The Fox sisters, Margaret (left) and Kate (center) purportedly made a connection to the spirit world, replete with now infamous knocking sounds. The date was March 31, 1848. Location: the home of their parents in Hydesville NY (no longer in existence). The oldest sister Leah (right) did not claim the title of medium, and thought here sisters were frauds.

Some call this the birth of the new "spiritualism", and label it a religion. During the Victorian era it became quite the fad to be a believer, even hold parties. Since the new "religion" was popular mostly with middle and upper class people with money it's easy to see why public performances sprang up with entrance fees, and private seances were performed for money.

There are roots back to Franz Mesmer's "mesmerism" movement which favored trance-like states brought on by forms of hypnotism.

Margaret, for a short time during her marriage to the Arctic explorer Elisha Kane, stopped her medium activities and converted to Catholicism. After her husband's death, however, she returned to her money making activities as a medium.

Later problems with drinking, family squabbles, and a leaning back towards Catholicism, Margaret exposed the ghostly rapping sounds...the medium's incontrovertible "proof" of spiritual contact...as a fraudster's trick. In NYC she performed the knocks on stage, showing that is was just the cracking of her toe knuckles.

It leaves many undaunted. After all, many religions have sideshows, cheats, frauds, and criminals, yet the beliefs and believers still survive.
Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiritualism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_sisters

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