In 1848, strange knocking sounds began inside a small farmhouse in Hydesville, New York.

Two young sisters, Maggie and Kate Fox, claimed the mysterious sounds were coming from a spirit... and that they had discovered a way to communicate with the dead.

What began as unexplained rappings inside their family home quickly became a sensation. The Fox Sisters were thrust into the public eye, séances spread across America, and a new religious movement known as Spiritualism began to take shape.

But decades later, the story took a dramatic turn.

Was it genuine spirit communication? An elaborate hoax? Or something more complicated than either explanation?

In the very first episode of The Haunting Line, we go back to where modern Spiritualism began and unravel the strange, controversial story of the Fox Sisters—and the legacy they left behind.

Because whether you believe them or not, the way we communicate with the dead was never quite the same again.

SOURCES & FURTHER READING

• Smithsonian Magazine — The Fox Sisters and the Rap on Spiritualism
• HISTORY — How a Hoax by Two Sisters Helped Spark the Spiritualism Craze
• Barbara Weisberg — Talking to the Dead: Kate and Maggie Fox and the Rise of Spiritualism
• Ann Braude — Radical Spirits: Spiritualism and Women’s Rights in Nineteenth-Century America
• Nancy Rubin Stuart — The Reluctant Spiritualist: The Life of Maggie Fox

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🎙️ The Haunting Line
Where History, Hauntings, and Folklore Meet.