Case file · High strangeness

Patience Worth

From July 1913 St. Louis housewife Pearl Curran said that a 17th-century Englishwoman called Patience Worth was dictating poems and novels to her through a Ouija board.

1913 CE · 38.64, -90.29 · status: disputed

The account

Over some 25 years 'Patience' produced millions of words, including novels praised by critics. The case was studied by psychical researchers such as Walter Franklin Prince.

The sceptical view

Most researchers treat it as an extraordinary case of creative dissociation; Curran had no ties to the 17th century and the archaic language is not consistent with any real period.

Sources

  1. Wikipedia: Patience Worth
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