Talking to the Dead- Kate and Maggie Fox and the Rise of Spiritualism

I read this book some time ago, but I thought a review at this time of year would be appropriate.

This is a very nice book written about the lives of the Fox sisters. Maggie and Kate are the two more notable sisters, but they also had an older sister Leah.

The Fox sisters are known for their debatable ability to talk to the dead. They held seances and received messages from the dead relatives of living people at their seances, and from other figures (notably Benjamin Franklin).

The sisters perform during the mid to late 1800s and are observed, tested, and even examined by skeptics and believers. At this time, they were very influential in the spiritualism movement.

"Talking to the Dead" author Barbara Weiseberg gives an account of one seance where believers are thoroughly convinced that the sisters have communicated with spirits. Skeptics at the same seance are also convinced that they are watching a fraud.

At a young age, they claim to communicate with a man who was murdered and buried in their home through knocking sounds. People come from all around to witness the the sisters communicating. They take their show on the road. After some time, there is a confession of hoaxing- and later a retraction of the confession. After the death of the sisters, bones are found in the family home.