 --> 00:36:28,919 Speaker 1: Maggie escaped that crowd, but she couldn't escape the sense 571 00:36:28,960 --> 00:36:32,800 Speaker 1: of fear that now clung to her. In the aftermath, 572 00:36:32,840 --> 00:36:35,120 Speaker 1: her family decided that she should leave the state with 573 00:36:35,160 --> 00:36:37,440 Speaker 1: her mother so that she could have time to recover 574 00:36:37,560 --> 00:36:40,480 Speaker 1: in new surroundings. In search of a place where Maggie 575 00:36:40,520 --> 00:36:43,279 Speaker 1: would be surrounded by friends, they took up an invitation 576 00:36:43,360 --> 00:36:47,920 Speaker 1: from the Spiritualist community in Philadelphia. When Maggie arrived there, 577 00:36:47,960 --> 00:36:51,200 Speaker 1: she was still shaken. Barely twenty years old. She had 578 00:36:51,239 --> 00:36:54,360 Speaker 1: been traveling and giving seances for years under the direction 579 00:36:54,400 --> 00:36:56,839 Speaker 1: of her older sister, but she was ready to turn 580 00:36:56,880 --> 00:36:59,880 Speaker 1: a page in her story to start a whole new chapter. 581 00:37:01,400 --> 00:37:04,160 Speaker 1: What she found in the city wasn't quite what she expected, 582 00:37:04,400 --> 00:37:06,359 Speaker 1: but it would also be a pivotal moment in her 583 00:37:06,400 --> 00:37:09,759 Speaker 1: life because it was when she arrived in Philadelphia that 584 00:37:09,840 --> 00:37:15,000 Speaker 1: Maggie would meet Elisha Kent Kane. Maggie had barely begun 585 00:37:15,080 --> 00:37:17,920 Speaker 1: her sittings as a medium when an energetic and intense 586 00:37:17,960 --> 00:37:21,320 Speaker 1: man arrived and asked for a private seance. It started 587 00:37:21,320 --> 00:37:25,040 Speaker 1: the ordinary way. Elisha introduced himself and said he was 588 00:37:25,080 --> 00:37:27,200 Speaker 1: hoping to speak with the spirit of his brother who 589 00:37:27,239 --> 00:37:32,160 Speaker 1: had recently died. Maggie agreed, offering Elisha spirit contact through 590 00:37:32,160 --> 00:37:36,799 Speaker 1: the knocking sounds, and then he retreated. It was a 591 00:37:36,840 --> 00:37:41,080 Speaker 1: session just like most others, and entirely forgettable. That is 592 00:37:41,200 --> 00:37:44,719 Speaker 1: until Elishah came back the next morning. This time, when 593 00:37:44,719 --> 00:37:47,080 Speaker 1: he walked into the room, he stared at her for 594 00:37:47,120 --> 00:37:50,920 Speaker 1: so long that she started to get uncomfortable. Then, looking 595 00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:53,879 Speaker 1: down at her from his full heights, he said, this 596 00:37:54,000 --> 00:37:57,359 Speaker 1: is no life for you. Whatever the man meant by that, 597 00:37:57,480 --> 00:38:00,600 Speaker 1: it didn't stop him from sitting down for another seance, 598 00:38:01,040 --> 00:38:05,120 Speaker 1: not that day or the next. In fact, Elisha started 599 00:38:05,160 --> 00:38:09,720 Speaker 1: coming to Maggie seances every day. He brought friends and relatives, 600 00:38:09,760 --> 00:38:12,200 Speaker 1: and when he started to ask the spirits for clues 601 00:38:12,280 --> 00:38:16,000 Speaker 1: about the location of the missing Arctic explorer, Sir John Franklin, 602 00:38:16,400 --> 00:38:20,440 Speaker 1: Elisha's life began to come into view. Here's Nancy Stewart 603 00:38:20,560 --> 00:38:26,440 Speaker 1: once again. Elishah Cancaine was from an elite Philadelphia family. 604 00:38:26,520 --> 00:38:30,000 Speaker 1: His father was a judge and mother was from a 605 00:38:30,120 --> 00:38:33,440 Speaker 1: very well to do Philadelphia family and a very distinguished 606 00:38:33,560 --> 00:38:38,080 Speaker 1: upstanding citizens. And Elishah Cancaine is a physician, but he's 607 00:38:38,120 --> 00:38:43,720 Speaker 1: also an explorer. Like Maggie, Elisha was also a darling 608 00:38:43,760 --> 00:38:46,520 Speaker 1: of the press. For years, it had been his obsession 609 00:38:46,600 --> 00:38:50,400 Speaker 1: to find John Franklin's lost expedition. Now he thought the 610 00:38:50,440 --> 00:38:54,040 Speaker 1: spirits might be able to help. But it quickly became 611 00:38:54,040 --> 00:38:56,640 Speaker 1: clear that he had a new obsession when his daily 612 00:38:56,719 --> 00:39:01,040 Speaker 1: visits to Maggie Seances became several visits each day. In return, 613 00:39:01,440 --> 00:39:04,360 Speaker 1: Maggie began to notice things about Elisha that she liked, 614 00:39:04,760 --> 00:39:08,320 Speaker 1: an understated personal style and a tendency to help others. 615 00:39:08,880 --> 00:39:12,239 Speaker 1: He was kind, and in Maggie's world, that meant a lot. 616 00:39:14,520 --> 00:39:17,360 Speaker 1: By the time Elisha became friends with her mother, Maggie 617 00:39:17,480 --> 00:39:20,480 Speaker 1: was smitten. The three of them would spend hours together. 618 00:39:20,880 --> 00:39:23,760 Speaker 1: Until that is, Elisha's work took him out of town. 619 00:39:24,280 --> 00:39:26,960 Speaker 1: He had lectures of his own to give in Boston, 620 00:39:27,120 --> 00:39:31,359 Speaker 1: New York, and Washington. Elishah spoke on scientific subjects and 621 00:39:31,480 --> 00:39:36,600 Speaker 1: raised money for his next Arctic expedition, But Maggie and 622 00:39:36,640 --> 00:39:39,960 Speaker 1: Elisha didn't allow the distance to keep them apart. They 623 00:39:39,960 --> 00:39:43,080 Speaker 1: sent each other a flurry of letters. To Maggie, for 624 00:39:43,120 --> 00:39:45,800 Speaker 1: whom so much of life had been consumed with death 625 00:39:45,920 --> 00:39:49,000 Speaker 1: and caught up in the teeth of a hotly contested movement, 626 00:39:49,280 --> 00:39:53,759 Speaker 1: Elisha offered entry into a prestigious Philadelphia family and a 627 00:39:53,880 --> 00:39:57,880 Speaker 1: love unburdened by the schemes of the less honorable. In fact, 628 00:39:57,960 --> 00:40:00,560 Speaker 1: as they grew closer to each other, Ali Shaw became 629 00:40:00,640 --> 00:40:05,200 Speaker 1: less and less convinced that spiritualism was even real. Soon 630 00:40:05,560 --> 00:40:08,480 Speaker 1: he was urging Maggie to give it all up. It 631 00:40:08,520 --> 00:40:11,279 Speaker 1: wasn't just because he didn't believe in it, though, It 632 00:40:11,360 --> 00:40:13,880 Speaker 1: was also because he had decided that he wanted the 633 00:40:13,920 --> 00:40:16,520 Speaker 1: two of them to get married, but he knew that 634 00:40:16,560 --> 00:40:19,840 Speaker 1: if his wealthy Christian family was going to accept Maggie 635 00:40:19,880 --> 00:40:36,080 Speaker 1: into their fold, some things would have to change. Things 636 00:40:36,160 --> 00:40:39,560 Speaker 1: began to blow up. Maggie was under pressure to throw 637 00:40:39,600 --> 00:40:43,600 Speaker 1: away the life her family had created in spiritualism. Leah 638 00:40:43,719 --> 00:40:46,920 Speaker 1: was furious that her sister might shatter everything they've built 639 00:40:47,320 --> 00:40:50,720 Speaker 1: or a potential future with Alisha, so the Fox family 640 00:40:50,840 --> 00:40:55,480 Speaker 1: started to interfere with their relationship. Once Maggie was back 641 00:40:55,480 --> 00:40:58,920 Speaker 1: on the road, traveling from city to city to give seances, 642 00:40:59,200 --> 00:41:01,399 Speaker 1: she was more death spirit than ever to make every 643 00:41:01,440 --> 00:41:04,440 Speaker 1: day with Elisha count. They constantly worked to make their 644 00:41:04,480 --> 00:41:07,600 Speaker 1: paths cross. Once, when Elisha arrived in New York to 645 00:41:07,640 --> 00:41:09,880 Speaker 1: find that Maggie was in the city, he rushed to 646 00:41:09,880 --> 00:41:12,040 Speaker 1: the house where she was staying, but it was Kate 647 00:41:12,120 --> 00:41:14,880 Speaker 1: and Mrs Fox who met him at the door. They 648 00:41:14,920 --> 00:41:18,719 Speaker 1: told him that he was misinformed, Maggie wasn't there. He 649 00:41:18,840 --> 00:41:21,480 Speaker 1: was devastated later when he got a letter from Maggie 650 00:41:21,640 --> 00:41:24,320 Speaker 1: telling him that she had spent a miserable day waiting 651 00:41:24,360 --> 00:41:27,319 Speaker 1: for him, and as far as she knew, he never came. 652 00:41:28,960 --> 00:41:31,920 Speaker 1: For years, Maggie had followed Leah from town to town 653 00:41:32,080 --> 00:41:35,600 Speaker 1: and show to show. The family's decisions and instructions had 654 00:41:35,600 --> 00:41:38,480 Speaker 1: brought her into a life that was now narrowly confining 655 00:41:38,560 --> 00:41:41,280 Speaker 1: as the room where she had been locked up in Troy. 656 00:41:41,320 --> 00:41:44,480 Speaker 1: With the Troy gunshots still echoing in her ears, she 657 00:41:44,560 --> 00:41:48,560 Speaker 1: was now determined to leave the family behind. She and 658 00:41:48,640 --> 00:41:52,279 Speaker 1: Elisha plotted their escape. First, they knew that Maggie had 659 00:41:52,320 --> 00:41:55,760 Speaker 1: to be educated. Elisha made arrangements to pay for her schooling, 660 00:41:56,080 --> 00:41:59,360 Speaker 1: and then he took on the second bigger task, Leah 661 00:41:59,600 --> 00:42:02,480 Speaker 1: had to be pacified. All it took in the end 662 00:42:02,960 --> 00:42:06,239 Speaker 1: was monthly payments to her in the Family's objections just 663 00:42:06,320 --> 00:42:10,560 Speaker 1: sort of faded away. With arrangements made. It seemed like 664 00:42:10,640 --> 00:42:13,480 Speaker 1: there was smooth sailing ahead, but there was trouble yet 665 00:42:13,520 --> 00:42:16,719 Speaker 1: to come. Elisha had finally gathered enough money for his 666 00:42:16,800 --> 00:42:20,040 Speaker 1: next journey into the Arctic. His book, telling the story 667 00:42:20,080 --> 00:42:23,960 Speaker 1: of his first expedition, was published to great celebration. People 668 00:42:24,000 --> 00:42:26,279 Speaker 1: with deep pockets had lined up to invest in his 669 00:42:26,360 --> 00:42:28,759 Speaker 1: new ship and all the supplies that he would need 670 00:42:28,800 --> 00:42:32,759 Speaker 1: to brave the ice again. As with all journeys into 671 00:42:32,760 --> 00:42:35,560 Speaker 1: the North, there was a chance he wouldn't return. When 672 00:42:35,600 --> 00:42:38,160 Speaker 1: he set out. He left Maggie with a pile of gifts. 673 00:42:38,560 --> 00:42:40,759 Speaker 1: They were hints of the upper class life she could 674 00:42:40,800 --> 00:42:44,400 Speaker 1: look forward to, from lace under sleeves and handkerchiefs to 675 00:42:44,480 --> 00:42:47,239 Speaker 1: the central gift that came with the licious promise, a 676 00:42:47,320 --> 00:42:51,720 Speaker 1: diamond ring set in black enamel. So Maggie stayed the course. 677 00:42:52,239 --> 00:42:55,560 Speaker 1: She lived with elisious friends, studied hard, and agreed to 678 00:42:55,600 --> 00:43:01,600 Speaker 1: hold no more seances. Meanwhile, a Aisha's course had already begun. 679 00:43:02,080 --> 00:43:03,840 Speaker 1: He wound his way north at the end of the 680 00:43:03,920 --> 00:43:07,160 Speaker 1: year as things got colder, until one day they discovered 681 00:43:07,160 --> 00:43:09,920 Speaker 1: the ship was locked in ice. He found himself trapped 682 00:43:09,960 --> 00:43:14,000 Speaker 1: on the northwest coast of Greenland. Days stretched into months. 683 00:43:14,280 --> 00:43:18,000 Speaker 1: Elisha's crew was starving. He sent out scouting parties over 684 00:43:18,040 --> 00:43:21,359 Speaker 1: the ice, but they froze. Little by little. His men 685 00:43:21,440 --> 00:43:24,880 Speaker 1: were dying, and they began to see strange things in 686 00:43:24,920 --> 00:43:29,680 Speaker 1: the drifting snow. Glowing hands floated over the ship. One night, 687 00:43:29,760 --> 00:43:32,000 Speaker 1: as the men looked out over the frozen cove, they 688 00:43:32,040 --> 00:43:34,759 Speaker 1: saw a shadow flicker in the dark. When they moved 689 00:43:34,760 --> 00:43:38,840 Speaker 1: out to investigate, they found nothing, not even a footprint. 690 00:43:39,840 --> 00:43:42,719 Speaker 1: Alicia tried to chase away their fears, but there was 691 00:43:42,760 --> 00:43:45,799 Speaker 1: no reasoning with the crew. They believed that they had 692 00:43:45,840 --> 00:43:50,480 Speaker 1: seen a wraith trapped among the grinding ice. Elisha felt 693 00:43:50,520 --> 00:43:53,480 Speaker 1: his hope begin to dwindle. He knew that if he 694 00:43:53,560 --> 00:43:56,040 Speaker 1: was ever going to lay his eyes on Maggie again, 695 00:43:56,680 --> 00:44:01,440 Speaker 1: something miraculous wouldn't need to happen. But his time, it seems, 696 00:44:02,640 --> 00:44:08,640 Speaker 1: was running out. That's it for this week's episode of Unobscured. 697 00:44:09,200 --> 00:44:12,520 Speaker 1: Stick around after this short sponsor break for a preview 698 00:44:12,640 --> 00:44:18,520 Speaker 1: of what's in store for next week. Next time on Unobscured, 699 00:44:20,080 --> 00:44:22,759 Speaker 1: they had hoped the warmer climate might save him, but 700 00:44:22,840 --> 00:44:25,200 Speaker 1: the journey to Havannah turned out to be more deadly 701 00:44:25,239 --> 00:44:27,800 Speaker 1: than his trip to the Arctic. After he suffered a 702 00:44:27,840 --> 00:44:30,800 Speaker 1: stroke at sea, it seemed the only thing Elisha's family 703 00:44:30,880 --> 00:44:34,320 Speaker 1: had truly managed to shield him from was Maggie's loving words. 704 00:44:36,640 --> 00:44:39,080 Speaker 1: One of the last things he ever wrote was utterly 705 00:44:39,200 --> 00:44:42,080 Speaker 1: gut wrenching. It was an urgent plea for his wife 706 00:44:42,120 --> 00:44:46,480 Speaker 1: to write him something anything. A second stroke sent him 707 00:44:46,520 --> 00:44:50,799 Speaker 1: on his final journey. He passed away on February of 708 00:44:50,880 --> 00:44:55,760 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty seven. His body was taken to New Orleans 709 00:44:55,840 --> 00:44:59,080 Speaker 1: on a steamship, then up the Mississippi and Ohio rivers 710 00:44:59,120 --> 00:45:02,439 Speaker 1: to Cincinnati, whereas Coffin was loaded onto a touring train. 711 00:45:03,000 --> 00:45:06,680 Speaker 1: It made stops in Columbus, Baltimore and beyond as it 712 00:45:06,760 --> 00:45:10,760 Speaker 1: headed east. An American hero and a son of science, 713 00:45:11,120 --> 00:45:14,040 Speaker 1: his corpse was honored, just as his exploits had been 714 00:45:15,600 --> 00:45:18,680 Speaker 1: elishah Caine's scientific career was put to rest along with 715 00:45:18,760 --> 00:45:22,200 Speaker 1: his remains, although the tide of American science and conquest 716 00:45:22,400 --> 00:45:26,400 Speaker 1: rolled on to honor his memory and his wishes. A 717 00:45:26,480 --> 00:45:29,799 Speaker 1: grief stricken Maggie was baptized into the Roman Catholic Church 718 00:45:29,880 --> 00:45:33,799 Speaker 1: that August, and she swore that she would never hold 719 00:45:33,840 --> 00:45:55,360 Speaker 1: another seance again. Unobscured was created by me Aaron Manky 720 00:45:55,560 --> 00:45:58,760 Speaker 1: and produced by Matt Frederick, Alex Williams, and Josh Thayne 721 00:45:58,920 --> 00:46:02,440 Speaker 1: in partnership with Heart Radio. Research and writing for this 722 00:46:02,520 --> 00:46:04,759 Speaker 1: season is all the work of my right hand man, 723 00:46:04,840 --> 00:46:08,080 Speaker 1: Carl Nellis and the brilliant Chad Lawson composed the brand 724 00:46:08,080 --> 00:46:12,600 Speaker 1: new soundtrack. Learn more about our contributing historians, source material 725 00:46:12,840 --> 00:46:16,000 Speaker 1: and links to our other shows over at History unobscured 726 00:46:16,280 --> 00:46:28,280 Speaker 1: dot com, and until next time, thanks for listening. Unobscured 727 00:46:28,360 --> 00:46:30,320 Speaker 1: as a production of I Heart Radio and Aaron Monkey. 728 00:46:30,600 --> 00:46:32,600 Speaker 1: For more podcasts. For my heart Radio, visit the heart 729 00:46:32,640 --> 00:46:35,040 Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 730 00:46:35,040 --> 00:46:35,720 Speaker 1: favorite shows.