The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1874-12-04
A CARNIVAL OF GHosrs

A CARNIVAL OF GHOSTS.
The millions of Spiritualists in the
United States find their Mecca, just
now, in little farmhouse which lies
seven miles north of Rutland, vt. 1t
is the home of VIM. H. and Horatio G.
Eddy, and it is haunted by hundreds of
ghosts. Col Henry S. Olcott has been
Investigating the phenomena for the
New York Sun and the Graphic. His
series of letters in the latter paper have
been profusely illustrated. The Chi.
cago Tribune condenses from beth
sources an account, apparently au-
thentic, of the Eddy brothers and their
doings1 They were, it seems, tormented
by spirits from their birth. Their
father, prosaic farmer, first essayed to
cast out the devils by beating and starv-
ing the victims. When this failed, he
used his children's spiritua1istic gifts
TO make money. They gave exhibitions.
He superintended the show and pocketed
the proceeds. The boys and their
sister (now dead) were mobbed, stoned,
beaten, burnt and shot. They were
twisted into agonizing positions, and
tied there for hours, while the mani
festations went on. When they came
home, they would gladly have relin-
quished their inconvenient powers, but
they could not. It is noteworthy, by
the way, that these powers were in
heEited. Mrs. Eddy, the mother of the
boys, was a cfairvoyant. Her mother
had the same faculties. Her great
grandmother was sentenced to death
for witchcraft in 1894, but was rescued
from Salem jail by friends, and
secretly sent to Scotland. The children
could not go to school, for they were
accompanied thither by rappings that
drove the other scholars wild with fear
They have consequently had little edu-
cation. They are, and always have
been, unpopular. They are shy, gruff,
sensitive men. Their reputation for
integrity is good, but the neighbors
think they are in league with the devil.
With this preface about themselves, we
pass to what they, or the spirits around
them, have done. There have been
thousands of manifestations. Very
many have consisted only of feats of
clairvoyance, moving furniture. and
rapping out communications. Two
great classes of facts remain-the float
ing in air of human bodies and the ma
terialization of spirit forms. Horatio
Eddy, when he was in his seventh year,
was one night carried three miles
through the air to neighboring noun
tain-top, and left to get home as he
could. Col. O1cott gives no authority
for this story, which may be founded
on mere case of sleep-walking, but he
quotes the testimony of two out of three
eye-witnesses to the fact that another
brother, now dead, was carried out of a
window and over the house. There are
hundreds of instances to be given under
the second grand division-the ma
terialization of spirits. The ghosts OF
known and unknown persons have ap.
peared in the house and in the neigh
borhood, in darkness and In light
People have talked with them and have
felt them. They have been distinctly
seen. Col. Olcott weighed the spirit
of an Indian girl, Honta, twice. She
stood on a Fairbanks scale and weighed
SO pounds the first time and IS the next
He turned the full force of a battery
upon her without producing any appar
ent effect. Nearly all the phenomens
attending the appearances of Sc Katie
King" in London and in Philadelphia
have been repeated in or around the
Eddy homestead. Very many persons
have Witnessed them. a6
Since Col. Olcott began his investi
cation he has received innumerabl'
letters from all over the country asking
him to procure information on differen
points from the spirits. Most of tn
letters, it is needless to add, are yer.
silly. They serve to show, neverthe
less, how wide spread public interest il
this subject is. Is Spiritualism cheat
or is it true? There are many, man.
people who would give a good deal t.
have that question definitely decided.