| Nestled in the old-growth forests surrounding | | | | worked out a code where they would ask questions, |
| Cassadaga Lake in Eastern New York, the community | | | | and the "thing" would respond using a series of knocks. |
| of Lily Dale sits as a beaconing force to the | | | | With this they learned that they were communicating |
| Spiritualists of the world. Sometimes dubbed as "The | | | | with a murder victim who had been buried in the cellar |
| Town That Talks to the Dead," Lily Dale is considered | | | | of their home. Word of the mysterious contact spread |
| by many to be the central location of the Spiritualist | | | | quickly, and believers and skeptics alike came in |
| movement. Even though this fascinating place attracts | | | | droves to see for themselves. The girls quickly rose to |
| thousands of visitors and devoted followers each | | | | fame, eventually traveling to New York and other |
| year, it remains a mystery to most people. There are | | | | parts of the country where they served as mediums |
| many questions about the history of the place and | | | | between the living and dead. All of this attention |
| what it meant to the people who founded it. What is | | | | brought about a popular new movement - Spiritualism - |
| this place exactly? What did the Fox sisters have to | | | | that focused on spiritual communication and |
| do with it? How was a prominent political leader like | | | | understanding. The Fox girls played a vital role in |
| Susan B. Anthony involved? Read on to find the | | | | establishing this new belief system, and they are still |
| answers and make the connection between this | | | | credited to this day for their part in its founding. |
| spiritual community and an unlikely grouping of three | | | | And what about Susan B. Anthony? Susan B. Anthony |
| young mediums and one outspoken women's right | | | | is best known as an active participant in the women's |
| advocate. | | | | right movement, particularly where women's suffrage |
| What is Lily Dale? Lily Dale is not a town or a city; | | | | was concerned. Born into a Quaker family in 1820, |
| rather, it is a small community that serves as a | | | | Anthony had a somewhat restricted childhood, though |
| gathering place and educational center for those | | | | her family was part of a "liberal" group of Quakers. |
| interested in the Spiritualist movement. For the past 130 | | | | She became aware of the inequalities between men |
| years, it has been a place of spiritual growth for | | | | and women at a young age, and she fought for equal |
| followers across the globe who come together to | | | | wages as a young teacher in New York. As her |
| learn more about their religion, discuss new ideas and | | | | interest in women's rights grew, she spent a great deal |
| concepts, and further their own spiritual progress as | | | | of time traveling the country and lecturing on equality |
| they continue on life's journey. Founded in 1879 by local | | | | for women, often with fellow advocate Elizabeth Cady |
| Spiritualists (though the grounds had been used for the | | | | Stanton. After meeting Stanton in 1831, Anthony spent |
| same purpose for many years already), Lily Dale | | | | much of her time in eastern New York, near |
| served as a place where the people could openly | | | | Rochester. Her neighbors and acquaintances were |
| discuss their beliefs regarding the spirit world and life | | | | made up of political reformers like herself and other |
| after death. During a time when non-Christians were | | | | "social outcasts," including Frederick Douglass, radical |
| often social pariahs, Spiritualism followers needed a | | | | abolitionists, organizers of women's rights conventions, |
| place where they could practice their religion without | | | | and yes, Spiritualists who were beginning to |
| judgment. Their belief system was (and still is) based | | | | congregate in and around what would become Lily |
| on the ideas that death is only the end of the physical | | | | Dale. During this period, she also separated herself |
| body, and that the spirit continues on in other planes of | | | | further from her childhood religion and Christianity in |
| existence. The spirits of the dead can and do | | | | general. She found the Christian belief system at the |
| communicate with living people and are capable of | | | | time to be oppressive toward women, and she looked |
| providing valuable information about God and the spirit | | | | for something that would respect women as men's |
| world. | | | | equals. Anthony discovered Spiritualism, and though |
| How did the Fox sisters factor in? The Fox sisters are | | | | she was never formally a member, she did recognize |
| commonly referred to as the founders of Spiritualism. | | | | it as one of the rare religious organizations that did not |
| These women were just young girls in 1848 when | | | | subjugate women. She gave several lectures at Lily |
| they claimed to be receiving messages from the spirit | | | | Dale, and later in book she collaborated on with |
| world. After hearing strange knocking sounds coming | | | | Stanton wrote, "The only religious sect in the world...that |
| from within their home, they realized that something, or | | | | has recognized the equality of women is the |
| someone, was trying to communicate with them. They | | | | Spiritualists. |