Before TikTok there were spirits: How two sisters from New York went viral for sparking a ghost craze in the 1800s

Margaret Fox, the mother of Margaretta “Maggie” and her younger sister Kate, brought a neighbor to their house in Hydesville, New York on 31 March, 1848, to witness a strange phenomenon. Close to bedtime every night, the teenage girls claimed that odd rapping noises would occur on the furniture and walls of their house.

The mother had become convinced that there was a spirit in the dwelling when it correctly guessed how many children she had when asked by making three sounds. Upon command, the otherworldly apparition made the same number of sounds as told during the demonstration for the neighbor and the person was convinced of the supranatural phenomenon’s validity.

Word spread like wildfire across Upstate New York, many people believing the house to be haunted by a peddler, who rumor had it had been murdered in the dwelling prior to the Fox family taking up residence there.

The two young sisters, just 11 and 14 at the time, were sent to live in Rochester where their older sister Leah resided. But the strange rapping sounds followed them there.

Isaac and Amy Post, influence people in the Rochester community, invited the sisters to give them a display of these mysterious sounds. They too were instantly convinced of the genuineness of the phenomenon and that the girls, including Leah, were mediums with the spirit world.

The couple rented out the largest venue in the city and 400 paying people showed up to see for themselves. While many denounced the girls as fakes, a committee of skeptics examined Maggie and Kate after the show and could not find evidence that it was a hoax.

April Fool’s prank becomes a movement

Their fame grew as newspapers spread their story far and wide. Soon thereafter they were performing séances for crowds in New York City helping people communicate with the dead. Kate would even end up in England were the spiritualism bug had spread as well.

A whole host of spiritualist mediums began to spring up across the nation and Europe, with the movement continuing to have many followers into the early 20th century despite a number of mediums being exposed as frauds.

How were the Fox sisters making the noises?

In 1888, Maggie Fox finally came clean and admitted to the New York World how she and her sister had been making the noises that it was a prank that spun out of control. As many of their skeptics had correctly guessed, the sisters had been manipulating the joints in their knuckles and toes using their knees and ankles to make the rapping sounds.

Get your game on! Whether you’re into NFL touchdowns, NBA buzzer-beaters, world-class soccer goals, or MLB home runs, our app has it all.

Dive into live coverage, expert insights, breaking news, exclusive videos, and more – plus, stay updated on the latest in current affairs and entertainment. Download now for all-access coverage, right at your fingertips – anytime, anywhere.