The Missing Link in Modern SpiritualismUnderhill, A. Leah (Ann Leah)
Religion
The Missing Link in Modern Spiritualism
Underhill, A. Leah (Ann Leah)
Fox family; Spiritualism
The next day we resumed our labor. The ladies accompanied their husbands
and friends. We had started as early as possible. Mr. S. B. Smith, my
sisters husband, my brother David, and some of the neighbors turned out
five or six wagons to convey us to our destination, forming quite a
procession of our own; but as we came to the turn of the hill, from
whence we could see in all directions, there were vehicles of every
description wending their way to the "haunted house." Shouts of ribaldry
and roars of laughter fell upon our ears like the death-knell of some
poor soul--who might almost begin to feel himself guilty of crimes he
had never committed.
We entered the cellar. On came the noisy rabble. Our noble, pale-faced,
honorable men stood firm in their duty. Mark the contrast, dear readers:
many of those noble souls now stand in the higher ranks in glory. They
have passed through the fiery furnace, entered the "golden gate" of the
new Jerusalem; and to them offer your praises and admiration. Such men
and women as those dared to stand before the world and battle for the
right. It was _such as they_ who fought and won the great battle against
slavery and contributed to its overthrow. May they continue to live in
the memories of the children of earth.
Through the second day the digging was frequently interrupted by the
rude entrance of some of the outside crowd. We (the women) formed a
guard around the place where the work was in progress, to protect the
men thus engaged. We had candles in our hands, with which to light the
laborers, when suddenly one of the workers cried out, "Great God! here
are the pieces of a broken bowl!" (The Spirit always said that the bowl
which caught his blood was buried; and he represented nightly the sound
of pouring blood into a vessel or bowl, dropping slower and slower,
until at last it ceased entirely; and then the sound would come as if
the bowl were thrown and broken in pieces.) Several bones were found
which doctors pronounced human bones, stating to what parts of the body
they belonged. One, I remember, was said to be from the ankle, two from
the hands, and some from the skull, etc. (Some persons, who never saw
these bones, argued that they were not human bones, hair, and teeth
which were there found. But I ask, in the name of common sense, how did
they happen to be there, nearly six feet beneath the cellar bottom?)
In the afternoon the crowd outside grew more bold, and among them were
sympathizers with the man who was accused by the general public opinion.
We pitied him, and regretted that he had been named; but we never knew
that such a man had lived, until the neighbors had brought out the fact
by putting questions which were answered by the rappings.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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