History Trivia Thread Reducks

[Caliga]

They knocked on the tables from beneath with their knees?

[Barrister]

They knocked on the tables from beneath with their knees?

Nope.  Even in the 1850s people woulc have figured that out.

[Viking]

They knocked on the tables from beneath with their knees?

Nope.  Even in the 1850s people woulc have figured that out.

that makes them much smarter than the people in the 1920's when Harry Houdini was exposing precisely that.

but my guess is "using a spitball"

[Barrister]

but my guess is "using a spitball"

I'm pretty sure that's wrong, but can you explain what that is?

[Razgovory]

They used space aliens instead of ghosts.

[Maximus]

Completely wild guess but;

Running hot water through metal pipes in the walls. The pipes expand until the pressure overcomes the static friction causing the pipes to "hop" in their mountings. the reverberations travel along the pipes making it sound like the "knocking" is coming from all parts of the room.

[Admiral Yi]

Completely wild guess but;

Running hot water through metal pipes in the walls. The pipes expand until the pressure overcomes the static friction causing the pipes to "hop" in their mountings. the reverberations travel along the pipes making it sound like the "knocking" is coming from all parts of the room.

Did houses have running water in the 1850s?

[Maximus]

Did houses have running water in the 1850s?

The technology existed, and if it was uncommon that would make it more likely people wouldn't recognize the sound.

[Agelastus]

Looked it up.

I am eagerly awaiting a correct guess.

[Caliga]

Nope.  Even in the 1850s people woulc have figured that out.

Ok, guess #2: They kept The Fat Boys hidden behind a curtain.

[Barrister]

Completely wild guess but;

Running hot water through metal pipes in the walls. The pipes expand until the pressure overcomes the static friction causing the pipes to "hop" in their mountings. the reverberations travel along the pipes making it sound like the "knocking" is coming from all parts of the room.

No.  They did their readings for years, in a whole variety of rooms, theatres, private dwellings, etc.  Not to mention in different countries.

This wasn't meant to be a Spellus-level hyper-obscure question, so I'll post the answer in a few hours if no one gets it.  Mostly I just wanted to bump the History Trivia thread.

[Maximus]

They had one of those annoying chat clients running in the background.

[Barrister]

From Wikipedia:

Margaret told her story of the origins of the mysterious "rappings" in a signed confession given to the press and published in New York World, October 21, 1888.[5] In it, she explained the Hydesville Events.
She also expanded on her career as a medium after leaving the homestead to begin her Spiritualist travels with her older sister, Mrs. Underhill:
"Mrs. Underhill, my eldest sister, took Katie and me to Rochester. There it was that we discovered a new way to make the raps. My sister Katie was the first to observe that by swishing her fingers she could produce certain noises with her knuckles and joints, and that the same effect could be made with the toes. Finding that we could make raps with our feet - first with one foot and then with both - we practiced until we could do this easily when the room was dark. Like most perplexing things when made clear, it is astonishing how easily it is done. The rapping are simply the result of a perfect control of the muscles of the leg below the knee, which govern the tendons of the foot and allow action of the toe and ankle bones that is not commonly known. Such perfect control is only possible when the child is taken at an early age and carefully and continually taught to practice the muscles, which grow stiffer in later years. ... This, then, is the simple explanation of the whole method of the knocks and raps."[18]
She also notes:
"A great many people when they hear the rapping imagine at once that the spirits are touching them. It is a very common delusion. Some very wealthy people came to see me some years ago when I lived in Forty-second Street and I did some rappings for them. I made the spirit rap on the chair and one of the ladies cried out: "I feel the spirit tapping me on the shoulder." Of course that was pure imagination."[19]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_sisters

So, they made their fortune as spiritualists by cracking the knuckles in their toes.

Since I just seized an open floor, the floor is open for any other comer.

[Agelastus]

An easy one then.

What was the last battle in which Rome's Praetorian Guard fought?

[Octavian]

An easy one then.

What was the last battle in which Rome's Praetorian Guard fought?

Milvian bridge?