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The Phenomena of Psychic Art
By Elizabeth Owens
FATE :: April 2004

A simple definition of psychic art is an artistic rendering that is produced when spiritual energy influences an individual, with or without their conscious knowledge.

For a complete definition, it is appropriate to begin in the year 1848, because that is when a phenomenon occurred that indirectly led to psychic art being introduced to the public. The phenomenon was called “spirit rapping,” and it emanated from within the home of the Fox family. The interest that grew from the phenomenon was so intense that, coupled with people’s need for reassurance in an afterlife, it created a religion with millions of devoted followers. That religion was Spiritualism.

It all began while Mr. and Mrs. John D. Fox were temporarily residing in a modest cottage in Hydesville, New York, with their two young daughters, Margaretta, age 14, and Catherine (Katie), 12. Shortly after moving into the cottage, the family heard odd noises, movements, and rappings and felt vibrations. The longer they lived in the cottage, the more intense and persistent the racket became, making sleep impossible.

The girls, growing tired of the disturbances, brought some levity into the situation on the night of March 31, 1848. Katie clapped her hands and demanded of what she thought to be a spirit, “Mr. Splitfoot, do as I do.”

Immediately the spirit agreeably responded in kind with raps. Margaretta joined in the fun now, also ordering the spirit to follow her lead. She began to count out loud as she clapped her hands in accordance with the numbers. The raps responded in kind again.

Mrs. Fox began to participate, asking questions of the spirit and also receiving raps in response. She and her daughters devised a code, and eventually Mrs. Fox was able to determine that the spirit creating the raps was a peddler who had been murdered five years prior for his goods when he was 32 years of age. His name was Charles Rosna. He further relayed that his body could be found buried in the cellar, which it eventually was.

News of this remarkable phenomenon traveled far and wide. Hundreds converged upon Hydesville, New York, to witness spirit communication by the Fox sisters ...

Read the rest of this article in the April 2004 issue of FATE

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