Synopsis
America listened for the dead, and in Pittsburgh the answers seemed to rap back. The knocks begin at dusk. In Pittsburgh And Allegheny Spirit Rappings, J. B. Campbell gathers spirit rapping accounts from the nineteenth century United States and sets them beside a wider panorama of the American spiritualist movement. Part local chronicle, part spiritualist casebook nonfiction, it traces how parlours, churches, and public halls turned into theatres of mediumship and seances, where afterlife communication reports were weighed, repeated, often doubted, and believed. Readers curious about spiritualism history nonfiction will find a brisk, vivid, first-hand survey of claimed manifestations, the personalities around them, and the arguments that shaped early investigation, from neighbourhood circles to national debate. Beyond its Pittsburgh spiritualism history, Campbell points to the currents that ran through the era: the rise of modern scepticism, popular religion, and the shockwave set off by Fox Sisters spiritualism. Long regarded as an occult studies classic, the book remains a revealing window onto how Americans recorded extraordinary experience in plain, documentary language. It is as gripping for the casual browser as it is essential for serious collectors of primary sources today. Out of print for decades and now republished by Alpha Editions. Restored for today's and future generations. More than a reprint -- a collector's item and a cultural treasure, and a dependable research reference spiritualism readers can return to as a complete text edition, whether you come for the mystery, the history, or the shelf-worthy original voice of a formative moment.
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