The Missing Link in Modern Spiritualism

by A. Leah Underhill

The following extracts from their account of it will present the whole of its substance:

“The two females were seated upon two chairs placed near together, their heels resting on cushions, their lower limbs extended, with the toes elevated and the feet separated from each other. The object of this experiment was to secure a position in which the ligaments of the knee-joint should be made tense, and no opportunity offered to make a pressure with the foot. We were pretty well satisfied that the displacement of the bones requisite for the sounds could not be effected, unless a fulcrum were obtained by resting one foot upon the other, or on some resisting body. The company waited half an hour, but no sounds were heard in this position.

“The position of the younger sister was then changed to a sitting posture, with lower limbs extended on the sofa, the elder sister sitting, in the customary way, at the other extremity of the sofa. The ‘Spirits’ did not choose to signify their presence under these circumstances, although repeatedly requested so to do. The latter experiment went to confirm the belief that the younger sister alone produced the rapping. These experiments were continued until the females themselves admitted that it was useless to continue any longer at that time, with any expectation of manifestations being made.

“In resuming the usual position on the sofa, the feet resting on the floor, the knockings soon began to be heard. It was then suggested that some other experiments be made. This was assented to, notwithstanding the first was to our minds amply conclusive. The experiment selected was, that the knees of the two females be firmly grasped, with the hands so applied that any lateral movement of the bones would be perceptible to the touch. The pressure was made through the dress. It was not expected to prevent the sounds, but to ascertain if they proceeded from the knee-joint. It is obvious that this experiment was far less demonstrative to an observer than the first, because, if the bones were distinctly felt to move, the only evidence of this fact would be the testimony of those whose hands were in contact with them. The hands were kept in apposition for several minutes at a time, and the experiments repeated frequently, for the space of half an hour or more, with negative results; that is to say, there were plenty of raps when the knees were not held, and none when the hands were applied, save once; as the pressure was intentionally somewhat relaxed (Dr. Lee being the holder) two or three faint single raps were heard, and Dr. Lee immediately averred that the motion of the bone was plainly perceptible to him. The experiment of seizing the knees as quickly as possible, when the knocking first commenced, was tried several times, but always with the effect of putting an immediate quietus upon the demonstrations.

“The proposition to bandage the knees was discussed. The experiment was objected to, on the part of the friends of the females, unless we could concede that it should be a conclusive test experiment. We were not prepared with appliances to render the limb immovable, and therefore declined to have it considered such a test.

“This was the experiment anticipated, and one which, we presume, the females thought would end in their triumph. A bandage applied above and below the patella, admitting of flexion of the limb, will probably prevent the displacement, as we have but little doubt had been ascertained by the Rochester females before an examination was invited. Should it become necessary to repeat experiments in other places, in furtherance of the explosion of the imposition, we would suggest that the bandage be not relied upon.”

“Had our experiments, which were first directed to this joint, failed, we should have proceeded to interrogate, experimentally, other articulations. But the conclusion seemed clear that the Rochester Knockings emanate from the knee-joint.”

The name of the lady referred to, who had some extraordinary formation of the joint in one of her knees, was Mrs. Patchen. (At the close of this chapter the reader will find some letters from her to me.) She could produce a peculiar, unpleasant, crunching sound by pressing her knee forward against some resisting object, and then kicking, as it were, upward her foot by a movement which lifted her dress and was obviously visible to persons present. But it was with great effort and very painful to herself, and the consequence of her having exhibited it to a committee at our rooms was that she was confined for about a week. The way her peculiar case had come to their knowledge was this: One night, when her husband had returned late from one of our meetings and stated the cause of his delay, she told him, in joke, that she could make raps with her knee-joint, and that he should rather pay her than us. She could also make them in bed, having a side-board on which she could press the knee. The next day her husband mentioned this to Dr. Austin Flint, who happened to be his family physician. The medical eagerness to rush forth with their address to the public above quoted, with little if any investigation, is shown by the fact that it was on the following day that the scientific tirade against us, signed by the three doctors, appeared in The Commercial Advertiser. It is most charitable to suppose that they never really heard Mrs. Patchen’s peculiar sound, because it was manifest to all who afterward heard it at our rooms, that it bore no resemblance to the knocking of our invisible friends, since otherwise there is no escape from a still more discreditable alternative.

Mrs. Patchen was greatly annoyed at the use to which this rare peculiarity of hers had been perverted. She came to see me and expressed her deep regret, even before we recognized each other as old school-mates; and the following letters, written after she had heard and witnessed for herself (the originals of which I still possess), sufficiently speak for themselves. The date of the doctors’ attack was February 18, 1851.

“Saturday, March 8, 1851.