Experimental investigation of the spirit manifestations, [electronic ...

350 ADDITIONAL CORROBORATIVE EVIDENCEunder like circumstances.On Tuesday evening a loud rap was heard onthe back door, seeming to be made by the knocker, loud enougli to be heardtwenty rods distant. The servant went to the door, but no person wasthere. After the lapse of five or eight minutes, the rap was repeated. Itwas then supposed that some one had done it mischievously; but, on lookingabout, no person was discovered. It was in the shades of evening,but not dark enough to prevent any person being seen, who might havedone it, as easily as at mid-day. The knocking came the third time, whenDr. Phelps—the visitor— placed himself in the hall, perhaps four feetfrom the door, and the Professor, of Andover, took a position on the stepswithout, each having full view of the door. The same loud raps wererepeated on the door between them. The knocker did not move, nor couldthe eye detect any cause for what met the ear. The noise was heard throughoutthe house, and both the gentlemen were positive that no visible agentwas employed to produce it. About bed-time, a loud pounding was heardon the chamber-door. The gentlemen, each with a candle in hand, stoodon either side of the door, as the pounding, as though done with a heavyboot, was continued. The noise appeared to each to be on the side of thedoor opposite to him. On the following morning, as Dr. Phelps, of Stratford,was standing at the foot of the stairs leading to the third story, anoise as loud and much resembling the report of a pistol occurred apparentlyclose to his ear.These boisterous sounds occurred at intervals during"a great part of the time that the disturbance was continued. Sometimesfor weeks they would not be heard ; and again for days they wereheard every day.1719. " It would seem, from various occurrences, that the agents ofthese sounds, whoever they were, must have been human beings, or, atleast, possessed of all the leading characteristics of humanity. They wereevidently influenced by kindness or unkindness, by respect and confidence,as persons generally are in this life. Some instances illustrating this aregiven. One morning, during the breakfast hour, they would push the tablesuddenly, raise up one side and shake it in such a manner as to spill thecofi'ee, and otherwise occasion serious inconvenience. A person at thetable spoke to them in a tone of authority, commanding them to desistbut the act was at once repeated. Again they were commanded to cease,but increased violence followed this command. This was five or six timesrepeated, and the shaking was each time renewed. At length another personat the table said, ^ I request you kindly to cease this annoyance, andallow us to take our breakfast quietly,' and they ceasedrepetition.at once, without aIt was found, from this time, that kindness had about the sameeffect upon them that it produces upon mankind at large. A lad}-, thewife of a clergyman, spent a few weeks in the family during the summer,who received many communications from them, would often, when the scissors,thimble, or things of that kind, were mislaid, say,^ I will thank the