Synopsis

Developed from Colonel Henry Olcott's first-hand accounts of the Eddy Family phenomena at Chittenden, Vermont 1874

​

ACT I

​

The famous Eddy Brother mediums, William and Horatio, are stirring up the world with their mysterious spirit manifestations. A respected journalist, Colonel Henry S. Oloctt finds himself on assignment by the New York Daily Graphic to investigate the seances. During his stay at the homestead, he encounters a broad-minded, Russian occultist named Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and a highly skeptical neurologist named Dr. George Miller Beard. The three of them battle to discover the Truth about the Eddy Brothers and the possibility of actual clairvoyance and spirit manifestation.

In attendance at these seances is a tragically credulous woman named Harriet Critchum who has traveled and payed much money to catch a glimpse of her little daughter "Hattie" who has long-since passed. A young farmer named David Tupper is also in attendance with a terrifying backstory. He hopes to speak with his tuberculosis-burdened siblings who exist only in the "other world".

After an inciting incident during a seance, Horatio discovers that his occupation as a medium entails a moral problem. He questions what business he holds meddling with the living and the dead. But his demanding older brother, William, insists that Horatio continue with the seances and avoid any suspicious behavior that may lead the public to think they are charlatans. Meanwhile their younger clairvoyant sister, Mary, offers all she can in aid to the bereaved who are lodging at the homestead.
 

ACT II

In a dark seance, Blavatsky is visited by her deceased Russian father, convincing her of the authenticity of the Eddy's abilities. Dr. Beard hears a lullaby that deeply reminds him of his dead mother; although he chooses to ignore its significance. Mary reveals to her brothers that Dr. Beard is a threat to the Eddy's reputation as he plans to publish an article on the foolishness of their demonstrations. Horatio, in his growing desire to end the seances, allies with Dr. Beard to announce the fraud. During the final seance, William is called-out as a charlatan and Horatio admits that the Eddy Brothers have lived a life of deceit. Just then, the room goes black and Harriet Critchum is reunited with her "Hattie". The light returns and the three Eddy siblings are under trance (convulsing, levitating) as they chant an Old English rhyme. The final moment features Horatio blowing out a candle, turning to exit, and the candle reigniting on it's own. He gently acknowledges it and continues out with a gentle hymn at his lips: "We shall meet beyond the river, by and by. And the darkness shall be over, by and by."

Our narrator, Col. Olcott, explains that he is fully convinced of the Eddy's authenticity and permits the audience to come away with their own conclusion of what they believe to be true. Is it possible that people like the Eddy's can exist, or should all supernatural intuition be explained away with dogmatic rationalism?