There was a city called Hydesville was a small hamlet about 20 miles from Rochester, New York in the United States. In 1846 the Fox family moved into a new residence in which, it had been earlier reported, some form of `haunting’ phenomena had been noticed. The family was composed of Mr. John Fox (a Methodist farmer), his wife Margarete and their two daughters, Kate and Margaretta. Kate was 9 and Margaretta was 12 at that time. The Fox family had six children, but only these two lived with the parents.

         Beginning at around the middle of March, 1848, the Fox family began to be disturbed by the strange sounds and activities. The children were so alarmed at what was happening that they refused to sleep apart and were taken into the bedroom of their parents. The sounds were so loud, that the beds themselves often shook. Every possible opportunity was made to ascertain the source of the sounds, but to no avail.

         On March 31, 1848, in a small cottage in the hamlet of Hydesville, two young girls made a concrete connection to spirit. The Americans consider this day to mark the beginning of the modern Spiritualist movement. Kate Fox, the youngest child, had an idea on this day: she decided to challenge the mysterious unseen power to repeat the snaps of her fingers. Kate said:

         - 'Mr. Split foot, do as I do,' clapping her hands.

         The sound instantly followed her with the same number of raps. When she stopped, the sound ceased for a short time.

         Then Margareth said, in sport:

         - 'Now, do just as I do. Count one, two, three, four,' striking one hand against the other at the same time; and the raps came as before. She was afraid to repeat them. Then Kate said in her childish simplicity to her mother:

         - 'Oh, mother, I know what it is. Tomorrow is April-fool day, and it's somebody trying to fool us.'

         Mrs. Fox decided to put a test that no one in the place could answer. She asked the noise to rap her different children's ages, successively. Instantly, each one of her children's ages was given correctly, pausing between them sufficiently long to individualize them until the seventh, at which a longer pause was made, and then three more emphatic raps were given, corresponding to the age of the little one that died, which was her youngest child.

         The events attracted large numbers of curious visitors to Hydesville, who were welcomed by the Fox family. Hundreds of people were called to see the phenomena as from this day. According to the girls, a form of intelligent communication with the unseen force was achieved, and a dialogue was developed using a different number of raps for each letter of the alphabet. One rap would mean ‘yes’ and two raps would mean ‘no.’ The girls used this simple code to ask questions of the spirit. This was the way that people started to communicate with the ‘dead’.

         The spirit's name was Charles B. Rosna and that he had been a peddler who stayed at the house five years prior to these incidents. He was 31 year old when he was killed by the person whom he lived with. This individual wanted to steal his goods and his money (around 500 dollars). The spirit said he had been murdered and buried in the cellar. An excavation of the cellar later proved that there were indeed the remains of a body buried there.

         The girls grew up and went to Europe. They were going to be investigated at the time to check if there were no tricks involved in Hydesville. This story proved to us the ladies were mediums. The Hydesville Phenomena opened doors for many other phenomena to come.

         In 1850, the phenomena of table-turnings started to happen in France from this moment onwards. It awakened the consciousness of many individuals, preparing us all for the advent of Spiritism.

         The Table Turnings were normal wooden tables in which participants sit around, place their hands on it, and wait for rotations. The table was the means of communicating with the spirits; the alphabet would be slowly called over and the table would tilt at the appropriate letter, thus spelling out words and sentences.

         The most popular method of consulting the spirits at that time was for several persons to sit round a table, with their hands resting on it, and wait for the table to move. Through physical manifestations, the table would rotate with considerable rapidity, and would occasionally rise in the air, or perform other movements. People would ask several questions to the turning –tables that would then answer back.

         Historians state that between 1853 and 1855 the table turnings were considered a hobby in Paris; they used to be present at all social events.

         It was in 1854 that a Professor called Rivail learned of the phenomena of the turning tables for the first time. He found out through a friend of his called Mr. Fortier. This was a fashionable and popular game played throughout Europe since the first appearance of the Spiritist phenomena in 1848, in the city of Hydesville, in the USA, with the Fox sisters.

         In the following year, after receiving more information about the intervention of the spirits from Mr.Calotti, his friend for more than 25 years, Denizard became more interested in the subject.

         He was quite sceptical about it; he stated he would only believe in the phenomena if he saw it happening in front of him. It seemed absurd for him to attribute intelligence to something purely material.

         In May 1855, he was invited by Mr. Patier, a very reliable and educated man, to participate in one of these experimental meetings. Professor Rivail had a great interest in magnetism and agreed to participate, thinking that the phenomena were somewhat related to each other. After attending a few sessions, he started to ask questions in the search for logical answers which could explain the fact that inert objects could send intelligent messages. He was awed by the manifestations, for it seemed that behind them there was an intelligent cause that was responsible for those movements. He decided to investigate because he suspected that behind those phenomena there was the revelation of a new law.

         After his initial astonishment and disbelief, Rivail started to consider the validity of such phenomena. The “invisible forces” manifested in these sessions, revealed themselves as being the souls of men who once lived on Earth. He then continued his studies and observations, even more convinced of what he was witnessing.

         He realised the so called “turning tables” were not communicating objects, but spirits of people who disincarnate. Back then, the world was curious about the endless psychic events that could be seen everywhere and that, later on, would become the advent of the greatest comforting doctrine – lately receiving the name of Spiritism – having as its Codifier, the immortal and famous professor of Lyon.

Text adapted from the original available on the site www.espirito.org.br

Translation: Carolina von Scharten, London, Sir William Crookes Spiritist Society linked to BUSS - The British Union of Spiritist Societies.