We usually call them poltergeists. They developed a code of knocks that enabled them to start digitally responding and communicating with the entity that haunted their abode. Now, I am not making any claims about the reality of these spirits. In fact, the Fox sisters wavered throughout their lives about whether or not they were faking it. But that is not important, because what their little occult adventure did was spark Spiritualism, which was one of the most remarkable religious phenomena of the 19th century, especially in terms of its popularity and its ability to penetrate the upper echelons of society.
Spiritualism is basically a modern religion of mediumship, whose main ritual was the seance .
People would sit around a circular table in the dark and a medium would channel ghosts. The table might levitate and you might hear rappings or the medium might speak with the voices of the dead. Spiritualism was enormously popular. By the 1870's, there were 11 million spiritualists in the US, and it spread all over the world, especially among the upper classes and, most oddly, among certain scientists. This article appeared in The Sun newspaper on Wednesday 3rd February 1988 The child star of the Poltergeist horror films died from a heart attack yesterday - at the age of 12 Little blonde Heather O'Rourke suddenly collapsed while waiting to go into hospital apparently suffering from a severe bout of flu.