Because Haygood was a small, slender woman (as opposed to Hurst who even at fifteen was large and physically imposing), her performances were regarded as even more miraculous.

In 1886, her husband, whom she married when she was 17 years old, Charles N. Haygood, a deputy marshal, was shot and killed during an argument, leaving her the sole earner for their three children.

Despite numerous media outlets reporting on the physical tricks that made her act possible (especially the "lift test"), her popularity was undiminished.

The magician John Fisher wrote that her ability had nothing to do with a secret power or strength, she had a "sound knowledge of unrecognised principles of leverage, inertia, and the deflection of forces."

[5] According to magic historian Walter B. Gibson "There was no "Great Unknown," or invisible force which aided either Lulu Hurst or Annie Abbott, although many believers in the supernatural felt sure there was.