The Ghost Hand of Fall River

Just in time for Halloween in 1903, newspapers were calling the mystery of ghost hand print that appeared on a window pane in Fall River, Massachusetts a “a striking Spiritualistic manifestation.” Hundreds flocked to the home of one Thomas Cross–an “enthusiastic believer in cult” and known Spiritualist–to inspect the mysterious hand print. The print  was believed to have been left by the late Mrs. Cross, also an active Spiritualist. One of the Cross’ daughters refused to believe in the “other side” and it was to her that hand print first appeared. It was theorized that the ghost of Mrs. Cross was making one final attempt to convince her daughter that there was indeed an afterlife. The Cross family claimed that the hand print could not be removed from the glass. Even after  repeated efforts, the stubborn hand print could not be erased. Even acid had been applied to the window in a final attempt after using conventional window-washing methods. Acid did not even prove strong enough to remove the ghostly print. The Cross family claimed that any effort used to remove the hand print would only result in the hand print standing out more prominently.

A local newspaper reported on October 29, 1903:

“On a pane of glass in a kitchen window can be plainly seen what appears to be the imprint of a woman’s hand, the palm, the fingers and thumb, and even the lines of the palm being distinctly visible. All efforts to remove the imprint have failed…The fingers are spread wide apart, and the knuckles are large as though the hand had been used to hard work. The more enthusiastic among the believers in Spiritualism who have witnessed the phenomenon do not hesitate to say that they detect the mark on the third finger showing where the wedding ring was long worn.

Mrs. Cross died two months ago. She too was an ardent Spiritualist, but the children, of whom there are six…know little of the doctrine. The oldest, a girl of 19 years named Elliza, is skeptical of the faith of her parents, and Spiritualists interpret the appearances of the hand on the window glass as a sign to the doubting daughter from the mother.

The had was discovered by the girl as she was wasting the window, and repeated efforts have failed to erase the imprint. Hot water and soaps, acids and muscular effort have so far served only to make the hand stand out more plainly.

“The merely curious who have visited the place have bent their energies to finding an explanation of the mystery and have even gone so far as to remove the window from its place to permit a more thorough examination. One after another have given up the puzzle.

Mr. Cross does not attach great importance to the matter, as he says he is accustomed to receiving still more wonderful communications from the departed.”