So the boys and their father retreated to their home near Buffalo, where, as Barnum put it, “they continued to hold ‘circles,’ hoping to retrieve their lost reputation as good mediums-by being, not more honest, but more cautious.” Illustration of the Davenport Brothers in their cabinet, from The Spirit World Unmasked, 1897. Neither did claims that spirits were responsible for any deceptive acts. The Davenports tried to salvage their stay in New York City with private séances, but further flubs didn’t help. That put a damper on things, and the audience left in anger. Ira and William were seen running around with the instruments in their hands. The boys, whose perfect innocence was assumed, were going along just fine until a policeman attending a séance decided to spoil all the fun by lighting a lantern in the middle of a show. Barnum wrote in his 1865 book, Humbugs of the World, “the noise made by ‘the spirits’ was about equal to the united honking of a large flock of wild geese.” Sometimes, he noted, a guest would “get a ‘striking demonstration’ over his head!”
Eager Spiritualists were seated against the wall, leaving the open space for the spirits to roam free and play a few tunes while the boys remained tied up at a table in the center of the room.Īs P.T. This, of course, happened in an entirely dark space.Īfter some local séance circles in the early 1850s, the Davenports thought they were ready for the big time, so they made their way to New York City. Their ghosts typically manifested themselves by playing a selection of instruments left in the center of the room, often guitars and banjos. This skill allowed them to create a séance in which the boys could be tied up in their chairs before connecting with spirits. As children they learned the art of rope-tie escapes from their father, a detective who had witnessed others perform such feats-clearly with a keener eye than most. Ira and William were born in Buffalo, just a few hours away from Hydesville, in 18, respectively. Mayhem with spirits during a Davenport Brothers séance, 1869. The boys’ séances would soon develop into an extraordinary exhibition unlike anything anyone had seen before. The apparent mediumistic powers of the Hydesville, New York, sisters-not older than 14-kicked off the Spiritualism movement and a whole new wave of wonder about what lies beyond the veil.Īmong the earliest to capitalize off the Fox sisters’ phenomenon were two brothers, Ira and William Davenport. With a few knocks on walls and raps on tables back in 1848, Kate and Maggie Fox began the nationwide craze of talking to the dead.
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