AI Summary
5 min readThe Eddy Brothers and the High Life Ski Club
In October 1873, during a séance at the Green Tavern in Chittenden, Vermont, Horatio Eddy appeared to make a guitar, violin, tambourine, and set of bells play without ever touching them—the sounds, he explained, were produced by the "collective electric force" of sixteen spectral individuals seated at the table. It was the kind of claim that made believers out of skeptics and skeptics out of believers, and it sits at the center of one of the strangest episodes in American spiritualism.
The Brothers and Their Unwanted Gifts
William and Horatio Eddy were born in the 1830s and 40s in Chittenden, Vermont, a village of about 600 residents. According to legend, they descended from a long line of psychics stretching back to Mary Bradbury, a distant relative convicted of witchcraft in Salem in 1692 who escaped execution by fleeing Massachusetts. Their mother, Julia, had gained a local reputation for "frightening her neighbors with predictions and visions," but her husband Zephaniah declared her powers the work of the devil and forbade her from using or even speaking of them.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (02:34) **October Kickoff & October Vibes** - The hosts celebrate the start of spooky season, discuss time speeding up, and share their current reading and writing projects.
- 2 (09:54) **Introducing the Eddy Brothers** - The hosts pivot to the episode's main topic: the story of William and Horatio Eddy, two psychic mediums from Vermont.
- 3 (11:10) **A Hostile Upbringing** - The hosts detail the brothers' difficult childhood, marked by their father's fear and abuse of their supernatural abilities.
- 4 (15:39) **The Green Tavern & The Spiritualist Movement** - The brothers return to Vermont and open an inn called the Green Tavern, capitalizing on the peak of the Spiritualist movement.
- 5 (22:58) **Rising Fame and Supernatural Spectacles** - The brothers' fame grows, and their seances become more elaborate and well-attended, featuring physical manifestations of spirits.
- 6 (26:41) **Skepticism and Accusations of Fraud** - The brothers face increasing skepticism and accusations that their seances are elaborate frauds.
- 7 (33:23) **The Skeptical Journalist, Henry Olcott** - The hosts introduce Henry Olcott, a skeptical journalist and lawyer whose investigation would ultimately vindicate the brothers in the public eye.
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Show Notes
In the early-to-mid 1870s, as interest in Spiritualism and psychic mediums swept the United States, William and Horatio Eddy, two enterprising brothers from the tiny village of Chittenden, Vermont, made headlines for their supposed psychic abilities. In time, the brothers attracted the attention of the movement’s biggest names including Henry Olcott and Helena Blavatsky, until 1875, when allegations of fraud destroyed their massive popularity.
References
American Hauntings. n.d. The Haunted Museum from Another World. Accessed September 19, 2026. https://www.americanhauntingsink.com/eddy.
Bigelow, L.A. 1873. "The Eddy family humbug again." Burlington Free Press, September 29: 3.
Bushnell, Mark. 2012. "A spirited past." The Times Argus (Barre, VT), April 1: B1.
Hall, Joseph. 1873. "The Eddy family--exposure of the humbugs by a 'spiritualist'." Rutland Daily Herald, September 13: 2.
Herman, Jan. 1976. "The eerie Eddys." Burlington Free Press, October 31: 67.
New York Sun. 1875. "Exposure of the Eddys." Rutland Daily Globe, November 27: 2.
Olcott, Henry Steel. 1875. People From the Other World. Hartford, CT: American Publishing Company.
Rutland Daily Globe. 1873. "The Eddys and Spiritualism." Rutland Daily Globe, October 15: 1.
—. 1873. "Visit to the Eddy family." Rutland Daily Globe, October 1: 4.
Rutland Weekly Herald. 1871. "Quarterly convention of the Vermont State Spiritualist Association." Rutland Weekly Herald, February 2: 1.
Wescott, D.P. 1875. "The modus operandi of the Eddys'." Rutland Daily Globe, March 22: 3.
Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)
Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)
Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash Kelley
Listener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra Lally
Listener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025)
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