The Fox Sisters, Margaret and Katie, from Hydesville, New York had paranormal experiences, beginning in 1848, which led to the foundation of the Spiritualism movement in the United States. Their experiences included poltergeists such as knockings and vibrations of furniture in their house. The sisters conducted seances, during which various spirits and entities were believed to be manifested. A third sister, Leah acted as their business agent. They were commonly known as the "Rappers from Rochester," because of the sounds that emanated during their seances. http://gaslight.mtroyal.ca/archive/99jan29.htm Prominent believers in Spiritualism in the 19th Century included Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Horace Greeley and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. http://www.unexplainedstuff.com/Mediums-and-Mystics/Spiritualism.html http://spider.georgetowncollege.edu/htallant/courses/his338/students/afields/webpage/fox_sisters.htm

The sisters did not support the increased interest in the Spiritualism that became the Spiritualist movement. In a letter to the editor of the New York Herald that Margaret wrote, she explained:,'Spiritualism is a curse. God has set His seal against it!…No matter in what form Spiritualism may be presented, it is, has been, and always will be a curse and a snare to all who meddle with it. No right minded man or woman can think otherwise… Katie later wrote, So far as I am concerned I am done with it. I will say this, I regard it as one of the very greatest curses that the world has ever known It is believed that some of the negative sentiment expressed by Margaret and Katie is based on the resentment of the sisters against their sister Leah, who used them and did not recompense them for their work at seances that were performed in the northeast region of the U.S. http://www.google.co.cr/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=2&ved=0CAsQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lourdes.edu%2FPortals%2F0%2FFiles%2FHistory%2FOnline_Narrative_History%2FONH%2FRappers.PDF&ei=6ZaOS6-PNIjgtgP71aDTCA&usg=AFQjCNFk0HGm9pqCvH3Ay1U5cwks8mSFyg&sig2=tPJ1Z5BcfOuBQxBFBABqcg

Belief in the phenomena of spirit manifestations continued with many, including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, even after a signed, but allegedly paid, confession by the then poor and alcoholic sister Margaret in 1888. http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/doyle.htm Both sisters had trouble with alcoholism, but they both recanted the confession a year later.

A documentary movie of the Fox Sisters' story, In Search of White Crows, was produced in 2007 by Ad-Hoc Productions. Chris Coffey has also produced a video of the Fox Sisters, detailing the guardianship and business management by the older sister Leah, the alcoholism of the sisters, the paid confession of fraud by Maggie in 1988, and the recanting of the confession a year later by both sisters. http://rochester.ynn.com/all-regions-news-2134-content/other_features/viewfinder/486416/there-is-no-death--despite-the-doubt/