The Eddy Brothers refers to William Eddy and Horatio Eddy, popular Spiritualist mediums of the 1870s.

History

During the 1870s, the Eddy brothers held seance

Séance

A séance is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word "séance" comes from the French word for "seat," "session" or "sitting," from the Old French "seoir," "to sit." In French, the word's meaning is quite general: one may, for example, speak of "une séance de cinéma"...

s in Chittenden, Vermont

Chittenden, Vermont

Chittenden is a town in Rutland County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,258 at the 2010 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 74.2 square miles , of which 73.0 square miles is land and 1.2 square miles is water...

, claiming to materialize spirits of the dead including drowned sailors, Native Americans

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...

, and soldiers who died in the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

. Henry Steel Olcott

Henry Steel Olcott

Colonel Henry Steel Olcott was an American military officer, journalist, lawyer and the co-founder and first President of the Theosophical Society....

, a New York Daily Graphic

Daily Graphic

The Daily Graphic: An Illustrated Evening Newspaper was the first American newspaper with daily illustrations. It was founded in New York in 1873 by a firm of Canadian engravers and began publication in March of that year...

 reporter with a lifelong interest in Spiritualism wrote a number of newspaper articles and a book recounting the Eddy brothers seances. The Eddy brothers were also visited by self-professed psychic

Psychic

A psychic is a person who professes an ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception , or is said by others to have such abilities. It is also used to describe theatrical performers who use techniques such as prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot...

 and mystic, Madame Blavatsky

Madame Blavatsky

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky , was a theosophist, writer and traveler. Between 1848 and 1875 Blavatsky had gone around the world three times. In 1875, Blavatsky together with Colonel H. S. Olcott established the Theosophical Society...

.

Further reading

• People from the Other World, Henry Steel Olcott. American Publishing Company, 1875. Reprint by Charles E Tuttle Company 1972.
• Priestess of the Occult by Gertrude Marvin Williams, Alfred A Knopf, 1946.
• HPB: The Extraordinary Life and Influence of Helena Blavatsky by Sylvia Cranston, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1993.