The times., 1898-11-13

published book which gave a 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 McCombs. who married Zephaniah
Eddy. farmer. at Weston. VT. She was
| of Scotch descent and a first cousin of
| Gen. Leslie McCombs, of Kentucky. Mrs
Eddy inherited her gifts IN the spiritual
| istic line from her mother. Her great
| great-great-grandmot was possessed
of similar powers and nearly fell victim
to the Salem witch hunters, by whom she
was tried and sentenced to death in I6s2
She managed, however. with the help of
friends. to escape to Scotland. Through
such a line OF ancestors IL was that the
{ Eddy family derived their ability to see
visions and apparftions, to prophesy, and
! to communicate with the spirits OF the
dead.
The first child born from the marriage
OF Zephaniah Eddy and Julia McCombs
| mad the fathers temperament, but each
| succeeding one had the mothers, together
| with something OF her gifts. II those
VINO knew the family In these early days
may be believed. they were the most un-
| usual OF children from their birth.
Strange noises. rappings, ringing of bells.
and the Ike We're heard around their era
dies When they were little older they
would play for hours with children invfsf-
bic to others, while for pets they had anil
| mais or n like nature, which they knew
and could call by name It IS related of
one of them that one day a white, furry
animal was seen to pass into the room
| where the child lay in its cradle Pres
emily the baby screamed and when 9TH
ers rushed in the animal dissolved into
| thin air
In later years the children found little
pleasure In attending the district school,
Tor after they had been there a.few days
| spirituaiistic manifestations over which
they seemed to have no control would
cause the teacher to treat them as JON
| abs companions treated that unfortunate
| prophet. Hence their powers were never
| hampered by latter-day scientific learn
| Ing.
As may be imagined. the husband Of
this unusual wife and the father of these
| extraordinary children looked upon their
pecuiiarities with surprise. largely mixed
| with dispieasure- The farmers of Chit
tenden are industrious and poor. COM
PEELED by their circumstances to be prac-
| teal and they view with disfayor any de-
| parture from time-honored customs
| Zephaniah Eddy had seen other mem S
wives and children whom he knew to be
| godly, so that he was forced to believe
| the practices OF his own family were in
! spired by the devil and to be dealt with
accordingly. The children relate that
they suffered great cruelties at his hand )
| in his vain effort to mold them into ordi-
nary shape He found however. that
| this was impossible, so after the Roches-
ter rappings in 1876 had ushered in the
new dispensation of spiritualism he con-
ceived the thrifty idea of turning his
| fn rpilv n N n financial and
accordingly hired three or four OF the
| children to a Snowman, who exhibited
| them in most of the principal cities Of
! this country and Canada Another show
man took them to London. On these ex-
| cuTsions both the exhibitor and the ex-
hibited frequently suffered great curelty.
| They were mobbed at Lynn, South DAN
| vers and Waltham, Mass; West Cleye-
land, o.; Moravia, n. Y, and Dunvilie.
| Canada, and narrowly escaped tar and
! feathers at two or three places. Yet
| these journeyings. unpleasant as they
were to the children, were not without
! profit for by the time the father died, in
1860, they had gained a reputation which
brought them many dollars In later days.
They had also made the acquaintance of
the leading Spiritualists OF the country.
and among their friends In after years
| was Nine. Blayatsky, 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
cities and earned large sums Of money
by holding seances.
II is not likely that It is all gone yet,
for Horatio owns one of the best farms
In the neighborhood and does very little
l., 10.
usually has some man Of about his own
age living with him as companion. He
and his sister, Mrs. Huntoon, are the only
ones of the original Eddy family left in
the neighborhood. William Eddy. an
other brother, lives in Massachusetts.
Mrs Huntoon is the only one of the trio
who pretends TO do anything in the me-
dunn line today. She spends her Sum-
mers at the Lake Pleasant. Mass,
gatherings. and is always ready, for
moderate fee, to oblige visitors by call
ing up the spirits of dead relatives and
friends.
It is somewhat strange that, although
the curious powers of the Eddy family
have descended to them through long
line of female ancestors. they seem to
have stopped with the generation which
through them attained the greatest fame.
for neither Mrs. Huntoon's two sons nor
her daughter are unusually gifted. More
than that, neither Mrs. Huntoon's hus-
band nor children are believers in spir-
itualism, although. as the husband says,
There's a reason for most everything,
but I've seen some things l couldn't un-
derstand."
The daughter also, though an unbeliever,
related one undoubtedly veracious Incl
dent illustrative of her mothers unusual
qualities. She had gone with Mrs. Hun
toon to Middlebury, where the latter was
booked to hold seances for two weeks.
One morning, after she had been there
two or three days. the mother announced
her intention of returning home at once,
being sure, she said. that something
dreadful had happened to some of the
family. Her daughter tried to dissuade
her and finally said that she wasn't going
back anyway, because she had an engage
ment to go to a dance that night. So the
mother started back alone On arriving
at the Rutland station she hunted up the
stage driver and asked him IL he had
seen the family. He said he had, and
added:
by the way, your son had pretty mar
row escape yesterday"
Then he told her that her eldest son
had been working on new building with
his father and had fallen to the ground
with no worse injury than a severe shak-
ing UP.
1t was an instance. of course, of mental
telepathy. but it shows how extremely
sensitive is the organization of these med
iums.
In addition to the powers OF prophesy-
ing, second sight and communicating
with spirits. the Eddy family professed u
have the power of levitation, this takine
., ;, bat ~ tran "a To
from place to place by some inner agency.
-. z.l.sI. l..