The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-10-30
HUNToON HOMESTEAD GoNE
FAMOUS PLACE HIIBRE THE EDDT
FAMILY LIVED BEING FORM DOWN.

Which Descended from nm Alleged Sn'
lem witch - The Family NJ Present,
RUTLAND. Vt, Oct. 2S.-The news that the
old Huntoon homestead Mt Spirit Vale" IL
Chlstendon. seven miles from this CITY, is be.
ing torn down to give place for n moro mod
ern aud prctentious dwelling house will bring
to many people rccollec:ions OF days and
nights spent there in communion with the In
habitants Of another world. For the Huntoon
homestead used 20 be the Eddy homestead,
aud It Is not many years since the Eddy fam
lily were the most noted and most uneXp!ain-
able spiritnalistic mediums of the country.
To-day their fame IL dead, except among the
inner circles of steadfast believers, and the
memory of their deeds extends no further
than the circulation Of the book which re-
cords them and has long been out Of print.
This book is perhaps the only existing me-
mortal OF their deeds. 1t 10. moreover. q re-
markable tribute TO their powers. About
twenty-five years ago Col. H. S. Qlcott inves-
tigated the doinGs Of this strange family. then
at the zenith Of its fame. Col. Olcott was q
hard-headed and practical newspaper man,
ypredisposed 20 doubt the unexplainable. but
also predetermined to give the subject a fair
and impartial Investigation. He took up' his
abode In the Eddy farmhouse, where. he says,
he was at first tolerated rather than welcomed.
He found the Eddy brothers. Horatio and
William. Woodworking farmers, obtaining,
like their neighbors. n scanty subsistence from
the rocky soil. and In their leisure hours living
a strange, silent. inner life. protesting to be in
communication with the spirits OF the dead.
and acting as mediums for the conveyance of
messages etween spirits and the living. Col.
olcott spent several weeks there. and said he
became convinced from what he saw and ex-
perienced that the assertions OF the Eddys
WAra rnfhar laau fhnn mora than tho Nr,,th
His articles on the Eddys attracted great at
tention. and in 1874 he published a book
which gave Il history of the family and OF
what he saw and heard there.
The strange powers Of the Eddy family were
inherited from the mother. Julia Ann Nc
Combs. who married Zephaniah Eddy. a farmer,
at Weston. Vt. She was of Scotch descent and
a first cousin of Gen. Leslie McCombs of Ken
lucky. Mrs. Eddy inherited her gifts in the
spiritualistic line from her mother. Her
Observation-Disclosures was possessed
OF similar powers and nearly fell a victim to
the Salem witch hunters. by whom she was
tried and sentenced to death in 1902. She
managed. however. with the help OF friends,
to escape to Scotland. Through such a line
OF ancestors it was that the Eddy family de-
rived their ability to see visions and appari-
TONS, to prophecy and to communicate with
the spirits Of the dead.
The first child born from the marriage OF
Zephaniah Eddy and Julia McCombs had the
fathers temperament, but each succeeding
one had the mothers. together with some
thing OF her gifts. II those who knew the
family in these early days may be believed.
they were the most unusua Of children from
their birth, Strange noises, rappinRs. ringing
OF bells and the like were heard around their
cradles. When they were a little older they
Others. while for pets they had animals of a
like nature. which they. knew and could call by |
day a white, furry animal was seen to pass
into the room, where the child lay in its cradle.
Presently the baby screamed. and when others
rushed in the animal dissolved into thin air.
In later years the children found little pleas
ure In attending the district school. for afterthe |
festations over which they seemed to have no
control would cause the teacher to treat. them
a nsts s9 pTnpSe fom HSnde tbs treated a6%. that at. %unfosta.
by latter-day scientific learning.
As may be imagined. the husband OF this
ordinary children looked upon their pecuiiari-
ties with surprise. largely mixed with dis |
dustrious and poor. compelIed by their cir
TIitb to be practical, and they view
other mems wives and children whom he knew |
TO be cody. SO that he was forced to believe
by the devil and to be dealt with accordingly. |
children relate that they suffered great
mold them into ordinary shape. He III found.
the Rochester rappinss in tts46 had Ssh snSei
conceived the thrifty idea Of turning his fam
ii!ly to account in a financial way. and accord
Snowman. who exhibited them in most of the
principal cities of this country and Canada.
these excursions both the exhibitor and the
frequently suffered great cruelty.
T ! ! were mo56ed az lynn South Danyers
ravia. N. Y. and Dunyille. Canada. and mar
rowly ESCAPED tar and feathers at two or three
as thoy We're TO the children. were not with
out profit. for by the time the father died, in
b bTo9rb the Them had m galRed do 4 rspIE Ut tb}nr which
They had also made the acquaintance of the
Spiritpalists, Of the country. and
who often visited the humble
Chittenden farmhouse.
Not only did their home become a Mecca for
those who took an interest in the professions Of
the Eddys. but they went TO New York. Boston
and lesser hs hS eIfies and aGSrG earned large sums q
remarked the other day to a Sun reporter who
him sitting IN apparently dangerous
proximity 10 ms beehlVes back OF his farm
We've made money enough TO buy fifty bet
terfarms than this one, but when it comes easy
Il is not likely. however. that it is all gone
for H3ratiS P6oNTSn s one Of the best farms
himself. he, never. married. but usually has
man OF about his own age living with
Huntoon, are the only ones Of the original Eddy
family left, in the neighborhood. William
Eddy. another brother, lives in Massachu-
who pretends 10 do anything In the me-
lium line to-day. She spends her summers at
5he Lake Pleasant, Mass, gatherings, and Is
always ready for q moderate fee, TO obllge
visitors by calling VI the spirits OF dead reia-
lives and friends; Horatio remarks indifrer-
entity that there isn't money enough in It to-
lay. but he sometimes allows his keen sense OF
lumor to carry him to the extent of mystifying
his friends by the exercise of his powers. One
his neiGhbors told how the visit OF a guest
II Horatio came to an abrupt end as n result
II his hosts, Joking capacity. The old man
had been there only two or three nights
when he was awakened about midnight and
Jaw by the moonlight which came in, the win
low n large rocking chair rocking vigorously
without any visible occupant. Then a sewing
machine, which stood in q corner " the room
whirring and the door opened and shut
rs though some one had entered. All
II these things were 40 unsettling to the old
nan that, In the. morning he announced to
1oratio that business required his presence
elsewhere, and he left on the early stage.
Another story tells how Horatip used his in
imacy with snirits to get, rid 81 n couple OF
%,isitors who had outstayed their welcome and