Have you ever heard the story about the Fox sisters? Long before social media and viral videos, two young sisters from New York became famous across the country — not for dancing or singing, but for talking to ghosts. Their story began as a simple April Fool’s prank in 1848, but it quickly grew into a worldwide obsession with spirits and the afterlife.
This is the strange and fascinating story of the Fox sisters, the girls who accidentally started the modern spiritualism movement. So, let’s learn more about it now that spooky season is coming, shall we?
Strange noises
It all began on March 31, 1848, in Hydesville, New York, where Margaret Fox lived with her daughters, Margaretta (Maggie) and Kate. That night, Margaret invited a neighbor to witness something unusual: weird knocking sounds on the walls and furniture.
During the visit, Margaret asked the “spirit” in their home to make a sound for each of her children and three knocks were heard — the exact number of her children. As you can imagine, the neighbor was amazed and convinced that a real ghost was answering them.
Soon, word spread quickly through the town and nearby areas. People began to believe that the Fox family home was haunted by the spirit of a traveling salesman who, according to rumors, had been murdered in the house before the family moved in.
Rochester
As more people came to the Fox home to hear the mysterious noises, the family decided to send Maggie (14) and Kate (11) to Rochester, where their older sister Leah lived. But the mystery followed them — the strange rapping sounds continued in Leah’s house, too.
That’s when a respected couple in the community, Isaac and Amy Post, invited the sisters to show them what was happening. When the Posts heard the knocks, they were convinced the girls could communicate with the dead.
So, they quickly organized a public demonstration in Rochester’s largest hall. Around 400 people paid to attend and see the girls in action. While some critics called it a hoax, a group of investigators examined the sisters afterward but could not find any evidence of trickery.
From a prank to a national movement
The Fox sisters’ story spread like wildfire. Newspapers across New York and beyond wrote about the mysterious ghost girls, and soon, the sisters were giving spiritual demonstrations for large crowds in New York City. People came to their events hoping to speak with lost loved ones through the sisters’ “rapping” communication.
Their fame grew so much that Kate Fox traveled to England, where the new craze for spiritualism was taking hold as well. All over the United States and Europe, spiritualist mediums began appearing, claiming to communicate with spirits. The movement had millions of followers well into the early 1900s, even though many mediums were later exposed as frauds.
The truth behind the ghostly sounds
After decades of fame and controversy, Maggie Fox finally told the truth in 1888 during an interview with the New York World. She revealed that the mysterious noises had been a prank that went too far. Basically, the sisters were the ones making the “spirit raps” themselves by cracking the joints in their fingers, toes, knees, and ankles. These sounds echoed through the wooden floors and walls, fooling listeners into thinking they came from ghosts.
As Maggie explained, the trick had started as a harmless joke, but once people believed them, they didn’t know how to stop.
Fox sisters’ legacy
Even after Maggie’s confession, the idea they created — that the living could speak to the dead — didn’t disappear. By the time she spoke out, spiritualism had already become a major cultural phenomenon. This story shows that even before the internet or TikTok, people found ways to become famous and spread ideas far and wide.