American Spirits: Chapter 27–Author's Note

by Barb Rosenstock
This nonfiction book tells the story of Maggie, Kate, and Leah Fox, three sisters living in Civil War America who became famous for Maggie and Kate's claims of being spiritual mediums.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Prologue-Chapter 6, Chapters 7-12, Chapters 13-19, Chapters 20-26, Chapter 27-Author's Note
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. disciple
    one who believes and helps spread the doctrine of another
    It portrayed Maggie and Kate’s childhood powers as genuine, while blaming Leah and “the disciples of spiritualism” for any deceit.
  2. mortified
    made to feel uncomfortable because of shame or wounded pride
    Leah was mortified.
  3. frenetic
    excessively agitated
    As the months passed, Seybert’s frenetic requests for Maggie included conjuring the spirits of biblical figures, like Elijah and Gabriel, as well as Saints Peter and Paul.
  4. vivacious
    vigorous and animated
    A typical story ended cruelly, “The once talented, vivacious and successful spirit rapper is now a total wreck.”
  5. ruse
    a deceptive maneuver, especially to avoid capture
    The ruse worked.
  6. obelisk
    a stone pillar tapering towards a pyramidal top
    She set off down a shadowed path, wandering alone past obelisks, stone angels, and granite buildings in this city of the dead.
  7. ludicrous
    inviting ridicule
    “One moment it was ludicrous, the next it was weird,” declared the New York Herald.
  8. retract
    formally reject or disavow
    After a truth-telling lecture tour failed to attract much of an audience, Maggie retracted her confession: “I gave expression to utterances that had no foundation in fact.”
  9. reiterate
    say, state, or perform again
    She met with a group of prominent Spiritualists to reiterate her retraction: “Those charges [against Spiritualism] were false in every respect.”
  10. perceptible
    easily seen or detected
    With control of the muscles of the foot the toes may be brought down to the floor without any movement that is perceptible to the eye.
  11. bereaved
    sorrowful through loss or deprivation
    When reporters showed up to get the scoop, her bereaved sons insisted that Kate “died a firm believer” in the spirits.
  12. contemporaneous
    of the same period
    But official records and the contemporaneous testimony of friends do not seem to support her version of their ages.
  13. fervent
    characterized by intense emotion
    Growing up in an era of ecstatic religious feeling, brought up by a fervent father and superstitious mother, the youngest Fox sisters may have been susceptible to the notion of spirits.
  14. susceptible
    easily influenced mentally or emotionally
    Growing up in an era of ecstatic religious feeling, brought up by a fervent father and superstitious mother, the youngest Fox sisters may have been susceptible to the notion of spirits.
  15. despicable
    morally reprehensible
    But, if Maggie’s confession is true, then the Fox sisters’ long hoax also took advantage of grief and is therefore despicable and unforgivable.
Created on Fri Jan 16 04:26:19 EST 2026 (updated Tue Jan 20 18:18:05 EST 2026)

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