The Phelps poltergeist

Record summary

Reverend Eliakim Phelps reported disturbances at his Stratford home, including displaced objects, damaged property, and alleged writing or markings associated with the household. Spiritualists treated the episode as evidence of psychic or spirit agency, while contemporaries considered pranksters, family dynamics, and fraud. The case is valuable because it sits between domestic haunting, organized investigation, and nineteenth-century debates over mediumship. Details are mediated largely through spiritualist and newspaper accounts, and the evidential record does not permit a secure conclusion about the causes of the reported events.