table rapping

table rapping (countable and uncountable, plural table rappings)

1. A rapping noise made, purportedly by spirits of the dead, on the table at which a seance is held.
   • 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 229:

     I wish it were possible to impress this truth upon people who rush into spiritualism from curiosity, or who try "table rapping" or some similar phenomenon "for fun".