The Spirit book

Introduction exerpt

It all officially began on the night of Friday, March 31, 1848. That was the night when two frightened children and their mother “spoke” with the spirit of a dead
(murdered) peddler.
The episode occurred at the Fox homestead in Hydesville, Wayne County,
New York. Hydesville was a small community founded by Dr. Henry Hyde in 1815.
The Fox family rented and moved into a small cabin in the community on December
11, 1847. For several weeks, strange, unexplained taps and knocks were heard in various parts of the house. John Fox and his wife, Margaret, would move from room to
room, carefully examining both the outside and the inside of the building, searching
for the source of these noises. They ensured that shutters were tightly fastened and
that no tree limbs rattled against the structure; that cupboard doors were fixed firmly
and animals safely penned. Yet night after night the noises continued. It was usually
during the hours of darkness that the raps and taps were heard, causing John and Margaret to prowl the house through the night, with lanterns in hand