Second Salem - The Morris Pratt Institute

The Morris Pratt Institute in Whitewater,Wisconsin was the first College of Spiritualism in the world.

In the 1880’s Morris Pratt was a somewhat successful land speculator and avid spiritualist in southern Wisconsin when he met Mary Hayes, Wisconsin’s Queen of the Spiritual Realm. Hayes was a former school teacher fron Waterloo. At the time of their meeting she was a noted spiritual healer who claimed direct contact with  powers beyond the veil. As a healer, she worked free of charge and was observed on numerous occasions to take on and manifest the symptoms and pains of the sick and dying individuals she attended to. In 1883, She had visions of starting an iron mining operation in the Gogebic Range of northern Wisconsin and Upper Michigan.  It seemed out of the blue, no one had mined in that region before, but her two sons in Ashland had a land speculation business in the region and were in contact with the only known geologist who had put his boots on the ground along the little known range. She and her sons created an investment group that included some of her many followers, among them was Morris Pratt. The mine became a success and Pratt became wealthy. In thanks to the spirits who had guided Mrs Hayes, he created a Institute of spiritual learning in Whitewater that would soon bear his name. It opened in 1889, remained in Whitewater for a half century and is now relocated in the Milwaukee suburb of Wauwatosa. The Pratt Institute was the world’s first school devoted to Spiritualism. Mrs Hayes took her considerable wealth, left Wisconsin and achieved national fame as the founder of the True Life Church in San Jose, California. She married local attorney, Thomas Chynoweth, and became Mary Hayes-Chynoweth. She remained a commited philanthropist and healer to the end. Her palatial California home, Hayes Mansion, is a popular hotel and historic estate in San Jose. Check out my post on Mary Hayes and ask yourself, “What would Harry Houdini, the Appleton/Milwaukee raised Escape Artist and debunker of all things supernatural, who believed that spiritualism was nothing more than a highly lucrative trick, think of this?”