The History of Ghost Hunting – a timeline of the 1800s

The History of Ghost Hunting – a timeline of the 1800’s
By: Michelle McKay (founder of ColdSpot.org)
November 8, 2013

This is a brief timeline of a few ghost investigators and their test subjects in the 1800’s. I have in my possession several antique books on this subject and will add to this timeline as time permits.

This time period includes The Spiritualist Movement, which was a period of time that was very similar to the paranormal craze we are seeing again today. The Spiritualist Movement is generally agreed to have begun in the 1840’s and began winding down in the 1920’s. Although Spiritualism hasn’t really gone anywhere, it still exists today.

The Spiritualist Movement was a time when table tipping, live seances on stage, and the infamous “Ouija” board (a type of talking board, spirit board) was made popular, as well as the spiritoscope. It was a time when just about everybody and their mother-in-law were claiming to be psychic to make a quick buck (just as today). In fact, so many people were getting ripped off by “fake psychics” (charlatans) that the scientific community created an entirely new science they called “parapsychology” so that they could test the psychics for fraud.

For a quick visual lesson on the Spiritualist  Movement, take a wee look through my pinterest page on the Spiritualist Movement here.

Also see my article about the timeline of the 1900’s history of ghost hunting here.

 

Ghost Hunting in the 1800’s:

1714-1837
The Georgian era began in 1714 and ended in 1837.

1817
The Bell Witch poltergeist, of the Georgian era, in Adams, Tennessee began this year. Although the activity is said to have ended in 1828, some claim that some of the activity still continues today.

Some say that the Bell Witch never happened and was completely fabricated. According to Wikipedia, the entire Bell Witch incident comes from just two sources. The first source is from the book titled “History of Tennessee” by the Goodspeed Brothers, published in 1886, sixty years after the Bell Witch incident, where an entire paragraph is written about the events in the section on the history of Robertson County (it can be read here). The second source is from the book titled “An Authenticated History of the Bell Witch” (and here) written by Martin Van Buren Ingram in 1894, seventy-five years after the incident. To date, no other source of the Bell Witch written before 1886 has been found. Which is very strange considering it is said that the Bell Witch was infamous during its time. One would think there would be newspaper records of the incident from the 1820’s, but none can be found.

Also in 1817, an unknown scientist investigated the reported ghostly going-ons at the Tower of London.

1830
Marie Laveau (a Louisiana Creole practitioner of Voodoo) gains the title “Voodoo Queen” of New Orleans in the 1830’s. She was born in 1801.

1833
Michael Banim published his fictional novel titled, “The Ghost-Hunter and His Family“, in 1833 — thank you to Tim Prasil for this information. The usage of the term “ghost hunter” has so far been traced back to this book, and I haven’t come across any earlier usages. If anybody reading this has come across the term “ghost hunter” in usage before 1833 please let me know @paranormal4u.

1834
Major Edward Moor investigated the Great Bealings House in 1834.

1837
The Georgian era ends, and the Victorian era begins this year (and ended in 1901).

1840
Dr. Edward Drury (a physician) of Sunderland investigated a reportedly haunted house in 1840 at Willington Mill, near Newcastle which was owned by Joseph Proctor (a Quaker). Drury was called a “ghost detector” in the January 1860 edition of “The Spiritual Magazine”.

1848
The Fox Sisters, who lived in what was then Hydesville, NY, (now called Lily Dale) have been often credited for ushering in the beginning of The Spiritualist Movement. Some argue that The Spiritualist Movement started before the Fox sisters (see the book “Spiritualism: A Popular History From 1847“ by Joseph McCabe, page 10, published in 1920. I have one of the original copies of this book, very interesting read) . Kate (Catherine) Fox and Maggie (Margaret) Fox were mediums who took their show on the road. The third sister, Leah Fox, operated as their manager. Their career ended in 1888, when Maggie admitted to hoaxing. Later, Maggie withdrew her “confession” saying that she lied when she said they hoaxed it. Whether Maggie did any hoaxing is anyone’s guess. However, many people witnessed the phenomena at the Fox house even when Maggie was nowhere around.

1853
Michael Faraday (yes, that Faraday) conducted experiments with table-turning in 1853. Click here for more info.

1859
The book titled “Footfalls of the Boundary of Another World” written by psychical researcher Robert Dale Owen (a strong believer in Spiritualism) was published this year, 528 pages. I have one of the original copies of this antique book, over 155 years old, very interesting indeed! It details Owen’s investigations into the Fox sisters. He visited the Fox  house and interviewed the family members, and neighbours. The book also has plenty of other interesting information in regards to the paranormal and parapsychology of the day. So far, as far as what I have read, it does not make any mention of the Bell Witch. But I haven’t finished reading this book yet, so you never know.

1861
Sir William Crookes (a chemist and physicist) conducted his first paranormal investigation by testing the medium, Kate Fox (one of the famous ‘Fox Sisters’ of the Spiritualist Movement, see 1848). Crookes went on in later years to investigate the mediums Florence Cook and Daniel Dunglas Home.

1862
The Ghost Club was officially founded in 1862 in London, England, but has its roots in a discussion group at Cambridge University in 1855. Members of The Ghost Club included Charles Dickens, Siegfried Sassoon, Harry Price, Donald Campbell, Peter Cushing, Peter Underwood, Maurice Grosse, Sir Shane Leslie and Eric Maple. It is still in existence today.

1871
Sir William Crookes began testing the medium, Daniel Douglas Home, which lasted two years. Daniel was also popular for his reported ability to levitate. It is said he “floated” out a window then “floated” back in through another window on the third floor of Lord Adare’s home in 1868 in London, England. Other reports of his levitation demonstrations exist.

1874
Sir William Crookes began testing the medium, Florence Cook.

1881
Harry Price was born on Jan 17, 1881. On June 16, 1881 Marie Laveau (Voodoo Queen) dies in New Orleans at the age of 80.

1882
The Society for Psychical Research was founded in London in 1882 by Henry Sidgwick, Frederic Myers, and Edmund Gurney. Henry Sidgwick was the first President of The Society for Psychical Research. Members have included William Barrett, Lord Rayleigh, Arthur Balfour, and Gerald Balfour. It is still in existence today. Their website states that they are “the first organisation established to examine allegedly paranormal phenomena using scientific principles”.

1884
The American Society for Psychical Research was founded in 1884. Members have included Sigmund Freud, Carl G. Jung, and Alexander Graham Bell. It is still in existence today.

1890
The patent for the Ouija board (a type of spirit board) was filed on May 28, 1890, and the patent was issued on Feb 10, 1891.

1891
The book titled “Revelations of a Spirit Medium”, which exposed the tricks of fake psychics, was written this year by an anonymous author named “A Medium”. This book was later reprinted and edited by Harry Price and Eric J. Dingwall in 1922. This was also one of the books that inspired magician Harry Houdini to take up the duty of exposing fake psychics in the early 1920’s.

Also, William Thomas Stead (a pioneer of investigative journalism) wrote the book titled “Real Ghost Stories” published in 1891. Eerily, in 1892 he wrote a fictional story about a ship that collided with an iceberg — twenty years later Stead died aboard the infamous Titanic. But his wasn’t the only “prediction” of the Titanic (see 1898).

1898
The eerie fictional novel titled “Futility” about a ship called Titan that struck an iceberg off the coast of Newfoundland without enough life preservers which was said to be unsinkable was published in 1898 — 14 years before the Titanic sank after colliding with an iceberg. The novel was later said to be a prediction of the Titanic.

Also, William James is said by some to be the “Father of American psychology” and was one of the founders of the American Society for Psychical Research (see 1884). He wrote the book, “The Will to Believe, And Other Essays in Popular Philosophy”, published in 1912, two years after his death. The book includes one of his essays titled, “What Psychical Research Has Accomplished”, which is said to have been published in the 1890’s.

 

Further Suggested Reading Online:
Society for Psychical Research: spr.ac.uk
The Ghost Club: ghostclub.org.uk
American Society for Psychical Research: aspr.com/index.html
historynet.com/the-fox-sisters-spiritualisms-unlikely-founders.htm
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_sisters
unexplainedstuff.com/Mediums-and-Mystics/Spiritualism-The-fox-sisters.html
prairieghosts.com/museum.html
loyno.edu/~history/journal/1989-0/gregory.htm
academia.edu/437409/Spiritualism_Exposed_Scepticism_Credulity_and_Spectatorship_In_End-of-the-Century_America

 

Copyright © 2014 Michelle McKay. All Rights Reserved.