The Fox Cottage

This chapter examines the role of Spiritualism’s origin story—the raps and knocks produced by the Margaret and Kate Fox in 1848—in Lily Dale. From the very beginning, skeptics and scientists were invested in testing the claims made by Spiritualists. The Fox sisters, like so many physical mediums in the nineteenth century, had to contend with accusations of fraud throughout their lives. They were tested by scientists and psychical investigators during their young adulthood. Their story—the challenges and the fame they accumulated—is a significant part of Spiritualism’s history. In addition to taking on the stewardship of the physical Fox Cottage, Lily Dale, the self-described “largest Spiritualist camp in the world,” has also had to contend with fame, fraudsters, and skeptics for most of its history.