Most Haunted Place in America: The Fox Sisters Cabin

The history of the Fox Sisters Cabin has become quite famous over the last century and a half. It all began in 1848, in the small township of Hydesville, New York, where the two young Fox sisters grew up. Kate and Margaret Fox, 11 and 15 years old respectively, claimed to hear rapping noises in the night.

The cabin in which they grew up had already gained the reputation as being haunted. In March of 1848, when their mother also began hearing the mysterious rapping noises, the whole family became frightened. The unexplained noises were sometimes described as “knocking” noises, and at other times like “moving furniture”.

On the night of March 31, the youngest sister Kate Fox challenged the inexplicable noise-maker. She bid the supposed ghost to repeat back the snaps of her fingers – and it did. She asked the spirit to “rap” the ages of the two young girls – and it did.

Kate and Margaret began referring to the ghost as “Mr Splitfoot”, a common synonym for the devil. Some time later, the girls claimed the ghost had identified himself as Charles B. Rosma, a man who had been murdered and buried in the cellar of the Hydesville cabin.

According to the story, the neighbors came into the home, volunteering to dig up the cellar in search of Rosma’s remains. A few bones were found, but nothing evident of a human body. Many years later, in 1904, a human skeleton was discovered buried in the walls of the cellar, but no Charles B. Rosma was ever identified.

By 1850, the Fox girls were holding public séances. They became famous mediums, with the topics of “love affairs” and “stock market portfolios” being the most popular at first. It wasn’t long before the ability to communicate with the deceased became the priority of most sitters.

Finally, in 1888, as the health of Kate and Margaret waned, and relations with their sister Leah were on tight ropes at best – both due to years of alcoholism – Margaret Fox came forward. She wrote a signed confession to the press, soon published in the ‘New York World’ on October 21, 1888. Within this confession, Margaret explained the “unexplained”. She told of how the mysterious “rapping” noises began, and eventually escalated by the hands (and feet) of herself and her sister Kate. She also offered a public viewing in which she displayed the toe-cracking technique that resulted in such “rapping” noses.

“When we went to bed at night we used to tie an apple to a string and move the string up and down, causing the apple to bump on the floor, or we would drop the apple on the floor, making a strange noise every time it would rebound. Mother listened to this for a time. She would not understand it and did not suspect us as being capable of a trick because we were so young.”

Margaret went on to explain how Kate and herself developed their mysterious noise-making abilities, so much so that they were able to create a new era of “Spiritualism”.

“…my eldest sister [Leah], took Katie and me to Rochester. There it was that we discovered a new way to make the raps. My sister Katie was the first to observe that by swishing her fingers she could produce certain noises with her knuckles and joints, and that the same effect could be made with the toes. Finding that we could make raps with our feet – first with one foot and then with both – we practiced until we could do this easily when the room was dark. Like most perplexing things when made clear, it is astonishing how easily it is done. The rapping are simply the result of a perfect control of the muscles of the leg below the knee, which govern the tendons of the foot and allow action of the toe and ankle bones that is not commonly known. Such perfect control is only possible when the child is taken at an early age and carefully and continually taught to practice the muscles, which grow stiffer in later years.”

In 1889, one year later after the shocking display, Margaret attempted to recant her confession. Her sister Kate had written letters from her home in London immediately upon hearing of the toe-cracking exhibition in which she expressed her appalled reaction. She was shocked that Margaret would so boldly attack Spiritualism, but never once did she publicly berate her sister for her actions.

Within 5 years from the publication of Margaret Fox’s confession, both sisters had passed away. They were destitute, shunned by former friends, and buried as paupers. A dark cloud fell over the world of spiritualists and mediums world wide. A cloud that remains thick and heavy to this day.

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