“Taps” On The Spirit Trumpet

“Taps” on the Spirit Trumpet by Alessandra Koch 

By the mid 19th century, the Spiritualist movement was in full swing! The harmony of all present at a seance proved itself through the collaboration of rapping on tables, levitating objects, and direct voice phenomena magnified through the spirit trumpet- all of these phenomena were believed to be performed under the conductorship of Spirit through the presiding medium. We will explore the history of this instrument and its uses in a seance, which continue to capture its audience through the ages.

The Spirit Trumpet is a cylindrical cone with a narrow mouthpiece that usually expands in three parts into a megaphone not unlike the plastic cones yelled into at sporting events. Originally made of cardboard or metal, the demand for sleeker, more expensive material like aluminum or tin quickly grew businesses like that of Everett Atwood Eckel of Indiana. E.A. Eckel sold trumpets for $2 to $3 in the 1920s publications of Spiritualist periodicals like “Psychic Power.” Not unlike the Ouija board and its rich history, the Spirit Trumpet was originally created by Spiritualists to magnify the whispers of Spirits present in a circle- this is why some describe it as the original “hearing aid” or “ear trumpet” to the voices of beyond. In his interview with Collectors Weekly of “Ghosts in the Machine,” historian Brandon Hodge infers that the spirit room in Athens, Ohio, of Jonathan Koons, and the mediumship of his eldest son, Nahum, was the birthplace of the speaking trumpet. While the original trumpets were simple devices, about 2 feet long and 4 inches diameter at the bell end, the trumpet modified with the times into more portable and retractable segments that telescope out into 2 to 3 foot length. Some trumpets may be ringed with luminous paint that create glow-in-the- dark rings within the dark room of a seance.

But how does the Spirit Trumpet actually work? Well, according to Spiritualists, the act of trumpet mediumship is actually better termed direct voice mediumship. According to Maxine Meilleur in “Great Moments of Modern Mediumship Vol. 1,” Voices [of the spirits] speak through a voice box of ectoplasm, a substance taken from the medium’s body, or through a megaphone known as a trumpet,” These voices or sounds may be anything from whispers of departed loved one to the barks of a wolfhound, and they may come from any part of the room. Usually the trumpets will be placed in the center of the people present and when the atmosphere is brought to the right harmony, the spirits may make the trumpet float in the air and fly to stop at a person they want to talk to. The hearing device takes over at that point and messages are made clear.

Besides the direct voice phenomena given by the mediums, the trumpet may also gift the sitters with apports. Derived from the French word, to bring, an apport may materialize within the trumpet as it did for Estelle Roberts and her mediumship circle. Through the trumpet, her spirit guide, Red Cloud, addressed the audience in direct voice and then ended the demonstration with “an avalanche of a dozen or more apports gushing from the trumpet like water from a tap...Many of the gifts were much too large to pass through the narrow neck of the trumpet- as was clearly demonstrated at the end of the seance- yet pass through they did, and without any outside help.” (Pg 32-33)

Heralding the presence of Spirit, the trumpet could also levitate to swing around the room or even tap the sitters and be rapped on itself by Spirit. The Spiritualist Clifford Bias also described in his book on trumpet mediumship of how the trumpet becomes an artificial larynx for the spirit to speak within or through. In his New York City apartment, Mr. Bias also kept regular time with his students to conduct seances using the trumpet. In his masterclasses, the trumpet itself kept rhythm, and the presence of harmony grew as raps and table movements generally preceded direct voice phenomena. Once tapping on the trumpet itself has become a regular occurrence, Bias noted, it is usually moved about and, finally, levitated. Many times before levitation is accomplished, faint voices, whispers and whistling sounds can be heard issuing from the trumpet. (Trumpet Mediumship Pg 34-35)

The composer of the seance, and most active instrument him or herself, is the medium in the center of this performance. In order to herald these activities, the spirit trumpet was created to ring out loud direct voice phenomena and also hold apports for the audience. The history of Spiritualism would not be as harmoniously rich today if it were not for the spirit trumpet.

Amy & Isaac Post: Spiritualist Reformers

Although the Spiritualist movement has no one single founder, perhaps the most influential couple that set the direction for American Spiritualism were Amy and Isaac Post.

 Amy Post was born Amy Kirby in 1802. She belonged to a family who were members of the Religious Society of Friends, (sometimes shortened to Friends, or Quakers). Isaac Post was born in 1798, also to a Quaker Family.

In 1821 he married Amy's eldest sister, Hannah Kirby. In 1827 Hannah fell extremely ill and Amy moved to Hannah and Isaac's home to assist with caring for their children. Hannah passed away shortly after, and Amy stayed with Isaac to assist with caring for the children. Amy and Isaac eventually married, and moved to Rochester on North Plymouth Ave (their home was located at the current site of the Hochstein School of Music), Isaac went into business as a Pharmacist; the couple had four children, Jacob, Joseph, Matilda, and Willet.

Amy and Isaac were devout Quakers; the Quaker movement started in England in the late 1600's with the teachings of George Fox. Quakers believe that each individual can experience God directly, as an inner light, and that one should live a life of simplicity, truth, equality, and peace. At the time, Quakers were also known for their habit of wearing plain clothes, familiar speech, and refusal to swear oaths.

Amy and Isaac became dissatisfied with their fellow Quakers, when their community voiced that they felt the couple was becoming too worldly due to engaging in political activities. Although all Quakers promoted Abolitionism and Women's Suffrage, most preferred to do so from a distance.

Amy and Isaac disaffiliated with their group and joined a more liberal Quaker Meeting which was closer to their own personal belief that it was a moral duty to engage with society in movements in order to promote causes that might bring about peace and reform, rather than disengaging from society. Both Amy and Isaac were committed to Women's Suffrage and Abolitionism.

The couple were friends with suffragettes Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony. The couple attended the Seneca Falls Women's Rights Convention, and assisted in organizing the Rochester Women's Rights Convention.

Both Amy and Isaac were also extremely active Abolitionists, and were two of the founding members of the Western New York-Anti Slavery Society. They hosted several speakers in their home in Rochester who they became life long friends with, such as Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, and William Cooper Nell.

With the assistance of Frederick Douglass, their home became a stop on the underground railroad, at one point offering sanctuary to 20 individuals. On a trip to Canada, Amy became good friends with Harriet Jacobs, and encouraged her to write her autobiography, which she later did in 1861 as Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.

During all of this, the Posts took in the two young daughters of the Fox family of Hydesville, a small village just outside Rochester. The girls had become famous over night for their ability to communicate with spirits of the dead through rapping noises and knocks. Amy and Isaac encouraged the girls to develop their gifts, and accompanied them with their older sister Leah to demonstrate mediumship at Corinthian Hall in Rochester. Amy and Isaac quickly became devoted Spiritualists.

According to the testimony of Leah Fox, one evening when the girls first arrived in Rochester the spirits continued to knock constantly and persistently through out the night. The next morning they were visited by Isaac Post who suggested that the perhaps the spirits would explain what they wanted if they called out the alphabet and allowed for them to spell their messages through the knocks. This was the first message given by the spirits in Rochester, New York:

"Dear Friends, you must proclaim these truths to the world. This is the dawning of a new era; and you must not try to conceal it any longer. When you do your duty, God will protect you, and good spirits will watch over you."

Early Spiritualism as a religious movement was incredibly influenced by the Quaker beliefs and practices of the Posts. Their dedication to reform became a hallmark of early Spiritualism,
to be a Spiritualist was to be a Reformer. To be a Spiritualist was a statement that you were committed to bettering the world and uplifting the oppressed

Isaac in particular felt moved to develop his own mediumship, and found that he was gifted as a Writing Medium and practiced Automatic Writing. He published a book in 1852 called Voices From the Spirit World, the work contained letters he received through Automatic Writing from the Spirits of various individuals such as Quaker leaders George Fox, Elias Hicks, and others figures such as Benjamin Franklin.

These Spirits gave their blessings to Spiritualists, offered hope and consolation to a positive existence in the Spirit World, and offered courage and admonitions to continue to work for the causes of Reform to aid in assisting the world as the work of God. Other Spirits such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson offered their own encouragement, and warnings of the evils of racism, slavery, and social inequality; explaining that they were now repentant for not having advocated peace and abolitionism in life.

In 1883 Amy post and a close circle of eight friends began the Rochester Spiritualist Society, with Amy voted in as Vice-President. The Society regularly met at the Post home on Sophia Street regularly for public demonstrations of mediumship, and lectures from local speakers and other well known Spiritualists. In 1885 the Rochester Spiritualist Society hosted an "anniversary meeting" to "commemorate the thirty seventh anniversary of the Modern Spiritualism." In 1886 the society converted two upper rooms of Amy Posts home into a library and reading room, which was "supplied with the works of leading Free Thinkers such as Voltaire, Thomas Paine, and others." The library was free and was open to the public.

Isaac passed away in 1872, and Amy passed away in 1889. The graves of Amy and Isaac Post are in Mount Hope Cemetery in Rochester, NY. Amy and Isaac Post dedicated their entire lives to helping others, and uplifting society through acts of loving-kindness, and a passionate dedication to the belief that we are called to love our neighbors as ourselves.

We at the Rochester Spiritualist Society have taken the same name as the society that was first began in the home of the Post family here in Rochester, New York, not only to simply honor the memory of these amazing trailblazers, but to show our dedication to modeling our own actions on the lives of these remarkable Spiritualists.

Like Amy and Isaac Post, those of us in the Rochester Spiritualist Society hope to be guided by the inner light that connects us all, with the guidance of the ministry of angels, in order that we might uplift our community, and bring love, light, and hope, wherever it may be needed.

Yours In Friendship,
Stephen G.