Amongst the investigators introduced to the household was a Mr. William
Deusler, of Arcadia, an immediate neighbour of the Fox family at this
time, and from his testimony we gather a great many interesting facts as
to the evidence offered by the injured spirit in order that its identity
could be clearly established.
Mr. Deusler had formerly lived with his father in this house, and the
message that the spirit had received an injury, prompted him to ask if
either he or his father had been the cause of such an injury. On
receiving an assurance that they were in no way responsible, the
investigation was continued, the results being here given in Mr.
Deusler's own words--
"I then asked if Mr. ---- [naming a person who had formerly lived in the
house] had injured it, and if so, to manifest it by rapping, and it made
three knocks louder than common, and at the same time the bedstead
jarred more than it had done before. I then inquired if it was murdered
for money, and the knocking was heard. I then requested it to rap when
I mentioned the sum of money for which it was murdered. I then asked if
it was one hundred, two, three or four, and when I came to five hundred
the rapping was heard. All in the room said they heard it distinctly. I
then asked the question if it was five hundred dollars, and the rapping
was heard.
"After this, I sent over and got Artemus W. Hyde to come over.[A] He
came over. I then asked over nearly the same questions as before, and
got the same answers. Mr. Redfield sent after David Jewel and wife, and
Mrs. Hyde also came. After they came in I asked the same questions over
and got the same answers. . . . I then asked it to rap my age--the
number of years of my age. It rapped thirty times. This is my age, and
I do not think any one about here knew my age, except myself and family.
I then told it to rap my wife's age, and it rapped thirty times, which
is her exact age; several of us counted it at the same time. I then
asked it to rap A. W. Hyde's age; then Mrs. A. W. Hyde's age. I then
continued to ask it to rap the ages of different persons--naming
them--in the room, and it did so correctly, as they all said. I then
asked the number of children in the different families in the
neighbourhood, and it told them correctly in the usual way, by rapping;
also the number of deaths that had taken place in the different
families, and it told correctly. . . .
"I then asked in regard to the time it was murdered, and in the usual
way, by asking the different days of the week and the different hours of
the day, learned that it was murdered on Tuesday night, about twelve
o'clock. The rapping was heard only when this particular time was
mentioned. When it was asked if it was murdered on a Wednesday, or
Thursday, or Friday night, etc., there was no rapping. I then asked if
it carried any trunk, and it rapped that it did. Then how many, and it
rapped once. In the same way we ascertained that it had goods in the
trunk, and that ---- took them when he murdered him; and that he had a
pack of goods besides. I asked if its wife was living, and it did not
rap. If she was dead, and it rapped. . . . This was tried over several
times and the result was always the same.
"I then tried to ascertain the first letters of its name by calling over
the different letters of the alphabet. I commenced with A, and asked if
it was the initial of its name; and when I asked if it was B the rapping
commenced. We then tried all the other letters, but could get no answer
by the usual rapping. I then asked if we could find out the whole name
by reading over all the letters of the alphabet, and there was no
rapping. I then reversed the question, and the rapping was heard. . . .
There were a good many more questions asked on that night by myself and
others which I do not now remember. They were all readily answered in
the same way. I staid in the house until about twelve o'clock and then
came home. Mr. Redfield and Mr. Fox staid in the house that night.
"Saturday night I went over again about seven o'clock. The house was
full of people when I got there. They said it had been rapping some
time. I went into the room. It was rapping in answer to questions when I
went in. . . .
"There were as many as three hundred people in and around the house at
this time, I should think. Hiram Soverhill, Esq., and Volney Brown asked
it questions while I was there, and it rapped in answer to them.
"I went over again on Sunday between one and two o'clock p.m. I went
into the cellar with several others, and had them all leave the house
over our heads; and then I asked, if there had been a man buried in the
cellar, to manifest it by rapping or any other noise or sign. The moment
I asked the question there was a sound like the falling of a stick
about a foot long and half an inch through, on the floor in the bedroom
over our heads. It did not seem to rebound at all; there was but one
sound. I then asked Stephen Smith to go right up and examine the room,
and see if he could discover the cause of the noise. He came back and
said he could discover nothing; that there was no one in the room, or in
that part of the house. I then asked two more questions, and it rapped
in the usual way. We all went up-stairs and made a thorough search, but
could find nothing.
"I then got a knife and fork, and tried to see if I could make the same
noise by dropping them, but I could not. This was all I heard on Sunday.
There is only one floor, or partition, or thickness between the bedroom
and the cellar; no place where anything could be secreted to make the
noise. When this noise was heard in the bedroom I could feel a slight
tremulous motion or jar. . . .
"On Monday night I heard this noise again, and asked the same questions
I did before and got the same answers. This is the last time I have
heard any rapping. I can in no way account for this singular noise which
I and others have heard. It is a mystery to me which I am unable to
solve. . . .
"I lived in the same house about seven years ago, and at that time never
heard any noises of the kind in and about the premises. I have
understood from Johnston and others who have lived there before
----moved there, that there were no such sounds heard there while they
occupied the house. I never believed in haunted houses, or heard or saw
anything but what I could account for before.
(Signed),
WILLIAM DEUSLER."
"April 12, 1848."
To the same effect is the testimony of the following persons, whose
certificates were published in a pamphlet by E. E. Lewis, Esq., of
Canandaigua, New York, namely: John D. Fox, Walter Scotten, Elizabeth
Jewel, Lorren Tenney, James Bridger, Chauncey P. Losey, Benjamin F.
Clark, Elizabeth Fox, Vernelia Culver, William D. Storer, Marvin P.
Losey, David S. Fox, and Mary Redfield.
FOOTNOTE:
[A] The son of the proprietor of the house at Hydesville.