1508. The spirit room is built of logs, as well as the house in which
Mr. Koons resides; it is situated at the end of his dwelling-house, and
six feet from it. It is twelve by sixteen feet square, and seven feet
high inside; there is a tight floor, and the ceiling above is of rough
boards, laid close edge to edge; in the garret above, there is less
than three feet clear room to the peak of the roof, and up here are
stowed old shoes and other old trumpery. There is a door in the front,
near the centre of the building, and a small window on each side of it,
and one window in the back side; the windows have each close shutters
outside to exclude the light. Across the back end of the room are three
rough board shelves. Two feet in front of these, stands the spirit
table, three feet wide and six feet long. In front of this, and setting
against it, is a common fall-leaf table, about three and a half feet
square, which extends to within one foot of the stove; and across the
back end of the room are two rough benches for spectators to sit upon,
and the front one comes within one foot of the stove. Then, on each end
of the table is room for three or four chairs, all of which fills the
room so full that there is no room to get around. Mr. Koons’s seat is
at the left of the table, where he sits and plays the fiddle. Nahum,
his son, sits on the left of the table; he is a lad eighteen years old,
and the principal medium; and his mother sits next to him.