E. E. LEWIS AND THE RESIDENTS OF HYDESVILLE
Mr. E. E. Lewis was an attorney and enterprising journalist from Canandaigua, New York, who arrived in town only a few days after the Hydesville Rapping began. He immediately began to collect personal testimonies of the townspeople who had witnessed the phenomenon, from which he compiled a pamphlet entitled: A Report of the Mysterious Noises Heard in the House of Mr. John D. Fox in Hydesville, Arcadia, Wayne County.
Mr. Lewis's publication was the first account of the spirit-rapping which would soon interest the entire state, and then the nation. In it, he makes no effort to confirm or deny the haunting of the Hydesville house, but simply affirms that the witnesses to the phenomena were unable to find a satisfactory explanation for the events.
In his pamphlet, Lewis makes only the briefest reference to the young Fox girls who were present during the mysterious rapping, and he never gives their names. It appeared that at this time, no one had made the connection between the presence of the Fox girls and the rapping sounds. In effect, his publication focuses on a supposedly haunted house, rather than the two young spirit mediums.
Mrs. Redfield, Mr. Hyde, Mrs. Jewell and most of the other Hydesville residents named in We Hear the Dead were real people who heard the knocking sounds. Their statements are recorded in Lewis' pamphlet, along with a sworn statement submitted by Mr. Bell, testifying to his upstanding and law-abiding character.
To read E. E. Lewis's original pamphlet, follow the link below to an issue of Psypioneer, an electronic newsletter which has reprinted his work in its entirety. See also a webpage dedicated to the history of Hydesville, which includes some excerpts from the pamphlet and an account of Demosthenes Smith who supposedly guessed the real cause of the noise.
The Mysterious Noises Pamphlet by E. E. Lewis
The Hamlet of Hydesville by Town Historian Bob Hoeltzel
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