- Time Period
- 3/31/1848
- Description
- On March 31, 1848, Margaret Fox, 15, and sister, Kate, 11, decided to scare their mother by pretending to communicate with a ghost through a series of raps in their Hydesville, N.Y. farmhouse. Their astonished mother invited neighbors to come witness these communications. As the crowds grew, an older sister, Leah Fox Fish, took the girls to Rochester and New York to conduct larger seances.Soon, mediums began to come forward across the country -- and Spiritualism, the belief that spirits can communicate with the living through mediums, was embraced as one of the wonders of their times (one popular tenet: the equality of all souls).In her 1888 memoir The Death Blow to Spiritualism, Margaret Fox confessed to the prank. But the movement was undeterred.In 1893, James Martin Peebles and Cora L.V. Scott, among others, founded the National Spiritualist Association of Churches, formalizing Spiritualism as a religious group.
- Interactive Timeline(s)
- Women and Religion
- Browse Related Timeline Entries
- Women and Religion in American History
- Religious Groups
- Timeline Entries for the same religious group Spiritualist Family Spiritualist Family: Other ARDA Links
- Movements
- Spiritualism
- Photographs
-
Fox sisters- Internet Archive- from Abraham Lincoln and Religion -
Fox family and their Hydesville home- Internet Archive- from Hydesville by Thomas Olman Todd -
The three Fox sisters- Internet Archive- from Nineteenth Century Miracles by Emma Hardinge Britten -
The Death Blow to Spiritualism, cover- Internet Archive - Book/Journal Source(s)
- Lippy, Charles, and Peter Williams, 2010. Encyclopedia of Religion in America. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press.
- Melton, J. Gordon, 2009. Melton's Encyclopedia of American Religions, Eighth Edition. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale.
- Web Source(s)
- http://www.historynet.com/the-fox-sisters-spiritualisms-unlikely-founders.htm "The Fox Sisters: Spiritualism's Unlikely Founders"
- Web Page Contributor
- Sandi Dolbee Affliated with: Former Religion and Ethics Editor, The San Diego Union-Tribune
Syntax Repository
Download syntax files and recreate popular religious classification schemes in survey data.
Measurement Wizard
Browse 165 concepts used in the study of religion, review how survey researchers measured them in the past, and quickly compare the results of more than 7,600 survey questions.
Data Archive
The archive is a collection of surveys, polls, and other data submitted by the foremost scholars and research centers in the world. Review and analyze data online, or download free of charge.
Compare Nations + Regions
Compare up to eight nations or eight regions of the world on all measures included in the National and Regional profiles.
Regional Profiles
Examine the religious composition, religious freedoms, demographics and multiple social and political measures for 22 global regions and the world.National Profiles
Examine the religious composition, religious freedoms, demographics, constitutional clauses, survey findings and multiple social and political measures for 250 nations.
GIS Maps
View neighborhood maps of congregations and generate a community profile for your area of interest.Maps
View maps of the United States and individual states for hundreds of variables, including congregational membership, census data, crime statistics and many others.
Reports
Generate congregational membership reports for any county, state and urban area in the United States using data collected by the Religious Congregations & Membership Study.US Congregational Membership
Denominational Web Pages
Find all of the ARDA's information on the largest denominations and religious groups in the US on dedicated webpages for each group.Group Profiles
The profiles chart schisms and mergers, document membership trends, offer basic descriptions, and link to additional resources for more than 400 past and present American religious groups.
Religion Family Trees
Family trees diagram the rich history of major world religions and American denominations.
QuickLists
Using the best available data, the following lists provide data on American and international religion in rank order.
U.S. Congregations
Browse dozens of topics from a major national survey of religious congregations. See how the responses vary by the size, religious family and region of the congregation.U.S. Surveys
Browse dozens of topics covered by major national surveys. See how the responses vary by demographic categories and, when available, how they change over time.
Religious Minorities
Through the aid of text, pictures, and graphics, explore the history of non-Christian religious minorities in the United States.Social Movements & Religion
Interactively explore the role of religion within various social movements in the United States history.Prominent Religious Events & People
Interactively explore the most significant events and people in the history of American religion.
U.S. Maps
View maps of the United States and individual states for hundreds of variables, including congregational membership, census data, crime statistics and many others.International Maps
World and regional maps for measures of religious adherence, socio-economics, and religion and state relations.GIS Maps
View neighborhood maps of congregations and generate a community profile for your area of interest.
|
Fox Sisters Contact a Spirit
|
Subscribe to the ARDA: 
Copyright © The Association of Religion Data Archives. All Rights Reserved.