Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston in 1706, one of 17 children born to Josiah Franklin. He attended Boston Latin School but never finished his education. Instead, at 12 he apprenticed at his brother James’ printing shop. By the time he was 15, Benjamin founded the New England Courant. He was not satisfied with life in Boston and moved to Philadelphia two years later where he worked for several printing houses.

And as they say, the rest is history. Franklin’s list of accomplishments is too numerous to mention here. His interests included electricity, demography, meteorology, ocean wave theory and refrigeration. He was a statesman, humorist, diplomat, abolitionist, and inventor. When Franklin died in 1790, he had had a full and productive life. But it seems that did not keep him from working after his death.

Andrew Jackson Davis said that Franklin invented the “Celestial Telegraph” by which the departed could communicate with our world through rapping sounds. On March 31, 1848, Davis heard Franklin’s voice say “Brother! The good work has begun—behold, a living demonstration is born!” At the time, Davis did not know that 300 miles away in New York, the first rappings began in the Fox house.

Franklin materialized at several seances given by Kate Fox. She held over 400 sessions with Charles F. Livermore, a New York merchant who came to communicate with his wife. In August 1861, a man appeared with Mrs. Livermore. When he returned in November, it was clear from his dress and appearance that the man was Benjamin Franklin. He continued to communicate with Livermore and left two written messages. “You can now say that you have seen me by the light of earth. I will come again, in further proof.” When he returned in June, they were able to touch his garments before he melted away.

Emma Hardinge Britten made many references to Franklin’s appearances and messages in her book, Modern American Spiritualism (1870). His communication gave Spiritualists reassurance that their souls would continue on in the Spirit World. He said to Isaac Post at one séance that his purpose was to “make the embodied realize their immediate continuance after leaving the body; the next is to give a true statement of our condition.”

Franklin also predicted what was to come to Mrs. Draper in Rochester, NY, during an 1850 seance run by Margaret Fox. “Things that now look dark and mysterious to you will be laid plain before your sight.”

Additional Reading:

Britten, Emma Hardinge (1870) Modern American Spiritualism. Reprinted 2017 Andesite Press.

Capron, Eliab W. (2017) Modern Spiritualism: Its Facts and Fanaticisms, Its Consistencies and Contradictions, (Classic Reprint) Paperback, Forgotten Books.

Conan Doyle, Sir Arthur (2011) Delphi Complete Works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Illustrated), Delphi Classics.

Sollors, Werner. Dr. (1983) Benjamin Franklin’s Celestial Telegraph, or Indian Blessings to Gas-Lit American Drawing Rooms. In American Quarterly, Vol. 25, No. 5.