The Diakka

Andrew Jackson Davis
Source

As a paranormal investigator, I follow the creed that 'if you're a jerk in life, you're going to be a jerk in death.' More succinctly put, one's personality follows them in death. Dying doesn't automatically make you a good person, nor  does it necessarily give you a measurable uptick in wisdom.

Hudson Tuttle, a 19th century Spiritualist from Ohio, had this to say: "As the spirit enters the spirit world just as it leaves this [world], there must be an innumerable host of low, undeveloped, uneducated, or in other words, evil spirits."

While I don't agree that these spirits are 'evil,' I do agree that they often get that reputation. There are many locations where we investigate that have garnered a reputation of being home to a malevolent, or in some cases, demonic haunting. Sometimes these entities come across as malevolent and/or demonic, not because they actually ARE some type of evil non-human entity, but because they just aren't very nice. They may curse and growl at us, both through disembodied voice and through spirit boxes. They may tell us to leave, or even try to interactive physically through scratches or shoves.

Aside from the mean spirits of those who were mean in life, occasionally, you'll have a spirit that acts out in an improper way, much like a frustrated child throwing a temper tantrum. I believe that these spirits are desperately trying whatever works to communicate with us, and thus, they too fall under this category of low, undeveloped, and uneducated spirits. 

Andrew Jackson Davis, another 19th century Spiritualist known as the Poughkeepsie Seer, had a name for these entities. He called them 'Diakka,' and blamed them for the fraud and trickery often witnessed during seances. In modern times, could these Diakka still be practicing their trickery on paranormal investigators? We often get alleged communication with entities that just doesn't make sense, or have other experiences that just seem like someone is messing with us. 

These Spiritualists of the late 1800s/early 1900s believed that the Diakka resided on their own plane or sphere, much like being on probation and that the best way to avoid their influence is to live a pure life...since they liked to seek out those they felt were weak or had minds that most resembled their own. 

You can read Davis' book, The Diakka, for FREE via the Internet Archive! LINK HERE

Spirit Trumpets on Summers Street

Harry Houdini and Annie Benninghofen
1926

On August 12, 1920 the Charleston Daily Mail, a local newspaper for the Charleston, WV area, ran a small article announcing the 'considerable attention' a plumbing shop on Summers Street was attracting. It seems as if this plumbing shop had hopped on the Spiritualist bandwagon by displaying a selection of 'spook horns' in it's front window. The article goes on to explain that these spirit horns were used by psychic mediums who spoke in one end while the listener held the other end.

This lil' plumbing shop on Summers Street was somewhat behind the times (as we so often are, still to this day in West Virginia!). Spirit trumpets had been around for over 20 years already, since the late 1800's. They were created to solve a problem---during seances, spirits just seemed to have a really hard time having their voices heard. They spoke in garbled whispers, barely able to be understood by the human ear. So in response, mediums began fashioning amplifying devices to better hear the messages from beyond.

It is believed that the first spirit trumpet was created and named by Nahum, the son of famed Spiritualist medium, Jonathan Koons of Athens County, Ohio. It was certainly Koons who really made the use of the spirit trumpet popular among seance circles.

Charleston Daily Mail
12 August 1920

In the early days, spirit trumpets were generally homemade from metal or even cardboard. However, as they grew in popularity, their designs became more elaborate, with some even featuring glow in the dark rings at the end.  That was so you could actually SEE them floating through the air in the pitch dark of the seance room! Also, different makers began offering them for sale commercially. Everett Atwood Eckel was one of the first to do so, and sold the spirit trumpets in his tin shop, located in Anderson, Indiana. I assume that's the story with our plumbing shop in Charleston, WV. One wouldn't necessarily think to associate a plumbing service with contacting the dead (although maybe today you would, as the Jason and Grant from TAPS/Ghost Hunters were plumbers by day, investigators by night!) but if you think about it, a plumbing shop would be the perfect business to have the materials and skills necessary to fashion out skinny metal cones...whatever their intended purpose might be. But, perhaps there is more of a connection there. Maybe the owner belonged to the Spiritualist Church of Charleston (which I'll be blogging about at a later time). Or maybe they were taking advantage of their close proximity to the Plaza Theater on Summers Street, which regularly hosted performers such as Leona LaMar, The Girl with 1000 Eyes. 

Whatever the motive behind this plumbing shop featuring 'spook horns' may have been, the fact that they did so and it was documented in the local paper is just another testament to Charleston's spooky past and West Virginia's connection to the Spiritualist movement as a whole.

For more info on spirit trumpets:

How Victorian Mediums Gave Shy Ghosts a Megaphone, by Sabrina Imbler. 23 October 2019. Atlas Obscura.

"The Girl with 1000 Eyes" Comes to Charleston's Plaza Theater

Leona LaMar
Source: Wikipedia

Leontine DuMar was born in Rochester, NY on October 26, 1883. Although this was the same town the famous Fox Sisters hailed from, making it a modern mecca of the Spiritualist Movement, it is unknown whether or not a young Leontine also exhibited early signs of mediumistic ability. However, by the 1920's, Leontine, now going by her stage name of Leona LaMar, would be known as one of the best mentalists in the country. Billed as "The Girl with 1000 Eyes," she'd tour the United States, headlining vaudeville acts from city to city.

She and her husband, Walter (Hugh) Shannon, were a duo. They were signed by Terry Turner in 1910 and it is reported that they made $2500 a week off their show of mind reading and astrology, which Leona referred to as 'mental telepathy'. In one popular act of theirs, Hugh, referred to as 'The Professor,' would go out into the audience and randomly select small personal articles, such as a scarf or wallet. Leona, who would be blindfolded on stage, would then have to identify the article using mind reading. Her accuracy was outstanding and thrilled audiences as she could even correctly guess dates on coins and names on calling cards. 

From my modern perspective, I assumed that Leona, aided by her husband, was a skilled cold reader. In short, cold reading is a technique used by mentalists/psychics/etc. in which they ask leading questions and follow certain visual clues in the person's appearances/mannerisms/reactions to come up with high-probability answers to questions. And, I'm sure that to a degree, cold reading techniques WERE used in her acts. However, Joe Nickell, in his 2005 book, Secrets of the Sideshows, puts forth the explanation that Leona and Hugh had actually worked out an elaborate system of code. For example, if Hugh would say, "what am I holding?" that would signify it was a specific item, such as a scarf. But, if he said "What do I have in my hand?," that would indicate a different item as specified by their code. 

During the week of November 24, 1919, The Girl with 1000 Eyes was the headlining performer at the Plaza Theater in Charleston, West Virginia. The Charleston Daily Mail ran an article announcing the show, and sharing a little bit about what Leona could do. It was requested that audience members have faith when asking Leona to help them find friends and lost articles or answer any other pressing questions they may have. It was suggested that tickets be bought early, as seats would surely fill up fast. And, in addition to Leona's headlining act, this particular vaudeville show would also feature some wonderful singers, actors, and others. Phil Weir, Jack King, Margaret Ryan, Will Halliday, Curly Burns, and the 'Parlines' would all be there, accompanied by the Plaza Orchestra under direction of C. Raymond Minotti. 

After Hugh's death in 1930, it seems as if Leona would still perform...just not to the same degree of touring that she and her husband undertook. Leona herself would die in 1941 at her home in Englewood, New Jersey. She was buried at Mt. Carmel Cemetery. Her gravestone bears her given name of Leontine DuMar Shannon, and makes no mention of her profession as the Girl with 1000 Eyes. 

Throughout her career, Leona was often compared to and even said to have abilities far superior to Eva Fay, a contemporary medium/mentalist. Ironically, Eva Fay would be investigated by Harry Houdini for fraud, and after retiring in 1924, admitted to faking much of her work. As far as I can tell, Leona was never actually studied under controlled settings or ever really a part of any major public controversy. I don't want to downplay her 'abilities' because I honestly have no idea whether the possibility of her legitimately being a psychic can be proven or disproven at this stage. I think she avoided a lot of the scrutiny from the scientific community simply because her work on the vaudeville circuit, demonstrating this fun, little 'parlour tricks,' made her public persona one of an entertainer and not a Spiritualist. Although she answered questions from the audience, undoubtedly some of which were from grieving survivors, she wasn't regularly involved in seances, manifesting ectoplasm and  channeling deceased loved ones. She was telling people where their lost keys were and if her husband was holding up a hair comb or a dollar bill. She predicted the outcome of sporting events, and offered relationship advice, occasionally during special 'women-only matinees' held in larger cities.  And when she died, her profession was listed as 'actress.'

Even if Leona's 'ability' was strictly being really good at her novelty act and NOT actually possessing any real psychic senses, I think her story is an interesting one. It provides a glimpse into the Spiritualist movement that swept the country, especially in the years following the First World War. People were desperate for hope and desperate to have proof that life continued on after bodily death. They were also hungry for new forms of entertainment and escape from everyday monotony. While some viewed Spiritualism as a religion, others just enjoyed the novelty of the unknown. While Leona wasn't the only mystical performer to come to Charleston, West Virginia, or even the Plaza Theater (which still stands downtown and is said to have a haunted reputation), her booking is a fun snapshot into the history of Spiritualism in Charleston and a really interesting peek into the history of the old Plaza Theater. Leona LaMar has certainly earned her spot in the spooky and weird side of West Virginia history. But, like I said, she isn't alone! Over the course of the next few months, I have many, many more stories to share with you all about Spiritualism in Charleston and West Virginia as a whole! Until then, you may enjoy past stories I've shared, such as Effie Fulton: Huntington Spiritualist or Charleston's Very Own Ouija Board. 

The Charleston Daily Mail
24 November 1919

(NOT) Taking Psychic Relationship Advice: A Friday Funny

For my birthday last month, my husband and I had a tarot reading with the lovely Josey Rose, based out of the Crystal Lotus Shoppe in St. Albans. Both of our readings were extremely accurate, and extremely relevant to what we both needed to hear at the time. It was a very positive experience for both of us, but my husband had a few misgivings before the reading. He was convinced that the psychic was going to tell me that I should leave him...and he was convinced that if she did, I would actually follow up on it! 

I hope he knows that I'd never be so shallow as to leave him over a psychic reading. However, there's a good chance that if the reader was picking up clues from my higher self telling me what I needed to hear, well...that's another story, lol. Luckily, I have a wonderful husband and a strong marriage based on trust, love, and communication. So, we're good. In today's Friday Funny blog, I'll be sharing the story of another couple who ended up being good, but almost got divorced when a Spiritualist medium told the husband that he would find his 'dream woman.' 

From the 04 April 1914 edition of The Fairmont West Virginian: 

So, what happened was that a couple from Huntington, WV had filed for divorce. John W. Strauss, 83 years old, wanted to divorce his wife (who was 30 years younger) because he had alleged that she 'tantalized him by taking his clothing from the hooks and tossing them on the floor." It's not clear as to whether John sought the advice of a spiritualist medium before or after the initial request for a divorce was made, but at some point, he was told that if he were divorced, he'd find his dream woman---a blonde of unusual beauty. But, when he couldn't locate this replacement, he decided to work things out with his wife and NOT file for divorce.  Now, if he just wanted to divorce his wife because she threw his clothes on the floor, that's his prerogative. It's still kind of lame, and if that's the worst thing she does, then he should probably feel pretty lucky. But, I can see where that could rub on your last nerve until you finally snap. But, I don't think that's the reason. I think that was the EXCUSE he used to help justify why he wanted to leave a perfectly fine partner, thirty years his junior. I don't think he wanted to explicitly state that he was leaving his wife to wander the state in search of a beautiful blonde soul mate! 

Obviously, I would advise you against filing for divorce solely because a psychic told you there was someone better out there. Ending a relationship is a big decision, and shouldn't be taken lightly. Feel free to seek out the advice of a trusted reader if you want, but use some common sense. As you can see, Strauss never did find his beautiful blonde, but luckily for him, it seems as if his wife was willing to forgive him and take him back. I sincerely hope, though, that the rest of their marriage was filled with her throwing his crap on the floor every day of the year! 

Effie Fulton Brings Spiritualist Church to Huntington

Bluefield Daily Telegraph
14 March 1935

Over the years of researching the history behind haunted locations, I've stumbled across information that I have no idea how I found it. Sometimes, its information that specifically relates to a case I'm working on. I'll hit a research block, and then all of a sudden, the information or document I need pops up in the last place I'd expect. Other times, I'll be researching OTHER cases, and come across information for another location or topic, sometimes one that is new to me but immediately grabs my attention, and sometimes one that I've covered in the past but am still researching. After talking with other historians, paranormal researchers, and genealogists who have had similar experiences, I've come to the conclusion that someone or something has guided me to find this information. It can't all be coincidence and dumb luck; there are people on 'the other side' who desperately want their stories told. I think Effie Fulton is one of those people who don't want to be forgotten. 

Effie Leora Fulton was born on in Mercer County on September 12, 1878. She was the oldest of several children born to the Reverend Thomas Boyd Cook and Louisa Estas Thomas Cook, and in early records (such as census and marriage records) she actually goes by Leora Effa. On Effie's 17th birthday, she married her first husband, Joseph Marion Oaks/Oakes in Mercer County. Unfortunately, her husband would pass away in 1906 while living in Colorado, but not before Effie had given birth to three sons and three daughters. 

The Herald Dispatch
12 March 1935

It's not clear what brought Effie to study spiritualism. Her father, the Rev. Thomas Cook, was a devout Baptist preacher and God-fearing man. But, somewhere along the line, Effie realized that she had a gift of mediumship. She remarried, this time to a man named Joseph W. Fulton. I THINK she was still in Colorado at this time, but the couple soon moved back to Effie's place of birth, Mercer County, and settled in Matoaka, WV. 

Around 1914, Joseph W. and Effie came to Huntington, WV. Joseph worked as a conductor for the railroad, and Effie founded and served as the head pastor of the First Spiritualist Church of Huntington. While there is no mention of the Fultons or the church in the 1915 Polk City Directory, by 1920 the couple is listed as living at 1660 10th Avenue, and the church is located at 325 14th St. W, Huntington, WV. 

Approximate location of The First Spiritualist Church
325 14th St. West, Huntington
Image from Google Maps

Unfortunately, the site of the church is now a scary looking empty lot. Even more unfortunately, I can't seem to find much, if anything, about it. Thanks to the Polk City Directory, we have an address and a brief description of the location (southwest corner of 14th St. and Virginia Ave.) and obviously from obituaries, we know that it was founded by Effie Fulton around 1914, and she continued to be the leader of the congregation until her death. Aside from that, the only other mention I've seen is a brief sentence in an article written about a (slightly) less obscure medium from the Huntington area named Cliff Bias. It is noted that when Cliff was living in Huntington, he attended his first development circle with Effie at the Spiritualist Church. The 14 year old paid 25 cents to attend, but chose not to go back because he assumed he had wasted his money when he fell asleep and stayed asleep through the whole thing. However, the article notes that Cliff didn't actually fall asleep---he fell into a trance and vocally channeled a spirit. 

Throughout the 1920's, the Fultons lived at several different addresses in Huntington, but the church pretty much stayed at 325 14th St. W. Around 1928 something somewhat confusing happens. In the Polk City Directory for that year, Effie is listed as living at 1650 McGuffin Avenue and is widowed. However, further down the page, Jos W. is listed as living on 6th Avenue! I was quite confused, thinking maybe he had an adult son not only with his same name, but same occupation, or maybe that he had died, but there was a mix-up in the data reporting for the directory. But, I think I found what actually happened.

1928 Polk City Directory

Joseph W. Fulton passed away on May 3, 1930 after what looks like from his death certificate a pretty horrific accident. On his death certificate where marriage status is recorded, he's listed as being divorced. I guess it was less scandalous at that time for Effie to just tell the city directory people that she was widowed (which wasn't a lie; her first husband had died) rather than divorced. 

Mrs. Effie Fulton would join her two husbands in death on March 12, 1935. She passed away at her home at 1309 17th St. from complications due to pneumonia. Funeral services were held for her that evening in the home, and then her body was sent back to Mercer County the next day, where additional services were held at her mother's home before burial in the Athens Cemetery. Although she legally kept the last name Fulton, she was buried under the name Effie Cooke Oakes.  She was survived by her mother and her six children. 

Effie's Tombstone
Find-a-Grave, uploaded by D. Mack

I'm really surprised that information on the First Spiritualist Church of Huntington, WV wasn't more easily accessible, as to me, that seems like a pretty important piece of the city's history! I also wish that I could have found more research on Effie herself, as being both a medium AND the pastor/founder of a church seems like attributes that people would want to put out there. But, I'm thrilled that I just happened to stumble upon her obituary while looking up a newspaper article for another case. I have a feeling that there are plenty of hours of manually going through newspaper articles at the library for any mentions of the Spiritualist church and it's founder. Personally, I find the topic fascinating, and I'm looking forward to learning about Effie as a person, as well as Effie as a medium. I'd like to think that Effie reached out beyond the grave and chose me to be the one to tell her story...and I don't want to let her down! 

Further Reading and Sources:

Biography of Rev. Thomas Boyd Cook, written by grandson, William Lyons. Geni.com article. 

Clifford Bias: Trumpet Medium, by Travis Sanders. November 11, 2019

Effie Fulton Death Certificate. WV State Archives

JW Fulton Death Certificate. WV State Archives

Find-a-Grave Entry for Effie Cook Oakes

Marriage Record for Effie and J.M. Oakes (FamilySearch)

Madam Bess: Lewisburg's Clairvoyant

Mildred Carter Bess-Clairvoyant. Seated on the right. Source

Recently, I've been really interested in exploring a different side of West Virginia's paranormal history: the Spiritualism movement in the Mountain State, and, as an off-shoot of that topic---well known psychic mediums in our area. However, I was researching a completely different topic when I found a newspaper advertisement for 'Mildred Carter Bess--Clairvoyant' from Lewisburg, WV. On a whim, I did a quick Google search for Mrs. Bess, got a few hits, and felt compelled to share what little of her story I could piece together. 

Mildred Carter Bess was a prominent African-American citizen from Lewisburg, West Virginia. She was the daughter of Ed and Willie Carter, and although there are quite a few different birth dates given for her, it seems that she was born sometime between 1895 and 1900. Mildred was the wife of Forest Carter, and I actually found TWO marriage licenses for the couple on the WV Archives website. The first marriage certificate dates from September of 1920, when a 22 year old Mildred married 22 year old Forest (Forst) Bess in Lewisburg. The word 'void' is written in the top left corner of the document, then crossed out. The second marriage certificate is for the 1936 union of Forest Bess and Mildred Carter Bess, both 37 years old, in Greenbrier County. As the 1930 census lists a 26 year old DIVORCED Mildred Carter Bess living with her parents, Ed and Willie Carter, it would seem that the couple broke up, only to be remarried years later. Maybe that's why I felt an immediate draw to Mildred---my husband and I were together in our early 20's, separated, and then got married at 36. 

02 August 1937 edition of Raleigh Register

Anyway, the 1930 census also gives Mildred's occupation as medium/fortune teller, so it would seem that not only did Mildred discover her gift to contact the other side early in life, she made a career out of it fairly early in her life as well. Throughout the 1930's, her newspaper ad for a clairvoyant ran fairly regularly in The Raleigh Register, a newspaper from nearby Beckley, WV. She also ran ads in other newspapers around West Virginia and surrounding states offering readings by mail. All the client needed to do was send her their date of birth and $1. 

She was known to the local college girls, as 'Madam Bess,' and undoubtedly, she probably did plenty of business helping young ladies get a glimpse of their future husbands and/or career prospects. She was aided in her work by her crystal ball, which she kept covered when not in use. But 'Madam Bess' was much more to her community than just the local fortune teller.

Mildred Carter Bess was devout member of the John Wesley Methodist Church in Lewisburg, even donating at least one picture that hung on either side of the altar. She spent many years presenting a gold medal to the top-performing student at Bolling High School's graduation ceremony. She and her family are also strongly tied to one of Lewisburg's most historic businesses. 

25 January 1930 edition of Pittsburg Courier

In 1897, Mildred's father, Ed, purchased a building on what is now Washington Street. It is believed the building was built by slave labor, and could have been built as early as 1834. It served several purposes, including a post office, until 1891 when an African-American man named Frank Perkins purchased it and turned it into a barber shop. Ed Carter also ran a barber shop in the location until 1934. Although Carter remained owner of the building, he leased the barber shop to Jesse Lawrence McCoy and left the management of the property up to Mildred. 

Mildred had living quarters above and behind the barber shop, and up until 1934, she would have to enter through the shop itself. But, after it was leased to Mr. McCoy, she had a separate entrance put in. McCoy leased the barber up until shortly before his death in 1970, and over the decades, Mildred became close to the family. In 1991 McCoy's daughter, Mary A. Summerline published an article about her memories of growing up in her daddy's barber shop, and discusses her friendship with Mildred. As Mildred was a superstitious person who believed it meant good luck for a man to be the first visitor to one's home in the new year, each New Year's Day, Mr. McCoy would be sure to stop in early to pay her visit. 

Mary enjoyed visiting Mildred and would do so alone, or accompanied by her mother and/or sister. She notes that Mildred had an impressive piano (her mother had used it to give piano lessons) and they often bonded over piano music, after which Mildred often served juice and cookies. 

The barber shop is the blue building in the middle. Source

Forest passed away in 1951, and Mildred joined him in 1985. They are both buried in the Lewisburg-Bolling Cemetery. It doesn't appear that the couple had any children. However, Mildred's legacy lives on in the contributions she made to Lewisburg's African American community, and community of Lewisburg as a whole. And to me, her legacy lives on through a simple ad in a local newspaper offering the services of a clairvoyant.

As for the barber shop, it is now known as Flanagan's Barber Shop, owned by the Gene Flanagan family. Gene started working under Mr. McCoy in 1962 and took over the shop later on. The shop is still open today and is considered one of the oldest continually operated businesses in Lewisburg, and possibly the longest continually operated barber shop in the state. 

Additional Sources and Reading:

Daddy's Barbershop, by Mary A. Summerline. The Mountain Laurel, March 1991.

African American Genealogy-WV. Mildred P. Carter Bess. June 21, 2006. 

Ghost Research at Fairmont's Dixie Theater

If you've been on social media in the last ten years or so, you've more than likely seen those memes asking something along the lines of "Would you stay in this haunted house overnight for X amount of money?" Or, "Would you work the overnight shift at this haunted graveyard?"  Everyone has their price, and most people would actually jump at the chance to stay in a haunted location overnight, money or not. But...these are always hypothetical situations.

If you lived in Fairmont, WV in 1920, however, you could actually prove how brave you really were!  

I found the newspaper clipping above in the April 3rd, 1920 edition of The West Virginian. It was right there, under the WANTED ads. Depending on your gender and race, you could earn anywhere from $25 to $75 for spending the night alone in a local cemetery.  You had to stay there all night, absolutely alone, but you could bring a gun with you, just in case.  Oh, and you also had to spend the entire night CHAINED TO A BED.  Granted, it was guaranteed that the bed would be warm and comfortable, and it was all in the interest of science. 

Wait, WHAT? There's a lot to unpack in this short lil' Help Wanted ad. Why would being a woman of color net you $50 more than being a white dude? Were they actually just going to dump a BED in the middle of a cemetery, and then CHAIN YOU TO IT? What was this experiment setting out to accomplish?  And why the hell should interested parties contact the manager of the Dixie Theater?

Obviously, this sent me on a frustrating search for more information---a search that I'm still working on.  What I found, however, was that the Dixie Theater in Fairmont was located at 240 Main Street. Around the time of this article, it appears that the manager was a man named Russell Linn or Reno Fleming.  And...this little Wanted Ad  wasn't the only connection to spiritualism associated with the theater.

In December of 1918, the Dixie Theater hosted a lecture by Evangelist H.B. Wescott on the topic of spiritualism. Apparently, spirit photographs were shown on the theater's screen, and Wescott lectured on a biblical explanation of spiritualism. It's noted in the article, found in the December 28, 1918 edition of The West Virginian, that he had spoken previously on the subject, and there was such an interest that he was asked to come back. Is it possible that the experiment in 1920 was connected to another lecture or event on spiritualism hosted by the theater?  

The topic of Spiritualism in West Virginia has recently become an interest of mine, and there are a couple of more blogs in the works about various mediums and spiritualist groups from around the Mountain State. If you can't wait, here's another interesting newspaper article to tide you over.  It's about a Hungarian widow from Thurmond, WV who traveled to Huntington to seek clues in her husband's death from the famed spiritualist medium, Elizabeth Blake!

HUNGARIAN WOMAN SOUGHT MURDER CLUE FROM SPIRITS

Hungarian Woman Sought Murder Clue From Spirits

Today's blog post is another interesting newspaper article I stumbled across during my research.  It comes from the January 23, 1914 edition of the Huntington Herald Dispatch and is of interest to tri-state residents of both West Virginia AND Ohio!

HUNGARIAN WOMAN SOUGHT MURDER CLUE FROM SPIRITS

Widow of Thurmond Miner calls on Coreyville Spiritualist but Mrs. Blake is ill---instructed to return in February to communicate with unseen world.

Coming from a little mining camp near Thurmond, W.Va. to talk to her dead husband through Mrs. Blake, the far famed spiritualist of Coreyville, O., Mrs. Frankie Ravis, a Hungarian woman who cannot talk English, was forced to return last night when the mysterious woman of Coreyville was unable to talk with the spirit world.

Mrs. Blake told Mrs. Ravis that she was ill, but instructed her to come back without fail late in February, at which time she might hear her husband's voice.

When Mrs. Ravis came to Huntington, she was taken to police station by a business man to whom she appealed. The man could not understand the language she spoke and therefore asked the police to find an interpreter. The woman had a paper in her hand on which was written, "Mrs. Blair."

Sergeant Lee Wilson called Harry Ziegler, who speaks the Hungarian language, and in a short time Mr. Ziegler learned the Hungarian woman's story.

Late in last autumn her husband had fallen from a bridge near Thurmond and was killed. The wife suspected that he had been a victim of foul play, telling Mr. Ziegler that he had been struck on the head by a robber or assassin.

She desired to communicate with him in the spirit world through Mrs. Blake, of whom she had heard.  One of Mrs. Ravis' friends whose husband had been mysteriously murdered in a black-smithing shop had gone to Coreyville and talked with her dead husband through the spiritualist, according to the story given Mr. Ziegler by the foreign woman.

"How is Mrs. Blake going to communicate with the spirits when she probably can't talk Hungarian?" suggested a bystander.

When this thought was conveyed to the foreign woman she was perplexed not at all but declared that she couldn't talk to her husband in English because he didn't know that language any better than she did.  She thought that Mrs. Blake would have no difficulty in summoning the spirit.

Mrs. Ravis said after returning from Coreyville last night that she would return in February to communicate with her husband. She was greatly disappointed at not having the opportunity of hearing his voice again.

"The woman has some property in Thurmond, according to her statement to Mr. Ziegler yesterday afternoon.  Her husband had been a successful miner and saved most of what he made.

Mrs. Ravis is a picturesque character and in her younger days must have been a beautiful Hungarian woman. She gave the impression of being a woman of considerable education and her manner was one of culture. 

She wore a black dress, hat, and veil of foreign appearance.  Although having been in the country for a number of years she had associated practically none with Americans.

The Spirit Photography of Edouard Buguet

 This photo, titled Effet Fuidique, or, The Fluidic Effect (1875) is by the famous French spirit photographer, Edouard Buguet.
It's one of those photos that are hitting the social media scene hard.  I've seen it on both Facebook and Pinterest in the last week or so.  And, as most people have already assessed, this image is a hoax; it does not show an actual levitating chair.

Nevertheless, intrigued by such images and the history of spirit photography, I decided to dig a little further into Edouard Buguet's work.  What I found was that Buguet was well known for faking more than this early example of telekinesis (well, in this case, just a levitating chair, since the term 'telekinesis' wasn't coined until 1890 by Frederick Meyers)!

Born presumably in France in 1840, Buguet really hit the spirit photography circuit in 1874.  Influenced by the French Spiritualist movement that emphasized Mesmerism, before conducting a spirit photography session, Buguet would have both his camera and himself mesmerized.  The resulting photos were routinely featured in Revue Spirite, a French Spiritualist magazine published by M. Leymarie. One such photo that at the time was deemed one of the greatest spirit photographs of the time was the 1874 Woodbury carte de visite,  Mons. Leymarie and Mons. C. with Spirit of Edouard Poiret.

And, as early as 1874, Buguet came under the suspicion of fraud. However, it wouldn't be until a year later that he would actually be arrested for fraud, a crime that he originally confessed to.  The arrest came following a raid on Buguet's photo studio produced two shrouded dummies and 299 photographs of heads mounted onto cardboard.  At the September 1875 Spiritualist Congress held in Brussels, however, Buguet recanted this story, and said that the props were only used by his assistants when he was out sick...and that 2/3 of his spirit photographs were completely legit.

Even the testimony of several prominent clients combined with those statements couldn't keep Buguet out of jail for fraud, though.  He AND M. Leymarie were both sentenced to a year, and despite Buguet's claims that he was innocent and only made his confession in exchange for leniency, he never again took up the business of spirit photography.  He passed away in 1901.


Sources:
Beyond the Grave: A Brief History of Spirit Photography
The Spirit Archive
The American Museum of Photography

Harriet Beecher Stowe: Author, Abolitionist, Spiritualist

From Wikipedia

It's the beginning of a new month, yet the end of a chapter in Haunted History.  After several years of collecting tales from around the United States, this haunted location from Connecticut completes the first round of my Haunted America page!  Don't be too sad, though...I've already started on Round 2.  But first, here's a tale all the way from Hartford, Connecticut.

Everyone knows Harriet Beecher Stowe as the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, but few know that she was a devout Spiritualist as well.  It is these spiritual beliefs and practices that perhaps left their mark on one of several homes throughout the East that bear her name.

Today, the house is the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center of Hartford, Connecticut.  Built in 1871 for attorney and politician Franklin Chamberlain and his wife Mary, Stowe and her husband Calvin E. Stowe moved in around 1873.  This would be the home where Stowe would spend the last 23 years of her life, before passing away in 1896.

After her death, the home changed hands several times until it was purchased in 1924 by Katharine Seymour Day, who was the grand-niece of Harriet.  Katharine was an artist and a preservationist and worked hard over the 40 years she lived in the home to preserve it and turn it into a museum dedicated to the history of the family.

Volunteers and staff at the museum have long reported strange occurrences throughout the home. Footsteps are heard throughout the home, particularly in the dining room area.  In the parlor, the window shades flapped up and down on their own accord.  And, it the old carriage house, which is now a gift shop and visitor center, a bearded apparition has been seen.  In response to these claims, TV's Ghost Hunters investigated the house during their sixth season and unfortunately weren't able to substantiate much.  The bearded apparition sightings were "debunked" as a trick of light, but an EVP recording resulted in what sounded like checkers moving on a checkerboard when no one was in the home.

One of the theories as to why the home is so active is a direct correlation to Harriet's interests in Spiritualism.  Allegedly, this interest began with a trip to see her brother, Henry Beecher.  Henry hypnotized Harriet in 1843, leading her to believe that she had visited a spiritual land.  After that, she sought out the guidance of various mediums, going so far as hosting regular seances in her Hartford home.

But why was so Harriet so fascinated with Spiritualism?  There really isn't any one answer, but there are a few circumstances that undoubtedly led her to this path, beginning with the strict, Calvinist ideals of her preacher father, to which she and her brother, Henry, rebelled. Secondly, Spiritualism was in fashion with the times, especially with those of a progressive view of the world and politics as a means of scientifically explaining the spirit world.  And finally, it was simply because Harriet was no stranger to tragedy, and possibly sought out Spiritualism as a means of keeping in touch with loved ones who passed on.

Harriet was married to her father's employee, Calvin Stowe, in 1836, shortly after the death of Calvin's first wife, Elizabeth.  Elizabeth and Harriet had been friends and was affected by her death same as Calvin.  Throughout their marriage, until his death in 1886, Calvin was a sickly, hypochondriac who often claimed to regularly see the ghost of his first wife.

The couple had seven children, several dying before their time.  In 1849, while living in Cincinnati, their son Samuel died of the cholera epidemic that hit the city.  In 1857, another son, Henry, drowned in the Connecticut River.  This death was theorized to really send Harriet deep into the world of Spiritualism, as she was worried that the teenager had not made his peace with God before his unexpected passing.  Another son, Frederick, simply disappeared in 1870. 

Whatever the reasons for the activity in Harriet's Connecticut home, it is still said that the home IS haunted.  Each October, the museum hosts special ghost hunting tours called The Spirits at Stowe's Tour, where equipment is provided for visitors to try to capture their own evidence of the afterlife.

Links of Interest:
Harriet Beecher Stowe Center Website
Find-a-Grave--Biography and Burial Information
Harriet Beecher Stowe and Spiritualism by Al Benson, Jr.

Spook Messages

While doing research at the library, I found this article in a March 29, 1911 edition of the Huntington Advertiser.  It's not REALLY paranormal, but shows that the influence of the Spiritualism movement was still alive and well into the 20th century!  It also shows that charlatans have been preying on the vulnerable for years, using grief and faux messages from deceased love ones. 

SPOOK MESSAGES WERE EFFECTIVE

ENABLED WASHINGTON WOMAN TO GET MONEY

SON OF HER AGED FIANCE SUES TO RECOVER THIRTY-SIX THOUSAND DOLLARS

Washington, March 29---Spooks with a penchant for high finance have made Mrs. Laura Cramer, a government employee, the defendant in a suit instituted by the son of Fenton J. Hurd, a wealthy octogenarian to whom she claims to have been betrothed and from whom she received $36,000.

The son asserts that spooks wrote letters to his father advising him to "take good care of Mrs. Cramer and give her money."  He is now trying to get the money back.

Mrs. Cramer admits having indicted a few bright thoughts from over the Styx to her aged lover, but says she did so because he "was just crazy to get some message from his dead wife."  She declares Hurd gave her the money "just because he loved her."

I found a follow-up to this story in a May 5, 1913 newspaper called the Reading Eagle.  Basically, it states that Mrs. Laura Cramer milked this elderly gentleman out of a sum closer to $40,000...and was being forced to return it to his estate.  Mr. Hurd was a Connecticut millionaire, but had been declared incompetent by the state of Connecticut.  Originally, Mrs. Cramer had been awarded the money, but Hurd's son had appealed, and a higher court demanded the money returned.

The message to take away from today's post:  If the spirits are telling you to give exorbitant sums of money to your MUCH younger lover...you better make sure they actually are from the other side!