GRAND FORKS — After two nights of “mystifying” Grand Forks performances in 1896, worldwide phenomenon Anna Eva Fay drew the attention of a local businessman who, following her tour to Fargo, claimed to debunk the stage mentalist’s performance there.

Fay, who spent 50 years performing throughout the U.S. and across the globe, was lauded in newspapers as a medium, spiritualist, mind reader and more. Carsen Grave, a UND graduate student, researched Fay for a UND history class he took while pursuing his undergraduate history degree.

“I’m really interested in mystical, spiritual things,” Grave said, so he explored newspaper archives by searching for phrases like “astral body.”

He hoped to land on a unique local story he would later use for the project “Grand Forks at 150: The First Fifty.”

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