The Curious Case of Leah Fox

Leah Fox is usually written off from the history of Spiritualism as the ‘other Fox sister.’ If she isn’t completely ignored in books, she will often be accused of having manipulated her younger sisters into becoming Mediums. 

Leah, in my opinion, is one of the most interesting figures of the early Spiritualist movement, not only as one of the three fox sisters, but her important role in the shaping of the religious aspect of the Spiritualist movement.  When her sisters were adult women making their own choices and leading their own lives as famous Spiritualist Mediums, Leah lead a relatively quieter life, performing private seances for guests at her home in Rochester (and eventually New York City). 

Leah was not the typical Victorian woman, she grew up in an environment before Victorian norms had become commonplace and in a more rural, and pioneer-esq environment; a much rougher and harsher way of life that was far from the picture-book tea parlor life that was considered the ideal norm for Victorian women to strive for.   

I feel this is one of the main reasons that she has been recorded by history in a more negative light than her sisters. While her sisters, in a decidedly Victorian way, could be excused as ‘tragic young women,’ Leah was a much more imposing figure: a strong willed, independent woman. 

Leah was married three times, was a single mother, provided for her own family primarily through her skills as a music teacher, and eventually was a very popular medium in her own right. Leah wrote her own record of the Spiritualist movement, which is still in print (online and in reprints), though not a hugely popular read these days. The work is titled The Missing Link in Modern Spiritualism by Leah Underhill (her married name). 

Although the work clearly states that it is not an autobiography, the work is very much written from Leah’s perspective. It discusses the events at Hydesville, as well as Leah’s own account of what occurred in Rochester as a result, the events that became of it, their family history of spiritualist phenomena, and many, many interesting accounts regarding the early history of the Spiritualist movement. 

An interesting point in the work that is largely left out of many works on the Fox Sisters is that Leah seemed to be very aware of the religious and spiritual dimension of this movement. Leah, seemed to understand that the movement was much larger and more important than a money making opportunity but rather a ‘new truth.’ 

She wrote: “the movement was not in our hands nor under our control. It had an object, and we, as reluctant and humble instruments, were in the hands of other and higher wills and forces, from whom it had proceeded, by whom it was directed, and, so to speak, engineered. We have since come to understand that all these events and incidents, perplexing and distressful as they were to us, were but the birthroes of a new truth, which was destined to revolutionize this world, and establish a communication between here and the hereafter; of the Earth and of the Spirit." 

In a glimpse into her personal spiritual feelings, Leah described an event that she experienced at one of the first seances in her home in Rochester in the terms of a spiritual conversion: 

“We were truly converted, and as the dear old Methodists used to say, “born again.” We could then realize that we had something to live for, something to hope for, in that sacred hour when each one in our humble group “lay at the feet of Jesus,” willing to be guided and directed in the paths of truth and duty."

While the events at Hydesville are often regarded as the beginning of the Spiritualist movement, it was largely in part because of Leah's strong-willed faith in the importance of the messages given to them by the Spirits, as well as her dedication to public demonstration of spiritual phenomena, that the events went from a curious local ghost story to become an international religious movement. 

Though I would hardly call Leah Fox a Saintly figure, I personally do not believe that she has earned the scorn and negative reputation that she has been given. I suggest to anyone interested to take the time to actually read Leah's book, and let Leah share her story, in her own words.