Hydesville, The Story of the Rochester Knockings Chapter 6/8

CHAPTER VI.

Amongst the investigators introduced to the household was a Mr. William Deusler, of Arcadia, an

immediate neighbour of the Fox family at this time, and from his testimony we gather a great many

interesting facts as to the evidence offered by the injured spirit in order that its identity could be

clearly established.

Mr. Deusler had formerly lived with his father in this house, and the message that the spirit had

received an injury, prompted him to ask if either he or his father had been the cause of such an injury.

On receiving an assurance that they were in no way responsible, the investigation was continued, the

results being here given in Mr. Deusler’s own words—

“I then asked if Mr. —— [naming a person who had formerly lived in the house] had injured it,

and if so, to manifest it by rapping, and it made three knocks louder than common, and at the same

time the bedstead jarred more than it had done before. I then inquired if it was murdered for money,

and the knocking was heard. I then requested it to rap when I mentioned the sum of money for which it

was murdered. I then asked if it was one hundred, two, three or four, and when I came to five hundred

the rapping was heard. All in the room said they heard it distinctly. I then asked the question if it was

five hundred dollars, and the rapping was heard.

“After this, I sent over and got Artemus W. Hyde to come over.[A] He came over. I then asked over

nearly the same questions as before, and got the same answers. Mr. Redfield sent after David Jewel

and wife, and Mrs. Hyde also came. After they came in I asked the same questions over and got the

same answers. . . . I then asked it to rap my age—the number of years of my age. It rapped thirty

times. This is my age, and I do not think any one about here knew my age, except myself and family. I

then told it to rap my wife’s age, and it rapped thirty times, which is her exact age; several of us

counted it at the same time. I then asked it to rap A. W. Hyde’s age; then Mrs. A. W. Hyde’s age. I then

continued to ask it to rap the ages of different persons—naming them—in the room, and it did so

correctly, as they all said. I then asked the number of children in the different families in the

neighbourhood, and it told them correctly in the usual way, by rapping; also the number of deaths that

had taken place in the different families, and it told correctly. . . .

“I then asked in regard to the time it was murdered, and in the usual way, by asking the different

days of the week and the different hours of the day, learned that it was murdered on Tuesday night,

about twelve o’clock. The rapping was heard only when this particular time was mentioned. When it

was asked if it was murdered on a Wednesday, or Thursday, or Friday night, etc., there was no

rapping. I then asked if it carried any trunk, and it rapped that it did. Then how many, and it rapped

once. In the same way we ascertained that it had goods in the trunk, and that —— took them when he

murdered him; and that he had a pack of goods besides. I asked if its wife was living, and it did not

rap. If she was dead, and it rapped. . . . This was tried over several times and the result was always

the same.

“I then tried to ascertain the first letters of its name by calling over the different letters of the

alphabet. I commenced with A, and asked if it was the initial of its name; and when I asked if it was B

the rapping commenced. We then tried all the other letters, but could get no answer by the usualrapping. I then asked if we could find out the whole name by reading over all the letters of the

alphabet, and there was no rapping. I then reversed the question, and the rapping was heard. . . .

There were a good many more questions asked on that night by myself and others which I do not now

remember. They were all readily answered in the same way. I staid in the house until about twelve

o’clock and then came home. Mr. Redfield and Mr. Fox staid in the house that night.

“Saturday night I went over again about seven o’clock. The house was full of people when I got

there. They said it had been rapping some time. I went into the room. It was rapping in answer to

questions when I went in. . . .

“There were as many as three hundred people in and around the house at this time, I should think.

Hiram Soverhill, Esq., and Volney Brown asked it questions while I was there, and it rapped in

answer to them.

“I went over again on Sunday between one and two o’clock p.m. I went into the cellar with several

others, and had them all leave the house over our heads; and then I asked, if there had been a man

buried in the cellar, to manifest it by rapping or any other noise or sign. The moment I asked the

question there was a sound like the falling of a stick about a foot long and half an inch through, on the

floor in the bedroom over our heads. It did not seem to rebound at all; there was but one sound. I then

asked Stephen Smith to go right up and examine the room, and see if he could discover the cause of

the noise. He came back and said he could discover nothing; that there was no one in the room, or in

that part of the house. I then asked two more questions, and it rapped in the usual way. We all went

up-stairs and made a thorough search, but could find nothing.

“I then got a knife and fork, and tried to see if I could make the same noise by dropping them, but I

could not. This was all I heard on Sunday. There is only one floor, or partition, or thickness between

the bedroom and the cellar; no place where anything could be secreted to make the noise. When this

noise was heard in the bedroom I could feel a slight tremulous motion or jar. . . .

“On Monday night I heard this noise again, and asked the same questions I did before and got the

same answers. This is the last time I have heard any rapping. I can in no way account for this singular

noise which I and others have heard. It is a mystery to me which I am unable to solve. . . .

“I lived in the same house about seven years ago, and at that time never heard any noises of the

kind in and about the premises. I have understood from Johnston and others who have lived there

before —— moved there, that there were no such sounds heard there while they occupied the house. I

never believed in haunted houses, or heard or saw anything but what I could account for before.