Research source

The controversy on the rapping and the general spiritual manifestations after the public investigation could no…

Date of account: Published 1885
Source: The Missing Link in Modern Spiritualism
Reference: The Missing Link in Modern Spiritualism · selected passage 62
Rights: public_domain
Language: English
Record updated: 2026-08-24

Record summary

The controversy on the rapping and the general spiritual manifestations after the public investigation could no longer be suppressed

Published source text

Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.

Source passage

Source text · mention only

The controversy on the rapping and the general spiritual manifestations after the public investigation could no longer be suppressed. It became a subject which elicited much comment in the public prints; but in relation to which the Spiritualists had nothing to fear. Their opponents, generally, wrote without ever having examined it; and graded the vehemence of their opposition by the strength of their fealty to the teachings of their leaders. One of these acknowledged leaders was Chester Dewey, D.D., of the Rochester Collegiate Institute, who, without seeking to investigate the subject, claimed to recognize it as a fraud in its inception and wicked in its designs; and thus recorded his opinion in the public press at Rochester. His letters to the Rochester _Daily Advertiser_, at the time, drew forth the following rejoinder by Mr.

Historical context

Contextual commentary · mention only

This is a historical account assembled under the reporting and publishing conventions of its period. It may preserve testimony, hearsay, retelling and editorial interpretation together.

Modern context

Contextual commentary · mention only

A modern comparison can identify recurring descriptions and possible explanations, but the account is not treated as independently verified evidence merely because it appeared in print.

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