Knowing, from this brief of their supposed case, exactly what she had to apprehend from them, and anxious to prove triumphantly that she and her sisters did not make the “rappings” with their knees, Mrs. Fish rushed into print, and challenged the doctors to a more public investigation, to be made by three men and three women, the latter of whom were to disrobe the “mediums,” if they so desired. The doctors, of course, accepted.
In her account of this scene, Mrs. Fish speaks of herself and her sister Maggie as “two young creatures thus baited as it were by cruel enemies.” It should be remembered at this point that her age at that time was about thirty-four years, whilst that of Maggie was only eleven! So much for the disingenuousness of the narrator.
She herself says that during the test, Maggie and she sat on a sofa together a long time and no raps came. The watch was too close. Then a zealous and indiscreet friend rapped on the back of her chair, and to shield herself from seeming complicity, she rebuked him with great ostentation. How kindly she felt toward fraud, however, is shown by the excuses which she makes for his conduct.
“It was certainly a severe and cruel ordeal for us,” she goes on, “as we sat there under that accusation, surrounded by all these men, authorities, some of them persecutors, while the raps, usually so ready and familiar, would not come to our relief. Some few and faint ones did indeed come—some nine or ten. The doctors say in their account that it was while they intermitted the holding of our feet. Such was not my impression, but I attach small importance to that.”
There were several sittings of the investigators in company with the “mediums,” and Mrs. Underhill asserts that at times plentiful “rappings” were heard, both when their feet and knees were held and when they were not held. And then she introduces this weak and transparent piece of hypocrisy so familiar to those who have ever had to do with so-called “mediums”:
“We are now familiar with the fact that spirits often refuse to act in the presence of those who bring to the occasion, not a candid and fair spirit of inquiry for the satisfaction of an honest skepticism, but a bitter and offensive bigotry of prejudice and invincible hostility, which does not really seek, but rather repels the truth, and but little deserves the favor of its exhibition to them by the spirits.”
The further report of the doctors contained these points:
“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 the 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 to do so. The latter experiment went to confirm the belief that the younger sister alone produced the ‘rappings.’ 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.”