Research source

the wichita daily eagle (wichita, kan.) 1890-1906 — spirit rapping

Date of account: Newspaper page published 1891-06-04
Location: wichita, kansas, united states
Source: Chronicling America paranormal and anomalous-report excerpts
Reference: the wichita daily eagle (wichita, kan.) 1890-1906 · 1891-06-04 · page 6
Rights: public_domain
Language: English OCR
Record updated: 2026-08-24

Record summary

A 1891-06-04 newspaper page contains wording relevant to “spirit rapping”. This is historical reporting or commentary preserved by the Library of Congress; it is not treated as verification that the described event occurred.

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

... to believe in table turning, spirit rapping and the like, and ask such person to rest his hand steadily on the table, holding a knife as shown in the illustration. N Snlit a lucifer match at thonon-phos- phorized end. Trim the end of a second into a wedge shape, and work tho one into the other so as to form a V; the more acute the angle the better. Place these two matches astride on the edge of the knife, requesting the skeptical gentleman to keep the blade exactly horizontal, and so to hold his hand that the two phosphorized ends of tho matches shall just touch the table, without any interruption of contact. To ...

Historical context

Contextual commentary · mention only

This OCR excerpt may mix reporting, humour, folklore, syndicated copy, editorial comment and witness claims. Newspaper title, date and original page remain available for source-critical reading.

Modern context

Contextual commentary · mention only

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