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the yazoo city weekly whig (yazoo city, miss.) 18??-1855 — spirit rapping

Date of account
Newspaper page published 1853-03-25
Location
yazoo city, mississippi, united states
Source
Chronicling America paranormal and anomalous-report excerpts
Reference
the yazoo city weekly whig (yazoo city, miss.) 18??-1855 · 1853-03-25 · page 2
Rights
public_domain
Language
English OCR
Record updated
2026-08-24

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Record summary

A 1853-03-25 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

... beloved as a man. The spirit rapping mania is not quite dead here yet. The favorite amusement of small parties is table tilting. The other night I was present with a few choice spirits when a certain table cut up more antics than I thought it possible to be exhibited by any thing inanimate. We all sat around a heavy work-table and pressed the palms of our hands hard upon its surface. In about eight minutes the table began to rock. It was requested to indicate the medium present, which it did by showing a strong proclivity to turn over upon him. Several questions were then asked, but it only replied by tilt ings instead ...

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

Lattice can compare reported features across periods while preserving uncertainty, OCR limitations and the possibility of conventional explanation, exaggeration, copying or satire.

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