The Fox sisters were three sisters from Rochester, New York who helped start the Spiritualism movement. Their names were Leah (born April 8, 1813; died November 1, 1890), Margaretta (also called Maggie; born October 7, 1833; died March 8, 1893), and Catherine Fox (also called Kate; born March 27, 1837; died July 2, 1892). The two younger sisters used "rappings" to show their older sister and others that they were talking to spirits. Their older sister then helped manage their careers for a time. All three sisters became successful mediums for many years.

In 1888, Margaretta admitted that the rappings were not real and showed how they had done it. Even after this confession, the Spiritualism movement kept growing in popularity.

Early years

In 1848, the two younger sisters, Catherine and Margaretta, lived with their parents, John and Margaret, who were Methodists, in Hydesville, New York. Hydesville was a small village that was part of the township of Arcadia in Wayne County, New York, near Newark. The girls were born and raised in or near Consecon, a small village in Prince Edward County, Ontario. Their father owned a farm there. The family moved to Hydesville, New York, in 1847.

The house was said to be haunted, but it was later reported to be a prank. The sisters claimed in 1888 that they made the strange sounds by cracking their knuckles and joints and other methods. By that time, 40 years later, the sisters were well-known mediums. Margaretta Fox later mentioned that neighbors believed the house was haunted, supposedly after a man was murdered there by a man named Bell, who was wrongly accused.

Kate and Margaretta were sent to Rochester, New York, during the excitement. Kate stayed with her sister Leah (now married as Leah Fox Fish), and Margaretta stayed with her brother David. The strange rappings followed them. Amy and Isaac Post, a Quaker couple and longtime friends of the Fox family, invited the girls to their home in Rochester. They quickly believed the strange events were real and helped share the story with their Quaker friends. These friends became the early supporters of Spiritualism. In this way, Spiritualism became connected to important social causes, such as ending slavery, promoting temperance, and supporting equal rights for women.

Emergence as mediums

On November 14, 1849, the Fox sisters demonstrated spiritualist rapping at the Corinthian Hall in Rochester. This was the first time spiritualism was shown to a paying public and marked the beginning of many public events involving spiritualist mediums and leaders in the United States and other countries.

Kate and Margaretta Fox became famous mediums and held séances for hundreds of people. Many early séances were not serious, with attendees asking about topics like the state of railway stocks or personal love affairs.

Horace Greeley, a well-known publisher and politician, supported the sisters, helping them gain acceptance in higher social circles. Their public séances in New York in 1850 attracted important people, including William Cullen Bryant, George Bancroft, James Fenimore Cooper, Nathaniel Parker Willis, Sojourner Truth, and William Lloyd Garrison. Although Greeley supported them, the lack of parental supervision led to problems, as both young women began drinking wine.

Starting in 1850, some critics, including physician E. P. Longworthy, John W. Hurn, Reverend John M. Austin, and Reverend D. Potts, claimed the girls made the rappings themselves. In 1851, Reverend C. Chauncey Burr wrote in the New York Tribune that the loud sounds came from cracking toe joints. That same year, investigators from the University at Buffalo concluded the raps were made by cracking body joints and would not occur if the girls had cushions under their feet.

In 1851, Mrs. Norman Culver, a relative of the Fox family, signed a statement admitting she helped the sisters during séances by touching them to signal when to make the raps. She also said Kate and Margaretta taught her how to produce the raps by cracking their toes and using their knees and ankles.

Charles Grafton Page, a patent examiner, noticed in his 1853 book Psychomancy that the rapping sounds came from under the girls' long dresses. In 1857, the Boston Courier offered $500 to any medium who could prove paranormal abilities. The Fox sisters tried, but a committee, including magician John Wyman, concluded the raps were made by body movements, and the sisters failed the test. A report by the Seybert Commission in 1887 said that after investigating mediums like Margaretta, the phenomena could have been faked. The report also noted that the raps were heard near Margaretta, and a séance sitter, Professor Furness, felt pulsations in her foot.

Kate was examined by physicist William Crookes between 1871 and 1874, who believed the raps were real. However, Crookes was described as easily tricked, and other mediums he studied were later caught using tricks.

Harry Houdini, a magician who worked to expose Spiritualist frauds, noted that in 1888, the sisters traveled to New York City. A reporter offered $1,500 if they revealed their methods. On October 21, 1888, Margaretta demonstrated publicly at the New York Academy of Music, showing how she could make raps heard throughout the theater. Doctors in the audience confirmed the sounds came from cracking her toe joints.

Margaretta gave a signed confession to the press, explaining the origins of the mysterious rappings in the New York World on October 21, 1888. She described the events in Hydesville.

After leaving home, Margaretta continued her Spiritualist travels with her older sister, Mrs. Underhill. She later used her lower leg muscles to create raps.

Due to pressure from the Spiritualist movement and financial struggles, Margaretta retracted her confession in writing in November 1889. She tried to return to Spiritualist performances but never regained the attention or income she had earlier.

In 1904, remains were found in a cellar when a false wall collapsed. The Boston Journal reported the discovery as the body of a supposed peddler on November 22, 1904. However, police did not investigate, as a physician found the remains were random bones, including chicken bones, and concluded they were placed as a joke.

A few years later, a "peddler tin box" was claimed to have been found in the cellar, though no earlier accounts mention it. The remains and the tin box are now in the Lily Dale Museum. Skeptical researcher Joe Nickell later found that at least part of the bones were animal remains, confirming the hoax. No proof of the peddler’s existence has been found. The alleged false wall was likely due to foundation expansion, not a hidden grave.

Personal lives

Leah married a successful Wall Street banker after the death of her first husband. In 1852, Margaretta met Elisha Kane, an Arctic explorer. Kane believed that Margaretta and Kate were involved in fraud, guided by their sister Leah, and he tried to end Margaretta's connection to the group. Kane married Margaretta anyway, and she became a member of the Roman Catholic Church. After Kane died in 1857, Margaretta returned to her work as a medium.

In 1871, Kate traveled to England. A wealthy New York banker paid for the trip so she would not need to accept money for her medium work. The trip was seen as missionary work because Kate only held séances for important people, who allowed their names to be printed as witnesses. In 1872, Kate married H.D. Jencken, a London lawyer, scholar, and Spiritualist supporter. Jencken died in 1881, leaving Kate with two sons. In 1876, Margaretta joined her sister Kate in England.

Over time, Kate and Margaretta developed serious drinking problems. Around 1888, they had an argument with their sister Leah and other Spiritualists, who were worried that Kate drank too much to care for her children. At the same time, Margaretta, thinking about returning to the Roman Catholic Church, believed her abilities were evil.

Kate died at her home, 609 Columbus Avenue in New York City, on July 3, 1892. Less than a year later, Margaretta, struggling with alcoholism, lived on charity as the only tenant in an old tenement house at 456 West 56th Street. She was taken to the home of Spiritualist Mrs. Emily B. Ruggles, 492 State Street in Brooklyn, where she died on March 8, 1893. All three sisters are buried in Brooklyn, New York: Margaretta and Catherine in Cypress Hills Cemetery, and Leah with the Fox family in Green-Wood Cemetery.

Legacy

The Fox sisters are often mentioned in parapsychology and spiritualist studies. Psychologists Leonard Zusne and Warren Jones wrote that "many stories about the Fox sisters do not mention that they admitted to tricking people and that the rappings were not real spirit activity." In 1989, C. E. M. Hansel observed that "surprisingly, the Fox sisters are still talked about in parapsychological studies without mentioning their trickery."

• A musical titled The Fabulist Fox Sister (2020) was created by Luke Bateman and Michael Conley.
• A podcast called The Foxes of Hydesville (2023) was written and directed by Shawn Christensen and features Carey Mulligan.
• The story of the Fox sisters was included in the sixth episode of season four of Drunk History, titled "Siblings." In this episode, Catherine and Maggie Fox were played by Sugar Lyn Beard and Sarah Ramos, respectively.
• Maggie and Catherine briefly appear in Dan Simmons’ 2007 novel The Terror. In the story, the main character, Francis Crozier, has visions during a fever dream caused by alcohol withdrawal. One vision shows the Fox sisters as children performing a séance to find Franklin’s lost expedition. Another vision shows Maggie as a young woman speaking with her lover, Elisha Kane, a well-known Franklin searcher.
• Kate and Maggie appear in the Supernatural episode "The Mentalists." In this episode, Kate is shown as a kind ghost, and Maggie is shown as a dangerous spirit.