Table Knockers, The Play

Table Knockers is a term used to describe those individuals who conduct, séance's. Table Knockers come from the knocking on the table that accompanies these séance's, a knocking that is usually fabricated to tell the participants that a dear lost soul is knocking to get attention while the table rises up and down knocking on the floor. In nearly all circumstance Table Knocker's were frauds, charlatans who fleeced the gullible. In this play, we have several characters, Mr. Motto ( a mute), assistant to Miss Angel Mystic, the Spiritualist. Miss Mystic attempts to fleece a very gullible lady, Mrs. Macabre Horas-Van Dike, known to her friends as Mac, out of millions of dollars. Her husband, the late Mr. Harrold (with two R's) Horas-Van Dike was a wealthy investor known to his loving wife as Harry. Harry recently passed away on a trip abroad and is the focus of Miss Mystic's effort to convince Mac that her husband has a message for her from the beyond. Mac, who is a rather plumb woman of 40 or so, is lost without her Harry. His passing was unexpected and left a few unanswered questions. The most important one of all is his Last Testament & Will which declared half his fortune goes to Sonny Horas-Van Dike. Who is Sonny?, Where is Sonny? Why does he inherit half of the Horas-Van Dike fortune? Our charlatans are hoping to pass off a phony Sonny by having Harry's ghost identify who Sonny is. Of course, they have a Sonny waiting in the wings, who suddenly shows up claiming to be Sonny Horas-Van Dike.