The Eddy Brothers and Spiritualism in Vermont

William and Horatio Eddy

On Sunday, October 25, at 2 pm, author Jason Smiley will present a Zoom slide lecture on William and Horatio Eddy, two Vermont brothers who claimed they were able to communicate with the spirits of the deceased.

Who were the Eddy brothers and how did they become world-renowned spirit mediums?

William and Horatio Eddy spent their early years on a farm outside Rutland, Vermont. Their occult powers supposedly first made an appearance while the brothers were still infants. Various reports indicate that the boys would disappear from their cradles and mysteriously re-appear in other parts of the house. Later, when the boys became a little older, they would either go into trances or spiritual materializations would appear about them. When they went to school, items would allegedly levitate or be thrown across the room in scenes that are reminiscent of the horror film Carrie. Consequently, the boys were banned from attending school. Their father apparently believed that the boys’ trances, spiritual materializations, and other supernatural happenings were the work of the devil. To drive away the spirits, he allegedly resorted to starving, beating, and pouring boiling water over the boys. His torturous treatments had no effect except to physically and emotionally maim them and to make them fear and hate their father.

Unable to rid the boys of their behaviors and the spectral manifestations that accompanied them, their father decided instead to make money off from their so-called “gift,” and they were hired out as mediums for a travelling show. For fourteen years, William and Horatio traveled throughout North America and Europe where they were often met with abuse as skeptics tried to awaken them from their trances by drastic measures such as punching them. Others - believing that they were frauds or instruments of the devil - stoned, beat, burnt, or shot at them.

After their father passed away, the two brothers returned home. They converted their farm to an inn, where they took in guests for $8.00 a week. It was at this inn that the brothers began holding séance-type shows in which they would supposedly conjure up the spirits of the departed, who would interact with those in the room. No money was charged for these spiritual encounters. 

In 1874, as reports of strange happenings at the Eddy house spread, a writer for the Daily Graphic named Henry Olcott decided to investigate. Delving into the family’s history, Olcott learned that several generations of William and Horatio’s family had supposedly shown occult powers, including the boys’ mother and grandmother, who were both said to be clairvoyant.

Over a ten-week period, Olcott studied the family and the apparitions that appeared.

When Olcott failed to find evidence of fraud, he enlisted the help of a team of experts that included engineers and carpenters to determine if there were any false panels or passages, but none were found.

While Olcott came away convinced of the brother’s ability to communicate with the dead, many others remained skeptical and believe that most of the “spiritual” encounters can be explained as illusionists’ tricks.

Sketch and diagram of the

Eddy Stage area

While Chittenden, Vermont, had the Eddy brothers, Woodstock – which is only about 33 miles away – had its own share of spiritualist mediums. In Woodstock, spiritualism hit its peak in the 1850s. One of the best known of the local mediums was Marenda Briggs Randall. Marenda, who grew up in Woodstock on Rose Hill, was the daughter of a horticulturalist. Her mother had died when she was a child, and based on Marenda’s writings, it appears that she was lonely and longed for an emotional connection with her father (and, later, her husband) that she was never able to attain. Perhaps this void in her life instilled a latent desire to connect with the spirit world, including her own lost mother.

Marenda Briggs Randall

From her writings, Marenda suggests that she was skeptical about spiritualism when she first heard about it, but having a curious mind, she wanted to investigate it for herself. Travelling to Boston, she met with a young woman who claimed to be a medium. This young woman supposedly was able to channel the spirits of Marenda’s mother and deceased children who provided information that Marenda found credible, and Marenda became a believer.

After this experience, Marenda studied spiritualism, and eventually reached a point where she felt she could channel spirits well enough to be a medium for others. When she held séances or spirit circles, it is said that she sometimes alienated those who were present by delivering to them messages from the spirits that were less-than-flattering. 

In addition to being a spiritualist, Marenda, at the bidding of her own personal spirit guide, also became a doctor. She completed her studies at Penn Medical College in Philadelphia in just one year, graduating with honors in 1854.

Two other area residents who claimed to be spiritual mediums were West Woodstockers George Grow and Austin Simmons, who eventually started co-hosting spiritualist meetings. George Grow grew up in what is now known as the Vondell area of West Woodstock, which is located off the Cox District Road. George was described by one of his neighbors as being lazy and not very bright, and his proclivities as a medium were at times dubious. The messages received from the spirits with whom George interacted were generally spelled out through rappings. When asked difficult questions, the spirits’ answers would either be vague, a rebuke, or the “spirit’ would say something noncommittal to the effect of “Why do you ask that question?”  George appears to have tried to turn his new-found gift into a money-making venture. For $12 he claimed he could bestow on a person the ability to be a medium, and for $1 people could attend one of his spiritual gatherings. Such patent use of his “gift” for financial gain undoubtedly made many people question his motivations.

Austin Simmons, a fellow medium who at times led the spiritual circles with George, was a district clerk at the time. Eventually, George and Austin had a falling out, and Austin publicly indicated that the spirits in their circle had asked to have George removed and not allowed back into the circle, indicating that George was a fool. Soon after, both George’s and Austin’s careers as spiritualists came to a halt. In the case of Austin, he lost his position as district clerk. After being told that he had been dismissed from his job, he was followed home by a group of boys who pelted eggs at him. It is clear that he still held to his spiritualist beliefs after that incident for in the August 13, 1857 edition of Woodstock’s local paper Spirit of the Age, Simmons notes: “Spiritualism, like all other isms, from Calvinism down to Mormonism, requires age to purge off the irregularities which fasten upon its altar; hence, it would be manifestly unjust to expect that all Spiritualists can present an unbroken front and an angel countenance, while nominal Christianity, after eighteen hundred years of labor, has only political parsons to boast of. While its proselytes have only love enough to make them hate each other, and while its members and its Ministers hang upon our gallows and people our prisons. I am not a prophet, nor am I in a strange land, yet, I venture to state that Spiritualism will advance with its own peculiar grace until the world is better…”

George Grow, having been publicly told that the spirits demanded his removal from the spiritual circle, appears to have gone back to ordinary life, and returned to working on his family’s farm. 

The information regarding George Grow and Austin Simmons’ spiritual circles came from journals written by Charles M. Cobb who lived in West Woodstock. Although Charles Cobb concluded that spiritualism was all nonsense, he also stated that he attended one final spiritual session with George Grow in which an event happened that he could not explain. In that session, which was held at Charles’ home, George Grow whispered a word to Charles’ father. Then Charles, with a copy of the alphabet, ran his pen down the letters in such a way that George could not see the alphabet or what letter Charles’ pen was pointing to. As he did so, George would get a rap from the spirit whenever the correct letter was reached. To Charles’ amazement, the letters identified by the “spirit” spelled out the word that George had secretly told to Charles’ father. While this experience dumbfounded young Charles, as he had no idea of how it was accomplished, it did not make him a believer.

By the late 1870s, it appears that in Woodstock there was still an interest in Spiritualism, even if it were largely to debunk it. In the January 9, 1878, edition of Spirit of the Age, the following announcement appeared stating that Professor Cecil will present a “marvelous entertainment at the Town Hall” to expose Spiritualism as the “great humbug and delusion of the times.” 

To learn more about the 19th-century spiritualism movement and the Eddy family, please use the link below to join the Zoom program on Sunday, October 25, at 2 pm. This program, which is part of the Donaldson Lecture Series, is hosted by the Woodstock History Center.

 Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82437454689?

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Meeting ID: 824 3745 4689 Passcode: r450Rv